Body and Blood

As you have figured out by now, we are not using microphones today.

We did that so that we could relieve some of our hardworking volunteers on Good Friday.

So if you can't hear me, please come a little closer.

The passage for today is 1 Corinthians 11, 17-34.

Chapter 11, verses 17-34 of the first letter to the Corinthians written by Apostle Paul.

This comes after Romans, if you're looking in your Bibles, before 2 Corinthians.

I'm going to read it out loud for us before we start.

But in the following instructions, I do not commend you.

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.

For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat.

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?

What shall I say to you?

Shall I commend you in 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 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 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.

The word of the Lord.

We've been going through a series through the book of 1 Corinthians, and so this is really the next passage in line,

which happens to fit perfectly with Good Friday, really, and Monday, Thursday, and Good Friday.

And whether we like it or not, as we live, we face reminders of our socioeconomic class.

Wherever we go, we see this.

I have a portable office, so that means oftentimes throughout the week I'm working at various cafes.

And when I sit down to work at the Dunkin' Donuts on 3rd Street, I usually see townies.

People that have been living in East Cambridge for generations.

People who have been around for a long time.

I see blue-collar workers and pink-collar workers.

Manual laborers and those in the service sector.

Many of them are older.

Baby boomers.

The Generation Xers.

I almost always, whenever I'm there, see homeless people going in and out of the Dunkin' Donuts as well.

Now, if I take a few minutes walk down Cambridge Street and then go to Curio Cafe,

or to Loyal Nine, both on Cambridge Street, you see a whole different crowd.

They tend to be younger, X-annials or millennials.

And they're almost, all of them are almost invariably well-dressed.

Better dressed than me, at least.

And they tend to be white-collar workers.

They have their laptops up, a lot of them.

They're having meetings.

And they have drink and food in hand that costs almost twice as much as it costs in Dunkin' Donuts.

You never see homeless people at one of those cafes.

Socioeconomic distinction is visible in many places we go and in many ways.

And this has been true throughout human history.

Including in the Greco-Roman world where Paul and the Corinthians lived.

One particular example of that that's relevant for this passage is a typical Greco-Roman dinner party.

Dinner parties were thrown by wealthy members of the society.

So they would be these wealthy patrons.

And they would invite everybody that's around them.

But they would, the host, the wealthy host would seat the members of their own high class

in this special room, the best room called a tree clinium.

And then they would be in plain view of all the others who were made to sit in the crowded atrium.

That's where we get the word atrium.

And the guests in the tree clinium were treated to the gourmet foods and premium wines.

While the guests in the atrium were served inferior foods and wine.

The church, however, was supposed to be different.

Acts 2, 44 to 46 tell us that in the early church,

all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes,

they received their food with glad and generous hearts.

This is a quotation from Acts 2.

The church was meant to be a people brought together by Christ,

not by their social standing.

Unfortunately, the practice of their pagan neighbors had seeped into the Corinthian church.

So Paul roundly rebukes them in this passage.

And this passage serves as a helpful corrective to us as well,

to all of our tendencies to form cliques and factions that we prefer.

So first, Paul addresses the divisions in the church in verses 17 to 22.

And then he speaks of the death of the Lord in verses 23 to 26.

And then finally, he talks about the discernment of the body in verses 27 to 34.

That will be my outline as I go.

The divisions in the church, death of the Lord, discernment of the body.

And his main point is that instead of perverting the Lord's Supper

by assimilating the Greco-Roman practice,

Christians ought to partake worthily of the supper

by discerning the body of the Lord.

I know that seems a little abstract,

but it will become clear what I mean by that as we go through this passage.

Paul begins by stating the problem,

the divisions in the church in verses 17 to 18.

And at the beginning, if you might recall from the beginning of chapter 11, verse 2,

Paul said that now I commend you

because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions

even as I deliver them to you.

So Paul was there recognizing, acknowledging that

in some of the matters pertaining to the public worship of the church,

they were preserving the traditions that Paul passed down to them.

So he says, I commend you.

But here in verse 17, regarding the matter of the Lord's Supper,

Paul says explicitly that he's not commending them.

There's nothing to commend about what they're doing in the Lord's Supper.

So he says, in the following instructions,

I do not commend you because when you come together,

it is not for the better but for the worse.

