A Man Ought To Examine Himself

07/15/2007

“A Man Ought to Examine Himself” (1Cor 11: 26-29,He 10:19-27)

This morning, at the end of our service, we are going to share the Lord’s Supper together.

Sharing the Lord’s Supper is a very special time for us together as a church

It is one of two ordinances that Jesus instituted for His church.

One is the Lord’s Supper, the other is Baptism.

Baptism is a step of obedience a new believer takes, and it symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and through it we proclaim our identification with Christ as His disciple, as one whose old sin self has been crucified with Christ and has been reborn as a new creation with a new identity in Him.

While baptism celebrates our new life as believers, the Lord’s Supper focuses us on the suffering and death of Jesus. Jesus tells us that whenever we eat the bread and drink the juice, we do it in remembrance of Him.

We remember His body, broken for us, we remember His blood, poured out for us on the cross. It is our sin that made is necessary for Jesus to be crucified, to pay the penalty for our sins.

We need to focus on the sacrifice that was made by Jesus. Even though it can be difficult to think about what He went through and why, namely that we are the reason He went through it. That has a solemn effect on us. It SHOULD have a solemn effect on us. It should shake us to our very core.

The only innocent man to ever live, Jesus Christ, God Himself who came to dwell among us in human flesh. The one who loves you in a measure we cannot even comprehend.

He has always loved you. He loved you even when you didn’t love Him. He loves you even when you think you are un-lovable. He loves you when you are un-lovely and un-Godly. His loves does not come with any conditions.

He is the one who felt His flesh tear and the blood flow as He was scourged and beaten. He is the one who felt the nails as they were driven through his hands and his feet, He went through unspeakable agony, unbelievable pain. He volunteered for it, He went willingly even though He had the power to stop it. He did that for you.

As we share the Lord’s Supper, it is meaningful for us as individual Christians, and it is meaningful for us as a church. As we focus together on Jesus and His body and His blood, all of the other little things begin to fade.

Those little things that sometimes we differ on, they become less important as we focus together on what is truly important. As we focus on Jesus and share this experience together, our bond is strengthened. Our bond to each other, and our bond to Christ.

In our 1rst passage this morning, God tells us through Paul that the Lord’s supper is serious business. There is a right way and a wrong way to do it. A worthy manner and an unworthy manner.

Let’s read our passage.

1Cor 11: 26-29 (NIV) 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this 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 will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself

PRAY

Part of what is going on is this passage has to do with how the people in the church of Corinth were behaving. Some were lacking any sense of reverence when it came to the Lord’s Supper. Some were eating and drinking more that their share, some were even getting drunk on the wine, and some were eating it all before others had a chance to share in the meal. Paul is rebuking this behavior in our passage.

Paul lays out some guidelines for participating in a worthy manner. He says a man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

This matter is serious, because if we eat or drink without a recognition of the body of Jesus, if our focus is not on Him, then our participation in the Lord’s supper becomes a sin worthy of judgement and we are sinning against the Lord and against each other, the church, the body of Christ.

A man ought to examine himself.

As we examine ourselves, what should we be looking for, what should our examination be focused on?