1 Corinthians 11:17–31

All of us, I fear, have had the experience of attending some Christian service and walking out at the end with a feeling of extraordinary unreality. What on earth were we doing there? Sometimes it has to be said that this feeling of unreality, this experience of unconnectedness and insignificance,

Sacrament vs Ordinance

The distinction between sacraments and ordinances is primarily based on their theological significance and purpose. Sacraments are often seen as means of grace, conveying God’s grace directly to participants, and are essential for salvation. They are considered efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church. In contrast, ordinances are often viewed as symbolic acts commanded by Jesus, commemorating key aspects of the Christian faith, and are not considered sources of salvation. They are seen as expressions of faith and obedience, marking an act that is both meaningful and set apart.

So once in a while, it is very important to go back to basics and articulate just what the Lord’s Supper is supposed to be about:

The Lord’s Supper symbolizes our unity, our oneness, in the body of Christ.

Now the Lord’s Supper has been introduced already in 1 Corinthians 10, 1 Corinthians 10:14–16. “My dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?”

It is not that we somehow participate in Christ’s blood by drinking. The word participation is almost always, in the New Testament, translated as fellowship. That is what is at stake here. “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a fellowship of the blood of Christ?” That is, it is an expression of our oneness as a fellowship, a fellowship of the blood of Christ. Is not the bread that we break a fellowship in the body of Christ?

1 cor 10 Verse 16  NIV: “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?” The word rendered participation is almost everywhere else rendered in the NIV as fellowship. There’s no little preposition “in” there. This should really be rendered, “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a fellowship of the blood of Christ?”

If you render it “a participation in the blood of Christ” and then “a participation in the body of Christ,” it gives the feeling that somehow, by ingesting, you participate in something. What is meant in the context, as becomes very clear in the next paragraph, is that the cup of thanksgiving, the rite itself, signals, circumscribes, and constitutes a fellowship of Christ

 a fellowship of the blood of Christ and a fellowship of the body of Christ.

To use the examples, then, that are given in verse 10;18: “Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?” Now that doesn’t mean that they ingest the altar. The point is that it’s a fellowship of the altar. They constitute a people circumscribed by their participation in the altar.

That this is Paul’s point is made clear then in the next verse. “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”

He says in 1 Corinthians 11:17, “In the following directives, I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.” In other words, the one place where condemnation is universal concerns Holy Communion. Shocking. Not disputes over tongues or hats or eating meat offered to idols, but Communion. Why?

In the first place, he says, “I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent, I believe it.” A classic Pauline understatement. You bet your life he believes it. “

Nevertheless, the church is still responsible for expressing this unity. “When you come together, however,” he says, “it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else.

Thus all the divisions in society are being brought right into the church in the very rite that ought to be an expression of fundamental Christian unity.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we eat and drink together, this is a time to confess our one-upmanship, to confess our arrogance, to love one another for Christ’s sake, and to acknowledge that we are one in him.

We’re a fellowship of the Lord’s Table. We’re a fellowship of the Lord’s blood. We’re a fellowship of the Lord’s body. In fact, all genuine Christians participate in this one body. We all partake of the one loaf. The whole emphasis here is that this religious act circumscribes us, defines us, and constitutes us a one-fellowship people of God, bound up with this rite, which is going to be unpacked by the apostle in the next chapter.

It is not suggesting that we somehow ingest Christ or ingest Christ’s blood and somehow, thereby, participate in him. That is a problem of English translation. It is simply not what the text says. We are a fellowship of the blood of Christ. We are the fellowship of the blood of Christ. We are the fellowship of the body of Christ. It is a rite that serves as a center and symbol of Christian unity.

 The Lord’s Supper reminds us of Jesus’ death.

Paul writes in verse 23–25: “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.’“

You know as well as I do that there have been vast disputes across the history of the church on the precise significance of the Lord’s Supper. I shall not enter into those disputes here. What is clear, however, is that there is great emphasis on the importance of remembrance, remembering Christ’s death.

The Lord’s Supper is a time to remember.

First Corinthians 11:23–25: “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.’ ”

Lord’s Supper was built off the Passover rites. The Israelites gathered year by year, once a year, to remember, on the appropriate date, the Passover. What did they do? They remembered. By remembering, it was a kind of covenantal renewal.

They remembered when the Lord had passed over the people of Israel in Egypt who had put

I am persuaded that one of the reasons why the Lord gave this simple rite, in his great wisdom, is because he saw that the church of Jesus Christ would necessarily, would inevitably, be involved in all kinds of legitimate things that would, nevertheless, take believers away from the core. What are the things that churches have to deal with in the course of a year?

Then there are the pragmatics. You still have to fill out

Here, by this simple rite, Jesus insists that we go back to basics. “Do this in remembrance of me.” In some ways, it is tragic beyond words that he felt he needed something like this for us. Shall we forget him?

All of these are legitimate things, but somewhere, along the line, the cross is so far back in the background that, well, it’s sort of presupposed, but it isn’t at the pulsating center anymore.

In one sense, this is one of the most shocking paragraphs in all of the New Testament. There is

In fact, it does fit into a larger structure. You see, the old Passover remembered the old covenant. It was linked to the old covenant. Now Jesus says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” This is a rite, like the old rite, that remembers the inauguration of the new covenant in the same way the Passover remembered the inauguration of the old covenant. From Jeremiah 31 on, six centuries before Christ, the prophets had looked forward to the dawning of a new covenant.

“Do this in remembrance of me.” He takes the cup and drinks it, and he says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” This inaugurates the new covenant. They don’t really know what’s going on. Then he dies. Three days later, he rises again. He talks with them for weeks before he finally ascends and leaves them behind.

