A Look Into The Mirror
A Look Into The Mirror
1 Corinthians 11:27-30; Romans 12:9-21
10/14/01
In preparations for Communion next Sunday I would like to for us to look at a key verse, it’s found in 1 Corinthians 11:28: A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
This self-examination is similar to in the morning when you rise from the bed and you look in the mirror and see what you look like.
1) How not to take part of the Lord’s Supper
In the book of 1 Corinthians we can see how the Corinthian's were guilty of partaking of the Lord’s Supper with...
Ø A spirit of division (1 Cor. 11:18).
Ø A spirit of heresy (factions, parties, cliques, 1 Cor. 11:19).
Ø A spirit of self-deception (1 Cor. 11:20).
Ø A spirit of selfishness and indulgence (1 Cor. 11:21).
Ø A spirit of drunkenness (1 Cor. 11:21).
Ø A spirit of neglecting the poor (1 Cor. 11:21).
Ø A spirit of irreverence and carelessness in protecting the sanctity of the church (1 Cor 11:22).
Ø A spirit of unthoughtfulness and carelessness in approaching the Lord’s Supper.
The above list seems to indicate that having sin within one’s heart and life is what taking part of the Lord’s Supper unworthily means. Certainly, if we eat the bread and drink the cup with unconfessed sin in our hearts and lives, how can we be counted worthy? Our only worthiness is Jesus Christ, and the only time we are counted worthy by Him is when we are walking...
Ø In constant confession.
Ø In constant repentance to Him.
Ø In constant praise of His mercy, grace, Person, and work.
We have no righteousness of our own, so the only conceivable time we could be counted worthy would be when we are walking in constant fellowship with Him. And constant fellowship means actively thinking on and talking with Him through confession, repentance, praise, and request.
2) How we should be like to take part
We have just taken a quick look at how we should not be like to take part of the Lord’s Supper. Everything that we looked at all comes back to having sin in our lives. This sin can be compared to what we see in the mornings when we look in the mirror. We see all the ugliness. This ugliness is sin in our lives.
After seeing ourselves in the mirror we go about changing. We do all kinds of things, some that a short amount of time and some that take an ongoing process throughout the entire day.
It is this process take I would like for us to look at now.
Read Romans 12:9-21
Everything we have just read about is what we, as Christians should put on everyday as we examine ourselves in the mirror. Some are easy and can be accomplished in a short amount of time others however requires a constant process throughout the day.
Lets look at some of the items.
1. Love must be sincere: means without hypocrisy, without play-acting. It means that a person does not just say “I love you,” but he actually loves. He sincerely loves; he honestly and truthfully loves. This love is love for all men and not only for believers. The Christian must never pretend, be hypocritical, play-act, or have an ulterior motive when dealing with others. He must show love and respect, interest and attention, care and concern; but he must not show it from an impure motive.
2. Hate what is evil: Love desires the very best for people; therefore, love hates evil, for evil destroys human life. The Christian stands against evil.
3. Cling to what is good: The Christian is to desire only the very best—all the good possible—for people. He is to cling to the good and to work for everyone to know and experience the good. The Christian shows that he truly loves people by clinging to and working for the good.
4. Devoted to one another: This is dealing with the Christian family, the brothers and sisters within the church. We are to love each other by being kind and affectionate. We are a family of children who have actually been adopted by God as His sons and daughters. The Christian is to live as a family member with his brothers and sisters; he is to live being both kind and affectionate. There is no dissension or divisiveness in love. The church is to live in love, and living in love is peace.
5. Honor one another: The Christian is to take the lead in esteeming and expressing respect for others. Imagine a church full of Christians with each taking the lead in esteeming and honoring the other. What a picture of true love and care, of real warmth and tenderness, of great strength and manliness.
6. Zeal and Spiritual fervor: The Christian is to serve the Lord. This means not to be lazy, slow moving, sluggish, complacent, hesitating, and delaying. The Christian just cannot approach life in a lackadaisical, easy-going, slow-moving fashion. He must serve the Lord with all diligence and zeal and earnestness. He must be enthusiastic in his service.
7. Joyful in hope: The Christian is the eternal optimist. His hope is in the eternal God. He not only hopes in the delivering power of God, he joys and rejoices in the hope God has given him.
8. Patient in affliction: Patient means to endure, remain, persevere, abide, and bear up bravely. The Christian experiences a surge of strength from Christ when trials confront him.
9. Faithful in Prayer: the believer overcomes trials by giving constant attention to God and waiting upon His delivering power. The believer stays in constant communion with his Lord, depending upon Him to supply the strength to walk through the trials of daily living.
10. Practice hospitality: The Christian is to give generously, to share with those in need. He is to open the door of his home to believers who are in need.
11. Bless: The Christian is charged to do something that could be most difficult: to speak well of those who persecute him. Picture how difficult this is when you are verbally or physically attacked: mistreated, insulted, by-passed, overlooked, slandered, cursed, abused, or injured. You are to bless the person who attacks you.
