April 16, 2023

First Corinthians chapter 11 is one of those passages. It's a lengthy passage. And so, I'll just say right up front that there is absolutely no way that we can do a thorough study of these verses, because it's V, it covers verses 17 all the way through 34. So, there's no way that we can look in any detail in those verses.

But what we're going to do is we'll look at the verses, we'll do it rather quickly. And then from that we want to ask three questions. And those three questions, the text will answer for us. And by answering those three questions, they will help us to understand this thing called the Lord's table more fully, more accurately, more correctly.

And those three questions that we're going to be working towards are this. Number one, what is it? What is this thing called the Lord's table? Number two, who is invited to participate in the Lord's table? And then number three, how should one participate in the Lord's table? So, the text will answer those three questions for us.

But before we get there, we're, we're going to do just like I say, a very trick trick. I thought I started to say trick Quick, a very quick trek through these verses starting from verse 17 through the end of the chapter. Now, what always happens when we take a moment to go to another passage of scripture that we haven't been systematically working through, we need to pause and just remind ourself of a little bit of a context.

The letter to the Corinthians is a letter to a troubled church. The church in Corinth was just a church that just had issues. You ever known somebody in your life that just. Has issues. They just always have issues. You don't need to point to anybody in the room, but you, you, we all know somebody that has just issues.

If you were to personify the, the, the church in Corinth, it would be that person that just always seems to have issues. And the church in Corinth had a lot of issues. Now, one of the central issues that they had was the issue of division. There was much division in the church. And so, if the church at Philippi was the model Church of Unity, the church in Corinth was the polar opposite of that.

They were the model church of disunity of division. In fact, the letter to the Corinthians begins on that note from chapter one in verse 10. You remember how Paul says that I've gotten this letter from Chloe's household and she tells me in this letter that there's divisions among you and that some of you are saying, we follow Paul and others are saying we follow Apollos and others are saying, well, we're the real spiritual ones and we, we just follow Jesus.

And Paul's saying, I'll have none of that. So, the, the whole letter begins on this note of divisiveness of division within the church. And so, Paul is battling throughout the letter, this division that manifests itself in a number of different ways, and one of the ways that the division manifests itself is going to be at the table.

And so, with that quick introduction, let's begin by reading our passage from verse 17 down through the end of the chapter. So, beginning from 17, but in the following instructions, I do not commend you because you come. Because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse, for in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part where there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you must be recognized when you come together.

It is not for the Lord's table that you eat for an eating. Each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What. Do you not have houses to eat and drink in, or do you despise the Church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you for this?

No, I will not. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of meat. And the same way he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of meat. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, however, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so, eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly we would not be judged for when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so, that we may not be condemned along with the world.

So, then my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let 'em eat at home so, that when you come together, it will be for, it will not be for judgment about the other things. I'll give directions when I come. So, this lengthy section here, Paul obviously has a lot to say to this church in Corinth, and once again we just, I just want to make it clear that we, there's no way that we're going to completely cover this passage because there's a lot in here.

And in addition to that, a number of the verses in this passage are really difficult verses really problematic verses not only to just simply translate. But to interpret. So, a thorough treatment of this passage would take really several weeks to walk through. We're not going to take that much time, but here's what we're going to do.

We're going to begin just by very quickly going through the passage and just recognizing what's happening, what Paul is rebuking, what the situation is, and then we'll return to those three questions and then we'll look to the text. And the text will answer those questions for us. And then in the end the result will be that we will all have a good understanding of what the Lord has for us in this thing called the Lord's table.

So, let's begin with chapter I'm sorry, verse 17. We begin back in verse 17, and Paul says, but in the following instructions, I do not commend you. So, just a reminder of the context right before that, the first part of the chapter was that passage that we all know so, well, one of those favorite passages of preachers to preach on Sunday morning, the head covering passage, right?

We all understand exactly what's going on with the head covering passage, right? Just kidding. We a, we certainly don't have time to talk about the head covering PA passage this morning only to say this. Paul commends them in the first half of the chapter to say to them, I commend you. Because there was apparently this tradition, this head covering tradition that Paul taught to the Corinthian church.

Paul believed that whatever this head covering tradition was, was appropriate and helpful for that church, and so, he taught them that tradition and so, he begins the chapter by commending them to say, you got that and you've done really well with that. Now when we come to this section, Paul turns everything on a dime and to say, well, I just got done commending you about your head coverings, but now everything's different.

In verse 17 and the following instructions, I do not commend you. Because you have come together. Because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse. In other words, when you're coming together for the supper, you'll be better to not come together at all. You'll be better not to have the Lord's table than what you're doing as you have the Lord's table, because what you're doing as you come together for the Lord's table is so, far off the mark.

Be better to not do it at all. He says, for in the first place, verse 18. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you and I believe it in part now that's a little bit confusion where Paul says, I believe it. In part, I wonder what he's saying there.

And there are kind of two, two schools of thought there where Paul says, I believe it in part, perhaps he's, he's using a little bit of pastoral restraint here to say something to the effect that I, I, I think I believe this, but I'm going to reserve final judgment for when I see it for myself. And he's just maybe using a little bit of pastoral wisdom and a little bit of restraint there to say.

I've got no reason to believe this is not true, but I'm going to hold off on final judgment until I actually see this in person. Perhaps that's what he's saying. Or perhaps this is more of, more like an expression for Paul to say, I can't believe it. I cannot believe it. I hear there's divisions among you and I just can't believe it.

Right? So, either way, it doesn't affect the, the meaning of the passage, but it is a little bit of a confusing statement that Paul makes. I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part now verse 19, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

Now that is a very problematic verse because it's, it's a little difficult to really get at what Paul's saying here. He could be saying maybe one of two things there. There must be divisions or there must be factions. I hear that there's divisions among you, it's hard to believe, but I hear there's divisions among you, but there must be divisions in order for tho those who are genuine to be recognized.

