Sermon Tone Analysis

During the past seven months, we have taken a new approach toward the sharing of communion at this church.

In doing so, I have sought to give us all a better understanding of the significance of this holy ordinance, to elevate it to its proper position within our worship liturgy and to help us recognize the community aspect that must be present within it for it to be an observance that honors God, the Holy Spirit, and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I believe we are well on our way to a robust theology of the Lord’s Supper, and I think there is evidence that the Holy Spirit is drawing this body of believers closer together in love.

And I think that is, in part, a result of our new approach.

But there’s something important that we’ve kind of glossed over as we have observed the Lord’s Supper that we need to be sure we do not miss.

Communion within the church does, indeed, help draw us together as one unified body of Christ.

But no less significant is the way in which the Lord’s Supper serves as a way for us to commune — to come into closer spiritual contact — with the Christ who instituted the practice at the Last Supper.

And in communing with Jesus, we commune with the Father, and we commune with the Holy Spirit.

When He broke the bread and passed the cup with the wine in it, Jesus told His disciples to “do this in remembrance of Me.”

Whether by conscious choice or not, most Protestant churches that tack communion onto the end of a regular Sunday service tend to interpret that word “remember” as if communion is simply a memorial observance.

It is, indeed, a memorial.

Much as we might think of the Vietnam Wall as a memorial designed to help us remember and honor those Americans who died in that war, communion serves to help us remember and honor Jesus, who sacrificed Himself on a Roman cross so that we might be saved from the punishment due us because of our sins.

For most of us, though, a visit to the Vietnam Wall does not call for significant personal reflection.

Unless we happened to serve in that war or had close relatives who died in it, our reflections upon visiting the memorial generally are of a more detached nature.

We can sympathize with those who lost loved ones and with those who suffered as a result of the war, but we cannot empathize with them.

We cannot truly share their pain.

As we participate in the Lord’s Supper, on the other hand, our reflection should be of a far more personal nature.

Jesus sacrificed Himself for me; He sacrificed Himself for you; He sacrificed Himself so that each of us who believes in Him and accepts this gift can be saved.

Therefore, our reflection on the significance of the bread and the fruit of the vine should not be of a detached nature.

As I partake of the elements of the Lord’s Table, I should engage in a time of profound meditation on the fact that His body was broken for ME, that His blood was shed for ME.

And recognizing the gravity of those two statements should then cause me to examine myself to see whether, as Paul suggests in our focus passage today, I am partaking of the body of Christ and the blood of Christ in a worthy manner.

Turn with me to , and while you’re getting to the passage, let me give you some background.

The Corinthian church was kind of a mess, and Paul didn’t pull any punches in letting them know how messed up they were.

And some of his strongest language to them appears in this passage.

The problems in that church had caused a breakdown in the unity that the body of Christ is supposed to show.

So after spending some time talking about how men and women are to show honor for one another, Paul then turns to the more general matter of how PEOPLE were to honor one another in the church.

Beginning in Verse 17, we see that the divisions within that church had extended all the way into its observance of the Lord’s Supper.

They dishonored one another — and God — by treating the feast portion of their observance as just any other pagan feast of the time.

As we see in Verse 21, some people were getting fed, while others were not, and some people were even getting drunk.

Paul was understandably incensed by this behavior.

Then Paul reminds the church that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and that the church observes it as a memorial of Christ’s sacrifice and as a way to tell the world about it.

Now, let’s pick up at verse 27 as we explore today’s theme of self-examination.

Read 26-34

So the context of this passage is still focused on the Corinthian church’s shameful treatment of some of its brethren, and we see Paul give the application for this discourse in Verse 33: “When you come together to eat, wait for one another.”

But I want to focus on three verses in which Paul makes his appeal to individuals within the church.

Go back to Verse 27.

Clearly bringing shame upon people at the Lord’s Table would be one way of participating in an unworthy manner.

But Paul seems to suggest in the next verse that there might be other things — things that each person could only know about himself — that would constitute having communion in an unworthy manner.

