Preparing For The Lord’s Supper
This Sunday we will take the Lord’s Supper together. In a couple of weeks we’ll be forming the church in a formal manner and bringing people together who want to be a part of it. So this is a little bit ahead of the game. With a new brother and his family coming, I really felt in the Lord that it is a time for us to take communion together and find out how to prepare ourselves. There are nine things concerning the Lord’s Supper that we need to do to prepare ourselves. I’ll go over them briefly and then we’ll begin to look at each one in detail.
- It’s a time to declare our unity together in the Lord.
- It takes much preparation to be ready.
- The supper is about the deepest of love and the vilest of betrayal.
- It is about a greater and more powerful covenant than the old covenant.
- There are no rules about when we can take the Lord’s Supper.
- It is a proclamation, a remembrance, and a participation in the Lord’s death. It is about the full message of the cross.
- It requires the utmost in judging our lives as we listen to what Jesus says about our spiritual condition.
- It is so powerful it can produce the richest spiritual walk, or actual, physical death.
- The end result is about meeting other’s needs.
I’d like to read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and just kind of get an overview first before we go into detail.
1 Corinthians 11:17–34- In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes 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 praise you for this? Certainly not! For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.
Let’s back up now and look at it in more detail.
1 Corinthians 11:17-18- In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.
The goal is perfect unity within the body of Jesus Christ. We should be perfectly united in heart and in mind, to contend for the gospel and to stand as one man against sin. But then he goes on to say a very interesting thing, “To some degree I believe there are divisions,” but he also gives us the following statement.
1 Corinthians 11:19- No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
There is a difference between division where there is destructive behavior going on when people are just against each other and division caused by differences of the heart. There will be differences among individuals within the body of Jesus Christ. God gives his signature of approval and says, “This man has my grace,” or “This woman has my grace.” We are to be a people taking note and examining those differences. When we take the Lord’s Supper we are to be very conscious of those who are spiritual and those who are not spiritual among us. For the Lord’s Supper is, above all else, a matter of unity and being conscious of those around us. It’s never just this individual thing between me and the Lord. It certainly has that aspect, but the end result centers around the body as a whole. So we should be very aware of the condition of the body when we take the Lord’s Supper.
Philippians 3:17- Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
The Lord’s Supper is something that we all have to agree to participate in. It is a lot more than coming in and drinking a little grape juice and breaking off some bread and saying, “OK, we have taken the Lord’s Supper.” It is a total heartset, of thinking about the body of the church as a whole. When we announce that we’re going to have the Lord’s Supper, each of us should be thinking about everyone else in the body. We are to be fully aware of who they are or are not in Jesus Christ. There must be differences among us to show which of us really are of God.
Philippians 3:17- Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
So we have to choose to participate in this kind of judgment, because the Lord’s Supper is about purity, love, judgment, and cleanliness. When we sit down and begin to take the Lord’s Supper we should say, “Here is the list of the individuals that know what it is to carry their cross and belong fully to Jesus Christ,” and we are to take note of those individuals. We can say, “I’m going to follow their example in Jesus Christ.” Then we have others who are not where they are supposed to be in Jesus Christ. The first aspect of partaking of the Lord’s Supper is the awareness it brings of the body of Christ. This is its purpose.
Philippians 3:17 –18-…and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
You look at a man’s life and heart, while at the same time you examine your own heart and life.
Philippians 3:19- Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
Examine the body and think about the body as a whole. Come fully prepared and fully aware of where the church is and what Jesus Christ is saying about the body.
1 Corinthians 16:17-18- I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.
Finding individuals who fully embrace the cross of Jesus Christ is something noteworthy and something to examine and take hold of. They refresh the saints who are seeking to carry the cross. What is he directing us to do? He’s saying, “These men deserve recognition.” They’re worth taking note of. We have to think of the Lord’s church as a body. If my foot has gangrene in it, it’s going to spread through the whole body. I have to take action and make an effort to deal with the gangrene that is in my foot. I need to either cut it off or get it revived again. In the same way I need to check and see if the body is in healthy condition. This is what the Lord’s Supper is about and this is where it begins.
1 Corinthians 11:20-22- When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes 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 praise you for this? Certainly not!
