1 Corinthians 11:23

For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of Me." After the same manner, He also took the cup when He had supped, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do ye, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim or show the Lord's death till He comes.

Wherefore, whosoever will eat this bread or drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

Lord, we thank You that You have made the way open for us to have fellowship with You. Jesus, it is through faith in You and by grace that we have the assurance and access to come before You. We come before You, God, crying, "Abba, Father." Oh, what manner of love You have given unto us that we should be called the children of God! And being children, You have made us heirs of righteousness, Lord. We thank You so much.

Being in that position, we in no way want to ever offend You. Yet we know that there are ways in which we do. So, God, would You reveal those things to us that we may lay them down? Lord, we want to honor and glorify You. Speak to us from this passage by Your Spirit, we pray. In Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, "Amen."

You can be seated. Paul has been confronting the church at Corinth with some real inconsistencies within their fellowship.

Within their church, we opened this section last week in verses 17 through 22, discussing the issue they were facing surrounding the Lord's Supper. We continue with the topic here, but before we jump into it, I think it's important to note what Paul says at the opening of verse 23, where we read, "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you."

You see, any person who is seeking to equip, exhort, edify, or encourage the body of Christ corporately by the Word of God ought to first receive from the Lord before they endeavor to deliver that to the body. It is very important that the one who is giving forth God's Word has also received from the Lord. Paul states, "I receive from the Lord that which I deliver to you." This is what it means to be a faithful steward of God's Word: to receive from the Lord and then deliver it to others.

This reality should weigh heavily upon the person who prepares to teach God's Word, and it does upon me, I guarantee it. It takes very little giftedness for someone to speak before a group. You may not think that's the case because many people would rather die naked on a cross than stand up in front of a group and speak forth anything. However, it takes very little giftedness. You can learn to be a public speaker and have a lot of things to say. In fact, many times I have been guilty of saying way too much and going way too long. In some ways, I feel that I might identify with the Apostle Peter, who clearly, from the Gospels, always had plenty to say and often put his foot in his mouth.

But the question is, have those who come before the body of Christ to share God's Word themselves received from God? This is such an important reality, and it is so easy to be distracted with much serving. I am reminded of the story of Mary and Martha in the Gospels, where Jesus was at the house of Mary and Martha, actually her brother Lazarus's house. He was teaching, and Martha was serving, busy about much serving, as the text says. She was rather upset that her sister Mary was just sitting at Jesus's feet.

And so she comes in and says, "Lord, you need to rebuke her. Tell her to come help me." Jesus responds to Martha, saying, "Mary has chosen the better part. It will not be taken away from her." It is so easy to be consumed with much serving and forget the important reality of sitting at the feet of the Lord. I honestly ask that you would continually pray for me, as the Lord has given me the responsibility of not just sharing here on a Sunday morning or maybe a Wednesday night, but also at the Bible school and other conferences and opportunities that arise.

It is really easy to be distracted with much serving and fail to spend that needed time receiving from the Lord. I think this is exactly what the apostles were addressing in Acts chapter six. You can turn there if you'd like to make sure it's still there. In Acts chapter six, verse two, a problem arose in the early church where a group of people was not being ministered to. The twelve called the multitude of the disciples, the church, to themselves. They said, "It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God to do this task of ministry."

The task of ministry was important, but they showed that their time with God in His word and in prayer was more important. God had called them to do that. They said, "It is not reasonable for us to leave what God has called us to do in His word to do this task, although that task is important." They continued, "Wherefore, brethren, look out among you and find seven men that have a good report, a good testimony, and a good reputation. Seven men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom that we may appoint them to this business, because this is important business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

I am so thankful that we have the leadership that we do here at Calvary Chapel, not just those who are on staff, but our elders and all of those who are serving. If we were to have everyone this morning or this afternoon stand up who is serving in some way within the body of Christ here at Calvary Chapel, I think many of you would be blown away by the fact that the majority of our church is actively serving. It is such a blessing because it frees me and others within our fellowship, who have been given the responsibility of sharing the word, to focus on that.

Please pray for me that I do not get distracted, because I do.

It's easy to get distracted. Paul said, "I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you." He begins to speak again about the issue surrounding the Lord's Supper in Corinth. The context of this passage has been the misuse or misapplication of the Lord's Supper by the Corinthian church. Paul is seeking to set in order by this letter those things that had fallen out of order at the church.

