When We Come Together

When We Come Together

“When We Come Together”
(1 Corinthians 11:17-34)
Lord’s Supper

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

• I invite you to take your Bibles and join me this morning in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11 (page 773; YouVersion).

We pause our series in the Book of James to focus on the key passage that teaches the meaning and practice of the Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

It’s our usual practice to stand in honor of the reading of Scripture but, since this is a rather long passage let me invite you to remain seated as we go to God in prayer..

• Pray.

Our heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of coming together in worship. This is a great church, a great church family, and we know that we are who we are because of Your grace. We ask You to move among us this morning as we study Your Word and as we focus upon our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the kind of conduct You have called us to live out in light of what You have done for us. In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray, amen.

This passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 really is the key passage of Scripture that teaches us nearly everything we need to know about the Lord’s Supper, an ordinance our Lord taught us to observe. Christians coming together in worship are to observe the Supper with some sense of regularity, perhaps not too often as it becomes trite or meaningless and not too infrequently so that it becomes unfamiliar and unmoving.

So we look at verses 17 to the end of the chapter, verses 17-34, and we have studied this passage on numerous occasions here at Henderson’s First Baptist, though a bit differently each time.

This morning I want to gather our thinking around three words. Each of these words helps us to prepare rightly for observing the Supper. The first word is the word: Relationships.

I. Consider the Importance of Relationships (17-22)

The church is a gathering together of relationships. Henderson’s First Baptist is about Christian brothers and sisters coming together for the purpose of worshiping together, studying together, praying for one another, encouraging one another, warning one another, loving one another.

You’ll note the phrase “come together” occurs three times in verses 17 and following, the phrase “come together,” three times in the first six verses alone.

The church at Corinth gathered together, but their problem was not so much whether the did this, but how they did this. Verse 17:

17 Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.

The NIV has, “I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.” Imagine a church gathering together that does more harm than good, that comes together “not for the better but for the worse.” He explains in verse 18:

18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

The divisions Paul has in mind here in chapter 11 is not so much one of argumentation, but one of isolation. There were groups in the church who were drawing circles around themselves, dividing up into these little factious cliques, most notably dividing into the categories of “the haves” and “the have nots.”

Before the Lord’s Supper was observed, the early church first enjoyed a big meal together. It was called the “Love Feast.” Great name, right? They would share food with one another and then afterwards they would observe the Lord’s Supper.

Some in the church were wealthier than others. They had larger resources than others and so they brought good food and a lot of it, and they would all sit together. So Paul says, “You know, I hear about these divisions among you and I’m afraid to say that I believe what I hear is true,” verse 19:

19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

And I think the idea conveyed is rather that Paul is saying, “I hear about these divisions in the church there and it seems there must be these divisions if, after all, those who are the so-called “upper crust,” if you like, will stand out.

I think Paul is speaking sort of tongue in cheek here, as if to say, “Of course, there must be divisions among you so everyone in the congregation can see who has ‘God’s approval!’”

20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.

Paul is like, “Clearly you are NOT coming together to eat the Lord’s Supper, because if you were you’d have a different spirit, you’d come together in unity and humility.” He explains in verse 21:

21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk.

In a time in history before water purification, wine was the most drinkable beverage available. The Bible consistently condemns drunkenness, and it seems almost unbelievable that these church members were not only gathering together in cliques but were also behaving like unbelievers—drunkenness and selfishness. Paul is incredulous, verse 22:

22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

Paul is teaching here in verse 22 that we don’t come together so much to have our own personal needs met as we come together to bless others. Relationships. The church is not a place, it is a people. It is not a building, it is a body. It is a gathering together of relationships.

We celebrated this truth last Sunday evening in the “Discover Your Design” service, discovering how each person in the body of Christ is uniquely designed by God to serve others. God works in us and through us to bless others in the body of Christ. Relationships.

This meaningfulness of relationships has also blessed me in a personal way as a number of you reached out to me last week through encouraging calls and texts and messages. I am a minister, but I also need ministering to as one who is part of the body of Christ. A number of you are more acutely aware of my needs and challenges and you have blessed me in recent days. Relationships.