So, some think that Paul here is just recognizing. The fact, the reality that scripture often teaches us, going back to things like the, the parable of the tears and the wheat, where Jesus recognizes that his church will always, in this fallen world, always be a mixture of the true believers and those who are professing belief but aren't truly converted.

And then that's, this sort of teaching is sprinkled all throughout our New Testaments, this, this reality that the church here in this fallen age will never be a pure church. So, perhaps Paul is just recognizing that well, there's going to be divisions because there are true believers and then there's professing believers that aren't true believers.

Perhaps he's doing that. But I tend to think that instead of, instead of that, I think what Paul is doing here is he is sarcastically repeating a proverb that the Corinthians are repeating in order to justify their divisions. Among themself. Okay, so, Paul, we all know that he's very much capable, don't we?

He's very cap. Of using sarcasm. Paul uses sarcasm quite frequently, especially when he is rebuking a church, and so, perhaps he's sarcastically quoting the proverb that they're saying to each other to justify the fact that they're not unified. And they're going around, you know, there's this disunity in the church and they're saying, well, there has to be disunity because how else are you going to tell the true believers from the, from all those other false believers over there on the other side of the room.

I think that that's more or less what Paul is getting at that, that he is being sarcastic and saying, and this is what you say to justify yourself. There has to be divisions between the true believers and the, and the, and the not so, true believers. Right? But either way, again, this is another statement that though it's confusing and difficult, and we're not going to spend the time to really dig into it any more than that other than to say, this seems to fit the context best.

Either way, it doesn't affect the meaning of the passage. So, having said that, now let's move on to verse 20. When you come together, it is not the Lord's sufferer that you eat. In other words, what you're doing is you are maybe eating some bread. You're drinking from a cup. Maybe you're saying some words, maybe you're praying, but what you're doing is not the supper.

What you're doing might look like the supper. But it is not the Lord's table that you're doing. The nature of what you're doing might look the same on the outside. The actions that you're taking, the, the food that you're partaking of, all those things might look like the supper. You might even call it the supper, but it's not the supper for in eating.

Verse 21 for in eating. Each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry and one gets drunk. What do you not have houses to eat in or drink in? Do you despise the Church of God and humiliate, humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? Forget it. So, here's what's happening.

The situation there in Corinth is this, that the church is a mixture of socioeconomic classes. And the church has always, since its very inception, has always been a mixture of socioeconomic classes, just like the society in which it lives. And so, the church from the earliest days has had those among the church that are the haves.

And they've had those among the church that are the have-nots. Now, the church has always been made up of a vast majority of the have-nots in such a way that in most cultures, the church represents a disproportionate mixture of the haves and the have-nots in relation to the society in which they exist.

Now, that is a fact that that is true in church history. That is difficult to see in our culture. It's obscured in our culture. And the reason for that is because this church, our church, this specific local body as well as the, the body of Christ in our culture exists in a culture that is a culture of the haves more, more so, than any generation to ever live.

The poorest among us is far more wealthy than 99.8% of the rest of the people that live in the world. So, it's a little bit ex obscured. In the church in America. But that is to say that if you were to look at the church globally and you were to look at the history of the church globally, it's always had a mixture of the haves and the have nots.

But it's never been a true representation of society because the cult, the, the the gospel has always tended to have quicker traction with the have-nots because the haves tend to be more satisfied in life and tend to be less moved in their spirits. Jesus himself affirms this when he says that it's easier for a camel to go to the eye of, of a needle than for a person of wealth to repent and to believe upon the gospel, right?

So, we've always recognized this, and the church in Corinth is no different. It's a mixture of the haves and the have nots. Now, every church that's a mixture of the haves and the have-nots always that there's always been a tension and the tension has existed. Even in the early church. Sometimes we make an ideal out of the early church as if to say the early church was perfect and the early church struggled with the same sort of division, the same sort of discrimination between the haves and the have-nots, as the church has always struggled with.

Think of the words of James and James chapter two when he says, you know, when you have one come among you, that's one of the have. And you tell a couple the have-nots that have a good seat to get up and move to the back so, that they can have the better seat. Then James rebukes them for that. Or think of, Acts chapter 10 in Acts chapter 10, when the whole situation there was the situation that these, there's these widows, they're the widows who are connected to the groups of the have-nots and they are not being treated fairly because the widows of the groups of the haves are treating them unfairly.

So, we've seen this sort of thing always in the history of the church, and this is what's really coming to issue here in the church in Corinth. Now, this is providing an opportunity for this division among the church to manifest itself. Because what apparently is happening is that they're coming together for the supper and this coming together, you know, the church in Corinth never had a problem with the people coming together.

The church in Corinth never had a problem that people just weren't showing up for worship. The church in Corinth never had a problem that when the people were coming, they didn't, they didn't want to partake in the table or anything. The church in Corinth, they were getting together regularly, weekly, and when they were doing it, they were getting together for the supper.

The problem is the way that it was happening. So, these divisions are ma being made manifest in the way that they're coming together for the table. And Paul says, some of you are bringing all of your food from home and you're not sharing it, and you're gorging yourself, you're indulging in it. And then others haven't even arrived yet, and then they don't have anything.

So, the, the situation that, that Paul seems to be describing is a situation in which the haves being people that are the haves, maybe they are better equipped to get there. On the Lord's Day, they don't have to work in the fields. They don't have to finish up the harvest. They don't have to take care of the livestock.

They don't have to do chores or what, whatever. And so, the haves, maybe they can get there earlier and being the haves, they're bringing lots of good food with them. And they're not waiting for the have-nots, which perhaps they're having to work some on the Lord's day, maybe in the fields, maybe finishing up the harvest, maybe taking care of the animals, whatever their task, whatever their job may be.

