The Lord’s Table: The Practice

Announcements

Good morning. Welcome to Southern Hills Baptist Church. Thank you for joining us today.

If you are a first-time guest with us, you will find a Connection Card in the pew rack in front of you. We would appreciate it if you would fill that out and place it in the offering plate. That gives us a record of your visit and allows us the opportunity of reaching out to you this week to answer any questions that you might have.

Online giving is available at our website, southernhillsbc.com. By clicking on GIVE, it will take you to our giving page where you can easily give by electronic check or credit card. You can also give during our offertory time or in the box at the info table. If you are a guest, please know that we do not expect you to give. Our members and regular attenders provide for the ministry of the church.

See bulletin for Calendar Updates

If you are a guest with us, know that this is our weekly Family Worship service. Our children will remain with us for the entire service. We do have a nursery available for children under 4 just down the hall if you would like to use it.

Please stand as I read our Call to Worship. This morning, we will be doing a responsive reading. I will read the words in white and we will all read the words in yellow.

Call To Worship

1 Chronicles 16:31–35 ESV

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Say also: “Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.

Opening Hymn

Scripture & Prayer: Pastor Atreju Psalm 145:1-13

Song #1

Missions Minute: Olsen Family (IMB)

Today, our Missions Minute is about the Olsen family. Dan and Tammie Olsen are missionaries with the International Mission Board to Istanbul, Turkey. They live there with 2 of their 3 children and minister to the Turkish people around them.

Over the past several months, they have been making new contacts through their weekly English Conversation Club as well as events that they have put on for the community. Recently, they had 7 people attend a 2 hour gospel presentation in Turkish and have been able to expose several people to Christian worship in Turkish.

Dan and Tammie also partner with an online ministry which delivers Turkish New Testaments to anyone who requests one. When they deliver these, there are many opportunities to make new contacts and share the gospel by inviting these men and women into discipleship relationships.

I have put their most recent update on the missions table. Please take a look if you are interested. Also, if you would like to be included in their newsletter or learn how you can support some of their ministries, please let me know.

But, the best way to support them is to pray. Dan is asking for prayer in the following ways.

That they would find soft hearts in the community and be able to begin discipling their new contacts

For their church as they transition to an independent church

For more laborers to join them in the harvest. One of their young ladies just had to leave the mission field because her 23 year old brother developed cancer at home. Be praying for workers and for him.

Also, Dan did not ask, but please be praying for him physically as he works through physically therapy for his shoulder and both hips. It takes him 2 hours to get to physical therapy by public transportation each week.

Offering & Prayer

Song #2

Song #3 (Death Was Arrested)

Pastoral Prayer

World -

Country- Flooding in Omaha area

State-

City-

SHBC-

Introduction

If you have your bible with you this morning, please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

Today, we will be closing out this chapter and our deep dive on the Lord’s Supper. I hope that through us spending a month on this subject, that you have not only learned something valuable, but have also come realize the gravity of what it is when we come together at the table of the Lord.

Over the last few weeks, we have discussed our approach to the Supper, the ordinance that is the Supper, and the heart of the worshipper at the Supper.

In doing so, we have seen that Jesus is the authority who both instructs us to partake and makes the way open so that adopted sons and daughters of God may approach His throne and, thereby, His table.

And so, each time that the local church body comes together and observes the Supper, they should be reminded of the awesomeness of the moment. That—as we assemble as God’s holy people and step into His presence, we should approach His table with gratefulness for being reconciled in relationship to Him by Christ and for being drawn into unity with Him and with each other by His grace.

Therefore, each week, as we practice stepping into the presence of Almighty God, we should reflect on our hearts and ensure that they are soft and ready to stand before the King of Heaven. We should come with the desire to sacrifice the things that we want for ourselves and to, instead, build up the body—all for the sake of being unified in Jesus, who is both our Savior and Lord.

We then remind each other of the price that He paid for us to be able to sit at the table of God, proclaiming His death to one another to keep us humble in spirit and grounded in our faith. We remind each other that their are consequences for sin, and that to carry our own iniquity into God’s presence is both an insult to Christ and a violation of the presence of our Holy God.

