Understanding the Lord's Supper
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The Lords Supper
The Lords Supper
Next Week
Didn’t want to surprise you
Want to give you time to prepare.
You don’t ask a woman to prom on prom night.
Time for preperation
Time for reflection
Confess my sins! Leading on Empty.
17 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.
1 Corinthians 11:
Paul was giving the Corinthians council concerning women wearing head coverings during prayer and prophesying. NOT time to get into that discussion now, but.....
He started off praising them for keeping the traditions of the faith that had been handed down to them.
But then calls them out for what they are doing.
What were they doing?
18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it.
19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
Division / Factions
20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper,
19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
1 Corinthians
It is communion with each other in remembrance of who Christ is, what he did, and what he will do.
He is God that became flesh,
He died for the forgiveness of our sins and rose on the third day
He will return to gather his followers and judge the world that rejects him.
It is a remembrance of the vertical relationship that we have and if our vertical relationships are lined up, we as a Church body, will be in harmony with one another.
Harmony - We are not all playing the same notes, but all of our notes produce a chord that is pleasing to the ear.
21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.
22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.
They put themselves first.
I am second
I am third.
God - Others - Myself
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper
1 corinthians 11
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which 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 He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
But wait....there’s more....
But wait....there’s more....
1 Corinthians 11:26
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
We are all unworthy in one sence
But we acknowledge His ability to cover our sins if we confess them and turn away from them and toward Christ. We put on His righteousness, not our own.
28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
1 Corinthians 11:
Examine - Test precious metals for impurities.
59 I considered my ways
And turned my feet to Your testimonies.
Psalm
40 Let us examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the Lord.
20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
How much time do you spend searching your own heart before God?
We spend 5 minutes examining ourselves and hours pointing out the specks in everyone else’s eyes.
Why?
We are afraid that God is going to convict us to turn away from what we want, but He knows is in our best interest.
He might say.....
Give up that anger, pride, job, house, relationship, thing.
give me your pride
Give me
It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
That dog won’t hunt.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
1 Corinthians 11:
Todd, does that mean if I take the Lord’s Supper with unconfessed and unrepentant sin in my life that God may make me sick or kill me?
I don’t know, but that is the reason Paul gave to the church of Corinth for why some were sick and some died. And God is the same now as he was then, and if Paul wrote this letter under the the authority of by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then I guess, Yes.
Well then I’m not taking the Lord’s Supper.
If you refuse to take part of the Lord’s Supper, then you are refusing to take part in the Lord’s Kingdom.
That’s pretty Harsh! I have said that living the Christian life is simple, not easy.
31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
1 Corinthians 11:
19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him
20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
1 John
If you spend time before God and sincerely examine ourselves asking God to search us and sift us, He will, through the Holy Spirit, speak to us through the heart that he gave us.
That is, if our hearts are celebrated to his .
If the word of God calls something a sin that you are engaged in, and your own heart doesn’t convict you of it..... it is time to recalibrate your heart.
32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
1 Corinthians 11:
Self discipline always taste better that the Lord’s discipline.
Momma washed my mouth out with soap.
33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.
Be Prepared.
Get alone.
6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
a. Pray that God will show you your sins, pray that God will show you the areas of your life that aren’t bearing fruit. Pray that God will show you where you need to change your attitude.
2. Go to the mirror.
a. Look at your self. I don’t mean look for pimples to pick or comb your hair. I mean look directly into your own eyes and say, “God, show me please how to serve you right now.”
b. Whatever logs you see, decide to pull them out.
3. Look at your internet browser history and your bank accounts and pray the same thing.
4. Look through your text messages and your social media posts, and again pray for God to search your heart.
5. Correct what needs correcting. If you have to make amends with people, do it quickly. Call them, text them, take them to lunch, dinner, do whatever God lays on your heart.
6. If you have a hurt that someone has inflicted on you, forgive them. And if appropriate, let them know you have forgiven them.
Well I don’t think so and so should be taking the Lord’s supper.
After 1-6.
1. Pray that God would let you see that person as He sees that person.
Imagine a parent is at their child’s baseball game. They are playing their biggest rivals. They were the parents rivals. The teams don’t like each other, the town’s don’t like each other. It is a rivalry. And their child loses the game. I mean it was their fault that they lost the game.
Do you think that a good parent then hates their child?
Are they disappointed? Yes
Will they work with their child to correct the holes in their game, so it won’t happen again? Yes.
But they are rooting for their child, and love their child.
I believe that is how God looks at us. He is rooting for us to live up to His standards.
He has given us forgiveness through the death of His Son, His Holy Spirit to live inside us and each other.
He desperately wants us to fight the good fight.
When you start rooting for others battling whatever is dragging them down and praying for them, and loving them. Then and only then are you prepared to help them with the speck.
a. Pray for God’s heart toward them.
b. Check your own motives.
2. Then, if led by the Holy Spirit, go to them in private. Coffee, tea, a meal, whatever and confess your love for them and what God has laid on your heart.
3. Don’t call me!
Next week, I will present each of you with the Lord’s Supper. If you take it wrongly, that is on you.