1 Corinthians 11:17-32: Eating and Drinking in a Worthy Manner

Scripture Reading

Intro

Repentance is necessary to take the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner.

1 Corinthians 11:17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you…

Remember… Paul is addressing the Corinthians who had a lot of problems in their church.

And one of the main issues he comes back to again and again is the Lord’s Supper.

This shows us how essential the right practice and celebration of the Lord’s Supper is for us as a Church.

Its one of the things… just like sound doctrine… just like love… and just like the preaching of the Word… that marks us off as holy.

Really in many ways… how the Church treats the Lord’s Supper tells you everything you need to know about a church because of how tightly connected it is to the Gospel.

Do they have sound doctrine?… love and unity?… do they exist for the glory of Christ and the gospel?… that will come out in whether or not they strive to take the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner.

Paul says…

1 Corinthians 11:17–22 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

NEW SLIDE

When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

The problem in Corinth was that they had divisions.

Their body was not marked by unity with a love and care for one another but instead selfishness… thinking only of themselves and always putting themselves first.

Basically what you would have was the rich despising the poor.

Love Feast

For the Corinthian Church and for many churches in the early first century the Lord’s Supper was the culmination of a genuine meal.

Like good Baptists they would have a potluck of sorts where everyone would bring what they could to share with the rest.

And they would either start the meal or end it with the Lord’s Supper to mark the meal as a whole as one of fellowship… love… and unity.

But what was happening was that the rich would get there first… they didn’t have bosses or someone making them punch a clock…

And instead of waiting on their fellow believers they just started eating.

That’s verse 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.

By the time some of the poorer members would get there… there would be nothing left.

So far from the Lord’s Supper being a celebration of Christ and their oneness in Him…

It became a supper of the Haves and the Have Nots.

That’s why Paul says When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat.

Whatever they were doing was not the Supper Christ had given… they had turned the Lord’s Supper into something else.

Even the night Jesus gave the Lord’s Supper He said what?

Love one another: just as I have loved you… (John 13:34).

After He had washed their feet I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you (John 13:35).

This idea where Jesus wrapped a towel around Himself and made Himself lower than the lowest slave teaching us to… like Jesus… Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves… counting yourself as a slave to all (Philippians 2:3; Mark 10:44).

And He even prayed that they may be one, even as we are one (John 17:11; see John 17:21).

Paul’s Concern

Paul’s concern was that they were not celebrating the Lord’s Supper as One Body.

Instead of Love… Charity… and Holiness… they had turned the Lord’s Supper into an occasion to sin against each other and live out the passions of their flesh!

When Paul says I hear that there are divisions among you… and then says for there must be factions among you… calling those divisions factions… that’s the same word he uses in Galatians 5:20 for the Works of the Flesh.

Galatians 5:19–21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Its these Divisions that led Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:1 to say, But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

They were behaving as natural men walking out the flesh and living as infants in Christ… spiritual babies!

Danger of Division

Divisions and a theme of Unity are a major emphasis in all of Paul’s letters to the Churches.

Because Paul knew that division kills churches.

Divide and conquer.

Jesus even said a house divided against itself cannot stand (Matthew 12:22-28).

Without unity… and a striving for unity counting others as more significant than ourselves and counting ourselves as a slaves to all… churches suffer and fall apart.

Factions and divisions… people living out of pride and selfish ambition both Disrupt and Destroy Churches.

Disrupt

They Disrupt churches because they get churches off mission… off target of making disciples and growing in Christ.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:11-16 that the goal of the church is the building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…

To godliness and maturity that looks like Christ Himself!

…so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Stable… solid… rooted in a faithfulness to Christ.

But when division creeps in… that all goes out the window.

Instead of making disciples all the pastors’ time is spent dealing with arguments and trying to keep people together.

Everyone starts walking on eggshells… and the church is not a rest… its not a home.

Its painful… its always uncomfortable.

