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[0:00] chapter, Paul started addressing what was happening in their corporate gatherings. There was some confusion. There was some disarray. Things weren't happening the way they should. And he really starts getting personal with it here in the 11th chapter, starting in verse 17.

[0:16] So if you're physically able and you desire to do so, I ask if you'll join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God found in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, starting in verse 17. We will read to the end of the chapter, which gets us down to verse 34.

[0:31] Paul says to the church which is gathered at Corinth, But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better, but for the worse.

[0:42] For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.

[0:54] Therefore, when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in your eating, each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk. What? Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink?

[1:07] Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

[1:28] Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper and saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

[1:40] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the 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 shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

[1:55] But a man must examine himself, and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.

[2:07] For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

[2:26] So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that you will not come together for judgment.

[2:36] The remaining matters I will arrange when I come. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity we have as the church, together, together, and to worship your name and to lift your name on high.

[2:50] Lord, we thank you for the opportunity we have to read the word of God. We pray that the word of God would speak to every heart, every mind, and every individual. Lord, we pray that through the power and presence of your spirit that you would help us to understand it to the greatest of your ability.

[3:06] Lord, may the understanding which we gain not just be a collecting of information, but Lord, may it be transferred to an application of our life for your glory. May you use it to shape and to conform us more to your image.

[3:18] And it's in Christ's name we pray. And we ask all these things. Amen. You may be seated. We have come to the portion in Scripture in which Paul is referring to the gathering together of the church body.

[3:33] In their exercises and in their practice, there were a number of things that were taking place. Paul has addressed the divisions that took place in the body as it pertained to their likings for particular teachers.

[3:46] Some were attracted to this teacher. Some were attracted to that teacher. Some to another teacher. And there were divisions within the body based upon personality. The personality of the one who stood before them would gather the groups together and there were divisions.

[3:59] And Paul says this shouldn't be so because the teachers are really nothing but laborers in the field. There were problems of immorality that were taking place within the body. There were rampant problems that took place in the city of Corinth which had made its way into the church life.

[4:16] The church said, well, we're free in Christ so we can do whatever we want to. Two times Paul reminds them in the book of 1 Corinthians that you are not your own for you have been bought with a price. Paul reminds them that there should be no division based upon personalities, that there should be no practice based upon preferences because you are not your own.

[4:34] You have been bought with a price. And now he has changed and he has went to not who they are as individuals but how they do church together as a corporate body. Because how we do church matters.

[4:46] Make no mistake about it. The practice of the church is important. We're not being legalistic. We're being biblical. Because there are certain things which must take place to be fitting of all righteousness.

[5:00] We are not free. We have said this before when we went through the book of Acts. The only handbook by the way we have on the church. The only handbook that has ever been authorized and given to us by the word of God is the book of Acts.

[5:12] The book of Acts is there when the church is born. It is there that we see the church in its birth. It is there when we see the church in its expansion. It is there when we see the church in its practice. It is there when we see the church preaching the gospel.

[5:25] You remember the key verse, right? I know it's been a couple of years ago. But if you want to know what the key passage to all of the book of Acts is, all you have to do is to read the last couple of words in the whole entire book.

[5:36] For Paul was preaching the gospel unhindered. It is the unhindered gospel that we find in the book of Acts. And we see it flowing through the church as it is living missionally.

[5:49] It is living in society. And it is ministering to the physical needs and the spiritual needs of individuals it comes in contact with. We ought to get back to the roots of what it looks like to be the church there.

[6:01] And we see that every time Paul is writing a letter to a local church, he is always reiterating what has already been proclaimed in the word of God. He does not bypass what we find in the book of Acts.

[6:14] He rather undergirds it. Now every promise, and I know that we're here talking about the church a lot, because every promise we find in the New Testament, my friend, while it may be given to individuals, it is given to individuals connected to a body referred to as the church.

