The Purpose of the Church - The Breaking of Bread (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)

Announcements

Don’t forget that we have Bible Study & Prayer every Wednesday online via YouTube. If you have prayer requests that you want shared to the church and you want us to pray for those requests, please feel free to text me or Natalie, message us on Facebook, or email the church at [e-mail]. We’ll send those out to everyone that we have on our email chain and we’ll pray for them corporately during the Wednesday evening service.

This evening at 6pm, join us at the Altoona Curve for their Faith Night. Tickets are $9 per person and we have 9 tickets remaining. If you’re unable to pay that full amount today, don’t let that stop you, just come and talk to me and we’ll work something out. The game starts at 6pm, we’d love to see as many people as possible join us for that fellowship opportunity.

Be aware that there will be a brief business meeting right after this service—it’ll take less than five minutes as we vote to welcome Alice and Neil Miller into membership. Because it’s brief, we’ll sort of just tack it into the service.

Just so you’re aware, Natalie and I will be out of town from this evening until Wednesday morning. Of course, we’ll still have our phones on us and you can always contact us via text, phone calls, emails, whatever really works for you. Just be aware that unless there’s an emergency, we’ll be out of town.

Sunday, September 5th, 2021 plan on worshiping with at Cold Stream Dam under Pavilion 2. This will be like the last time we worshiped in the park in that we’ll have the Sunday morning service at 10:30am and we’ll follow the service with a cookout in the park. This is a perfect opportunity for you to invite friends and family that might be interested in visiting the church, but are a little anxious about joining us in a building. It’s a little more casual and there’s built-in time for us to fellowship with one another. So, please invite your friends and family to join us. The church will provide the main dishes, but we do need help with the side dishes—there’s a sign-up sheet in the back of the room if you’re interested in providing food for the meal.

Sunday, September 12th, 2021 at 5:30pm, we’ll be gathering for baptisms. We have at least two people who have come forward and want to be baptized and September 12th is probably the latest that we can do baptisms outdoors before it gets too cold. If you know anyone who wants to be baptized, please have them contact me as soon as possible. That baptism service is in addition to our normal worship service at 10:30am here at the YMCA. So, Sunday morning, join us at 10:30am for our normal worship service and at 5:30pm, join us to celebrate the baptisms of two of our friends followed by a bonfire and some snacks to enjoy.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the LORD through your giving. We give because God has blessed us; and to help you with your giving, we have three different ways for you to do so. (1) Cash and Check giving can be done through the offering box in the back of the room—checks should be written to Grace & Peace Bible Church and if you’d like a giving receipt for your cash gifts, please slip them into an envelope with your name written on it so we can attribute it to you. (2) Debit, Credit, and ACH Transfers can be done either by texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) visiting us online at www.graceandpeacepa.com and selecting “Giving” in the menu bar. Everything that you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 28, which is a psalm of David and is the third psalm in a multi-part series of psalms that included Psalms 26-28. All of which speak of great distress in life and the need of going to God as your refuge. Psalm 28 speaks of the psalmists certainty in the LORD’s eventual judgment against the wicked and he essentially prays that the LORD would save and shepherd his people. There is very real danger in the mind of the psalmist, which means that the pray is that much more substantial. Please stand and read with me Psalm 28—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 28 ESV

Of David. 1 To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. 2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. 3 Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. 4 Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward. 5 Because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and build them up no more. 6 Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. 8 The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. 9 Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Congregational Singing

Nothing but the Blood

All I Have is Christ

Scripture Reading

Our Scripture reading is from Acts 2:36-47. We’ve been working on a series concerning the Purpose of the Church and we’ve been utilizing Acts 2:42 as a sort of purpose statement for the church—in other words, the church needs to be about what Acts 2:42 says the early church devoted themselves to. Otherwise, that particular body isn’t really a church—they’re just a gathered group of people. To help keep this purpose statement fresh in our minds, we’ve been re-reading Acts 2:36-47 as our Scripture Reading each week, which will hopefully help us to internalize the statement and devote ourselves to the same elements that the early church devoted themselves to. Let’s read Acts 2:36-47.

Acts 2:36–47 ESV

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Sermon

Introduction

This morning, we’re continuing in our series on the Purpose of the Church—and I know that many of you were out last week due to vacation or illness, so let me just refresh all of our memories and help you catch up to where we are at in our study of the Purpose of the Church. We’ve been working through this series for about a month with the intent of discovering what Acts 2 states about the church’s purpose—and we’ve essentially utilized Acts 2:42 as a purpose statement for the church: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

So, the first week of the series, we took the time to work through Acts 2:36-47 to understand what occurred in Acts 2 to precipitate the people’s devotion to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer—we discussed the coming of the Holy Spirit to permanently indwell the believers for the first time, I briefly gave a synopsis of the sermon that Peter preached that convicted the hearts of those who were listening, which led to this great devotion for teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.

