34 What it Means to Take Communion in an Unworthy Manner (1 Corinthians 11:27-34)

Krisan Marotta: You're listening to Wednesday in the Word, and I'm glad you are. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today we're gonna study 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 27 through 34. This is the 34th talk in our series on 1 Corinthians. If you don't have to take notes, you can find lecture notes with links for everything mentioned in the talk on the link below this podcast. Or you can find the lecture notes on my website by going to wednesdayintheword.com slash 1 Corinthians 3.4. And you'll find lots of helpful information on the website to help you improve your Bible study. There's no charge, there's no spam, and there are no ads on the site, only Bible study. Let's get started. This letter we call 1 Corinthians is a response to both a verbal report that Paul has received about the situation in Corinth and a letter the Corinthians sent to Paul asking him questions. And the section of the letter we're in now is the section where he is responding to those questions they have asked him. In chapter 11, he started addressing a series of issues that relate to how they're handling their worship services. This is the third in a series of three talks on the section where he addresses how they're handling communion or the Lord's Supper. In the first talk on this section, we looked at the situation in Corinth. The way that they're handling the Lord's Supper reveals a profound problem with what they believe. It says something about their values and their perspectives that is profoundly inappropriate. Their actions reveal that they may in fact believe the opposite of what they ought to believe, and it calls into question why they're doing this ritual at all. Because if they understood what this ritual means, they wouldn't act this way. Then the second week on this topic, we looked at the significance of the Lord's Supper and what the ceremony is all about. And I argued that when Jesus returns, we won't need to be reminded what he did for us, but in the meantime, we're in this in-between time and we need to remember. It's easy to forget. So in the Lord's Supper, we remember the Lord's death and what it accomplished for us. And we have these elements that are designed to remind us that He died to bring all these blessings and forgiveness to us. And Jesus is reinterpreting the elements of the Passover meal in light of the cross. So in the Passover, God's judgment came on Egypt, but the Israelites were spared because of the blood of the sacrificial lamb that they placed on their doorposts. In communion, we're recognizing that God's judgment is coming again, but his people will be spared because of the blood of Christ. So Christ's blood rescues us from that coming judgment. In the Passover we saw that God freed his people from slavery in Egypt, but in the cross, God forgives our sins and delivers his people from their slavery to sin and death and futility through what Jesus did. It is his sacrifice that makes this forgiveness and freedom from slavery possible. And then in the Passover, God inaugurated a covenant at Mount Sinai where he brought them the law and said he would be their God and they would be his people. And at the cross, Jesus inaugurates a new covenant such that he will be our God and we will be his people, and this time it will work because God is writing the law on our hearts, and we will become the kind of people who want to love and obey him, and we will not break the covenant this time. And we are to remember Jesus' death because it is his death that brought all this about. So in the Lord's Supper, in communion, we have teaching and symbols that help us remember. We have the three elements where the meal includes specific teaching about what God has done for us through Christ. It has symbolic elements to remind us what God has done for us through Christ. And it's an event that we do together as God's people to remember that we're in this together. We are the body of Christ, we are his people because of what he's done for us. So today we want to bring those elements together and look at Paul's concern. What's at stake and what should we take away from it? So we're going to pick up in First Corinthians 11 27. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. This is a verse that's caused a lot of terror and misunderstanding. I understand unworthy here to be something like unfitting or inappropriate. I don't think you have to prove yourself worthy to participate in communion. Rather, you can participate in a way that does not fit with what the Lord's Supper is all about. So you can participate in a way that is appropriate or inappropriate. You can participate in a way that is fitting and appropriate and suitable, or you can participate in a way that does not fit and it is not appropriate, and that's what the Corinthians are doing. Now Paul doesn't explain in this verse what the inappropriate way is, but he has given us in the pieces in the passages and the verses we looked at in the last two podcasts. So we looked at what they were doing, that was the first podcast, and then we looked at how Paul understands the Lord's Supper, that's the second podcast, and so at this point he thinks we're ready to understand the disconnect between those two things. So