Each individual was only concerned about meeting their own needs, feeding their own belly, and getting blessed in the way that they wanted to be blessed. This is a physical statement he’s making. “Don’t come to church hungry.” Don’t come to church thinking about your belly and where you’re going to go and what you’re going to do. That’s one reason God has us meet at 1:30. We should be fully rested, fully fed, and fully prepared to serve and to devote ourselves to the body of Jesus Christ. So often when individuals come to church, what are they doing at 11:00? They’re thinking about where they are going to go eat. The restaurant of the day is the topic of discussion. But let’s look at this in a spiritual sense. Let’s think of it in terms of making ourselves ready to give to other people. Get up early on Sunday morning and get a really good quiet time in the Word. Think about feeding other individuals. This is what the Lord’s Supper is about. It’s being fully prepared, fully conscious and understanding the needs of my brothers and sisters. Who does God want me to talk to? Who does God want me to pray for, and minister to? Recognizing the body of the Lord is supposed to be an outpouring of ourselves. Look at Philippians 2:19. Because Paul says something that is extremely sad.
Philippians 2:19-20- I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.
That’s an amazing statement! Most people come in to take from the Lord’s body, not to give to it. Most people don’t have a genuine concern about your spiritual condition. Most people are concerned about puffing themselves up and keeping themselves built up in Jesus Christ. They’re not eating and drinking at home, so when they come to church, they’re trying to grab for everything that they can get in Jesus Christ. They become so self-absorbed, so drunk on themselves, and only concerned about their spiritual walk, that they can’t think about anything else except their own needs. And Paul was saying, “Don’t you have homes to eat in? Don’t you have homes to drink in? Come fully prepared to give and to serve. That’s why you come together! And when you come together, wait for each other.” What do you have to say when you’re waiting for somebody? Have they been fed? Are they filled? Are they where they need to be in Jesus Christ? There has to be this conscious love that is concerned for other individuals.
Philippians 2:20-21- I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
Everybody’s concerned about their walk in Jesus Christ, their own aspect in taking communion. But communion is, first of all, a joint experience in the body of Christ. It’s an awareness of who the body is and how everyone is doing spiritually.
Philippians 2:22- But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
Don’t pay attention to men’s words. 1 John says, “Let us not love with words.” It says, “Don’t go around saying, ‘I love you,’ let us love in action and in deed.” When you look at a man’s actions and what he portrays you can tell whether or not he is really of Jesus Christ. We are to be a people of action, waiting for each other, feeding each other, being concerned for one another. That’s what the Lord’s Supper is about. It’s a matter of deep love.
Philippians 2:22- But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.
So eat at home, get yourself ready and be fully prepared. In Exodus 32 it shows us an example of how just simply eating and drinking can get out of hand.
Exodus 32:5- When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.”
They built a golden calf. In order to justify that activity they tack on the name of Jesus Christ. Most individuals I know who claim to be Christians live their lives in this manner. They build a nice shiny golden calf that looks good to them, and then they just tack on the name of Jesus Christ.
Exodus 32:6- So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
You see they get the religious part of the day out of the way. You can get people up early if you promise them a party in the afternoon. It says they rose up early. They were willing to sacrifice and they were willing to give, as long as their flesh was fed and their pride was puffed up. If they could be justified in a self-righteous kind of way while still having their pleasure, they were willing to sacrifice. You can always motivate people to prepare for a party in the afternoon, or for the church picnic.
Exodus 32:6- So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
Let’s get the religious thing out of the way. Let’s get church out of the way. What have we got planned for today? Shall we go to the 8:00 service, or the 9:30 or the 10:30 service? What will fit best for my schedule? Let’s get it out of the way. God has allowed us the privilege of meeting together at 1:30, meaning we get up early in the morning, get prepared, fill ourselves up with the word and make sure we’re in the faith. We come to the body and we’re prepared to serve, to spend the afternoon meeting with people, sharing the gospel with them, doing whatever God calls us to do. That’s what the Lord’s Supper is about.
Exodus 32:7- Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.
They had just a little bit of corruption and a slight deviation from the purity that is in Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:23- For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
The Lord’s Supper, if truly lived out within a body, is a very holy and loving thing. It is also a very dangerous thing, because you love deeply. The whole thing we’re declaring and looking at here is Jesus Christ loving his disciples deeply and laying down his life only to have somebody betray him. When we participate in the Lord’s Supper it is a scary thing for our flesh, because it means we are going to love people that will betray us to the deepest of levels. They will betray us even with a kiss, with sounds of familiarity, with talk of love.
