Thoughts on the Lord's Supper

Last weeks lesson covered .How a Christian should have and show love for a weaker brother. We learned that Christians should judge the correction of their actions not only on the basis of what is right or wrong but also on the basis of how their actions impact others. The lesson reminded us that love is greater than liberty and that it is better to lay down our right as Christians than to trample on the faith of a brother or sister in the Lord. Even though this may be difficult to do , it is what Christ calls us to do and we know we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us .Just as we also know the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. This week lesson covers thoughts on Communion .We are not saved because we eat the bread and drink the cup .We do so because we are saved .

I will note Today’s aim for this lesson .

FACTS: To learn about the right way to observe the Lord’s Supper .

Principle : To understand that the Lord’s Supper is a holy witness to the death of the lord Jesus Christ until He comes again ; It is not a dinner party.

Application: to rightly prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in a sober, solemn , humble and worthy manner.

I.REBUKE FOR SELFISHENESS (11:20-22)

Paul has been dealing with the divisions in the Corinthian church . He dealt with divison over favorite preachers, division on the exercise of christian liberty over food offered to idols, This week lesson is not differENT. He continues to deal with divisions. This time its division concerning the Lords supper.Economic status varied in the church , as the gospel was preached to both the wealthy and the poor. Dividing lines were drawn between the rich and the poor at the Lord’s Supper , with the rich gorging themselves while the poor were being shut out . Word got back to Paul that they were not serving the Lord’s supper in a loving way , and this caused him to issue a stern rebuke to the church,Paul mention this in 1 CO. 11:18 “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.” He goes on further to say in the next verse there must be heresies among you. This meaning there will always be tares sown among the wheat .See Matthew 13:24-30

Heresies and it mean a choice Ie. a party or disunion , Strongs concordance defines it as a sect resulting from choice . It is because God upholds man’s freedom of choice that heresies are unavoidable . God has given us freedom of choice . He doesn’t control us against our will . Therefore there will be heresies and they will always seduce those whose hearts are not right with God. Paul revealed an example of what he was talking about. The way these believers were partaking of the Lord’s supper was not correct.

1.Verse 1 1 Cor.11:20 “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.” What Paul meant by not to eat , the Lord’s supper, Is THAT IT WAS NOT the supper instituted by the Lord on the night of his crucifixion OR the way these corinthians were observing the Lord’s supper was not consistent with the way the Lord instructed . Those who use this verse to teach that it is wrong to take communion in the church have missed the point.

2.Verse 21. 1 Cor.11:21 “For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.” The early church had what were called love feasts .The love-feast usually preceded the Lord’s Supper (as eating the passover came before the Lord’s supper at the first institution of the latter).This feast was a club feast , where each brought his portion , and the rich , extra portion for the poor ; from it bread and wine were taken for the Eucharist -(which is the christian ceremony commemorating the last supper in which bread and wine are consecrated to consume) and it was at the Eucharist that the excesses took place, which made this being a true celebration of the Lords’s supper out of the question , Jude 12 “These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;” They met together daily from house to house and broke bread together Acts 2:46 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,” The Lord’s supper should have been a remembrance of a selfless act, Christ’s death on behalf of others. Instead the Corinthians had turned the memorial of selflessness into an experience of selfishness and had made a rite of unity a riotous disunity. While one brother went hungry because he lacked the means to eat well , One had more than enough to eat while another brother drank to excess. Everyone taketh his own supper , meaning here his belly is his GOd . The Lords’s Supper, the spiritual feast never enters his thoughts. See. Php. 3:19 “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” The first instance of drunkeness recorded in the scriptures was

Noah. Gen. 9:21 “And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.” According to Smith’s bible dictionary the Hebrews had various intoxicating beverages, including beer, cider or apple wine, honey wine, date wine and various homemade wines from figs, fruit etc. Drunkenness and its effects are condemned in scripture .See Romans 13:13 “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” SEE Also Ephesians 5:18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” Also 1Thessalonians 5:7-8 “For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.”

3.verse 22 1 Cor. 11:22 “What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.” Paul is saying for ye have houses. Home is the place to satiate the appetite , not the assembly of the brethren .You also show the despise for the church by bringing to shame them that have not. To act in a spirit of selfish disregard for the needs of a brother was to despise the church of God, composed not of lifeless stones but of living people who could be grievously hurt.The congregation mostly composed of the poor whom God hath chosen, yet the rich were showing contempt for them See. Jam. 2:5 “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” They must have somehow thought that their libertarian acts were a matter for praise.Paul blatantly informed them that he praised them not.In Pauls mind the Corinthians Selfish practices were repulsive and he set out to remind them of what the Lord’s supper was really all about.

