Preached
at Northwest Christian Church David P. Kautt
Sunday
Morning, April 1, 2012
1 Corinthians 11:17-24, “Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for
the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a
church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.
For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be
recognized among you. Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not
to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of
others; and one is hungry and
another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? 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 do not praise you. For I received from
the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed
took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body
which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of
Me.” For as
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death
till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats
and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not
discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would
judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come
together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at
home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order
when I come.”
Someone has said that
the examined life is the only life worth living. Now, I’m not exactly sure where the person
who came up with that statement is coming from, but as a Christian, as someone
who claims to wear the name of the King of kings and Lord of lords, as someone
who would dare to take part in a weekly celebration of His sinless life, His
bruised and battered body, the broken, unleavened bread, and of His shed blood,
the full and final atoning sacrifice for my sins, the fruit of the vine, as a
Christian, someone who claims to wear that name and who dares to partake of
this weekly supper, I must – no ifs, ands, or buts here – I must live an
examined, a fully examined life. For two
weeks now we have been getting ready to rejoice in the events we look forward
to commemorating this weekend on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, the
death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And the way in which we are preparing ourselves
this year revolves around our look at what we do - what and how and why we
celebrate every Lord’s Day at this Table.
So far, with this
Table as our reference point, in light of what this Table means, considering
whose Table and Supper this is, we have looked first of all at this sacred
celebration through the lens of history.
We have looked back at how from eternity past, God, in His infinite
mind, God, by way of His mouth and mouth pieces, the prophets of old, and God,
through the moving of His hands, has prepared for us, spread for us, a Table
wherein we can praise Him for what He’s done for us in Jesus Christ. Yes, we’ve looked back at this Table and what
we are to do at this Table through the lens of HISTORY. Then, last week, we took our
divinely-inspired ‘lens’, the Word of God, and aimed it HEAVENWARD. And, in looking that direction, we learned or
re-learned that at this Table - we recognize - must recognize that the Source
of our salvation is not ourselves, who we are, what we’ve done, what bench we
sit on in this sanctuary, but who He is!
At this Table, looking at it through the lens of Heaven, we see the
Source of our Salvation, God the Father, and the seal of our salvation, God,
the Holy Spirit, God’s ‘engagement ring’ placed around our hearts so as to say,
‘Wedding Day’s coming!’ I’m going to
come for My Bride! And then, perhaps
best of all, through the lens, the perspective of heaven, we see the Sacrifice
of our salvation, the One who laid down His life to make His own, Jesus Christ
our Lord! That’s the second side of the
Communion Table. The upward look, the
perspective of HEAVEN.
Now, however, we come
to what is likely the most sobering side of the Table, the least enjoyable
vantage point we are called to take when we step to this Table and our time
with Jesus there each Lord’s Day. I’m
talking about the inward look, the heart-ward perspective, the lens of
self-examination. Consider again my
opening statement: The examined life is
the only life worth living! Now, look
again at what Paul had to say about this. Set in the center of what he teaches us regarding
this sacred meal is this astonishingly sober passage:
1 Corinthians 11:27, Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”
What
does Paul mean by what he’s saying to us here?
What’s his point? Well, before we
answer that, allow me to run just two or three other passages of Scripture by
you that have very much the same message for us.
Psalm
14, “Who shall ascend into the hill of
the Lord? Or, who shall stand in His
holy place?” Answer: “He that has clean hands and a pure heart,
who has not lifted up his soul to any idol nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord,
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”
1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of
God dwells in you? If anyone defiles
that temple God will destroy him. For
the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
1 Corinthians 6:18-20, “Flee sexual immorality. All
other sins that a man commits are outside his body, but he who commits sexual
immorality sins again his own body. Or
do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought at a price, therefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s!”
So what are we
suggesting? That the examined life is
the only life worth living. Now hear
James chapter one:
James 1:21-25, “Therefore
lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness
the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a
doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes
himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who
looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a
forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he
does.”
Back to 1 Corinthians
11 and to this third view from the Lord’s Table - the inward look - the
examination of our hearts. Why would
Paul say these things? What’s his point
that we need to know and act upon?
First off, let’s
answer with this simple observation: the Lord’s Supper, those who claim to wear
the name of Christ, those who dare to partake of the unleavened bread and fruit
of the vine, believe me, if we’re not careful, we can make this time of the worship service into a lot of things, a
time to listen to some quiet music, a time to look around and see what someone
else is doing or wearing, a time to check our text messages, a time to let your
mind wonder and your mouth water about what you’re going to eat when you get
home. We can make this sacred time into
a lot of things, we can, and perhaps we do.