1 Corinthians 11:23-24- For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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.”
Sad to say, but the Lord’s Supper is within the context of the betrayal of Jesus Christ. It is a declaration of his death. It is a remembrance of what we are participating in. It is sharing in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. It means I run the risk that I’m going to love individuals who will betray me, but not just betray me in the normal sense of the word, but it will be somebody that I have loved deeply, from the heart. This is why Jesus Christ even drew back and said, “Must you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Matthew 26:6-9- While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
We’re talking about a church and a fellowship that is wasting itself on Jesus Christ. Everybody who comes into the room can smell the fragrance of what is taking place. She isn’t preaching a word. Is she talking about love? She is living love! She is breaking the jar and the smell of that perfume is filling the whole room. But look at the reaction of even the disciples that are close to Jesus Christ! They are indignant that this woman is doing this. If you begin to pour your love out for Jesus Christ by giving him everything you have, there’s going to be a fragrance that many people find objectionable. This is the thing that caused Judas to go over the edge. Be religious. Judas would like that. Serve God in the manner of men, and hold something back for self. But he couldn’t tolerate a woman who comes in surrendering all to Jesus Christ!
Matthew 26:9-10- “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”
Our logic never fits. It is usually blown away in an instant.
Matthew 26:11-13- The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Why is this told in memory of her? Because the individuals are living it! They understand that the alabaster jar is foolish. This woman doesn’t hold back anything. She just breaks open the jar and shatters it for Jesus Christ. It is a life totally abandoned to Jesus Christ. This is a life that will not hold back one single thing for self! This life is poured out and the fragrance permeates everything! This is why it is told everywhere, because it is seen in the lives of many, many individuals around the world who love Jesus Christ with everything.
Matthew 26:14- Then one of the Twelvethe one called Judas Iscariotwent to the chief priests
He couldn’t take it any more! It was the thing that sent him over the edge! “Not this kind of love, not this rich pouring out, not this admiration for Jesus Christ! This is a wasting and foolish kind of Christianity! It’s over the edge; it’s over the top! That’s it, I’ll have no more of this! I will betray this kind of love.”
Matthew 26:14-15- Then one of the Twelvethe one called Judas Iscariot–went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins.
This is quite the plan and maneuvering. Judas always sat quietly back, taking all that he could from Jesus Christ and helped himself to the moneybag. He finally has a plan and finally acts. He’s indignant with this woman and he’s indignant with this kind of love. He knows it’s not in his own heart.
Matthew 26:15- So they counted out for him thirty silver coins.
Verse 16 speaks of a very unholy act.
Matthew 26:16- From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
His eyes were always looking for a chance to get him. “When is he most vulnerable? When can I cause him to stumble?”
1 Corinthians 11:26- For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Unless you’re willing to walk a life of faith that comes from love, don’t take the Lord’s Supper. Don’t partake unless you’re willing to pay the price of betrayal and run the risk that men will hand you over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and to the mob. Unless you’re willing to contend with their well-connived schemes, then don’t drink the cup and don’t eat the bread. Don’t love! Because we are talking fully about the death of Jesus Christ. We’re talking about rich love.
Acts 2:44-46- All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
These people loved to be together. They didn’t tolerate each other, they didn’t put up with each other, they had glad and sincere hearts. They truly loved from deep within their hearts. Not only did they like each other, they loved each other and they laid down their lives for each other. In every single way it was the richest of love!
Acts 2:44- All the believers were together and had everything in common.
This is the closeness of a family.
Acts 2:45- Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
They even shared their physical possessions in such an open fashion. It wasn’t that the church owned everything! It was in their hearts, they were just pouring everything out to one another. We’re talking about the richest of love here, we’re talking about fellowshipping and running the risk that you’re going to be betrayed! You run the risk of being stomped on and taken advantage of. It will happen. All down through the ages there have been men who betrayed the richest love of Jesus Christ. When somebody sits in these pews and takes the Lord’s Supper with us, they are declaring that they are in unity with us. They are saying they will share in this love and they have this kind of desire to fellowship.