And in light of last Sunday morning’s message on confessing our faults to one another and praying for one another, I was encouraged to hear from more than one person about how God was using that text, James 5:16, in their own lives as they related to one another. Relationships. It’s a Christian word. Secondly:

II. Consider the Importance of Remembering (23-26)

Remembering. Look at verses 23 and 24. Verse 23:

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

The Lord’s Supper is about remembering, remembering our Lord Jesus, who He is and what He has done.

Jesus gathered together with others at that first Lord’s Supper on not just any night, but on the very night in which He would be betrayed! Here we were just talking about relationships. Jesus always put others first. He lovingly and selflessly spent time with others, even on the very night He would suffer a horrible death—something else He did for others.

The background for the Lord’s Supper is the Passover as explained in Exodus 12. The Passover meal was celebrated by Jewish families who recalled God’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Before the meal, the father as head of the family would take a loaf of unleavened bread—flat bread, without yeast to recall the haste in which the Jews fled Egypt, so quickly they had to leave before yeast was added—so the father would take the bread and give thanks to God and then break the bread to give to his family.

In similar fashion, Jesus takes the bread and gives thanks. He prays and then He breaks the bread and says, “This is My body.” Verse 25 now:

25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

The “cup” harkens back to the Old Testament notions of the cup of God’s wrath (Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17). When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He suffered the wrath of God that was directed at us for our sin.

So the “new covenant” mentioned there in verse 25 is why we gather not just for the Lord’s Supper, but why we gather every Lord’s Day. The new covenant is our salvation, our life, it is the Gospel, it is to be saved by grace, through faith, in Christ, alone.

So when Jesus speaks of the bread and the cup, He is referring to His body and blood, broken, and spilled out for the atonement of our sins. This is what we are to remember as we partake of the Supper.

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

There is a sense in which every time the church gathers together and observes the Supper together, that the church at that moment is preaching the Gospel. The Lord’s Supper is about proclamation of this new covenant. When you eat the bread and drink the cup you are preaching, remembering and proclaiming that Jesus died to atone for sin.

The Lord’s Supper evokes joy in the Christian because it reminds Christians of the Gospel. The Lord’s Supper reminds Christians that God accepts us not on the basis of our performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Christ.

He accepts us all equally in Christ. No one is better than another because he or she is rich and no one is inferior because he or she is poor. The cross equalizes all of us, humbling the proud and lifting up the downtrodden. We are all brothers and sisters equally in Christ.

Relationships. Remembering. The third word is Reverence.

III. Consider the Importance of Reverence (27-34)

Unlike the Corinthians, entering into the ordinance with their bellies stuffed and their thoughts only on themselves, some of them even drunk, we are to enter into the observation of the Supper in reverence, prayerfully examining ourselves. Verse 27:

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Paul warns in verse 27, “Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.” The idea here is that we may fail to prayerfully prepare for the Supper and thus enter into it irreverently or hurriedly, guilty of the body and blood of the Lord as guilty as a Roman Soldier who nailed Jesus to the cross.

So Paul says in verse 28, “But let a man examine himself.” And in the context of what was going on in Corinth, the examination of one’s self includes the looking around at our brothers and sisters, making certain that each of us is cultivating a loving spirit of togetherness rather than selfishness. We have a true love for one another, confessing our faults to one another, praying for one another that we may be healed.

29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

This verse does not teach that only “worthy” people can partake of the Supper. If that were true, none of us could partake of the Supper because none of us is worthy.

Given the immediate context, “Eating or drinking in an unworthy manner” is to eat or drink in a selfish manner, having little concern for others in the church, failing to consider the importance of relationships and fostering even better relationships.

This means that the phrase, “not discerning the Lord’s body,” may refer to the church, the corporate “body of Christ,” the very idea Paul has in mind in the previous chapter where he refers to the church as “one body (cf 1 Corinthians 10:17).”

And Paul may also have in mind the body of Jesus Christ Himself, Christ’s body, so that “eating and drinking in an unworthy manner” and thus failing to “discern the Lord’s body” may mean that one fails to appreciate the significance of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, “not discerning, His, “the Lord’s body.”

Maybe Paul has both ideas in mind. Christians come together to observe the Supper in such a way that they think about both the Lord and His church.

