1 Corinthians 11:27-34 ~ 20140817 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
08/17 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 Judgment and Discipline ; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20140817_1cor11_27-34.mp3
27 Ὥστε ὃς ἂν ἐσθίῃ τὸν ἄρτον ἢ πίνῃ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ κυρίου ἀναξίως, ἔνοχος ἔσται τοῦ σώματος καὶ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ κυρίου. 28 δοκιμαζέτω δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἑαυτόν, καὶ οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ ἄρτου ἐσθιέτω καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ποτηρίου πινέτω· 29 ὁ γὰρ ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων κρίμα ἑαυτῷ ἐσθίει καὶ πίνει μὴ διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα. 30 διὰ τοῦτο ἐν ὑμῖν πολλοὶ ἀσθενεῖς καὶ ἄρρωστοι καὶ κοιμῶνται ἱκανοί. 31 εἰ δὲ ἑαυτοὺς διεκρίνομεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐκρινόμεθα· 32 κρινόμενοι δὲ ὑπὸ κυρίου παιδευόμεθα, ἵνα μὴ σὺν τῷ κόσμῳ κατακριθῶμεν. 33 Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, συνερχόμενοι εἰς τὸ φαγεῖν ἀλλήλους ἐκδέχεσθε. 34 εἴ τις πεινᾷ, ἐν οἴκῳ ἐσθιέτω, ἵνα μὴ εἰς κρίμα συνέρχησθε. Τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ὡς ἂν ἔλθω διατάξομαι.
1 Corinthians 11 [ESV2011]
17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. 23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
Intro:
Paul is correcting problems in the church in Corinth. The Corinthians were self centered. They thought very highly of themselves. They were proud. One would put himself above another. Each was looking out for his own interests. Their actions and attitudes were out of step with the gospel. Things were so bad in Corinth that Paul tells them 'when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse', specifically in relation to their celebration of the Lord's supper. Christ commanded his followers to remember him with bread and wine. But what the Corinthians were doing, one going hungry, another getting drunk, divisions, factions, despising the church of God and humiliating those who have nothing was worthy of judgment.
Paul lays out the problem in verses 17-22, he rehearses the history of the institution of the Lord's supper by Jesus in verses 23-26, and then in verses 27-34 he gives his conclusion and corrective action for fixing the problem.
Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for others. The Corinthians took what they wanted and neglected the needy among them.
Jesus humbled himself, surrendering his rights so that we could live. The Corinthians wanted recognition and honor, and they got it by humiliating others.
Jesus poured out his own blood as a new covenant agreement between us and God, securing our transformation by the Spirit. The Corinthians acted as if they were unchanged and failed to evidence the fruit of the Spirit.
Jesus loved the church and died to make her his own. The Corinthians despised and divided the church, even in the act of gathering together for worship.
Jesus is coming back for his church. That is intended to be a joyful celebration. The Corinthians instead are making it an occasion for judgment.
Communion is to be a proclamation of our Lord's death. Our attitude, how we treat one another, is to preach the good news to those around us. We are to display the cross in our lifestyle, in everything, and especially in our celebration of communion.
Judgment
Paul warns then, that eating the bread or drinking the cup of the Lord unworthily brings guilt concerning the body and blood of the Lord. This passage is riddled with judgment language. Verse 28 encourages self-examination, then in verses 29-34 there are 7 occurrences of the word 'judge' or related words.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning [judging] the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned [judged] along with the world. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.
This is meant to sober us. The Lord is coming. Jesus said in John 5 that the Father...
John 5:27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Peter tells his readers:
1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
In 2 Thessalonians we get a glimpse of Jesus that we may not often think of:
2 Thessalonians 1:7 ... when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
This is serious. Jesus will inflict the fiery vengeance of eternal punishment on those who do not obey his gospel.
Is this meant to scare us? Yes. Yes it is. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is passage is a warning to us so that we will examine ourselves and avoid judgment.
Unworthy
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
I do not want to be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. I do not want to incur judgment by despising the church of God. What does it mean to eat or drink in an unworthy manner? Aren't we all unworthy? Romans tells us in absolute terms:
Romans 3:10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
...20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
...23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We are all condemned under sin. Not one of us is worthy. Jesus tells us:
Matthew 5:48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
and
Mark 10:18 ...No one is good except God alone.
James tells us:
James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
'Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.' Any sin is a sin against the one who gave the law. Just one sin makes me a transgressor of the law. So who is worthy? No one. No not one.
But this verse does not tell us that we must be worthy. We are not worthy and we cannot become worthy. This word is an adverb, not an adjective. An adjective modifies a noun, which would mean that the 'whoever' who eats and drinks would need to be worthy. But this is an adverb, which modifies the verbs in the sentence; eat and drink. It is translated 'to eat or drink unworthily, or in an unworthy manner'. To be unworthy and to partake unworthily are very different things. Can we who are unworthy, partake of the Lord's supper worthily?
