Joint Service with Love in Action (1 Corinthians 11:17-34)

It is a real privilege for us to worship with you, our brothers and sisters from Love in Action. I have looked forward to this morning for a long time because by worshipping together we get to experience something very very rare and precious. In the world people define who they are by comparing themselves to others who are different or whom they think less of; “I am richer or have a more important job than him. I speak English, not Spanish, or Spanish instead of English; I am more talented or more intelligent or more beautiful.” Brothers and sisters, we are the Body of Christ, and in the Body all those old rules from the world no longer apply; the church is the one place in the world where people from thousands of cultures and languages and ages can be truly bound together as one – because we are unified in Christ. There is no person here who is less important or more important than the others. This beautiful unity is what we are going to demonstrate and celebrate later when we have communion together.

1. The Lord’s Supper was Central for the early church because it reminded them of what God had done for them through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

(Hold up cup and bread) I wonder what your experience of the Lord’s Supper has been like. If you could describe it with one word, what would it be? I hope that for many of us it has been an experience of grace and freedom and joy and power. But for some of us it may also have been an of fear and guilt. We are going to talk about that a little later.

From what we read in the NT, it seems that the early church celebrated the Lord’s supper often – maybe even every time they got together. Why was it so important for them? Because it was the way that Jesus Himself had given them to remember what He had done for them by his death and resurrection. Jesus’ death meant our sins are paid for and all people can be reunited with the God who made us and loves us, and reunited with each other – in the church there is neither jew nor gentile, slave nor free, male nor female; we are one in Christ. Jesus’ resurrection also meant that the power of sin and of death was finally destroyed. It was a foretaste and a promise of the New Creation – where the dwelling of God will be with people, and he will live among them, and they shall be his people – and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death or mourning or crying or pain. So, why was the Lord’s Supper so important to the early church? It is the way Jesus gave us to remember what he has done for us by his death and his resurrection. It is a physical reminder of what God has done for us and will do for us.

The earliest record we have of the church’s practice of the Lord’s Supper is from Paul, in the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 11. Antonio will read it in Spanish, and those of you who don’t know Spanish can follow along in your Bibles.

2. Scripture Reading – 1 Corinthinians 11:17-34 – Antonio will read

3. To come together as the church to eat the Lord’s supper (without recognizing the Body of Christ) while contributing to division is to despise the Church and the Lord whose body it is.

These are strong, strong words. The main problem is that there are divisions within this church, and the divisions are between the rich and the poor. And, as if this weren’t bad enough, the rich are using the Lord’s Supper to increase these divisions, so that some have way too much to eat and drink, while others go away hungry.

Well, Paul obviously had a BIG problem with this, and uses very strong language to say so. He says that the way they treat each other means that it isn’t even the Lord’s Supper they are celebrating! No, instead they are despising the church of God. And it doesn’t matter how ragged and unattractive she is, God does not look kindly on anyone despising his bride. And when you despise his bride, you also sin against the body and blood of the Lord. Strong words.

But why does Paul think this is so important? Why is he so angry? Because it goes against the very nature of who God has made us to be. In Galatians 3:26 he wrote “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus,…There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” You see, the ground on which the cross is planted is level ground, and when we stand before the cross in relationship with Jesus, we all stand at precisely the same level; we are all people who have fallen short of God’s glory. We all stand in need of grace, and we all receive it on the basis of faith and faith alone. Before the cross there is no room for pride or boasting about being free instead of being slaves, rich or poor, Jew or non-Jew, german mennonite or columbian or chilean or argentinian. We are all One in Christ Jesus. The old rules no longer apply.

The Lord’s Supper declares our unity in Christ, so for the Corinthians to use the Lord’s Supper to perpetuate the old divisions between rich and poor, or slave and free, Jew and Greek, etc. was unthinkable! By treating themselves as people who had “privileged status,” the rich were in actually destroying the church as one body in Christ. The result was to destroy the gospel itself.

4. Solution: Recognizing the body of the LORD

And Paul has a remedy for this problem. Paul says in vs. 28 that A person ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. The key is to recognize the body of the Lord. But what does that mean? It means to distinguish as distinct or different. To recognize the body of the Lord means to recognize that this is not just any meal; this is the meal in which we declare our unity in Christ.

Just one chapter earlier, in 10:17, Paul said this: is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. If we take the Lord’s supper, which declares our unity in Christ, while at the same time we are creating division in the body with our attitudes and actions, we are despising God’s church, and sinning against the body and blood of Christ.

5. This results in judgment – but Paul was NOT saying that these people had lost their salvation

The consequence of this is that we bring judgment on ourselves. Paul says that because the Corinthians have been celebrating the Lord’s supper without recognizing the Body of Christ many among them are weak and sick, and a number of them have even died! It is important to note that when Paul speaks of this judgment the Corinthians were experiencing, he was NOT saying that they had lost their salvation, or that they were now God’s enemies. No, when God judges his people it is out of love, and the result, as Paul says, is discipline. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

6. What this does NOT mean

For some of us, the Lord’s Supper has not been an experience of grace and freedom, but rather one of guilt or even fear. In some churches and traditions, before you take communion you sit quietly, sometimes for a long time, and try to figure out whether you are good enough to take communion. And the result is a fear of the Lord’s Table, and guilt for perhaps having eaten or drunk unworthily. Theologian Gary Larson paints a vivid picture of how God is experienced in this kind of setting (show farside comic).

This experience of communion is based on a misunderstanding of vs. 27-28, where Paul says that whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” The word “unworthy” here refers NOT to the person doing the eating, but to the manner in which it is being done. In other words, the purpose of examining ourselves is not to become worthy of the Table for fear of judgment, but to discern whether you “recognize the body of the Lord.” This morning, do you recognize your unity in Christ with your brothers and sisters? If your attitudes and actions are breaking down that unity, then you are not recognizing the Body of Christ.

7. Conclusion

Could I have the servers come up at this point?

The Lord’s Table is about grace from start to finish. Do you have sin in your life? Are you in need of grace and forgiveness? So am I! Then come to the table!!! The only limit is this; when you celebrate communion, recognize the body of Christ. Recognize that this is not just any meal, but the meal that declares your unity with your brothers and sisters.

“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."

Pray – “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. Thank you, Father, for the beautiful unity you have made possible among us, your people. Jesus, thank you for going to the cross for us and for being our host even now at your table. Holy Spirit, help us to make that unity more and more real in our relationships, our attitudes and actions towards each other. We submit ourselves to you.”

“In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”

Pray – “Jesus, you prayed for us, that we might be brought to complete unity so that the world would know that you were sent from the Father. Deepen our desire for and experience of unity so that we can be used by you in mission. We recognize that in our worship together this morning you have given us a foretaste of the glory John saw; a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." Thank you for this foretaste, and give us more! Amen.