Remember And Discern

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.”