And so, this morning, as Paul closes out his instructions to the church, some of which he received from Jesus Himself, he exhorts the Corinthian body and provides them some practical advice.

[TITLE SLIDE]

As these church members put into practice what they have learned, they must fight against temptation and learn to put the welfare of their brothers and sisters before their own.

As we close this out, I want to start by reading this whole section of instruction together, but—this morning—our focus will be on the last two verses of chapter 11.

Look with me to what Paul writes to these church members, starting in verse 17:

[MAIN PASSAGE SLIDE x11]

1 Corinthians 11:17–34 ESV

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. 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. (/) 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. (/) 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. 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. (/) So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.

Paul closes by providing some practical advice that will help them to avoid their temptation to sin. But the main point that we are going to focus on today is that the proper practice of the Supper should shape us into people of hospitality.

[POINT 1 SLIDE]

Care for Each Other (v 33)

In the simplest definition, hospitality is “the generous and gracious treatment of guests.”

We find this theme of hospitality throughout the Bible. In fact, it is commanded of the people of God in both the OT and the NT.

In Leviticus, Israel is commanded to “treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you” —that they should love them as they love themselves.

The prophet Isaiah tells the people of Judah to “share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house.”

In the story of Ruth, we see Boaz practice this kind of radical hospitality. He not only follows the law, but he goes beyond it to ensure that Ruth is cared for.

And this same hospitality gets carried over into the church. In fact, it becomes a defining mark of the church. Jesus tells His followers to welcome and care for the stranger and for those in need.

(beat)

As a local church, we should embody hospitality to our community. In fact, that is maybe the most important reputation we can build in our neighborhoods.

For the lost may not recognize if we speak the truth or not, but they will surely know if we care for people.

We cannot allow the local church to become a private social club. We are a hospital for broken people.

For we are also broken people, mended only by the grace of God.

(beat)

Have you ever noticed that hospital and hospitality sound alike? That is because they come from the same root word in Latin. You know what else comes from that root word? Hospice.

The church should be all of these things to those who are spiritually wounded and dying. We should welcome them in and feed them. We should bind their wounds and introduce them to the one who can overcome death.

(beat)

How much more, then, should we be hospitable to each other?

Not only does Jesus teach the tenants of hospitality in love for one another, but Paul, Peter, and John all teach this as the standard for local churches in their letters.

You heard that right.

A hospitable church, full of hospitable believers, is the standard for any local church belonging to Jesus.

And by standard, I mean the lowest acceptable expectation.

Paul calls church members to “contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” and to “outdo one another in showing honor.”

Peter tells the church to “show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

And John tells believers to treat traveling Christians that they entertain “in a manner worthy of God.”

(beat)

Every person who claims to follow Christ is expected to be hospitable to those around them, and especially to their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Christian, this is your duty, and it should be offered with a full heart of thankfulness as if you were showing hospitality to the Lord Himself.

I want you to think about this…

Hospitality is so important to Jesus that anyone who desires to be an Elder in the church is automatically disqualified if they are not hospitable.

Thats right. It doesn’t matter how good of a preacher or teacher they are, if they are not first “sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, and hospitable”, they have no business being anywhere near a pulpit or bearing the title of Elder or Pastor.

How would you ever consider someone to lead a church if they can’t control themselves or treat others well?

Ultimately, this is why an Elder must be able to “manage his own household” well. Because if he cannot lead his family adequately and treat them well—seeking to be molded into the image and character of Jesus—he will not be able to lead his church family in chasing after holiness.

(beat)

Hospitality is one of the most important basic skills for followers of Christ. And—through his connections—Paul has found that this basic skill is still undeveloped in the church in Corinth.

He must go back to the basics in his instruction to them.

Look with me to verse 33:

[PASSAGE SLIDE]

1 Corinthians 11:33 ESV

So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—

In verse 21, we found out that some were coming to the table early and eating and drinking before others even arrive. And Paul’s corrective is simply that they wait; that they learn temperance and patience. For, as we will find out in chapter 12, they boast in their ecstatic spiritual gifts, but they have not yet blossomed the fullness of the fruit of the Spirit.

