A Look At The Lord’s Supper

(Based on a message preached 1-29-2023 at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO. This is not an exact transcription.)

Introduction: We celebrate the Lord’s Supper when there’s a fifth Sunday. Some of us may have never taken part in one of these, and for some, it may have been a while. That’s one of the reasons I’ll be preaching about the Lord’s Supper, namely, what it is and why we do it.

The text comes from 1 Corinthians 11, so let’s turn there. The text says,

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, NASB: 17 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you. 20 Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? 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 will not praise you.

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

27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the 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, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment. And the remaining matters, I shall arrange when I come.

Now let’s pray.

The Lord’s Supper is one of the “ordinances” or things Jesus commands all believers to do. Baptism after salvation is the other. Now, neither one of these ordinances has anything to do whatsoever with whether nor not you’re a believer. It’s important, though, for us as believers to do this. And that’s why we have this passage of Scripture, to guide us in what we should do.

1 A time to regather or regroup

Paul wrote these words to believers in Corinth. It’s not very big now but back in Paul’s day it was one of the five or so largest cities in the Roman Empire, behind Rome itself, Athens, and maybe Antioch in Syria. As it was so large, and had so many people, it would not always be easy to make or keep friends.

Besides that, there were no buildings dedicated like churches for many years, maybe 300 years, after these events happened. Believers were increasing in number, but they didn’t have a single, designated, place to meet on a regular basis. The believers would meet in homes or anyplace they could in order to worship the Lord and hear messages from the Word.

Even so, there seemed to be times when larger groups of believers would meet, Paul doesn’t say when, where, or how often, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. It would be about the same thing as several churches in this Association coming together—if we were closer together, that is! Most of the churches are miles apart from each other!

All in all, it seems the believers in Corinth had regular meetings in small groups and some other meetings when larger groups of believers met together. And one of the reasons why these larger groups came together was to take part in observing the Lord’s Supper; to remember what our Lord did for us and why He did it.