II.THE BODY AND THE BLOOD (11:23-26)

3. Verse 23 1 Cor. 11:23 “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:” Paul informs the believers that he received instructions on the Lords’s Supper from Jesus Himself and was not taught by anyone else. See Gal. 1: 12 “For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” He also tells them he taught them what Jesus had delivered to him but it seem as if he needed to do the first work over and teach them again , because they had forgotten how to conduct themselves at the Lord’s table . Their manners were not fitting for observing this holy consecration. Their actions revealed they had denied what they already had been taught. Paul starts by telling them that Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper the same night he was betrayed. Luke also records this in his Gospel Luke 22: 15-20.

4. Verse 24 1 Cor. 11:24 “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.” Paul proceeds teaching the Corinthians how Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. Jesus took the bread and consecrated it by giving thanks. Then he broke the bread representing how his body would be broken for us, and on our behalf .Broken so as to be distributed amongst us. It has been said the oldest Manuscript omit broken , leaving it to be brake. Even though we know that not a bone in his body was broken, his skin and flesh were torn and broken by blows with rods and fists, by whippings and scourgings, by thorns and nails . The bread represents the incarnate body of Christ unselfishly assumed . see Phil. 2: 6-7 “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” and unselfishly given on the cross for the benefit of others .See 2 Cor. 8:9 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty . might be rich.” See also Phil.2 :8 “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”We are to do this in remembrance of the Lord , each and every time we partake of his body. We understand that this is a symbolic representation and just as natural bread is to our bodily health . The Lords’s body is to both our physical and spiritual health .SEE Isaiah 53:3-5 “He is despised and rejected of men; A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: And we hid as it were our faces from him; He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, And carried our sorrows: Yet we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.”

5.VERSE 25 1COR. 11:25 “After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” Jesus took the cup and after he had ate the bread and consecrated it by giving thanks . He said this cup was a new testament ushered in by his blood . Testament means the same as covenant which involves making an agreement involving reciprocal benefits and responsibilities. The focus of the old covenant was written word EX. 24:1-8 While the focus of the new covenant is the living word See John 1:14-18 Compare Hebrews 9:12 “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” God had guaranteed , by this new covenant never to remember our sins after we have accepted by faith that the blood of Jesus covered them . See Hebrews 10:16-19 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,”

Hebrews 8:12-13 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” See also Hebrews 9:26 “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” See also Hebrews 10:14 “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Jesus’s blood has accomplished eternal salvation .He never has to do that work over. It is perfect and complete . Nothing can be added to it .See Hebrews 9:14-15.(1.) Jesus blood purchased us from the power of darkness .Acts 20:28 and Colossians 1:13-14 (2. )Justified us before GOD See Romans 5:9 (3. )IT sanctifies us Hebrews 10:10 . 4. His blood redeemed us . See Ephesians 1:7 and Revelation 5:9.

(5. )HIS BLOOD brought us near to God SEE Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” ( 6. )His blood purged our conscience . It provided remission and forgiveness of sins See Hebrews 9:22 “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” (7.)HIs blood cleanses us from all sin See 1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Revelation 1:5 “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”(8.) His blood also overcomes the devil See Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” We should always partake of the cup in the manner where we remember all the benefits the shedding of his blood provided and continues to provide this very day.

6.verse 26 1 Corinthians 11:26 “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” The Lords’s supper was and is a visible sermon that proclaims the message of the Cross. 1 Cor.1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor. 1:23 “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;” This message is the reality of the lord’s death and also the certainty of his return. We are to do it remembering everything He has accomplished for us , in our stead , on our behalf until he comes again.

III. SELF-EXAMINATION (11:27-34)

7. verse 27 1 Cor. 11:27 “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” There has been discrepancy over the meaning of unworthily in this verse. Unworthily is used here as an adverb and an adverb means how , when and where .So here is it he how or the manner in which one takes communion. Paul was telling them the manner in which the rich was treating the poor was not exemplifying brotherly love.They were selfish and despising the church of God. For them to partake of the Lords supper would be taking it in an unworthy manner.Many in teaching this verse have changed the unworthily ,the adverb into an adjective unworthy . By doing so they insist that one must be worthy in order to partake . However , this is not the meaning.If this was so no one could ever partake communion. No one is ever worthy in and of themselves. Also this would make our relationship with the Lord in communion dependent on our performance , and this is contrary to the very act of atonement that the Lord’s supper reminds us of We’re taking communion because we are remembering that a Man who knew no sin was made sin for us so we could become the righteous of God in him . We partake because he has deemed us worthy and not we ourselves . However , the manner in which we take is in our hand . Christ is all about love and some of these Corinthians were not acting in love at the communion table. Many were not discerning the Lords body. They were merely there to eat a meal, get full and some were there just to get drunk. They were partaking in an unworthy manner.