And they're getting there later. And then as they get there, they're all tired and dirty. They've been working half a day on the Lord's Day, their clothes are all dirty and they get there and they don't, they don't bring any food because they don't have any food to really bring. And the, the haves have not only already been there and eaten their food while not waiting on the others.

But then they've proceeded to go ahead and just sort of get. And now they're indulging themself in the wine. And so, by the time the have-nots show up, not only is there no more food, but the place has sort of allowed ruckus now because the halves are now on their second or third bottle of wine. That's sort of the scenario that Paul's painting for us here.

And so, he's saying that this situation is just so, unlike the supper. This is so, unlike the Lord's table that you cannot even call this rightly the Lord's table. So, what Paul says for us is this is not the table. What we'll do then is we'll take what they're doing, we'll look at what they're doing, and Paul says, that's not the table.

And we'll work backwards from that to see, well, if that's not the table, what is it about that that makes that not the table? And then how can we understand? The way in which one should rightly come to the table. So, now let's turn to our three questions. Having just, and again, I know that was really fast.

So, much more could have been said there because I'll after, well, I actually, I should go ahead and say this. After Paul then describes the situation, he then goes on in verse 23 to say this, for I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread.

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. In the same way, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person therefore examine himself then so, that. So, and so, eat of the bread and drink of the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

So, Paul then goes from there to recount to them how the, the supper, the table was instituted. He gives us a count of on the night of Jesus' betrayal, this will be in the upper room on the night of Jesus's arrest, and how Jesus then transforms the Passover meal into what we know of. As, as the Supper, we would say he fulfills the Passover meal.

He fulfills this Passover meal and transforms it into what we call the Lord's table or the Lord's Supper. Now the letter to the Corinthians was written before any of the gospels. So, this is the first account that we have of those events in the upper room, and Paul's accounting of this. Conforms completely with the three synoptic gospels and how they tell us that Jesus on this night, takes the bread, breaks the bread, says this is my body broken for you, takes the cup and says, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood.

And then he gives these instructions, do this in remembrance of me as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. And then he goes on with these, the stern warning, whoever does this must examine them. Discern the body for if you do not do that, if you eat this in an unworthy manner, you are eating and drinking judgment upon yourself.

Okay, so, now that's the context of what Paul lays out for us. This, this, this terribly defunct table that they're having this, this ceremony that they're calling the table that's not even qualified as coming to the table. So, now let's return to our three questions, and then we ask the three questions and they will guide us through thinking through the passage and seeing what the, what the table is to be for God's people today.

So, the first question is this. What is the table of the Lord? What is the Lord's table? Well, the Lord's table is one of what we call an ordinance. There's another word that sort of corresponds with that. The word would be sacraments, but we use the word ordinance because ordinance is a, is a much more helpful word.

So, the church has two ordinances. Now an ordinance is this, an ordinance is a practice that the church practices on a regular basis that meets certain criteria. Number one, it was given to us directly by Jesus. Jesus commanded us to do this and commanded us to do it repeatedly. Number two, the practice corresponds directly to the gospel, and it is a gospel practice for us, showing us reality about our life in Christ.

Okay? So, that's what an ordinance is. So, Jesus commanded us to do a lot of things. He commanded us to love our neighbor, to pray for one another. He commanded us to forgive one another. But all those things are not ordinances. An ordinance is something Jesus commanded us to do as the body on a regular basis, and it has something to do directly with the gospel.

So, there are two ordinances. And those ordinances are, first of all, the ordinance of baptism and then the ordinance of the supper. So, these two ordinances, Jesus commanded us to put, to do these on a regular basis, first of all. And he says to us, all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. Go therefore, and go and, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son, the Holy Spirit.

So, he tells us to, to practice this thing called baptism. And we've talked before about baptism and how baptism is a sign for us. It is an acting out of conversion. The Baptism Act is an acting out of the beginning of the Christian life. But then he also gives us this second ordinance, which is the Ordinance of the Supper.

He says, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. And then he establishes it this way, and as we'll talk about this, we'll see how that this is also an acting out of the gospel. So, these are the two ordinances that we have. Now, what is an ordinance? We, we kind of said what it was in a technical way, but let's, let's really kind of get at what is this thing called an ordinance.

And an ordinance. The best way to think of this is a sign we can all grasp the concept of a sign and how a sign points us to something. And so, a sign is something, listen to this part. A sign is something that points you to something that is two things different from the sign and greater than the sign.

A sign points you to something that is not the sign, but is indeed greater than the sign. Now this is common sense. Think about a sign right now. If you think of a sign that points you somewhere, and I'm just going to use it as an as an example, the sign that points you to Stone Mountain Park, okay? So, there's signs around the area that point you to Stone Mountain Park.

Some of them are the Green Highway signs. Some of the are the Brown Highway signs, but they point you to this place called Stone Mountain Park. Now, they will give you directions. They will, they will help you to get there. But would anybody in their right mind say, you know, what are you doing this afternoon?

I'm going to go to Stone Mountain. Okay, hope you have a great time. And then you leave and you go right up here and you get on to 77 and you get off right there in 21 where there's that sign for Stone Mountain. And you pull over right there and you get out and you say, wow. Isn't this nice? But actually it's not really as nice as I thought.

The view just isn't. I heard this was a really good view and the view just isn't all that great. Plus it's kind of loud, a lot of traffic noise. I didn't expect there to be this much traffic noise at Stone Mountain. How ridiculous. Because the sign is not the reality. The sign points to the reality of the sign points to is different from the sign and the reality.