Paul was the one who built this church; he established it. When he left them in Acts chapter 18, things were in order, but they had since fallen out of order, leading to chaos within the church. The Corinthians had inappropriately incorporated the Lord's Supper and this time of communion with the Lord into a common church gathering that they called the agape meal or the love feast. This love feast was very similar to a modern potluck.

At this love feast, some of the more fortunate members within the body of Christ, those who had more, divided themselves from those who had little. There was a social divide within the church. Those who were more fortunate would come to the agape feast, bringing food and drink, which at the time was wine. They would separate themselves and isolate themselves from those who didn't have very much. They would eat and drink to the point of gluttony and becoming drunk at this church meeting. Meanwhile, another group of people, who didn't have anything, would go away hungry.

At the end of this gathering, they would throw the Lord's Supper into the mix, thinking it was a great opportunity for the church. They reasoned that since they were gathered together, they might as well partake of communion as Paul had instructed them. Apparently, in the letter they had sent to the Apostle Paul, they talked about this agape feast and said, "Paul, isn't this great?" However, as we saw last week in verse 22, Paul responded, "No, it's not great. I cannot commend you on this. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not." Paul is seeking to make this perfectly clear.

This is not at all how the Lord's Supper is to be celebrated. As we saw in verses 17 through 22 last week, Paul addressed the problem that they faced. Now, as we come to verses 23 through 26, he gives them the pattern that they are to follow.

When we consider this pattern of the Lord's Supper, it's important to recognize, as most Bible scholars agree, that 1 Corinthians was likely written before any of the four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not written when Paul wrote this letter. This is significant because what Paul says here in verses 23 through 26 is directly revealed by Jesus Himself—a direct quote from the Lord Jesus.

What does this tell us? The pattern to follow was established by the Lord Himself. This was not merely an invention of the early church or even of the apostles. Paul did not make this up; it was not his opinion. He did not adopt it from somebody else and just adapt it to the churches that he planted. The Lord's Supper is just that: it is the Lord's Supper. He established it and commanded that we partake of it in a manner that He directed and for the purpose that He revealed. He is the one who established this, and the church has continually practiced it for nearly 20 centuries now.

Like baptism, it was given by the direction of Jesus Himself. You remember there in Matthew chapter 28, Jesus said to His disciples before His ascension, "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The church has continued to do that for 20 centuries. The reason we have continued to do this is that Jesus Himself explicitly said, "You are to do this." The same applies to communion; He is the one who directly gave this. Therefore, this is not just a tradition within the church; it is an institution of the church.

Not only is the pattern given directly by the Lord,

But notice when he gave it there in verse 23. The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed. Paul could have presented the history of the establishment of the Lord's Supper in so many different ways, and yet he chose to use the betrayal of Jesus as that temporal marker for this event. He could have said, and he would have been right to do so, that it was the night that Jesus partook of the Passover with his disciples there in Jerusalem. He could have said it was the time that they were all gathered together in the upper room when Jesus took bread. He could have said it was the night that Jesus washed his disciples' feet when he took bread. All of those things would have been true.

However, Paul chooses the betrayal as that pinpointing mark, saying, "that night that he was betrayed, he took bread." They were partaking of the Passover. They were in an upper room. Jesus would wash his disciples' feet. In many ways, that event, that meal that Jesus had with his disciples in the upper room, was the perfect ending to a rather tumultuous week for him and his disciples.

The week began on Palm Sunday, and we will be talking about this in just a few weeks. Jesus, with his disciples, came into Jerusalem as the crowds of people sang from Psalm 118, saying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." They were proclaiming, "There is our Messiah, there is our Christ, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

But then Jesus went directly from the Mount of Olives into the temple. He made a whip out of cords and drove from the temple all of those who were buying and selling there, doing that which was not right and not a good example of God's work. For the next several days, he was in the temple precincts, preaching. The priests, the chief priests, the elders, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the scribes were all coming to him. The religious establishment of Judaism was coming to him, inquiring of him, putting him under interrogation, and testing him by asking questions.

About divorce, they were asking Him questions about paying taxes to Caesar. What they were really doing was examining the true Passover Lamb. It was the week of the Passover, and everybody would bring their sacrificial lamb to the temple. It would be inspected by the priest, or they could buy a lamb at the temple that had already been inspected and shown to be worthy of the sacrifice.