8. VERSE 28 1 Cor.11:28 “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” Remember the wheat will grow amongst the tare. Communion is for the save and not the unsaved, everyone has to examine themselves as to whether or not they are truly born again. Those that are saved are partaking because they know as stated in Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.” Believers partake discerning both the body and the blood. We accept Christ’ finished work on calvary , which is what the communion represents and bring to remembrance each and every time we partake. If we were capable of making ourselves worthy , Jesus would have never had to come down through 42 generations , suffer , bled and die for you and I. No we can never be worthy in and of ourselves but he made us worthy. Every man must prove or test his own state of mind in respect to Christ’s death , and his capability of discerning the Lord’s body.

9. verse 29 1 Cor. 11:29 “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” Here , Paul is saying that a person who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner brings about damnation to himself. His manner is unworthy because he is not discerning the body. As I alluded to earlier ,Those that are saved are partaking because they know as stated in Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.” Those who are partaking in an unworthy manner are only concerned with their appetites at the Lord’s table . They are not thinking about the Lord ‘s body and his finish work on calvary. To not discern the Lords body and take communion is to take it unworthily or in an unworthy manner , and causes one to become guilty of Christ’s body and blood. To eat and drink unworthily in this way is to totally disrespect Christ, making one guilty of despising the body and blood of Jesus. See Hebrews 10:29 “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” Disrespecting others at the Lord’s supper is bad enough , but disparaging the sacrificial work of Jesus on our behalf in horrendous.Unworthiness in the person , is not what ought to exclude any, from taking communion because however unworthy we might seem to be, Jesus made us worthy in his body and by the shedding of his blood on calvary. Damnation here also means judgement and it is temporal.

10. verse 30 1 Cor.11:30 “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” Paul is saying Many or weak sickly and have died or fallen asleep because they partook of the Lord’s supper without discerning his body.The consequence of partaking in an unworthy manner was more than just spiritual but it was also physical , just as I alluded to earlier that the benefits of taking communion are both spiritual and physical Psalm 103:1-3 “Bless the Lord, O my soul: And all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases;” See 1 Peter 2:24 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

11.VERSE 31 1 Cor. 11:31 “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” Most manuscripts read but and not For. This verse is saying if we duly judge ourselves , we should not be Judged by God , That is we should escape or have escaped our present judgments. Those who judge themselves sinner and put faith in Jesus experience Salvation and they will not be judged , because that Judgement was placed on Jesus .

12. verse 32 1 Cor. 11:32 “But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” When God judges a believer it does not mean he is sent to hell.Judgement in this case refers to God’s discipline. As a loving parent .He disciplines us in order to correct wrong behavior or bad attitude . The idea is to bring us to repentance and obedience, not to cast us away. God’s discipline itself is a blessing , as it brings one into right fellowship with him and keeps us from having hard hearts like the world .Believers are not judged the same as the world. This was not a loss of salvation , but of life. See 1 Cor. 5:5 “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

13. verse 33 1 Cor. 11:33 “Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.” Here Paul Instructs them to wait for one another when they share the meal. This would portray their self -discipline . He wanted them to enjoy the meal together in love , humility and harmony. Just as the believers make up Christ body , the communion was to be taken together ,as a body and not individually.

14. verse 34 1 Cor. 11:34 “And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.” Paul was alluding back to verse 22 1 Cor. 11:22.

He said if the demands of hunger were too great for some, they should satisfy those pangs at home before coming to the assembly . The Lords’ supper was a time for mutual edification and not self-indulgence,. If the former prevailed , God would continue to discipline . Other matters- apparently less serious aberrations related to the Lords’s supper-Paul would attend to when he returned to Corinth.

This lesson reminds us that attitude matters. There are many matters in life of the church that call for godly rejoicing , but the occasion of the Lord’s supper is a different matter. Though we may rejoice in Christ’s finish work on the cross and everything it has accomplished for us , in us and through us and continues to accomplish this very day, when we partake of the Lord’s supper which represent Christ ‘s finish work we must always partake with Christ’s accomplishments on our behalf in mind and heart .We should never take it lightly , or without discerning his body.