[6:29] So how we do church matters. It is important. Paul says it is so important that if you do church wrong, some among you may be sick, they may be weary, or they may be dead.

[6:44] It says sleep. Right. Sleep is the word for death. But the good news is it is the word given for the death of a believer, not the death of an unbeliever. So he refers to them here in their judgment so that they may not be judged along with the rest of the world.

[7:01] See, God has even judgment of how we do church, how we do these things in practice, how we do them as a body. This is why there are so many things in my life that I don't mind being in disarray and in disorder.

[7:18] If you were to go to my office right now and you were to look at either one of the desks that are in my office and you'd look at my office in its totality, you would think that it's chaos. If you were to go home to my house and you would look in the shop of my house, you would think that it's chaos.

[7:33] And if you go into the house, it's in order. Why? Because that's my wife's domain. She has that. But anything in which I live and I operate and I practice, it's kind of chaos. And I can deal with it until she decides that I can't.

[7:46] And then we have to clean it up. And then I have to try to find everything that I knew where it was in my chaos and now it's gone. But I don't mind things being kind of out of order. I don't mind things being kind of wrong.

[7:58] I say that, but then there are some times where things get so crazy I have to put them back together. But the one thing I'm very, very picky on, the one thing that if anybody really knows me that really eats to the core of my being is when there's a disruption in the public gathering together of the saints.

[8:18] And I'm not talking about kids because I want the kids to be here to disrupt. I'm talking about when things don't work as they should when we come together here because how we do church matters.

[8:30] I think it's important because we're reflecting our worship of a holy God. We're proclaiming the excellencies of our Savior. And we ought to do it to the utmost of our ability for His glory, not for our recognition.

[8:46] Paul here is referring to the church and their corporate gatherings. And in particular, if you have to have a title this morning, we see the church around the table. The church around the table.

[8:58] Now, we're not just talking about the communion table, though that is in the passage. Also alluded to in this passage is the fellowship meals of the early church, quite often referred to as the love feast.

[9:10] The love feast was where they came to demonstrate and exhibit their love for one another because of their love for Christ. Jesus told His disciples by this, while all men know that you love me, that you love one another.

[9:25] And when they came together, they would have a meal together around the table. And they were quite often referred to as love feast or agape feast. The world would take that and twist it and distort it and make it seem like it was something else.

[9:38] And they would use it to bash the church and to talk about them and saying they were doing all kinds of hideous things over here. But don't let the world ever define for you what you're doing in the church, right? They were demonstrating a love or they should have been demonstrating a love for one another.

[9:52] The church was gathering around the table. This is something else that if you know me and you know me very long at all, you know that I count as very important, it is table fellowship.

[10:03] Table fellowship is of utmost importance in Scripture. It is important for the family. It is important for the individual. It is important for the church. Everywhere we see throughout Scripture is people gathering around the table.

[10:16] And it's so important. Here, Paul is referring to the church around the table. But there are some things that he's addressing, things that we need to notice as he looks at the church around the table.

[10:27] Number one, we see that there is an offense. When the church gathered around the table, there was an offense. Paul says in verse 17, but in giving this instruction, that is, I'm about to tell you what you need to do.

[10:42] I'm about to reiterate what you should do. Now, he had encouraged them in the first verse of chapter 11, said, I praise you that in all of the things that I've handed down to you, you're keeping them.

[10:52] I praise you that you keep me in your mind and all the traditions I've given to you. Now, these are not just man-made traditions. These are the teachings of the early church leaders. And you're keeping these. You're observing these things.

[11:03] But he's going to build upon that observation. He's going to give them some greater instruction. But he cautions them. But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you. He says, I'm not coming to tell you how to do it.

[11:14] And I'm not commending you for how you're doing it. He says, because you come together. Now, look at this sad reality. This is something that we need to understand as a possibility. You come together not for the better, but for the worse.

[11:30] Think about that just for the moment. That when the church gathered together corporately, it was actually worse than it was better. That when the church came together, it made matters worse.

