1 Corinthians 11 - Communion

Church Chaos

*Look to your parnter and say “ He has Risen”*

Perfect landing of the series on Communion right on Easter Sunday - The day of the Lord - The day the tomb was found empty.

Lets give Jesus a hand.

I have been to some churches where I have heard some crazy things shared from the pulpit.

I have been to churches where people showing up to church hungover or high and they lead the church in worship.

I have been to churches where they are all worshipping the Lord hard out then go outside and say “did you see what she was wearing”.

Lets look at what the Apostle Paul says in verse 17.

1 Corinthians 11:17 “17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.”

He says I got nothing to praise you about because , your meetings do more harm then good!

Imagine hearing that from someone you look up to. What a rebuke!

So, over the next four chapters , were going to come across a number of differnent things that need correcting in the Corinthians corporate worship.

Knowing that they are going to be corrected alot on how they have church over these next few chapters I want you all to know that the only time you see Paul give such a sharp rebuke like this is with this issue in particular.

The way they practice the Lords supper or the Communion.

So when Paul starts off this section of his letter with a rebuke like this it shows how serious breaking bread (communion) is and how much damage we can do to eachother when we abuse it compared to anything else that we do wrong at church.

We can play around with other things at church and yes they are still bad but when you play around with the communion - you better be careful.

This is the body and the blood of Jesus that we are playing with here.

1 Corinthians 11:18–19 “18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.”

As weve spoken about before, the root issue with the Corinthians church is the division amongst them.

As weve seen earlier. Divison on: Leadership, Sexual views, Idol Food - So its not a suprise right? They are even divided when it comes to Communion.

1 Corinthians 11:20 “20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat,”

Paul is saying when you guys come together and have this communion with this division in your hearts you are not having the Lords supper at all, because the Communion is Unity and they take it with Division amongst them.

This Corinthian church has taken the ultimate act of self giving and made it an act of self serving. What should be an act of serving has now turned into an act of pettyness.

With the Communion the way it was known to be practiced in this time was that they would have a meal as a church with bread and wine involved and it was like a potluck where it didnt matter how rich or poor you were you just brought something in for everyone to share.

1 Corinthians 11:21 “21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk.”

The Communion is meant to be a small meal with everyone united and everyone showing they all need Gods grace.

But instead here with the Corinthians it has become something else , the rich started eating much better meals on their own like doing hold outs and drinking to much wine they got drunk and the poor ones ended up staying hungry and maybe had the leftovers.

1 Corinthians 11:22 “22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!”

Paul is pretty much saying this. What is the point of all of that? If all you want to do is have a meal , just eat at home. Yet you want to hold out and keep to yourself in the most sacred thing we do here at church , when we have communion and you want to humiliate the ones that have nothing and cant bring much to church.

Are you serious?

So something we can gather just now is that when Communion is taken , its to be shared amongst the church as we seen in verse 18 Paul says “when you come together as a church”.

Communion is a corporate act for the church when we get together not a private thing we do in isolation from other believers.

The Meaning of the Lords Supper

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 “23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

This section of scripture is one of the most well known in the Letter outside of the famous 1 Corinthians 13 scriptures.

This paragraph shows us what we are actually doing when we celebrate the Lords supper or the Communion and what it represents.

The bread representing his body that he has laid down for me and you and the blood representing the New Covenant which is Gods promise through Christ that he will forgive our sin and restore our fellowship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

The things we see here when we take communion:

Jesus gave thanks in prayer to God for what he has given us through his body and his blood. v24

We look back , in remembrance of what Jesus done for us knowing his body was broken for you. v25

We look forward , proclaiming the day when the Lord will return v26

We look within, examining ourselves v28

We look around - We look at the body , the church and we honour the body. v29

Paul doesnt specifiy when he says “this is my body” and what it actually means and when he says “ this is my blood”.

The Roman Catholic view on the communion is that when they are taking it the bread and the wine is believed to be transformed into the actual body and blood of Jesus.

The Lutheran church believes that the bread and wine is the body and the blood at the same time.

There was a theologian called Zwinglian and his view was that the bread and wine are just symbols that are a memorial of the body and blood of Jesus , helping us to remember the cross but doesnt bring Gods presence in. Just plain and simple.