The second week of the series, we focused in on what Luke calls the apostles’ teachings or what we often refer to as doctrine. Which of course, for many people the idea of studying doctrine sounds dry and dull, but I explained during that message that doctrine (or what you believe) should compel us to live in a way consistent with the apostles’ teachings; and as you continue to live in a way consistent with their teachings, you will be made spiritually mature by God. Or in other words, your spiritual maturity is contingent upon doing what God taught us through his apostles—because his apostles, much like the Old Testament prophets, were selected by God to speak a message from him. You can’t be spiritually mature if you don’t know what he says. Thankfully, what the apostles taught and what the prophets taught were recorded in what we call the Bible; and these Scriptures are breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. First and foremost, the people in Acts 2 devoted themselves to God’s Word; and so should we.

The third week of the series, we focused in on what Luke calls fellowship. I explained that we often misuse the word fellowship to refer to anything and everything—we grab a cup of coffee with someone and we call it fellowship; we eat lunch with someone and we call it fellowship; we go to a baseball game with someone and we call it fellowship. In reality, none of those things in and of themselves are fellowship, but rather they’re opportunities for us to fellowship. In reality, fellowship is the sharing of one another’s lives in order to stir up one another to love and good works, to encourage each other, and to strengthen each other’s faith; and unless we’re intentionally trying to mutually build each other up as we grab coffee and eat lunch at a baseball game, we’re really just hanging out and not actually fellowshipping.

This week, we’re focusing in on the third element of a church that Luke mentions in Acts 2:42, which is what he calls the “breaking of bread.” Occasionally, this is seen as nothing more than just sharing a meal together, but I’m going to argue that this is more about the Lord’s Supper than just sharing a meal together and I base that on two reasons: (1) sharing a meal together would be part of fellowship, so why would Luke feel the need to state that they also shared meals together in addition to fellowshipping with one another; and (2) he utilizes the same term later in the book to discuss how on the first day of the week, they broke bread together—it seems like an odd way for him to say that they ate food together because it implies that they only did this once that week. It wouldn’t make sense if he was speaking about them sustaining themselves with food, but it does make sense if he’s referring to them participating in the Lord’s Supper together.

And because this seems to be referring to the LORD’s Supper and not just to a regular meal with friends, I can think of no better passage to look at than 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.

While you turn there, let me give you a little bit of background information, but not too much because Paul will give us more background information in the text. 1 Corinthians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church in the city of Corinth. It’s actually the second letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we know that from 1 Corinthians 5:9, in which Paul tells them that “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with [essentially unrepentant people].” Well, where in 1 Corinthians does he say the things that he says in 1 Corinthians 5? No where, because he’s referring to a previous letter that he wrote that isn’t part of the canon of Scripture. Regardless, in 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to the church located in Corinth—and Corinth had a reputation that could easily rival that of Las Vegas. It was known for licentiousness and promiscuity—in fact, in the ancient world, if someone were to accuse you of acting like a Corinthian, it would have a severely negative connotation.

Corinth itself, in addition to being known for sinful behavior, was an almost obscenely wealthy city. The city sat on the isthmus between Greece and Asia Minor and because of its location all trade going to and from Greece had to travel through Corinth and any trade between the West (Rome) and the East (Asia) also had to go through Corinth. This led to merchants with tons and tons of wealth; but it also led to laborers with very little wealth. People sometimes speak of a wage gap in the United States, Corinth epitomized what a wage gap truly was—with the ultra rich exploiting the poor and the poor just barely making ends meet. And this growing wage gap existed within the church as well—the problem however, wasn’t that some had an obscene amount of money and others had very little, the problem was that the extremely wealthy within the church treated the extremely poor within the church disdainfully. And that’s part of what Paul is combatting in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. Let’s read the passage together, afterwards I’ll explain how we’ll break down the passage, and we’ll dig into the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 11:17–34 ESV

17 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. 18 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, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 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. 23 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, 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 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.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 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. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 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.