Acts 2:46- They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
This is the Lord’s Supper in all of its fullness. It’s an excitement to be together! Scripture says that the Christian walk is a festival. It’s a festival of purity, of discovering new things to be cleansed from and one new thing in Jesus Christ to obey. It is a joy of participating in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, with the hope in mind that we will share in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is our attitude and this is what creates the fellowship. Where you don’t have it, people moan and groan about all the sufferings of Jesus Christ and all the things we have to obey. You don’t find glad and sincere hearts. You do find grumbling and complaining. When we prepare to take the Lord’s Supper next Sunday, you must ask yourself a question, “Is this the love that I desire? Am I among a group of people who want the same thing?” If not, then don’t drink the cup, and don’t eat the bread.
1 Corinthians 11:27- Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
1Corinthians 11:27 says if we drink the Lord’s cup in an unworthy manner, we will drink judgment on ourselves. And I know in most places that doesn’t take place. We’re talking about coming before the Lord in rich faith, saying, “We want this kind of body and this kind of fellowship. We want revival and we’re praying for the unity of having everything in common.” To take this in an unworthy manner means that they will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of Jesus Christ.” This is the most severe kind of sin. When I partake of this grape juice and bread, I must do so in a worthy manner in Jesus Christ, with all my heart and all that is within me. If I don’t do so, I am drinking judgment and more than that, I am sinning against the very blood that is supposed to sanctify me and forgive me of sin! There is nothing left to forgive me. Can I offend God any more than to take the Lord’s Supper in an unholy way? I would be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. When you partake in an unholy manner you are sinning against every single person that sits in this room and drinks the cup and eats the bread. You’re sinning against every single individual in the body. If I come just wanting to feed my flesh, wanting to get out of it what I can and loaded down with sin, I sin against every single member of the body!
1 Corinthians 11:28- A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.
Taking the Lord’s Supper requires the most serious of judgment. For those individuals who say, “Oh I don’t want to fall under judgment, “ well, pity you, because you’re taking the Lord’s Supper without even making an attempt to judge your heart or your life. Yet we are shown that if we do not judge ourselves, yet we drink of the blood and take of the bread, and we sin against Jesus Christ himself!
1 Corinthians 11:29- For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
We need to recognize our brothers and sisters and the condition of the body. If I’m sitting there with an attitude, grumbling against other people in the body, and I take of the cup and I eat the bread, I’m sinning against everybody in the body. If I take of the Lord’s Supper, I should be in unity and fellowship, because it is a declaration of the body of Jesus Christ! Scripture says we are to judge and to examine ourselves. Let me give you a couple of things to examine.
- Ask yourself if you’re in the faith. It’s interesting that Paul doesn’t write this to non-Christians or pagans. He writes this to the Corinthian church! He’s writing to you and to me who claim that we belong to Jesus Christ. Listen carefully to what he says.
2 Corinthians 13:5- Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test?
If there’s no danger of losing one’s salvation, then why ask the question? It would seem that this is a high concern, “Am I in the faith? Am I walking where I need to be? Am I following the Holy Spirit? Am I participating in the sufferings of Jesus Christ? Am I in unity? Am I in step? Is my heart where it needs to be?” Examine yourself to see whether you’re in the faith. “Test yourselves,” he says. He’s writing this to believers, to Christians. When I announce that we’re going to have the Lord’s Supper together, everyone needs to go back and examine to see if they are in the faith.
2 Corinthians- 13:5 Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in youunless, of course, you fail the test?
Most of us don’t even know how to apply this test! And most of us have never done it. The reason so many individuals wind up off the narrow road and wake up to discover that they aren’t with Jesus Christ, is because when they were taking of the Lord’s Supper, they didn’t ask if they were on the right path. They didn’t ask on a daily basis or a weekly basis or a monthly basis. They didn’t ask, “Am I getting off on a different course? Am I slowly slipping from the faith?” And so we don’t wake up until we are so far down the road, that it’s almost too late.
- Ask yourself, “Am I serving the body of Jesus Christ or am I demanding that it serves me? How well do I recognize the needs and concerns of the body?”
- Is it a joy to be around those who are in the faith or do I enjoy the company of the world better?
These are some simple tests to apply and examine ourselves with. Praise God that when we have the Lord’s Supper, it’s at 1:30 and we have all morning long to examine and get ourselves ready.
