Come To the Table
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Introduction:
One of the things I love about the Christian faith is the fact that so little is required of us to be saved.
We aren’t good enough…so we can quit trying.
We can’t do enough good deeds…so that is out of the question.
Church…Baptism…Giving…
You name it; it isn’t ever going to be good enough.
That is why Christ died on the cross, to pay the penalty for my sins and your sins.
He did all the work and for that reason He cried out on the cross, “It is finished” as a reminder to us that nothing else can or could be done, and nothing else was necessary.
All we have to do is believe and receive to be saved.
Now as for being saved, then the ante is upped a bit.
We don’t have to do anything to be saved, but we are expected to do a few things once we are saved.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Eph. 2:10 that we are saved for good works in Christ.
And in Phil. 2:12 he tells us to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
And this is where we find the difference between a sacrament and an ordinance.
I grew up in a denomination that had 7 sacraments, you did as many of them as humanly possible to the best of your abilities in hopes of earning enough mercy to make it to heaven.
A sacrament is a tool of salvation.
On the other hand we as born again believers and as Baptists practice ordinances, 2 ordinances to be specific, as a testimony of our salvation.
We don’t practice these ordinances to be saved, we practice them because we are saved.
The first ordinance is baptism, believer’s baptism to be specific.
This is the public profession of faith to the local church and the world that you have surrendered your life to Christ.
Christ was our example when He went to John to be baptized.
John the Baptist, named so because he baptized, not because he liked fried chicken, baptized people by immersion…it was called a baptism of repentance.
People were testifying to believing and following his message and were making this public profession to show it.
Jesus had no reason to repent, therefore a baptism of repentance was unnecessary for Him.
His baptism came at the beginning of His public ministry, as an example to us that we should follow in His footsteps when we follow Him.
We also practice baptism by immersion as a church because this same Christ commanded us to do so in the Great Commission, Matt. 28:18-20.
But what about that 2nd ordinance, the act is expected of us as a result of our salvation?
That is the Lord’s Supper, and that is what I want is to consider this morning in preparation for our gathering at the Lord’s Table shortly.
Let’s read about the Lord’s Supper together.
Read 1 Cor. 11:17-34 and pray.
Transition:
Once again, Jesus left us with 2 ordinances to observe as born again believers, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
With His instructions He simply said “as often” as you do this, we are to do it “in remembrance” of Him.
This morning as we prepare to gather at the Lord’s Table in celebration of the Lord’s Supper know these 4 truths concerning this ordinance:
1. The Pattern
Read. vs. 23-25
Paul begins by describing for us the original Lord’s Supper that was conducted by Jesus Himself the night before His crucifixion.
He took 2 very common items found there on their table as they ate as an object lesson.
• The Bread, vs. 23 (don’t describe it yet, just mention)
• The Cup, vs 25
But remember, he used these as object lessons.
a. The bread: vs. 24, represents His body that was to be broken for us.
Explain…
b. The cup: vs. 25, represents the new covenant between God and man, sealed by the shedding of Christ’s blood for our sins.
Explain…
The pattern was simple, but the meaning…not so much.
The pattern is to eat the bread and drink from the cup and remember, remember the price that was paid so that we don’t have to pay the penalty for our own sins.
And that takes us to our 2nd truth this morning about the Lord’s Supper
2. The Purpose
Why do we do this, what is the ultimate purpose of the Lord’s Supper?
We are told that we simply have to look to see the purpose.
Jesus tells us we need to look 3 ways, and Paul reiterates that for us.
We need to look…
a. Backwards to the cross, vs. 26a
b. Inward to our conscience, vs. 28
Conscience literally means “with knowledge”
We should not approach the Lord’s table carelessly, but cautiously.
Because of the sacrifice of God we are remembering, we should treat it with the utmost respect and honor that Christ Himself deserves.
And while none of us on our own are worthy of taking our place at His table, we are granted that seat by His mercy and forgiveness.
Illus: Who would go into an important meeting or an interview looking like they just came off the deer stand or has been mudding on a 4 wheeler?
No one.
