In Rememberance Of Me Series

In Remembrance of Me

1 Corinthians Series

CCCAG 11-9-2025

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:17–34

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Introduction —

Growing up, some of my favorite memories revolve around the yearly Thanksgiving trip to Hayward for hunting season and the thanksgiving meal.

My Grandparents had a small house, but it had a dining room with a formal table in the middle it. It was really heavy and could only be moved into the center of the room by four strong men. My grandma had one mission in life during that season- make that thanksgiving meal a thing to remember, and she timed it’s completion for exactly 6:30 on Thanksgiving.

It was the one meal you do not miss. Hunting, cleaning deer, and weapons, everything revolved around that meal as it was a tradition that will be followed.

There’s something sacred about a shared meal.

In every culture, eating together has always meant more than just food — it means fellowship, connection, belonging.

Fast forward to 2025, when everyone is focused on their phones, eating in silence, rushing to get up — that meal may fill the stomach, but it leaves the soul empty. It’s possible to be present at the table, and still completely miss what the meal was meant to mean.

That’s exactly what happened in the church at Corinth.

They were coming together for what was supposed to be the most sacred remembrance of all — the Lord’s Supper — and turning it into something ugly and selfish.

What began as a gathering of love had turned into a display of pride. The rich were feasting, the poor were humiliated, and the cross of Christ — the very reason for the meal — was being overshadowed by arrogance and division.

So Paul writes to them — not with gentle words, but with rebuke. He says in verse 17, “In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.”

Imagine that. A church meeting doing more harm than good.

This morning, we’re going to walk through this passage section by section and rediscover what Jesus meant when He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Because, Church — communion is not about the bread and cup themselves.

It’s about remembering a Person.

It’s about coming face to face again with the One who gave His body and poured out His blood so that we could live.

1 Co 11:17–20

17 Now in giving this instruction I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you. 20 When you come together, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.

21 For at the meal, each one eats his own supper. So one person is hungry while another gets drunk! 22 Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you in this matter!

Prayer

1. The Problem in Corinth (vv. 17–22)

START HERE- Paul doesn’t hold back here. He says, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.”

In other words, whatever it is you’re doing — it’s not communion.

Let’s look at the context to what is being talked about here-

In the first-century church, the Lord’s Supper was often celebrated as part of a larger, open to the community, fellowship meal — like the fellowship meal we will have next week, except their fellowship meal was the entire meeting. The idea was that believers, rich and poor, would bring food and share together in unity before taking the bread and cup.

In many ways, they were following the pattern that Jesus and the disciples did at the Last Supper.

But in Corinth, the wealthy members were arriving early with fine food and wine, eating and drinking before the working-class believers could even get off their jobs and arrive. By the time the poor arrived, there was little left — just crumbs and humiliation.

As Paul says, “One remains hungry, another gets drunk.”

So instead of a symbol of unity, communion had become a display of division.

Instead of proclaiming the cross, it was proclaiming selfishness.

And Paul says, “Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in?” — in other words, if all you’re doing is throwing a party, leave God out of it.

Because when we treat something sacred as common, we’re not just being casual — we’re being careless with something holy.