Jesus Himself, whom John the Baptist said was the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world, came into Jerusalem. For the next several days, He was examined by the religious establishment and shown to be perfect. But ultimately, they rejected Him. It had been such a heavy week, and now He was there with His disciples, partaking of a meal that was a joyous celebration for the children of Israel. The Passover celebrated their exodus from Egypt, and every year, multitudes of people would go up to Jerusalem for the Passover. It is said that the entire population of the city would double during that week.

There were all these pilgrims in the city of Jerusalem to joyfully celebrate their redemption from the land of Egypt. Jesus was having this meal with His disciples, who had made ready for it earlier in the day. However, there was one among them, one who had been with Him throughout His entire ministry, who had not made ready for that event. Instead, he had made ready to betray Him.

In Matthew chapter 26, we read about that one. It says in verse 14, "Then one of the twelve," and this was just about 24 hours before they partook of this meal, "there was one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot who went into the chief priests. He said unto them, 'What will you give me if I deliver Him into your hand?'" They covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver, which the book of Exodus, I believe in Exodus chapter 21, says is the redemption price for a dead slave.

"What will you give me if I deliver Him over to you?" they asked. They covenanted for thirty pieces of silver, and verse 16 says, "From that time, Judas sought opportunity to betray Him." What a contrast! Jesus and Judas. Jesus giving all and laying down His life.

His own life for the sake of all humanity, and Judas giving in for thirty measly pieces of silver. To the point that today, I don't even probably need to ask the question: how many of you have ever met anybody named Judas? I guarantee you, if you go home, find a thesaurus, or go to thesaurus.com and type in "betrayer," Judas will be one of the synonyms.

Paul says, "Jesus, the night in which he was betrayed." One of the most phenomenal realities to me about the Lord's Supper is that Jesus knew everything ahead of time that was coming to pass. He knew that his disciples were arguing over who should be the greatest. When they came into the room to partake of the Passover, they were arguing about who should be the greatest. It probably went something like this: they were probably arguing over who got to sit where around the table because they were seated according to rank. And they were arguing, and he knew it. I'm sure he came into the room, and they stopped. "Well, hello, Jesus. What's going on?" "Oh, we're just making ready."

He knew that none of them would be willing to wash one another's feet, even though that was supposed to take place when they came in there, and that it would be left to him to do, which he would willingly do. He knew that every single one of those who sat at that meal with him that night would deny him before the night was over. He knew that at that table with him, dipping in the same sauce with him, was one who would betray him. He knew him by name.

He knew that within twelve hours, he would be tried, falsely condemned, and crucified after he had been beaten, scourged, and mocked. He knew everything that was facing him, and yet we read here in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 that he took bread and gave thanks. He gave thanks. You just have to pause and wonder: what did he give thanks for? Knowing all those things, what could he possibly give thanks for? We don't even know what's going to happen five hours from now.

From now on, we have a hard time giving thanks. He gave thanks. I would so love to hear just what that prayer was when he sat down with his disciples for that meal. We know that he had longed to have this Passover with them; we read that in the Gospels.

He took bread and broke it. I imagine that there were many times over the course of those three-plus years that he and his disciples journeyed together. There were many instances where they witnessed their master, their rabbi, take bread, bless it, and break it. In fact, in the Gospels, when we read about Jesus feeding the multitudes, we see him take bread, bless it, break it, and give it to his disciples to distribute. They had seen him do this before, but they had never heard him use words such as these: "Take, eat, this is my body which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." They had never heard that before.

By taking the bread in his hands, breaking it, and giving it to his disciples while saying these words, he was distinguishing for them that there was a difference between the bread in his hands and his physical body. This distinction is important because the notion that we are actually partaking of the physical body and blood when we eat the bread and drink the cup is nowhere found in the Scriptures. Jesus was making a clear distinction: this bread is a symbol of my body, which is given for you. He wanted them to do this in remembrance of him.

They knew full well what he was saying when he broke that bread. They understood that he was not claiming this is my actual body. We say that because there are some within the body of Christ, in general, who believe that during the Mass, the bread actually becomes the body of Christ and the wine actually becomes the blood of Christ. The Scriptures do not support that view. The bread and the wine, or the juice in our case here at Calvary Chapel, are symbols of the sacrifice. They do not actually become the body and blood of Jesus.