[11:46] Oh, you don't have to read church history long. And you don't have to get very far into church history. As a matter of fact, we're even looking at the early pages of church history here in the book of 1 Corinthians.

[11:59] To see the harm that is done when the people get together in an unholy and an unworthy manner. The great harm. Some of you have experienced that. You've been in churches and you were worse than you were better.

[12:12] And because of that experience or because of that reality, you decided I don't need the church anymore. And you say, well, I need to cast that off. And we need to see that that is the sin of man, not the will of God.

[12:24] Because God's plan flows through the church. But Paul is referring to him here. He says, who do not praise you? Because you don't come together for the better, but for the worse. So what were they doing that made matters worse?

[12:35] And he goes talking about what was happening around the table. He says, for in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions that exist among you. And in part, I believe it.

[12:47] Now here's the first problem. Friend, listen to me. We walked in here as distinct individuals. Each and every one of us. When we walk out that door or any time out that door, we all hold different places and structures in society.

[13:04] We have every spectrum of society represented among a number of individuals. We have some who are greatly blessed and some who are hardly blessed. We have some with great material possessions and some who don't have barely enough.

[13:20] We have some who have places of authority and some who reside under the people in authority. We have what we would refer to in the Bible. We have both the free men and the slaves.

[13:32] We have men and women. We have rulers and servers. We have all of those things as individuals. But in the church, the church is to be the only place in society where you're standing in the world doesn't matter.

[13:46] Because when you gather together in the church, we find that in Christ, we are all equal. This is what Paul refers to when he is writing to the church in Galatians that there are neither free nor slave.

[14:01] There's neither male nor female. It's not that God removes the uniqueness of the individual, but that in Christ, everyone was equal. Because, see, when the church gathers together, it is to be a great place in society where we can come in with differences, but be united in our similarities.

[14:21] We can come in with uniquenesses, but when we gather together, we are one. And this is what Paul is saying. Paul is saying the problem is, is when you gather together, what sets you apart in society is still setting you apart in the church.

[14:34] James said it like this, that if a man comes in with a gold ring and you move him to the front pew, then you've offended your brother and you've sinned against everyone else. James says, I like the book of James, right?

[14:46] Some doubted it throughout history. I like the book of James because it's so practical. James says, I don't care if he's got a gold ring or if he's wearing a dirty robe. Everybody in Christ is the same. Now, I'm paraphrasing a little bit.

[14:56] Don't look for it that way. Right? James says, it doesn't matter. You don't promote a man because of his society's standings. Paul here says that you gather together for the worst because when you come together, you still think you're somebody, even though you're a bunch of nobodies, gathered to worship the one body that is important.

[15:13] See, we see here that what was happening was the divisions was no longer on personalities. The divisions was in societal standings. And Paul was reminding them that when you come together as a church, he said, I don't mean to, it's in a bad way, but I don't care who you are out there.

[15:31] There's only one we care about in here. We've seen that happen. We've seen it happen. Not here. We say, well, I don't know, pastor.

[15:42] Maybe I'm not happening. But again, read your church history. Look at the great harm that was done to that. D.O. Moody, one of the greatest American evangelists who's ever lived.

[15:52] D.O. Moody shook the world on fire. D.O. Moody, back when he really started in Chicago, he came to Christ. He was a shoeman. He did shoes. He was a cobbler, right? So he worked on shoes.

[16:03] And he's sitting there, a businessman. He came to Christ, and he's so excited. He had his ambition to make a million dollars. Now in the 1800s, that's a lot of money, and he could have made that money. But he had his ambition to make a million dollars.

[16:13] All of a sudden, his ambitions changed. He wanted to see people come to Christ, people come to Christ, people come to Christ. Now, in the churches in those days, you sat based upon how much you gave because you rented your pew.