The word come together occurs five times in just this passage,

and it's the semi-technical way of referring to the church's public worship.

So like when we're gathered here on Friday or when we're gathered on Sunday,

when we come together, that's what Paul is talking about.

When the church gathers together for worship,

there should be mutual exhortation and edification,

building one another up.

It should be for the better.

But instead, when the Corinthians gathered, it was for the worse.

And the reason for this is given in verse 18.

Four, in the first place, when you come together as a church,

I hear that there are divisions among you.

If you've been with us through the series,

you recognize that the Corinthians are quite the divisive bunch.

Paul had to rebuke them earlier in chapter one

because they were dividing into factions based on the different leaders that they follow.

Some people said, I follow Paul.

Some people said, I follow Apollos.

Some people said, I follow Cephas.

But Paul told them there should be no divisions among them.

And Paul appears to have heard a similar report of their abuse of the Lord's Supper.

And so he says, also, I hear that there are divisions among you.

And how Paul responds to this report,

this bad report that he hears about the Corinthian church is really helpful for us.

Because sometimes when we hear a bad report about someone,

it's tempting to jump to conclusions

and to form judgments in our minds and to start to critique them.

But Paul shows us a better way.

He says at the end of verse 18,

And I believe it in part.

By saying that he believes the report in part,

Paul's acknowledging that his informants are not disinterested observers.

He believes them in part because he has deemed that they are credible,

but nevertheless he recognizes the need to hear the Corinthians' perspective.

So he bridges that gap by saying,

I believe it in part.

One of the wisest principles in the American criminal justice system

is that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Whenever you hear a bad report about another believer,

or in a church or a ministry,

presuming guilt is an unhelpful practice in the legal courts as well as in our own hearts.

As Proverbs 18, 17 says,

The one who states his case first seems right

until the other comes and examines him.

So when after then a serious consideration,

you conclude that the issue is weighty enough to be addressed,

don't turn then immediately to others to tell them about it,

but instead turn first to the person that is directly involved.

Confront them.

Address them.

That's exactly what Paul does here.

I hear that there are divisions among you,

and I believe it in part.

Then Paul addresses the issue directly with them.

And Paul believes this not only because he has heard it from a credible source,

but because also there's a theological reason for divisions and factions within the church.

So look at verse 19.

For there must be factions among you,

in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

Isn't that an interesting thing to say?

In Matthew 10, 34 to 37, as well as 24, 9, 13,

Jesus taught that his life, his person, and his work, his message, will be polarizing.

They would divide the world into two camps.

Those who follow him, believe him, and confess him,

and those who reject him and refuse him.

And similarly, in the parable of the weeds that he told in Matthew 13,

he taught that in the church,

there will be both wheat, which are the people of God that are planted,

sown with the seeds of the gospel,

as well as weeds, those who don't belong to God.

So in every local church, in the whole universal church,

there are both true believers and non-believers.

There's both wheat and weeds.

And because of this, even when there are divisions in the church,

Paul notes that even through that,

God is working out his sovereign purposes.

Because the divisions of the church,

when people choose to divide and form factions,

or leave the church as some do,

it reveals those who are genuinely God's,

those who are committed to God and committed to his church.

And so that's why the word genuine means approved by testing.

Even these divisions are means that God uses in the people of God

to prove them as genuine.

So then having explained how he came to understanding,

to learn of these divisions,

and why he feels the need to address them about it,

Paul then hits the problem head on in verses 20 to 21.

Follow with me, verses 20 to 21.

When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat.

For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal.

One goes hungry, another gets drunk.

Paul draws a deliberate contrast between the Lord's Supper,

on the one hand, in verse 20,

and his own meal, right, in verse 21.

So the Lord's Supper is called the Lord's Supper

because it is the supper that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ presides over the table.

He is the host of this dinner, of this supper.

And it is commonly to be shared with all believers,

Jews and Gentiles, men and women,

freedmen and slaves, rich and poor, black and white.

But instead of having this common supper of the Lord,

the wealthier factions of the Corinthian church

were going ahead with their own meals.

They were not having the Lord's Supper.

They were having their own meals.

This is, some of the context of the original setting

helps to understand what's going on

because in the early church, unlike us,

people partook in communion in the context of a full meal.

