©2002 Pastor Tom Miles

Paul started this chapter by giving praise to the Corinthians in verse two for keeping the ordinances but now he says, "in this" meaning that which I now speak of I declare or give this charge of not praising you as to your dealing with the Lord's Supper!  And then in the next verse, 18, Paul says in the public gathering of the body of Christ, the Church, he has heard of divisions among them.  He goes on to say that he also believes it in part meaning that of some of them he believes it to be true and of others not true.  He goes on in verse 19 to say that he understands that division will exist within the church.  It is only human nature for such division to appear. But if this division is not addressed within the congregation it can bring destruction to the church. It is also through this appearance of division that the true believer shines brightly with the love of Christ making it easy to see who truly desires to follow Christ and who desires only to follow man.

In verses 20 to 22 we find that in the early church there was a love feast commonly held by the Christians.  This love feast was usually held in conjunction with the Lord's Supper.  During this time food and money would be gathered for the poor.  Often the poor though would never receive the food or money because the greed of the wealthy would take over and this of course tainted the taking of the Lord's Supper! Paul reminds them of the importance and serious nature of The Lord's Supper telling them if they want to have feasts they need to have them separate from the taking of the Lord's Supper!  Paul strives to differentiate in verse 23 between the common feasts and the Holy Table of the Lord.  “I received of the Lord,” tell us that Paul is not speaking of himself but instead of the Lord.  Paul says that the ordinance of the last supper was left as a gift to believers to memorialize what was about to take place--His death, burial, and resurrection! “Betrayed,” sitting at the same table with our Lord was the man that would turn traitor and give Christ up for thirty pieces of silver.  Yet, Christ knowing this gave His love to man!  He broke bread representing His body, and gave drink representing His blood that would be spilled for our redemption!  How precious a gift and memorial how could we not but love this man!  Verse 24 and 25 goes on to say, “This is my body, which is broken for you,” the bread broken is the symbol of Christ's body, which is soon to be wounded and pierced for the iniquities of the entire world.  Paul reminds them that Christ then said to take and eat of this bread symbolic of His body but when you do so, do it in a thankful, humble, and worthy manner in remembrance of my love for you.  Paul says that then after they had taken the bread and ate that Christ says take this cup, which is symbolic of my blood soon to be spilled for your iniquities and as often as you do it do it in remembrance of me.  Christ said this is the New Covenant established in Him--because of this Paul feels it should not be mixed with a common meal or feast.  Sacrifices in olden days were all done in remission of sin and this sacrifice--the final sacrifice once offered would represent the greatest remembrance of sacrifice for the remission of sins ever given.  Paul makes comment in verse 26 of the nature of the supper where we see that in keeping the Lord's Supper Holy and remembering that it is a symbolic representation of Christ's betrayal by man and His death, burial, and resurrection we say publicly, and symbolically to our own hearts and souls and to the world also that our hope and trust is in CHRIST!  Not the dead Christ hanging on a cross, but the resurrected Christ seated at the right hand of the Father and that we are assured of the soon return of our Lord and Savior to fulfill His promises to us.

Now in verses 27 to 29 Paul gives definition to a most important factor in taking the Lord's Supper--we are reminded that if we take it in an unworthy manner we bring condemnation to ourselves.  To take the sacraments in an unworthy way would be to take them with our mind on something else other than Christ.  Such as taking them during a feast such as describe in Paul's writing.  Another way is to have our mind on things other than Christ, in other words looking around and thinking about what we will have for lunch, supper, etc.  Thinking about the clothing some one next to us is wearing or the new hairstyle of the woman in front of you or still thinking of the quarrel you had with your spouse or child earlier that day.  These are all things that take our mind off Christ and will cause us to partake of His Covenant in an unworthy manner.  So we should clear our mind of all things and ask God for forgiveness of all things concentrating fully on Christ before taking the sacraments.  Christ gave His life for us so the least we could do for Him while taking the sacraments representative of His body and blood is to do so in a reverent and worthy manner.  In verse 30 Paul says that it is because of our taking of the sacraments in an unworthy manner that many among us are sick, weak, and sleep (sleep is another word used for death). It is the belief of Christians that there is healing in the sacraments of Christ and if taken in an unworthy manner can cause sickness to remain and come to the body which can lead also to death.  It is considered such an important ordinance of the Lord that it requires such strict observation while partaking of the sacraments.  Here in verse 31 we are told that if we do examine ourselves, present ourselves openly before the Lord and ask Him to remove from us any thing that is not worthy of coming before Him we remove the risk of punishment or chastisement from God.

In the last three verses Paul explains that the only reason for God to chastise His children is to lead or direct them towards repentance and to save them from the destruction of this world.  So if we learn to examine ourselves and bring ourselves willingly to repentance and self-examination especially before taking of something as sacred as the sacraments we are doing what God desires of us. When you come to take the Lord's Supper do it in an attitude of reverence, one that shows your desire to fellowship one with another and one with God!  In other words if you are going to partake of the Lord's Supper and others will be joining you--wait until all are present and all have examined themselves before proceeding! Here Paul concludes that the Lord's Supper was not to feed the hungry, in other words it was not to feed the natural man but instead to feed the Spiritual need of man.  Paul then tells the people that when he next visits he will give them more instruction on the workings of the church and the believers.

Father, thank You for Your Word and for Your grace.  Thank You for caring enough about us so many generations later to have inspired Your servants to write all that You want for us to know.  I love You God!  In Jesus name Amen!

Where Jesus is Lord!
Living Vine Ministries
Pastor Thomas Miles

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