Hebrews 10:23- Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
If this is the way we should examine ourselves, we must ask, “How much love do we have, because so often we allow someone else to drink the cup and eat the bread when they’re not ready for it.” I’m not saying that I’ve always approached someone who isn’t ready. There are those times when I’ve heard from the Lord to stay back. But we have to ask what burns in our hearts, that we would let another brother or sister next to us partake of this knowing they are not ready! The idea, of course, being that we don’t wait until Sunday to go confront them. We shouldn’t go on Sunday and sit down and say, “Don’t take the cup.” We’re supposed to eat and drink at home, so when we come together, we are fully prepared and ready to worship and take the Lord’s Supper. But if you know that someone is where they shouldn’t be, then tell them in advance, before the cup and bread is before them, “Do not drink it, and do not eat it until you have dealt with your sin.”
Hebrews 10:23-24- Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
You see this is what the Lord’s Supper is about. It’s thinking about, “How can I spur my sister on toward love and good deeds? How can I bring something to my brother that would be good for him to do in the Lord.” I should spur him on in his life to overcome sin, to do the good deeds and to have the love. What does God want me to say to Joshua to encourage him in Jesus Christ? All of this is hard work! Most of us are just so concerned about our own little walk and what we do in Jesus Christ and whether we have the zeal. Very seldom do we sit down and say, “Ok, what can I say to this brother or sister from the Holy Spirit to spur them on toward love, good deeds, action and work?”
Hebrews 10:25 –26- Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
If I know the sin is in my life, and I deliberately continue in that sin, constantly refusing the correction of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, or my brothers and sisters, there is no sacrifice for sins left!
Hebrews 10:26- If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
Something else is left:
Hebrews 10:27- but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
We act like this new covenant is somehow less of a covenant than what Moses had. Look at what he says in verse 28:
Hebrews 10:28- Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
It is a more fearful and holy thing to participate in the Lord’s Supper than to participate in the Passover in the manner that they did.
Hebrews 10:29- How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
It doesn’t have to be full-blown rebellion; it just has to be an insult or contempt. An unconcerned, cavalier kind of attitude is all it takes. It’s just the Lord’s Supper. These are just nonsense warnings, they don’t mean anything. It’s just too hard; it’s just over the edge. That is insulting the Spirit of grace.
Hebrews 10:30-31- For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
It is no minor thing to take the Lord’s Supper. Let a man examine and test himself. It is even so serious a thing that God tries to warn us by making us sick, weak, or even killing us.
1 Corinthians 11:29-30- For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
In the richest of love, he seeks to discipline his children, so they will not fall into the hands of the living God. We’re not going to sit there and watch other people eat and drink judgment on themselves without being concerned and confronting their sin. The next time that you’re weak and you’re not feeling up to par, you need to ask, “Am I recognizing the body of the Lord? Did I take the Lord’s Supper in an unholy way? Did I fail to examine myself?” It says they’re sick because they didn’t take the Lord’s Supper in a proper way. He even says, “A number have fallen asleep.” This is no minor thing! He’s saying, “Look around, look at what God is doing among you, look at the judgment that he is working.” You can debate and argue, but look at the effect this is having in the church and look what God is doing. If we are justifying the sinner who needs to be confronted, we’ll be judged for that. If we’re condemning the innocent, we’ll be judged for that. We have to recognize the body of the Lord or He will do the work! I don’t have to confront! I don’t have to deal with everybody! When we partake of the Lord’s Supper, they are before the Lord.
1 Corinthians 4:20-For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
If we’re praying for revival, if we’re looking for the richest of love, if we’re looking for the grace and the mercy, then expect God to act with power.
James 5:14-15- Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
“Many of you are sick, many of you are weak, and a number have fallen asleep!” Pity the church that doesn’t have spiritual elders to call upon. What are they supposed to do?
James 5:16- Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Don’t wait to be confronted! Examine and judge yourself! We’re so often surprised when people bring sin to us because we’re not judging ourselves. He who sees his own heart and his own life clearly is already fully prepared when somebody comes to him. He’s already examined his life and knows what he needs to deal with. He can announce things to them! Often when I confront people, they will confess certain sins that I have repeated to them, and I’ll say, “Now tell me something I don’t know!” You’re just waiting until somebody comes to you, before you’re going to confess it and get it out in the light. That’s why you’re sick, weak, and on the verge of losing it all! Don’t wait until you’re found out! The grace, mercy, and peace are waiting. It’s a matter of us rushing into the light, judging ourselves, and coming in before the grace of God. It’s the blood that forgives us. It’s the bread that gives us life! So it is saying before God, “This is my sin, and this is who I am. I drink of your blood, and I ask for forgiveness. I confess my sins.” We pray for one another about each other’s sins. We’re in the light with our sins.