And no one’s growing in Christ because we are all distracted by the problem.

Spending all of our effort… all of our energy… all of our emotions on the factions and divisions instead of building ourselves up in love.

Destroy

They also destroy churches.

This is where you get church splits and rogue elders and rogue members that just want what they want and they don’t care who has to pay the price for it.

They leave behind a wasteland of hurt and brokenness because they loved themselves more than they loved one another.

And it destroys God’s work in that church and it hurts the relationships and fellowship of churches in the future.

It is a grievous thing to sin against the Church of God.

That’s why we need to constantly fight for unity.

Do all that we can to maintain peace and unity in the body.

In fact, before Paul said that the goal of the church was building itself up in love…

He said in Ephesians 4:1–3 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Living out division and selfish ambition is by definition… unchristian.

Must Be

That’s why Paul says in our passage for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

God uses factions… and divisions… and sin in the church to prove whose genuinely living out the Fruit of the Spirit versus those who are living out the Works of the Flesh.

In fact that word genuine means tested and approved like gold refined by the fire.

How you respond when sin and division comes into the church proves who you’re really following.

Do you get caught up in other people’s sins and become participants with them?

Do you start taking sides instead of seeking for peace?

Gossiping?… Holding bitterness in your heart against the pastors or other members of the body?

This is why Pauls says Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted (Galatians 6:1).

Its easy to get caught up in someone’s sin.

Especially with those sins that works of the flesh… which many are social in nature… enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions… its easy to fall into someone else’s drama.

Say someone’s upset with someone else or a pastor… and instead of telling them to deal with it biblically… you give an ear to their gossip.

And then before you know it… You start distrusting the pastors or that other person…

Until all of a sudden you’re part of the faction and in the sin of division.

I’ve seen it before… its a cancer that spreads.

How you deal with division… how you fight for unity… is the test for who is truly genuine.

For who is truly following Christ and walking by the Spirit and who is not.

Because if you are ever walking out the works of the flesh… no matter how right you might think you are…

And this is key for all your relationships… not just church…

If you are ever giving into strife… division… fits of anger… you are automatically not walking in the Spirit but behaving in a merely human way (1 Corinthians 3:3).

Paul’s Overarching Point: Unity

Paul’s overarching point is that a Church should be marked by unity.

The way the Corinthians were taking the Supper did not reflect Christ or their oneness in Him as long as they had these sins against one another in the body.

How can you celebrate the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins… when the very way you’re going about it is sinful in the first place.

What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?

If you’re hungry eat at home!

There’s something spiritually being said here in the Lord’s Supper.

Its not just a meal.

Its a reflection of our one ness in Christ and the salvation we have in Him.

Going back to 1 Corinthians 10:17 just one chapter before this one… Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Its the same idea as Ephesians 4:4-6 There is One body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Our unity shows the World a picture of Christ and the Gospel.

The love… grace… mercy… peace and reconciliation we have with God in Jesus Christ.

What kind of Gospel are we preaching if we are racked by sin and division?

Is it one that says there is grace here… mercy here… forgiveness and the freedom from sins here…

Or something else?

Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

Then Paul goes into His instructions for the Lord’s Supper.

They’re doing it all wrong… What does a true celebration of the Lord’s Supper actually look like?

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 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.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Paul’s language highlights the sweetness and tenderness of the Lord’s Supper.

He says For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you…

This is hand delivered from Christ Himself.

This gives a weight and majesty to the Supper that says we should not take it lightly.

He says this is my body which is for you.

The for is the same word used for Christ death as a substitutionary sacrifice.

It carries the idea of on your behalf.

Its Christ laying down His life for you… Christ dying to save you.

And This cup is the New Covenant in my blood.

Its God’s Promise that I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules… you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses (Ezekiel 36:25–27, 28-29).

That’s the grace we have in Christ.

