The Lord’s Supper

If God’s people would please
take their Bibles and turn to First Corinthians. First Corinthians
chapter 11. First Corinthians chapter 11
it’s a passage that will eventually echo in your ears as familiar. It is the passage where Paul
is articulating the Lord’s table. If you’re familiar with the epistle
of Paul to the Corinthians, you know that this church was a church
that was just abounding with problems. Even as you, for a
novice reader, were to course through this epistle, you can
tell by what Paul is addressing what some of those problems were
in the Corinthian church. There were divisions caused by
pride, There was flat out insubordination. There was a failure, an utter
and complete failure to deal with blatant sexual sin. There were lawsuits, and not
just any lawsuits, but Christians suing other Christians. There
were moral scandals. There was a confusion about marriage
and the roles of marriage and divorce. There was the abuse,
flat out, heartless abuse of Christian liberty, where people
didn’t care how they were living and how that might affect their
brother in Christ. There was grumbling. And that
is just really a short list of some of the things that were
taking place in the Corinthian church. It wasn’t all bad. God after all in His goodness
and mercy had saved these people. But I would count it that this
church was so steeped in the culture, so steeped in the day
and age in which they lived, so steeped in the sinful tendencies
of the people around them, that they were at the very beginning
stages of even being extracted from that culture, let alone
instructive of it by their own lives. Let me give you just a
bit of a background before we read this passage. In the early
church, they celebrated the Lord’s table in what had come to be
known as the love feast. In fact, every time that you
see the elements of communion being presented
in the book of Acts, Acts 2, 42, Acts 2, 46, Acts 20, Acts
20, 11, every time those things are presented, it is presented
as not just communion, not just a celebration of the Lord’s table,
but a greater feast, a love feast that coordinated or incorporated
the Lord’s table into it. That early Christian celebration,
that meal, fellowship meal, potluck if you will, that meal included
a celebration of the Lord’s table and it was called the agape or
the love feast. That love feast, not unlike our
own potlucks, was one where people would bring their own food from
home, something to share for the purpose of coming together,
for the purpose of sharing, and after which they would all unite
around the Lord’s table, and they would share that as well.
On the occasion of the Lord’s Supper, the members would bring
in their meals to share, being one big social meal. But sadly, even the Corinthians,
or the Corinthians rather, even managed to mess up this joyous
occasion. And they turned the love feast
into this gluttonous, self-seeking, hedonistic celebration that really
lost all view of the Lord’s table. And it is to that end that Paul
writes beginning in verse 17 of chapter 11. First Corinthians
chapter 11 verse 17. But in giving this instruction
I do not praise you because you come together not for the better
but for the worse. 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, for
there must also be factions among you so that those who are approved
may become evident among you. Therefore, when you meet together,
it is not to eat the Lord’s supper, for in your eating, each one
takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is
drunk.” 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. For I received from the Lord
that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in
the night in which 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 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 For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord’s death until
he comes but 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. But a man must examine himself,
and in so doing he is to eat the bread and drink the cup.
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself
if he does not judge the body. rightly. For this reason many
among you are weak and sick and a number sleep. But if we judged
ourselves rightly we would not be judged. But when we are judged
we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned
along with the world. So then my brethren when you
come together to eat wait for one another. 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. Paul had many things to say to
the Corinthians. He wrote them at least two epistles,
possibly even as many as four, two of which are lost and not
part of God’s designed revelation for the enduring church. But Paul does record a great
many things to the Corinthian church. They were a troubled
church. They were an incomplete, unfinished, unpolished, unrefined
church. And this Lord’s table issue is
one of the most grievous things to Paul. As he looked at a church
that he had a hand in planting, in administering, administrating
rather. He cared for the Corinthians
enough to address really sinful behaviors. This was among the
worst. This was not just any dinner
that they were celebrating. It wasn’t just any meal. It wasn’t
just any supper. It was the Lord’s Supper. And
Paul wants them to consider that. And so in order to correct their
behavior, he issues to them four, if you will, courses to restore
a proper exercise of the Lord’s table. And this is as much for
us as it was for the Corinthians. You might say, well, we don’t
engage really in a love feast. We don’t incorporate the Lord’s
table into a potluck. And even if we do have meals,
it’s not this gluttonous feast, not always, that was so prevalent
in the Corinthian church. Let me just say to you, is God
really concerned so much about gluttony? Is He really concerned
that people were careless of others’ needs and more concerned
about filling their own faces? I would suggest to you that that
is the low bar. That is the least that Paul wants
to address in their lives. It’s not as if he doesn’t care
about adultery. It’s not as if he doesn’t care
about drunkenness. It’s not as if he doesn’t care
about stealing. It’s not as if he doesn’t care
about all of the other sins that were so prevalent, not only in
that society, but in ours. Paul wants to slam the door and
if he slams the door on the least of these sins, sneaking a bite
of food, stuffing your face while others have little. If Paul is
concerned about that, then he is concerned greatly about our
approach to the Lord’s table. The first course, if you will.