James 5:16- …The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Everybody wants to have powerful and effective prayer. But how well do we judge ourselves? Paul repeats it again in 1 Corinthians 11:31. I know this all sounds like judgment, but it’s rich life. Because what is the Lord’s Supper but a declaration of the death of Jesus Christ. It is a reminder of Jesus suffering on the cross. It is a reminder of the cross that we carry. I know it’s the cross thing again, but that’s what the Lord’s Supper is! When we drink that cup we are saying that we fully participate in the death of Jesus Christ. It is a reminder of the crucified life. It is the message of the cross!
1 Corinthians 11:31- But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
Beat God to the punch! Get in and say, “I have this stubbornness, and I have this rebellion,” be specific before the Lord. David said, “I renounced my sins.” There are times I just go before Him with a list and say, “Lord I did this, and this and this and I renounce them and I confess them before You.” I want to beat Him to the punch. I don’t want to be hiding out in a corner somewhere, waiting for Him to find me, getting weak, becoming ill, and maybe dying, all because I wouldn’t stand up and renounce the sin that’s in my life. If you don’t want to be found out, then judge yourself and get it taken care of long before you come together in the body! By the time the body is aware of it, you’ve got other sins that nobody can see. All I can see, as far as the sins in your life, are just a small amount! I’m not even around you that much! We can hide, cover, protect and we can get the words out, and the mannerisms down. Aren’t we all experts at that? I am. And so by the time you see it, I’ve already walled it up inside here a long time before it ever came out! Then when it comes out, I’m covering as it comes out! You can’t even see the depth of what’s there! So what’s the solution? To judge myself. I need to go before the Lord long before other men can see and renounce that sin, and then people can see the change. And guess what, there will be differences in the body that show which of you has God’s approval! But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. Such a freedom! Think about it when you do sin, you have that gnawing inside and you spend all your time and energy trying to keep from being discovered. It’s what consumes you. So you can imagine when a church comes together and everybody’s spending their energy praying that they’re not discovered, what’s going to take place? You can’t have open fellowship and you can’t have love. Everybody’s putting on a mask on and they’re afraid that they will be discovered at any moment. There is no freedom or life in that. Everybody potentially becomes your enemy, do they not?
1 Corinthians 11:32- When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
When God does make us weak, sick, or even if he kills us, it can be a tremendous act of mercy on his part. While I glory in that, I don’t want to enter heaven that way. I have no desire to walk through those gates and have someone ask, “How did you get here?” “Oh the Lord loved me enough to kill me, because I was in sin.” I want a rich welcome, I would like to be able to sit at the feet of David and hear how he renounced his sins in his prayer closet, so that he didn’t continue to sin. I’d like to be in that company. Scripture talks about those who escape as through the flames. You won’t have to ask them how they got in, you’re going to smell the smoke. They barely got in. I don’t want to enter that way. I praise God that he shows that kind of mercy and he knows how far to go, but I don’t want to go that way. But what should we do?
1 Corinthians 11:33- So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.
When I get up in the morning I’m all excited in the Lord, rejoicing in God, and I’m just so happy, but I give no thought to anybody else. However, I should have this attitude of waiting for others. I should ask, “Is this person going to church with me ready to meet the living God?” Or when I come and sit down on the pew next to somebody, am I thinking to myself, “Are they fully prepared to meet the living God?” I’m waiting for them, I’m thinking of them and I’m stopping my activity. I’m stopping my praise and whatever I came to do and I’m thinking totally about someone else. I must sit there and examine my brothers and sisters. This is what it means when I drink the cup and eat the bread. It means I’m waiting for everybody else.
1 Corinthians 11:34- If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.
Now we see this in a physical sense for sure. Let’s apply it spiritually. If you’re hungry and dying in the Lord, if you just have to be fed, get fed before you get here. Get up early and get the quiet time. Do whatever you need to do. Every allowance has been made for that to happen. Get yourself filled up and fully ready to come to worship. Go in and renounce all the secret sins that you’ve had this week before the Lord so you don’t have to fall under judgment. Come fully prepared, and with scripture. Find out what we’re going to look at and examine. Get yourself in a proper place. Come with zeal, and come prepared to wait on and serve one another.