12. Rejoice: We are to rejoice with our neighbors and friends and acquaintances when something good happens to them. We are to join them in their moment of joy.
13. Mourn: We are to mourn with them that mourn. This refers to our friends and fellow men that are facing some trial or loss, some moment of suffering. It may be some personal pain or business loss, some family hurt or sorrow or suffering. No matter what it is that causes the weeping, the Christian is to draw near the person and feel with him. The trait of the believer is empathy, the fact that he is touched by the infirmities of men.
14. Live in harmony: This refers primarily to our attitude and behavior toward others and their lot in life. The Christian is to strive to get into the very mind of other men and to understand them. He is to strive to understand their lives. Just think of the enormous impact such love and empathy would have upon the world in bringing peace and unity and in meeting the desperate needs of so many.
15. Do not be proud: The Christian is not to be snobbish. He is to condescend (humble yourself) to men of low estate. He is to look upon the poor and lowly and to give his life to meeting their needs. The Christian is not to be above the lowly of this world. He is not to neglect, ignore, separate, criticize, or despise the lowly. He is to humble himself and give himself to walking among them and helping them. He is to be friendly and kind, loving and gracious in helping to meet the needs of a desperate world.
16. Do not be conceited: The Christian is not to be wise in his own conceits. He is not to have too high an opinion of himself, as though he is above and better than the lowly. Many do feel above and better than others, and they choose the most foolish of things to give them superior feelings, for example, clothes. The Christian is not to walk through life as a conceited fool, thinking himself above and better than other persons. He is to walk humbly, knowing that he is a man just like all other men. He is of immeasurable value, yes, but of no more value than any other man—even those who have little of this world’s vanishing possessions.
17. Do not repay anyone evil for evil: The Christian is not to react; he is not to return evil for evil to anyone. The Christian is not to react against a person who mistreats and does evil against him.
18. Do what is right: When someone does evil against the Christian, the Christian is to think before he acts. He is to think and pray through his behavior. Why? So that he can respond in the right and proper way. The Christian needs to do what is right and noble, and the only way to do it is to think the situation through. Scripture clearly tells the Christian why he is to respond this way: so that men see his honest and noble response. In essence, the believer is to love by turning the other cheek to the evildoer in “eyes of everybody.” Men will then see a strong testimony of God’s love.
19. Live at peace with everyone: He is to try everything possible to bring about peace and to keep peace
20. Do not take revenge: Vengeance belongs to God. Note the words, “my friends.” The exhortation is definitely directed to Christians. It would be a wonderful thing if all men practiced and lived by this rule, but the world never has and never will live free of vengeance. The children of God are given no choice. Any person who follows God is to leave vengeance up to God. Vengeance belongs to God, not to man. No man has the right to judge others, not in a private judgment or in a personal vengeance. The right to judge and to execute vengeance is God’s and God’s alone. But Scripture is clear: God will repay—God will execute vengeance. The day of His wrath is coming and it will be inescapable.
21. Do not overcome evil: He overcomes evil by doing what he should do, in particular by doing good toward those who mistreat and abuse him.
Now lets turn to see what the consequences of taking part of the Lord’s Supper with unconfessed sin in our lives.
3) The Consequences
Read 1 Corinthians 11:27-30
In the book of 1 Corinthians Paul relates to the Corinthians the consequences for taking of the Lord’s Supper unworthily. What does it mean to take part of the supper unworthily? Paul is speaking directly to the Corinthians, so whatever their sins were they related to what Paul means by unworthily.
There are three consequences for partaking of the Lord’s Supper unworthily, that is, with unconfessed sin in one’s heart and life.
1. A person becomes guilty of the Lord’s death (v 27). The thought is that the person shall be held accountable, for he is guilty of sin against the Lord Himself. He...
Ø Insults Christ
Ø Offends Christ
Ø Tramples Christ underfoot
Ø Counts the death of Christ as meaningless
2. A person condemns himself if he does not examine his heart for unconfessed sin (1 Cor. 11:28-29). The severity of the consequence is so serious that a person must examine himself before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. He needs to make sure he has a clean heart by confessing and repenting of any known sin (1 Cor. 11:28).
The word “judgment” means to judge, to condemn.
The word “recognizing” means to discern, to distinguish. The person who eats the bread and drinks the cup unworthily just fails to think about what he is doing. He fails to distinguish and discern the seriousness of his act. If he thought about the matter, he would not partake of the Lord’s Supper with unconfessed sin in his life, for such irreverence of the body and blood of the Lord stirs the judgment of God.
3. A person is disciplined and chastened by the Lord (1 Cor. 11:30). The Corinthian's were so rank in their abuse of the Lord’s Supper that God had to act in severe discipline. His discipline included both sickness and death. When dealing with God’s discipline or chastisement of His people, three things need to be kept in mind.
Ø God does discipline His child. He disciplines His child because He loves him (Hebrews 12:5-13).
Ø God disciplines His child to prevent the child from destroying himself and hurting and damaging others through serious sin (1 Cor. 11:29, 31).
Ø God knows exactly what kind of discipline will most likely awaken his child to repentance and confession.