Understanding Communion: 1st Corinthians 11

This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Faptist.

Helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.

For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParkway.org.

Let's pray together.

But it's a it seems weird to put words together like beautiful and scandalous, and yet that's what it was.

It was a beautiful and scandalous night.

Scandalous because a perfect God would sacrifice himself for imperfect people.

That's what makes it beautiful.

So we can stand here on this day because of what was done all those years ago and sing it was a beautiful, scandalous night.

We've gathered today to remember and to remind ourselves, to reorient ourselves around this sense of gratitude and proclamation.

And so Holy Spirit be over us.

Stir yourself in us and reveal yourself to us, we pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen, amen.

I invite you if you have a Bible to take and open up to 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

Uh 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 20.

1 Corinthians 11:20

I'll start reading verse 23.

And if you're our guest today and this is your first time being here, you're probably looking around, kind of going, something's going on.

What's going on is communion.

Uh, and what you'll, it's kind of an interactive communion service, and so I'll have just a brief, a few thoughts to share.

Uh, like most of my sermons, it's about 10 minutes long.

Uh you guys quit.

Uh uh and then uh we will uh people will go to these different stations set up all over the room and we will serve each other communion.

Now, here's the thing: it is very interactive, and so during this, while you don't have to get up and get in line immediately, uh, but when you're ready, go to one of the stations and the people that are there will serve you.

But if you've got something going on in your life, you could just kind of say, Hey, would you pray for us?

Well, we'd love to pray for you.

Uh uh, but while uh everything will continue in in worship, and there'll be videos, there'll be readings, Cloud will be reading you, so don't just check out.

It's a very interactive, engaging worship service this morning.

And so what I what I want to caution us against is go, oh, it's communion.

I know how this goes.

Don't do that.

Okay, get your head and your heart uh uh postured where they need to be.

Uh the Bible gives us very clear directions about this, and this is what I want to read this morning.

1 Corinthians chapter 11, start reading in verse 23.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

Paul says, For I received from the Lord what I also deliver to you.

That the Lord Jesus, though, the night 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 also he 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 examine himself, and then 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.

Lot to say there, but I just want to go back to the very beginning, verse 23, and it says, On the night he was betrayed, on the night he was betrayed, in the context of betrayal, now, by the way, in this life and in this world, you will experience betrayal.

People will betray you.

Girls can be mean, girls.

Whether you go to public school or private school, girls can be mean.

Some of you have experienced betrayal in this room.

Some of you guys have experienced betrayal, but in the in the context of betrayal, Jesus still has the capacity to give things.

So the first word I want us to just think about today is girl this morning is just gratitude.

What are you thankful for?

As it relates not just in life, but as it relates to uh the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, what are you thankful for?

Like I'll go first.

One of the things that I'm thankful for is that I am more in Christ than I ever could be apart from Christ.

My life is different.

It's not just forgiven.

I've been changed, and my life is infinitely different and better because of that.

And so he says that he gave thanks.

Uh a little bit further down there, he says this in verse 26, he says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Uh it's a big kind of a heady statement, but it's real simple.

If you leave your seat and come to one of these stations this morning and receive the elements, what you're doing is you're proclaiming the Lord's death.

What does that mean?

That means that you are saying that I am by nature so sinful and separated from God that I needed a perfect God to sacrifice himself in my place and for my sins.

But you're also saying that I am also so loved by God that Jesus was glad to do that.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

So when you come to proclaim the Lord's death in the simple act of just remembering the body and the blood of Jesus, you're participating this morning is an act of proclamation.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

And then the Bible gets kind of sobering and says, Hey, be careful.

Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner.

Unworthy doesn't mean that you could ever be worthy.

Unworthy in this case has more to do with, hey, you kind of sleepwalking through the motions.

You're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen this, done this before.

Hear the word of the Lord.

We'll be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.

Verse 28, 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.

Let a person examine himself.

So today is a a day of proclamation and examination.

Proclamation.

We're proclaiming the Lord's death, the sufficiency of it and our faith in it.

And examination.

So what we're going to do right now is just take a minute and just kind of get your head and your heart synced up.

I don't know what your weekend was like, I don't know what your morning was like.

But the Bible's very clear and very simple.

And it says, hey, let a man, let a woman, let a person examine themselves, and then so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

To come to the table without examining yourself is to come in an unworthy manner, in a thoughtless, more ritualistic instead of a relational posture.

Oh my gosh.

It gives new meaning to the simple verse: for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believeth in him shouldn't perish, but have everlasting life.

One of the things you and I should be grateful for this morning, Christian, is simply this is that you have a life inside of you that will last forever.

I want us to enter into a time of just a reflection and examination.

It is not self-hatred.

It is just, let me let me deal with what I got going on, okay?