Paul explains this fruit to the church at Galatia:

[SCRIPTURE SLIDE]

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Surely, these are familiar to you in name, if not in practice. But they are foreign to the Corinthians. In the first 11 chapters of this letter, there has been little evidence of any of this fruit in the life of this local church. The simple act of failing to wait for one another in communion testifies to their lack of love, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control.

And I would argue that without self-control, the rest of this fruit will not flourish. It will stay small and malnourished, desperate to be fed by Word and Spirit.

[PASSAGE SLIDE]

Why, then, should they wait for one another?

In reality, it is specifically for the benefit of the body.

(beat)

One of the great failures of our society over the last 80 years is the destruction of the nuclear family.

By nuclear family, I refer to a married heterosexual couple with their children in one home—what most Americans would consider a “traditional family.”

In her book Mothering Boys, Molly DeFrank points to research that shows that families who stay together—and particularly those who eat together—experience much lower rates of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Children in those homes also showed greater resilience and higher self-esteem that those from broken homes. They had, on average, better grades in school and a greater likelihood to read for pleasure.

But—the research showed—that less than 40% of American families still eat together at all…

The slow decline of families eating together started with the advent of TV dinners. Families became less connected as they went from looking at one another and having conversation with one another to looking forward and having little conversation. They went from “sharing a meal” to “all eating the same meal in the same room.” But their attention had moved from each other and to something else. They took their eyes off of the ball. And the ball that was fumbled was “family intimacy.”

On Friday, Riley and I were taking a 4th grader to the bathroom at Good News Club. This girl was amazed that we could be Father and Daughter because we were talking and getting along.

At 9 years old, this poor young child had never spent time with her father because he had been in jail since she was born.

Broken families are everywhere, it seems, today. All over our culture, there is a tremendous lack of love, discipline, and family intimacy. The need for individualism and fulfilling our own desires is breaking families apart. We need to come back to the table again in our homes, for that is where the healing must start.

You see, there is something intimate about sharing a meal together. It brings people together in close proximity, forcing them to learn civility and discourse. But even more importantly, God has designed meals to help humans bond with each other. When we eat, our brains experience and increase in serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps us focus and control our feelings and emotions. It’s the reason why most of us have some kind of emotional connection with food.

But what if God purposely constructed your brain in this way so that serotonin would help you to emotionally bond with the people you are eating with?

(beat)

Who are you bonding with when you eat?

Maybe there is a reason why we feel so emotionally connected to the TV and our phone…

Maybe there is a reason why we feel so emotionally disconnected from people—even those that we love.

(beat)

The Corinthian believers were not becoming unified in the meal because they weren’t eating together.

Instead, they were united themselves to their own selfishness—feeding the flesh instead of putting it to death.

The church body must eat together if they desire unity.

They must share the table of the Lord if they want to be a family.

They must sit together in intimacy, sacrificing their selfish desires, so that they can sit at the feet of their Father and connect with Him emotionally.

You’ve heard “the family that prays together, stays together.” But I think we should amend that saying.

The family that worships and eats together, stays together.

[REPEAT]

(beat)

Are you practicing this at home?

I submit to you that those families who do will experience greater intimacy and unity.

(beat)

We try to model this as a church body, not only so that we can draw together in unity, but as an example of how to lead your family well.

(beat)

Paul has instructed the Corinthians to be patient and wait for one another as they practice what it is to be part of God’s family. This will take some self-control. But his next piece of instruction will need even more self-control.

[POINT 2 SLIDE]

Manage Your Appetite (v 34a)

He tells them that their self-control must start at home, for they must learn to manage their appetites.

Look with me to the first half of verse 34:

[PASSAGE SLIDE]

1 Corinthians 11:34 ESV

if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.

This might seem like a ridiculous statement: “Hey guys, don’t come to the table hungry. I know it’s full of food, but eat before you come.”

We usually have the opposite problem in our house. It never fails. The kids always want to eat a full meal as a snack after school. And we always respond the same way, “You’d better eat your dinner.”

Thankfully, they are growing and ravenous teenagers, so they are hungry again in 10 minutes. But we want our families to be hungry at mealtime. We want them to desire to eat and enjoy the meal together.