1 Corinthians 11:34- If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.
When everyone is starving spiritually and not feeding themselves and they come together for church, they will devour one another. Sin is going to happen! But everybody who fed themselves, whose body is strong and who is fully prepared to come together is ready to build others up. Their body is healthy. They are ready to serve and to worship in every way.
1 Corinthians 11:34- … And when I come I will give further directions.
Let’s hear from the Spirit what those further directions are. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve come together for the Lord’s Supper and you have to wait 45 minutes or an hour, as people go down the list confessing their sins. Or worse yet, I’ve seen the cup being passed down and the person says, “No, I can’t take it.” We’re in the middle of passing the cup and bread, and what should we do? Should we stop and deal with this person and put them on the spot? That’s not how we want to deal with them! But then we don’t want to just ignore it. So you’re sitting trying to take the Communion and worship before the Lord, and all you can think about is your brother or sister over here that had to pass the cup. You’re wondering what’s going on with them and if they’re going to repent. So they sit there, and it disrupts the whole body. It takes away from the joy of everyone else. You have homes to eat and drink in. Now if we need to deal with it we will. But understand that if we get together and a third of the body is hungry, starving, and wounded and you have to stop and wait upon them, it’s not going to be the joyful kind of thing that it should be. Paul says, “I can’t praise you for this.”
1 Corinthians 11:34- If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.
1. Feed your belly at home. Feed your spirit at home and come fully prepared to serve.
2. Judge yourself and see if you are in the faith.
- See what kind of relationship you have with everyone in the body.
Acts 20:35- In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’“
In everythingin prayer and service or driving around town, in every aspect of my life. Paul is saying, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak.” The Lord’s Supper is hard work, but it is a labor of love. So if you sit down and partake of the Lord’s Supper and you haven’t worked hard in getting to that place, you’re already in sin. Helping other people in the body is difficult work. It’s taking time out of your schedule and all the things that you do, to say, “Ok, how can I bless somebody else? What is God trying to communicate to me that I can share with them?” This is true in every relationship, and in everything that goes on in the body, because we all have a goal in mind to help others. We have a joy that is deeper than the hard work. Remembering the words of the Lord Jesus himself. This isn’t second-hand.
Acts 20:35- …remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’“
It’s more exciting to come to church and to see somebody else get blessed, than to get blessed myself. My joy is not to come to church to be blessed and get attention. My joy is the hard work and the labor of love! The joy is giving to other people and losing of my own life! It is more blessed to give than to receive. Church is about a participation in the death of Jesus Christ! It is a participation in laying down our lives for others. That’s where the joy is supposed to be. Do you understand? That’s what the hard work is about and that’s why it pays off. That’s what makes it worthwhile, to come to church and not get anything out of the sermon! Not to get any other blessing from anybody else in Jesus Christ. Not to get anything, but to give to everybody else! That is supposed to be our joy. This is what it means to partake of the Lord’s Supper, because then you go to the cross. Wasn’t the Lord’s Supper just before he went to die and lay down his whole life? It was THE example. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Everybody wants their work and ministry in God. Everybody wants their blessing and gifts. Books even tell us that. Do you want your gift in God? Your gift is that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Even when we desire spiritual gifts, they are for the benefit of the body. Let us prepare ourselves fully for the Lord’s Supper, whenever we partake of it.
Let’s pray.
Father we ask, oh Lord, that you come and bring not only the love that is in Jesus Christ, but love that can be found in a body that has all things in common. A body that is united in heart and mind, that is deeply in love with one another. But also, Father, we ask that you bring your judgment. Your judgment of love that purifies a people prepared to meet you. A judgment, Father, that will deal with those who refuse to give themselves to you, that all men might know, Father, that you are holy. We pray, Father, that we are fully prepared for those whom you will bring that we might indeed have it written in our hearts, that we might have that privilege, Father, of grace that has found it a joy to give and to serve. To wait for each other. We pray this and we plead it, oh Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
This transcription has been edited to a reader friendly format. Every effort has been made to be true to the speaker’s original message. Any mistranslations are unintentional.
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