The sign points to is greater than the sign. Would anybody say we could either go to Stone Mountain Sign or Stone Mountain itself? No. The, the reality that the sign takes you to is the reality that you want to go to. That is how ordinances work. Ordinances are signs. Now, if you can grasp this concept of a sign, then you're automatically grasping a great deal of your faith because so, much of the Christian faith has to do with signs.

So, these two ordinances are, are for us a sign that point to a reality that's different from the sign and greater than the, than the sign that will help you if you are someone that from your background, you might struggle with understanding the supper from a more liturgical sort of background. Let me just say from perhaps a Roman Catholic background, I don't know if anybody here is from a Roman Catholic background.

But if you are from a Roman Catholic background, then what you are taught to understand the supper or to use their word, the mass is absolutely what I just talked about. It's an absolutely a confusing of the sign and the reality. That's what the mass is. The Catholic mass is a total confusion of the sign and the reality the sign is supposed to point you to.

Because in that system of of doctrine and theology, the sign itself, the mass itself becomes the means of grace. Same thing with baptism. Same exact thing. That's why people get confused and believe that an act of sprinkling some water on a baby delivered that baby from original sin because they confused the sign and the reality the sign was supposed to point you to.

All right, so, if that is your background, I don't, I don't know if any of us really struggle with that, but we'll just sort of say that in passing. If you get the difference between a sign and the reality, then that type of doctrine will completely fall apart for you because our scriptures teach us that these things point us to something greater than the sign itself.

All right, so, now with that being said, what is the sign of the supper? What is the sign of the table? The table is a sign for us in three ways, and these three ways come directly from the text. It is a sign for us by way of proclamation or declaration by way of remembering or memorial, and by way of participation.

Those are the three things that you, you must get into your thinking about the table. The table is about proclamation or declaration. It's about a memorial or remembering and it's about participation. All three things are there from the text. Jesus says to us, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me.

So, clearly Jesus is saying, this is a memorial. This is a, an opportunity to remember to call to mind. Secondly, it's a, it's about a proclamation because we're told as often as we eat and drink, we do what? We proclaim the Lord's death until he returns. Okay? So, there it is clearly from the text we proclaim or we declare.

And then thirdly, we participate because as often as we do this, we proclaim his death until he returns. So, we're doing it, we're participating, we're active, but we're also remembering and we're also proclaiming. So, first of all, that that proclaiming this a declaration, who are we proclaiming to? Because you know, we don't have glass walls here and spectators walking by looking in saying, what is that?

They're eating those little bitty tiny cups. What is that they're doing? We proclaim to those among us what this is all about, those who might come among us. So, the supper, the table of the Lord is not some sort of secretive cultic kind of activity. The the early church sort of got that reputation of behind closed doors, drinking people's blood and eating people's body parts.

And you can kind of see how the misunderstanding came about. But the early church got that misunderstanding because it was thought of as this sort of secretive sort of thing. It's not a secretive thing at all. It's the opposite. It's a proclaiming thing. It's a declaring thing. We wish the whole world could watch us partake and if those are among us, Who are not partakers in the table, then there is to be no discomfort at all.

We're glad you that you see this, that you watched this because this is about proclaiming something. This is about declaring something. It's also about remembering something, a memorial. Now none of us were there at the cross to think back into our recollection and remember those events. But nonetheless, it is a focusing of the mind on those events and what those events mean for us and teach to us.

So,, so, the supper is not a time of just turning your brain off. The supper is not this sort up mystic emotional kind of thing where, where you just receive this mystical, magical thing in you. I, I know of many who would think of the table in that way. That something mystical is happening, something inexplicable is happening.

And of course we know that there are those who believe that something miraculous happens with, with the elements, with the bread and with with the cup, and they actually become a body and they become the blood of Christ. Now, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that other than just, just to say this without spending a great deal of time there.

That just defies all common sense, doesn't it? That just defines all common sense to say that something that still looks like bread, smells like bread, feels like bread. Tastes like bread somehow is not breaded, but now it's the body of our Lord, who by the way, is with the Father right now with his body.

That just defies all sort of realism. Okay? Again, we're confusing with that. Within that system of thought, we're confusing. Two things. The sign and the reality, the sign points to, so, these aren't some sort of mystical pieces of bread. It's not some sort of mystical liquid and nothing mystical happens to you.

Instead, you are to come to the table with your brain on thinking, remembering, and as we'll see in the text, examining, and we'll talk about what that means and what how we're supposed to do. But it's an activity of the mind. It's an activity of the soul and the spirit. It's a time when you are very active.

You're not just sitting here waiting for God to just come and dump some sort of blessing onto you. You're active in what's taking place. You're active between your ears and you're active in your heart and your spirit. Okay? And then it's also this participation. So, there's a doing that's involved.

There's a taking of the elements and there's a, there's a feeding and a drinking. And so, that has to do a great deal with the symbolism that the supper's all about. If this is a symbolic meal, it's a symbolic thing that we do, and we're symbolically feeding ourself upon our savior. Now, because we are doing something here, we often ask.

What sort of bread should we use? What sort of juice should it be? You know, could it be this? How big are the pieces of bread supposed to be? You know, could, could it be a sandwich, could it be a hamburger? Or could it be does, does the, does the juice, could it be alcoholic or is it supposed to be non-alcoholic?

Like what all these sorts of questions can kind of crop up around that. And then of course, then the question also comes, well, how frequently should a body observe the supper? And if you notice in the text as well as all of the other texts that, that address it, all of them are the same. It says simply this, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me.

And so, I think that the Holy Spirit has intentionally left that undefined as he has also left all the other things undefined, because the Holy Spirit knows our propensity to turn everything into a. And so, he leaves this undefined and just says, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of meat, take of the bread, take of the cup.

