Download the Bethlehem Baptist Church Mobile App
Available for iOS and Android
February 2/3, 2013
Jason Meyer | 1 Corinthians 11:27-34
Whoever, 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. But 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 him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
—1 Corinthians 11:27–34
Introduction
The last two sermons were two of the hardest sermons I have ever preached. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, the content was difficult—I am passionate about racial harmony and sanctity of life and I feel the weight of sin in relation to both of these issues. Second, the method was difficult. I have now preached two sermons in my life that were topical in method—they just happened to be the last two. Topical preaching as a method takes a topic and then teaches what the Bible says about it. Expository preaching as a method takes a text and makes the main point of the passage the main point of the message. I am the second kind of preacher and I wrote a whole book to say why I am that kind of preacher. I do not enjoy topical preaching. I would rather be anchored to a text and tether all of our thinking there. I think people learn how to read the Bible on a weekly basis from their pastor. Topical preaching leads to topical thinking about the Bible. Expository preaching leads to expository or exegetical thinking about the Bible. You will read a passage and go deep into it.
However, topical preaching can be a blessing when done on occasion. I don’t think it would be good for a congregation to get a steady diet of it, but it can be of great value at certain times. Topical preaching allows a preacher to be more comprehensive than one can be with one text. These last two sermons were like position papers. It seemed important in my first two sermons on these issues to really try to sketch the landscape of where I am coming from and what we believe here Bethlehem on these issues. Now that I have sketched the landscape, I am excited to take texts and fill in the specific parts of the landscape with textual color and depth and perspective.
Today we begin a six-week sermon series entitled, "Life Together: The Supremacy of God in Our Relationships."
We will focus on experiencing Christ in life together as the body of Christ. The title of the series was inspired by the title of the book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but the sermon series is not based on it. There are a few key things Bonhoeffer said that I want to weave into the series at appropriate points, but the series will be anchored in specific texts. We will look at aspects of corporate worship, problems that afflict the body from the outside and the inside, and the call to join Christ together by going outside the camp.
The supremacy of God is a catch-phrase here at Bethlehem, but it is not merely lingo to me. I live for the supremacy of God. He sent his Son to bring me salvation and now I live to bring him praise. We live and have life together to make much of Him. This series on Life Together tries to show that the supremacy of God shines not only when we have a hunger for God, but also when we have a hunger for the people of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed this hunger in a gripping way in his Life Together (pp. 17–19):
It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all of his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work …
So between the death of Christ and the Last Day it is only a gracious anticipation of the last things that Christians are privileged to live in visible fellowship with other Christians. It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the gospel in heathen lands stand alone. They know that visible fellowship is a blessing … a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.
Prayer
In our text today, Paul takes aim at a problem that plagues the Corinthians’ life together. We will look at the problem, God’s response, and then what their response should be.
Notice in verse 27 that the problem is celebrating the Lord’s Supper in an “unworthy manner.” “Whoever, 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” (v.27). I think we can all agree with fear and trembling that we do not want to be guilty before God. Notice the extent of this guilt. They are not guilty of a minor offense, but of “the body and blood of the Lord." This is shocking. The body and blood of our Lord is not something the church wants to get wrong.
When people use this phrase “unworthy manner,” many automatically think of taking Communion without doing any serious introspection to see if we are cherishing sin in our hearts—unrepentant sin. There is truth here, but we often mean only individual sin. Sins like lust or pride or anxiety in which we know that we have sinned against God.
But we need to look at the context to test this assumption. Why does Paul make this charge? What has gone wrong in Corinth?
They are not to be faulted for meeting together; the problem is what happens when they meet together. They are gathering for visible fellowship, but it is not benefiting them, it is actually hurting them.
“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” (vv. 17–18).
He then gives a stunning indictment: God views their practice of the Lord’s Supper as so off-base that it amounts to a net loss. It is as if they are not even practicing it at all. “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat” (v.20).
This begs the question: What were they doing when they thought they were celebrating the Lord’s Supper? They were making it their supper!
“For in 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?” (vv. 21–22; my emphasis).
It appears that social status became prominent in their version of the Lord’s Supper. The rich had more leisure time and ate a richer fare of food. They could afford to start their meal early. Remember that these are house churches—usually they met in the house of someone wealthy who had a big house. They would probably fill up the dining room first and then the poor would come later when they would get off of work for the day. They came after the rich already had their fill, while some of the poor did not even have enough to eat.