But, listen. If we make it into
anything other than what Jesus meant for it to be, a proclamation of Jesus’
death until He comes again, a celebration in remembrance of Him and His love
for us, we are putting ourselves into real, serious spiritual jeopardy! The Corinthians of Paul’s day were turning
into a time of gluttony and drunkenness for the ‘haves’ and a time of
depravation and rejection on the part of the ‘have nots’. Instead of drawing fellow Christians closer
to each other and to Jesus, the way the Corinthians celebrated this Supper
actually was serving to split Christ’s church!
As those who claim to
be Christians and who dare to take part in this sacred Meal, what are we
making of it? And, is God pleased with
what we are making of it? “Let a man
examine himself, and so, in this self-examined spiritually-prepared clean
hands, pure heart, sort of way, let him eat of the bread and drink of the
cup…”
What’s Paul point? Self-examination. To look into this ‘mirror’ – God’s Word - and
quickly forget what kind of person I am, before my utterly holy God - such a
thing opens the door for me to reduce this Meal into nothing more than 5 minutes
of silence in the service! But, sincere,
self-examination - what does it do? But
to look into this ‘mirror’ and continue therein, as a doer of what it says, opens
wide the door for me to draw near into the Holy of holies, to the throne of
grace, to the foot of the cross, to the empty tomb, to our Savior, Jesus
Christ!
Why does Paul soberly
and rather sternly call us to self-examination before we participate in the
Lord’s Supper? Verses 29, 30 and 31 – My
friends, do we realize what we’re dealing with here? What we’re taking part in here? What we may be opening ourselves up to
here? Anybody ever had a mother or dad
exhort you, instruct you along these lines, “David, you’d better be careful,
now, looks to me like you’re playing with fire!”
Beloved, the reason
for the very sober tone of this text is obvious, isn’t it? Nadab and Abihu, priestly sons of Aaron, died
playing with the holy fire of God’s altar (Leviticus 10:1-7). Ananias and Sapphira conspired to lie to God,
to cheat the church, thinking that would help them get ahead financially, over
they fell – dead – struck down by God for daring to play around with Him (Acts
5:1-11). Paul warns us to examine
ourselves because to fail to do so, to fail to rightly discern what we are
doing here, and, then to take part in an unworthy manner, is to eat and drink
God’s judgment to oneself, to open the door, not for God’s blessing and
righteousness from the God of salvation, but to swing it wide open for dreadful
things like sickness, weakness, even death!
Wow!
Let a man examine
himself. The examined life, searched out
fully and sincerely by this heavenly Search Light - it is the only life worth
living, it is! How do I know that? Anybody ever had a ‘guilty’ sentence hanging
over his head? I have. Who robbed the cookie jar? Who ran the stop sign? Who broke his promise to be faithful till
death? Who claimed to know something or
be something that he isn’t or doesn’t?
Who? We might as well all raise
our hands, right? We’ve all been guilty,
perhaps still are guilty of some crime, wrong doing or sin.
Look one more time at
our text, especially verse 27. Imagine. Is it hard to imagine being guilty of the
body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ?
In a similar, very sober vein, the writer of the Book of Hebrews has
this to say:
Hebrews 10:26-31, “For if we
sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no
longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of
judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who
has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse
punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son
of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified
a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says
the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Imagine. I can hardly bear the thought, can you? Imagine failing to properly and sincerely
examine myself, and do whatever I need to do, to ascend to the hill of the
Lord, to stand in His holy place, with clean hands and a pure heart. Imagine failing to do that and then being
guilty of trampling the Son of God under foot, guilty of counting the blood of
the new covenant, His sacrifice of love, as if it were a common thing, guilty
of insulting the Spirit of Grace!? Can
you imagine that? Paul’s words of
warning here are not to be taken lightly!
The cost is too high! The
consequences are way too painful! We
must examine ourselves! We must! But how?
How?
To find out how to
examine yourself properly, and therefore, to discover how to prepare properly
for this Supper, I urge you to study two passages. Psalm 26, a text that expresses a deep,
abiding commitment to truth and sincerity before God. And, Psalm 139, a prayer to guide you as you
examine yourself before God.
Psalm 26:1-7, “Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have
walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip. Examine me, O Lord, and prove
me; try my mind and my heart. For Your
lovingkindness is before my
eyes, and I have walked in Your truth. I
have not sat with idolatrous mortals, nor will I go in with hypocrites. I have hated the assembly of evildoers, and
will not sit with the wicked. I will
wash my hands in innocence; so I will go about Your altar, O Lord, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works.”
Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me,
O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting.”
The
examined life (including the self-examined celebration of the Lord’s Supper) -
indeed it is the only life worth living!
Let’s pray.
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