Jesus said, "This is my body which is for you." Now, many translations, including the King James Version, say, "This is my body which is broken for you." However, some of the manuscripts do not have that word "broken," and there is debate.

Among Bible teachers, there is often discussion about the word "broken" being used in reference to Jesus. In John chapter 19, verse 33, the Apostle John makes it clear that when Jesus was crucified, none of His bones were broken. This was to fulfill the Scriptures from Deuteronomy and Exodus, which state that the Passover lamb was not to have any of its bones broken. Jesus died before the Roman garrison, the centurions, could come and break His legs to hasten His death. Therefore, none of His bones were broken, fulfilling the prophecy.

Some people struggle with the phrase "this is my body which is broken for you" because they argue that His bones were not broken. While I understand that His bones were intact, we must consider whether we can say that His body was not destroyed through what He endured. His physical humanity was indeed broken at that point. How so? The Romans took Him and, seeking to appease the crowd that was shouting "crucify Him," Pontius Pilate, who did not want to condemn an innocent man, recognized that Jesus had done nothing worthy of death. To placate the crowd, he had Jesus scourged.

The Roman guards beat Him, using a whip that likely had as many as nine leather straps, each embedded with pieces of broken clay, bone, and sharp rock. They would lay this whip against the back of the accused and tear it away. After repeated lashings, this brutal method would begin to expose the inner organs of the body. The Romans were experts in this form of punishment, which they used as an enhanced interrogation device.

Have you heard that term before? It has become a significant issue in our day. There has been much discussion in the political arena in America about the use of enhanced interrogation methods, such as waterboarding. The Romans, however, had no qualms about such practices. They did not conduct public opinion polls in Rome; they did not care what people thought. They would take their prisoner, tie their hands, and place them over a tree stump or similar object before beginning to whip them. Each time they struck, they would demand, "Tell us what you've done."

You began to confess whatever sin you did, whatever bad thing they did. Then the beating would get lighter and lighter, but Jesus opened not His mouth. That means it got worse. For thirty-nine lashes, many Roman prisoners would die through the scourging, but Jesus made it all the way to Calvary's cross before He died, just so destroyed and broken.

As Jesus takes bread and gives it to His disciples, He says, "Eat this and do this in remembrance of Me." We have to recognize that Jesus said to do this. The partaking of the bread and the cup in remembrance of Him is a command of the Lord. We are told that we are to do it.

Now again, this "do this" is in the present imperative active tense in the Greek. You may say, "Well, that's just gibberish to me. What in the world does that mean?" Well, basically it means this: Jesus gives forth the Lord's Supper to His disciples. He commands His disciples to do this in the future, after He had partaken with them, and to repeatedly and continually do it. He's not saying, "Hey, sometime down the road, maybe you should do this." He's saying, "No, after this point, you are to do this, and you are to repeatedly and continually do it."

So we have continued to do it for some twenty centuries. Now, the very next day after Jesus instituted this supper with His disciples, they would have even wondered if there would be a future. They would watch their Lord, their Christ, their Messiah, be crucified, and they would figure it's all over. But Jesus, in His command, actually promises them, "You're going to do this again, and you're going to do it throughout your age. Continually."

He gives the purpose for it. What's the purpose of the Lord's Supper? The Lord's Supper was instituted by the Lord for His followers so that we might have a regular and tangible way of remembering the most important reality of our faith, which is the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The very thing whereby man is made right and righteous before a holy God is significant. He says, "I want you to do this in remembrance of me." Do not do it to be holy; it does not make you holy. Do not do it to get to heaven; it will not open the doors of heaven for you. Do not do it as a mere ritual, as some have done. Don't do it just to sanctify a meeting, like the Corinthians were guilty of doing. Do it in remembrance of Him and what He did. If it's for any other purpose, it's a waste of your time, as Paul says. It's just not important if you're not going to do it for any other reason than this: to remember Him.