I want to look at the shame of abusing the Lord’s table. the
shame associated with it. Look at verse 17. Paul says,
but in giving this instruction I do not praise you because you
come together not for the better but for the worse. Paul clarifies
that in this instruction, in this greater body that Paul has
given to them, this epistle, 1 Corinthians, and the particular
instructions that came along with that, In this instruction,
I do not praise you. He does praise them at the beginning
of the chapter. But here, his attitude is suddenly
changed. On this particular subject, his
opinion of the Corinthians is quite different. Paul uses an
interesting means of snapping the Corinthians to attention. He praises them in verse 2. Look back if you would. where
Paul says, now I praise you. We don’t often do that, do we?
I told you that Paul has this habit, he has this tendency,
I would even call it a gift. He has a gift of looking about
him, zeroing in, and recognizing God’s work in particular individuals’
lives. And he says that, look, I can
see what God is doing in your life, and I praise you for it.
I thank God for what he’s doing in and through you. Look at the
verse again. Now I praise you because you
remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions
just as I delivered them to you. They loved Paul. They remembered
Paul in practical ways. They remembered to pray for him.
They remembered to support him. They remembered to obey him.
They remembered to show affection towards him. And those things
were commendable and he commends them. And he seems to play upon
the natural tendency that we have toward smugness, right?
If somebody gives you a comment like that, now I praise you.
You’re doing a really great job. We immediately begin to strut
around like a peacock, don’t we? And I think Paul plays on
that. As soon as they heard that they
were praiseworthy, they might have begun to swell with pride,
but here he does a very abrupt about-face. In verse 17, it’s
an understatement. Not only will he not praise them,
even in those words there is a sharp rebuke. I’m not gonna
praise you for this. I’m not gonna commend you for
the way that you’re carrying on in the Lord’s table. They did have some commendatory
practices, but the way they behaved at the Lord’s table wasn’t one
of them. Their public worship, their gathering together as the
people of God was utterly disgraced in their behavior. It was unbrotherly,
it was irreverent, and it couldn’t even be called a celebration
of the Lord’s table. Look at verse 17 again, but in
giving this instruction, I do not praise you because you come
together not for the better but for the worse. I want you to
hear that. I want you to grasp that. Their
gathering together is not for the better, but for the worse.
What was designed to be a spiritual blessing to them, an encouragement,
the fellowship of God’s people, the hearing of the word, the
singing of praises, the participation in the Lord’s table, that was
all designed by God to be an encouragement and a blessing
to His people. they had degenerated it to the
point, and I want you to get this, it would have been better
for them to stay home than to do what they were doing. Your
meeting together, he says, does more harm than good. Instead
of church, it’s worship, it’s people, it’s ordinances, it’s
fellowship. Instead of church being a blessing,
it had become a curse. It was doing more spiritual harm
than good. Not only was their gathering
together not edifying, it was flat out destructive. It was
the complete opposite of what it was supposed to be. Why was
it so destructive? Why does Paul take this strong
opinion about these dear people? Look at verse 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. This is when they
came, allegedly, together as a church. But even as they come
together as a church, they’re still not together, because there
are divisions. What the word Paul uses here
is schism. It wasn’t just any meeting. Just
wasn’t a town meeting. This was a meeting officially
set up by God himself, the called together ones. It should have
been a holy and a solemn occasion of worship of God to come together
as a church. And I have to point out here
that Paul isn’t talking about a building when you come together
as a church. The word church is never used
anywhere in all of the New Testament. In all of scripture, as a building,
It’s when you come together as God’s people. And when you come
together, you’re supposed to come together. And Paul points
out what we know all too well, that even sometimes when we come
together, you come together only to meet with your faction, your
group, your particular setting. Look at verse 18, for in the
first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions
exist among you. schisms, factions, these divisions,
these parties, if you will. And it wasn’t that they were
apart from the church. What made it worse is these were
divisions within the church. It was a rift. It was dissensions. And it made any kind of harmony
impossible. It made any kind of real true
communion impossible. Charles Hodge, faithful commentator
on the Word of God, he characterized it in these terms. I hear that
there be divisions among you, schisms, cliques, not sex, but
parties separated from each other by alienation of feeling. It is evident that the rich formed
one of these parties distinguished from the poor. Many other grounds