So they would have, of course, the bread and wine,

but it would be in the context of a full meal

with all the other things that go with it.

So they would usually gather in the home

of one of the wealthier members of the church,

mainly because their house was bigger

and could accommodate more people.

And believers brought foods, they brought funds,

they brought prayers to all share commonly

with those who are at the Lord's Supper.

But in this situation of the Corinthians,

instead of sharing their sumptuous fare

with the rest of the church,

the wealthier members were going ahead

with their own meals.

The food that they brought,

which were presumably better in both quantity and quality,

they were having it, keeping it for themselves

and going ahead and eating it

before anyone else can get to it.

This abuse was so bad that the result was

one goes hungry, another gets drunk.

Paul's not necessarily concerned

about people getting drunk per se,

although that's also a problem.

He's trying to contrast the two images.

On the one hand, people are going hungry

because there's nothing to eat.

On the other hand, they have had so much to eat

and drink that they're drunk at the Lord's Supper.

That's the contrast that Paul is drawing.

And you can hear Paul's indignation,

the horror with which he rebukes them in verse 22.

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 in this?

No, I will not.

If you're going to eat your fill of gourmet foods

and fine wine,

do it in your own house,

is what Paul's saying.

This is not your own private meal.

This is the Lord's Supper.

So why must you profane the Lord's Supper

by humiliating those who have nothing?

Generally speaking,

everywhere in the world,

the poor among us face discrimination.

Money takes you places.

It gives you leverage

and connections.

But the poor

are daily reminded of their lower socioeconomic status.

And they must bear the haughty condescension

of the social elite.

They're cut off from the best education,

best services,

best products,

best opportunities,

and best foods

that our society has to offer.

But not so in the church.

Sunday morning,

as well as all the other times

when the church is gathered together,

should be the least segregated hour

of this country.

Because when Christ died for us on the cross,

He leveled the ground

because all must come to Him as sinners

to be saved.

That's why Galatians 3.28 says,

There is neither Jew nor Greek.

There is neither slave nor free.

There is no male or female.

For you are all one

in Christ Jesus.

So when we partake

in the Lord's Supper,

every believer

that comes to the table

as a sinner

in need of a Savior

should have their full fill.

Because God's grace

doesn't run out.

Because God's grace

is sufficient.

You don't need to be wealthy

to come to Christ.

You don't need to be intelligent

to come to Christ.

You don't need to look good

to come to Christ.

You don't need to be successful

to come to Christ.

This is the scandalous message

of the cross of Jesus Christ.

That there is none

who does good in this world,

not even one,

as Psalm 14.3 says.

And all, therefore,

without distinction,

must humble themselves

before Christ

and believe in Him

for salvation.

That's what Good Friday

is all about.

The Corinthian believers

had lost sight of this,

so Paul reminds them

about the death

of the Lord.

That's my second point.

In verses 23 to 26.

It's a passage

that we recite

every Sunday

when we celebrate

the Lord's Supper.

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 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.

Wonderful passage.

Paul uses the language

of delivering

and receiving,

receiving and delivering

again later

in 1 Corinthians 15.

And that's the technical way

He refers to

the faithful transmission

of the teaching of Christ.

He's saying that

what He received

from the Lord Jesus Himself

about this Lord's Supper,

He passed on,

transmitted faithfully

to the Corinthian church.

And when Jesus instituted

the Lord's Supper,

it was during His last supper

with His disciples.

That fell on the Thursday

of the week of Jesus' death,

so that would have been yesterday.

That's what some people

call Maundy Thursday.

This last supper

is recounted in Matthew 26,

all the Gospels really,

and it was a traditional

Jewish Passover meal.

When the Old Testament

people of God,

Israel,

was enslaved in Egypt,

God delivered them

with mighty signs.

And the greatest

among those signs

was the sign

of the Passover,

which is recorded

in Exodus 12.

At that time,

because Egypt was oppressing

the nation of Israel,

and the nation of Israel,

God called them

His firstborn son

in Exodus 4.22.

And because they were

oppressing the firstborn son

of God,

the nation of Israel,

God struck down

all the firstborn

in the land of Egypt,

both man and animals.