So the “examination” called for in verse 28, “but let a man examine himself,” would be to pause long enough to think rightly about the Lord and about others. We think about the Lord, His unselfish giving of His life for our salvation. And then we think about others, these brothers and sisters who sit to our left and to our right, before us and behind us. We think rightly about them, considering them better than ourselves.

30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

Failure on the part of the Corinthian church members “to examine themselves” rightly, eating and drinking “in an unworthy manner,” failing to “discern the Lord’s body” led to these negative consequences spelled-out in verse 30: “many are weak and sick…and many sleep.” The word “sleep” here is a common euphemism for death.

So get this now: the failure of God’s people to worship rightly and reverently led to their becoming sick, becoming weak, and becoming dead! Just let that sink in a bit.

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

In other words, “If we’ll confront our sins and repent and get right with God and others, we have no reason to fear the judgment of God.”

It’s much as we learned Wednesday in our intergenerational study when Matt taught about the fear of God. It’s not as though we’re to be afraid of Him, as much as it is that we are always to be in awe of Him, respecting Him, we are struck by Him, forever bowing before Him in our spirit if not bowing on our knees.

So it is not as though we are to tremble when taking the Lord’s Supper, shaking in fear that God may strike us dead at any moment. The problem with the Corinthians is that they weren’t thinking of God, at all. They were not worshiping, but rather partying.

32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

God is always ready to receive our repentance. He chastens us that we might repent and turn back to Him, that we might turn from the world and turn to the Lord. That’s the idea here.

The last two verses stress again the importance of relationships while remembering. Verse 33:

33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment…

There again, the warning that attaches to those who are selfish and inconsiderate: “lest you come together for judgment.” And I like the way Paul concludes this section of material, last few words of verse 34:

…And the rest I will set in order when I come.

It’s like he’s saying, “I’ve got more to say on this, but this is enough for now.” And I understand that. I’ve got more to say, too, but this is enough for now.

So three words: The Lord’s Supper is about Relationships, Remembering, and Reverence.

In a moment we will pray and then partake of the Supper.

Before we pray, you may be a Christian but not a member of this church. You are visiting but you are a member elsewhere of a church of like faith and order. If so, we invite you to partake of the Supper with us.

Or you may be here this morning as one who is not a Christian, not a believer, not a follower of Jesus Christ. Of course, the Lord’s Supper is for Christians. It is an ordinance like baptism. It is something to be done by those who have been saved. Just as we are saved first and then baptized, so are we saved first before partaking of the Supper. It is an ordinance for those who have already become followers of Christ.

If you are not saved, or you don’t know whether you have been accepted by God, the most important thing you can do this morning is put your faith and trust in God. You must turn from your sin and your self, and turn in repentance to Jesus Christ, trusting in Him alone as Lord of your life. He must become “Number 1” in your life. You live under His Lordship. This morning, if you are not saved, then in a moment I invite you to bow your head and surrender your life to Christ. If you do that this morning, let me know afterwards so that we can arrange for your baptism. The first thing you do after receiving Jesus Christ is to follow Him in baptism. So if you place your faith in Christ, it is vitally important to let the church know as quickly as possible so that we can celebrate with you and set a date and time for your baptism.

And now, we prepare ourselves for the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

Let’s pray.

Father, first, we acknowledge that there may be some in this room who have not yet placed their faith in Christ. May Your Holy Spirit draw them to a saving understanding and knowledge of who You are and why You alone are the One True and Living God and that there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved from hell. May each person place his or her faith totally in you, in Jesus name.

And as we continue to pray, we acknowledge that as Christians we are imperfect. Even though we are saved we continue to fail you. We admit this. We confess it. You have taught us in Your word that “if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).”

We do acknowledge all known sin and all unknown sin. We confess and ask for forgiveness. Give the importance of relationships, we acknowledge right now with gratitude in our hearts that we have come together at this time to worship along with our brothers and sisters. We affirm that we are not individuals who are more concerned about our own personal needs, but rather we are each a part of the body of Christ, more concerned about meeting the needs of others.

We also come together at this moment to remember You. Help us do this in a reverent way, remembering what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, dying there for our sin and rising from the dead for our justification, that we may be declared righteous by God the Father, no longer guilty of our sin.

So as we partake of the bread and the cup, grant us the grace to feel your power and presence, the spiritual presence of Christ, really here among the people of Christ. And all this for our good, and Your glory, in Jesus’ name, amen.

