I Corinthians 11:17-34
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Coming to the Lord’s Supper
Coming to the Lord’s Supper
Addressing Issues Surrounding the Lord's Supper
Introduction
Introduction
It is so strange to bring a message that addresses the Lord's Supper without being able to actually gather at the table to celebrate the supper. In continuing our series Wild Times at Corinth, we come to I Corinthians 11, verses 17-34 where we find Paul addressing some issues he has gotten word of surrounding the church at Corinth when they observed the Lord's Supper.
Before we dive into the passage, I want to make a few statements about the message:
First: The evangelical church practices two ordinances or sacraments that Jesus Christ instituted when He was ministering on Earth. These are baptism and the Lord's Supper. As we study these ordinances we commit to look at what Scripture says about them. The Holy Word of God is our ultimate authority. What we must do in all instances is look to the Word first and see what it says. We should not come to it assuming that it will say one thing because that is what we have been taught or what we have believed. We must come openly and look at a passage ands ask,"What is God telling us here?"
Second: I love you. As your pastor, you need to know this. ON Sundays I sometimes have to say hard things from this pulpit because I can not and will not deny the truth of Scripture. My prayer is that you will always hear my heart and the the heart of the Lord Jesus as His Word is proclaimed.
Third: Neither of these ordinances saves you. You don't get salvation through either of these symbols and you certainly cannot lose your salvation because you abstain from one of them.
Fourth: Pastor and author Bobby Jameson writes:
> But how exactly does a group of Christians enact this commitment? The ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper play crucial roles. In baptism, you publicly commit to Christ and His people. Baptism is where faith goes public. It's how a new believer shows up on the world and the church's radar as a believer. In other words, baptism marks off a believer from the world. In baptism, the church says to the world, "this one belongs to Jesus!"
> In the Lord's Supper, we renew our commitment to Christ and his people. But, distinct from baptism, the Lord's Supper is something we all do together. The Lord’s Supper marks off an entire group of Christians as one body, drawing a line between them and the world around them. And by drawing a line between the church and the world, baptism and the Lord’s Supper draw a line around the church. The ordinances make it possible to point to something and say “church” rather than only pointing to many somethings and saying “Christians.”
So part of how we became a church was celebrating the Lord's Supper together. It gathers us together under the name or Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection.
The question we must ask and that I believe Paul would answer here in this passage is this: How should we take the Lord's Supper? What were some of the issues surrounding the Lord's Supper that Paul was addressing with the Christians who had kind of gone wild in Corinth? Let's pray together and then dive into the passage and look for answers.
Pray
Pray
Read Scripture
Read Scripture
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.
There are four ways I want to focus in on that show us in what way we should be coming to the table for the Lord's Supper.
1. In Unity
1. In Unity
Part of the issue that we learned from the very beginning of this book was that the church at Corinth was divided. They were gathering not for the good of one another but their gathering was actually doing more harm than good. Their actions were based in selfishness and not in looking out for one another's best interests.
In chapter 11, Paul speaks of the church "coming together" five times.
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,
When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.
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.
What was happening was that the people were debasing the Lord's Supper by connecting it too closely with their regular meal. Some people had lots to eat and other's had not enough. Paul wants them to eat their own supper at home and then come together to celebrate the Lord's Supper.
In verse 18, you'll see the word "church", as in "when you come together as a church." This is the body of Christ. It is the assembly of the followers of Jesus Christ. The church is a gathering of those who have turned away from idols, and trusted Jesus alone for the forgiveness of their sin, and for the hope of eternal life, and, as John Piper puts it, for the satisfaction of their souls. These are Christians. So the people who participate in the Lord's Supper rightly are Christians.
This principle of what we see as the church gathered when they take the supper is why we are not doing so right now while we are not gathered as the church.
2. In Remembrance
2. In Remembrance
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.”
Mentally, during the Lord's Supper, those participating in it are to focus their mind on Jesus and especially on His historical work in dying for our sins.
Look at verses 24 and 25.
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.”
As we do the physical act of eating the bread and drinking from the cup, we should be doing the mental act of remembering. It's an active mental thing. It's not a clearing of the mind but a focusing on the mind on Christ and His sacrifice. As one pastor wrote,
"We are to consciously call to mind the person of Jesus as He once lived and the work of Jesus as he once died and rose again, and what his work means for the forgiveness for our sins."
The ordinance of the Lord's Supper is a reminder, a stark reminder we might say, that following Jesus is not some kind of new-age spiritual fluff. It's not getting in touch with your inner self. It's not mysticism but is rooted in historical facts. A man named Jesus lived. This is fact. He had blood and a body and a heart that pumped His blood. He had skin that would bleed when cut. He publicly died on a Roman cross in the place of sinners so that anyone who believes on Him might be rescued from the wrath of God. This happened once and for all time in history.
This mental act of remembering as part of the Lord's Supper is foundational to our participation in it. It's not imagining or dreaming or listening or some kind of channeling. It doesn't mean slipping the gear shifter into neutral. It's consciously directing your mind to the historical Jesus and everything we know about Him from the Scriptures. We celebrate the cross on Good Friday and we celebrate the resurrection on Easter but the Lord's Supper ties us in and grounds us every time in the dirty, controversial, grit of history. There was blood and there was a dead body and wrath was poured out. Sin was atoned for. There is bread and a cup.
3. In Proclamation
3. In Proclamation
Third way we are to take the supper is in proclamation of Jesus.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
The Lord's Supper is an act that proclaims that this family of God was saved from their sins because Jesus's blood was poured out and his body broken as He took on our punishment. He took on the wrath of God that was due to us. In taking the Lord's Supper, we are proclaiming that to one another.
It is for the church and not for unbelievers. There likely are unbelievers present when it is taken and we of course welcome them to be in the room with us. It's a public meeting, after all. There's not some kind of secret ceremony or ritual. It's a public service, an act of worship from the church gathered, to their Savior.
We should constantly be proclaiming Jesus Christ crucified and risen and that is another part of the Lord's Supper.
4. In Appropriateness
4. In Appropriateness
The fourth way we should come to the table is in appropriateness.
Here we find the warning to not take this ordinance lightly. The cross was serious and our remembrance of it is serious as well.
Listen as I read:
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.
So who should come to the table?
So who should come to the table?
1. Those who have trust Christ as their only hope before God.
2. Those who are baptized believers(Baptist Faith and Message 2000), in good standing with a local church.
3. Baptism is representative of our identifying with Christ in His death and resurrection, symbolized appropriately by the lowering of a confessing believer into the water and the raising up out of the water. (dead to sin and alive in Christ)
4. 4. If you have never been baptised by immersion, even though you may have been saved, you may be a Christian, but we are to identify with Christ in this way and it would seem that if you are unwilling to do this, to identify with Christ in this way, then you are in open sin.
5. How has this been understood throughout history? From the Baptist Faith and Message 2000
>VII. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper - Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
Those who have examined themselves. Are you in open sin? Repent and believe.
I can not wait until we can gather again together and celebrate the Lord's Supper.
Pray