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“Communion: A Feast of
Self-Examination”
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1 Corinthians 11.23-34
For I received from the Lord
that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the
night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had
given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is
for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 25 In the same way He
took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new
covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and
drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 27
Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord
in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood
of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing
he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who
eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does
not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you
are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged
ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are
judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be
condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brethren, when
you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is
hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together
for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.
As we have seen in
the last few months, communion is a feast of remembrance. The
Lord said it twice here: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (vv. 24,
25). As we partake of this we are remembering Him, His person,
His work, His life, His ministry, and in particular we are
remembering His death. Paul said in verse 26, “For as often as
you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s
death.” That is what we are here to remember—His body given and
His blood shed for us, His death on the cross in our
place to pay the penalty for our sins. That more than
anything is what we are remembering as we partake of this feast
together.
But communion is
also a feast of anticipation. Paul said that in partaking of
it, we “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (v.
26). There is in this feast the guarantee that our Savior will
return. Jesus is coming back and we declare our belief in that
reality every time we celebrate this ordinance together.
Communion is also a
feast of the New Covenant. Jesus said, “This cup is the new
covenant in My blood” (v. 25). That is a wonderful reality
about communion that we will look into in the future, but this
morning I want to examine communion as “A Feast of
Self-Examination.” In verse 28, Paul said, “But a man must
examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and
drink of the cup.” Self-examination, then, is yet another facet
of the Lord’s Supper. It is a sober act in which we must engage
ourselves before we approach this table. But what kind of
self-examination does Paul have in mind? What does he mean when
he suggests that a person can partake of communion in an
“unworthy manner?” And what exactly is the “judgment” that will
come upon the one who does that?
There are so many
questions that we could ask after reading this passage. And I
have to tell you something: I’ve never studied this passage with
the detail that I did this past week. But after digging into it
as I did I have found resolution to some issues that have always
troubled me. And this is a bit ironic, because I aimed to teach
this morning on communion as a feast of self-examination—and I’m
still going to do that—but I found a twist in this text that I
did not expect.
The person who
partakes of communion is exhorted here to examine himself before
he does so, but that command comes in a context, a very specific
situation in the Corinthian church. And when you study the book
of 1 Corinthians, the one thing you see perhaps as much as you
would see it in any of Paul’s letters, is that he is dealing
with some very specific issues within that church. As he speaks
here about communion, this is also the case. He is dealing with
the abuse of the Lord’s Supper, the improper observance of this
ordinance by the Corinthian believers. Yet this passage,
because it is so often read and used by the church for the
observance of communion, has often been severed from its context
and treated as a purely liturgical text. But again, Paul is
dealing with a very specific situation in the Corinthian church,
and if we can get our minds around that situation then we can
avoid the many ways in which this passage has been
misunderstood.
I. The Abuse of the Lord’s
Supper
So let’s look at
the situation in Corinth. We’ll call it the abuse of the
Lord’s Supper. Verses 17 through 34 constitute a whole
section in which Paul is dealing with this issue. And he begins
to describe it in verse 17:
But in giving this instruction, I do not praise
you, because you come together not for the better but for the
worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come
together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and
in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be
factions among you, so that those who are approved may become
evident among you. 20 Therefore when you meet
together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper, 21 for
in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is
hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not
have houses in which to eat and drink? 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 will not praise you (1 Cor
11.17-22).
Now I want you to notice first
of all how many times Paul says “come together.” He says it in
verse 17, verse 18, and verse 20 (“meet together”—same Greek
verb). This is speaking about the time when the believers in
Corinth gathered together for worship, and in particular for the
Lord’s Supper. And when they were doing this, Paul said, it
wasn’t for the better but for the worse. There was something
very wrong. What was it? He says, “I hear that divisions exist
among you. That was the problem in Corinth; it was one of
division and schism. You see that going all the way back to the
first chapter: “Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying,
‘I am of Paul,’ and ‘I of Apollos,’ and ‘I of Cephas,’ and ‘I of
Christ’” (1.12). But here the “divisions” were additional and
of a different nature. They were specifically related to the
Lord’s Supper.