of divisions exist even in our own day. And theirs, Jewish converts,
probably separated from the Gentiles, and Gentiles from the Jews. Those
who had one gift, perhaps huddled together with those of a like
gift. And so, in the end, it wasn’t
anything outward. It started, it wasn’t anything
outward so much as it started in the heart. They were divided
in their hearts from one another. And it didn’t catch Paul off
guard. Paul wasn’t surprised by this. Look at verse 19. For
there must also be factions among you so that those who are approved
may become evident among you. Even cliques, even these sects
could be used by God because they ultimately reveal by that
separation the false believers and the true. So keeping aloof from division
is a sign of true spirituality. It is an avoidance of that party
spirit. But here in this verse, he uses,
when he says there must be factions, he uses a completely different
word. In verse 18, he uses the word divisions, schisms. Here
in verse 19, he uses the word factions. This is what happens
when division is cultivated. And it’s the word from where
we get our word heresy. These heresies, it isn’t that
there were schisms and heresies, it’s that there were schisms
that were, that had developed into these factious groups. Paul says, Paul says, I’m not surprised
to hear this, but it’s not right. This is an abuse of the Lord’s
table. This is utterly appalling to God himself, not just me,
as your beloved apostle and friend. This is appalling to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it’s offensive to him. And
so Paul finishes serving one course and he serves up another.
Not only the shame of abusing the Lord’s supper, but the means,
Paul’s gonna spell it out, the means of abusing abusing the
Lord’s Supper. And he just contrasts the Corinthians
version from that which the Lord Jesus Christ established. Look
at verse 20. Therefore when you meet together
it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in your eating each one takes
his own supper first and one is hungry and another is drunk.
Paul here begins to build a contrast between what they, the Corinthians,
were doing and what our Lord instituted. And they were dramatically
different. And therein lay their sin. The
irony was that they actually had a special name for these
food fellowships, which were essentially, as I said, potlucks.
They called them love feasts. And it’s a pleasant label, isn’t
it? If somebody invites you to a
love feast, isn’t that something that you want to attend, right?
Who wouldn’t want to go there? The problem was not only did
it not measure up to what the Lord instituted, it didn’t even
measure up to the title that they put on it. It didn’t even look like a love
feast at all. It was unfitting, totally supposed
to be a communion in the true sense of the word. Everyone partaking
together, sharing, enjoying a common meal. Instead, there was chaos
and gorging and gluttony. And most people pulled aside
to stuff their faces while others looked on hungry. And Paul says,
essentially, call it whatever you want. This is not the Lord’s
table. Not to eat the Lord’s table.
You might come together and you have this thing, but it does
not resemble what the Lord instituted at all. It wasn’t just, and you
see this even in our day and age, It wasn’t just a jostling
for a place in line, right, at the buffet. It wasn’t just a
matter of overloading, heaping the plate. It wasn’t just flat
out overeating. Those things are all common occurrences
in any potluck. What was going on in the Corinthian
assembly was worse even than that. And you’re eating one takes his
own supper first, verse 21. One is hungry and another is
drunk. They didn’t wait for each other. They weren’t patient.
They weren’t gracious. They weren’t courteous. They were only concerned
with stuffing their faces with food. They didn’t even wait for
the common meal, which means they didn’t share
what they brought. Instead, they pulled aside, and before the
meal even started, They started shoveling it in. Their motives
were false. All they were doing was playing
church. What they were doing showed no love, no care for one
another, and that made the celebration of the Lord’s table literally
impossible. What was supposed to promote
unity had degenerated into gluttony. And the whole purpose of the
common meal was to draw others together. It was supposed to
be a proclamation of the gospel, a wooing in of those from the
community who did not know Christ. It wasn’t anything like that. It
was as one man of God described it, a desecration of the holy
ordinance. Jesus Christ had established
this meal a commemoration of his death on the cross, a commemoration
of his atonement for sin. It was supposed to be a solemn
and joyous occasion to remember back of all that God has done
for us, but especially in what he accomplished through the Lord
Jesus Christ. But the whole thought of that
was utterly obliterated by the way they were conducting themselves
by the way that they didn’t even eat at the same time but pulled
aside so that they could get more than their fair share. It
was very evident that there were divisions, cliques. These weren’t
theological divisions. It wasn’t along doctrinal lines
necessarily, although that was possible. Primarily, this would
likely have been social. It was the rich versus the poor.