But God spared

the Israelites,

who, following

His instructions,

slaughtered a lamb

without blemish.

So that's a way

of redeeming

the firstborn son

that they sacrificed.

They sacrificed instead

a lamb without blemish.

They ate it,

and then smeared its blood

on the doorposts

and the lintels

of the houses.

When the Lord God

came in judgment

over Egypt,

He saw the blood

daubed on the doorposts

and lintels,

and He passed over

His people.

Now,

the unblemished

Passover lamb,

which ransomed

God's people

on that day,

is what points

to the blameless

lamb of God,

the Passover lamb,

Jesus Christ.

That's why John 1.29

describes Jesus

as the lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

That's why Paul said

earlier in chapter 5,

verse 7,

that Christ,

our Passover lamb,

has been sacrificed

because Christ,

the Son of God,

shed His blood

for our sake.

We are forgiven

of our sins

and adopted

as the sons of God.

Because Christ,

the Passover lamb,

died as the ransom

price for us.

We all,

sons and daughters,

have been freed

from our slavery

to sin.

That's why,

if you actually studied

the accounts

of the Last Supper

in Scripture,

this is really fascinating.

There is no mention

whatsoever

of the Passover lamb,

which is strange,

because the centerpiece

of the Passover meal

is the Passover lamb.

Yet when you study

the accounts

of the Last Supper,

which was the Passover meal,

there's no mention

of the Passover lamb.

Why is this?

Because Jesus

is the ultimate

Passover lamb.

And the focus

should not be

on that lamb

of the Old Testament,

but the new lamb

of the new age.

The Passover lamb

of the Exodus

cannot in reality

atone for the sins

of God's people.

It merely pointed

to the ultimate reality

of Jesus Christ,

who would die

as the atoning sacrifice

for our sins

on the cross.

And because of this also,

that Jesus chose

the bread

rather than the lamb

as a sign

that would facilitate

people's remembrance

of him in the ages

to come.

That's why he says here,

the Lord Jesus,

on the night

when he was betrayed,

he 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.

Jesus is using

metaphorical language,

of course,

in this.

Scripture nowhere

says that

the consecrated bread

becomes or gets

transformed into

the actual physical

body and blood

of Christ.

He nowhere says that.

The bread

which can be easily

broken is a fitting

representation

of the body of Christ

which was broken

for us.

And because Christ

chose the bread

which was a part

of the regular diet

of the people

in this day and age

instead of the lamb

which was part

of a special

annual meal

of the Passover,

the church took

that to mean

that they should

celebrate this

whenever they

gathered together

and broke bread

together.

And because of that

communion became,

the Lord's Supper

became a regular

practice as we see

in Acts 2

and as we see

even here in this passage

because he says,

as often as you

eat the bread

and drink the cup,

you proclaim the

Lord's death

until he comes.

As often as,

that suggests

frequency.

This is why

we celebrate

the Lord's Supper

whenever we gather

together on Sundays.

But in addition

to the bread,

Jesus also chooses

the wine

to represent his body,

the fruit of the vine.

Verse 25 says,

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.

Our covenant

is just the,

it's kind of a,

you can think of it

as a cross between

a contract

and a relationship.

It has a legal

binding force

like a contract

but it's relationally based.

It's based on love

like a relationship.

That's the kind

of relationship

that God established

with his people.

It's called a covenant.

And God established

the covenant

with Old Testament,

in the Old Testament

with his people Israel

but that covenant

was broken

by his people.

And in Jeremiah 31

31 to 33

God promises

to bring about

a new covenant

that can never

be broken.

And in Exodus 24,

8 when that old covenant

was forged

and when it was made

Moses,

the mediator

between God and men

at that point

he took a sacrifice

oxen's blood

and he sprinkled it

on God's people

to ratify that covenant.

But in the new covenant

Jesus stands

on a mountain

of Calvary

just as Moses

was standing

at the mountain.

He's the mediator

between God and men

and he,

instead of sprinkling them

with the blood

of animals,

he sprinkles

his people

figuratively

with his own blood

for cleansing.

He pays for

our iniquities,

our sins

with his own life.

That's what Hebrews

10, 1922 says.

He says,

By the blood

of Jesus

our hearts

are sprinkled

clean

from an evil conscience.