The only thing that we're told about any of those elements is that the cup, we think back to Jesus' night in that Passover meal and he mentions the fruit of the vine. That's the only really, the only direction as far as the contain the contents of the cup or the bread or anything. I remember once at our previous church, we had this mix up and somehow on the day when we, we were coming to the table, the only juice we had was mango juice and we used it and, and it worked.

But the only really direction there, fruit of the vine might, would say to us, okay, it, it will be wise to, to stay with something of, of grapes of the vine, but no other direction is given. I would say this though, that the thrust of the passage, and we'll get here in just a minute, but the thrust of the passage is a direct pushback against a chaotic.

IR environment in which elements of the supper have been mixed together with normal food in such a way as to completely strip their symbolic meaning. So, working from that basis, I would say to us as a church, that there are a few things of wisdom to keep in mind. The supper should never be turned into some sort of playful experiment.

The supper should never be turned into something that is sort of this cavalier, well, we'll do it differently. The supper, it would be highly unwise if the supper were to become potato chips and coke around a campfire, and all of us have heard of that. It would be extremely unwise if the supper became bagels and coffee at a coffee shop.

That would be highly unwise. And all of us have heard of that. And so, there is an element of wisdom here. We won't call those things sinful because the scriptures don't, but it'll be highly unwise to take those things and make them like everything else, which seems to be an underlying theme with what the Corinthians were doing wrong.

So, this supper is something that we, we are shown here, is given to the body, it's given to the church. You can count them for yourself five times in the passage. Paul says, when you come together five times and once, he says it this way, when you come together as a church. So, I take his meaning to be crystal clear.

This is something that is most appropriate for the body. Meaning it is less appropriate for portions of the body. It's not appropriate for us to come to the table on Wednesday nights when that's typically not a gathering of the whole body, or it's not appropriate for a Bible study to, to take of the supper.

It's not appropriate for a, a kid's summer camp to serve the supper. We, we won't call those things sinful. We will call them inappropriate or un unwise because it seems to me that the thrust here is, this is for the whole body together. Now, there are times in which I have administered the supper to a long time shut in or a hospice patient, and absolutely nothing wrong with those situations.

But what we're saying is the normative way to approach the table is in the context of the full body together, short of those who are providentially prevented from being among the body. All right, so, this sign, this sign of declaration of remembering and participating is the sign that's given to the body that we think of as the table or the supper.

Now. So, the second question that we would ask is, well, who is invited to come to the table? Now, I'm going to give just a very, very short answer for this, and then we're going to go to the third question because I believe that if we answer the third question thoroughly, it'll answer the first two thoroughly for us as well.

So, ju, I'm just going to give a quick answer. Who is welcome at the table? Who is invited to the table? All of those who are the family of God. All of those who are convinced in their spirit that they are ate. Born again, family of God. It's called the Lord's Supper. Which indicates to us it's his table and his family coming to the table.

Paul says repeatedly when you come together, and clearly the context is he's writing to a church. So, the appropriate ones to come to the table are those who are legitimate, born again children of God. Now, that's not the only qualification, but that's the only one that I'm going to mention right now because I really think that when we work out this third question and we answer this one thoroughly, we won't have any more questions about the first two.

So, the third question that we come to is, and this is the big one, this is the one that probably if, if I were to ask you privately, I would say, you know, what's your biggest concern? What's your biggest question about the table? I would just about guarantee everybody's answer or most everybody's answer would be this one.

How do we come to the table in an appropriate way and how do we come in an inappropriate way? Because that's the warning of the passage. And quite frankly, it's a stern warning, isn't it? With more time, we would unpack the warning further, but we don't have the, it would take quite a bit of time to unpack that.

We're not going to take that time this morning. I just want to say this about the warning. It seems to me that Paul's goal here is to communicate the sternest possible warning He can. It seems like that his, his intention here is to scare them to say, if you eat and drink in an unworthy manner, notice what he says.

You're not. Bec, you're not inflicting guilt, you're inflicting the guilt of the body and blood of Christ upon you. That warning compares with the warnings in in the letter to the Hebrews that are so, stern and so, frightening. Okay, so, we get the point. The idea that Paul intends to say to us, coming to the table in an appropriate manner is of utmost importance.

So, that's what we turn our attention to. Now, how is it that we come to the table in a worthy manner? So, now as we begin to answer this question, the first thing that we want to see, and this for somebody here in the room, may be more than one person. For somebody here in the room, this will be the most important thing you hear all morning, look to the passage, and let's notice carefully how Paul phrases this.

Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of Christ. Now, in the English standard that I just read from, As well as probably most modern translations. I think the King James is not along the same vein, but that's translated as an adjective, right?

Worthy manner. What's worthy describing, worthy describing Manor manner is a noun. Adjectives describe nouns. Okay, so, worthy is an adjective except in what Paul wrote, what Paul wrote. That word worthy is not an adjective, it's an ad verb. So, I think the King James translates it worthy. Anybody reading from the King James, is it worthy?

Worthy is not a word we use. And so, the editors of modern translations are, are attempting to use a word that, that we can relate to more, that we can understand more. And so, they've changed it to worthy manner. But the word that Paul uses is an ad verb, not an adjective. Now why is the part of speech important?

Because an ad verb modifies a verb, not a noun. So, what Paul is not speaking against is he's not saying that there are unworthy people coming to the table. He's saying you are coming in an unworthy way. The difference between those two is huge

because isn't that something that has trouble? I think every believer, I, if you take the supper seriously, have you not been troubled by the question, am I worthy? Am I worthy of the body of Christ? Am I worthy of the blood of Christ? What believer has not struggled with that, but notice Paul did not say, If an unworthy person comes to the table, he said, if you come in an unworthy way, an unworthy manner, the word is describing the way that they come, not who's coming, and for somebody in the room that will really make all the difference in the world for the table.

