Why I'm Coming Back to Church tonight (and so should you)

Introduction: What is your favorite day of the week? (Take one second to think about it, then tell your neighbor what it is and why…)

- Say “_____ day is my favorite day of the week because _____...”

- How many of you said Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - What about Sunday?

Sundays are the best!Sundays are my favorite days. From the time I was little I always loved Sundays. We’d go to church, I’d get to see my granny, sometimes other family members would be there, I had friends there, after church granny would take me for KFC, and Sunday afternoon naps. I still love Sunday afternoon naps. I love early Sunday mornings. I love Sundays.

- Be honest: Who’s going home after church & taking a nap?

- Who’s got plans for their Sunday afternoon or evening?

Be totally honest with me, only raise your hand if you’ve thought about it and planned on it… who’s planning to come back to church this evening?

I’m planning on it, and I’ll tell you why. After we read our text, I’ll tell you 3 reasons why I’ve coming back to church tonight (& I think you should too).

1 Cor 11:17–34, Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. 21For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

Three reasons I’m coming back to church tonight (& so should you):

1. The Lord’s SUPPER. What is the Lord’s Supper?

For those who don’t know, the Lord’s Supper is sometimes called the Eucharist (given thanks, vs. 24), aka Communion. The Lord’s Supper is the COMMEMORATION of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to pay for our sins. The bread symbolizes his perfect body that was broken to pay for our sins; the cup represents the New Covenant that was instituted in His blood, by which he washed away our sins and made things right between us and God. It is a commemoration of what Jesus did- we do this in remembrance of Him.

The Lord’s Supper is a PROCLAMATIONof his death until He returns. This is my favorite thing about the Lord’s Supper- it’s not the stale little piece of unleavened bread, or thimble-sized cup of grape juice… It is what they represent- the Gospel! Every time we take the Lord’s Supper, we are preaching the Gospel.

If you don’t know what that means, it is simple. God made us to be in communion with Him, but we rebelled against Him because of our sins. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took on flesh, became a man, lived a perfect life of obedience to God, died a righteous death in place of sinners, as a sacrifice for our sins, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will one day return to receive His people to Himself. The Lord’s Supper will be a CELEBRATIONwhen Christ returns and we will share this meal with Him, face to face.

The Lord’s Supper is a commemoration, proclamation, and celebration of salvation through Jesus. To receive this gift of salvation we must turn from our sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone for the gift of eternal life. You should come back to church tonight, because we will observe the Lord’s Supper together this evening.

2. The Lord’s PEOPLE. I love people, but I don’t always like them.

People can be problems can’t they, especially church people. The reason Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth is because they had problems. You ever been to a problem church? Well, the Corinthian church was a problem church.

Paul founded the church around AD 50 (Acts 18:1–11), and spent a year & a half teaching them the Word of God. After that he moved to Ephesus & spent about three years there. While he was at Ephesus (1 Cor 16:8), he heard that things were not going well in Corinth— there were contentions (quarrels), divisions, & sexual immorality worse than the world. Paul wrote this letter & at least one other to try to straighten things out.

The context of this passage is about one of those problems, and it was tearing the church apart. There were divisions (18) and factions (19) in the church. This means there was a tear in the fabric of the church (lit. schism), there was a split, & the people had divided into groups.

What’s sad about it is how unnecessary it was, if church people had just been considerate. Sometimes churches must go through hard times, sometimes we have to go through divisions, there have to be factions, because that’s what reveals who is or is not REAL to the rest of the church.

This division was not about belief but BEHAVIOR. It was a break along socio-economic lines. The early church didn’t have a building, so they would often meet in the homes of wealthy church members because their homes were large enough to hold everybody.

In the Corinthian church, the wealthy believers held a worship gathering and a meal (a love feast) in their homes while poor believers were at work. The poor church members would come late, the wealthy members didn’t wait, ate all the food, and got drunk before the poor ones even got there.

This caused the division between the wealthy and poor believers, that’s why Paul said in vs. 22, Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

Later in the chapter he told them that if they took the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, they would be guilty of the body & the blood of the Lord, HOW? If they did eat it in an unworthy manner, they were eating and drinking judgment to themselves, not discerning the Lord’s body. There, he is not referring to the bread that represented the Lord’s broken body but to the church, which is the Body of Christ.

Did you know that the church is the Body of Christ? 1 Cor 12:12 “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” 1 Cor 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”

You understand don’t you, that when there is a part of your body that is missing, you miss it. When there is a part of the church, the Body of Christ, that is missing, we miss you. When we do not meet with our fellow church members, or we mistreat them, we are not showing proper respect to the Body of Christ. So come back to church tonight, not just because you can take the Lord’s Supper as an individual, but because WE, as the body of Christ will come together to observe the Lord’s Supper and fellowship with one other.

3. The Lord’s BUSINESS.

Tonight, is our annual church conference where we will make some recommendations, vote on decisions, and approve the budget for the new church year. In recent years, coming to church on Sunday nights has fallen out of favor a bit. I’ll admit it myself, I kind of like not having a service but using it for something different- training meetings, new member dinners, prayer emphasis, singing event, resource classes, etc. I’m even OK with families using that time to spend time together in a meaningful way.

What is not good is that we leave the church after Sunday morning, and we might not think about the church again until the next Sunday morning, and then it’s only to ask the question- do you want to go to church today?

What kind of question is that? We answered that question the day we received Jesus and became a part of His Body, the church. That’s when we decided to go to church. Heb 10:24-25, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Church isn’t a Sunday morning decision, it’s a Saturday night decision. That’s when you pick out your clothes, that’s when you do the ironing, that’s when prepare your heart for worship, that’s when you start looking forward to the best day of the week- Sunday.

It’s a scary thing to think about- but the LORD will judge people for the way they treat His Church.Paul said that because some of the Corinthians had taken the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner BY not discerning the Lord’s Body, the church, that many of them were weak (sick) and had died (sleep). As scary as that is, it’s better than the alternative, to be condemned.

Vs. 32, it’s better to be chastened (disciplined) by God than to die and be condemned with the world.

So, what are you doing tonight? I’m coming to church, and I hope you’ll come with me. I’m coming to church to take the Lord’s Supper, I’m coming to church to spend time with the Lord’s people, and I’m coming to church to conduct the Lord’s business. Where will you be tonight?