Paul says in verse 25, "After the same manner, or in the same way, he also took the cup after they had supped, saying, 'This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.'" Now, I don't know about you, but in my mind, I have this picture of that Passover meal and of that Lord's Supper that He instituted with His disciples. It goes something like this: He gathered with His disciples, and at some point in the meal, He took bread, broke it, gave it to His disciples, and said, "Eat this." They ate it, and He said, "Do this in remembrance of me." Then, immediately after, He took a cup and said, "Okay, this is the blood of the new covenant. Drink this and do this in remembrance of me."

However, that's not likely how it happened. In fact, when we consider the actual Passover meal and see the progression of it, it begins to make more sense. The Passover meal began with the host pronouncing a blessing over the first of four cups. There were four cups of wine shared by all those at the Passover meal. The host of the meal, which would be Jesus in this case, would take that first cup, pronounce a blessing over it, and then pass it to those gathered so they could all share in that cup.

After the first cup was drunk by the group, they would take bitter herbs, dip them in a sweet fruit sauce, and eat them. These bitter herbs represented their bitter bondage in Egypt. So, after the first cup, they would eat these bitter herbs dipped in that fruit sauce. The host would then give a message about the meaning of Passover and their redemption from Egypt.

And so there's the picture. Jesus is with His disciples. He takes the first cup, blesses it, and they share it. Then they partake of the bitter herbs dipped in fruit, and after that, they eat. He shares with them about redemption. Following this, they would sing the first part of a hymn taken from the Psalms, called the Hillel Psalms or the Psalms of praise, specifically Psalm 113 through Psalm 118. They would likely sing just the first part, probably Psalm 113 and 114.

Then the second cup would be passed, and each person gathered would partake of it. After that, the host would take a piece of unleavened bread. In the Scriptures, leaven is a type of sin. Jesus takes that bread and completely changes the order of the Passover. Normally, He would just take it, break it, and pass it to them, and they wouldn't fully understand what the bread was all about, but they would eat of the unleavened bread.

This time, however, He takes the unleavened bread and says, "You see this? This is my body. It has always been representative of my body. Now you understand. This is my body, which is for you. It's given for you. I want you to partake of this and remember me." After they partake of the unleavened bread, they would eat the main portion of the meal, which is the roasted lamb.

After eating the roasted lamb, the sacrificial Passover lamb, the third cup would be taken. The third cup is called the cup of redemption. It is believed that this is the cup Jesus stood up with after they had eaten the meal. He says, "This cup, the cup of redemption, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. It is shed for many for the remission, the removal of sins. Do this in remembrance of me." He gives it to His disciples, again changing the order of the Passover meal.

Now they drink from this cup, perhaps not fully comprehending what He is talking about—His body being broken, His blood shed for them. But within twelve hours, they would know and comprehend exactly what He was talking about. The third cup was that cup of communion, the cup of redemption, the cup of the new covenant in His blood.

And so the picture is this: Jesus gathers with His disciples. He blesses the first cup, and they drink of it. They eat the bitter herbs that remind them of their bondage in Egypt. Then they drink of the second cup and partake of the bread. After that, they eat the meal, the sacrificial lamb in their place.

Next comes the third cup, the cup of redemption, which Jesus says is the cup of the new covenant. The new covenant. You see, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt in Exodus chapter 14, after the first Passover meal, they went two months later to Mount Sinai. There, God gave them the law and established a covenant with them, which has come to be known as the Mosaic covenant because it was under Moses. In that covenant, they were to bring sacrifices to the Lord to deal with their sin.

Now, Jesus says, "This is the new covenant in My blood," not the blood of bulls, rams, lambs, and goats, but now the covenant in His blood. It was new, not in the sense that it was replacing the covenant of works, but that it was the fulfillment of the old covenant. What Jesus was doing by going to the cross was fulfilling that which the old covenant could never do.

The old covenant, which involved all those sacrifices—countless bulls, lambs, and goats—was not sufficient. It could not fully deal with the sin of humanity. The sheer number of sacrifices, day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, for more than 1,400 years, all of these sacrifices that were offered proved that it was not enough. It was insufficient.

I think the best way to explain it is to consider a financial debt. None of you here today have any sort of financial debt, I'm sure. But if you did, and you had a great financial debt on a credit card, every single month you would get a bill in the mail. That wonderful MasterCard, Visa, or Discover card would send you a bill saying, "Listen, you owe this much." Let's just say it's insurmountable, it's huge—hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hopefully, that's not hitting anywhere close to home for some of you. But you have this great bill, and there at the bottom it says, "You owe this."

