The Lord's Supper as a Means of Grace (4)

Introduction: Review of the Lord's Supper and the Question of Worthy Participation

0:05 The following message was delivered on Sunday evening, February 6, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Now our communion meditation this evening will be comprised of the last half of this morning's sermon. In our ongoing examination of the public means of grace as outlined in Acts 2.42, where it is written that the early church at Jerusalem continued in the entirety of its constituency in the apostles' teaching, in fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers. Yes.

0:58 And we are presently examining some of the biblical perspectives with reference to that institution entitled in 1 Corinthians 11.20 as the Lord's Supper, or that occasion when we come to break bread and drink of the cup in remembrance of the Lord Jesus. Having addressed the issues of the biblical basis for the observing of the Lord, the Lord's Supper, the biblical significance of the Lord's Supper, we began this morning to take up some biblical directives for the proper observance of the Lord's Supper. And the first directive was related to the question, who should come to the Lord's table? And we sought to answer that question from the word of God, and I trust your conscience, if not previously, persuaded, was persuaded, or your judgment was persuaded. If already persuaded, I trust confirmed that the answer to the question, who should come to the Lord's table, is a two-fold answer. First, only those who are savingly united to the person of Christ,

2:21 and only those who are actually united to a true church of Christ. Now, in the time allocated for the communion meditation, we shall consider a second question, namely, how should we come to the Lord's table? Having established who should come, then the great concern should be, in what manner, with what frame of mind, ought we to come to the Lord's table? And the answer to this question, brings us into 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and particularly, the last section of that chapter. A section which we do not often read at the Lord's table, a section which I, to my remembrance, have never expounded in any great detail, though we have certainly made reference to it. I'm referring to the section beginning with verse 27, and going to the end of the chapter. Verse 27, wherefore whomsoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

The Central Issue: Coming in a Worthy Manner

3:48 But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for he that eats and drinks eats and drinks, judgment unto himself if he discern not the body. For this cause many among you are weak and sickly and not a few sleep. But if we discerned ourselves we should not be judged. But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. Wherefore my brethren when you come together to eat wait one for another. If any man is hungry let him eat at home that your coming together be not unto judgment and the rest will I set in order whensoever I come. And I take great comfort from that last statement. Paul knew there was much more to say and even matters to correct with irregularities there in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. But he had

4:54 a sense of the Lord's Supper and he had a sense of the Lord's Supper. And he had a sense of the of priority and he was content to deal with the major issues and leave it and say I'll come back to it again in a more appropriate time and set of circumstances. How then should we come to the Lord's table? Well in seeking to respond to that question with this passage as the primary passage before us, I have made a judgment after many hours of wrestling with this issue in preparation for the message this morning and in further reflection this afternoon I have stuck with that judgment that the most helpful way to answer the question how should we come to the Lord's table is first of all to seek to grasp the central issue as it is stated in verse 27 and then secondly second I I the things which are involved or ancillary to that central issue. What then is the central issue? You will notice that verse 27 begins with the word, wherefore. And as some of you have heard, whenever you find in the Bible wherefore or therefore, you should always ask, why for?

6:16 What is the purpose of this connective? Well, the apostle statement with respect to who supper I received of the Lord, that which I delivered unto you, this is the Lord's institution. He has outlined what constitutes the supper. Activities with reference to bread and to the cup.

6:44 He has underscored what the supper signifies and indicated that as often as that is eaten, with that significance in obedience to the Lord who instituted it, and as often as the people of God, during which the Lord has directed to be drunk, in obedience to the Lord who mandates that drinking, you preach the Lord's death till he come, wherefore. You see, in the light of who has instituted the supper, what the supper is comprised of, and what, the supper signifies, there are some various implications. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat, that is the bread, that is ordinary bread, but set apart to symbolize the body of Christ given for sinners, or drop containing the ordinary fruit of the vine, but set apart to symbolize the blood of the new covenant, whosoever,

8:07 whosoever shall eat the bread in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the blood of the Lord. In answer to the question how shall we come to the Lord's table, the central issue is this. We should come with a fully framed conviction that we are not coming in an unworthy manner. Their balities symbolized, at the table.