Why?

Because it's impossible

for the blood

of bulls and goats

to take away sins.

Only the blood

of the Son of God

can take away sins.

So,

all in all

the Lord's Supper

like Good Friday

is about the death

of the Lord.

That's why twice

in verses 24 to 25

Jesus says,

Do this in remembrance

of me.

And Paul summarizes

the significance

of the Lord's Supper

in 26

by saying

it is the proclamation

of the Lord's death

until he comes.

So,

until the second coming

of Christ,

until he returns

to redeem

all creation

and consummate

our salvation

until that day

when Christ returns.

Every time we gather

to worship together

and every time

we break bread together

in the Lord's Supper,

we are proclaiming

the Lord's death.

But the Corinthians,

the rich Corinthians,

by humiliating

the poor Christians

at the Lord's Supper,

they were negating

the very unity

of the people of God

that Christ brought

about by his blood.

And so,

because of that,

they were profaning

the Lord's Supper.

For this reason,

in verses 27 to 34,

Paul calls

the Corinthian church

to discern the body.

That brings me

to my final point,

the discernment

of the body.

Paul says in verse 27,

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.

Whoever partakes

in the Lord's Supper

in an unworthy manner

and the Corinthians

selfish behavior

certainly falls

under that category.

Whoever does that

will be guilty

concerning the body

and blood of the Lord.

This verse proves

in my mind

that the Lord's Supper

is not a hollow ritual,

that it's not

an empty reenactment.

That's why Paul wrote

that this is a participation

in the blood of Christ

earlier in chapter 10.

When we eat the bread

and drink the wine

or grape juice

in our case

of the Lord's Supper,

there's a whole other reason

why we're using grape juice.

I can explain that to you later

if you have questions about it.

But when we eat the bread

and drink the wine,

we're really spiritually

participating in the body

and blood of Christ.

That's why we also refer

to the Lord's Supper

as communion.

It's an old word,

communion,

but it means

to have fellowship with,

to commune with,

to participate in.

That's what we do

when we partake

in the Lord's Supper.

It's certainly symbolic,

but it's not merely symbolic.

There is spiritual substance

in the Lord's Supper.

Christ is really present

at the Lord's Supper

through His Spirit

and we really participate in Him

as we partake

in that sacrament.

And that's why

Christian theologians

of the past

have historically described

the sacrament

of the Lord's Supper

as both a sign

and a seal.

I don't know if you guys

know what I mean by that,

but a sign signifies something.

It represents Christ's sacrifice

on our behalf.

But a seal,

it secures

and it assures,

it marks,

so that's,

because it serves as a seal,

when we partake in it,

it marks us

as God's own people.

It assures us,

it increases our faith

and gives us assurance

of the fact

that we are in fact

participating in Christ.

You could kind of compare it

to what happens

at a wedding,

and most of you

have probably been

to a wedding.

When you go to a wedding,

a man vows

to love and cherish

the woman

until death

do them a part.

And then,

he places the ring

on her finger

as the sign

and seal

of the vows

that he just made.

The ring

attests

to the husband's

love and commitment

and assures

her of it.

It represents

and ratifies

their union.

So,

similarly,

in the worship service

and our corporate context

when we gather together,

if the sermon,

what I'm doing now,

the preaching

of the word,

is like

the wedding vow

where the gospel

of Christ's love

is proclaimed to us,

the supper

is the sign

and seal

of that proclamation.

The sermon

is the preached word,

the supper

is the pictured word.

In the sermon,

we hear the gospel.

In the supper,

we see

and smell

and touch

and taste

the gospel.

In this way,

the Lord's Supper

is a means

of grace

to God's people

to strengthen

them in their faith

and help them

to experience

greater communion

with Christ.

For that reason,

when we partake

in the Lord's Supper

unworthily,

flippantly,

pridefully,

selfishly,

we sin

against Christ

himself

who is spiritually

present

in the Lord's Supper.

And that's why

Paul says

in verse 28,

let a person

examine himself

then

and so eat

of the bread

and drink

of the cup.

Paul uses

the same word

examine

which also means

to test

in 2 Corinthians 13.5.

Examine yourselves

to see whether

you are in the faith.

Test yourselves.