**Observe the Supper**

• I invite you to take your Bibles and join me this morning in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11 (page 773; YouVersion).

We pause our series in the Book of James to focus on the key passage that teaches the meaning and practice of the Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

It’s our usual practice to stand in honor of the reading of Scripture but, since this is a rather long passage let me invite you to remain seated as we go to God in prayer..

• Pray.

Our heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of coming together in worship. This is a great church, a great church family, and we know that we are who we are because of Your grace. We ask You to move among us this morning as we study Your Word and as we focus upon our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the kind of conduct You have called us to live out in light of what You have done for us. In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray, amen.

This passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 really is the key passage of Scripture that teaches us nearly everything we need to know about the Lord’s Supper, an ordinance our Lord taught us to observe. Christians coming together in worship are to observe the Supper with some sense of regularity, perhaps not too often as it becomes trite or meaningless and not too infrequently so that it becomes unfamiliar and unmoving.

So we look at verses 17 to the end of the chapter, verses 17-34, and we have studied this passage on numerous occasions here at Henderson’s First Baptist, though a bit differently each time.

This morning I want to gather our thinking around three words. Each of these words helps us to prepare rightly for observing the Supper. The first word is the word: Relationships.

I. Consider the Importance of Relationships (17-22)

The church is a gathering together of relationships. Henderson’s First Baptist is about Christian brothers and sisters coming together for the purpose of worshiping together, studying together, praying for one another, encouraging one another, warning one another, loving one another.

You’ll note the phrase “come together” occurs three times in verses 17 and following, the phrase “come together,” three times in the first six verses alone.

The church at Corinth gathered together, but their problem was not so much whether the did this, but how they did this. Verse 17:

17 Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.

The NIV has, “I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.” Imagine a church gathering together that does more harm than good, that comes together “not for the better but for the worse.” He explains in verse 18:

18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

The divisions Paul has in mind here in chapter 11 is not so much one of argumentation, but one of isolation. There were groups in the church who were drawing circles around themselves, dividing up into these little factious cliques, most notably dividing into the categories of “the haves” and “the have nots.”

Before the Lord’s Supper was observed, the early church first enjoyed a big meal together. It was called the “Love Feast.” Great name, right? They would share food with one another and then afterwards they would observe the Lord’s Supper.

Some in the church were wealthier than others. They had larger resources than others and so they brought good food and a lot of it, and they would all sit together. So Paul says, “You know, I hear about these divisions among you and I’m afraid to say that I believe what I hear is true,” verse 19:

19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

And I think the idea conveyed is rather that Paul is saying, “I hear about these divisions in the church there and it seems there must be these divisions if, after all, those who are the so-called “upper crust,” if you like, will stand out.

I think Paul is speaking sort of tongue in cheek here, as if to say, “Of course, there must be divisions among you so everyone in the congregation can see who has ‘God’s approval!’”

20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.

Paul is like, “Clearly you are NOT coming together to eat the Lord’s Supper, because if you were you’d have a different spirit, you’d come together in unity and humility.” He explains in verse 21:

21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk.

In a time in history before water purification, wine was the most drinkable beverage available. The Bible consistently condemns drunkenness, and it seems almost unbelievable that these church members were not only gathering together in cliques but were also behaving like unbelievers—drunkenness and selfishness. Paul is incredulous, verse 22:

22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

Paul is teaching here in verse 22 that we don’t come together so much to have our own personal needs met as we come together to bless others. Relationships. The church is not a place, it is a people. It is not a building, it is a body. It is a gathering together of relationships.

We celebrated this truth last Sunday evening in the “Discover Your Design” service, discovering how each person in the body of Christ is uniquely designed by God to serve others. God works in us and through us to bless others in the body of Christ. Relationships.

This meaningfulness of relationships has also blessed me in a personal way as a number of you reached out to me last week through encouraging calls and texts and messages. I am a minister, but I also need ministering to as one who is part of the body of Christ. A number of you are more acutely aware of my needs and challenges and you have blessed me in recent days. Relationships.