In the Lord’s Supper we Remember Christ’s suffering and death and Celebrate the Salvation and Deliverance we have in Him…

His Suffering and Death.. This is my body which is for you…

His Salvation and Deliverance… This cup is the New Covenant in my blood.

That’s all the theology of the Lord’s Supper we’ve been looking at the last couple of weeks.

Then he gets into His instructions for how the Corinthians need to rightly practice the Lord’s Supper.

1 Corinthians 11:27–29 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Paul’s point is if you’re going to come to the Table, you must do all that you can to make sure you are celebrating the Lord’s Supper in a worthy way.

Now what does that mean?

Well in context of the Corinthians… Paul specifically has in mind sins against the body.

Division… lack of love… selfishness.

But the broader principle… the broader application… is to examine our life concerning all our sin.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Now that could either be body as in Christ’s body in laying down His life as our sacrifice…

Or it could be body as in Christ’s body the Church.

Either way Paul’s point is that you cannot eat or drink in a worthy manner as long as you are holding onto and living in your sins.

Anyone who [does that] eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Repentance is necessary to take the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner.

We need to take the Supper in a way that is consistent with all that the Supper represents.

And the way to do that Paul says is to let each person examine themselves. and then so eat the bread and drink of the cup.

Examine

The idea of that word examine is the same one we had from earlier: that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

Its this idea of being tested and approved… passing the test… recognizing those that are truly genuine.

Its a thorough self-examination where we look at our lives and our hearts and sift out any sin whether its against the Lord or against other people.

And given the context of 1 Corinthians and all of Paul’s discussion concerning the Lord’s Supper I think there’s three things we are called to examine.

Number 1…

I. Examine Your Faith

Paul said…

1 Corinthians 11:27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

The Lord’s Supper is an expression of our faith in Christ.

And without that faith someone cannot celebrate the Lord’s Supper and all that it represents.

So number 1… you need faith in Christ.

You can’t come to the table and celebrate the forgiveness of your sins if you’re still dead in your sins to begin with.

So worthy receivers are those that have trusted in Christ and have been baptized in Him.

But for all of us the Lord’s Supper is an opportunity to examine our faith and ask, “Am I trusting in Christ alone?”

Do I belong to Him?

Is He all my righteousness and acceptance before God.

My only hope… my only Savior… my only God.

Taking the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner says I trust in Christ alone.

Number 2…

II. Examine Yourself for Unity in the Body

That’s what we’ve been looking at in our passage and 1 Corinthians 10:17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Examining yourself looks like asking, “Have I in any way sinned against someone or acted in such a way that divides the body?”

Have I given offense and sinned against and fellow brother or sister in Christ and have not yet gone to make it right?

In Matthew 5:23–24 Jesus said, So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Now this is not a passage about the Lord’s Supper but the principle is God wants your repentance more than He wants your religious worship.

You could be offering a sacrifice and if you remembered your brother had something against you, God would rather you stop offering that sacrifice and go be reconciled to your brother.

As it is in the Lord’s Supper.

What this implies is two things…

One… we keep short accounts with each other.

We strive not to sin against each other and when we do we quickly repent.

And two… This implies that this self-examination should be constantly happening and constantly ongoing and if there is any sin between you and someone else you go to make it right before coming to Sunday worship.

The examining yourself doesn’t just happen right before you take the Lord’s Supper.

That doesn’t give you the time or the opportunity to genuinely repent and seek reconciliation with that other person.

That time is a time to final check and examine for personal sins and remember and celebrate the grace of Christ.

If you come to the Supper and the Holy Spirit reminds you of some forgotten sin that you have not repented of or sought forgiveness for don’t take that day… go and make it right with your brother and then come back.

Because notice… Jesus says its the one who gave the offense… who wronged the other person… that has the responsibility to go and make it right.

Do you see how rightly practicing the Lord’s Supper can be a source of peace and unity in the church?

Sin doesn’t get to fester and drive wedges of bitterness in the church.

Instead we keep short accounts… give grace… and forgive.