8:50 That's the fundamental answer to the question.

8:57 We should complically frame their balities symbolized at the table. That's the teaching of verse 27. Let's look at it for a few moments. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat the bread mannered.

9:30 You see, the word is not an adjective, but it is an adverb. It is not speaking of an unworthy person, who, who's eating the bread and drinking the cup of the Lord, but it is speaking of eating and drinking in an unworthy manner. Now that clearly indicates that God has placed a worth or a value upon the bread and the cup, which constitute the elements of the Lord's Supper as he instituted it. He has placed a value upon them.

10:11 And it is, it is our responsibility to see to it that our position of heart keys prior to and at the table do not indicate that we place a lesser value upon the Supper than the Lord places upon it. If we may use the illustration of an old balance scale, simple supper of remembrance, a value. And he says, when you come to the table, you ought to aim having a biblically framed conviction that you are giving the same worth to the significance of that table that God has given to it so that your worth and God's estimation of it of its worth balance. And we do not God's estimation throwing yours up into the air because it is so light and unworthy. Now that this is the sense of the passage is not novel with me and reading the various commentators.

11:34 I found the remarks of Albert Barnes most helpful commenting on the term whosoever. I'm sorry. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner or unworthily Barnes comments. Perhaps there is no expression in the, in the Bible that has given more trouble to weak and feeble Christians than this.

11:59 It is certain that there is no one phrase or term that is operated to deter so many from coming to the communion table. The excuses I'm unworthy to partake of this holy ordinance. I shall only expose myself to condemnation. I must therefore wait till I become more worthy and better prepared.

12:23 To celebrate it. It is important. Therefore, there should be a correct understanding of this passage. Most persons interpret it as if it were unworthy and not unworthily and seem to suppose it refers to their personal qualifications to their unfitness to partake of it rather than to the manner in which it is done.

12:48 It is to be remembered. Therefore, that the word here used is, and it is to be remembered. Therefore, that the word here used is, an adverb and not an adjective and has reference to the manner of observing the ordinance and not to our personal qualifications or fitness. It is true that in ourselves we are all unworthy of an approach to the table of the Lord, unworthy to be regarded as his followers, unworthy of a title to everlasting life.

13:21 But it does not follow. That we may not partake of this ordinance in a worthy, a proper manner, with a deep sense of our sinfulness, our need of a savior, and with some biblical views of the Lord Jesus as our redeemer. Whatever may be our consciousness of personal unworthiness and unfitness, and that consciousness can never be too deep. Yet we may have such love to Christ, such a desire to be saved by him, and such a sense of his worthiness as to make it proper for us to approach and partake of this ordinance.

14:06 The term unworthily, anaxios means properly in an unworthy or improper manner, in a manner unsuitable to the purpose. For the table was designed, and instituted. Now I trust that helps you. I tried to read it in such a way as to emphasize the key words.

14:35 You see, so often we have assumed that what Paul is saying is turning the searchlight primarily upon our lives, rather than our present perspective with respect to the significance of the table. He has just given to us, what the Lord had given to him. And he says, wherefore, whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body, mind, or disposition of heart, and our activities prior at the table, in a manner that is to be buttressed by motivation. If we do less than this, we are implicated, implicated in guilt with respect to the body and the blood of the Lord. What a motivation!

15:54 That coming in conjunction with the realities represented by the bread and the cup. And so the commentators debate in what sense are we guilty, it doesn't say of defaming, of, notice, the blood actually saves murderers, and as it were crucify the Son of God afresh and put into open shame, that which is attributed to apostates. But surely, seeking to shake these careless Corinthians out of their wretched, unworthy, coming to the table by saying, get together, and you go on doing what you call, celebrating the Lord's Supper in the way you're doing, rather than incurring or, receiving, blessing from God, you incur, that is connected with the very blessed, sobering realities symbolized at the table,

17:22 the bread that symbolizes His body, and the cup that symbolizes His blood. So then, the central issue, as we contemplate the recurring privilege and opportunity of coming to the Lord's table, should be this, O God, I myself, prior to, and so to the table, that I will not be present, celebrating unworthily, thereby incurring guilt in connection with the body and the blood of my Savior. That's the central issue. I trust you see that in the text. Now then, secondly, what are the things involved with respect to that?

