1 Corinthians 11: (Revised ) Stanly Community Church

Transcription

1 The Lord s Supper is the most special and solemn time of worship that Christians experience together. Also known as the communion, this ordinance reflects what true believers have in common: a sincere faith in our Lord Jesus Christ whose sinless life was sacrificed to justify, sanctify, and glorify a people for His kingdom. That truth transcends all human boundaries and brings the Church together in a unity that the ungodly world cannot comprehend. The Lord s Supper is itself a commemoration of both who Jesus is and what He has done to provide salvation. The unleavened bread reminds us that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to live a sinless life. He alone has completely kept the righteous requirements of God s moral law (Rom. 5:18-19). As a Man, His sinless life qualified Him to be the sacrifice for our sins. The broken bread represents His sinless body given freely on the cross to die for you and me. Likewise, when we drink the fruit of the vine we are calling to mind that it was Jesus our Lord who shed His own blood to pay the penalty of death for our sins. He gave His life on the cross to bear the punishment of sin we deserve and, therefore, satisfy God s wrath toward sin. So when we partake of both the bread and the cup, we are commemorating His death for our sins (1 Cor. 11:26). Not only that, but we are also bearing witness to any unbelieving observers that Christ is their only hope of salvation.! 1

2 But our observance of the Lord s Supper is meaningful only when we partake of it with understanding. We must come together with a clear comprehension of the reality of who Jesus is and what He has accomplished on our behalf. We must never eat the bread and drink from the cup with little or no thought of its tremendous significance. To do so is not only irreverent, but it is immensely foolish and dangerous, since God does not overlook such disrespect. In fact, He will promptly and even harshly discipline His children for such attitudes. To their shame, that was the case with many in the church at Corinth. Though they came together and ritually observed the Lord s Supper, it had become only a ritual for some. Presuming on the grace of God, these were living a fleshly life while giving a token nod to Jesus. As the apostle Paul points out in this letter, people in the church were arrogant, divisive, sexually immoral, selfish, unloving and uncaring just to name a few of their sins. In short, they were claiming God s salvation, but they were not respectful of what it cost God to provide it. And even when they did observe the Lord s Supper, they were revealing their sinful hearts by their actions and attitudes. The apostle confronted their defilement of the Lord s Supper (vv ) and reminded them of the solemn nature of this ordinance (vv ). In First Corinthians Paul urges all believers to make a solemn selfexamination before communion to avoid further discipline. It is a call to serious worship.! 2

3 Verses specifically explain the culpability for disrespecting Christ, the call for the believer s selfexamination, and the consequences for continued irreverence. Serious Worship (vv ) The Culpability (v. 27) When Paul says, Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup in an unworthy manner, he is speaking of a professing believer s insincere motive behind observing the Lord s Supper. At its root, the phrase an unworthy manner (Gr. - anaxios) suggests something that has no weight. That is, something that is of absolutely no value. This goes back to Paul s statement in verse 17 where he noted the Corinthians failure to come together for true worship. Instead, he says, they came together not for the better but for the worse. The Lord s Supper is not simply a religious ritual, therefore, it must not be taken lightly. It has tremendous significance, and to observe it flippantly is to be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. That simply means that a careless observer takes the sacrifice of Christ lightly. The Corinthian believers had taken it lightly because they were observing it while living in sin. That the sinless Son of God shed His life s blood on the cross as their sacrifice was apparently not even on their minds as evidenced by their attitudes and actions. Therefore, they failed to regard the significance of the communion, and they bore their guilt for such disrespect.! 3

4 If you eat the bread and drink the juice, and you do so while living in unrepentant sin, you mock the Son of God and bear that guilt. You are culpable for your disrespect on top of everything else. If you are a sinning believer, you are certainly not under the condemnation of God s law (Rom. 8:1), but you are disobeying the heavenly Father. And as His children, you will be disciplined for your careless disobedience. Just because a Christian is forgiven does not mean that he or she has the liberty to act disrespectfully. Simply because one has become a child of God through faith in Christ in no way implies familial immunity from discipline. On the contrary, you are certain to be disciplined for wrong behavior because you are God s child. Because He loves you, He seeks what is best for you, and sin is not best. Paul already rebuked the Corinthians for abusing their liberty in Christ (8:9-13), and he warned them of God s judgment while giving them examples from the Scripture (10:1-13). Now He warns them that God will not hold them guiltless for disrespecting the sacrifice of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Call (v. 28) In order not to show such disrespect, a Christian needs to carefully examine his life so that he is not living in sin. Paul says in verse 28: But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink from the cup.! 4