Look at verse 20:
“Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s
Supper.” Now that was a biting and somewhat sarcastic or ironic
statement coming from Paul, because they actually were coming
together to observe communion. But because of how they were
abusing the ordinance, Paul was saying, “You’re not eating the
Lord’s Supper at all!” Then he explains himself by saying, “For
in your eating each one takes his own supper first.”
That’s what they were doing. The early church apparently held
what was called a “love feast” (cf. 2 Peter 2.13; Jude 12; Acts
2.42, 46; 20.7, 11) in conjunction with communion. That was
evidently in keeping with how the Lord had observed the Passover
meal prior to (and as a vehicle for) instituting communion. The
feast was a full meal and apparently not unlike our “pot-luck”
in which people were to bring food to be enjoyed and shared by
all.
But the problem
was that some were eating all the food before others showed up,
and the result was as Paul says, “One is hungry and another is
drunk” (v. 21). This was an appalling desecration of the Lord’s
Supper. So far from treating it for what it was supposed to
represent, some were so gorging themselves that they actually
became drunk while others were left hungry. And the implication
from verse 22—“Do you despise the church of God and shame those
who have nothing?”—is that it was the upper classes, the rich,
who were able to bring food and yet had no interest in sharing
it with (literally) “the ones not having,” i.e., “the
have-nots.” Instead, they ate first and left nothing for their
poor brothers and sisters.
Now I want to show
you just how heinous this abuse of the Lord’s Supper was. Look
at chapter 10, verses 16-17: “Is not the cup of blessing which
we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the
bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?
Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we
all partake of the one bread.” The word for “sharing” is
koinonia; it’s fellowship; it is co-mmunion. Our
fellowship is united around the blood and body of Christ, and
the oneness and unity of the body of Christ, the church, is
never to be more evident than when we gather to partake of this
Supper. So the most heinous part of the Corinthians’ abuse of
the Lord’s Supper was that they were bringing division to
the very table that is to display the unity of the church on
account of the body and blood of Christ. That’s what was wrong
in Corinth.
II. The Solution for the
Abuse of the Lord’s Supper
Now we can
understand what Paul said in the rest of this passage. He was
upset with them for their abuse of the ordinance, so he said,
“What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will
not praise you” (v. 22). Now, verse 23: “For I received from
the Lord that which I also delivered to you . . .” Now Paul is
giving a solution for the Corinthians’ abuse of the Lord’s
Supper. And the first part of that solution is going to be a
proper understanding of the Lord’s Supper.
A. A Proper
Understanding of the Lord’s Supper
That’s what we have
in verses 23-26. This was not Paul instituting the Lord’s
Supper for the Corinthians. He had done that when he was
there. That’s why he said, “For I received from the Lord that
which I also delivered to you.” He had already delivered
instructions to them on how to observe communion, so here he was
simply reminding them of what they should have known. But they
weren’t observing it correctly, so instead of simply trying to
modify their external behavior, he went right to the heart of
the issue. Their abuse of the Table betrayed a fundamental
misunderstanding of the ordinance. When they partook of the
bread and of the cup, it was to be in remembrance of Christ (vv.
24, 25). Far from a gluttonous and drunken feast of schisms and
divisions, this was to be a supper in which they proclaimed the
Lord’s death until His return (v. 26). If the Corinthian
problem was really going to be corrected, their thinking on the
matter had to be refreshed and changed, so Paul reminded them of
what communion is really all about.
B. The Threat
of Judgment to Those Who Abuse the Lord’s Supper
Now look at verse
27: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the
blood of the Lord.” Paul’s thinking goes like this: “In light
of what communion really is (vv. 23-26), the one who violates
its sanctity will be held liable.” And he goes on, and look at
how many times in the rest of the chapter some form of the word
“judgment” appears (7 times!!). Here he is warning the
Corinthians. Part of the solution for the problem as Paul
sees it will come when they realize that God’s judgment will
rest upon the one who violates the sanctity of the ordinance.
