First Corinthians 11 Part 6 Take Communion To Honor Jesus Christ

Remember, the Lord's Supper is to be a solemn reflection on Christ our Passover.

1 Corinthians 11:20-22  When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 21)  For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22)  What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. 

Some Christians at Corinth dishonored the Lord Jesus Christ by the way that they acted during the Lord's Supper.

They blended a pagan love feast marked by drunkenness and gluttony with the sober observance of Christ's sacrifice for us.

Wealthy people brought the best food and drink and the poorer ones brought inferior food and drink. 

However, when the Spirit of God had His way in the early church, all the food was shared, with no regard to whether it was better food or not.

Barriers between wealthier Christians and poorer ones did not exist at that point in time (See Acts 2:42-47). 

Jesus Christ instituted the commemoration of His sufferings.

Matthew 26:26-28  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27)  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28)  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

Jesus instituted the commemoration on the very night that He was betrayed.

Christ perfectly fulfilled every part of God's moral law, something that no human can ever do. 

Christ is both God and man and is God's perfect Mediator who brings a perfect atonement to the world (See 1 Timothy 2:1-5; 3:16).

Our Lord's words established this ordinance as one marked by reflecting upon what Jesus had to endure in order to save us.

Christ's words would connect with Isaiah 53 and the suffering savior who bore our iniquities and had our transgressions laid upon Him. 

Jesus suffered the wrath of God for our sins. He died our death because the wages of sin is death. 

His death is counted for our death and His resurrection means we will live (See Romans 6:4-13; 6:23)

Paul directly received the ordinance of the Lord's Supper from Jesus Christ. 

1 Corinthians 11:23-26  For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24)  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25)  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26)  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 

Each time that we eat the bread and drink the cup, we are commemorating the death of Christ our Passover Lamb. 

We are honoring our Lord who did all that was required to save us from our sins. 

Salvation is offered to all people but they must hear and heed the gospel.

Romans 10:8-13  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9)  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10)  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11)  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12)  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13)  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

Thus, the gospel must be preached to every nation so that all people can hear the good news. Christ Jesus will save all who call upon Him for salvation with repentant faith. 

The holy law of God can only condemn us because no man is capable of perfectly satisfying its moral standard. 

God's design for His law was to show that His Son did meet the perfection that the law demanded. 

All of the sacrifices and ceremonies required by the law of Moses were perfectly fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Christ did for us what we can never do. He met the perfect moral standard of God's law. He did this so that He might die in our place as an innocent substitute, just like the Passover lamb.

Jesus Christ our eternal high priest saves all who trust Him.

Hebrews 7:24-27 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 25)  Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 26)  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27)  Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.  

He is God's perfect Lamb, our eternal Passover Lamb. Christ lives forever as Savior, King and High Priest because death had no hold on Him. He was the sinless Son of God.

Jesus Christ is the once for all sacrifice for the sins of all humanities. 

Jesus will eternally save all who come to Him in repentant faith.

In addition, as our high priest, He always makes intercession for us when we stumble and fall. 

What does it mean to observe  communion in an unworthy way?

1 Corinthians 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 

Paul connects this warning with the rebuke he gave to those who dishonored the Lord's Supper by mixing it with the love feast. 

The manner that they blended the love feast with the Lord's Supper showed that they did not have high regard for the suffering and death of our Savior.

Their actions violated the spirit of the early church as we read in Acts 2:42-47. 

Purge out sin or the Lord's Supper will be unworthily observed. 

1 Corinthians 5:6-8  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7)  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8)  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 

Previously, Paul rebuked the Corinthians for permitting sexual immorality in the church. 

They did not contact Paul for instruction on how to handle the sin. 

They did not implement church discipline as Jesus instructed us to do (See Matthew 18:15-20). 

Paul first pronounced judgment upon the sinning man before addressing when they gathered together for communion.  (See 1 Corinthians 5:4-5) 

He teaches us that any sin issue must be deal with before the Lord's Supper can be properly observed.

We cannot go to all of the texts, but it helps to recall that the Hebrews had to remove all leaven from their homes prior to observing Passover. 

Why? Because leaven is a picture of sin. A small hidden corrupting influence that permeates the whole mass of dough.

In like manner, one man's sin spreads through the church of Christ which is supposed to be His holy bride. 

Sin not dealt with contaminates the whole church and ruins our testimony to the world.

Some Corinthians were observing the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. Their attitude displayed irreverence and disrespect for Christ and His sufferings. 

It was turned into an opportunity to satisfy the lust of their flesh instead of being a time to soberly remember the cost of our redemption.

The commemoration is designed to help each Christian remember the suffering and death of God's own Son in order to save us. 

Its purpose is to remind us to live for God's glory instead of living for self.

Self examination for sin before communion is essential. 

1 Corinthians 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 

The idea of self examination is that we search our conscience and if God's Spirit convicts us of any sin, we confess and forsake it.

Our Father is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to fully forgive us of any sin (See 1 John 1:7-9).

At this point, we are clean before God and can observe the Lord's Supper rightly. 

However, some Corinthians did not examine themselves, They did not confess any known sin in their lives and thus, observed communion in an unworthy manner.

Those who take communion without dealing with sin are guilty of great error.

1 Corinthians 11:29-32  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30)  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31)  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32)  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 

God judged those sinning believers for their lack of respect and reverence for the suffering and death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Paul reminded the Corinthians that they knew some of their brothers or sisters in Christ were guilty of taking the bread and wine unworthily. 

For that reason, many were weak and sickly, which is the idea of losing bodily strength to an ongoing, intensifying disease.

The disease was sent by God to chasten them for their sin of not discerning the suffering and death of Christ in the Lord's Supper. 

Many of those sickly Corinthian Christians "slept" which means they never confessed and repented of their sin. Therefore, they died due to the disease sent from God.

This is not harsh. It is a rebuke to us when we live for self instead of seeking to glorify God in all that we do.

The human tendency that we must fight against is that we normally would not choose to examine ourselves. We do not naturally want to deal with our sin and failures.

We would generally conclude that we were fine with God when in fact, we dishonor Him at communion. 

1 Corinthians 11:33-34  Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34)  And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. 

Paul's conclusion about those who dishonored the Lord's Supper is simple. 

First, when they come together to share a meal as a church family, they must wait and allow all members to share all of the meal together without exclusions.

Second, those who came to a meal hungry were to eat at home. 

Thus, Paul gave the appropriate correction so that they could avoid observing the Lord's Supper in a way that dishonored Christ. 

He alerted them that there were still more instructions that he would give to them at a future date.

This is good for us to be reminded of the Lord's Supper and our need to examine ourselves and confess our sins before taking communion.

Jesus suffered all things for us. He died the death that rightly belongs to each of us. He shed His holy blood as the eternal once for all sacrifice for sins.

How could we possibly disgrace our Lord by harboring sin in our lives as we eat the bread that symbolizes Christ's body broken for us?

How could we possibly disgrace our Lord by not having respect to the blood of God shed for us, for our sins, as the atonement that satisfies our Father?

May the Lord help us to understand the gravity of the Lord's Supper as a remembrance of the cost of our salvation.

May the Spirit of God help us readily confess any sin in our lives before we take communion. 

May we continue to learn to live for God's glory.

Bob