[16:26] And you had to, believe it or not, I know this will shock you, but the pews closer to the front cost more money. And you would think it'd be the opposite way, right? So the further I get away from the pastor, the more I pay.

[16:37] No, the pews closer to the front cost more money. And the pews had a door between them so that you'd have to have a key. And you got the key based upon the money you gave.

[16:47] That's crazy, right? They didn't pass a plate. They handed out keys. But you got a key because you rented the pew. Well, Moody decided he wanted to fill the pews. So the money that he would make, he would take and he would rent pews.

[16:59] And he would bring them in and all these kids, he would go gather what they call his street kids. And he would put his street kids in these pews. And people would make fun of D.L. Moody because he'd be asleep in his pew.

[17:10] He'd be sitting there sound asleep. Nobody knew he'd been up three hours getting these kids. Everybody just thought he was a lazy shoe cobbler, right? Wasn't doing his thing. People started judging because all these filthy street kids was here in the church.

[17:22] And the church is a little bit better than that. So Moody said, well, I won't rent a pew. I'll rent a bar. So he decided to go down to the tracks and to rent a bar. And when he rented a bar, he started bringing the street kids to the bar.

[17:33] And then he ended up having too many street kids in the bar that he had to rent a bigger bar. And he had so many kids in the bar, they had to start a church. That's called Moody Bible Church in Chicago now, right? It wasn't referred to that at that time.

[17:44] But then once you found out that the church that they started, because he didn't want it named after him, you didn't rent pews in there because it didn't matter who you were. You came to church.

[17:56] The problem that was going was that when they gathered together, they were showing their places in society through their practice. They said, well, pastor, how are they doing it? Paul says it.

[18:07] He says, you gather together around the table. Some of you drinking so much, you're drunk. And some of you eating so much, you're glutton. And there are people sitting there hungry because, see, when they had love feasts, they didn't have a kitchen in the church.

[18:21] They had what they call potlucks. We call them that today. Everybody brought their own food. Now, you ever been to a potluck where you almost were out of luck because nobody brought any food?

[18:31] And you look around and go, well, we don't need to do this anymore, right? I've been to them, right? But I've also been to a potluck. And I like who I travel with. When you're with the right person, they say, we don't want to run out of food.

[18:42] So they bring a number of dishes, right? They bring in three or four dishes in to make sure we have at least something to eat. And I'm like, boy, I'm glad they're here because they're bringing a bunch of food in. Well, what was happening is when the church came together for their love feast, people with money would bring in a lot of food.

[18:57] People without any money couldn't bring any food. This might have been the only good meal they had all week long. But the people with money wasn't sharing it. Because they said, you didn't bring anything.

[19:09] Now, wait a minute, we're getting a little too close to the corn row here. I've also been at potlucks where people got mad because other people ate, though they didn't bring anything. Watch out.

[19:23] Because Paul says, you want to eat, go home and eat. We came together to share. And what you're doing is you're making a glutton out of yourself on the food you brought from your house in front of your brother and sister who doesn't have anything.

[19:42] And at that time, what you're saying is, man, I'm glad I have food. Sorry about your luck. But I'm going to eat mine. See, they were more concerned about who they were.

[19:53] And their tables were beginning to be divided. They weren't gathered around the table. They were gathered in some tables. And the people over here didn't have anything. The people over here had an abundance. And they began to differentiate amongst themselves.

[20:08] We see this division. This is the offense. When the church gathered together around the table, there was an offense. The second thing we see that Paul speaks of is an ordinance.

[20:20] Now he's going to shift from the love feast to the communion table. He says, well, I'll show you why this is so important. He says in verse 23, for I received from the, let me back up one thing.

[20:35] I want to show you one thing, though, that I missed. Paul says, I hear there are divisions among you. And then he comes up behind it. And I don't want you to miss this. Okay.

[20:45] He says, and I believe it, verse 19, because you need to understand this. For there must also be factions among you. He said there are divisions, but there must be divisions. There need to be divisions.

