1 Corinthians 11:17-34 - Good Friday - The Lord's Supper

21-04-02 - Good Friday - The Lord's Supper - 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

HBI - As we remember the death of our Lord and look to His resurrection, we are reminded that we are to Look up to God who is sovereign over all, Look in to ourselves and ask God to examine our hearts, look around to see how we can help others and look ahead to the second coming of Jesus. 

Intro

The scripture that we have been going through today and the songs that we have been singing remind us of why we observe Good Friday, and even celebrate it. 

It is a day that we are reminded of our Lord and saviour and all that He did on the cross for our sins. All that we have been doing so far points us to this. 

I want to look to Jesus and what He was doing with His disciples leading up to His death on the cross. Shortly before Jesus was betrayed by Judas and lead to the trial that would eventually lead to His death. 

He was sitting at the table with His disciples celebrating Passover feast as most every Jew would have been doing. Jesus had just notified them that there was going to be someone that was going to betray them all and it was one of them. 

This would have been shocking to them, at least to the ones that where not the ones that where going to betray Jesus. Judas probably was squirming in his seat. 

Well Jesus had told His disciples from the beginning that He was going to have to die, but then He was going to raise Himself from the dead. Though they did not always understand what He was talking about. 

Through Scripture and singing we have gone over all of this, but I want to focus on one thing for a few minutes. Jesus gave us a way to continually remember the sacrifice that He made. 

That is through communion. Every time that we partake of communion, we are reminded of How Jesus gave up His body and His blood for us. 

This should cause us to look in a few different directions in our lives. It should cause us to look into our lives, look to God, look back to what Jesus has done for us, look around you to those in need in your midst and to look ahead to the future second coming of Jesus. But How should this affect our lives? 

Look Up — God has prepared the feast

The first place that this should cause us to look is up to God in heaven. We are continually reminded throughout the scriptures that it for God, for the Glory of the Lord that we do all things. 

God emptied Himself and came down to earth in the form of a man, Jesus, and paid the penalty for our sin all so we could glorify Him in all that we do. 

We did not deserve salvation for our sin, rather we deserved the penalty of death for how we lived our lives. That anyone could have freedom from their sin is a miracle and reason to glorify our God in heaven. 

No one had to teach us how to sin and do wrong, just look to your kids as they go from being a baby to learning to walk and talk. No one must teach them to disobey and do wrong. They do a perfectly good job of that themselves. 

We are reminded through communion that we are given a way to have freedom from our sin, a way to glorify God through all that we do and so because of that we are reminded that we first look up to God and give Him to glory for all that we do and that we have salvation from our sin. 

So, we look up to God, unchanging, merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love and slow to anger. And we strive to learn more about Him and grow closer to Him. 

Look In — self-examination

It is usually in 1 Corinthians 11 that I go to for communion, so this is where I went to see where we need to look when it comes to remembering the death of Jesus and our mindsets as we enter into communion regularly. 

So first we need to look up to God to glorify in all things that we do. Second, we need to look into ourselves. 1 Corinthians 11:27–28 27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.

What does it mean to partake of communion in an unworthy manner? It means that our focus is in the wrong place. 

There where a couple of things going on when the Corinthian church met to partake of communion. It had become a selfish thing, people were focusing on themselves. 

They had become good at examining other peoples lives for one. But the point is that the missed the main point of the meal. 

It was to not to satisfy their hunger as they had been doing, but rather cause us to look inside ourselves. To eat and drink in an unworthy manner is to partake of communion, to come before the Lord without first asking Him to examine our hearts and lives. 

We do not live in a secret life, the Lord knows all that we have done, and He asks us to bring that to him, to lay our sins at the foot of the cross. To do otherwise is acting like there is no God. 

Look into your own life and see if there is anything that you need to bring to the Lord and confess to Him. This day is a reminder for us to continually look into our lives and ask the Lord if there is anything you need to bring to Him and confess it to Him. 

Look Back — at the cross

As we partake of communion, we go back to the gospels where Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper. Paul here in 1 Corinthians is echoing the message that Jesus first gave. 

What it tells us is that We are reminded that we are to look back, it points us back. The elements, we are reminded, instructr us about the cross. 

The elements of the wine and the bread represent the body and blood of Jesus that was broken and shed for sin and established a new covenant. Jeremiah 31:31–33 (CSB) 31 “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”,—the Lord’s declaration. 33 “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

The new covenant that was promised is now here. We have a great high priest and a perfect sacrifice that will take away our sin if we ask Jesus. 

Look Around — at your fellow church members

Next we read that we should look around to our fellow body of Christ 1 Corinthians 11:29 (CSB)29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

This is something that is to be done as the body of Christ, in unity. It is a family thing that is to be done in love and unity together, seeking to forgive one another. 

As we partake of communion, as we remember the Lord’s death and resurrection we do so as one body of Christ, looking out for one another.

There is no room for selfishness, we are to examine our hearts and lives together and remember to look around us and remember that we are in it together. 

We do not just sweep things under the rug but we deal with any issues that we might have so we can remember that we are the body of Christ and we are in this together. 

Look Ahead — to the marriage feast

Lastly we remember that we are to do this till He comes. That is we are to look ahead to the second coming of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:26 (CSB)26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

One day Jesus is going to return in the same way that He left the earth. So it is vital that we also look ahead, in expectation and hope that He will come to establish His kingdom forever and we have a chance to be a  part of that. 

Jesus reminded us that He will once again eat this meal with us when He comes again. We look forward to that great marriage supper of the lamb. 

Revelation 19:6–9 (CSB)6 Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying, Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns! 7 Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself. 8 She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”

Whatr great hope this gives us as we struggle through various trials and tribulations in this life. As we remember today what Jesus did for us, as we regularly do the same as we partake together of communion once a month remember this five directions that we are to look. 

Look Up — God has prepared the feast

Look In — self-examination

Look Back — at the cross

Look Around — at your fellow church members

Look Ahead — to the marriage feast

As we do we’ll be reminded again that forgiveness and fellowship are at the heart of our lives together as Christians.