And they were all in the church, but they were not humbly worshiping
the Lord. And so because of that, Paul
says they couldn’t possibly be eating the Lord’s supper. It
was a potluck without the luck, without grace, without love. And Paul says, I mean, you can
hardly even begin to wrap your mind around this. One is hungry
and another is drunk. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration
there. Wine was prevalent in that culture just as it is ours.
It was probably commonplace to bring it along. And some people,
to the point where they ate and drank to excess, to the point
where even in the midst of an assembly that was supposed to
be communion, there was drunkenness. And Paul rebukes them all the
more in verse 22. What? Do you not have houses
in which to eat and drink? It isn’t about the food. It isn’t
about stuffing your faces. It isn’t about this so-called love feast. 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.
In other words, by coming and gorging themselves, they were
actually showing very graphically what they really thought about
the body of Christ. They didn’t care about the body
of Christ. They didn’t care about other people. And so Paul immediately contrasts
their love feast, so-called, with the Lord’s Supper. Very different. Look at verse
23. I received from the Lord that which I delivered to you
that the Lord Jesus and the night in which he was betrayed took
bread 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 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 And Paul says in that your conduct, the way that you’re
carrying on in this so-called love feast profanes this special
occasion that was instituted by the Lord Jesus himself. Paul
says, I got this from Jesus himself. We don’t know how. Jesus Christ
communed with Paul. and imparted the celebration
of the Lord’s table to him directly. And what does Paul start with?
What does Paul remind us of? In the night in which he was
betrayed. Here’s Jesus Christ. thankfully
we have just walked through the gospel of john uh… graphically
reminded of all the jesus endured but it started with a guy it
started with a man named judas in betraying jesus christ in
the very night in which he was betrayed that’s the context that’s
the solemnity with which we ought to come to the lord’s table that’s
the joy that ought to attend to it that Even as we just read,
while we were yet sinners, Jesus endured all this. And we’re going
to turn it into a food fest of sorts? It’s not the way the early church
practiced it. It’s not the way it started.
Acts chapter 2 says it this way, 242, they were continually devoting
themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to the
breaking of bread. And that’s not talking about
communion. That’s talking about food fellowships, having people
over for dinner, going out to lunch, having a great big feast,
the breaking of bread and to prayer. That was basically what
church was. Everyone kept feeling a sense
of awe. Many signs and wonders were taking place. All those
who had believed were together and had all things in common.
They began selling their property, possessions, were sharing them
with all as anyone might have need. Day by day, continuing
with one mind in the temple, breaking bread from house to
house, they were taking their meals together with gladness
and sincerity of heart. It was a different scene entirely. than what’s taking place in the
Corinthian church. There was no commemoration of
what Christ had accomplished on the cross. There was no remembrance,
no recollection of the bread. Jesus said, do this in remembrance
of me. Of the cup, do this in remembrance
of me. There was no recollection. There was no remembering. There
was no mindfulness on those things. There was no recollection of
the historical account of who Jesus was that as we draw near
to the Lord’s table we ought to be thinking of John chapter
9 and all that Jesus endured for our sakes. It’s not what
was happening in the Corinthian church. But Paul pulls out all the stops
and he reminds them the whole purpose of the Lord’s table.
The whole purpose of the Lord’s table, we have a tendency to
think very self-centeredly about the Lord’s table, that it’s about
us. And it is. But ultimately, Paul says, look
at verse 26, as often as you eat this bread and drink the
cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. It’s a proclamation. It’s an
advertisement to the world. It’s a declaration that we believe
the Lord Jesus Christ really and truly died for our sins.