That is the goal of Paul's admonition. He wants us, sinners saved by grace, to examine ourselves and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup of the Lord in a worthy manner. So what does this mean? First, to participate worthily necessitates that I acknowledge my own unworthiness. To eat broken bread that symbolizes the Lord's body given to me and to drink the cup which reminds me of his blood shed for me, all the while denying that I have done anything worthy of death is a gross contradiction. The whole reason Jesus came to die was me. My sins nailed him to the cross. To deny my own helplessness and desperate need for a Savior while receiving the symbols of his sacrificial death would be to eat and drink in a most unworthy manner.
Remember the story of the prodigal son? The son came to his senses and recognized his own unworthiness.
Luke 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’
It was this son, who acknowledged his sin and his own unworthiness that the father ran with compassion and embraced and welcomed home. It was the older son who remained outside and refused to come in, who said:
Luke 15:29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, ...
Examine Yourself
Paul's command is to examine ourselves. Come to your senses. Realize that you are only ever a sinner saved by the riches of God's grace. Recognize that you are not being treated as you deserve. Acknowledge that it is the extravagant love of the Father who sent his only Son to be the sin bearing substitute for my sins that we celebrate. We are unworthy recipients of the lavish generosity of a merciful God. Examine yourself, see yourself as you really are, a rebel convicted of treason, sentenced to death, but extended pardon and adopted as a son of the very King against whom you revolted. 'Examine yourself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.' Do not examine yourself, conclude you are unworthy and decline. Examine yourself, agree with him that you are unworthy, and gladly receive his unmerited offer of grace!
Discerning the Body
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Here is more clarification on what it means to eat or drink in an unworthy manner. To partake unworthily is to eat or drink without discerning the body. The form of the word 'judge' here translated 'discerning' has a prefix that means to separate or make a distinction, to differentiate, to evaluate discerningly. Paul used this word back in chapter 4 this way:
1 Corinthians 4:6...that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
Who judges between one and another? None of you have a right to be puffed up, to consider yourself better than anyone else. Everything you have is a gift. You might be rich, you might be poor, but whatever you have is a gift from our good God. If your sins are forgiven, that is not something to boast about as if you are better than someone else; you have received unearned grace from our generous God. But in this verse what we are to differentiate or evaluate discerningly is 'the body' The body, in the immediate context is the body of Christ which is given for us. That body is absolutely unique. God the Son took human flesh so that he could stand in our place as the perfect substitute. He who knew no sin became sin for us (2Cor.5:21). As we come to Jesus and trust in him, believe on him, we become one body, as Paul said back in chapter 10:
1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
When we participate in the body of Christ through faith, we together become his body, the church. In the next chapter, he will go on to deal more with the unity of the body:
1 Corinthians 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
...25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
The Corinthians were dividing between rich and poor, those of status and those with none, those who were powerful and educated and those at the bottom of the social ladder. But the real division is between Jesus and us. He is Lord, we all are his servants. He is guiltless and we all are guilty. We owed an infinite debt, and he paid our debt in full. To fail to discern the body in this sense is to eat and drink judgment on ourselves. We miss the whole point of why Jesus came and what he accomplished, the very thing we are to be remembering as we celebrate the Lord's supper.
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Discipline
This is a serious issue. There were tangible consequences in the church in Corinth. Many were weak and sick, and some even died. This was serious, and Jesus intended to get their attention. If we judge or evaluate ourselves discerningly, we would not be judged by the Lord. When we are judged by the Lord, it is not final condemnation. We are being trained as his children. Hebrews tells us:
Hebrews 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
The purpose of this parental training is to prevent our final condemnation. “we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” this form of 'judge' has a prefix that means to judge against or to sentence, to condemn.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The prospect of sickness, weakness, even death because of our sin may seem scary, (and the bible is clear that not all sickness, weakness or death is a result of sin; see the book of Job), but if it is because of our sin, we can thank God for loving us enough to not leave us in our sin and ultimately condemn us. If we are truly his children, if we are in Christ, adopted into his family, he will be faithful to discipline and train us in the way that we should go.
In John 5, where Jesus talks about the Father giving him the authority to judge, he says:
John 5:21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. ...24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
'Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death into life.' There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The Son gives life. Those who hear and believe have eternal life. They have passed from death to life. They will never come into judgment. It is after this that he says:
John 5:28 ...an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
So those who have done good are those who have believed, because they have already been given life. They have done good in response to the transformation of the Holy Spirit. That is what the New Covenant in his blood is all about. Those who have done evil are those who have not believed in Jesus.
John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
They are condemned because they have not believed. Their works are evil because, no matter how good they seem, they do not honor God, they do not receive his gift or give him thanks.
Final Instructions
Paul gives his final instructions on this issue.
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
When you come together. This is Paul's corrective for his opening statement:
1 Corinthians 11:17 ...when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you...
Now he says when you come together as a church, in your regular celebration of the Lord's supper, wait for one another. Wait for one another in the sense of receiving one another, welcoming one another, eliminating the divisions where one feels he is better than another, where one goes hungry and another gets drunk. Receive one another as God in Christ has received you. The gathering of the believers is to celebrate the cross in word and in deed. We must sacrifice our own rights, our own desires, for the good of the other, just as Christ laid down his rights and died for sinners to make us his. If you are hungry, if you are showing up simply to satiate your appetite with a complete disregard for Christ and for those for whom he died, then stay home. Eat at home. Be a glutton at home. But don't despise the church of God and eat and drink judgment on yourself.
1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.