All the work of connecting emotionally at the dinner table will unravel rather quickly if my kids aren’t hungry after my wife spent 90 minutes cooking dinner…

(beat)

We want our kids hungry at dinner time.

However, if we are having guests over, we may purposely give them a snack beforehand to temper their hunger. And we will encourage them to allow the guests to get food first and not to take more than they need so that others may have seconds.

That is how we show hospitality as a family.

And the same is true at the Lord’s table. We should wait for each other and not take more than our share. For the table of the Lord is there for the purpose of drawing the family of God together under the body and blood of Christ, not to fulfill our physical need.

But in the early church, the meal became a feast for the purpose of showing hospitality. Those in need could be satiated in their hunger. And, in providing this for them, the church met both their physical and spiritual needs.

Therefore, Paul says, “if you are hungry before church, eat before you come, so that you are not tempted to hurt your brothers and sisters by taking more than you need.”

(beat)

Now, that covers the practical side of this instruction. Paul is trying to give them some basic tools to use to better care for one another. These church members must learn to manage their appetite, for this is the most basic practice for learning self-control.

(beat)

But what if we understood this statement metaphorically?

Should we come to the table of the Lord spiritually hungry? Or should we eat spiritually at home before we come?

(beat)

Let us consider these questions this morning…

Over the years, one of my biggest frustrations in church is when I hear people who only show up on Sunday say “I’m not getting spiritually fed.”

My only response to this is to say “well, you have completely misunderstood what the church is.”

This has become an ever-growing issue over the last 50 years in the church. These individuals have been molded in the fashion of Burger King and think that they can “have it their way” even at church. Effectively, they have become consumers. They want to be entertained and they want to hear a sermon that uplifts them and makes them feel good. And if a local church provides anything that does not meet their standard, they leave.

But that is not what church is.

We don’t measure the quality of a church by what Consumer’s Digest says people want, but by how faithful they are to the Word of God.

(beat)

The church is a local family, where individuals give up their individuality for the better of the local body of Christ. In the practice of becoming a member, the individual is grafted into the family of God. They have covenanted with other members for the purpose of bringing God glory through fulfilling the mission of the church.

Therefore, the church is not a place to consume, but to give.

We sacrifice ourselves and we build each other up.

(beat)

So, should we expect to learn things when we gather?

Yes.

But the purpose of the liturgy on Sunday is to teach you good theology and shape you into the image of Jesus. We are not here to entertain and let you choose your spiritual meal from a menu.

Each and every week, the Biblical text will choose the meal for us.

And in the proclamation of that Word and of the gospel, the Holy Spirit will shape hearts and draw us together.

Members must integrate into the body for the purpose of giving to the body and to Christ.

And, if they do, they will be fed along the way as they learn to joy in serving others.

(beat)

However, our duty as Christians does not stop when we leave this building. We are called to be a holy people. And we must pursue that holiness outside of these walls.

It is much easier to be holy when we are together. And hopefully you leave encouraged every time you step outside of these walls. But, if we are to learn self-control and help the fruit of the Spirit flourish in us, we need to feed the spirit and kill the flesh all week—each and every day that we draw breath.

(beat)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness?

(beat)

If so, you cannot wait to eat and drink of Jesus only one day a week.

You should be drinking deeply from the well of living water all week.

You should seek His desire for you each and every day—in every decision and in every moment.

You should hunger to be near Him through prayer and to thirst to hear from Him in the Word.

Practicing the spiritual disciplines throughout the week is how you are best spiritually fed, for you are developing holy habits.

Pray when you wake up and at every moment you remember to do it before you fall asleep.

Seek Him in quiet time and in the Word at least once a day.

Look for times of solitude and times of community.

And if you are not doing already, plan to eat with friends and family on a regular basis.

And church member, if you don’t have that available to you at home, look around. Your brothers and sisters would love to sit and eat with you and care for your soul.

(beat)

Let us feed and drink on Jesus all week, so that we don’t come to the table hungry. Instead, let us find rest and community as we sit with the Father at His table.