5 To examine (Gr. - dokimazo) means to carefully test something s validity, and it suggests strong scrutiny. In biblical times, as it is today, currency had to be carefully examined to see if it was counterfeit. Only by careful observation could one tell if a coin was genuine. The Lord wants all believers to carefully examine themselves before they observe the Communion. He does not desire any half-hearted participation. For that matter, He does not want any counterfeit Christians observing the Lord s Supper. Simply being part of the ceremony does not make you a Christian, nor does it prove that you are a Christian. But Paul is speaking to believers, and he says, Do not take this lightly! Make sure that you are living your life in step with the Lord. Do not bring guilt and discipline on yourself unnecessarily. Any sin in your life is bad enough, but do not make it worse by then pretentiously observing the Lord s Supper. Unfortunately, countless Christians do just that. They come to the Lord s Table merely out of frivolous, religious habit. If they approached is solemnly, then we would not see worldliness and weak faith in the Church. We need to ask the Lord to help us recognize sin, confess it, and repent before we observe communion. That is the proper approach, and we must be serious about it. Carefully scrutinize your whole life. Are you living what you profess? If you are not, then do not proceed with the Lord s Supper, or you will suffer the consequences.! 5

6 The Consequences (vv ) There are always consequences for sin. Certainly God s forgiveness, once received, is irrevocable. But, as noted earlier, just because we are no longer under the condemnation of His law does not mean we can live as we please. And it does not mean that God overlooks our sin. He never treats sin lightly, and the Lord s Supper is to remind us of this truth. In fact, He takes sin so seriously that He gave the life of His sinless Son to provide redemption! Again, that is the point here. God is a loving, gracious Father to His children, but that means He disciplines disobedience for their own good. What Paul teaches us in the following verses comes from that perspective. He is not talking about unbelievers but genuine children of God living in unrepentant sin and taking lightly the symbolism and significance of the Lord s Supper. He says in verse 29: For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord s body. Just as in verse 27, to partake of the Lord s Supper in an unworthy manner is to say that it is of little significance. And for those living in unrepentant sin, its profound symbolism is not taken to heart. And until it is, there is only judgment (Gr. - krima). That is, God will administer some form noticeable chastisement which may come in many forms.! 6

7 Why would God punish His children? Well, because He is the ultimate Father who always does what is in the best interest of those He is conforming to the image of Christ. When a sinning Christian eats the bread and drinks the cup with all of its rich and serious symbolism, they are not discerning the Lord s body. In other words, the believer is not by clear judgment understanding the Lord s Supper. He or she is not considering the fact that to live in sin and then observe the Lord s Supper is no less than rank hypocrisy! The point is that a true believer knows when he or she is living in sin. You see, God s children have the capacity to discern the Lord s body. So to take God s grace and patience to mean that He is looking the other way when we do sin is to demonstrate spiritual laziness. It reflects a weak faith that needs discipline in order to be made strong. So God punishes His children accordingly. Depending on the unwillingness of the believer to confess and repent, God applies His chastening hand. Paul says in verse 30: For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. In other words, God brings physical illness and even death, which is the meaning of the word sleep (cf. 1 Thess 4:13-14).! 7