In fact he says
that the one who does this will be “guilty of the body and the
blood of the Lord.” What in the world does that mean? He’s
using court room terminology here. He’s saying, “You’re going
to be held liable, held guilty, culpable in the court of law.”
Well, what does the bread represent? His body. What does the
cup represent? His blood. And what is the crime? It’s
something in relation to the body and blood of the Lord, right?
And what do His body and blood represent? Very simply, it is a
biblical metaphor for His death, right?
Now here’s the
scary part. He’s saying that the one who eats or drinks in an
unworthy manner will be held guilty in reference to the death of
the Lord. That means that God is going to look at you and you
are going to be held every bit as guilty as those who first
nailed Jesus to the cross. Wow! That’s terrible. I have to
admit that this is far worse than I realized before I began to
study this verse. We really need to ask the question, then,
“What does it mean to eat or drink in an ‘unworthy manner?’”
And this is the part that is better than I ever understood.
This idea of
partaking in an unworthy manner has always troubled me. I
always thought to myself, “How in the world can I come to this
table as someone who is worthy to partake of it?” This has
always bothered me. I mean, I will never be worthy in and of
myself to partake of communion! I can’t make myself worthy, and
in a practical sense, there’s no way I will ever come to this
table being completely free of any sinful thought or flaw. But
let me encourage as I have been by my study: that’s not what
Paul is talking about!
He uses an adverb
here, “unworthily.” It modifies action, and in this verse the
action is eating the bread and drinking the cup. And if you
understand the Corinthian situation, you then know just what
Paul is talking about. He’s not saying that you need to be
worthy in and of yourself; he’s saying that your eating and
drinking of the elements needs to be worthy of what those
elements represent. In other words, you’ve got to partake in a
manner that is fitting for the fact that Christ’s death
is being remembered and proclaimed in communion. That’s it.
And the Corinthians weren’t doing it. They were defiling the
Lord’s Supper by turning it into a drunken and gluttonous feast
where division flew in the face of the unity that Christ
purchased with His death. And Paul told them that they were
going to be held liable for that.
In fact, look at
verse 29: “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment
to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.” The result
of this unworthy partaking comes in the form of judgment. What
kind of judgment? Look at verse 30: “For this reason many among
you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” God was actually
entering into their physical world with judgment in the form of
weakness and sickness and even death. “Sleep” here as elsewhere
(1 Thess 4.14-15) is simply a euphemism for death. That’s what
God was doing in their midst on account of their abuse of the
Lord’s Supper.
In
verse 32 Paul says, “But when we are judged, we are disciplined
by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the
world.” Here the type of judgment becomes clear: this is God’s
judgment of chastisement upon believers in the form of
discipline and correction. Hebrews 12.5-6 says, “My son, do not
regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you
are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He
disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” This
is a form of God’s judgment, but let me tell you, it’s a greater
display of His grace, because when He disciplines us it is His
merciful call saying, “Come back to Me.” He’s getting our
attention; it’s a call to come back to the path that is best for
us and most glorifying to Him. And that’s what He was doing
among the Corinthians. The weakness and sickness and even death
among them was a way of getting their attention and calling them
back to Him. It was not retributive justice, but restorative
correction. That’s why it says, “So that we will not be
condemned along with the world.” It’s not final condemnation,
but temporal discipline coming from a loving Father.
And all of this was
Paul’s way of telling the Corinthians in essence, “Listen,
you’ve got to partake of communion in a way that shows your
proper respect and understanding for what it represents. If you
don’t, you’re asking for God’s hand of judgment upon you.”
C.