But just for you, the minimum payment. All you have to do is pay this little amount, and we'll be happy until next month. The sacrifices of the old covenant were like the minimum payment against a huge debt. If you've ever paid that minimum payment, you know you don't get very far. It may carry you along for another 30 days, but you don't get very far. It appeases the creditor until the next one is due.

All of those sacrifices that were given for all those years under the old covenant just cried out that they were insufficient. Yes, they appeased it for a time, but it was not enough. The new covenant was necessary because the old covenant could never fully deal with the debt of sin. The debt is too overwhelming for man's sin. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.

The book of Hebrews confirms this. If you'd like, you can turn to Hebrews chapter 10, just several books to the right of 1 Corinthians. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 1, states, "Therefore the law, having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of those things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." It's always insufficient.

For then, if they could fully pay it, they would not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers once purged would have no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made unto sin every year. Notice verse 4: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins." Reach over and put a star next to verse 4 in your neighbor's Bible. It is not possible that the blood of those old covenant sacrifices can take away sin.

And so Jesus enters in at the right time to pay in full the debt of our sin. The last words that Jesus announced on the cross were the Greek word "tetelestai," which is an accounting term meaning "it is finished."

Or it is paid in full. Is that not a good thing to remember? Is that not a good thing to have a memorial for? Because of His death, because of His body that was broken and His blood that was shed, our debt of sin has been taken care of.

Jesus says, as He gives the wine to His disciples, "This do in remembrance of Me." He instructs us to do it in the future, continually and repeatedly. As often as you drink it, do it in remembrance of Me. The phrase "as often as you drink it" implies that we should do it regularly. It should be a regular part of our pilgrimage as Christians.

You may say, at Calvary Chapel, we only do it once a month. Is that really regularly? I would say yes and no. Sadly, there are some churches that don't even do it at all anymore. In comparison to them, I would say we do it far more regularly. But could we do it more? Yes. And so could you.

There is evidence that in the early church, early Christians remembered the Lord's death, burial, and resurrection through bread and through the cup, oftentimes at every meal. Whenever they were gathered together for a meal, they would take time to remember this bread that they needed for their existence, that they had to have for their life. It's very similar to the body of Jesus that was broken for me. Without Him, I am lost.

This cup represents His blood that was shed for me; apart from Him, I'm sunk. At every meal, they would do this. There were also times when they would gather corporately to do it, but it seems that Paul instructed them to do this often. "As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of Him."

You see, you do not need the church gathered together in a corporate public worship setting to partake of the Lord's Supper, nor do you need a priest to administer it. As you follow church history, you find that there came a point in church history where they started...

To basically say, the only one who can administer it is the priest, the one who's trained, the professional. You have to go to Mass to receive it; you can't do this on your own because they are delicately handling the actual body of Christ. You might mess it up.

However, we have the liberty in Christ to pause and partake at any time of the elements of communion as often as we'd like. In fact, the elements of communion themselves—the bread or the cup, the wine in the case of the Scriptures—aren't even as important as what is being done in partaking of communion.

What do I mean? Well, there are certain cultures in the world today, like some of those south of us here in Southern California, that partake of dried banana chips and coconut milk when they partake of communion. I'm sure there would be some who say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can't do that." Why not? There are some places where maybe they use a tortilla and some real wine. Some people get upset that we here at Calvary Chapel don't use real wine; we actually just use grape juice. But the reality is, it's not about the bread or the grape juice. It's about the focus of our attention and our hearts as we're doing it.

Now, I will say that there was quite a stir at the beginning of this year, and maybe you saw this in the headlines. For the last several years, the snack company that makes Doritos chips has had this contest for the Super Bowl where anybody can produce a commercial. Those commercials get submitted and voted on, and if your commercial wins, then you can have your commercial in the Super Bowl. This last year, they had 5,000 people submit their commercials. One of them was called "Feeding the Flock."

In the commercial, a priest is trying to figure out a way to get people to come to church and partake of Mass, so he decides to use Doritos and Pepsi. He has a line out the door as he gives a Dorito and some Pepsi to the people. A lot of people were really ticked off. In fact, they removed that from the submission of commercials to the contest because so many people were offended by it.

