My notes on a sermon on 15 May 2011
1 Corinthians 11 verses 17 – 34
The recording of a wonderful ordnance we celebrate in the church of God – meeting around the Lord’s table.
The authority by which Paul speaks. He tells us in verse 23 “for I have received of the Lord.” It is not something he has taken up to write a few things about at the end of his letter to the Corinthian church. It was an open revelation given to the apostle Paul. In Galatians Paul writes that the gospel was not of man. It is what he has received and it was from the Lord. As Paul looks at this celebration he is a bit critical of the Corinthian observance of the Lord’s table – verses 17 and 23 “I praise you not.” He is speaking here of the Lord’s table and those coming around the Lord’s table. Some of the things that were happening Paul did not praise them for. Paul was not a hardliner – he didn’t believe that he was right and no-one else was. He is always quick to praise not condemn. His opening words to the Corinthian church on this subject in chapter 11 verse 2 were “now I praise you”. It is good to draw alongside someone and encourage them. Jesus on the Emmaus road drew alongside the two men travelling – “he went alongside them.” (Luke 24 verse 15) Paul though is condemning them for some things that should not be happening. Verse 23 “I have received of the Lord.” That is Paul’s authority. God has given in his word how to behave and do things. It was the Lord who instituted this supper, not Peter or Paul or the early church. On the night Jesus was betrayed he took break and broke it. He had gathered around him his devoted disciples. He told the disciples “this do in remembrance of me.” The Lord instituted it at the time of the Passover. It was remembering back to the children of Israel living in Egypt. They cried out to God and God heard their cry and he said “I am going to deliver this people, to bring them out of Pharoah’s hand”. He sent Moses down into Egypt to deliver his people. Then he sent plagues but Pharoah hardened his heart. God then sent them the last plague. The firstborn of every family would be killed. The remedy to avoid death was to take a lamb, kill it and sprinkle the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. If they applied that blood to the doorpost the angel of death would pass over their house. That night the only remedy for them to escape was through the lamb. The people had gathered in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day to remember back to that night in Egypt. To remember how God had led them out of bondage. The Lord was instituting something for you and I at that time. As we come around the Lord’s table today we remember Jesus Christ and his death. The body of Christ through the bread, broken for us and the blood that was shed for you and I. That is why we take time to reflect and remind ourselves of what God has done for us. He had died for our sins, we have been forgiven, we have a new nature and a home in heaven with him one day. All because of what Christ has done for us – that is his authority. We are partaking of the emblems because on that night he broke bread and asked his disciples to take it. Since then we remember what Christ did on the cross of Calvary.
Paul also addresses the attendance at the Lord’s table. Four times Paul speaks of coming together – verses 17, 20, 33 and 34. This speaks of fellowship. The fellowship we have one with another coming around the Lord’s table. We are not merely invited. If we have our sins forgiven and washed in Christ’s blood and the assurance of a home in heaven it is therefore a command not an invitation. What gives me the qualifications to come to the table? Chapter 1 shows us who Paul was writing to – not just the Corinthian church but also “to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.” Paul is speaking to those who have been sanctified, set apart and called to be saints. When I took the Lord as Saviour I realised he had taken my sins and I am now on my way to heaven and home. My attitude changed. Have you had that experience? Do you know your sins forgiven? When the disciples went to Troas we read it was the first day of the week – Acts 20 verse 7. They followed the ordinance of meeting around the Lord’s table on that day. Some people would build on that text and say that we should meet every week around the table. Yes it says in Troas they came together on the first day of the week to break bread but Jesus’ command was “as oft as ye do this ye do it in remembrance of me.” In Acts 2 Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost and people were converted as a result. Then we read they came day by day to break bread – verse 46. This is a remembrance feast - verse 26. They remembered what happened on the night in Egypt, when the lamb was taken and the lamb’s blood was shed and applied on the doorposts. The blood was applied to their lives.
Paul talks then about the abuse of the Lord’s table. This is the very reason he is writing. He is saying they were coming together for the wrong reasons. Verses 17, 18 and 19. It was different in the early church and for the disciples in Corinth. When they came together in Corinth they first had a full meal before they broke bread. The rich were bringing their food while the poor of the city had to watch them eat. The result – the rich went away full and drunken while the poor went away despised. They couldn’t come up to the standard. That was abuse of the Lord’s table. We come around the Lord’s table as equals because Christ has died for us. We come to celebrate what Christ has done for us. Verse 22. Paul tells them if they are going to keep this practice up why not have meals in their own homes. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” verse 33. We need to deal with the Lord’s table with the greatest reverence and respect. We cannot come to it in a lighthearted manner. We have got to put some thought into it. There are those that come to the Lord’s table who believe they are saved as they partake of it. That is abuse of the Lord’s table. That is not true – you need to be saved before you come to the table. We are remembering what the Lord has done for us. I should have died for my sin. I should have gone to a lost eternity but because of what Jesus has done for me I can come to the Lord’s table to thank him for that great sacrifice. There are those who believe the bread is turned into the body of Christ and the wine becomes the blood of Christ and that they experience the presence of Christ at the table – that is an abuse of the Lord’s table.
The attitude we must come in – verse 24. We should come thankful. I am thinking of Christ and what he has done for me. Because of that act I am no longer under judgment. Verse 28 come thoughtfully. Am I saved? Have I asked him to forgive my sins? Am I trusting him completely for my sins to be washed away? We should think of ourselves and not examine others.
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