If you struggle with being worthy in the time of ministry that I've, I don't know how many times I've been part of the supper, I mean very, very regularly there will be a believer whom I know to be a professing believer that believes in their heart that they are converted and born again and they abstain.

And I don't usually know what may be behind that, what the, what the abstaining from the table is all about. But clearly there's a struggle. Clearly there's something within them that's saying to them that they're not worthy to take of that. What Paul is not saying here is that there are people. That are unworthy of the table.

He's saying that there is a way of coming to the table that's an unworthy manner because it only takes just a moment for those of us who know the gospel to say emphatically who's worthy of the table. Nobody. And that's the whole point. The whole point is that none of us are worthy of the table. Now, if we do what Paul tells us to do, which is examine ourself and discern according to the body, discern the body, we'll get to that in a moment.

If we do what Paul tells us, here's the irony of the whole thing. The better you do that, the more successfully you examine yourself, the more unworthy you'll feel, which will make your manner even more worth. Isn't that ironic? That's sort of a paradox, isn't it? If you do what Paul says, you feel even more unworthy, which makes the manner of coming even more worthy.

So, the first thing to see Paul is describing the way in which these people are coming to the table and, and his. If Paul was here today, and we were to ask him, Paul this gathering of the Corinthian believers, obviously they, they didn't start out on the right foot. What can they do to fix this? Paul would've said to us that they could change, that they could examine themself, they could discern themself, and then come to the table.

Right? Then Paul's not describing some sort of thing where you got to go away and you got to fix this thing in your life, and you got to clean this thing up in your life over here, and then you'll be worthy for the table. You'll never be worthy for the table. But what Paul is saying is there's this examination, this self-discernment that takes place, and that is what makes the manner of coming to the table a worthy manner.

So, what he says to do, he says, let each one do two things, examine himself or herself. And then secondly, he says, discern the body. So, within those two words there, we're not going to break the words apart, but those two words there, they're two different words and they're both getting at a similar idea. The idea you, you might use the first word, you might use it if you were a metal worker and you were, you were trying to, to separate, to examine what was the pure metal and what was the draws, same kind of idea there.

And discern, I mean, they're, they're translated very well. They're, they're not hard, difficult words to translate. They're translated well and accurately examine yourself. There's a self-examination, this self-assessment, and there's a discernment. A discernment is, is simply an examination that makes a decision that that makes a differentiation, right?

If you discern between two things, you've thought about the two things and you've made a choice. Okay? So, this discernment that he says you are to discern the body now within that phrase is the key for us to understand what Paul is saying for us to do, to make the manner that we come to the table a worthy manner, discern the body.

What in the world does that mean? So, there's two schools of thought. One is that Paul is saying discern the body in the sense of discern the body of believers. That there is sin that is taking place where believers are sinning against other believers and you are not discerning the value of the Bo body properly.

And you need to reassess how you think of the body of. That position holds validity. It is consistent with the context because the context is the context of the body sinning against itself. So, to discern the body, meaning to discern how I relate to other believers would fit the context of Paul's thought.

However, I don't think that that's what Paul's getting at and here's why. There's two reasons why when he says discern the body, he uses the standard word for body. Soma, we probably know that word, like psychosomatic illness. You know, Soma, he uses the same word three times in the passage, and the other two times he uses the same word.

He clearly is using it to speak of not the body of believers, but the body of Christ. So, it would seem odd to me that Paul would use one word three times in the same passage, two times meaning one thing, a third time meaning something completely different and not give us any differentiating clues. That would seem odd to me.

The other reason I think that what he's talking about is discern the body of Christ is, if you look with me at verse 23, look at verse 23, you see that word four, that word's a very helpful word. What that word tells us is that what Paul says after that is giving, giving a reasoning or a basis or a resolution to what he just said.

Okay? So, what did he just say? He just said, I cannot commend you. I cannot commend you on what you're doing for I receive from the Lord all what I, I also deliver to you. And then he goes on to explain the supper, the supper, the, the, the elements of the supper, all of which are connected as Paul says, to the suffering body of Christ, to the spilled blood of Christ.

So, Paul's reasoning, the reason why he can't commend them has to do with the suffering body and blood of Christ. If the reason he can't commend them has to do with the, with the suffering body of Christ, don't you think that the solution to that is also something to do with the suffering body of Christ?

Does that make sense? That if the reason for their offense has to do with an improper valuing or understanding of the suffering of Christ, then the answer is to change how you think of the suffering body of Christ. Okay? So, it makes sense to me that what he says is the way that you approach the table in a worthy manner is examine yourself and discern the body.

So, body, I'm going to take it to mean shorthand for another phrase that is used in the passage, which is body and blood. You follow what I'm saying? When he says, discern the body, I'm going to take that as just shorthand for body and blood, meaning discern the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Discern that that is the way that you come to the table. In this appropriate manner. In this worthy manner. So, what does Paul mean by discern the suffering, dying body, bleeding blood of Christ on the cross? What is he getting at there? How does the New Testament teach us to think of the suffering of Christ on the cross?

Let's think about that. How does the New Testament teach you to look upon Christ on that cross? What does the New Testament teach you to think about Christ on that cross? Let me suggest to you, the New Testament teaches us a number of things that we should regard as we look to the body of Christ, as we look to Christ on the cross, spilling his blood, giving up his body.

The New Testament teaches us to look upon him on the cross and to see our substitute. He is made to be our sin. Second Corinthians 5 21, God made him who no sin to be sin for us. So, on the cross, he is made to be our sin. God then comes in judgment. Remember the sky gets dark, which means God is now present in judgment.

God comes to judge his son who has been made sin, and God pours his wrath upon his son, so, that by faith in Christ, the wrath of my sin is poured out upon the Son of God and the righteousness of God is given to me. That's salvation. That's penal substitution. So, that's one way that the New Testament teaches us to think about Christ on the cross.