As we study this passage, we’re going to take it into three parts (1) Vs. 17-22, will give us Background information about the Corinthian Church’s misuse of the Lord’s Supper. Paul essentially calls them out for sinful behavior that was occuring when they should have actually been taking the Lord’s Supper together. (2) Vs. 23-26, Shows us what Paul says the Lord’s Supper is actually supposed to be for in that he explains The Act and Purpose of the Lord’s Supper as given by Jesus. And (3) Vs. 27-34, shows us Paul’s Application of his text, which will bleed into our application of the text. All of which should give us a more comprehensive idea of what the LORD’s Supper actually is and what we’re supposed to be doing as we partake in the LORD’s Supper.

Prayer for Illumination

Background Information about the Corinthian Church’s misuse of the Lord’s Supper (17-22)

Paul starts this section of Scripture by pointing at a specific problem within the Corinthian church. He says that there are two specific issues that the Corinthian church has that he’s turning his attention to. 1 Corinthians 11:17-19 gives us the first of the two; and 1 Corinthians 11:20-22 gives us the second of the two, which is expounded on in our text.

1 Corinthians 11:17-19 “17 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. 18 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, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.”

This problem, is first mentioned by Paul early in the letter. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul writes that there are divisions within the church based on the people claiming to follow certain leaders rather than Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:12 “12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”” shows us that argument.

And Paul argues his point in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, in Vs. 13, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” He argues essentially that to choose a human leader to follow rather than to simply follow Jesus Christ is foolish because no man died for you and you were not baptized in the name of a man.

Because Paul has already spoken about this point early in the book, he doesn’t spend a tremendous amount of time talking about it in Chapter 11, other than to point out that he does not commend them because of the divisions that have been reported to him.

1 Corinthians 11:20-22 then gives us the second reason, which is the point that he’s driving at in this passage. “20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 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.”

This shows us that the LORD’s Supper is something that was done regularly and frequently in the early church—we could probably assume that they did this almost every day.

And we can tell from the text, that their practice of the LORD’s Supper is a little different than our modern-day practice of the Lord’s Supper. In our modern-day context, the Lord’s Supper is us sitting in our regular worship gatherings with a small cup of juice and a wafer.

It’s clearly different than how they practiced the Lord’s Supper in the early church, but that’s alright, because we continue to do what the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is even though we don’t do it the same exact way.

What they did in the early church is what Jude calls a love feast; and the idea of a love feast was for the people to gather together for the Lord’s Supper, but then to share in a communal meal together.

So, they would start off with the Lord’s Supper and they would reflect on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and then they would eat together. This is what the Corinthian church was supposed to do.

But it is clear, that it is not what the Corinthian church did. Vs. 20, “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.”

In this scenario, the people were to bring food to share with one another, but what happened in Corinth is that those that were wealthier and could afford bringing their own food, not only brought their own food and wine, but refused to share it with those who couldn’t bring their own food and wine.

The result being that some of the church in Corinth went hungry, while the others were drunk—and they had the audacity to claim that they were properly celebrating the Lord’s Supper together.

But Paul refuses to allow them to call their drunken meal the LORD’s Supper. In Vs. 22, “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.”

Even though they were gathering and claiming to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, Paul makes it abundantly clear that they actually weren’t. In fact, with the way that he speaks to them about their practice of the Lord’s Supper, it is clear that what they’re doing is sinful.

That they are despising the church and humiliating those with less than them.

In many ways, they’re acting with contempt to their brothers and sisters in Christ and they’re acting with contempt towards the LORD.

And really, what we see from Paul’s condemnation of the Corinthians Christian’s misuse of the LORD’s Supper is applicational to ourselves today.

Paul condemns them for essentially not taking the LORD’s Supper seriously.

And Paul confronts them for essentially not caring for one another enough to take the LORD’s Supper seriously.

Since they’re not taking the LORD’s Supper seriously, he then goes into explaining what they’re actually supposed to do when they take the LORD’s Supper and he gives the the purpose of the LORD’s Supper as given by Jesus in Vs. 23-26. Read with me Vs. 23-26.

The Act and Purpose of the Lord’s Supper as given by Jesus (23-26)

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

23 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, 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 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.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Paul starts this next section with something that I think is vital for us to understand in Vs. 23, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.”

We typically glance over a verse like this, but let me assure you that there is an important purpose for this verse; and it is this: The Lord’s Supper didn’t originate from Paul. And it didn’t originate from the other apostles—what the apostles had taught the people was what Jesus had taught them.

Paul didn’t make it up and the other apostles didn’t make it up. The Lord’s Supper was given to all the apostles by Jesus Christ; and we see that in three of the four Gospels (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, and Luke 22:17-20).