His body was given for us, He shed His blood for us, and we
want to live accordingly. It was a proclamation. One dear
pastor said it this way, the Lord’s Supper is and was designed
to be a proclamation of the death of Christ to continue until his
second advent. Those who come to it, therefore,
should come not to satisfy hunger, nor for the gratification of
social feelings, but for the definite purpose of bearing their
testimony to the great fact of redemption. and to contribute
their portion of influence to the preservation and propagation
of the knowledge of that fact. What he says is, when you come
and you celebrate the Lord’s table, you partake in declaring
to the world that you believe that it’s true. Jesus Christ
paid for my sin. It isn’t a temporary thing. It wasn’t
a fleeting thing. Just like the Passover was this
perpetual meal meant to commemorate the very deliverance out of Egypt,
we come now to the Lord’s table to proclaim Christ. Or do we? Because as Paul is pointing out
to the Corinthians, many people came with completely wrong motive. And so Paul dishes up another
course. not only the shame of abusing the Lord’s Supper and
the means of abusing the Lord’s Supper, but the consequences
for abusing the Lord’s Supper. 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. This is what Paul does. He says,
look, he’s just taken him through the institution of the Lord’s
table. And to the degree that this celebration is really and
truly a commemoration, a memorial, a remembrance, a recollection
of what Jesus did on the cross for you and I, to whatever degree
it’s that, to come at it with an ungodly
heart, to come at it in an unworthy manner, to come at it irreverently,
to abuse it in any way, is to call down God’s judgment. They
shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. It’s as
if we are standing here at the cross, driving the nails all
over again. What does it mean unworthy? In this particular setting, it
obviously points to their greed, their selfishness, their divisiveness,
their impure motives in worship. But it isn’t just that they were,
as one really Ancient commentator said it isn’t just with a mind
distracted by worldly thoughts. We’ve all come to the Lord’s
table with that, right? That’s where I I mean we have
a relative schedule, but I’m never I’m never disappointed
when it surprises all of us We celebrate the Lord’s table. We’ve
all come to the Lord’s table not fully prepared. You’ll never
be fully prepared to celebrate the Lord’s table It isn’t this
unworthiness isn’t a matter of coming to the Lord’s table and
feeling how just utterly unworthy we are. We don’t deserve this.
Some kind of false humility. We don’t deserve it. That’s not
what Paul’s talking about when he talks about coming and partaking
of the Lord’s table unworthily. It’s not that we’re not prepared. It’s to come to the Lord’s table
in this careless, heartless, irreverent, ungodly, attitude, all the while going
through the motion. Your heart isn’t there to begin
with. And especially if you haven’t placed your faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, you have no place at the table. That’s not mean. This isn’t a meal. This is a
commemoration. You cannot possibly commemorate
what you do not know. And Paul says, To do that, to
come in irreverently, half-heartedly, is to be guilty for making a mockery of the Lord’s
table. And we become liable to whatever consequences come with
it. Because we find ourselves pounding
upon those nails all over again, just like it says in Hebrews
6. We crucify Him afresh, and put him to open shame. And so Paul says, the way out
of this is to examine your hearts. A man must examine himself. For he who eats and drinks, eats
and drinks judgment to himself. Verse 29, if he does not judge
the body rightly, we have to think through, why am I here?
Why am I doing what I’m doing? Because these spiritual ills,
these spiritual sins, this mockery of not just the Lord’s table,
but of the Lord himself, it does have physical consequences. And
Paul says, many are weak and sick and a number sleep, and
he’s not talking about taking a nap. He’s telling the Corinthians
that because of their ungodly treatment of the Lord’s table,
some of them are already sick and some of them have died. This
is serious business. The Lord’s table is never to
be trifled with. We never come to the Lord’s table
unless we know we are called to it by the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. also says examine yourself, verse
28, take a look at yourself. And this word is used in many
different ways throughout scripture. To examine, you could examine
the weather in that day and age. You could examine the times,
the seasons. You could examine moral questions
that we might be faced with. You might examine theology. But
here He says, examine your heart. Take a look at your heart. Why
are you here? Why are you doing what you’re
doing? Because if we do it without this
introspection, if we don’t call down the Holy Spirit to examine
our heart, as to what it is we’re engaged in. If we’re just going
through the motion, that is the same kind of irreverence that
spun out of control in the Corinthian church. But if we judge our bodies, judge
ourselves rightly, verse 31, we would not be judged. When
we talk about this kind of judgment, it isn’t end of times judgment,
judgment for all of life. It’s in the here and now. God
will chasten you. God will bring you to repentance
for that misdeed. But when we are judged, we are
disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned. It’s
a mercy of God. It’s a mercy. So Paul comes to the final course. How do we prevent abusing the
Lord’s Supper? Not only by spiritual examination,
but by this courteous patience. He says examine yourselves, but
then he gives a very practical, very simple and practical application. Look at verse 33. So then, my
brethren, when you come together to eat, wait. Huh? That’s it. That’s what it means
to partake worthily. Remember I said that’s the low
bar. That’s the easy part. To come together and to commune
means to really commune. To come together is to be together,
really together. When you come together to eat,
wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him
eat at home. Simple. So that you will not
come together for judgment. What profound counsel does Paul
leave them with? Wait. Be polite. Be patient. Don’t go diving into
the dinner that you brought for everyone else to enjoy, like
a bunch of selfish animals wait for one another. And then enjoy
the love feast. It is held by many commentators
that the things are so bad at Corinth that what Paul is doing
here is obliterating the love feast. He says, stop celebrating
this love feast, these potlucks all together. Don’t have these
fellowship meals. A lot of commentators took that
position. I don’t believe that’s what he’s doing here. What he’s
doing is elevating the love feast to the status of the Lord’s table.