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

70 times 7… all the forgiveness required for all our sins (cf. Matthew 18:22).

Number 3…

III. Examine Yourself for Personal Holiness in Your Life

In 1 Corinthians 10:16 Paul said The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

When we looked at that last week we said that a participation in the blood and body of Christ means…

That we have a real communion with Him in the Lord’s Supper where we draw near to Him and He draws near to us.

And that we partake in… share… enjoy… all the blessings and benefits of His sacrifice.

In the Lord’s Supper the grace of Christ becomes sweet to us and we feed on His grace afresh.

But we can’t be celebrating the forgiveness of sins while we are still holding to our secret sins.

Still harboring sin in our hearts.

There needs to be a true and godly repentance where we confess our sins and turn from our sins to follow Jesus Christ.

That’s what repentance is.

A turning away from sin… to follow Jesus.

Its a putting our sin to death.

A holy resolve to put down that sin and pick it up never more.

Jesus said in Mark 9 if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off… and if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out.

Its better to enter the Kingdom of God blind and crippled than to be thrown into hell whole (Mark 9:43-48).

But how many of us actually take sin that way.

That we would rather cut off our hand then ever give into it again.

That’s repentance!

Words we don’t often hear with sin are words like… Abhor… Renounce… Forsake.

A True Giving up… Hating our sin… renouncing it and leaving it behind.

I love the way the prayer, “The Gospel Way” says it in the Puritan Prayer book the Valley of Vision: “Help me give up every darling lust” (62).

Do we forsake the sins that made Christ Himself forsaken for us?

To take the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner there should be a true confession and true repentance.

A true resolve to live for Christ with all of our life.

Summary

So what should we examine?

Known sins.

Any sins or any division against someone in the body.

A sincere faith and love for Jesus with a desire to live all of our life unto Him.

Repentance is necessary to take Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner.

What If I Don’t Feel Worthy?

Now that begs the question… What if I don’t feel worthy?

What if I’m never worthy?

There are some Christians who have a tender conscience may look at Paul’s words about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:29-32 and say, “I’m never worthy! How could I ever partake of it?”

Paul says…

1 Corinthians 11:29–32 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

You actually had Christians under the New Covenant getting sick and dying for how they were taking the Lord’s Supper.

Now does that mean every time a Christian get’s sick its because of some sin.

No!

Jesus said about the Man Born Blind It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him (John 9:3).

If God is disciplining you for some specific sin He brings with that discipline… conviction.

As Hebrews says He disciplines us for our good and that God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:10).

The problem with the Corinthians was that they failed to repent.

The Holy Spirit kept convicting them and convicting them and convicting them…

And they just kept hardening their hearts.

This is a warning to repent of our sins but this is not teaching that God is going to get you or hold your sins against you that you committed and repented of a long time ago.

God does discipline for unrepentant sin, but He disciplines so that we might repent and not be condemned along with the world.

What this verse is teaching is that if you truly repent and ask God for forgiveness then He will surely forgive.

Look at verse 31: But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.

If we judged ourselves rightly and confessed our sins… then God would not judge us.

1 John 1:7–9 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God forgives all our sin based on the merit of Christ.

If you don’t feel worthy look to Him.

That’s what the Supper is all about in the first place.

We aren’t coming to celebrate our works or our righteousness but His!

If you have a tender conscience… then in the body and the blood… remember that we have a merciful and faithful High Priest who is not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect was tempted as we are yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

A Good Shepherd who loves and cares for the sheep.

A merciful Savior who binds up the broken hearted and a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench (Isaiah 42:3).

The Lord’s Supper is not there to remind you of your sins but to remind you that your sins are forgiven in Him.

We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Our worthiness does not come from our good works or our obedience but from Christ Himself.

We are accepted and made worthy by Him.

Examining yourselves looks like genuine repentance not sinless perfection.

Conclusion

Repentance is necessary to take Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner.

Let’s Pray