And in light of last Sunday morning’s message on confessing our faults to one another and praying for one another, I was encouraged to hear from more than one person about how God was using that text, James 5:16, in their own lives as they related to one another. Relationships. It’s a Christian word. Secondly:

II. Consider the Importance of Remembering (23-26)

Remembering. Look at verses 23 and 24. Verse 23:

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

The Lord’s Supper is about remembering, remembering our Lord Jesus, who He is and what He has done.

Jesus gathered together with others at that first Lord’s Supper on not just any night, but on the very night in which He would be betrayed! Here we were just talking about relationships. Jesus always put others first. He lovingly and selflessly spent time with others, even on the very night He would suffer a horrible death—something else He did for others.

The background for the Lord’s Supper is the Passover as explained in Exodus 12. The Passover meal was celebrated by Jewish families who recalled God’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Before the meal, the father as head of the family would take a loaf of unleavened bread—flat bread, without yeast to recall the haste in which the Jews fled Egypt, so quickly they had to leave before yeast was added—so the father would take the bread and give thanks to God and then break the bread to give to his family.

In similar fashion, Jesus takes the bread and gives thanks. He prays and then He breaks the bread and says, “This is My body.” Verse 25 now:

25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

The “cup” harkens back to the Old Testament notions of the cup of God’s wrath (Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17). When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He suffered the wrath of God that was directed at us for our sin.

So the “new covenant” mentioned there in verse 25 is why we gather not just for the Lord’s Supper, but why we gather every Lord’s Day. The new covenant is our salvation, our life, it is the Gospel, it is to be saved by grace, through faith, in Christ, alone.

So when Jesus speaks of the bread and the cup, He is referring to His body and blood, broken, and spilled out for the atonement of our sins. This is what we are to remember as we partake of the Supper.

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

There is a sense in which every time the church gathers together and observes the Supper together, that the church at that moment is preaching the Gospel. The Lord’s Supper is about proclamation of this new covenant. When you eat the bread and drink the cup you are preaching, remembering and proclaiming that Jesus died to atone for sin.

The Lord’s Supper evokes joy in the Christian because it reminds Christians of the Gospel. The Lord’s Supper reminds Christians that God accepts us not on the basis of our performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Christ.

He accepts us all equally in Christ. No one is better than another because he or she is rich and no one is inferior because he or she is poor. The cross equalizes all of us, humbling the proud and lifting up the downtrodden. We are all brothers and sisters equally in Christ.

Relationships. Remembering. The third word is Reverence.

III. Consider the Importance of Reverence (27-34)

Unlike the Corinthians, entering into the ordinance with their bellies stuffed and their thoughts only on themselves, some of them even drunk, we are to enter into the observation of the Supper in reverence, prayerfully examining ourselves. Verse 27:

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Paul warns in verse 27, “Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.” The idea here is that we may fail to prayerfully prepare for the Supper and thus enter into it irreverently or hurriedly, guilty of the body and blood of the Lord as guilty as a Roman Soldier who nailed Jesus to the cross.

So Paul says in verse 28, “But let a man examine himself.” And in the context of what was going on in Corinth, the examination of one’s self includes the looking around at our brothers and sisters, making certain that each of us is cultivating a loving spirit of togetherness rather than selfishness. We have a true love for one another, confessing our faults to one another, praying for one another that we may be healed.

29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

This verse does not teach that only “worthy” people can partake of the Supper. If that were true, none of us could partake of the Supper because none of us is worthy.

Given the immediate context, “Eating or drinking in an unworthy manner” is to eat or drink in a selfish manner, having little concern for others in the church, failing to consider the importance of relationships and fostering even better relationships.

This means that the phrase, “not discerning the Lord’s body,” may refer to the church, the corporate “body of Christ,” the very idea Paul has in mind in the previous chapter where he refers to the church as “one body (cf 1 Corinthians 10:17).”

And Paul may also have in mind the body of Jesus Christ Himself, Christ’s body, so that “eating and drinking in an unworthy manner” and thus failing to “discern the Lord’s body” may mean that one fails to appreciate the significance of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, “not discerning, His, “the Lord’s body.”

Maybe Paul has both ideas in mind. Christians come together to observe the Supper in such a way that they think about both the Lord and His church.

So the “examination” called for in verse 28, “but let a man examine himself,” would be to pause long enough to think rightly about the Lord and about others. We think about the Lord, His unselfish giving of His life for our salvation. And then we think about others, these brothers and sisters who sit to our left and to our right, before us and behind us. We think rightly about them, considering them better than ourselves.