When we partake

in the Lord's Supper,

we should examine

ourselves.

Do I really know

that this is

participation

in the Lord's

body and blood?

Have I truly

renounced

my sin

and myself?

And have I

truly submitted

my life to Christ

and to live

in full submission

and obedience

to Him?

Now,

when we do

Lord's Supper,

I don't want that

to dissuade

all of you

from coming up.

this does not

mean that you

have to have

had a sinless

week in order

to come up

and partake

in the Lord's

Supper.

Christ Jesus

came into the

world to save

sinners.

He said

in Luke 5.31-32,

those who are

well have no

need of a

physician,

but those who

are sick.

I have not

come to call

the righteous

but sinners

to repentance.

Christ invites

sinners to

His table.

grace is

dispensed to

us freely

so we can

come without

pay,

we can

come without

price and

eat at

His table.

But we

must come

acknowledging

our sins

as sinners,

humbling

ourselves before

God and

clinging to

Christ.

That's the

only condition

upon which

we can come

approach that

table as

sinners.

And there

are dire

consequences for

those who

partake in the

Lord's Supper

without examining

themselves.

It says in

verses 29 to

30,

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.

Verse 29

parallels verse

27.

So to eat and

drink without

discerning the

body is to

eat and drink

in an unworthy

manner.

When we

partake in the

Lord's Supper,

we need to

know what we're

eating and

drinking,

that it

represents Christ's

body and blood

sacrificed for

us.

That's what it

means to

discern the

body.

If we eat and

drink without

discerning the

body, we

dishonor the

Lord and

incur his

discipline.

Apparently,

some of the

Corinthian

believers had

become weak

and ill and

some had even

died.

And Paul

teaches and he

understands this

prophetically that

that was due to

their abuse of

the Lord's

Supper.

Of course,

that doesn't mean

that anytime you're

sick, it's because

you're abused of

the Lord's

Supper.

He's just saying

in that specific

case of the

Corinthians, their

abuse led to

actual illnesses

and even death.

Paul continues in

verses 31 to 32,

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.

There's a series of

word plays throughout

this passage that all

relate to the Greek

word for judgment.

The word judgment

occurs twice in English

in verses 29 and

34.

The word judge is

repeated three times

in verses 31 to 32,

as well as the word

discerning in verse 29

and the word condemned

in verse 32.

They're all variations

of the same Greek

word, the same root

word in the Greek.

That means judge.

And so Paul's,

through these word plays,

Paul's drawing kind of

three tiers of

judgments for us

to understand.

And the first type of

judgment is our

judgment of ourselves.

If we judge ourselves

truly, we will not be

judged.

That means we need to

discern the body,

examine ourselves,

and judge ourselves

when we partake in the

Lord's Supper.

But if we neglect to do

so, God will judge us.

That's the second tier

of judgment.

This is the second

meaning of the word

judge, and it refers

to God's discipline.

It says in verse 32,

but when we are judged

by the Lord, we are

disciplined so that we

may not be condemned

along with the world.

God's discipline is an

expression of His grace

because by judging us

in this way, God

corrects us and

sanctifies us so that

we may not be condemned

along with the world.

That condemnation is the

third type of judgment.

It refers to God's

final judgment.

So what Paul's teaching

us here is that God's

present judgment of us

mercifully corrects us

so that we do not stray

further and are condemned

by God's final judgment.

God's present judgment

spares us from His

eternal judgment.

But we can be spared

of both by judging

ourselves, by discerning

the body, by partaking

of the Lord's Supper

after examining ourselves.

But I don't think we

have yet exhausted the

meaning of the phrase

discerning the body.

The Lord's Supper has

two directions.

First is a vertical

direction because we

commune through the

Lord's Supper with

Christ and through

Christ with the

triune God.

That's the vertical

orientation.

Secondly, the Lord's

Supper has a

horizontal orientation.

That's why we relate

to one another.

We commune with one

another in the members

of the church.

And that's why it was

such a blatant abuse

of the Lord's Supper

that the Corinthians

were humiliating other

members of the church

at the very table.

So likewise then,

the idea of discern the

body applies in two

directions.

Discerning the body

means discerning the

body of Christ.

The body and blood of

Christ represents Him

and His sacrifice.