Two Categories for Worthy Participation: Circumstantial Elements

18:19 That's the central issue. And here again, I wrestled and wrestled with how to break it down and organize it so that I don't get your mind so clogged with details that it hinders your joy and liberty and faith in coming to the Lord's table. And the best way I know to express it according to my present light is this. There are two categories that you ought to be concerned about if that central issue is the central concern of your life.

18:48 The central concern of your heart. You say, yes, Lord, I want to come to the table worthily, knowing that in myself, I'm unworthy to name your name. I'm unworthy of the gift of your son. I'm unworthy of forgiveness and a title to heaven and a state as an adopted son.

19:07 I'm unworthy of the least of your mercies. Yet, Lord, as an unworthy sinner who trusts in your son, I want to come to the table worthily. Lord, how can I be sure that I'm coming worthily? Well, the answer of this passage is you can be certain of that if you take due consideration of two categories of concern.

19:31 I'm calling the first the circumstantial elements that surround the table. And secondly, the intellectual exercises which accompany you at the table. So we have the circumstantial, the intellectual what's going on around you and that you contribute to what's going on within you that you alone can monitor the circumstantial elements that is issues relating to the circumstances preceding and attending the Lord's table. In the case of the Corinthians, remember the circumstances which Paul describes and says makes the Lord's supper impossible, are given to us. I've been versus 20 and following. Wherefore, when you assemble together, it is not possible to eat the Lord's supper. You may be having someone who is giving thanks for the bread, giving thanks for the cup.

20:35 You may be distributing and eating it, but you're not eating the Lord's supper. Why? And then he describes circumstances which made eating the Lord's supper in a true sense, morally, ethically, spiritually impossible for in your eating. Each one takes before other and another is drunken.

21:04 So here's a man that when the bread is being passed, he is so physically hungry. He's salivating just to get a little snack to ease his hunger pains. How can you be thinking of Christ's body given for sinners in Christ's blood shed for sinners? When your stomach is growling and a piece of bread is going by, it's going to help relieve your physical hunger.

21:28 Your mind as a human being will be preoccupied with your physical hunger and the bread that's going to relieve it. And if you've got a layer of alcohol, which may mental and spirits is essential to eating that supper. Impossible. What have you not houses to eat and to drink in or deuce?

22:12 Do you despise? The Church of God to shame that have not. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this?

22:21 I praise you not. Now that you focus is primarily on the circumstances that preceded their coming to a charade of the Lord's supper. Then at the end of this passage, notice verse 33. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat one for another, let the circumstances, of your sensitivity to one another's needs, let the implications of your being one body in Christ be manifested in the way you relate to one another.

22:59 If any man's hungry, let him eat his common food at home. Let him take care of his hunger pangs at home, so that even their love feast was not primarily to be a feast to meet physical hunger, but to be a symbolic manifestation, of their unity in Christ prior to the Lord's table. If any man's hungry, let him eat at home. That your coming together be not unto judgment, that it be not in an unworthy manner.

23:31 Now what's the emphasis of those verses? I don't know how else to express it, but the circumstantial elements of the Lord's supper. Those elements must secure that the minds and hearts of the people, the minds and hearts of the people, the minds and hearts of the people, the minds and hearts of the people, the minds and hearts of the people, have gone to engage in those things that we opened up last week. Loving, devotional recollection of Him.

24:02 This do in remembrance of me. How can I fix my thoughts upon Christ crucified, if I've been put to shame by a wealthy man, taking his food to himself and his drink to himself, and left me there in my shame. And poverty and hunger. I'm struggling with ill will to him.

24:28 You see the circumstantial elements were crucial. A man could not engage in sanctified recollection. He could not engage in present believing, participation of the virtue of the body given in the blood shed. If he is distracted by this kind of disorderliness that was manifested, even accompanied, with a divisive spirit, as he indicates in verses 18 and 19.

25:00 How in the world can a group of people be declaring the virtue and the power of the death of Christ, when they are gluttonous and drunken and insensitive one to another? Is that all the blood of Christ does? Is leave people in this state? So if we catch the central issue, that we are determined, individually, to come with biblically framed convictions, that we are not coming in an unworthy manner, thereby profaning the realities symbolized in the bread and in the cup, we will be concerned with the circumstantial elements of our coming.

25:45 We will seek prior to the Lord's table, to encourage no circumstances over which we have control, that would undermine our engagement in holy recollection, holy participation, and holy... Do you see that?

26:11 There are the circumstantial elements. This is why we make a simple explanation ahead of time, how to facilitate the passing of the elements. This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, This is why we seek to strip away any unnecessary distractions, of religious trappings that would act as a veil. The bread taking our minds to His body given, and the cup taking our minds and hearts to His blood shed. And so I say to the younger generation, when the time comes, if the time comes, when someone begins to suggest, well, you know, we've got a fragmented society and nobody does anything together, I think we ought to reinstitute something far below to the love feast. My friend, listen, here is the standard to which you put any such suggestion. Can it be done in such a way that it will not undermine our coming to the table worthily?

27:37 Why do we have a briefer meditation on the communion night? For this very reason. The mind can only take so much, and you've had an hour's instruction in discipleship, Sunday school, and an hour, hour plus preaching in the morning. And many of you have interacted with your families.

27:54 And then if there's to be mental alertness and freshness, the circumstance of binding our consciences to a briefer sermon is a direct result of this principle. We want to have a circumstantial element even in the length of the sermon that does not undermine our reasonable ability to come worthily. We want to have a circumstantial element even in the length of the sermon that does not undermine our reasonable ability to come worthily. And now I've bound myself afresh to that limitation.

Two Categories for Worthy Participation: Intellectual Exercises

28:25 There is what I'm calling the intellectual exercises.

28:30 And at first I was scared of that word. I said, Lord, that sounds so sterile at the Lord's table. But I revised it and looked at the Greek words again and again and thought of the English words. I said, no, I'm going to stick with it.

28:47 And I'm using intellectual. Distinction from mere mystical or emotional exercises. Because this is one of the great stumbling blocks at the Lord's table. We come expecting some mystical or emotional hints.

29:06 Whereas sure puts the emphasis upon worthily with two distinct intellectual exercises. There are two in this section. In verse 28, look at the one that is used. But.

29:25 In contrast to drinking and eating in an unworthy manner, thereby being guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. If we would avoid that, here's the opposite. But let a man put himself to the test and find himself approved. It's what a man would do when he's testing metals to find out false gold from true gold.

29:58 It's a scrutiny that cannot be done without. And then in verse 29, for he that eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment unto himself. If he discerned, if he discriminate not, it is the Greek word. And diacrino means to judge mean things to discrim.

30:35 It's an intellectual exercise. Can you discriminate children between a bowl of pears and a bowl of apples? Between wine sap apples and big reds? Delicious?

30:54 Yellow delicious? Can you discriminate? That's an intellectual exercise. And the emphasis falls in this passage.

31:02 Verse 28. Docimazo, let him put himself to the test. Verse 29. If he do not discriminate the Lord's body.

31:12 Verse 31. Again, we have the diacrino. If we discriminated ourselves, we should not be judged. So I'm saying if we're to come in a worthy manner, we must not only be concerned with the circumstantial elements, but with these intellectual exercises.

Intellectual Exercise 1: Self-Examination (Docimazo)

31:33 And what are they? Well, the first is we are to docimazo. We are to examine. We are to the test.

