WORSHIP SERIES
1 Corinthians
11:23-34
# 4 - WORSHIP AT
THE TABLE
In a sense, today
we are having a “gratitude lunch”. We
are remembering what Jesus did for us on the cross by celebrating the Lord’s
Table.
I want to talk to you about “Worship Around the Table”, the Lord’s Table. It is so easy for us to take our once a month
Communion service as just a little “tack on” to the end of the service. But if our whole lives are to be an act of
worship, based on Romans 12:1-2, then our participation at the Communion Table
should also be an act of worship. We should never take the Lord’s Table
lightly.
I direct your
attention to 1 Corinthians 11:23-34.
Here we find the most complete explanation of the Lord’s Table in the
Scriptures. Based on this Scripture, I
am inviting you to Worship at the Table, which we will do in a few
minutes. This morning we invite you to
see that:
WORSHIP AT THE
TABLE IS THOUGHTFUL - Vss. 23-25
Worship involves
memory.
When we remember
what the Lord has done for us that is when we are ready to worship.
Psalm 143:5,
Philippians 4:8
Paul begins his
discussion of the Lord’s Table by jogging the memories of the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians
What Paul was
sharing he had received directly from the Lord.
What Paul was sharing, he had previously shared with the
Corinthians. He was getting them to
think about things which they had previously been taught.
Paul tells them a
remarkable thing. The night Jesus was
betrayed, which was also the night of Jesus being arrested, was also the night
that Jesus in a quiet Passover dinner, instituted a
commemorative service for His church.
Twice during this
little service, Jesus tells his disciples “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Worship at the
Lord’s Table is to be thoughtful.
Our thoughts are
to be centered on the Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians
Jesus took
unleavened bread and broke it.
He distributed
that bread and said Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you:
Did Jesus
literally mean that the bread was literally His body? No.
When Jesus said “I
am the door”, He didn’t mean that literally either.
Jesus meant that
bread was symbolic for His body.
And we are take that bread in remembrance of Him.
So as we pass the
bread and hold the bread in our hands, let’s think about the body of Jesus.
Jesus’ body was
given of us.
2 Corinthians
Jesus body was
broken for us.
Not a bone was
broken in his body.
But the suffering
in his body was of the highest intensity.
And on the cross He
bore the punishment for the sins of the entire world. Isaiah 53:3-6
Yes, we are to
worship by remembering the broken body when the bread is passed. But there’s
more!
1 Corinthians
11:25 - After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying,
This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it,
in remembrance of me.
The cup when it is
passed reminds us of the shed blood.
It is Jesus’ shed
blood that secures for us a new covenant or agreement with God. For all who put their faith in Christ and in
His shed blood have eternal life!
Because we are
unrighteous sinners someone has to pay for our sins.
Jesus chose to die
for our sins. Therefore anyone who
chooses to trust Christ as Savior has forgiveness and eternal life. Romans 5:1,9
So when we worship
at the Lord’s Table we are to be thoughtful.
We are to be thinking on what Jesus has done for us. We are to be remembering Him.
WORSHIP AT THE
TABLE IS A TESTIMONY – Vs. 26
1 Corinthians
If I called up
most of you during the week and announced to you that I wanted you to preach
this Sunday, you’d panic, especially if you thought I was serious.
But let me tell
you, if you partake of the bread and the cup this morning, you are
preaching. And you are preaching the
greatest message anybody could possibly preach.
The word “show” in
1 Corinthians
When we proclaim
we preach.
When you take of
the bread you are preaching your own faith in the broken body of Christ for
you.
When you take of
the cup you are preaching your own faith in the shed blood of Christ for you.
By taking of the
bread and the cup you are a testimony to all who can see you. You are preaching your faith to them!
Therefore it is
very important that what you are professing by your actions is actually true in
your life. The only person taking communion
should be the person who has put his or her faith in Christ as Savior.
Otherwise you are a hypocrite!
It’s bad enough to
not know Christ as Savior! John 3:36
It’s bad enough to
not know Christ as Savior, but its worse to act like you’re saved by taking
Communion.
Make sure that
your heart matches your testimony. And
if you are not sure of your salvation, pass up the bread and cup until you are
sure.
I want you to see
something else in verse 26.
1 Corinthians
We not only
testify to the death and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we testify to His
resurrection and the fact that He is coming again. Not only do we look backward to the cross,
but we look forward to His coming for us. Philippians 3:20
WORSHIP AT THE
TABLE IS TRANSPARENT – Vss. 27-28
1 Corinthians
Now let’s get one
thing straight.
There is not one
person in the world who is worthy of the Lord Jesus.
There is not one
person in the world who is worthy of the broken body and the shed blood.
Isaiah 64:6
We are not worthy.
That’s why Jesus had to die of us.
When Paul talks
about being unworthy here, he means to partake of the bread and the cup in an
unworthy manner.
It is to
participate in the Lord’s Table and not forgiving other people.
It is to
participate in the Lord’s Table and have your mind a million miles away in
daydreams.
It is to
participate in the Lord’s Table and to have unconfessed sin in your life.
When we come to
the Lord’s Table, God wants us to be transparent.
1 Corinthians
Before you
participate in the Lord’s Table, the Lord wants you to examine yourself for sin
and confess it. Psalm 32:5, 1 John 1:9
There are two
requirements for taking communion. First, you must know Jesus as you
Savior. Second, you are to confess all
known sin. You are to be transparent, honest with God about your failures as a
Christian.
WORSHIP AT THE
TABLE IS A TRIAL – Vss. 29-24
Because all
Christians sin, there is a sort of a trial at each communion service.
When there is a
trial there is a judge.
We are told here
that there are two possible judges.
First of all, and
most preferable, we are to be our own judges.
1 Corinthians
If we are
transparent before God, we will judge ourselves.
That is what God
prefers.
The other possible
judge is God himself.
We are warned in 1
Corinthians 11:29, For he that eateth
and drinketh unworthily, eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord's body.
We are inviting
God’s judgment when we eat and drink in an unworthy manner. And indeed, many of the Corinthians had been
judged.
1 Corinthians
Not all sickness
is due to specific sin, but some of it is.
When we take the
Lord’s Table lightly, we can become, weak, sickly and even asleep, that is
dead. God will take saints home
prematurely when they abuse the Lord’s Table.
Why does God judge
us this way?
1 Corinthians
God will go to great
lengths to wake up his sinning children, and even take them home to Him early
if they insist on being disobedient.
So the Lord’s
Table is a time of worship.
WORSHIP AT THE
TABLE IS THOUGHTFUL - Vss. 23-25
WORSHIP AT THE
TABLE IS A TESTIMONY – Vs. 26
WORSHIP AT THE
TABLE IS TRANSPARENT – Vss. 27-28
WORSHIP AT THE
TABLE IS A TRIAL – Vss. 29-24