[20:56] Why? Must there be divisions? So that those who are approved may become evident. Paul says the reason there has to be divisions is so the genuine believers can be seen and the false believers can be realized.

[21:08] He says, some of you are setting yourself apart because you think you're better than, but by setting yourself apart, you're really showing who you are. And now we go down.

[21:20] We look at the ordinance. Verse 23, for I received from the Lord, which I also deliver to you. Here we see the authority of this ordinance. Two great ordinances the church has been given.

[21:32] In Southern Baptist life and most Protestant lives, you only believe in two. Baptism and communion. Baptism and communion. We have the joy every time we experience a baptism, we also take communion together.

[21:46] And we have the new birth in Christ being represented, the death, burial, and resurrection in Christ. And then we have the remembrance of why we're doing the baptism. We see baptism and communion.

[21:58] The first thing we notice is the authority with which this ordinance comes to us. Look at what it says. For I received from the Lord. This is something that has been commissioned and commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ.

[22:13] And the last time I checked when we're referring to the body, he is the head of the body. And since he alone is the head of the body, he has the right to tell the body what it should do. He says, I received from the Lord that which I also deliver to you.

[22:27] Now, we don't know when Paul received it. Paul wasn't there at the Last Supper. Go read your accounts. He wasn't there. It was sometime after that he met the Lord on Damascus Road.

[22:37] Maybe it was given to Paul by Peter and James and John. Maybe it was given to him by some of the religious leaders. In the early books of Acts, we see when he goes into Jerusalem. Or maybe it was that three years kind of quiet period when he's in the desert.

[22:51] And Paul later tells us that he's being taught of the Lord himself. Maybe the Lord Jesus there told him again. But he says, I received from the Lord that which I also deliver to you. So this comes with authority.

[23:02] This comes with the commissioning of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is an ordinance that must be taken serious. And we see it in three key factors in this passage.

[23:15] So my point would be an ordinance and I have sub points. Stay with me. It's kind of a sermon in a sermon, but you'll let me do that, right? Because we don't want to blow by this one so quick.

[23:27] Three key elements. The first thing we notice is that this is a family event. This is a family event.

[23:37] He says, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. Now, we know this is a family event. Why? Because he isn't writing this letter to an individual.

[23:50] Go back. First Corinthians chapter one. Verse one. To the saints which are at Corinth. Right? To the saints which are at Corinth. He is writing this letter to the church.

[24:03] And he says, I deliver this to you. I delivered it to the family of God gathered in the city of Corinth. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper is a family event.

[24:15] He says that I delivered to you that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is for you. This is not just for the individual.

[24:27] This is for all those who proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These are for all of those who come together and celebrate. When Jesus originated this event.

[24:37] When he set up this ordinance the night before his betrayal. He was not surrounded by just one. There were a group of people there. There were the disciples. The family. This is a family event.

[24:48] This is a church ordinance. When the church gathers together as a family of God. And it celebrates the ordinance given to us. This is something that moves beyond the individual.

[25:02] That moves to the corporate body. And we see it with all of its fullness. Because, by the way, friend. Our connection to the family is important for the ordinance.

[25:15] Now, we don't have time to get into open communion, closed communion. We're not here to do all of that. But I will say this.

[25:26] The Lord's Supper is for those who are part of the family of God. It is for those who are genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[25:36] And I'll show you why. The first thing we notice is this is a family event. The second thing that we see in this passage is the focus of the event. It is the focus of it.

[25:48] Look at what it says. He says that he took the bread and he had given thanks. He broke and said, this is my body, which is for you. And then we go down. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

[25:59] Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. We notice it is the body and the blood of Christ. It's amazing. So many people want to refer to the teachings of Christ.

[26:11] So many people want to refer to the life and the example of Christ. Even non-believers and historians will refer to such a good prophet and such a good teacher. And kind of the meaning behind the message, not necessarily the man, but the great teachings which he gave.

