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?
First we should be sure that we do not make the mistake the Corinthians were making. We need to be sure that we are present in mind and body and that we are completely focused on the purpose for our gathering here today. This is no ordinary meal, This activity has been designed by God for a spiritual purpose and we need to have the proper attitude and reverence as we take part in it.
But we need to go deeper than just how we act and the attitude we muster up today.
A man ought to examine himself. Lets look at our other passage today
Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19-26
He 10 19-26 (NIV) 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
The first three verses of this passage describe for us what changed when Jesus gave Himself for us on the cross. They describe for us why we CAN draw near to God.
We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus. It is a New and Living way. Remember Jesus said “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”
And since we have a great priest over the house of God Before Jesus only a priest could enter the Holiest place of the temple, but when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn in two. The curtain is compared to the body of Jesus. His body was broken, The curtain was torn, and full and complete access to God was now made possible. Now every believer is a priest with Jesus as our High Priest.
Our participation in the Lord’s supper is an offering to God. Just as a priest in the OT washed himself in pure water and made sure that he was cleansed before entering the temple to make an offering, so we also examine ourselves to be sure we are prepared to make our offering to the Lord.
In this passage I see four areas that need to be examined in each of us. We need to ask ourselves these questions:
I. Am I CLEANSED of a guilty conscience?
II. Am I COMMITTED to my Faith in Jesus?
III. Do I have a CLOSENESS to my brothers and sisters in Christ?, and
IV. Has there been a CHANGE in my heart?
I. Am I Cleansed of a Guilty conscience?
22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Notice that the question is not “Am I cleansed of guilt?” but instead “Am I cleansed of a guilty conscience?”
If you are a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ, then for you there is no condemnation.
Your sins have been paid for, past, present and future by the blood of Jesus on the cross. You are forgiven, your guilt has been acquitted.
Now are we to confess our sins to one another and to God? Yes we are.
1Jn 1: 7-10 (NIV) 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Clearly, we continue to sin as believers. We sin and the Holy Spirit convicts us of that sin, and we should be broken over our sin and we should be confessing our sin to God, asking God to change our hearts, to make us more like Jesus so we can sin less. If you have unconfessed sin this morning, you should go to the Lord in prayer and square things up with Him. Ask Him to show you what he needs to deal with between you and Him and He will show you.
But I don’t believe we need to be worrying that there might be some instance of sin that we forgot to confess and therefore it is not forgiven. The Bible tells us that the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.
The Bible also tells us
Ps 103: 10-12 (NIV) 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
When God looks at you as a believer, He sees the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ
Our sin is under the blood of Christ, all of it.
Do not cling to your guilt. Sometimes we can do that, we cling to our guilt out of selfishness. Sometimes we can make it into a display, a show. Look at me, I am so Pious because I feel such guilt over my sin. Look at me, ME, ME, ME.
Remember something that we keep coming back to, ITS NOT ABOUT YOU, ITS NOT ABOUT ME, IT’S ABOUT HIM!
Don’t look at me, look at HIM. It’s not about me and my guilt, it’s about HIM.
Yes I am a sinner, but HE died for me, HE paid the price for my sin. Look at HIM!
HE deserves honor, He deserves glory, He deserves your attention, not me.
If you have unconfessed sin this morning, confess it. If you are clinging to guilt, let go of it. Focus on Him, focus on what Jesus did, what Jesus accomplished, His work on the cross. In a sense, to cling to your guilt is to deny the power of His sacrifice, to deny the power of His blood.
Ask yourself, am I cleansed of a guilty conscience?
II. Am I Committed to my Faith in Jesus?
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Let us hold unswervingly to our hope in Christ. Let us stand in our faith without wavering.
Have you stood without wavering? This verse tells us that He who promised if faithful.
Have you trusted in His promises?
God’s promises to us as believers are all throughout the Bible.
He promises to love us
He promises to provide for us
He promises us eternal life with Him
He promises us that He will never leave us or forsake us.
Have you stood firm in your faith without wavering? Have you trusted in His promises.