The Reformed view or Calvinist view is that when we eat the bread and drink the wine , Christs spiritual presence is there but he is not physically present.

Just off what ive seen when we have taken Communion in JJM we are in between the Zwinglian view that the bread and wine are symbols that memorialise the body and blood of Jesus and the cross and the Reformed view that during the time we take it we know Christs presence is amongst us.

Some other christian churches have different views , doesnt necessarily mean its a matter of right and wrong but we should see the main thing when we do take Communion is that we are not divided and we are not disregarding one another as insignificant but that we are united and that we are all the same in Gods eyes.

1 Corinthians 11:26 “26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

We should all be encouraged as well when Paul reminds us of the return of Christ that all those who are redeemed by him will all get to be served by Jesus himself in the end.

Matthew 26:29 “29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.””

Warning

So we can see that this Communion was very meaningful , according to Jesus. And if the Corinthians are not doing it properly , then we should see Paul telling them to repent and warning them of judgment.

This is what we are going to look at now.

1 Corinthians 11:27–29 “27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”

When we come to take Communion , we are sharing in the body and the blood of Jesus.

This is not some kind of snack , so if we do this “in an unworthy manner” as stated in verse 27 by not honoring or discerning the body or any other form of sin you havent repented from , we will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord.

That sounds pretty serious ay. So before coming to the table as stated in verse 28 , “ everyone should examine themselves”.

This is not a call for perfection , that you have to be perfect before taking Communion. But the Communion is also not a congratulation mean for the sinless.

Its a sustaining meal for repentant sinners who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness but know they have fallen short.

So when Paul says to examine yourself , hes not saying examine yourself so if you got any sin in your life your not allowed to come to the table. (Otherwise no one would be allowed to have the Communion).

But when Paul says to examine yourself , he is aiming it at people who do not care wether or not they have sinned, so the : unrepentant, the prideful people who dont honour the body of Christ.

So who should come to the table? Those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, who know and understand that they are sinners but still trust that their sins are forgiven and that they are covered by the death of Christ on the Cross.

But those who are not repentant or not believers should not come to the Lords table for Communion otherwise as Paul said , they will bring judgment on themselves.

1 Corinthians 11:30 “30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”

When Paul says “judgment” we sometimes naturally assume that he was talking about final judgment but he clarifies in this verse we just read that he is actually talking about divine judgment in the now.

That as a result of your abusive acts at the table of the Lord during communion , some of you have become weak or sick and even others have died.

lets read verse 31

1 Corinthians 11:31 “31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.”

If you had been a bit more discerning about yourselves, if you would have taken a much harder look at yourselves then this couldve been avoided.

Some of us when we read this can be shocked. Saying things like “man did Paul really say this? that God could make someone unwell or even kill them as an act of judgment for dishonouring the Lord?

We see that there is a few examples in scripture of judgment taking place 1. In Acts 5 with Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to God and were killed on the spot.

God can bring judgment in the now and the purposes of present judgment is to save people from eternal judgment if you remember the man in 1 Corinthians 5 when he sleeping with his step mum and thought it was allgood to do this and still be a christian and Paul tells them to throw him out of the church , why? so he can learn to stop committing that sin and in hopes that he gets right with God and gets saved.

So it is very possible to be judged by God so we can be disciplined so that we are not condemned.

It could result in sickness and it could even result in death but it should be understood as discipline or correction from the Lord so that we dont end up in hell.

Temporary judgment or discipline from the Lord himself or even the Church can save people from eternal judgment.

Its the same as parenting. We discipline our children in different areas so they dont grow up and fall into danger.

1 Corinthians 11:33–34 “33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. 34 Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.”

Paul finishes off this chapter by summarising his instructions. You should all eat together instead of doing hold outs and leaving other people without especially when it comes to communion , that way you will avoid Gods judgment.

Amen.

Questions for reflection:

As we take Communion, do you look up in gratitude, back in remembrance, look forward proclaiming Jesus return, look within at your own sin and around at the church in honour? Do you ever miss any of these out?

Do you think you take Communion seriously enough?