It’s a good blend. And we have done it, and we would
do it again. But if we do it, we’ll do it
right by God’s grace. Ultimately, in the church, they
moved from an evening meal to a morning gathering. They did
away with these fellowship meals, these agape feasts. At first,
they separated them completely. so that they did one on one occasion
and another on another occasion and finally ultimately largely
in the church they abolished them all together. I don’t think
that that’s what Paul’s doing is abolishing a love feast if
it truly is a love feast. But he’s saying keep the main
thing the main thing honor the Lord’s table above all. We’ve done it. We’ve celebrated
the Lord’s table at the end of a potluck dinner, at the end
of a fellowship meal. Not often. We don’t do it often
enough to really even begin to relate and to reconcile in our
own hearts how we apply this. I would suggest to you that there
are five considerations on how you might apply this. Because
when we hear about gluttony, it just isn’t a problem. We don’t
associate the Lord’s table with a love feast, with a fellowship
meal. Not often. Examine your heart on this one.
What about factiousness? Not just the rich versus the
poor. What do we divide over? The powerful
keep aloof from the lowly. The beautiful tend to place themselves
in a different class than the plain. The spiritual think that they’re
above the spiritually weak or immature. The intelligent are
far too smart to interact with those not so intelligent. The
socially popular don’t want to include the unpopular. There
are all kinds of ways to divide, aren’t there? Check your heart. Worshiping with false motives,
playing church, going through the motion, very common. Coming
to church and going through the motion, all the while with a
divided heart. We shared this a couple weeks
ago where Isaiah says, I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn
assembly. That’s God. I don’t like this
playing church business. In fact, I hate it. Selfishness instead of selflessness,
this pretentious, this pretended mutual care and concern. Isn’t this. The root of nearly
every fight that ever takes place, every argument, someone asserting
or demanding rights instead of seeking the interests and welfare
of others. Number four, the most comprehensive, unworthy living.
If you’re not ready to set aside your sin, to call for God’s grace
to put an end to whatever it is you’re battling, whatever
sin battle is so easily entangling you and taking you off of the
path of righteousness, if you’re not ready to lay it aside, you’re
not ready for the Lord’s table. If you come to the Lord’s table
and partake of the Lord’s table and you have no intention of
leaving aside your sin, You are partaking unworthily. And finally,
because of all of those previous four, a poor witness to a watching
world, if you don’t care that you are proclaiming the Lord’s
death until He comes, if you don’t realize that what you’re
doing when you partake of the Lord’s table is a proclamation,
do not partake. To do so would be to call judgment
down upon yourself, even if it’s just a chastening. Would you
examine your hearts as we prepare for the Lord’s table? Let’s pray. O merciful King, we humble ourselves
before you, our most glorious Savior. And Lord, we know that
we don’t deserve Your mercy. We know that we don’t deserve
such a noble and honorable occasion such as this. It’s exactly the point, Lord.
We come before you humbly. We come before you grieved for
our own sin, but joyful that God had mercy on us in a practical
way and sent to us a savior. Who is Jesus Christ? Lord God,
we thank you. We thank you for him. We thank
you for what he’s done for us. Paid our penalty. On the sin. On the cross. While we were yet
sinners. Lord God, we humble ourselves
before you. We pray. Do your final work in
our hearts. to make us ready to partake of
the Lord’s table. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen.