WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.380 You don't need me to tell you this morning about how divided we are in our culture. 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:15.200 ! We were praying a moment ago about conflict across our world. It seems that it's there 00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:20.320 ! at every turn, and we're told that we're more tribal than ever, and lines are more easily drawn 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.879 than ever, and there are all kinds of groups, and those groups don't get on, and there are 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:29.359 all kinds of disagreements. And it seems to be in our culture at the minute that there is 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:37.159 something of an appetite for that. We rush to extremes in order that we can divide with those 00:00:37.159 --> 00:00:46.179 that aren't like us. Divisions are a reality in a fallen world. And of course, the perennial 00:00:46.179 --> 00:00:50.620 expression of this, the way that we see this, the one division that you see in every culture, 00:00:50.739 --> 00:00:54.859 wherever you go, is that between rich and poor. 00:00:54.859 --> 00:01:01.700 But our passage this morning, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, turn it up, page 958, if you've 00:01:01.700 --> 00:01:07.120 closed your Bibles, our passage this morning tells us that there is one place that that division does 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:15.120 not exist, and that is the kingdom of God. And therefore, there is one place on earth where 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:21.920 that division should not exist, and that is the church of God. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:27.880 How did you become a Christian? If you're a Christian this morning, how did you become a Christian? 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:33.200 You might say, well, I grew up in a Christian home, and I don't remember a time when I didn't know and 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:40.200 love the Lord Jesus. You might say, well, I attended Holiday Bible Club, and I was a child, 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:47.340 and I heard the gospel, and that was the moment for me. You might say, well, a Christian friend 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:52.920 invited me to Club 16, or I went to a youth group with a Christian friend, and that was where it 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:57.939 began for me. Or when I was at university, someone invited me to the Christian union. That's not what 00:01:57.939 --> 00:02:03.939 I mean. That's not how you became a Christian. Those are the circumstances by which you came to hear 00:02:03.939 --> 00:02:11.340 about Jesus and the gospel. I mean, how did you come to put your faith in Him? How did you come to that 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:17.139 decisive moment when you decided you weren't going to walk your way any longer? You were going to walk 00:02:17.139 --> 00:02:26.520 His way. You see, whatever the circumstances, you all came the same way. We, all of us, came the same way. 00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:33.639 We came to see our sin, and we came to see our need of a Savior, and we confessed our sin and put 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:42.179 our faith in Christ as that Savior. And the reason that all of us did that, whatever the circumstances, 00:02:43.019 --> 00:02:48.139 whatever was going on around us in terms of the way we felt about things and the way our desires 00:02:48.139 --> 00:02:53.739 were leading us, the reason that we did that is because God gave us the gift of salvation. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:00.239 If you were high-born, you didn't come to Christ through your breeding. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:09.280 If you were rich, you didn't buy your way in. If you were poor, but you showed some promise, 00:03:09.820 --> 00:03:15.600 you didn't get a spiritual bursary. The big issue, strap line. You know the big issue that you see 00:03:15.600 --> 00:03:22.100 people still to this day selling on the streets? The idea is that if you're poor, you can get involved 00:03:22.100 --> 00:03:26.760 with the big issue, and they'll give you a job that will help you get on. And their strap line is, 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:33.859 it's a hand up, not a hand out. Well, when it comes to the kingdom of God, even that is no good. 00:03:34.459 --> 00:03:42.759 There is no hand up that will work. We are too lost for a hand up. It's not that someone can help us, 00:03:42.799 --> 00:03:47.419 and we can do a bit, or God will sort of get us started, and we'll do a bit ourselves, and we'll 00:03:47.419 --> 00:03:54.619 work our way into His kingdom. Whatever we have, humanly speaking, or whatever we don't have, 00:03:55.259 --> 00:04:01.639 we need a gift if we're going to get right with God. That's the only way, the gift of God's grace 00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:07.479 to us in the Lord Jesus. And let me say to you this morning, if you are here and you are looking into 00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:13.439 Christian things, and we are so encouraged that there are numbers of people coming along week by week, 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:18.300 not yet saying that they'd be Christian, but really interested. And we love that you're here. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:23.019 But if that's you, and you're looking into things, I want to tell you that you cannot get right with 00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:30.079 God by any other means. You cannot get right with God through anything in yourself, or anything that 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:35.779 any other human being can do for you. And I want to say, the moment you come to realize that, 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:40.759 it's actually really liberating. You might think that being told that there's nothing you can do 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:45.939 yourself to save yourself is actually a reason for despair. It isn't quite the opposite. It is the 00:04:45.939 --> 00:04:52.139 doorway to hope. You see, if you can see that you've been living life in God's world on your terms, 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:57.680 and you see yourself in need of a Savior, and you see that Jesus Christ is that Savior, 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:03.139 and you throw yourself on Him in repentance for your sin and faith in His death and resurrection, 00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:10.979 you will be reconciled to God. You will be. That's the promise of the Bible. I can stone-cold promise 00:05:10.979 --> 00:05:16.060 you this morning that you will be reconciled to God. If you see yourself as a sinner in need of a Savior, 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:23.219 and Christ as that Savior, and you trust Him, you will be reconciled to God. Eternal life will be yours. 00:05:23.599 --> 00:05:26.459 Nothing more, nothing less. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:38.979 salvation is free to all and any who will receive it. And because of this, one of the most important 00:05:38.979 --> 00:05:45.339 implications of all of this is that we are therefore all equal when it comes to the church 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:51.939 of the living God. When you can't earn or achieve your way into something, you're the same as the person 00:05:51.939 --> 00:05:58.040 next to you, whatever they have or don't have. And there is a unity that flows from that. 00:05:59.660 --> 00:06:05.819 The equality that we have in the church of the living God works its way out in unity. 00:06:07.540 --> 00:06:09.459 God gives different gifts to different people, 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:18.220 but those gifts don't make them better than others. God gives different gifts to different people, 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:24.400 and what you have or don't have doesn't make you better or worse than anyone else here this morning. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:31.280 In Christ, there is equality, and that equality works out in a oneness, a unity in Him. 00:06:33.580 --> 00:06:38.580 This was something that the Corinthian church had forgotten. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 18, 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:44.480 can you see, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:53.740 In the church, in the one place where rich and poor are truly equal, this society that is supposed to 00:06:53.740 --> 00:07:00.100 run counterculture, the language the Bible uses, the city on a hill that is supposed to be marked out 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:07.660 by different values to the city of man, in Corinth it is just as divided as the culture around them. 00:07:07.700 --> 00:07:12.920 The problem, it comes to the fore when the church celebrates the Lord's Supper, which in Corinth 00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:18.879 evidently happened in the context of a church meal. Their custom would have been to eat together, 00:07:18.960 --> 00:07:23.720 and as part of that meal, they would have had bread and wine in remembrance of Christ. 00:07:24.020 --> 00:07:26.900 But look at verse 20. Paul says, verse 20, 00:07:26.960 --> 00:07:30.220 whatever you think you're doing, it's not the Lord's Supper you're eating. 00:07:32.740 --> 00:07:38.500 Because of the divisions, whatever they're doing, it isn't anything, Paul says, that the Lord Jesus 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:43.579 would recognize. Look at verse 21. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, 00:07:43.819 --> 00:07:45.680 one goes hungry, another gets drunk. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:53.199 The wealthy in the church, they had control of their schedules, and they could get to church when 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:57.839 they wanted. The church may even have met in their homes. That was common in those days. The wealthy 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:04.720 people had opened their homes, and the Christians would gather there for worship. The wealthy may have 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:09.440 owned the place where the church met, but they certainly had control of their schedules and 00:08:09.440 --> 00:08:14.160 could meet when they wanted. Other people were poor, maybe even slaves. That was quite likely, 00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:18.280 and they had to work on the schedule that they were given, which meant that they were not always 00:08:18.280 --> 00:08:24.240 able to get to church at the same time as others. You finish up your work, you rush to get it all done, 00:08:24.500 --> 00:08:28.340 and you've got to get to church. It might be the other side of town, and of course, you can't just 00:08:28.339 --> 00:08:36.360 Uber, so you've got to get there. It takes some time. And the rich had started eating when they 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:41.620 arrived, or when people began arriving, and by the time the others made it along, there wasn't any food 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:45.339 left, and the ones who'd been there from the start were well down the bottles of wine. 00:08:47.399 --> 00:08:53.259 I saw the Lord's Supper, Paul says. And he's rebuking the Corinthians. He's saying, listen, 00:08:53.379 --> 00:08:58.159 we've been here, haven't we, for a while, among Corinthians. All this talk about them being wise. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:04.620 They love their wisdom. All this talk about, we know that there are no, that idols are nothing. 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:11.299 And he's saying to them, all your talk about wisdom, all your talk about understanding idolatry 00:09:11.299 --> 00:09:17.219 and what false worship is, all of that, do I commend you because of what you're doing with 00:09:17.219 --> 00:09:24.980 these divisions? Verse 17, I do not commend you. Verse 22, down a bit, shall I commend you? No. 00:09:24.980 --> 00:09:33.420 Now, Paul's angry. He's very confronting here. And he is so because division in the church along 00:09:33.420 --> 00:09:39.759 socioeconomic lines, factions in the church between rich and poor is antithetical to the gospel. 00:09:40.740 --> 00:09:46.360 And he explains how this is the case. He presses it out. It's certainly the case because of what I said 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:51.840 about the ground at the foot of the cross being equal for all of us, whatever we have or don't have. 00:09:52.519 --> 00:10:00.000 But he presses that out further, and he gives us two very significant implications. Dividing the body 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:06.060 in this way is a problem, point number one, Paul says, because it despises God's church. 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:12.579 It despises God's church. 21, for an eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal, one goes hungry, 00:10:12.699 --> 00:10:20.179 another gets drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church 00:10:20.179 --> 00:10:28.079 of God and humiliate those who have nothing? Paul's rebuke makes it clear that the rich are on view 00:10:28.079 --> 00:10:32.239 because they're the ones who would be able to afford their own houses, houses to eat and drink in. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:39.899 And it's not hard to imagine how this works. As I've said, you've pulled a shift at your job in 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:44.120 Corinth, and you've got everything done, and you want to get to worship, and you've got to get across 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:52.139 town. And when you get there, the party's already started. People are all stuck in, and there's nothing 00:10:52.139 --> 00:10:57.799 for you. And when you arrive, you come through the door. Everybody's having their own conversations, 00:10:57.799 --> 00:11:05.279 and you're not drawn in. You feel like an outsider. And how does that make you feel? Well, Paul puts it 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:11.099 very accurately. He says, you feel humiliated. You feel like you're not welcome. You feel like there's 00:11:11.099 --> 00:11:18.039 no place for you in this community. That is why you couldn't attach the Lord's name to this meal, 00:11:18.099 --> 00:11:24.859 because the division shows that you despise His church. It's actually no different to the divided 00:11:24.860 --> 00:11:30.580 culture that we live in in our day. There are haves, and there are have-nots, and the two don't mix. 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:36.060 And these poor have-nots come in, and the haves, well, they hang about with themselves. They're doing 00:11:36.060 --> 00:11:40.259 their own thing. They're enjoying the luxury and whatever of what they have, and these people 00:11:40.259 --> 00:11:43.000 feel on the outside, and they are humiliated. 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:52.259 A while ago, I read a book with the title, White Working Class, Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America. 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:58.879 That's the title. It's not a very good book, and I wouldn't recommend it. However, there was a really 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:05.580 interesting phrase. The author talked about what he called, quote, the harsh disdain of the elites. 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:10.899 I think that's a good way to summarize how many leaders in our culture think and act, 00:12:11.740 --> 00:12:15.039 treating those that they are supposed to serve with contempt. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:22.120 I think we see it in our own political leadership, even those who have come from a humble background 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:27.740 themselves, but they now have places of power. They use that power to create rather than diminish 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:36.419 division. But there is no place in God's church for harsh disdain from anyone to anyone else, 00:12:36.419 --> 00:12:43.659 because to operate in that way is to despise the unity of what God has created, what He has purchased, 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:49.259 what He cherishes with a jealous love. The bride of Christ, the church of the living God, 00:12:49.319 --> 00:12:53.039 is the apple of God's eye. And so, to divide it 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:58.539 is to despise what He has done. 00:12:58.539 --> 00:13:05.339 I'm glad to say that I think rich and poor, broadly speaking, rub along really pretty well here. 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:13.339 The essence of this issue, factions that serve to humiliate those that are on the outside 00:13:13.339 --> 00:13:21.639 for whatever reason, we should be serious about that warning as a church family. 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:28.460 We should see that it is a serious thing to allow these kind of factions to grow. 00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:34.860 Just because that kind of thing goes on out there, just because factionalism and division 00:13:34.860 --> 00:13:41.699 and in groups and outside groups is normal in our culture, doesn't mean that when we see that kind 00:13:41.699 --> 00:13:46.559 of thing perhaps beginning to show its face in the church community that we just shrug and we say, 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:53.319 well, it's kind of how it is in the world that we live in. No, we do things differently here. 00:13:54.199 --> 00:14:00.339 We don't want to despise God's church. It is a serious thing. The Apostle Paul is turning up the 00:14:00.339 --> 00:14:07.039 seriousness. And in fact, he doesn't just stop there. This kind of division, he says, despises God's church. 00:14:07.239 --> 00:14:12.979 Secondly, also, it forgets God's Son. Point number two, it forgets God's Son. 00:14:12.980 --> 00:14:20.480 It is ironic, I think, that their sin is, the occasion of their sin is the Lord's Supper, 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:26.500 is this table around which we will gather shortly. Because the Lord's Supper is the meal that is 00:14:26.500 --> 00:14:34.120 all about the very opposite of what it is that they're doing. So, Paul is using the meal to make 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:40.480 his point. He could have said to them, look, I've heard reports that there's division among you between 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:46.300 rich and poor. Cut it out. Stop it. It despises God's church. He cherishes his bride. Don't divide 00:14:46.300 --> 00:14:54.259 over these things. You're all one in Christ. But he gives us like a little mini-theology of the Lord's 00:14:54.259 --> 00:14:59.340 Supper as a way of illustrating the point and developing it theologically for them so they see 00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:08.240 just how scandalous it is. He uses what have become the words of institution here. Verse 23, 00:15:08.860 --> 00:15:15.000 for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:20.519 was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:28.460 which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, 00:15:28.460 --> 00:15:33.100 saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance 00:15:33.100 --> 00:15:39.500 of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:47.460 until he comes. This was something Paul received from the Lord directly. Now, he wasn't present when 00:15:47.460 --> 00:15:52.300 the Lord Jesus instituted this meal with his disciples. Paul, you remember, became an apostle 00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:59.479 in an unusual way. He says he is an apostle as one untimely born. He was commissioned by the risen 00:15:59.479 --> 00:16:04.719 Christ at their meeting on the Damascus Road. He was different from the other apostles in that regard. 00:16:05.059 --> 00:16:12.659 But on that Damascus Road event, in that event, in the tutorial that Paul was given about what his 00:16:12.659 --> 00:16:18.299 ministry would need to include, of all the things that Jesus could have mentioned, he made sure this was 00:16:18.299 --> 00:16:27.259 part of it. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. This is something that he was 00:16:27.259 --> 00:16:33.459 told in that event on the Damascus Road. This is how important the Lord's Supper is to the church and to 00:16:33.459 --> 00:16:43.879 the Christian life. And that's because of what it does, what the meal does, and what it says, what it 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:56.039 proclaims, what it does, and what it says. So, when Jesus says, this is my body, this is shorthand for 00:16:56.039 --> 00:17:06.720 his life, his death, his whole incarnation. And when he says, which is for you, he's saying that in his 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:16.380 incarnate life, Jesus had one soul aim. Jesus did not take on a human body because he was bored or because 00:17:16.380 --> 00:17:23.539 he was curious and he wanted to see what life was like down there on earth. He did it for us. 00:17:26.259 --> 00:17:29.200 He did it because we needed him to do it. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:37.080 He did it because without doing it, we would be lost. We would all be lost. 00:17:38.580 --> 00:17:40.819 In John's gospel, Jesus is recorded as saying this, 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:47.700 Very truly, I say to you, very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:55.480 His blood, you have no life in you. What he means by that, he's saying he gave his life to give us life. 00:17:55.480 --> 00:18:04.360 He gave us, he gave his life to bring us into relationship with God. That is what he means by 00:18:04.360 --> 00:18:16.660 the cup being the new covenant in his blood. The cup, when he says, this cup is a new covenant in my 00:18:16.660 --> 00:18:25.039 blood, it is shorthand for the cup and what it contains. It contains the symbol of his blood that 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:30.980 ratifies the covenant, the agreement, the new relationship between God and man. We are 00:18:30.980 --> 00:18:36.680 reconciled to God. When we come to Christ, we are reconciled to God and we are given a new identity. 00:18:38.819 --> 00:18:40.039 That's what he's talking about. 00:18:44.259 --> 00:18:48.339 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was 00:18:48.339 --> 00:18:53.439 betrayed, took bread, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, 00:18:53.679 --> 00:18:59.779 which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. He took the cup after supper. This cup is the new 00:18:59.779 --> 00:19:07.740 covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Jesus is showing us 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:16.279 in the supper, a depiction of all that he has come to do for us in order to reconcile us to God. 00:19:17.620 --> 00:19:24.140 And he brings us into covenant relationship with God, and that changes our identity. It's like when 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:30.319 a man enters the covenant of marriage. He's no longer a bachelor. He's a husband. He receives a new 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:37.460 identity. So when we come into covenant with God, we are no longer sinners but forgiven. We are no longer 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:47.519 dead but alive. We're no longer orphans but we are adopted into God's family. And as we've said, 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:52.620 as I've said a number of times now, this means that we have a unity with all the other members of that 00:19:52.620 --> 00:20:01.259 family. And the supper, the supper is an expression of that unity that we celebrate in order to keep 00:20:01.259 --> 00:20:11.559 reminding us of that fact. Back in chapter 10, verse 17, we saw that unity explicitly stated, 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:19.599 because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we partake of one bread. The supper 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:28.379 is a participation in Christ, and in eating the shared loaf, we are made one. Mystically, spiritually, 00:20:28.380 --> 00:20:35.520 God works in that event to make us one. And the supper also is given to remind us of all that Christ 00:20:35.520 --> 00:20:45.040 has done. But as we take that one loaf together, in eating together, it serves to unify us now. 00:20:47.580 --> 00:20:54.540 That's why we have this meal regularly, because we need it. But it is also why you will hear whoever 00:20:54.539 --> 00:21:01.180 it is that presides at the table extend an invitation to eat and drink widely. Just as anyone at the 00:21:01.180 --> 00:21:06.319 beginning, just as anyone, regardless of their nationality, their social standing, their financial 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:13.920 status or education, whatever metric of superiority you choose, just because anybody can come to Christ, 00:21:15.019 --> 00:21:20.019 none of those things prevent someone from coming to Him. So, they don't prevent anyone from coming to 00:21:20.019 --> 00:21:24.980 the table. If you are trusting in Christ for salvation, if you've demonstrated that in your 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:29.980 baptism, and you aren't persisting in high-handed sin the way the Corinthians were, you're invited to 00:21:29.980 --> 00:21:39.319 the table. You're compelled. You're entreated to come and eat. And when we do this, do you see what 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:45.119 Paul says our eating and drinking says? Look at verse 26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:52.419 the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. When we sit around the table of the Lord, 00:21:53.199 --> 00:22:00.419 and we take the bread and the wine, we communicate something. We proclaim the power of the cross of 00:22:00.419 --> 00:22:06.739 Christ to defeat our sin, every sin. If you're here this morning and you're thinking to yourself, 00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:12.859 I have sinned my way out of God's favor, and there's no hope for me, that's not the case. 00:22:12.859 --> 00:22:18.839 As we come to the table, have it remind you that everything that Christ did is sufficient to cover 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:23.119 every sin that you could commit. And if you're repentant, He will have you. 00:22:25.799 --> 00:22:29.339 That's what we proclaim, the power of the cross of Christ to defeat our sin. 00:22:29.899 --> 00:22:34.139 We also proclaim the power of the cross of Christ to create a new people. 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.759 We look around this room and we see people that would have nothing in common apart from the fact that 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:45.299 we're in Christ together. Some of us would never have met. Some of us would never have connected 00:22:45.299 --> 00:22:52.200 because we're so different. And yet, we're one in Christ because of what He has done. We proclaim 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:59.819 that at the table. A world that is looking for answers to conflict. A culture that is desperate to 00:22:59.819 --> 00:23:06.379 find an answer to the division that it just keeps digging deeper into. We proclaim the one place that 00:23:06.380 --> 00:23:13.500 that can be sorted out when we gather around this table. And we proclaim the cross of Christ to 00:23:13.500 --> 00:23:19.220 defeat, not just defeat our sin, not just create a new people, but also to reconcile enemies. 00:23:22.320 --> 00:23:28.820 In fact, what we do is we proclaim a message that establishes a whole new world. 00:23:28.819 --> 00:23:37.159 That's what the power of the cross of Christ can do, and that's what we proclaim when we eat and drink 00:23:37.159 --> 00:23:43.599 at the table. We don't just remember an event from history. We don't just close our eyes and try and 00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:48.240 think of something that happened as a historic event on a hill outside Jerusalem all those years ago. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:57.720 No. We embody what that actually achieved. We have fellowship with Christ by His Spirit as we eat 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:05.839 and drink, and we have fellowship with one another, and we do that as equals. We stand only in the grace 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:14.640 of God. The Corinthians' behavior did none of this. They got it all wrong. They sat down at the Lord's 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:19.320 table and presumably said the words that speak of all of this grace and mercy that comes from Christ 00:24:19.320 --> 00:24:24.220 and the unity that He creates, and then they took the bread and they took the wine in a way that just 00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:30.759 kept up the divisions. It's no exaggeration to say that they've completely forgotten the point of the 00:24:30.759 --> 00:24:40.580 supper. They've completely forgotten Christ. And Paul says the first step out of this, verse 28, 00:24:40.579 --> 00:24:44.659 is to examine ourselves. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:53.939 So examine yourself this morning. Are you harboring superiority in your heart? 00:24:56.399 --> 00:25:00.119 When we come together on a Sunday, are you looking down on those who aren't like you? 00:25:03.019 --> 00:25:08.019 Maybe because they don't measure up as you expect them to or because they just do things differently to 00:25:08.019 --> 00:25:14.440 you. If that's the case, if you feel those instincts getting traction in your heart, 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:23.799 you've forgotten Christ. That's what Paul says. He's unflinching. This Corinthian-style division 00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:30.480 despises God's church, and it forgets God's Son. Paul, however, then doesn't stop there. He pushes 00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:37.200 us further into an implication of ignoring his warning. He's saying, listen, get rid of these divisions. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:42.180 If we have them there, and the seeds of these divisions, if we know that they're there in our 00:25:42.180 --> 00:25:49.460 hearts, if we're looking for a breather from this, it isn't coming. Verse 27, he says, this kind of 00:25:49.460 --> 00:25:56.160 behavior also invites God's judgment. Invites God's judgment that couldn't be more sobering. 00:25:56.220 --> 00:26:00.480 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:05.799 concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread 00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:10.500 and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks 00:26:10.500 --> 00:26:18.899 judgment on himself. How you approach the Lord's Supper says a lot about what you think about Christ. 00:26:20.619 --> 00:26:26.319 And if you eat in the way that Paul describes as an unworthy manner, you are guilty of sinning against 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:33.619 his body and blood. The symbols of bread and wine are so closely associated with Christ that to mistreat 00:26:33.619 --> 00:26:41.179 them is to mistreat him. So, the question is, what is eating in an unworthy manner? Well, 00:26:42.139 --> 00:26:46.339 he doesn't mean, let me say this, he doesn't mean that taking the supper, if you have sinned in the 00:26:46.339 --> 00:26:52.480 past week, is eating in an unworthy manner. Quite the opposite. That's actually why we would eat. 00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:59.279 The Lord's Supper is a meal for sinners who know that they need it. The bread and wine preach that 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:05.660 to us every time we come to the table. If you're a sinner and you know that you need a Savior, this is a 00:27:05.660 --> 00:27:12.539 meal for you. Verse 29 actually explains what it means to eat and drink in this unworthy way. Have a look. 00:27:12.620 --> 00:27:21.180 Verse 29, it is when we come to the table without discerning the body. Which body? The body of Christ, 00:27:21.180 --> 00:27:27.700 that he has just mentioned in verse 24, referring to the significance of the meal. Is that it? Or the 00:27:27.700 --> 00:27:34.080 church community as the body of Christ. Which is it? Well, I think going back to chapter 10, verse 17, 00:27:34.700 --> 00:27:41.160 it's both. Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:47.340 bread. What he means is failing to discern the body is failing to realize the reality and the 00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:54.539 significance of Christ's death for us. And failing to grasp that this completely transforms how we view 00:27:54.539 --> 00:28:03.019 other people. Status and background no longer have any currency. We are all equals brought around the 00:28:03.019 --> 00:28:08.539 same table of the same Lord. The Corinthians missed this, and so ate and drank in an unworthy manner. 00:28:08.539 --> 00:28:13.119 They said, he says, they should therefore, 28, examine themselves. Verse 31, they should judge 00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:20.019 themselves so as not to invite God's judgment, because God hates this kind of behavior. If we don't 00:28:20.019 --> 00:28:27.460 have any thought towards the significance of Christ's body given for us physically, and if we don't have 00:28:27.460 --> 00:28:33.579 any thought for Christ's body that that death has brought together in the family of the church, 00:28:33.579 --> 00:28:40.939 he's saying, if you have a high hand towards that, anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the 00:28:40.939 --> 00:28:45.799 body eats and drinks judgment on himself. I don't want us to miss how serious this is. 00:28:47.419 --> 00:28:52.519 It's uncomfortable. But look at verse 30. Some of the Corinthians, verse 30, 00:28:52.519 --> 00:29:03.019 that is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. Some of the Corinthians are sick, 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:08.379 and some have even died because of the way they've abused the Lord's Supper. Paul's saying, 00:29:08.859 --> 00:29:13.759 if you abuse the Supper, it can kill you. Oh, we don't really believe that. Is he serious? 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:18.859 Just a quick word, by the way, to those with a tender conscience. Paul is not saying that everyone 00:29:18.859 --> 00:29:24.639 who is sick or has died is harboring unconfessed sin or behaving in this way. Just be clear. You 00:29:24.639 --> 00:29:31.259 shouldn't draw a line between your cancer diagnosis or your bout of the flu and a particular sin that 00:29:31.259 --> 00:29:37.799 you need to root out. But he is saying this, that the way that we come to the table and the health of 00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:43.159 the relationships we have with one another in the life of the church does matter. It is really serious. 00:29:43.160 --> 00:29:49.259 It matters so much that God will discipline us, verse 32, in order that we don't persist in 00:29:49.259 --> 00:29:57.779 unrepentance and get condemned. This is such a fascinating thing to me. Think of all the things 00:29:57.779 --> 00:30:01.820 that we've seen are jacked up about the life of the Corinthian church as we've gone through. 00:30:02.320 --> 00:30:09.880 Think about it. And yet, Paul doesn't say this about any of them. All of their sexual immorality, 00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:16.100 all of their pride, all of their confusion about theology as it relates to idols and things like 00:30:16.100 --> 00:30:24.060 that. Paul doesn't say anything as serious as this about any of that. What that must tell us is that 00:30:24.060 --> 00:30:29.040 this is how much our unity and our relationships matter to God. This is how much our unity and our 00:30:29.040 --> 00:30:33.900 relationships and the life of the church are so closely tied to what God has done in order to 00:30:33.900 --> 00:30:42.620 reconcile us. So, how do we avoid these problems? Well, in Corinth, Paul told in verse 33 to wait for 00:30:42.620 --> 00:30:50.340 one another. That's a relief. We're okay because, you know, we all drink even right at the same time. 00:30:51.800 --> 00:30:57.720 No. As I've said as we've gone through, our main goal should be to make sure that our unity in Christ 00:30:57.720 --> 00:31:05.220 is visible in our relationships across the church. Examine ourselves to make sure that our love for 00:31:05.220 --> 00:31:13.079 one another is demonstrated across social strata because we really are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:31:15.160 --> 00:31:21.079 This will be costly. True Christian love always is costly, but it is worth it because it won't just 00:31:21.079 --> 00:31:26.000 enrich our lives as we love and serve others who are different from us, but will also please God. 00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:35.920 And in our culture that is riven by division, when we show them, when we live out a community of people, 00:31:36.279 --> 00:31:45.400 young and old, rich and poor, black and white, united by this meal and this Christ, 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:53.440 we proclaim a gospel that is the greatest need of the hour. In these days where talk of God and Jesus 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:58.660 and Christianity is back on the agenda, but it isn't altogether clear what people mean when they 00:31:58.660 --> 00:32:07.100 use those words. It will be our diverse unity lived out together that shows off a gospel that makes a 00:32:07.100 --> 00:32:12.019 difference in the world and actually truly transforms people's lives. 00:32:12.019 --> 00:32:19.359 I can tell you from where I'm standing this morning, this is a beautiful picture. 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:27.299 We are a diverse group here, and we enjoy a remarkable unity in our life together, and it is a blessing 00:32:27.299 --> 00:32:34.799 that I or we as elders can't say what the apostle says of the Corinthian church here about IPC Ealing. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:40.440 Despite all the differences that we have, despite all the backgrounds that we come from, all the cultures, 00:32:40.680 --> 00:32:46.680 all the reasons for division, there is genuine unity among us. As we come to the table now, 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:53.139 let us be clear that this is only because of the work of Christ. Only Christ can do that, 00:32:53.140 --> 00:33:01.780 and let us enjoy that. Let us therefore eat and drink and celebrate that. What a gift, what a blessing 00:33:01.780 --> 00:33:09.759 that it is. And as we eat and drink, let us deepen our bonds again as we eat and drink with Him, 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:16.080 participating in the Lord Jesus together, expressing the epicenter of our unity as we come to the table. 00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:20.059 Let us enjoy it. Let us celebrate. Before we do that, let us sing.