[26:25] And there's so much emphasis throughout today's time on the teachings. But Jesus says, the one thing I want the church to remember is my death. Because if you don't get the death right, the teachings don't matter.

[26:39] Why? Because until you know that he died for your sins, that he is the propitiation. That is, that he is the covering for our sinfulness before a holy God.

[26:50] That he makes us acceptable to a holy God. That we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. That apart from the death, the teachings don't matter. Because my friend, you will never live out the teachings in your own strength.

[27:02] You try as you may, as good as they are. You have no power within you. But praise God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And when we are bought with the blood of the Lamb.

[27:14] We are empowered by the Spirit of God. And we are moved by the Word of God. We'll never understand it. We'll never live it. And we'll never have a desire for it until we remember the death of Jesus Christ.

[27:26] As good as the teachings are, Jesus says, you are proclaiming my death. Oh, the Sermon on the Mount. Greatest sermon ever preached. Greatest sermon ever taught.

[27:38] There's more application in the Sermon on the Mount than we could ever get to in a lifetime of ministry. If we could apply just a fraction of the Sermon on the Mount, then our lives would be completely different. The world would be transformed if the church could live out the Sermon on the Mount.

[27:52] But friend, listen to me. You will never love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. You'll never turn the other cheek. You'll never live in perfect harmony. Your righteousness will never surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees and all of their legalism.

[28:04] You'll never do all those things. You'll never seek first the kingdom of God and all of his righteousness and everything else will be added to you. Until you remember the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Because it's the Savior on the cross that moves the heart and the mind of the individual.

[28:19] He says, the focus is not so much on what I said but on what I did. Because the recognition of what he's done would change what we are.

[28:31] We see this. It is the focus of the event. Oh, his teachings are powerful. His teachings are wonderful. The miraculous works in his healings, phenomenal.

[28:44] But the greatest thing he ever did was he died on the cross of Calvary for you and me. The greatest thing that he ever did is that he was the perfect lamb slain before the foundations of the earth.

[28:57] Slain for sinful man. To pave a way that we may stand approved and forgiven before a holy God. May we never forget his death.

[29:08] Oh, I think it's a sad tragedy when we get over grace. Do you know when we get over grace? Is when we forget that he was on the cross. Because then we think, oh, well I'm here because I deserve it.

[29:25] No, that's where I deserve to be. It's on the cross. But there he is instead. That's grace. That's mercy. That's forgiveness. That's redemption. Here's the focus.

[29:37] See how that focus would change everything. Setting at a table, having a love feast. If we're having this agape feast around individuals and I got this plate of food in front of me. I'm not focused on the cross.

[29:48] I'm focused on my belly. But he says that we proclaim his death. The last thing that we see as it pertains to this ordinance is the future that is anticipated.

[30:02] The future that's anticipated. By the way, this anticipated future changes how we live today. He says in verse 26, For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

[30:18] Do you know this ordinance is only a temporary ordinance given for a set time? We won't take communion in heaven. We'll gather around a table in glory, but that's the wedding supper of the Lamb.

[30:31] Oh, what a feast it will be. Right? We'll no longer be breaking the unleavened bread and drinking from the cup and proclaiming the Lord's death because that's given for a season. That is for this time, in this day, until he comes.

[30:45] But it is the anticipation that there will be a day where we will no longer take the Lord's supper together. There will be a day where we'll no longer gather together to remember him because we'll be standing in front of him.

[30:57] There will be a day where he's coming again. It is the future that is anticipated. We are to proclaim it as long as we can, while we can. Until he comes.

[31:09] But the reality is, he's coming. He didn't tell them, and he doesn't tell us, you just do this forever because the word of God is true.

[31:20] You can't do it forever because there's going to come a day where he interrupts forever. And when there's a new day dawning, there'll come a day where he comes back on a white horse.