And then secondly,

it means to recognize

the body of Christ,

namely the church,

the people of God.

And there are several

clues in the text that

indicate that Paul

intends this second

meaning for this word

as well.

Because in chapter 10

verse 17, he already

made the connection,

chapter 10 verse 17,

he already made the

connection between the

bread that we eat at

the Lord's Supper and

the body of Christ,

the church.

He said,

because there is one

bread, we who are many

are one body.

For we all partake of

the one bread.

The church constitutes

the one bread, one body

of Christ because we

partake in the one bread

of the body of Christ.

In addition, immediately

after this passage, as

we will see in the coming

weeks, Paul says in 1

Corinthians 12 that just

as a body has many

members but is one, all

members of the body,

though many are one

body, so it is with

Christ.

For in one spirit, we

were all baptized into

one body.

Jews or Greeks, slaves

or free, and all were

made to drink of the

one spirit.

So the church, the

people of God, us that

are here, we are

Christ's body.

And that's why even

though four times

throughout verses 26 to

28, Paul mentions both

the bread and the cup to

refer to the body of

Christ, in verse 29, he

deviates from this

pattern to simply

say the body.

Because I think he wants

us to understand the

dual meaning, not just

the body of Christ, the

Lord, but the church as

well, Christ and the

church.

And it is to this latter

aspect of discerning the

body of Christ, the

church, that Paul returns

in verses 33 to 34.

Follow with me, verses

33 to 34.

So then, my brothers, when

you come together to eat,

wait for one another.

If anyone is hungry, let

them 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.

The Greek word that is

translated here as wait

has a broad range of

meaning, and it means to

await eagerly.

It means to receive

favorably.

It means to welcome.

So Paul is basically

telling the wealthier

Corinthian members of the

church to extend

hospitality to the poorer

members of the church.

To include them, share with

them, welcome them.

And as he admonishes them,

he reminds them that they

are all brothers and

sisters.

In the Greek, like in

Spanish, when you want to

say brothers and sisters,

you use the plural form of

the masculine noun.

So brothers includes

brothers and sisters.

So the sisters are

implied in the noun

brothers, and it's

significant that Paul

addresses them in this

way as brothers and

sisters.

Because the Jewish

Passover meal, which is

in the background of the

Lord's Supper, was

traditionally a family

affair.

The head of the

household presided over

the table, and they

broke bread together.

But Jesus violated this

paradigm when at the

Last Supper, he called

his disciples out of

their respective families

and presided over the

table himself as the

head of the new family

that he was forming, the

family of God.

And that's why he says

in Matthew 12, 50,

whoever does the will of

my father in heaven is my

brother and sister and

mother.

So then the Lord's Supper is

a family meal, with Christ as

the head of the household

presiding over it.

It is the meal of the body

of Christ, which is the

family of God.

And just as brothers and

sisters don't choose each

other, but are related to

one another by virtue of

their common parents, we

have been brought together

into God's family, not by

shared interest or race or

ethnic background or

political persuasion, gender,

age, or socioeconomic class,

but by virtue of having the

same God as Father, by

virtue of having the same

Lord Jesus, by virtue of

having the same Spirit

indwelling us.

That's what unites us and

brings us into the family of

God.

So let me ask you, brothers

and sisters in Christ, are

you welcoming and receiving

one another?

Do you wait eagerly for one

another?

Undoubtedly, you will have

natural affinities with some

members and not others, but we

cannot, for that reason, exclude

one another and form cliques and

factions, divisions in the

church.

Such divisions have no place in

the family of God, especially in

our corporate worship context, but

also more generally in our

relationships with one another.

Think about this.

We have to be, take care to be

sensitive toward one another's

needs, the different family

situations, the different

financial situations, the

different personalities and

temperaments, and we must seek to

accommodate one another.

A few practical examples on

Resurrection Sunday, when we

celebrate the resurrection of our

Lord, if you have a family to

share the day with, a biological

family to share the day with, and

to eat sumptuous meals with, but

you know of singles in the

church who don't have family,

biological family to go to, to

eat with, invite them into your

family.

Invite the family of God into your

biological family to share the

meal.

When you're going out to eat with

the group from the church, if

the group from the church after

the worship service, if there's a

student or a poor postdoc whom you

know can't afford it and therefore

is not going, offer to buy the meal

for them.