But let me suggest that the New Testament teaches us to go further than that, that that actually doesn't go far enough. The New Testament teaches us that in our spirits, in our, in our minds, when we think of Christ on the cross, to think not only of one who is giving Himself for us, our substitute becoming sin for us, but also to see ourselves on the cross, or more specifically, the New Testament, teaches you to see your old self on the cross, or to use a biblical phrase, the old man.

Now, I don't mean the old man, like, well, I could really pick on somebody right here. I don't mean the old man like is an elderly, but the old self, the sinful man or the sinful woman. The New Testament teaches. That in your heart, when you look upon the cross, when Christ is on the cross, you are to see not only your substitute, you are to see the old man dying on the cross.

Let me show us where we see this. We see this first of all, in the passage right before. So, immediately before this passage is the famous head covering passage, but right before that, in chapter 10, the top the, the context that Paul is talking about in chapter 10 is the context of idolatry. The Corinthians have, have fallen into idolatry, and Paul is making the point that they need to leave that behind.

They need to flee from the idolatry because they are all one in Christ. They are together. And so, there's a sense in which if you fall into idolatry, then you also drag her into idolatry. And if you fall into idolatry, you also drag him into idolatry because we're one, there's a sense in which if one of us falls into idolatry, we drag the whole body into idolatry.

That's Paul's point. And so, look at what he says here in one Corinthians verse, or chapter 10 and verse 16, he says, the cup of blessing that we bless, that's referring to the cup of the supper, the cup of bless blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ. So, Paul says, this cup, this cup that's part of this ceremony, this table is this cup, not a participation in his body.

Now that that word participation, you all know it. It's the word cornea, you know, cornea club and everything. Sharing participation. Paul says, is this cup not participating in his body? He goes on the bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? These bread and this cup that we partake off, we are sharing or participating on the cross with Christ because there is one bread.

We who are many are one body for we all partake in one bread. Now, verse 18, consider the people of Israel. So, he says, think back now to the Old Testament days. How did it work for them? Are not those who eat the sacrifices, participants in the altar? What does that mean? That means that, as we've said before, those who were given these Old Testament sacrifices, those sacrifices never saved a single person.

Those sacrifices never took away one single sin. All the bulls and goats and lambs and doves never took away a single sin, but it was an act of faith and obedience. That faith in the one who told them these sacrifices give these sacrifices, they would give these sacrifices in faith. And a big part of that faith was they were in their hearts to see themselves on that altar burning, to see their old self on the altar, to see their sinful self being burned up on the altar.

Now, this is not the only place this shows up. Galatians two and verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It's not I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life I now live. I live by faith and son of God love me and gave himself for me. The, there's the idea right there. I Paul have died with Christ.

He says the same thing in Roman six verses three and four. He says, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that as just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

So, there's the other ordinance, the ordinance of baptism and the meaning of baptism is not as many Christians believe, the symbolic washing away sin. We think that because water's involved, baptism is not a symbol of washing away sin. Baptism is a symbol of dying. You go under the water into this symbolic place of death.

To be brought up out of the water to newness of life. Just as Christ goes to the place of death, the tomb, and comes out resurrected again, the first fruits of our resurrection. That's what baptism is an acting out of. So, both of these ordinances are pointing to the same thing. Both of these ordinances mean the same thing.

Both of these ordinances are saying, look to the cross and see yourself on it, specifically your old self. Now, when I say your old self, I don't mean your 25 year ago self. You know that one where, oh, two decades ago, three decades ago, I was at all the bars and hanging out with all the wrong crowd and all that.

That's my old self. No, by old self, the scripture means the sin that you committed this morning by old self. The scripture means that unkind word. You spoke to your spouse on the way to church. By old self. The scripture means that ungodly thought pattern or that ungodly attitude pattern that you still have, that's your old self, that you are to look to the cross and see the old self on it.

Dying with Christ. This wretched death of having the wrath of God poured out upon it. You are to see yourself there. That's what Paul means by discerning the body,

and that's what Paul means by saying, this is what makes your manner of coming to the table a worthy manner. Now that process that seeing by faith, seeing your old self on the cross, that is a painful process. The supper, hear this folks, well, this morning the supper. Is a difficult thing. The supper is not this sort of, let me just sort of sit back in my pew and enjoy this.

Supper is hard spiritual work because the supper involves seeing the ugliest part of you and seeing that on the cross by faith, seeing it there by faith, seeing it die, the death that Jesus died, and by faith, seeing the new self rise to newness of life. So, what this illustrates for us is a principle that the Bible teaches us all over the place and that principle is this.

The way forward often feels so, wrong. The way forward often feels so, bad. The way forward often feels like despair. That's what the way forward feels like. Progress, sanctification, growth in Christ, joy in the Lord. All those things so, often to our flesh feels so, wrong because your flesh desperately wants its own righteousness.

It desperately wants its own righteousness. And the supper when approached wordly shows your flesh you'll never be worthy. And the more the supper shows that to your flesh, the more your flesh feels like this is just wrong. That the way up seems like the way down. Doesn't it seem that way? Doesn't it just seem that way that that the way forward with Christ just feels so, bad sometimes.

And that's what the scriptures teach us all over. The place that life is, is a seed going into the ground to die. That being the greatest is being the least servant in the whole crowd. Or that being first is being at the end of the line. Or for example, Psalm 34 and verse 18, the Lord is near to the broken brokenhearted.

Just that one phrase right there. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. Now take that and flip it around. The one who's not brokenhearted, cannot say The Lord is near me. The one who's not brokenhearted, cannot say with scriptural authority, God is near because the scriptures say he's near the brokenhearted.

