Sermon Tone Analysis

I. Reading of Scripture

This is God’s Word, Amen.

[Title Slide]

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

“The Lord’s Supper”

II.

Introduction

“The Lord’s Supper.”

Verse 20 says:

For the church in Corinth, celebrating the Lord’s supper was the intention of the worshipers.

But for the church in Corinth, celebrating the Lord’s supper became an indictment against them instead.

They were not eating what they thought they were eating.

They were deceived, but not by God.

They had deceived themselves by allowing the practices of the world to inform the worship of the church, instead of God’s word informing the worship of the church.

The apostle declares in horror: “it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.”

What is taking place under the name of “the Lord’s Supper” has an “empty chair” at the table, that belongs to the Lord!

The LORD has vacated the chair!

The Lord has graced them with His absence.

The Lord is not participating in whatever meal they have prepared.

There can be no Lord’s Supper without the Lord.

I’ve heard of this practice called “the empty chair.”

And there are different expressions and reasons for the practice of “the empty chair” but the result is the same.

An empty chair is placed at a table for a meal and deliberately left empty.

And it becomes “Jesus’ chair.”

Jesus is invited to sit at the table in that empty chair.

So whenever someone looks at the empty chair, they are reminded that Jesus, our Lord, is dining at the table with us.

And for some this practice becomes a source of comfort, if that empty chair used to be filled by a loved one no longer present.

For others it is a reminder of the Lord’s presence with us in fellowship, “the fellowship of God’s Son” that we are called into.

But in the Lord’s Supper, we do not invite the Lord to our meal.

The Lord invites us to His meal.

It is “The Lord’s Supper.”

And for centuries, from Corinth all the way to today, the church of Jesus Christ has had to guard against, and be rebuked over, and corrected concerning wrong ideas, and attitudes, and actions in the worship of God.

The church should repent of this “empty chair” mentality in worship.

It does not belong in the worship of God!

It is an error.

The church should repent of this idea that says to God —

“Here is an empty chair.

Here is an empty pew.

Here is an empty Sanctuary.

Here is an empty heart, even.

We just, come here today empty, Lord, that you might fill us up” — as if we are some kind of gas tank!

We must rid ourselves of the idea that we invite God into our worship.

“We call you, Lord, to join in our celebration, we summon you to sit at our table which we have prepared, and we invite you Lord to fill us.”

That’s wrong.

We must worship like King David.

David had it right - he said, God prepares the table.

How many times, Church, have we created something that we thought was worship and pulled out an empty chair hoping God would join us in it?

How many times have we done this, when we ought to have emptied ourselves from such arrogance and self-centeredness so as to join God in true worship that belongs to Him alone!?

Our attitude about worship has been warped, and is easily warped, and this is why our text today speaks this word of correction.

But this text speaks more than a word of correction, for it also speaks a word of grace.

All the while we are trying to invite God into our worship,

God so graciously invites us into His worship.

All the while we are trying to invite God to sit at our table,

God so graciously invites us to sit at His table.

And God has made a way for this to happen.

And it is not of our own doing.

It is all of God’s doing - through the person and work of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ!

Brothers and Sisters - Will we stop what we are doing?

Will we humble ourselves?

Will we rid ourselves of impure thoughts and impure attitudes?

And by God’s grace, will we hear and receive the gospel invitation of the Lord today, to sit at His table and enjoy a more blessed fellowship than anything we could ever manufacture ourselves?

That is who God is.

And that is who God, by His amazing grace, has made us to be.

There was something wrong in the activities of the worship of God for the church in Corinth.

And by now this is no surprise to us.

And what was wrong ultimately falls under the heading of idolatry.

The apostle is still addressing this sin of idolatry, because it is such an easy sin to fall into in the flesh and in this world!

“We walk by faith and not by sight.”

But our flesh still wants to see.

The apostle addresses this error in the church that revolved around one of the highest, most wonderful, most glorious, visible expressions of the gospel in the worship of the church, that portrays God’s relationship with humanity, and the fellowship of believers one to another, in unity, in peace, in fellowship in Jesus Christ —And that is: The Lord’s Supper.

And whatever the church in Corinth was practicing, it wasn’t the Lord’s Supper.

The church in Corinth was desecrating The Lord’s Supper.

So, the apostle brings to them a corrective by speaking about the Lord.

How else will we know about what belongs to the Lord if we do not know our Lord?

The church in Corinth needed to return their attention to the Lord.

The focus of their worship had wandered.

We church need to do the same.

We need constant repetition and reminder that what we do in our gathering as Christians in the name of the Lord, is about the Lord, and for the Lord.

So, the apostle speaks about three things that belong to the Lord:

[SHOW THIS SLIDE]

A. [11:17-22] The Lord’s Supper | Present View

B. [11:23-26] The Lord’s Death | Past View

C. [11:27-32] The Lord’s Judgment | Future View

The Lord’s Supper, The Lord’s Death, and The Lord’s Judgment.

And the apostle writes about what belongs to the Lord from three points of view:

A present view: He says in v.17 “I do not commend you.”

That’s present.

A past view: He says in v.23 “what I also delivered to you.”

That’s past.

And a future view: He says in v.32 “so that we may not be condemned.”

That’s future.

The Lord’s Supper says something about our past, present and future.

And participating in the Lord’s Supper together, we the church of Jesus Christ, proclaim the Lord and His Work.

III.

Exposition

A. [11:17-22] The Lord’s Supper | Present View

11.17

The apostle began this chapter commending the church, praising them for maintaining the traditions “even as I delivered them to you” (11:2).

But here in verse 17, there is one such tradition that they mis-remembered, and that he does not praise them for, instead he corrects them.

It is easy to criticize and to find fault with someone, isn’t it?

There is a right way to do that and a loving way to do that, and that is what the apostle is modeling here.