What the apostles had taught the people to do concerning the Lord’s Supper is what the apostles themselves were taught to do by Jesus—and that’s important because it tells us that this isn’t a mere human tradition, this is something that Jesus himself had told us to perpetuate.

So, Paul makes the statement that what he taught them about the LORD’s Supper is what Jesus had taught him about the LORD’s Supper and then he explains what exactly it is that they were taught to do. “That the LORD Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.”

And this sentence causes us to think back to the time in Jesus’ life in which he himself did the same act. That would include Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, and Luke 22:17-20. It is meant to cause us to reflect on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Vs. 23b-25 “On the night that our LORD Jesus was betrayed he took the 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.” Vs. 23-25, which quotes almost word-for-word Luke’s account of the Lord’s Supper shows us three things in particular: (1) it shows us the pattern of the LORD’s Supper, (2) the elements necessary for the LORD’s Supper, and (3) the purpose of the LORD’s Supper.

The pattern is probably the easiest to discern as we read this text:

It occurred after the regular meal and it included prayer.

Jesus himself starts with the bread, which represents his body and he moves to the wine (or in our situation, juice), which represents the New Covenant in his blood.

The two elements that are necessary for the Lord’s Supper—include the bread and what the Bible calls the cup.

The bread again represents Jesus’ body

The cup represents the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood.

I’m intentionally saying represents because the text does not infer that the bread and cup literally become the body and blood of Jesus. The text, which quotes Jesus himself, is utilizing metaphoric language as a way of comparing the bread and cup to Jesus’ body and blood.

It isn’t a literal transformation, it is a symbolic representation.

Which is the purpose of the LORD’s Supper—to be a symbolic representation of the LORD’s death, burial, and resurrection

Which is to be done regularly (as seen in the way the words are utilized—the Greek words representing a continual doing of these things)

And which are to be done “in remembrance of Jesus Christ.”

The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic memorial of the LORD’s death, burial, and resurrection.

Which means that just like any other memorial service—the LORD’s Supper should be taken seriously

It should be somber in tone—we cannot take the LORD’s Supper lightly and we shouldn’t be flippant towards the LORD’s Supper.

But for those who truly have repented from their sins and believed in Jesus Christ, the LORD’s Supper is also a time of celebration. And the celebratory nature of the LORD’s Supper is found in Vs. 26.

“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 a symbolic memorial service in which we somberly remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But it is also a time in which we proclaim the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is a reoccurring idea of Paul’s throughout 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 1:2-23, “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.”

The Lord’s Supper is a memorial service to somberly remember the Gospel, to proclaim the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and to remind ourselves that Jesus will come back again.

“For as often as you eat and drink, you proclaim the LORD’s death until he comes.” There is a forward-looking anticipatory nature of the LORD’s Supper—that as we remind ourselves of what Jesus had done for us on the cross, that we remind ourselves of what Jesus will do in the future.

So Paul confronts the Corinthian believers and accuses them of not taking the LORD’s Supper seriously, he then reminds them or teaches them what the actual purpose of the LORD’s Supper is, and then he finishes what he has to say about the LORD’s Supper in Vs. 27-34—what we could consider practical ramifications of the truths that we should be reflecting on during the Lord’s Supper. Read with me Vs. 27-34.

Paul’s Application (27-34)

1 Corinthians 11:27–34 ESV

27 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. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 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.

Because the Lord’s Supper should be taken seriously, because it’s meant to be a time to reflect somberly, and because the Lord’s Supper is also a reminder of what is to come, Paul closes this section with practical application that can be summed up in two words: examine yourself.

He writes in Vs. 27, that “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.”

Which in and of itself is a frightening concept, that if you take the Lord’s Support in an unworthy way, you are guilty of the death of Jesus Christ.

Which means that determining what it means to partake in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy way is vitally important to us.

And thankfully, Paul helps us with that in Vs. 28-29

1 Corinthians 11:28-29 “28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”

He tells us that each person, prior to partaking in the Lord’s Supper is to examine himself. To examine means to almost “test” oneself, it’s often utilized to talk of the testing of fine metals to determine its value.

What exactly are we supposed to be examining ourselves or testing ourselves for? It’s clear in 1 Corinthians 11, one of the key issues within the church is the sinful behavior of people within the church—so clearly, first and foremost, examine yourself to determine if you are living in sin.

But also, let me encourage you to consider 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” And consider 2 Peter 1:5-10, “5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.”