Or Isaiah chapter six in verse five, he gets that vision, that vision of Yahweh, and he says, woe is me for, I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among the people of unclean lips, or Matthew five in verse six. Blessed are those who mourn over their sinfulness. But I think, I think really the, the example that shows us this crystal clear, Luke chapter five in verse eight, but when Simon Peter saw it, meaning you remember out fishing all night, didn't catch a single fish, Jesus says, Simon, one more cast on the other side of the.

All right. And then the nets are tearing apart because every fish in the sea of Galilee had leaped into that net. And what does Peter say Depart from me for I am sinful. That moment was the moment that Peter had been closer to the Lord, more close than he'd ever been in his life. And what was the thought that was heavy on his mind?

I'm so, sinful. I am so, sinful. That is the discerning of the body because the way forward so, often feels like the way backward. You ever feel like that? You ever feel like, well, I, I really thought that I was you. Doing really well on my scripture intake. I'm spending time with the Lord. My prayer life is more vibrant, more alive.

I'm intaking more scripture than ever before, but I just feel worse. I just feel like I'm just the biggest sinner ever. That's the Christian life because the way forward so, often feels like the way backward because the way forward is the way forward. Through discerning the body, the door to Christian joy, the door to Christian growth has despair written on the front of it.

That's the door to Christian growth. The doorway to Christian growth and joy in the Lord is the doorway of. And we must reach out. Take that door handle, turn the door handle, and walk through on the other side, seeing the cross of Jesus Christ and all the wretched sin that's hung on that cross and seeing the old man right there.

And that's not pleasant. That is hard spiritual work. Now we, as we see the old man, the old self on the cross, and we despair in that sinfulness, we, we, we cannot overdo that. We cannot see our sinfulness too much unless it means that we see it and stay there. Look with me in your notes at the words of Dane Orland, he writes this.

There's nothing noble about staying in that pit of despair, meaning the pit of let's, let's use the biblical word, repentance. He says, there's nothing noble about staying in that pint pit of despair. We need to experience it, but we are not meant to dwell in it. Healthy despair is an intersection, not a highway.

A gateway, not a pathway. We must go there, but we dare not stay there. So, that despair of seeing ourself, the old self on the cross, it's like a springboard that's meant to spring us down deep into despair and then spring us the other direction into the other biblical word that we'll use. Repentance and faith.

Repentance is meant to take us deep into the spring and then jettison into jettisons, jettison us into faith. So, think of it. Remember, who else here remembers the red? I guess, I guess they're still going on, but the ridiculous WWE. Who remembers the ridiculous fake wrestling? Anybody remember that?

Okay. The fake wrestling, and if you really believe it's real, then you and I should talk later, but the fake wrestling, okay, there was two signature moves. The first signature move was you climbed up on the top turnbuckle and you jumped off and you did the pile driver on the guy on the on the mat, which if you really did that with kill him, the other signature move was this other ridiculous thing where the guy threw himself against the ropes and the ropes slung him against the other guy.

What? No, could you not just run faster? It, would it not be more impact to just run toward him? Why the whole bouncing off the ropes thing? But anyway, the point was you could supposedly get more force by bouncing off the rope into the guy. That's repentance. Repentance is going deep into that despair and then being launched into faith.

Or maybe, maybe a better analogy is an analogy of a bow. Repentance is pulling back the bow string and faith is releasing the arrow. And the two of those things must, must go together, will one without the other is unbiblical. Repentance without faith is remorse. Repentance without faith is regret.

Repentance without faith is the difference between Judas and Peter. Both of them denied Jesus. Both of them wept. One was launched into faith, the other was not. Repentance without faith is unbiblical. Faith without repentance is also unbiblical. Faith without repentance is self-righteousness. Repentance in faith are the process.

Repentance in faith is what Paul is describing when he says, you look to the cross and you see yourself on it, and that pit of despair launches you into the faith of belief. But they have to be together. It'll be like me saying to you, you know, let, let me give you this special quarter. I got a special quarter.

I'm going to give you this really special quarter. There's no other quarter like it. It's a one-sided quarter. It's a heads only quarter. There's no tails. You say that's absurd. That's impossible. There is no one-sided coin. By definition. A coin has two sides. It's like a round circle or something like this.

It can't, can't happen in the same way. There can be no biblical repentance without faith, and there can be no biblical faith without repentance. The two of those must go together, and that is what Paul says, makes the manner of coming to the table a worthy manner. Now, this repentance and this faith, one, two last things real quickly.

We must not think that that's what we bring to the table, no pun intended. We must not think that that's what we bring. We must not think that in order for us to come to the table and it's a worthy manner, we have to get some repentance and we have to get some faith, and then we come in a worthy manner because the scriptures tell us plainly.

Both of those are God's work. Ephesians two verse eight, for by grace and save through faith, and this is not your own doing is the gift of God. Second Timothy 2:25 and 26. It might be that God would grant to them repentance that leads into the truth. Both repentance and faith are God's work. Both repentance and faith are what the cross gives to us.

So, you see the beauty of that whole picture. The cross gives to us what's necessary for us to come to it in a worthy manner. But then the last thing for us to see is just to turn, turn our thoughts back once again to both ordinances together. The ordinance of baptism is the ordinance that is an acting out of the beginning of the Christian life.

The ordinance of the supper is an acting out of the continuing of the Christian life. So, many times Christians think that this repentance and faith thing is what begins the Christian life. You repent and you believe you're put into Christ and the Christian life begins. The supper sells to us, says to us, it's not the beginning.

It's every step of the Christian life that you make. After that, every single step is this deep into repentance. Launch into faith, deep into repentance, launch into faith, discern the body. Look to the Christ, to the cross. See the old man on the cross. See the wretchedness that Christ had to become in order to pay my penalty and then launch into adoration, faith, and belief, all of which are a gift of God.

That's what takes place at the supper.