Accommodate them.

When you're planning on an outing that

would exclude families with kids,

think about how you can accommodate

them in the future, or even offer to

babysit for them in the future so that

they can go on such an hour.

Welcome one another.

Receive one another.

Accommodate one another.

And by this all people will know that

you are my disciples if you have love

for one another.

If you are not yet a follower of

Jesus Christ, that Good Friday and the

Lord's Supper, which we just learned

about, confronts you with two realities

that you must face.

On the one hand, you have to recognize

that you're a sinner.

We all are.

We were created to live for God, yet in

our unbelief we live for ourselves

without any reference to God.

The true God.

We are so sinful, in fact, that Jesus

had to die for us as the atoning

sacrifice for our sins.

To pay the penalty of our sins.

Our sins were so grave, and the penalty

so severe, the eternal Son of God

had to die for us.

We're sinful.

We're sinners.

On the other hand, we are reminded that

God so loves us, that Christ willingly,

gladly, gladly, joyfully died for us.

And to be a Christian is to know and

feel simultaneously our deep unworthiness

and the deeper worth that God has

nevertheless imputed to us.

It means to know simultaneously that

we are sinful, but that God is gracious

and merciful.

Jesus said, this is my body, which is for you.

The phrase for you captures the idea of

substitution.

He died in our place.

He died on our behalf.

That man nailed to the cross 2,000 years ago

on Good Friday with blood pouring down

all over his body.

That man with the crown of thorns on his

head.

That man who is parched, who is suffocating

on that cross.

That man who is alone, condemned, and

rejected by all.

That man bearing the full weight of sin

on his shoulders.

That man should have been you.

That man should have been me.

But Christ took our place.

He was condemned so that we could be justified.

He was rejected so that we could be accepted

by God.

He died so that we might live and have eternal life.

All the righteousness, the joy, and heaven, and abundant life,

and salvation that Christ has won for you

can be yours tonight when you believe in Jesus.

But how can you take hold of it?

In John 6, 54, Jesus tells us that

whoever feeds on the flesh and drinks my blood

has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

You need the Lord's Supper.

But partaking in the Lord's Supper apart from faith

in Jesus Christ will do you

zero good.

Because in that same passage

in John 6, 40,

Jesus explains that everyone who looks

on the Son and believes in him

should have eternal life,

and I will raise him up on the last day.

Notice the close parallel between those two verses.

The end result is the same.

Eternal life and resurrection at the last day.

But the way you get there

is different in those two verses.

On the one hand, verse 54,

it says you get there by feeding on Jesus

flesh and drinking his blood.

But then in verse 40, it says you get there

by looking on the Son and believing in him.

Those are conceptual parallels.

Feeding on Jesus' flesh and drinking his blood

are metaphors for looking on the Son

and believing in him.

That's why Augustine,

a 4th century Christian theologian, wrote,

believe and you have eaten.

We eat Christ's flesh and drink his blood

by looking on him and believing in him.

And if we eat and drink the elements

of the Lord's Supper without faith,

it would be ineffectual.

So, we will partake in the Lord's Supper after this.

As we do it, partake it with faith.

That we partake in the spiritual reality

of our union with Christ

and his death and resurrection.

So will you believe in Christ today?

Will you believe that his sacrifice

is totally sufficient for your salvation today?

Will you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord

and will you give your life to him today?

I pray that all of you will.

Let's pray together.

Amen.

There is no greater love than this

that a friend lays down his life

for a friend.

No gods of any of the world's religions

have ever taken flesh,

become a human being

to live among us,

to take on our sin,

and then to die for us,

to save us.

You are the good friend

who laid down your life for us.

You are our savior.

And God, I pray that you would grant

every single person

sitting in this auditorium

right at this moment,

grant them the gift of faith

so that they might believe

and have eternal life.

God, we desire them

more than anything else.

That they might share with us

in this life we have,

the joy we have,

the salvation we have.

Please, Lord.

And Lord, won't you please

shape us, your people,

the church,

so that we exemplify

to the watching world

that radical unity

and sacrificial love

that you have taught us,

that you have commanded us.

Strengthen us by your spirit

so that we might live that way.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.