let's review what was happening in Corinth. The Corinthian Church has been meeting together and having a community meal and celebrating communion, but rather than celebrating as a group, as a community, there are divisions among them along class and economic lines. The meal was something of a pot luck where people brought their own food to this feast, but they weren't sharing. The wealthy were bringing an abundance of food and enjoying themselves to the point of getting drunk while the poor were going hungry. So at this meal where they're supposed to be celebrating their unity in Christ, in fact they're dividing along class and economic lines. And I argued that Paul's concern is more than that there are these divisions and that the poor are being mistreated, he finds their actions particularly inappropriate because of what they're gathered together to do. Their actions conflict with the very nature of the Lord's Supper. So I argued the problem is not that they have profaned the ritual, they're getting it wrong, and so forth. The problem is their actions cast doubt on their understanding and belief. This is a specific celebratory meal in which we come together as a group of fellow believers to remember what Christ has done for us. So we remember that all of us are unworthy of God's grace and mercy, and we remember how much each of us has been forgiven. We remember that any good gift that we have is a gift from God, and that apart from the grace of God and the blood of Christ, we are evil and worthy of judgment. And although we were unworthy and lost, we stand to inherit a place in God's kingdom because of what Christ has done for us. That's all what we're supposed to remember. But what are they doing? The rich see themselves as privileged and more important than their poor brethren in this meal that celebrates how unworthy we were before God acted through Christ. The rich are seeing this meal as an opportunity to feast on abundant rich food and wine in a meal that celebrates that Christ bought us an inheritance in something that is much more valuable than the material things in life. And the rich have separated themselves from their poorer brethren and ignored their needs in a ceremony that celebrates how we have been united as the people of God through what Christ did for us. The cross levels the playing field. If we understand the cross and what Christ did for us at the cross, we should realize that a wealthy man is no more worthy than a poor man. The educated are no better off than the illiterate. All the distinctions that we use to rank and sort ourselves into classes are meaningless when it comes to the cross because each of us is unworthy. Each of us has found hope through Christ. To perpetuate those socioeconomic classes and divisions is fundamentally contradictory to the message of the cross. We ought to have a connection or a bond with our fellow believers that transcends all those other things that may divide us. And we realize at the communion table that we stand before God together as the people Christ redeemed, and none of those other distinctions that we use matter. But the Corinthians are highlighting and accentuating all those differences in the way that they are acting in the Lord's Supper. And it seems to me that this is another example of the problem that we have been seeing throughout this letter. This is another area where this same lack of understanding is expressing itself. We've talked about, especially in the early chapters, how some in the Corinthian Church are profoundly worldly, that is, they view life the way the world views life, and they don't view life the way someone who believes the gospel ought to view it. They have not yet let the gospel transform the way they think or influence what they value and how they act. Their values and perspectives are still being dictated by the pagan world around them. The pagans say class and wealth and education is an important distinction with lines that you ought not to cross, and they're continuing to live as if that's true. The pagan world says the rich and the wealthy are better off than the poor and the uneducated and they continue to act as if that's true. They're claiming to be followers of Christ, but their actions continue to contradict that claim. So now we come to a ceremony that is supposed to turn their attention to this very reality. This ceremony confronts them with the fact this is who you were before the cross of Christ, and this is who you are because of what Christ has done for you. This ceremony is supposed to confront you with the problem of your sin and the solution found in the cross. When we come to communion, we're recognizing I was lost and I have been rescued. I was a rebel sinner worthy of God's judgment, but because of the cross I have been forgiven and redeemed. Left to myself, I am unworthy and have no claim on God no matter where I stand on the social ladder of the world. But Christ has made me worthy and given me an inheritance because of his death on the cross. So their actions directly contradict that understanding, and Paul is justifiably outraged, and that's the picture we want to bring into this text. So let's read eleven verses twenty seven through twenty nine. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. So let's talk about what does he mean by being guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. It is possible that he means we are in a sense guilty of hanging Jesus on the cross just as if we had been there and killed him, but I think in the context he means something more like this. If you participate in the Lord's Supper in an inappropriate way, this is not just a breach of etiquette. As I've just explained, this bread symbolizes the body of Christ broken for you, this wine symbolizes the blood of Christ shed for you, and this meal is all about remembering that Jesus died on our behalf and what his death accomplished for us. Yet your actions show a disdain for his sacrifice. Christ made this meal all about his death for you, and your offense is against his body and blood, against his death. Your offense is showing your lack of interest in what the body and the blood of Christ is all about. So your guilt is your disdain or your dismissal or your minimizing the sacrifice of Christ. I think this is also what he means by not judging the body rightly. You ought to understand what the sacrifice of Christ means. You ought to know what he meant when he said he offered his body and blood on the cross, but you aren't judging that rightly. You aren't assessing that rightly, or at least your actions here contradict a right understanding of that sacrifice. That phrase judge the body rightly is very debated. Is he referring to Christ's body which was broken for us? Or is he referring to the people of God, which Paul metaphorically calls the body of Christ? So does he mean Christ's physical body or does he mean the church? Am I looking at the death of Christ rightly or am I looking at the church rightly? Both of those options can fit in the context because the rich in Corinth are both ignoring the poorer members of the church and also dismissing the importance of Christ's death. But I think he means Christ's physical body because the issue he's been dealing with up to this point is how are they understanding communion? How are they dealing with the bread and the wine as symbols of the body and blood of Christ? They're not assessing those symbols rightly. They see this meal as a regular feast, a chance to eat and make merry and get drunk, and they've lost the sight of the fact that this meal is all about remembering Christ's death for us. When he says you drink judgment to yourself, I don't think he means that they are going to be judged if they don't do the ritual in the right way. Those who have faith will ultimately find mercy and forgiveness because of the death of Christ. This ceremony, this ritual only has meaning if you have faith. If you participate in such a way that shows you don't really have faith and you could care less about the cross of Christ, then your actions don't show that you will receive grace. Your actions indicate that you will receive judgment. So in that sense, you're drinking judgment on yourself. Going through the motions of the ritual isn't going to do you any good. There's no magic in it by itself that will overcome your guilt if you lack saving faith. What you really need is saving faith. You really need to understand what the cross was all about and how this ritual reminds us of it. So when he says examine yourself, I think he's saying, What do you truly believe? Do you really understand what the cross is all about and do you really understand why Jesus died? Now it's very common for this verse 1128 to be taken out of context, but a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. I was taught as a new believer that I needed to examine myself every time before taking communion to see if there was anything unworthy in me, like an unconfessed sin or a grudge or an unresolved dispute with a friend or something, and I was taught that I shouldn't take communion until I'd resolved that issue. And in the church I attended when I was a new believer, the pastor used to give us a couple of weeks warning before communion so that we could go out and make ourselves worthy. Well, that struck terror into my young and immature heart because about the only thing I knew then was that I was profoundly unworthy and that there is nothing I can do to make myself worthy. And it was months and months before I dared to take communion, and then I only took it in sheer terror. Well, I don't think that's what Paul intended in this verse. He's confronting a group of people whose actions deny the very truth they're supposed to be remembering in this celebratory meal. They're treating this as another opportunity to feast and get drunk and celebrate with their rich friends and ignore those outside their social class. And he wants them to stop and reconsider. He's saying stop and test yourself, approve yourself, look and see, do you really believe the gospel? The appropriate way to participate is to come to the table with faith and humility and genuine belief. Do you have that? Do you recognize that you are a sinner and left to yourself you cannot be saved? Do you recognize that God owes you nothing and is not required to give you any blessing? Do you want to be saved from your sinfulness? And do you trust in and count on the fact that God will save you because of the body and blood of Jesus Christ? Because that's what this meal is all about. That's what we're remembering when we come to the Lord's Supper. So he's saying examine yourself, and