31:48 But now here's the question. With respect to what? Not with respect to whether or not we love Christ as much as we ought. Not with respect to whether or not we've served him as fervently and as passionately as we ought.

32:05 But look at the context. Let a man prove himself. Let him. He that eats and drinks judgment unto himself.

32:21 If he does not discern the body. Both examination has to do with whether or not I'm coming to the table. To what I'm doing. What God says I ought to be doing.

32:44 Remembering Christ in his body given. And in his blood shed. That's it. I am to examine myself.

32:55 Whether or not. As a charade. As a common meal. As some kind of a superstitious rigamarole.

33:04 That though my mind is off in China. And my heart is in the office. I'll somehow be blessed because I've come to the Lord's table. No.

33:13 No. At the table. I'm to examine myself. To keep away from the table.

33:19 Look at the text. Examine himself. Upon examination you find that you have perfectly loved Christ. And perfectly served Christ.

33:36 Undivided attention to the table of Christ. So let him. That is not what. It is explained in the very next verse.

33:48 Oh let him eat of the bread. And he does not eat and drink judgment to himself. If he sees in the bread cup. That which he's supposed to see.

34:04 The symbol of the body given. And the symbol of the blood shed. Engaging in sanctified recollection of Christ crucified. Engaging in believing participation in the virtue of Christ crucified.

34:23 And declaring Christ crucified is the source. And the great heartbeat of his religious life. Listen to Matthew Henry. This is not my novel opinion.

34:38 Listen to old Matthew Henry. He points out the duty of those who come to the Lord's table. First in general. Let a man examine himself.

34:49 Try and approve himself. Let him consider the sacred intention of this holy ordinance. Its nature and use. And compare his own views in attending on it.

35:03 And his disposition of mind for it. And when he has approved himself to his own conscience in the sight of God. Then let him eat. Such self-examination is necessary to a right attendance of this holy ordinance.

35:22 Note. Those who through weakness of understanding. Through weakness of understanding. Cannot try themselves.

35:29 Are by no means fit to eat of this bread and drink of this cup. Nor those who upon a fair trial. Have just ground to charge themselves. With impenitency unbelief and alienation from the life of God etc.

35:45 The dominant emphasis that Matthew Henry says is in this passage. Is exactly what I've tried to set before you. It is the intellectual exercise. Of saying as I sit here tonight.

35:57 I examine myself in the light of discerning. The Lord's body in the loaf. And the Lord's blood in the cup. You see in that way even our self-examination terminates upon Christ.

36:13 And not on us. Because it's a table to remember him. You've got all kinds of places to remember. The cesspool of your own heart.

36:25 Do that. This is that cesspool. The virtue of whose broken body and poured out blood. Will one day utterly remove the remnants of that cesspool.

36:43 When you and I should be like him. Seeing him as he is. So we are then to engage in this intellectual exercise. To make sure we perceive the supper to be what God intended to be.

Intellectual Exercise 2: Self-Judgment (Diacrino)

36:57 And then secondly. To make sure that we're not willfully harboring attitudes. Desires and deeds. Contrary to the ends for which Christ died.

37:14 To make sure that we're not willfully harboring attitudes. Desires and deeds. Contrary to the ends for which Christ died. Verse 31.

37:27 If we discriminated, discerned ourselves. You see there's not only a documazo. There is a diacrino. If we would judge between things that differ.

37:42 If coming to the table. We would be honest and say. I'm looking upon emblems. And the fruit of the vine.

37:53 Which symbolize his body broken and given up in death. His blood shed. That I might be forgiven. But not only forgiven.

38:02 Delivered out of this present evil age. That I might be set apart into a life of holiness. That I might be wholly his. And pursue a life of conformity to him.

38:13 Am I willfully. Deliberately. Harboring attitudes. Desires.

38:18 And covering deeds. Contrary to the ends for which he died. Well then to partake of those emblems. While willfully.

38:27 Deliberately. Covering such sin. Is to make mockery. Of his body broken and his blood shed.

38:35 It is not to make mockery. To say oh God. I have had wavered thoughts. Acknowledge that the blood of Christ is my only plea.

38:51 That does not make mockery of the blood of Christ. That glorifies it. Come to the table. Busting after another.

39:02 Taking the emblems of his body. I tell you. You're asking God to judge you. You're provoking God to chastise you.

39:22 And so the intellectual exercises incumbent upon us as we come to the table are. Self-examination. To ascertain. If I am discerning.

39:33 The purpose. And the significance. Of the supper. And.

39:37 Self. Judgment. To ascertain. If I am.

39:41 Harboring. Attitudes. Desires. Or deeds.

39:46 Contrary to the ends. For which. Christ died. And as a motivation to keep us.

Motivation to Avoid Profanation: The Lord's Chastisement

39:51 From such. Profanation of the table. He gives the example. Of the sacrifice.

39:55 Of the sacrifice. Of the sacrifice. Of the sacrifice. Of the sacrifice.

40:00 Of the sacrifice. Of the sacrifice. Of the sacrifice. He gives this whole section on the Lord's chastisement for this cause.

40:08 Verse thirty. Many are weak and sickly. Freeman and not. A few sleep.

40:13 But if we. Discern. Discriminate. It.

40:18 The accライal ourselves. We should not be. But when we are. Judged.

40:23 We are chastened. Of the Lord. That we. May not.

40:27 Be condemned. Of the world. And here. The horizontal.

The Horizontal Dimension: Unity and Relationships

40:32 Element. You come together to eat, wait one for another. That probably has reference to the agape, the love feast. But the principle is this.

40:42 When you come together, that coming together will culminate in the Lord's Supper. And there is a horizontal dimension. It is an institution in the church. The Lord's Supper is.

40:55 It is celebrated in concert with my brothers and sisters. And do I sit here with dispositions and attitudes and relationships to my brothers and sisters that reflect the virtue and the power of the broken body and the shed blood of Christ. Which body was broken and which blood was shed. Not only that we might be reconciled to God, but that we might have the middle wall of partition broken down and be constituted one new man in Christ.

41:24 And that's why each coming to the Lord's table is a fresh call. To say, am I deliberately harboring jealousy, envy, unforgiveness, ill will to any of my brothers and sisters. If so, deal with it before you come in your heart. And if you're not able logistically to deal with that individual face to face.

41:47 Say, Lord, the deed is as good as done.

Conclusion and Prayer

41:53 Come together, not unto judgment, but unto blessing. Well, dear people, I've tried to condense into 40 minutes. The answer to the question, how should we come to the Lord's table? And I hope I've helped you and not confused you.

42:11 The central issue is this. I must seek to come with a biblically enlightened judgment about myself. That I am not coming in an unworthy manner. For if I do, I'm implicated in the guilt of the body and blood of Christ.

42:29 No Christian wants that. That's enough to be a red flag. To every true believer. To every true believer saying, Lord, I'd rather stay home.

42:37 But it doesn't say stay home. It says, if we are to come in a worthy manner. There are circumstantial elements to be considered. There are intellectual endeavors to be undertaken.

42:52 Let a man examine himself. Let a man judge himself. Then let him eat the bread and drink of the cup. May God help us.

43:04 Then come to his table as he has mandated. Unto our blessing and unto his glory. Let us pray.

43:16 Our Father, we thank you for your holy word. We pray that you would take that word and write it upon our hearts. And oh God, to the extent that we have rightly understood and reflected your mind in the scriptures. Write it upon our hearts, we pray.

43:36 That it may regulate our conscience. That it may regulate our spirit and our spirit and our spirit. That on the one hand, we may not be bowed down with false guilt and an over-scrupulous conscience. And on the other hand, that we would not come in a cavalier way, not discerning the seriousness of taking the emblems of the body and blood of Christ.

43:59 Oh Lord, help us by your spirit. That our coming together will be unto blessing. Hear us and meet with us. we plead in Jesus' name. Amen.