We have spent a lot of time in Sunday School lately talking about what it means to believe. To believe means to know with certainty.
Its not that God might love us and provide for us, or that He will probably love us or provide for us.
HE DOES love us, HE WILL provide for us
To believe means that
I KNOW he loves me
I KNOW He will provide for me
I KNOW He has given me eternal life
I KNOW that He will always be with me, HE will NEVER leave me or forsake me.
If we KNOW these things, then we know we can trust God.
And we can stand firm in our faith without wavering.
Will doubt come? Yes, doubt comes. We are weak, but in our weakness, His strength can shine through.
When doubt comes, run to Him. Run to His word. Run to His strength.
Pray for His strength. Ask Him to fill you anew with the surety of His presence.
When doubt comes remember all the times that God has shown Himself faithful in your life. Read about all the times God showed Himself faithful to His people in the Bible. Read about Abraham, Read about Moses, Read about Joshua, Read about Rahab, Read about Ruth, and Gideon, and Samuel, about David, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Daniel, and all the prophets. Read about Matthew, and Mark, and John, and Peter, and Mary, and Paul, and James.
God has shown Himself faithful. Ask a brother or a sister in Christ “How has God shown Himself faithful to you in your life.” Our testimony to each other can be a real encouragement.
Our faith is in something real, our faith is in SOMEONE real. Our faith is in the creator of the universe, the one true God. He is the living God, He is alive and He is here with us today.
Ask yourself, “Am I committed to my faith in Jesus?”
III. Do I have a Closeness to my brothers do sisters in Christ?
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Let us not give up meeting together, let us encourage one another.
We are in this together. Our unity as a church body is important, and it is important this morning as we share the Lord’s Supper together, that there be a peace among us, and a strong bond of love between us.
This is about more than just church attendance. It says let us not give up meeting together, but it goes past that to say let us encourage one another and spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
The Lord’s Supper is an act of worship, it is an offering from us to God.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:
Mt 5: 23-24 (NIV) 23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
This unity and peace is so important that if there is a problem between you and your brother or sister in Christ here this morning, you should go to that person and reconcile BEFORE you make your offering..
During our time of invitation this morning, that may be how you need to respond, to go to your brother or sister and be reconciled. To pray together, to forgive, to ask forgiveness so nothing will distract from our focus on Jesus and His work on the cross as we share in the Lord’s Supper
Ask yourself “Do I have a closeness to my brothers and sisters in Christ?”
Finally,
IV. Has there been a Change in my heart?
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
I believe what we are talking about here is, after hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ, receiving the knowledge that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins,
If you reject that truth and keep on sinning deliberately, ignoring the Holy Spirit, refusing to be convicted of your sin, if you reject the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross, and keep on deliberately sinning and doing things your way, refusing to give up control, then there is no sacrifice for sins left.
If you reject Jesus, there is nothing else for you to put your hope in, nothing else that can pay the penalty for your sins, nothing and no one else that can satisfy the Holy Justice of God.
Only God’s grace can accomplish that, God’s saving grace. And our only avenue for that grace is the blood of Jesus.
Acts 4: 12 (NIV) 12 “ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Romans 10:9 says
Ro 10: 9 (NIV) 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If you have never given your heart to Jesus, then the Lord’s Supper is not for you.
We often talk about asking Jesus into your heart, but we need to say more than that. Sometimes people think that can invite Jesus to come into their heart like they are putting socks away in a drawer.
I’ll add Jesus to my heart and life, but I will stay in control, I will make decisions based on what I want to do. But there is more to it than that.
Not only do I need to ask Jesus into my heart, I need to give my heart to Him. I need to make Him the Lord and Savoir of my Life. That means giving Him control of my life. That means living my life for Him. That means submitting to the Holy Spirit to work in my heart and change me from the inside out to become more like Jesus.
Have you done that? Ask yourself “Has there been a change in my heart?”
PRAY
Acknowledgement: The basic divisions for the Hebrews 10 passage in relation to the on Lord’s supper were based on a sermon by Phil Anderson “Let Us Draw Near” on Sermoncentral.com