8 God is faithful and just to forgive our sins when we confess them (1 Jn. 1:9). But the Bible never even suggests that God ignores sin. Believers are separated from sin to save them from eternal death, but they are still obligated to obey His commands. God does not turn a blind eye to disobedience. He is patient and merciful, but He chastens His wayward children. If you profess Christ, live in sin, and are not disciplined, it only means you were never really His to begin with (Hebrews 12:5-11; cf. 1 Pet. 4:17). To observe the Lord s Supper in an irreverent way is the most severe form of disobedience for a Christian because it does mock the seriousness of Christ s sacrifice. The discipline from the Lord can be as severe as what the apostle John refers to in his first epistle as a sin unto death (1 Jn. 5:16). When a believer persists in sin, God goes so far as to remove them from the earth prematurely. It is not any specific type of sin that produces this severe chastisement. Instead, it is based on God s decision as to when He will no longer tolerate the disobedience. At that point, physical death is the only option because less severe discipline has not achieved the desired result. That believer in question has become so overtaken by the sin (Gal. 6:1) that they are no longer in a position to be useful to the Lord in this world. Their sin is only detracting from His glory and His kingdom work.! 8

9 First John 5:16 also says that, when a believer has reached this point of sinfulness, there is no use for us to even pray that God would be merciful and spare them from death. It is better that God be glorified (even if it is with such severe chastening) than for Him to be dishonored any longer by the believer s sin. That was the case with some Corinthians. Some were suffering physical illness as a lighter form of chastening, but others had experienced God s heavy hand of discipline as He took their life from them. King David suffered physical illness for his unrepentant sin, but he eventually confessed (Psalms 32; 51). On the other hand, Ananias and his wife (Acts 5:1-11) sinned with impunity and lied to the Holy Spirit. God killed them for their sin to establish His insistence for godliness in the Church. As with King David, there is hope for the sinning believer to divert God s discipline. Verse 31 says, For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged (v. 31). If we will but carefully examine ourselves in light of God s Word -- if we will by judgment discern that our sin does not fit with who we are in Christ -- then we will avoid God s discipline. He will not punish us severely if we confess and repent. That does not mean there are no consequences, but He is faithful and just to forgive the repentant. Your relationship with Him was never in jeopardy, but your fellowship and usefulness were compromised until you acknowledged your sin and turned from it.! 9

10 It is not advisable to presume on God s grace. This is why, when we are sick, we need to examine ourselves and make certain that it is not because of sin (James 5:13-16, 19-20). All sickness and death is not God s chastening as in the case of Job (1:1-11) or Paul (2 Cor. 12:7-10) for instance. Sometimes He brings His children through deep waters of tribulation and grief to prove our faith genuine and teach us His ways. Nonetheless, illness and difficult circumstances are always a cause to make sure we are walking closely with the Lord. You may ask, Why does God not seem to punish as quickly those who just pretend to be Christians? Well, God brings judgment to His children much quicker than He does to the lost because, as 1 Peter 4:17 tells us,...judgment must begin at the house of God. Paul is referring to this truth when he says: But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world (v. 32). Christians are kept from the judgment of hell in two ways. One is because God has declared them not guilty. The other is that God, to make that declaration a reality, divinely intervenes in the believer s life to prevent them from being condemned with the world. The Lord not only grants us saving faith in Christ (Eph. 2:8-9) and repentance from sin unto life (Acts 11:18), but He also disciplines His children to turn them back to holy living. And when they will not, He will take their physical life when necessary to ensure their eternal security.! 10

11 No true believer wants to be chastened by the Lord, so this is incentive for us to live righteously before Him. However, even if some do suffer death, it is a discipline that can benefit those who are left behind, since it urges us not to live in sin and suffer the same consequences. Our Lord Jesus teaches us in Luke 11:4 to pray to the Heavenly Father that He will not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. That is the idea here. We are to seek God s divine intervention in keeping us from temptation that is too strong for us, lest we become arrogant like these particular Corinthian believers and require discipline from our Father. So we see that the Lord s Supper is not merely a religious ritual of the Church. It is most definitely a solemn, symbolic commemoration of who Christ is and what He has accomplished for the believer it is serious worship. We are culpable for how we approach it. We are called to examine ourselves carefully before we observe it. We must keep in mind the serious consequences for those who treat it lightly. Do you seriously observe the Lord s Supper? Is it a special and solemn time of worship that causes you to take a close look at your profession of faith in Jesus Christ?! 11