Yet we often try to go into the presence of God or to His table without bothering to straighten ourselves up and make sure we are fit for the event.
That is why we are called to look inward, to see sins in our lives that cause us to cheapen the experience we are about to partake in.
And then we are told to…
c. Forward to the crown, vs. 26b
Christ says to do this as often as possible until He returns.
Paul tells us in his letters to the Thessalonian Church that Christ will indeed return, and when this occurs He will call His church, His bride to Himself.
Not sure when, but I do know that this is a sure bet.
Why? Because of the 10’s of 1000’s of promises we have found in Scripture.
And it is those promises that give us a hope.
A hope that there is something better waiting on the other side of this life.
Have you claimed that promise in your life?
It comes by faith alone…there is nothing you can do to earn it because we have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory.
For that reason God sent His only begotten Son into this world where he would live a sinless life and die our sinful deaths so that we might be forgiven.
And if you believe this to be true and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved…you will be saved and you now have something to look forward to.
What is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper?
To see what is important to Him.
Which means looking back to the cross, inward to investigate our lives and them forward to the crown that awaits us.
As often as we do this…look.
But before we approach the Lord’s Table we need to also recognize this 3rd truth…
3. The Penalty
Vs. 27-30
This is a dire warning to us, any believer who partakes of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner is guilty and risks discipline for that.
Paul describes it to us like this…
a. You eat and drink God’s judgment on yourself, vs. 27-29
b. Being divinely judged with physical sickness, vs. 30
Literal physical manisfestations of being sick.
c. Being judged with physical death
For some, this would be the ultimate form of discipline.
The bread and cup are called the bread and cup of the Lord; because we eat and drink in remembrance of him, they are symbols of his body and of his blood.
Even though the elements are only symbollic; these may be eaten and drank "unworthily", when they are eaten and drank by unworthy persons, in an unworthy manner, and to unworthy ends and purposes.
Unworthy means to be unregenerate or like an unregenerate person.
In modern vernacular, if you aren’t a born again believer you should refrain from participating in the Lord’s Supper.
It is only by God’s grace that you can be saved, and by His grace you can approach His table.
Being unworthy also means being saved, but not living the life that a saved person should be living.
Paul wrote this letter to the Church in Corinth…this was a local church of believers that chose to be in the world and of the world.
Rather than swimming against the flow and trying to live out the difference that Gospel has made in their lives, they chose to mimic the world individually and corperately.
They were Christians, if by name only.
What about you?
Are you worthy to approach the Lord’s table?
On your own, you are not, but by God’s grace you are.
And when you do approach the Lord’s table you then get to experience our 4th truth this morning about the Lord’s Supper…
4. The Profit
Vs. 33-34
The profit is that we benefit from experiencing God and being changed by Him and then becoming an agent of change.
It leads us into service and into giving ourselves for God’s glory, honor and His kingdom.
And this profit is the gift that keeps on giving.
You profit in your relationship with God, and others profit when you share those blessings with them.
Conclusion:
And that is why we gather this morning at the Lord’s Table.
We are going to do things a little different this morning, rather than having an invitation and then dismissing…we are going to offer an invitation and then enter into the Lord’s Supper Celebration.
For this to take place on this particular Sunday was a bit of an intentional thing.
1. We just finished the Easter celebration, and I don’t want us to ever, ever, EVER forget the sacrifice for our sins and the resurrection of Christ giving us eternal life.
2. We begin revival services next week, and there is no better time for revival to begin than on the Sunday before services.
3. We have a business meeting tonight.
Let’s be honest, in a lot of Baptist churches you see more sinful natures revealed in public in business meetings…things you might not say in private, for whatever reason becomes the dirty laundry you air in those meetings; and God is not honored.
And the sad thing is, most churches faithfully hold 12 business meetings a year when there is no record of a single business meeting in Scripture…but celebrate the Lord’s Supper on 4 times a year, when the latter is the one we are told to do “as often” as possible.
Makes me wonder, if churches spent more time around the Lord’s Table than we do around financial reports…what condition would our nation be in today?
What condition would our church be in today?