if that's not what you want, then stay home and eat there. If you don't care what Christ did on your behalf, then you should stay home because this meal is all about remembering what Christ did for us. So I think the answer to examine yourself is a simple one. Do you see yourself as a sinner who is destined for judgment before God? And do you understand that the cross of Christ is your only hope? Do you see Christ as the one who can bring you life and forgiveness because of his sacrifice on the cross? Then take communion. You're taking it appropriately, you're taking it rightly. If you don't see that, if you don't want the grace and forgiveness Christ bought with his blood and his body, then don't take communion because that's what communion is all about. To participate in a worthy manner or a fitting manner is to participate in a way that fits with what this meal is all about. So to participate with faith and gratefulness for what God has done for us through Christ. If that's not what you're interested in, if all you're interested in is feasting and drinking, then stay home. Then he goes on, for this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep, but if we judged ourselves rightly we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. I think these three verses are the hardest part of the section. Is he talking about those who are physically weak and physically sick and dying, or is he talking about those who are spiritually weak and spiritually sick and dying? Both of those are plausible interpretations. Previously I used to lean toward the physically weak and physically sick side, but now I lean toward the spiritually weak. But I recognize that I may be stretching the language a bit, so I'm gonna give you both options. First, if Paul is talking about physically weak, physically sick and physically dying, then he could be suggesting that sickness and death is part of God's discipline on us. And there are people who understand him to be saying, if you're a good Christian, you won't get sick. If you're getting sick, then it must be because you're sinning somewhere, and what you need to do is stop sinning, especially during the Lord's Supper, and then you'll stop getting sick. And I know people who believe that, and they would point to this passage and a couple of others as evidence for that conclusion, and they would say, Look, if you just stop messing up, you'd get well. Well, I don't think that is a plausible interpretation. My understanding of the rest of Scripture is that there is no simple link between physical sickness and sin. For instance, this is John 9, verses one through three. Speaking about Jesus, it says, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? And Jesus answered, It was neither that this man sinned nor his parents, but it was so that the world Works of God might be displayed in him. I may be misunderstanding that, but I think Jesus is rejecting the premise right there that if you're physically sick, you must have sinned. He seems to be saying that's not the case. You can't make a one-to-one link that way. God is doing something and he wants to display his glory, and this is the way he's doing it. Also, remember Paul's thorn in the flesh from 2 Corinthians 12, whatever that thorn was, Paul prayed that God would take it away from him, and God answered, No, no, I want you to have this. It's going to be good for you in the long run. Ultimately, God's strength is going to shine through that thorn. So there's those two examples. And then over and over again, we see that trials and sufferings are not a judgment of God, but a testing of our faith. James tells us to rejoice in our trials because God is using them to test and mature our faith. And illness can be one of those trials. Peter tells us the same thing. Over and over we see the New Testament authors arguing that trials come upon us as a test to strengthen and mature our faith. So given the rest of the New Testament and Paul's other letters, I don't think that Paul has the perspective if you're sick, it's because you've sinned. So let's rule that one out. However, there's something else he could mean by physically sick, and that would be in this particular case, Paul has reason to believe that God is demonstrating his disapproval through an illness. So Paul knows by whatever means that God is in fact afflicting the Corinthians with some kind of outbreak of illness to get their attention and to discipline them. Now I don't know how Paul would know that for certain. Maybe God revealed it to him, or maybe he just had enough information about the situation to figure out what God was up to. Perhaps this epidemic is particularly hitting the group that is most worldly and opposed to Paul, or it's so striking in its size and effect that Paul realizes it's not a coincidence. Now remember, God's discipline is a merciful thing. God disciplines us now in order that we might repent and avoid the final judgment later. In either case, Paul is saying, look at yourselves and repent, or God will judge you. Right now in Corinth, a disciplining kind of judgment has come upon you. God has chosen to bring a wave of sickness through the Corinthian church, and He's doing this to get your attention so that you might repent. This is a wake-up call for the community and an opportunity for you to repent and realize what you're doing. So this option would not claim that all sin leads to a physical illness, but that in this particular illness at this particular time in history, it is a wake-up call from God. God is not opposed to using the mundane circumstances of our lives to get our attention. So if you understand Paul to mean physically weak and physically sick in this section, I think that's probably the best way to understand it. But there's another option, and that is that he's speaking metaphorically, and he's talking about being spiritually weak, spiritually sick, and spiritually asleep. And I'm inclined to take this more metaphorically. Let me read it again and explain how that option would understand these verses. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep, but if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. So he's just been talking about examining the state of your soul. Take stock of what you believe and see if you believe what communion is all about. Many of you are immature, you are spiritually confused, spiritually sick, and some of you are spiritually asleep. Look at yourselves and examine yourselves now before God judges you. Right now, you're judging yourselves in the sense that your actions indicate that you lack a strong mature faith. So many of you are spiritually immature and some of you are spiritually asleep. If you were awake, you would understand the truth and act accordingly. However, if you assess yourselves correctly, that is, wake up and realize that you are sinners in need of a savior, then you will not be condemned. But even when we judge ourselves rightly, when we understand the truth about who we are and what we need in Christ, we will be disciplined by the Lord so that we might repent and not be condemned, and that our faith might be strengthened and matured. In either case, this discipline is a chance to wake up and repent. You're spiritually weak and immature, but you can fix that by waking up, judging yourselves rightly and repenting. So use this discipline as your wake-up call. Paul then concludes in 1133. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. And we talked about this in the first podcast, but I think his conclusion is serve one another, host one another, wait on each other like a waiter. When you come together, make sure that everyone has food and drink and be hospitable toward one another. And then thirty-four, if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come. So if you're inclined to see this meal as just a feast and a drinking opportunity, do that at home so that you won't continue to show yourself to be spiritually weak and immature, so that you don't come together in a way that makes it look like you're not believers. All right, let me wrap this section up. I understand the problem in the way they're celebrating the Lord's Supper to be worldliness. Now, not worldliness in the sense of their dancing or they're playing cards, but worldly in the sense that they are letting the values and the perspectives of the world dictate what they think is important and what life is all about. And what Paul wants them to realize is the gospel changes everything. Coming to faith and believing the gospel changes a lot about the way we think, what we value, what we think is important, and ought to therefore change how we act. And this issue with the Lord's Supper is another area where the Corinthians are acting in a way that is consistent with worldly values, but not consistent with the gospel. So I would say the problem in the way they're handling the Lord's Supper is not an issue of doing the ritual in the improper way or not being loving to the poor. The fundamental issue is what do I believe to be true? Do I understand the meaning of the cross? Do I understand why Jesus had to die? Do I understand why I myself need him to die in my place? Is loving God and my neighbor at the heart of my ethical system? Or am I following the ways of the world? And those are the kinds of questions Paul wants the Corinthians to ask themselves and then repent and live like they believe the gospel. So I would argue that we should see communion as a reminder that I was lost, but Jesus has rescued me. It is also an occasion to celebrate together as a people our connection to each other because we are equally forgiven and equally blessed by God, regardless of where we stand on the world's social ladder. And finally, to take communion in a worthy manner is to take it in faith, to take it with that understanding of what the body and the blood of Jesus Christ means, and to celebrate it with humility and gratitude for what he's done. Thank you for listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. This is the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but shows you how to figure that out. Thanks for listening today. I hope you've been blessed by this. And if you have, I have three favors. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a positive rating on your favorite podcast platform, and tell a friend. And if you can only do one thing, telling a friend is best. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates of heartfeltmusic.org. I encourage you to go to his website and listen to some of his other music. You'll be glad you did. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word of the United States.