[31:32] Right? There'll come a day where forever stops and eternity moves on. There'll come a day where the temporal will cease and the eternal will reign forever. There'll come a day where the Savior comes again.

[31:45] And the church ought to be anticipating that future event because until we rightfully anticipate the future event, we continue to live as if this day is all we got. which Paul would write elsewhere, if Christ is not raised and let's eat, drink, and be merry.

[32:05] But if he is raised, everything ought to change. We see here the offense and ordinance. Number three, an obligation.

[32:18] The church gathered around the table. What then? If they were gathering together for the worse and not for the better. If the ordinance should have been observed with these things in mind, then what is Paul calling the church to do both there and here?

[32:32] What is the obligation? It starts in verse 28. But a man must examine himself. And in so doing, he is to eat the bread and drink of the cup.

[32:45] A man must examine himself. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. Now there's a lot of commentary on exactly what Paul is referring to here.

[32:59] When he refers to judging the body rightly. Some think, well, Paul is referring to the body of Christ. Well, I don't think that's so because he could not be judging the body of Christ rightly because he left out part of the ordinance, right?

[33:11] It is the body and the blood. So when he is referring to judging the body rightly, more than likely he's referring to the church body. That is, if he's not looking to the church in a right manner.

[33:23] Why? Because what you do affects all of us and what I do affects all of us. And he goes on. He says, for this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep.

[33:37] Because a man is not examining himself. But if we judge ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. We say, well, what about those who have been judged? Well, that's a great disciplinary hand of God.

[33:49] But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we would not be condemned along with the world. So he cautions that we're not referring to eternal condemnation. We're referring to an obligation of individual. Let's put it like this in a nutshell.

[34:01] Okay? Verse 33 sums it up. Then I'll give you the application. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. Here's the obligation. Do much, much, much self-examination and other exaltation.

[34:23] That we look to ourselves and we judge ourselves. We look to others and we esteem their importance and worthiness. I'm going to look to myself and say, Lord, search me, try me, know my desperate thoughts, see my wicked ways.

[34:38] Lord, before I sit around the table, I want to know who I am. And Lord, I'm going to wait on them because I know who they are. It is much self-examination and others' self-worthiness.

[34:55] It is seeing others as being worthy of our patience, being worthy of our time and worthy of our attention and seeing ourselves rightly so that we would judge ourselves accurately.

[35:07] Paul says, rather than coming to the table and looking around and judging the others and saying, well, I don't want to share my food with them. I don't want to share my drink with them. I guess I'll just eat it all myself.

[35:19] Paul says, why don't you look at yourself and see who you are before you take a little supper? Because I promise you, I promise you this. The more I look at myself in the mirror of God's word, the greater you look.

[35:36] Because I know who I am. When I open up scripture and I see what the word of God says about me, oh, it doesn't exalt me, but in Christ.

[35:48] It doesn't magnify me, but in Christ. Oh, it tries me, it searches me, it cuts to the very depths of my being. It shows me my faults, my weaknesses, my stumblings, and my failures.

[36:00] And it must show me all those things, because until it shows me all these things, I'll never see the greatness of my Savior. But it reminds me of all my false failures and weaknesses that I need a body called the church.

[36:14] I need some one another's. I need someone to carry one another's burdens, to love one another, to pray for one another, to encourage one another, to lift up one another.

[36:26] I need some one another's. I won't trust in self, but I'll wait on the body. And we see this with the church around the table.

[36:39] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day. Thank you for your word. I thank you for the truth that it contains.

[36:51] Lord, I pray that now as we have seen it, and we have read it, and we have heard it, that by the power and presence of your Spirit, you would speak to us as your people, for your glory and your good.

[37:03] Lord, lead us in this time of invitation, would you draw us closer to yourself. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

[37:36] Amen. Thank you.

[38:35] Thank you.

[39:05] Thank you.

[39:35] Thank you.

[40:05] Thank you.