Now, I'm not proposing that you use Doritos and Pepsi. I actually understand, in some way, why some people were offended by it, but I think we ought to recognize that the elements themselves are not as important.

As the heart of the individual and the focus of the person partaking of communion, we are to do it in remembrance of Him. The purpose of the Lord's Supper is a memorial wherein we remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, through which He paid the overwhelming debt for our sin.

Paul says, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup" (verse 26), "you do proclaim or show the Lord's death until He comes." In the regular partaking of the Lord's Supper, through the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup, we are proclaiming and remembering that Jesus did, in fact, die on Calvary's cross, that He was laid in a tomb, that He was dead, and that He did rise from the dead. Furthermore, we remember that He will come again.

You may recall that in the Passover there were four cups, and it was the third cup, the cup of redemption, that Jesus took and said, "This is the blood of the new covenant." What about the fourth cup? If you read the accounts of the Lord's Supper in the Gospels, you see that after Jesus gave that third cup to His disciples, they sang a hymn. The Scriptures say that they rose from there and left.

Here is what I believe happened: the fourth cup is called the cup of the kingdom, and it reminds us of God's kingdom. I believe that Jesus took the fourth cup because the Gospels tell us that He actually said this in Matthew 26:29. He took that cup of the kingdom and said, "But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until I drink it again anew with you in my Father's kingdom." I believe that He left that fourth cup there.

In partaking of the bread and the cup in communion, we are reminded that He will come again to receive us to Himself, and we will be with Him in His Father's kingdom, where we will have a great feast with Him. The fourth cup that night was an illustration to the disciples that He would come again and usher in His kingdom.

So we look forward to that day, and every time we partake of the Lord's communion, the Lord's Supper, we proclaim that He died on a cross, but He did not stay dead; He rose.

From the dead, He was witnessed by over 500 eyewitnesses, many of whom went to their deaths—tortured deaths. They were martyred, and they went to their deaths proclaiming, "He is risen." If He had not risen, at least one of them would have cracked. He is risen indeed. We proclaim the Lord's death until He comes, and we do believe there will come an end of the age. The Lord Jesus will return for His church, and we will one day be with Him in the kingdom that He establishes.

We're going to look at that a little bit next week. Just this last week, and I'm sure I'll talk about it a little bit more next week, Lawrence O'Donnell, one of the anchors of a commentary show on MSNBC, spoke about how the book of Revelation is a book of fiction. He said it is not the end of the world. Is he right? Amen.

In verses 17 through 22, Paul gives us the problem that they faced. In verses 23 through 26, he presents the pattern to follow. In verses 27 through 32, he discusses the preparation for the feast. "Wherefore, whosoever shall eat of this bread or drink of this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

As we looked at last week, the church at Corinth was doing things that were both immoral and self-serving while partaking of communion. They were certainly partaking of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner, and Paul writes to them, exhorting them to stop. Stop doing this.

The children of Israel, when they would prepare for the feast of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, would purge out all the leaven from their homes. They would go through their homes and make sure there was no leaven or yeast, which is a type and a picture of sin. They would prepare before they partook. What Paul is saying here is that we, before we come to the Lord's table to partake in the Lord's Supper, need to prepare. We need to examine ourselves, which the Greek word translated as "examine" means to deem worthy.

By inspection, it means to scrutinize for the purpose of proving genuine. Paul says you need to examine yourself; you need to recognize if you are worthy to partake. You need to wonder or ask, are you a believer? If you're not a believer, if you do not believe that Jesus died, rose again, and will return one day, you ought not to partake. Paul says you would be partaking in an unworthy manner.

If you are walking in unconfessed or unrepentant sin, Paul says do not partake. If you come before the Lord's table and your attitude or motivation is wrong—if you're angry with your brother or sister, or angry with your spouse—don't partake until you deal with it. If you come before the Lord's table and find that your motivation is unscriptural, meaning you think that in some way this action, partaking of the bread and the cup, will make you right with God, he says don't partake.

At any given time, any one of us in this room could be counted unworthy of partaking of the Lord's Supper. But here's the issue: how do we become worthy? Because all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way. Isaiah 53 says the Lord God, the Father, has laid on Him, Jesus, the iniquity of us all. By His stripes, we can be healed. As we come before Him in repentance, we recognize, "Lord, Your body was broken for me, Your blood was shed for me, that I could be made right with You. Would You forgive me of my sin?" In that instant, you are worthy. You are ready to partake. Jesus, in His grace and mercy, makes us worthy. Not our works; we cannot clean ourselves, but we are made right with God through Jesus Christ.

