Remember and Discern
Text: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING
It’s a pleasure to be back with you here at Fairview. I’ve been praying for you all since I last saw you, and so I want to say thank you for having me back on this Lord’s Day…
Now I have to admit that I was told beforehand that we were going to be taking communion here this morning and so I had a sermon written up, and prepared, and I was going to preach it this morning… but then the storm came through and wiped my zip drive. So Saturday evening I sat down, I prayed, and went back to work.
THANK GOD FOR STORMS THAT FORCE US TO RELY UPON HIM!
So if you will, let’s take our Bible’s and open them up to 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 (READ).
This of course was Paul the Apostle writing to the Corinthians… and by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he is led to write down for us instructions concerning the Lord’s Supper. And that’s pretty awesome when you think about it… but it’s also something that we need to be really paying attention to, because God is very specific in these instructions. And as we saw through reading the text, Paul was not very happy with the Corinthians, because they were not following those instructions. In verse 17 he says, “I DO NOT commend you…” And then in verse 18 he tells them why – there are divisions in the Church. Now this is a big deal… throughout the New Testament we are told that the Church is to be unified in the faith. That we are to love one another. That we are to have a common goal and common purpose. We are to be ONE Body, under the authority of the head of the body – Jesus Christ. And so, when you read through the New Testament, there are two main things that cause division in the Body of Christ. The first thing is false teaching… false teachers come in, cause division, strife, and all sorts of problems, and the Church is continually warned to be watchful of that… The second thing we see that causes division within the Body of Christ is self-centeredness… or selfishness. In other words, Christians who put themselves above the well-being of other brothers and sisters in Christ. Christians who put their own desires above the desires of the Church. And that’s what we see going on here in Corinth… Verse 21 Paul says, “For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk.” Now this is interesting… and it’s something you don’t hear taught on a lot… but what it shows us is that these church members in Corinth were bringing their own meals to do Communion… and they would bring in their food, and some would eat their food, not thinking or caring about the poorer members of the Church who maybe didn’t have any food, or couldn’t bring any food… And there were others who were bringing wine, and drinking it all themselves, rather than passing it around. Now look at verse 22 because this is super important when we look at this Communion meal… Verse 22 Paul says, “What’s the deal? Don’t you have houses to do that in – or is it that you DESPISE the Church of God, and humiliate those who have nothing?” Now that’s pretty harsh language there. Modern day Christians would probably accuse Paul of being unloving there. But we need to understand something about this. To despise the Church, is to despise Christ who bought the Church.
Do you remember the story of Paul’s conversion?
He was on his way to Damascus, and Jesus basically knocked him to the ground, and said to him, “Saul, why are you persecuting ME?” Now Saul (who would later be Paul), wasn’t literally persecuting Jesus, he was going after believers, after the Church, but Jesus sees attacks against His bride as an attack upon Himself. That goes all the way back to Genesis 2:24… when God brought Adam and Eve together… “For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother, and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
The Body of Christ, is also the Bride of Christ, that’s why we see those two terms used interchangeably. Christ is in the heart of every believer, and we are in Him. So again, let me say this – to despise the Church is to despise the One who gave Himself a ransom for the Church.
Now let’s go on here… in verse 23, Paul begins with his instructions, and he tells them that this meal – the Lord’s Supper – was started by Jesus Himself. Paul sets the date of its institution for us… He says, it was started by Jesus on the night He was betrayed… And here’s what Jesus did, He took bread – He gave thanks – He broke the bread – and He said, “This is My Body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of Me.” And then… after they had eaten, Jesus took a cup – and He said, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
So the bread was first, the wine was second, and they were to be consumed as a memorial to Jesus… in remembrance of Him. So when we take Communion, we are to look back. We look back at Jesus, we are to think of His body that was broken for our sake. That’s what Isaiah 53 was prophesying about… “He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our inequities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.” Verse 10, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him, He has put Him to grief…”
That should be in each and every one of our minds as we take the bread… we should remember what Jesus endured for our sake. We should remember the pain, and anguish, and suffering He endured because of our sin. We should reflect on what it means that He endured all that suffering, and all that anguish, and even the wrath of God that was poured out upon Him as He hung on the cross.
And then the cup… the cup represents His blood that was shed. See, the Bible says tht without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of Sin. But it also tells us that the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. The sinless Lamb of God was slain in our place, for our sin, so that we could stand righteous and justified before a Holy God.
And so Church, every time we take Communion, we having a Memorial Day meal… we are remembering Jesus and what He has done for us. You are saying, “He died for me.” And we are to do this UNTIL HE COMES AGAIN.
Church, I hope that puts you in awe of this wonderful thing we are about to do. I hope that fills you with amazement at our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ! I really, really do… but we can’t just leave it here. Because the full thoughts of Paul, being inspired by the Holy Spirit don’t stop there. He goes on to give further instructions and a warning.
Verses 27 though 29, “Whoever, therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the Body and Blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning THE BODY, eats and drinks judgment on himself.”
Now catch this… Paul says, “Don’t eat the bread or drink the cup in an UNWORTHY manner…” What does that mean? Well you’ll hear a lot of folks talk about what they think it means, and you’ll hear a whole bunch of different ideas and opinions… but Paul actually tells us right there in the text. It’s in verse 29, “For anyone who eats and drinks WITHOUT DISCERNING THE BODY…” That’s the one who is eating and drinking judgment on himself. Take that in the context of what Paul has already said in verses 17-22… What is the Body that we should be discerning?
THE CHURCH!
And this is a real warning, with real consequences for not heeding it. Some within the Corinthian Church were sick, and some had even died – because they despised the Church. Because they weren’t considering and caring for their brothers and sisters in Christ.
And then Paul gives us the final instructions for taking Communion… He says, “Wait for one another, and if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home – SO THAT, when you come together it will not be for judgment.”
And so, as we prepare to take Communion this morning, I want us to take a moment to examine ourselves. Do you understand that the bread represents the Lord’s Body that was broken for you? The Lord’s body that was beaten beyond recognition for you? That was nailed to a cross because of your sin? Do you understand that this cup represents the blood of Jesus that was shed for you? And that by His blood, we can be forgiven and washed whiter than snow?
Do you understand that the person sitting next to you, or in front of you, or behind you are our brothers and sisters in Christ, just like people sitting in churches in _____, and _____, and _____, and _____, and all over the world… if they have received the Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are all part of the Body of Christ, and are all equally valuable in the sight of the Lord… and we should love them as we love ourselves, because we are all part of the same Body…
Do you understand that in doing this we are looking forward to that Day, when our Lord Jesus comes again?
I pray that we do as we take Communion this morning.
Let’s Pray
COMMUNION SERVICE