30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

Failure on the part of the Corinthian church members “to examine themselves” rightly, eating and drinking “in an unworthy manner,” failing to “discern the Lord’s body” led to these negative consequences spelled-out in verse 30: “many are weak and sick…and many sleep.” The word “sleep” here is a common euphemism for death.

So get this now: the failure of God’s people to worship rightly and reverently led to their becoming sick, becoming weak, and becoming dead! Just let that sink in a bit.

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

In other words, “If we’ll confront our sins and repent and get right with God and others, we have no reason to fear the judgment of God.”

It’s much as we learned Wednesday in our intergenerational study when Matt taught about the fear of God. It’s not as though we’re to be afraid of Him, as much as it is that we are always to be in awe of Him, respecting Him, we are struck by Him, forever bowing before Him in our spirit if not bowing on our knees.

So it is not as though we are to tremble when taking the Lord’s Supper, shaking in fear that God may strike us dead at any moment. The problem with the Corinthians is that they weren’t thinking of God, at all. They were not worshiping, but rather partying.

32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

God is always ready to receive our repentance. He chastens us that we might repent and turn back to Him, that we might turn from the world and turn to the Lord. That’s the idea here.

The last two verses stress again the importance of relationships while remembering. Verse 33:

33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment…

There again, the warning that attaches to those who are selfish and inconsiderate: “lest you come together for judgment.” And I like the way Paul concludes this section of material, last few words of verse 34:

…And the rest I will set in order when I come.

It’s like he’s saying, “I’ve got more to say on this, but this is enough for now.” And I understand that. I’ve got more to say, too, but this is enough for now.

So three words: The Lord’s Supper is about Relationships, Remembering, and Reverence.

In a moment we will pray and then partake of the Supper.

Before we pray, you may be a Christian but not a member of this church. You are visiting but you are a member elsewhere of a church of like faith and order. If so, we invite you to partake of the Supper with us.

Or you may be here this morning as one who is not a Christian, not a believer, not a follower of Jesus Christ. Of course, the Lord’s Supper is for Christians. It is an ordinance like baptism. It is something to be done by those who have been saved. Just as we are saved first and then baptized, so are we saved first before partaking of the Supper. It is an ordinance for those who have already become followers of Christ.

If you are not saved, or you don’t know whether you have been accepted by God, the most important thing you can do this morning is put your faith and trust in God. You must turn from your sin and your self, and turn in repentance to Jesus Christ, trusting in Him alone as Lord of your life. He must become “Number 1” in your life. You live under His Lordship. This morning, if you are not saved, then in a moment I invite you to bow your head and surrender your life to Christ. If you do that this morning, let me know afterwards so that we can arrange for your baptism. The first thing you do after receiving Jesus Christ is to follow Him in baptism. So if you place your faith in Christ, it is vitally important to let the church know as quickly as possible so that we can celebrate with you and set a date and time for your baptism.

And now, we prepare ourselves for the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.

Let’s pray.

Father, first, we acknowledge that there may be some in this room who have not yet placed their faith in Christ. May Your Holy Spirit draw them to a saving understanding and knowledge of who You are and why You alone are the One True and Living God and that there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved from hell. May each person place his or her faith totally in you, in Jesus name.

And as we continue to pray, we acknowledge that as Christians we are imperfect. Even though we are saved we continue to fail you. We admit this. We confess it. You have taught us in Your word that “if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).”

We do acknowledge all known sin and all unknown sin. We confess and ask for forgiveness. Give the importance of relationships, we acknowledge right now with gratitude in our hearts that we have come together at this time to worship along with our brothers and sisters. We affirm that we are not individuals who are more concerned about our own personal needs, but rather we are each a part of the body of Christ, more concerned about meeting the needs of others.

We also come together at this moment to remember You. Help us do this in a reverent way, remembering what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, dying there for our sin and rising from the dead for our justification, that we may be declared righteous by God the Father, no longer guilty of our sin.

So as we partake of the bread and the cup, grant us the grace to feel your power and presence, the spiritual presence of Christ, really here among the people of Christ. And all this for our good, and Your glory, in Jesus’ name, amen.

**Observe the Supper**

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