However, we ought to test ourselves and examine ourselves. In verse 29, it states that he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. Now, that's a pretty heavy thing. He eats judgment to himself. What exactly is meant by eating judgment to yourself? I think the best thing we can pull from this is that God takes seriously the issue of the Lord's Supper.

He takes seriously the misuse of His table. He tells us very clearly that there is a punishment for those who partake in an unworthy manner because they do not discern the Lord's body. Although we may not fully comprehend what that punishment is, there is a consequence for such actions.

There is a lot of discussion about what is meant by "not discerning the Lord's body." There are really two different views on this. One group looks at verse 17 of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and argues that not discerning the Lord's body refers to the body of Christ, the gathered believers present. However, others look at verse 27 and contend that it refers to Jesus' body and His blood that was shed.

So, what is it? Honestly, I would say, you decide. What do you think the Scriptures are saying? Is it that by taking in an unworthy manner, you disrupt and destroy the unity of the body of Christ? Or is it that the Lord Himself meets with His church in a special way through communion, and by not taking in a worthy manner, you fail to recognize His presence and participation with us?

To be honest, I think either answer could be valid, or maybe even both. The simple fact is that we ought not to do either of those things: fail to recognize the body of Christ or the body of the Lord. We should not overlook that we, the body of Christ, are made one in Him by His death, burial, and resurrection, and that the Lord's Supper is a unifying sacrament.

The church in Corinth was causing division, and Paul says it shouldn't be doing that; it should bring the body of Christ together. Additionally, we must not fail to recognize that Jesus is the prime focus and the primary meaning of our gathering for the Lord's Supper. If we fail to see Him, then we fail to discern the Lord's body.

In verse 30, Paul states, "For this cause, eating in an unworthy manner, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." He continues, "For if we would judge ourselves or examine ourselves, we should not be judged or go through this chastening. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."

Paul indicates that there was an actual physical, visible judgment that had come upon some in the Corinthian church for not partaking in a worthy manner. Some of them were weak.

Some of them were sick, and some of them have even fallen asleep, which means they had died because they didn't observe it in the right way. That's a heavy thing to consider.

Wherefore, in verse 33, Paul gives us the practical consideration. He already showed us the problem that they faced and the pattern that they were to follow. Now we come down to verses 33 and 34, which discuss the practical significance. Paul says, "Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat or to partake of the Lord's Supper, wait for one another." This ought to be a communal thing for the body of Christ to do in community as one. He emphasizes that when you gather together for this purpose, you should wait until everyone is gathered.

He continues, "And if any man is hungry, let him eat at home, that you may come together not unto condemnation." The rest I will set in order when I come. Paul explains that this event, the partaking of the Lord's Supper at the Lord's Table, is not an occasion to eat a meal to fill your physical body. This is a time to remember the Lord and to minister to one another, to the Lord, and to your own spirit.

He stresses that this isn't the place to come to eat and get full. If you come to church for community and to eat to get full, it will be difficult when you eat a cracker that is this big and drink less than an ounce of juice. Therefore, he advises that you should eat at home if that's the case, so that you do not come together unto condemnation. Essentially, what Paul says is that there is no point in gathering together if it is going to result in judgment.

There is no point in gathering together if it will result in not the better, as we saw last week, but the worse. He concludes, "And the rest I'll set in order when I come." It seems that the letter addressing all the problems that Corinth faced was quite a bit larger than Paul was able to address in this single letter. He assures them that when he comes, he will set in order the things that are wrong.

Essentially, he says there has been enough said on this, and I think you'd agree.

Let's stand and pray. Father, we are in desperate need every single day for Your grace and Your mercy. We fall far short of Your glory. But Lord, we are so thankful—I am so thankful—that in You we find grace and mercy.

And peace. We can come before Your throne of grace at any time to obtain it. God, would You work in me and in my brothers and sisters here, that we would walk in a way that is glorifying to You and a good witness in this world? Transform us this week as we consider these things. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

A heart of God is observed in this world. We are likely to suffer in society in the Motherland. Thank you.