So let me voice a prayer and we'll just spend just a few months just getting ourselves prepared to come to the table.

Let's pray together.

Father, thank you that scripture is clear, it's simple, and sometimes we try to complicate that, but there's no complication here.

You were betrayed and you knew what was happening, but you also knew what needed to happen.

And so, Lord, Holy Spirit, give us clarity around not what's just happening, but what needs to happen.

Do we need to confess something before we come to the table?

Do we need to forgive somebody before we come to the table?

What we get what's happening, but reveal to us what needs to happen.

We want to follow scripture and be very clear that uh we want to examine ourselves.

We're here today to proclaim the Lord's death.

But before we come to the table, we want to say, Whoa, let me check myself.

So, Holy Spirit, be over us and be in us.

Stir yourself, activate our spirit, Lord, whatever needs to happen this morning.

We just want to follow what Scripture says, and so we give ourselves to examination now in Jesus' name.

If you're prepared to help us serve, would you move to your stations at this time?

And while they're getting in place, let me remind you that we practice open communion here at Grand Parkway.

What that means is if you're visiting today, but you're a Christian, you have a relationship with Christ, uh, that you're welcome to receive the elements with us.

Like I said, if some of you came in late, it's a very interactive service.

And so uh in just a minute, I'll say, hey, let's let's let's celebrate together.

And people will get up and come to these stations.

There's nine of them all across the front, the sides, and in the back.

Uh you don't have to get up immediately.

Matter of fact, I would ask that when we first open up the stations, if you're here and it's hard for you to stand for a protected period of time, uh, we're gonna pause and let you go first to the station so you don't have to stand in line very long.

Uh but we practice open communion here at Grand Parkway.

And so you're more than welcome to receive.

Uh, this is a worship service.

It's not time to visit with your neighbor.

Uh, and so it'll be very interactive.

We'll sing, we'll recite creeds.

God may read scripture over us.

There'll be videos on the screen uh that you'll be directed to experience.

Uh, and so stay engaged uh as we come to the table and remember together.

Uh, let me remind you of who's serving uh you in this service.

Right here is uh Julian Solis and his wife uh Kelsey.

There he's our new spiritual formation pastor.

Uh over here on the side is Blake and Jenny Hardcastle.

Blake is our equipping pastor.

Back there is one of our elders, David and his wife, Linda Mertens.

Uh, and then back over here is another one of our elders, Mike and his wife Elaine Rice.

Uh over here is Wade Burgess, uh, who is our executive pastor, and his wife, Amy.

Uh, and then back over here in the corner back there, that is Joe and Annie Fairley.

Uh Annie is our associate student pastor.

Uh, and then over here against the wall is Kurt and Jen Freeman.

They're our outreach directors.

Uh, they've been on uh part of the team on staff here for a couple of months now, and they're doing a great job.

Right here is another one of our elders, Barkley and Jill Peschel.

Uh, and then my wife Marcia, and I'll be here at this station.

And so I want you to know who is serving you.

Uh, and uh, we are proclaiming the Lord's death together this morning.

The sufficiency, okay?

The necessity and the sufficiency.

It is necessary.

Sin has to be atoned for.

The Bible says without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins.

Sin is not sent away, it cannot be because nothing has authority, but because blood has been shed.

It was necessary, but it was also sufficient.

You don't have to live in shame or fear of being found out.

The God who already knew did something about it.

This is what we're remembering and celebrating today.

Let's celebrate and remember together.

Communion here at Grand Parkway is like a hot bath, it's not a shower.

Our service typically runs long like it did today.

And we're not sorry for that.

Just sometimes you need to inconvenience yourself so other people can get what they need.

It's part of being part of a church.

Ask yourself, what do you walk away with today?

What's your takeaway?

It happened in the first service, it happened in this service.

People, typically women, try to take the cups and stack them all up.

And I take the stack and just break every one of them out one by one.

Sticky mess.

And here's why I do that because your life doesn't have to be neat and stacked up for God to bless it and love it.

It can be bloody and messy and broken, and God still says, I'm not ashamed of this.

So if you're here today and your life is bloody and messy and broken, you're welcome.

You don't have to take a shower to come take a bath.

You just come to the bath just like you are.

The Bible says of Jesus and his followers at one night on a very important night of their life, it says after they met, it said they sung a hymn and they departed.

I'd like us to sing a hymn and then I'll speak a blessing over you, and then we'll get out of here.

Clyde, would you lead us?

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessings.

If you would hold your hands out.

It's a humbling thing to be died for.

Christ died for you anyway, so that you wouldn't spend the rest of your life slinking around in guilt.

The opposite of guilt is not innocence, the opposite of guilt is freedom.

Depart now into that freedom that is yours in Christ because of Christ.

And enjoy it for your pleasure and God's glory.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.