Paul normally tells the Corinthians what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. Here he does not highlight anything that they are doing right. He begins and ends that paragraph with the reminder that he is not “commending” them in any way (vv. 17, 22). God views their practice of the Lord’s Supper as so off-base that it amounts to a net loss, not a positive gain. The Lord’s Supper has often been described as something that gives grace—in this case, their practice brought a net loss: judgment from the hands of God.
“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” (v. 30).
These are verses that we often ignore. As Tim Hawkins says, there are verses that you will never see cross-stitched on a pillow. Sickness and even death can be a sign of God’s judgment upon a Christian. We are not talking about damnation; this is a judgment that saves them from damnation. We know that this is a Christian in view and the judgment is not a judgment to hell because of verse 32. “But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” They experience a kind of discipline that keeps them from making shipwreck of faith and being condemned along with the world.
We should not be shocked that God judges sin in this way; we should be shocked that it does not happen more. The fact that it does not happen more is a testament to the work of Christ, which the Lord’s Supper represents. But Paul is not the only one to address this type of judgment.
Acts 5 highlights the death of Ananias and Sapphira. James says something very similar about sin and sickness. He asks, “Is anyone among you sick?” (James 5:14). Look at what he does not say. He does not say take a Tylenol or visit a doctor. The Bible is not opposed to medicine—the author of Luke and Acts was a physician in point of fact. James assumes that those steps have been taken and have not worked. One is left with the possibility of a spiritual cause. Therefore, he says “let him call for the elders of the church, and let the pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick. The Lord will heal some by giving the gift of a prayer of faith. But the sometimes the sick person may be sick because of sin. In that case, they should confess and repent. “And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:15–16).
This is utterly serious. You may have heard of the phrase: “Confession is good for the soul.” Here we have to say that confession is good for the soul and the body. Some sickness and weakness and death has a spiritual dimension. Behold God’s mercy to his children and yet how seriously he views sin in his absolute holiness. In his mercy, his children, who have received eternal life, cannot be separated from his love and that life (they are not condemned with the world). But in his holiness, he can judge one of his children so that they are taken from this life. To borrow from C.S. Lewis, he is not a safe lion, but he is good.
We have to make a careful distinction at this point. Someone may not take this seriously when they find out that damnation is not at stake. If God’s love for his children does not change, then why should we devote time to talking about this issue? I want to draw a distinction between union and communion. Our union with God in Christ cannot be disrupted; our communion with God can. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ; it does not go up or down. His acceptance is final and perfect because it is based on the final, perfect, finished work of Christ.
However, we still experience his fatherly pleasure or fatherly displeasure. Scripture can talk about it in the positive or negative. In terms of the positive, Colossians 1:10 says that we are to walk in a manner that is fully pleasing to him. In terms of the negative, Ephesians 4:30 says that we can grieve the Spirit. All of this does not point to a works-based approach to please God. Hebrews 11:6 says without faith it is impossible to please God. Therefore, this discussion points to the importance of taking God’s judgment seriously. This begs the question: What do we do to avoid this kind of judgment as a church? Paul lays out the appropriate response in point three.
Paul stated in verse 20 that what they were practicing was not in fact the Lord’s Supper and as a result God was judging them. Paul says we need to judge ourselves rightly so that we will not be judged. Jesus said, “judge not lest you be judged” (Matthew 7:1). That is true. Here Paul gives the flip side. Judge yourself lest you be judged. “But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged” (11:31). Paul asks the Corinthians to respond in two ways: They must rightly judge the death of Christ and the body of Christ.
First, because their practice of the Lord’s supper showed that they did not really understand what it is, Paul laid out for them what the Lord’s Supper actually is in verses 23–26. The bread represents the body of Christ. The cup represents the blood of Christ. When we eat and drink these symbols of his death, we proclaim his death until he comes (11:26). One of the points he makes is with the pronouns. All of the pronouns for what Christ did are in the plural. “This is my body, which is for you (pl.)” (my emphasis). This is not an individual supper. Christ died for the church.
Therefore, the first conclusion he makes is to judge rightly the body and the blood. Think about what they symbolize. They represent the highest expression of loving commitment for others. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). The Corinthians’ divisive arrogance and selfishness are incomparably ugly when contrasted with the beauty of Christ’s divine humility and selfless love. The Corinthians are celebrating the Lord’s supper as an occasion to be seen. The rich are flaunting their wealth in the face of the poor. How out of touch! The table is about Christ. We want to see him and the greatness of his sacrifice. Our prayer at communion is to see, not to be seen; to make much of him; not to make much of ourselves. Communion is all about the supremacy of Christ.