And then Paul warns that the consequences of not recognizing the things that make our participation unworthy can be harsh.

I don’t always remind you to examine yourselves prior to communion, but it’s something that each of us should do, each time we partake in this observance.

As we continue to develop this church’s new approach to the Lord’s Table, we will begin to devote more time and attention to this matter than we have before.

But first, we need to understand what we should be looking for as we examine ourselves.

I submit that there are four prerequisites for Christians to participate in the Lord’s Supper in a manner that is not unworthy.

First, note that I said “Christians.”

This table is reserved for followers of Christ.

Only those who have repented from sin, trusted in Jesus as their savior and been baptized as a public pronouncement of their new life in Christ should partake of communion.

There is no saving power in this observance, but to participate in communion as an unbeliever — to eat of the bread that represents the broken body of Christ and drink of the juice that represents the shed blood of Christ as an unbeliever — would be blasphemy.

Assuming, then, that you ARE a believer, what are the prerequisites?

Holiness

Obedience

Love

Reconciliation

Let’s take a quick look at each of them.

First, there is holiness.

Recall that I said that in the Lord’s Supper we are actually communing — experiencing a closer spiritual relationship with all three persons of the Trinity.

“Be ye holy, for I am holy,” says the Lord.

The God who dwells within believers through the Holy Spirit calls believers to be set apart for special use.

Writing in his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul makes a strong case for the way our striving for holiness draws us closer to God.

2 cor 6:16

2 Cor

We will never be perfectly free of unrighteousness this side of heaven.

But we are called to aim for that end.

And we are called to confess our sins and repent.

If we fail to do those things and then participate in communion, then we do so in an unworthy manner.

Closely tied to this concept of holiness is obedience.

Regarding our Savior, the Apostle John wrote:

Do you want to be in communion with Jesus — not just when we share the Lord’s Supper, but always?

Then keep His commandments.

Be obedient to His calling.

Now the people of Israel had the 10 Commandments and hundreds of other laws they were required to follow to be considered obedient.

And even if they kept all of those laws to the letter, their sinful hearts would betray them.

But Jesus distilled everything to just two commandments — and even they are simply two sides of the same coin.

Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.

And love your neighbor as yourself.

So the interesting thing is that if you do those two things, then you’ve covered obedience, as well.

"This is

John

The church in Corinth was doing a terrible job keeping this commandment; they had discord and division, cliques and classes, and they were therefore partaking of communion in an unworthy manner.

They lacked both love and obedience.

As you examine yourselves today, please note whether your life displays love for God and for His people.

There is one more prerequisite for communion, and that follows naturally from our discussion about loving God and loving one another: Reconciliation.

You’ve heard me say this before, and you’re likely to hear me say it again: It is time for you to forgive.

You’ve held onto that hurt — whatever it is — for too long.

You’ve taken whatever was done or said to you that was wrong, and you’ve kept it handy, like a knife in a drawer.

It may have been used to cut you at one time, but now you cut yourself with it every time you take it back out of the drawer to look at it again.

I think Paul was speaking in literal, physical terms when he told the people of Corinth that their unworthy participation in communion was making some of them sick and weak.

But I think there’s an application to your mental health, as well.

Bitterness and anger just keep re-opening the old wounds.

Forgiveness and reconciliation are the only way you’ll ever heal them.

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus about this:

Someday soon, I hope we will be able to make this altar before me a place where people can come together for reconciliation.

Nothing will demonstrate more mightily the power of Jesus Christ.

After all, it was He who sacrificed Himself so that we could be reconciled with God.

Now, as we prepare to remember the sacrifice He made for us, please remain seated as we sing “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.”

When we are done, Lauren will continue to play as the deacons distribute the bread.

Please take that time to examine yourselves and to ask God to reveal any unrighteousness, any lovelessness, any disobedience and any unforgiveness in your hearts.

If you need time at the altar, it is here for you.

We will take all the time we need to take, and then we will all eat together after prayer.

TAKE AND EAT

Please turn in your hymnals to No. 336, “There Is a Fountain.”