Just as the Corinthians should manage their physical hunger, they must also learn to manage their spiritual hunger.

Jesus said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

May we learn to be filled all week, so that when we come together on Sundays and approach the table, “it will not be for judgment.”

(beat)

Corporate worship is time for the body to be encouraged and unified in the real presence of God. And if we want to find rest and encouragement, and to avoid eating and drinking judgment on ourselves, we must learn self-control.

But if we are going to be the local church family that God has called us to be, our caring for others cannot just be something we do because Jesus desires it. It must also become our desire.

[POINT 3 SLIDE]

Seek Humility (v 34b)

Humility is a funny thing. It is completely opposite of everything we desire in the flesh. Part of our sin nature is coded in our DNA. There is an innate desire for self-preservation. And this spills over into everything we do and think in the flesh. We call it selfishness.

Selfishness does not need to be taught. Spend 10 minutes with a toddler. They were born with the desire to feed themselves whatever they want and they will quickly learn behavior modification to manipulate you so that they can achieve their goal.

To be humble is to learn the ability to turn that instinct off. And truthfully, I doubt we can ever fully turn it off, but when we start ignoring and denying it, it’s voice slowly gets quieter.

Paul has already talked about the need for the Corinthians to learn self-control. But now he will ask them to do something else. Look to the second have of verse 34:

[PASSAGE SLIDE]

1 Corinthians 11:34 ESV

About the other things I will give directions when I come.

This statement doesn’t seem to convey much, but Paul has now asked them to do 2 more things.

First, they must wait until he comes. Why?

(beat)

There may be a couple things that he wants to discuss in person, but I think the biggest reason is that they need time to practice their self-control and seeking unity at the table before they are ready for whatever spiritual meat Paul has next for them.

But, second, he has also asked them to realize that they have a lot more to learn about what it is to follow Christ.

(beat)

Youth, believe it or not, there was a time long ago—back before cell phones and the internet—when, if you wanted to know something, you had 2 choices. You could either read from the 20 book Encyclopedia set that your parents paid $1000 for, or if you were like me, you had to go to the library and read books…

At home, you were amazed at how much Mom and Dad knew. It seemed like they knew everything. And even if they didn’t and were just making it up, you would never know any better because you were too lazy to ride your bike to the library and look it up for yourself…

(beat)

But today, any 4 year old with a smart phone can—and will—correct every sentence that you speak for the rest of your life on earth.

Looking like an idiot in front of a class of Kindergarteners… that will keep you humble…

(beat)

But, we should have realized long ago that we can’t know everything.

The Corinthians were surrounded by Greek philosophers who boasted in their knowledge. They could talk themselves and others into believing anything because of their great rhetoric.

And Paul has just asked them to be quiet, to seek unity, to learn self-control, and to admit that they still have a lot to learn of the wisdom of God…

(beat)

Maybe we are more like the Corinthians than we care to admit.

Does your lack of spiritual knowledge keep you humble?

Are you seeking after God for greater wisdom?

(beat)

Christians must learn to become life-long learners, relentlessly chasing after God’s wisdom that He imparts to us by His Word and through His Spirit and His church.

Application

Follower of Christ, God created you for a purpose. He has given you a mandate and a mission to fulfill. He empowers you to fulfill it through the Holy Spirit. And He encourages you to fulfill it with His church.

His family—the faithful local church body that you covenant with and submit to—is His chosen tool to equip and exhort you to carry out the task of making disciples.

The Lord’s Supper helps the church body in encouraging you. It forces us to put to death our selfishness and to care for one another as we approach our Father’s table. In this, we practice hospitality in the way that Jesus did.

And when we approach the table correctly—with soft hearts and holy garments—we get a taste of the glory of God. We get a moment of rest in the presence of our loving Father.

And so, as we approach the table this morning, let us lift up King Jesus as we prepare to remember what He has done to offer us the opportunity to be reconciled to God and to sit at His feet.

[L.S. SLIDE]

As Pastor Atreju comes, please ready your hearts for our time of communion.

Lord’s Supper- Pastor Atreju

CLOSING HYMN

Invitation

Gospel presentation and call to belief

CONGREGATIONAL BLESSING