Now so many of the pieces come together, and they reflect on that night when he said, “This is my body which is broken for you.” In the light of their witness of the cross, in the light of what they saw on Calvary, in the light of the night when they fled Golgotha, do you really think they focused all their energy, then, on the bread? I don’t think the first Christians could understand it in any other way than a symbol-laden act akin to the symbol-laden act of the Passover.

They didn’t look back to the bread. They looked back to the cross and remembered that on the night before Jesus had actually died … just as the Passover feast was celebrated before they actually got out of Egypt, in anticipation, in an act that they would only understand afterward.…

The Lord’s Supper is the seal of the new covenant.

We have God’s law written on our hearts (in the language of Jeremiah). We have been washed with water and cleaned up, and the Spirit has been given to us (in the language of Ezekiel). The Spirit has been poured out on all flesh: young and old, men and women (according to the language of Joel). This is the language of the new covenant.

Here, then, is a place for great rejoicing. You and I, if we know Christ at all, participate in the new covenant.

The Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of Christ’s death.

First Corinthians 11:26: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” The verb that is used for proclaim is one of three verbs commonly used in the New Testament for the articulation and proclamation of the gospel. So often, what we do with the Lord’s Supper, in some churches, is invite everybody who is not a member or anybody who is not a Christian to leave now. This is now a purely in-house matter.

Well, we shall soon see that it is an in-house matter. It is for Christians only, but apparently, in the ancient church, it was also an opportunity to proclaim

Now if you’re not a Christian, don’t take the elements. It’s a kind of contradiction in terms for you to say, ‘I remember,’ when you don’t remember. You don’t know the Lord. You ought to watch, however, how Christians think about the death of Christ and want to be drawn back to that death again and again, on which they fasten all their hopes for reconciliation to God, for the removal of their sins, for forgiveness, and for their hope of

Ah, but you say, how can that be? The Lord’s Supper is for Christians!

We will have been so been transformed that we are no longer tempted by sin or defection. We will no longer sing, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.” We will no longer have some rite which will call us to remember, for we will remember forever. Because of that, this is a temporary rite, which itself anticipates the Lord’s return. “Until he comes. Until he comes.” It is a temporary ordinance.

The Lord’s Supper is a temporary rite of anticipation.

 You proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

This is not something we are going to continue to do in eternity. When the new heaven and the new earth finally dawn, no one will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper …

The Lord’s Supper provides an opportunity for self-examination.

Verse 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.” Now it is important to understand that the text really does say “in an unworthy manner.” It is not that you or I are worthy or unworthy; it is not we who are worthy or unworthy, but the manner of our approach. This is an adverb describing how we come, not an adjective describing who we are. Of course we’re unworthy; that’s why Christ died!

But there can be a worthy manner of approach to this Table. It is not an approach that is based upon any putative goodness in us; that’s not the point. It is this: how can we possibly come to the Lord’s Table and say, “I remember. I remember that he died for my sins,” when in fact we are nurturing sin? To say, “I remember that he died because of my bitterness,” when I am nurturing my bitterness or “I remember that he died to forgive me all my hate and self-centeredness,” when I am loving my hate and my self-centeredness. That is to approach in an unworthy manner.

 You are sinning against the real body and blood of the Lord. I think that the right explanation is just very simple. You are sinning against the real body and blood of the Lord: the Lord Jesus who hung on the cross. If you come to this Table, where you’re supposed to remember, and you say, “I remember the body and blood of the Lord,” when deep down inside, you are nurturing resentments, sin, arrogance, prayerlessness, lust, hatred, and gossip, and you say, “I remember,” then you’re sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

The Lord hung on the cross. He hung on the cross for you, and you remember while you nurture all this sin? You’re sinning against Christ’s body. You’re sinning against the cross. You’re sinning against his sacrifice.

 The manner of approach must be self-examination and confession of sin. Otherwise the rite itself becomes not only a farce, but a blasphemous farce. We are claiming to remember that by which we are saved, while, in fact, deep in our lives, we prefer our sin.

How blasphemous it would be to say, “Yes, Lord Jesus, I accept your forgiveness, now let me go out and sin”?

The Lord’s Supper reminds us of covenantal judgment. It is dangerous.

It warns us of it in verses 30–32. Some, you see, do not examine themselves; some take of the elements and nurture their sin. Paul says, “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. When we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.”

 The Lord’s Supper can be dangerous.

First Corinthians 11:30–32: “That is why …” That is, because some have not examined themselves. “… 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.”

Paul holds that at least some of the ailments in the congregation at Corinth are bound up with their nurtured sin while still they are approaching the Lord’s Table. Now it is important to say a couple of things here. Nowhere does the Bible teach that all illness, or the like, is the direct result of an immediate sin.

Do you hear what the text is saying? Paul is actually saying that some instances of illness in the congregation, and some instances of actual death, are nothing less than the Lord’s explicit judgement on those who dare to approach the Lord’s Table so lightly.

No, it is in the early church that has the account of Ananias and Sapphira. One of the men who taught me theology when I was a student at seminary (now gone to be with the Lord after dying

God help the church where he just lets them go on their own way and there’s no judgment anywhere: no discipline, no judgment, nothing, no sanctions, do what you like! Pretty soon, you have a dead church. That means, then, that the Lord’s Table is a place that can be dangerous because we serve One who says, “I am the Lord. My glory I will not give to another. To this man will I look: he who is of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my Word.”

The flip side of all of this, of course, lest we end up with just fear, is that this is a place, then, for remembering the boldness of access we have in Christ. Christ did die, and we remember. Our sins are forgiven, and we remember. We are called to be children of the Living God, and we remember. We are heirs of the new covenant, and we remember. We remember. Amen.