Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Corinthians 11:17-26

What Do We Declare?

 

/In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.

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.

No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.

When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else.

One remains hungry, another gets drunk.

Don’t you have homes 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 praise you for this?  Certainly not! /

/For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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, 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.”

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes/.

Worship is the natural response of man in the presence of the Creator.

Worship is a definite experience, but mere experience itself cannot be thought of as worship.

Worship results when the Living God, the Risen Lord of Glory, reveals Himself to man.

We may, however, confuse experiences with worship.

Worship will always be marked by boundless confidence, fascination, admiration, and adoration.

Nowhere should worship be more evident than during the observance of the continuing ordinance—the Lord’s Table.

Yet, too often we fail to worship before the Lord Christ who redeemed us.

Perhaps this is because we are rushed, or perhaps it is because we have become familiar with the rite and fail to think about what we are doing.

One *can* perform the right act and yet displease the Lord.

God is not greatly impressed by what we do, but throughout His Word He places emphasis upon our attitudes.

How I think and the manner in which I conduct myself are of primary importance to God whenever I serve Him.

My attitude is of primary importance before Him.

Certainly this is evident in the instructions concerning the Lord’s Table which Paul provided the Church of God at Corinth.

Join me in exploring this truth.

When Meetings Become Harmful — I am grieved as I observe the manner in which the Communion Meal is observed in many of our churches.

This holy ordinance is tacked on at the end of a service, almost as though it were an afterthought.

We thoughtlessly hurry through the act which is rendered almost meaningless through our familiarity with it.

This was not the way in which the apostolic churches observed the Meal.

The breaking of bread appears to have been a frequent feature deliberately included as a part of congregational worship.

The ordinance was commonly observed in conjunction with a love feast—an ajgavph.

What is apparent upon even cursory examination of ancient texts including the Word of God is that admittance to the meal was guarded jealousy to ensure that those who were unbaptised were excluded and to ensure that those participating were prepared to worship in unity.

These points are vital to worship at the Lord’s Table!

In an ancient writing, *The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles*, commonly referred to as *The Didache*, we encounter these ancient eucharistic instructions: *let no one eat or drink from your Eucharist except those who are baptised in the Lord’s Name.*  *For the Lord also has spoken concerning this: Do not give what is holy to dogs*.[1]

Unbaptised people were excluded from participation at the Lord’s Table, as demonstrated by the fact that the rite was observed ejn ejkklhsiva~/ [*1 Corinthians 11:18* (Greek)], as will be addressed shortly.

Shortly after providing these instructions the writer provides a further command: */And when you gather together each Lord’s Day, break bread and give thanks.

But first confess your transgressions so that your “sacrifice” may be pure.

And let no one who has a quarrel with his friend join you until they are reconciled, lest your “sacrifice” be profaned.

For this is what the Lord was referring to: In every place and at all times offer a pure sacrifice to me.

For I am a great King, says the Lord, and my name is Marvellous among the nations/*.[2]

Again, notice that the attitude of the heart must reflect what is declared, and note that the congregation is the guardian of this truth.

We claim we are in fellowship and we must in fact be in fellowship.

Paul rebuked the Corinthians precisely because they had ignored the truths they declared.

Above all else the Lord’s Supper is a church ordinance.

Listen to the Apostle: I hear that when you come together as a church… (ejn ejkklhsiva~/) [*verse 18*].

Literally the Apostle is referring to the church met in assembly.

The Lord’s Table cannot be observed except when the Body of Christ is met.

I cannot decide that I will have a Communion Meal while seated in the privacy of my own home.

I cannot choose to grab another individual and invite them to share a meal which I will call Communion.

The church, met in assembly, has right and responsibility to observe the meal.

When the church is met that meal becomes a vehicle for corporate worship.

In a brief moment I will demonstrate the declarations of the Meal, but it is sufficient for the moment to remind you that it is Communion.

Note the Apostle’s instruction provided in *1 Corinthians 10:15-17*.

The title *communion* comes from an older English word as seen in this passage when read in many older translations.

/Judge for yourselves what I say.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not *the communion* of the blood of Christ?

The bread which we break, is it not *the communion* of the body of Christ?

For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread/.

The *New King James Version* follows the practise of the older *King James Version* and the *American Standard Version* of the Bible in translating the Greek word koinwniva by our English term *communion*.

The tragedy of this otherwise excellent translation is that with the passage of time we have lost the common usage of the word restricting the term *communion* to the realm of liturgy.

What is this koinwniva?

The translation I use renders the word participation, an adequate though rather sterile effort at capturing what the word would have meant to those first Christians.

A contemporary translation, the *New Century Version*, in keeping with many modern efforts at accuracy, translates the word into English as *sharing*.

This translation (*sharing*) approximates the meaning of koinwniva?

Eugene Peterson has dealt with that *17th verse* powerfully with his translation.

/Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness—Christ doesn’t become fragmented in us.

Rather, we become unified in him.

We don’t reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is/.[3]

This is the emphasis which was forgotten by the Corinthians, and which is forgotten too often among the churches of our Lord in this day.

We are one in Christ and we must therefore treat one another with respect and dignity.

The Corinthian meal had become an opportunity for individuals to attempt to worship as individuals even though others were present.

That is an impossibility.

Perhaps one can worship as an individual in the presence of many under some circumstances, even under most circumstances.

However, it is impossible to come to the Lord’s Table and attempt to be an individual.

Here we make a great and solemn confession of unity which is essential for worship.

Some of the Corinthians stuffed themselves with the abundance of food they brought from home even as their fellow saints were hungry.

This points back to that fellowship meal— the ajgavph.

Those same sated souls drank so much of their own wine that they were actually drunk while fellow saints thirsted.

There was no sharing.

There was imposition of socio-economic strata even in the church.

There was division within the Body of Christ.

There was an unannounced hierarchy which discriminated for and against some within the Body.

Dear people, the Body of Christ is composed of sinners redeemed by grace.

Within the Body of Christ there is no hierarchy.

There are no privileges of place among the people of God.

Each saint is redeemed by the infinite grace of the True and Living God, gifted by the Holy Spirit of God as He determines and placed within the Body of Christ as the Master chooses.

Each saint is of infinite worth simply because that child of the Living God has been redeemed by the infinite God.

Therefore, each Christian who is a member of this congregation is to be received with dignity and treated with respect.

May I be practical for a moment.

Permit me to become pointed in addressing the people of God.

My love for Christ and for His Body makes me bold to speak plainly.

When offended by someone within the Body, where shall I go?

To quit the Body of Christ means that I confess that Christ is divided!

Moreover, to permit someone to quit the Body of Christ without making every effort to reclaim that individual is to say that the Body of Christ is divided.

Where shall I go?  Shall I start my own church?

Shall I attend another church where God did not place me?  Shall I cease to confess the common faith?

Where can I go if not to the church where God Himself has placed me?

No Christian understanding the grace of God can ever casually permit such division to occur.