Self-Examination Preceding the Lord’s Supper
But there was a third means that
Paul saw as a solution for their abuse of the Lord’s Supper, and
that was self-examination. Let’s come back to verse 28:
“But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of
the bread and drink of the cup.” Now in light of the
Corinthian situation, the examination here enjoined is related
to the sanctity with which the meal is to be treated more than
it is to the general moral condition of one’s heart. But the
fact of the matter is that if one so tests his reverence for
what communion commemorates to see if it is genuine, he will
hesitate to approach the meal with un-confessed sin or
unresolved strife with his Christian brothers and sisters.
The Corinthians were bringing
division to the Table that was supposed to be the highest
expression of the unity of the body of Christ, the church. So
listen, part of our own self-examination prior to partaking of
communion needs to include a sort of testing to see if we are
approved in that area. Are you reconciled with your brothers
and sisters in Christ? Have you extended forgiveness to all
those who have sinned against you? There is a parallel in the
Jewish system. Matthew 5.23-24 says, “Therefore if you are
presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that
your brother has something against you, leave your offering
there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your
brother, and then come and present your offering.” The idea is
that you can’t be holding on to any bitterness or failing to
extend forgiveness or seek reconciliation when you come before
God. That’s why in Matthew 6.15 it says, “If you do not forgive
others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”
This is not talking about a final forgiveness or a condemnation
to hell, but the day-to-day forgiveness and cleansing that God
extends to those who seek Him through confession (1 John 1.9).
I mean God has forgiven you if you’ve come to Him through faith
in Christ, God the infinite, sinless One has forgiven your sin
against Him, which is far greater than any sin that anyone will
ever sin against you. You and I are sinners. Any sin against
us is of lesser consequence than our sins against God, and yet
He forgives us. How absurd and arrogant for us to fail to
extend forgiveness to those who have sinned against us! And how
dare we come to the table in which we commemorate Christ’s death
for our forgiveness when we have not forgiven others. That is a
stench in God’s nostrils!
And by the way, part of what this
whole sin of partaking in an unworthy manner is has to do with
not treating the Lord’s Supper for what it is. We are
remembering the very death of Christ, and all that represents.
To come to this table casually or in a sort of flippant way as
the Corinthians were doing is not fitting. I mean any time we
come to worship God in the corporate assembly, we should have a
general attitude of self-examination. That’s just the contrite
and humble attitude of the true worshipper. David had it right
when he said, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and
know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful
[offensive or wicked] way in me, and lead me in the everlasting
way” (Psa 139.23-24). The contemporary chorus says, “Come, just
as you are to worship,” but James 4.8 says, “Cleanse your hands,
you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded,” and
Ecclesiastes 5.1-2 says, “Guard your steps as you go to the
house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the
sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil.
Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a
matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are
on the earth; therefore let your words by few.”
And this whole matter of casual
worship—you just come in your flip-flops and your Hawaiian
tank-top sipping on your “frappe latte” and thinking about the
football game this afternoon—what kind of a mockery is that in
the face of God? …And especially when we come to remember the
death of His Son, the shedding of His blood to purchase our
forgiveness. Shouldn’t this be an occasion for earnest
reflection? People come to church, and it’s like their civic
duty; it’s just part of being a good citizen apparently, or at
least just saving face, sort of keeping up the external
appearance of righteousness. They sit in the pew and they say,
“What’s in it for me? What do I get for being here? Come on
Pastor, tell me a funny story; make me laugh; make me cry; I
want to feel the sermon; I want to be entertained.” But they
don’t care about God; they don’t love God; they don’t come
broken and shaken on the inside over their own sin. They don’t
come like David who said, “Hide Your face from my sins and blot
out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from
Your presence” (Psa 51.10-11). I mean “You’re so holy and I’m
such a sinner;” “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord,
who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may
be feared” (Psa 130.3-4); “The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not
despise” (Psa 51.17).
Listen, when we come to this
ordinance; when we come to the Lord’s Supper, who are we
kidding? Is it for real? Do you have a broken and contrite
heart? Do you mourn over your sins? Are we really remembering
what this represents—the bread, the cup; His body given for us
and His blood shed in our behalf? What an attitude of reverence
and fear and awe and overwhelming gratitude that should produce
within us! |