Each person is to examine themselves to be sure that they actually do believe, to make sure they aren’t holding onto sin, and to check for spiritual growth within their lives. And they are to do this every single time they partake in the Lord’s Supper.

And in situations in which they realize they don’t believe or they’re holding onto sin or they aren’t growing spiritually like they should be, the proper response prior to partaking in the Lord’s Supper is to repent and believe; to repent from sin; to repent from growing complacent in one’s spiritual life.

Because there are very real repercussions for taking the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy way, Paul has already given us one of those repercussions in Vs. 27, “whoever eats or drinks in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the LORD,” but there are other seriously repercussions found in Vs. 29-30, and 32

Vs. 29-30, “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.” And Vs. 32, “But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” To participate in the Lord’s Supper without taking the time to properly examine yourself can result in:

You eating and drinking judgment on yourself

You becoming physically weak and sick—with the possibility of death

You being disciplined for your sins.

But if you take the Lord’s Supper seriously—and you utilize it to reflect on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; you use it to repent from your sin; and you utilize it to celebrate what Jesus has promised us—Paul says in Vs. 31, “If we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.”

If during the Lord’s Supper, you simply be honest with yourself and judge yourself properly, you won’t have to face the judgment that comes to those who take the Lord’s Supper unworthily

If during the Lord’s Supper, you tell the truth about where you are spiritually and you repent, you don’t have to worry about judgment because you would have already accomplished the purpose of the Lord’s Supper—to reflect, to repent, and to celebrate.

Paul then wraps up this text with direct application to the Corinthians, “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.”

The question then is, how should we apply 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 to ourselves today? And how can we apply this in our church today?

Application

From Vs. 17-22, Background Information about the Corinthians Church’s Misuse of the Lord’s Supper—Paul accuses the church in Corinth of acting with contempt towards one another, which resulted in their misuse of the Lord’s Supper. This accusation really boils down to the fact that the church wasn’t taking the Lord’s Supper seriously and Paul makes the point that they ought to be condemned for how they’ve been treating one another and for how they’ve treated the Lord’s Supper in an irreverent way. I have one application point for this section:

First off, what this shows us is that the Lord’s Supper isn’t a random manmade tradition that we do just because:

Paul makes it clear that the very idea of the Lord’s Supper is commanded by Jesus Christ during his last supper, which provides the command for us to continuously partake in the Lord’s Supper

We do it for a specific reason because Jesus commanded us to repeat the Lord’s Supper as a memorial and a reminder of what he had done and what he plans to do in the future.

Secondly, because Jesus commanded for us to do the Lord’s Supper and because it has a specific purpose that involves us remembering his death, burial, and resurrection--It isn’t something that you can take flippantly, it is something that should only been taken after much thought, reflection, and prayer—or in other words, the first application point for this passage is simple: You must take the Lord’s Supper seriously.

Don’t act like it’s a joke, don’t take it flippantly, don’t joke around about—take the time while we partake in the Lord’s Supper to quiet your soul, examine your heart, and reflect on Jesus Christ.

It is a serious part of the Christian life, so we should take it seriously.

Vs. 23-26, The Act and Purpose of the Lord’s Supper as given by Jesus—Paul then tells the Corinthian church what the Lord’s Supper is supposed to be like. That it should be considered somber, but celebratory and that as we take the Lord’s Supper together, we ought to be reflecting on Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection; and we ought to be reflecting on the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ. I have one application point for this section:

The Lord’s Supper should be both a somber and celebratory event.

Somber in the sense that it should remind you of what Jesus had to do in order for you to receive salvation—which means that as we take the Lord’s Supper together, you should be reflecting on how big of a deal your sin is and how big of a deal it is that Jesus through his death on the cross, burial, and resurrection saved you. And the Lord’s Supper should be

Celebratory in the sense that the Lord’s Supper should remind you that your salvation has been accomplished through Jesus Christ—he has saved you through his substitutionary atonement for your sins on the cross. And this is something that you could not have done on your own.

So as we take the Lord’s Supper together as a serious part of our Christian life, we need to recognize how necessary it was for Jesus’ to atone for our sins, which should cause us to reflect and it should cause us to worship and praise him. Second application point for this passage—keep reflecting on what Jesus has done for you and praise and worship him for it.