Second, they should rightly judge the body of Christ. Paul says in verse 29 that we must discern the “body.” “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (v. 29; my emphasis). Notice that he has always mentioned eating and drinking—body and blood, bread and cup together in verses 28–29:
“Whoever, 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.”
Verse 29 stands out because he only mentions the “body” not the “body and the blood.” Some scholars think he means Jesus’ physical body here, while others think he means the church as the spiritual body of Christ. I think the genius of only mentioning the “body” is that Paul means both.
I get this from Paul’s earlier discussion of the bread as the body of Christ. “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:16–17). The bread we break is not the body of Christ in the sense of the church. We are not breaking the church. We are breaking the bread that represents the physical body of Christ. But that physical bread, which is a reminder of Christ’s physical body, also reminds us that the church is the body of Christ. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17).
God says that the least the Corinthians can do is to wait for one another. They should not see it as an individual meal, but as a family meal. “So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment” (11:33–34).
Conclusion
The Lord’s Supper is a chance to celebrate the humble, selfless, loving sacrifice of Christ. We hunger for him! But it is also an occasion to celebrate the fact that his sacrifice created something. We are hungry for what his cross did and what his blood bought. He tore down the dividing wall. He made the two into one new man. He removed the enmity. He has made the many into one. We hunger to experience visible fellowship with the people purchased by our Lord’s death. The Lord’s Supper is a stirring reminder of our unity and the blessing of visible fellowship.
Closing Song: The Power of the Cross
How do we personally and corporately celebrate Communion? Think of having two hands. With one hand we lay hold of Christ’s wounded hands by faith, but with the other hand we lay hold of the hand of our brother or sister in Christ. Communion is a time when we see our names written in the wounds so that we have communion with Christ, but it is also a time when we see the names of others written in the wounds so that we experience the communion of the saints.
Therefore, a word of warning seems appropriate to make. You think about some of the food warnings we see everywhere now about peanuts and allergies and other things that are not meant for consumption like Drano or rat poison. We need to recognize the radical power of this meal we are having together and the severity of what is at stake. 1 Corinthians 11:27–34 is the warning label for the Lord’s Supper. Do not take Communion in an unworthy manner.
The warning label speaks to two groups of people.
First, let me speak to non-Christians. If you know (and this is something you can know), you have never trusted in Christ for salvation by receiving the sacrifice of Christ by faith, then let the bread and the cup pass. You have no part in the body or the blood of Christ. You would be saying something about yourself and about the Lord’s death that is not true. You have not been called out of the world to share in the body and blood of Christ. You are still in the world and will be condemned with the world because you are still in your sins without Christ. Please do not look at Christians and think I am talking about sinless people. I will not even talk about two groups as moral and immoral people because morality does not save. There are only sinners. Sinners are broken up into two types of people: unforgiven and forgiven sinners.
As an unforgiven sinner, you would only be storing up further wrath for yourself on the day of wrath by eating and drinking and pretending that something is true of you that you know is not. But think of the kindness of God in that it was his plan that you would be here today. It is his kindness that leads us to repentance. With tears I plead for you to turn to Christ. Do not look to the table to save, we do not trust the table—we put our trust in Christ and what he has done. The elements on the table point us to Christ’s death in our behalf. He did not die for his sins because he was sinless. Do you see the love of God poured out on you in the act of the wrath of God being poured out on the Son of God at the cross? This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us. Took the blame, bore the wrath we stand forgiven at the cross.
Second, let me talk to professing Christians. The warning label tells you not take the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner by forgetting about the cross as your only hope. We remember Christ, not our record of rule-keeping. When you search your hearts, do not search out self-righteousness. Look to the perfect righteousness of Christ as your righteousness. Now look around you. We love you and do not want you to eat and drink judgment on yourself. Do you need to make peace with anyone? Let the bread and cup pass by you and make a commitment to go to them before you take the Lord’s Supper the next time.
Therefore, commentator Michael Green provides a good summary of communion by telling us the different places we need to look. Look back, up, around, in, and forward. Look back to the cross. Look up to the communion with God the cross purchased for you. Look around at the brothers and sisters that the blood bought. Look in and make sure that you are judging the death of Christ and the body of Christ rightly. And look forward to the return of Christ. We proclaim his death until he comes. Then we will have a greater feast at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.