Vs. 27-34, Paul’s Application of the Text—in this last section Paul closes by telling the Corinthians that because of the origin of the Lord’s Supper (that it came from Jesus) and because of the purpose of the Lord’s Supper, they need to take the LORD’s Supper seriously. To Paul, the seriousness of the Lord’s Supper should compel the Corinthians to examine themselves realistically and truthfully and repent from sins before taking the Lord’s Supper—and by extension, because of the origin of the Lord’s Supper (that it came from Jesus) and because of the purpose of the Lord’s Supper, we need to take the Lord’s Supper seriously.

The Lord’s Supper should cause you to examine yourself—it should cause you to do a spiritual oil check of sorts.

This includes reflection on your current spiritual life—where you are in your spiritual maturity now compared to where you were and it includes looking at where you need to be spiritually.

This includes repentance from sins that you have yet put to death

And this includes thoughtful meditation on what God has done for you through Jesus Christ

But here’s the thing, and this is where the application really develops, this examination of your spiritual life should be done more often than just when we take the Lord’s Supper together.

It should actually happen pretty frequently—and quite frankly, I would argue that this sort of examination of your spiritual condition should happen every single day.

Every day, you should reflect on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what he has done for you as your substitutionary atonement for sins.

Every day, you should be checking your own heart to see if you’re hiding sins or holding onto your sins—and you should repent from those sins

Every day, you should be reflecting on where you are spiritually compared to where you need to be and where you were.

And every day, you should do these things as a spiritual exercise in order to help you in your progressive sanctification.

Doing this every day will keep you thankful for what Jesus has done while still acknowledging that there is room for further growth.

Put simply, what 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 teaches us about the Lord’s Supper is that it is a tradition instituted by Jesus for the purpose of us (1) remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made to atone for our sins, (2) for the purpose of us examining ourselves and repenting when we are convicted of our sins, and (3) for the purpose of us reflecting on where we are in our spiritual maturity. Which ultimately should cause us to keep seeking Jesus, praise him for what he has done, and worship him for doing what we couldn’t accomplish.

Pastoral Prayer

Because today’s message was focused on the LORD’s Supper, I thought it would be unusual for us to learn about the Lord’s Supper and the purpose of the Lord’s Supper and not partake in the Lord’s Supper. So, I took the liberty of moving our normally scheduled date for communion to today, but before we take the Lord’s Supper, I want us to sing a song together. It’s a familiar song to most, but take the time as we sing to focus on the words that you’re singing to prepare your hearts for communion.

Congregational Singing

In Christ Alone

The Lord’s Supper

As Grace & Peace Bible Church we practice an open communion, which means that even if you aren’t a member of our local church, you are more than welcome to take part in the Lord’s Supper with us as long as you have repented from your sins and have believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

As the elements are passed out, you’ll noticed that each cup is an individually wrapped and sealed cup with the wafer under the first flap and the juice under the second flap. Let me encourage you to go ahead and open the seals but please wait to take the elements until after everyone has received them so that we can take communion together as a body. I’ve asked Deane Herbst to help pass out the elements, again, please open them but hold onto the elements so we can partake together.

After everyone has received the elements, we’re going to take about a minute in silence for everyone to quiet their souls, examine their hearts, and prepare their minds to take part in the Lord’s Supper. That would be a good opportunity for you to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus as your substitutionary atonement, examine your spiritual life, and repent of any sins that you’re holding onto. Paul’s warning to the Corinthians of taking the Lord’s Supper unworthily certainly applies to us today, so please take it seriously and be honest with yourself. If you decide that you shouldn’t take communion today, that’s perfectly acceptable, just let the plate pass in front of you.

Deane can you pray for the bread, which represents Christ’s body and the cup, which represents the New Covenant in his blood?

“On the night when [our Lord Jesus Christ] was betrayed [he] 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.”

Let’s close our service with one final song, For the Cause.

Congregational Singing

For the Cause

Brief Business Meeting

Alice & Neil, please come forward; and while they’re coming forward, can I get a motion for us to enter into business. And a second.

Alice and Neil Miller have been visiting us for a few months and have made the decision that they would like to join us officially as members.

They’ve both met with Natalie and I—they are in agreement with our doctrinal statement, and they’ve read and understand our church constitution and by-laws.

They have my full recommendation for church membership without reservation—can I get a vote to approve their memberships; all in favor, say “amen.”

Can I get a motion for us to exit business. And a second.

Let’s pray for Alice and Neil, after which we’ll all be dismissed. Please make sure that after the service, you take time if you haven’t already to introduce yourself to both of them, welcome them, and talk with them.

Closing Prayer

As always, my reminder is the same—go from this place and make disciples of every nation. We’re dismissed.