Be The Church Week 15
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Important Announcements!
Heads up we will be having a CGLM Celebration Sunday afternoon May 15th at 5:00! We will reach out with more details this week via text message! Thank you for all that you do in serving the church and building God’s kingdom!
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Theme: When we look into the church of Corinth we see a lot of things we can learn from! They were a messy church, but they were a church alive! As we dive into this book we can learn a lot, whether it be from their spiritual failures or whether it be from their spiritual success. The one thing we learn is that God has called the church to be the hands and feet of Jesus! And it's when the church comes together in unity and lives on mission together that God moves in the most powerful of ways! In chapters 1-10 Paul addresses how the church should live in the world outside the church. In chapters 11-14 Paul addresses Christians on how they should act inside the church! Let's Be The Church!
Major Points:
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Never take communion the same again!
When it comes to taking communion most of us understand that it’s a big deal, we just have never been taught exactly what it is or exactly what we’re doing when we take it! We don’t have enough time to dive into detail, but we do see three practice things in this passage that will help us learn more about coming to the table in taking communion.
3 things Paul points out about the Lord’s supper.
1.. The Lord’s supper is about Unity in the Church. (Body of Christ)
2.. The Lord's supper is about Remembering the Gospel.
3.. The Lord’s supper is about Personal Examination & Renewal.
Let’s look into these three things together!
1.. Unity in the Church. (Body of Christ) vs 17-22
God desires it! John 17:23-24
One thing God makes clear in scripture is His desire for His disciples to be one as He is one. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are 3 persons, but they are 1 God. As believers, we are called the body of Christ. There is one God (the God of the bible) and there is one way to heaven Jesus Christ). And there is one family of God, the faith family. God desires for His people to reflect the Gospel to the world around us, and he desires that we treat one another with love and forgiveness as we do life together! It’s when we have this love for one another that others will see that something is different about this group of people and something is different about their God!
Jesus died for it!
Not only does God desire it, but Jesus also died to make it possible.
Jesus laid His life down for our salvation! He laid His life down for the sheep. He died to purchase our salvation and bring us into the family of God. He died to reconcile us back to God. It is through Jesus’ work on the cross that we find unity and forgiveness and oneness with God and others! This is Paul's main point! How can we come to the table and take communion that represents Jesus’ work on the cross for our salvation and have favoritism or un-forgiveness or a lack of deep fellowship with our brothers and sister around us?
“All bloodlines will go to heaven through one bloodline, Jesus Christ.
And if we don’t want to go together, then we’re probably not going at all.” John Piper
It doesn’t matter our social status. It doesn’t matter our economic status. It doesn’t matter our reputation. It doesn’t matter about commonalities or differences. It doesn’t matter if we vote Democrat or Republican. It doesn’t matter our race, it matters about GRACE!
The Gospel gives us one thing in common that is stronger than all of our differences, and that is this, Amazing Grace how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see. Jesus in us is stronger than anything that is against us. Do not come to the table of Grace with a disunited heart!
Questions:
How does Jesus’ prayer in John 17:23-24 challenge you?
Pray that His heart would become your heart!
What are some certain examples or certain things that bring division in our world? How do these things creep into the church?
Should these things keep Christians from being unified in Christ?
Has there been (or is there ) any disunity in your life right now? Explain.
We need it!
God cares most about whom we’re becoming! He cares about us becoming more like Christ. The truth is there is no way you can be growing into the image of Jesus and have disunity in your heart! When we step to the table to partake in communion a few things happen.
For one were encouraged and comforted in remembering what Christ did for us in our place! Not only are we encouraged, we’re also held accountable. You know what, It’s in times like when we take Communion that we are reminded of what Christ did for us, and we are reminded of what we are to be for others, especially our brothers and sisters in Jesus! Jesus reminds us that we needed forgiving and acceptance and so that's what we need to be for others. We need to be one as He is one. And it's in unity and deep fellowship that we grow the most!
There are no long rangers!
There should be no private dinners! vs 21
There will be no cliques in heaven!
“The Christian life is a community project.” Paul David Trippe
Question:
Q - Why is unity so important to God, and why is it so important for your spiritual walk and growth?
2.. Remembering the Gospel. Vs 23-26
In Verses, 23-26 Paul Jumps back to When Jesus implemented this with His disciples! These are the words of Jesus! And when we take part in communion this is the message that we are proclaiming.
The Cross of Christ.
Isaiah 53:5
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
1 Peter 2:24
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
Communion brings us face to face with the cross! Face to Face with what Jesus did for us in our place. This is what we’re proclaiming when we take communion.
Question:
How do these verses change the way you approach communion?
The Covenant of Christ
This represents the New Covenant!
When God makes a covenant (oath) with his people he gives a sign that represents that covenant.
He gave Abraham Circumcision.
He gave Noah a Rainbow.
Jesus gives us Communion!
Something we can look at. Something we can hold in our hands. Something we can see with our eyes. Something can feel on our lips and taste with our tongues that reminds us of God’s promise in Christ that John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall never perish but have everlasting life! God says, you feeling weak? Come to the table! Are you having doubts like Abraham? Come to the table. Are you feeling forsaken? Come to the table. Communion should stir our affections for Jesus and remind us of the cost that it took for our salvation. God paid a high price, His only Son to make you a son and daughter of His.
All the high priests can go home now! Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. We no longer have to make blood-shed sacrifices for our sins, we can come to the table of Grace and remember the one and only sacrifice that actually forgives them freely and forever! Jesus Christ!
Questions:
Why is it encouraging to you that God would give you a sign to remember the covenant he has made with His people? (You).
In what ways does Communion stir your affections for Jesus personally?
3.. Personal Examination & Renewal.
At the end of the day, Communion is coming face to face with Jesus!
There is nothing else that should be more comforting and humbling at the same exact time! On one hand, we are forgiven in Christ and we can come to God with confidence and boldness like children to their parents. But on the other hand, it is when we come face to face with Jesus that we also see sin in our life. We see the high price He paid and we see the low life we’re living in areas we never even realized!
God cares about the heart that is about to take communion. He cares about our motives and the posture of our hearts! God cares about the manner in which we take communion!
What does it look like to take communion in an unworthy manner?
Here are a few ways we shouldn’t take it!
1.. We shouldn’t take communion with an unrepentant heart! Jesus died to free us from sin not for us to live in it! Sin is a big deal. Big enough deal that Jesus was Crushed for it!
2.. We shouldn't come to the table with a spirit of self-righteousness.
The one thing that won’t be in heaven is self-righteousness! It is by God’s Grace alone that we are saved!
3.. We shouldn’t take communion with a spirit of Defiance.
We shouldn't have resistance or disobedience in communion. (If our heart is right) God wants us to participate in communion. We shouldn’t take it just to take it! We shouldn’t do it with a religious posture.
4.. We shouldn’t take communion with a spirit of Division.
Again, Jesus desires, demands, and died for our unity! There will be times when we disagree, but we should not let that disunify what Jesus died to bring together. If we have a division with our spouse or a brother and sister in the faith then we should get that right before we participate in communion.
Those who experience the Gospel should become like it!
Never mind that bread and wine, unless you can use them as folks often use their spectacles. What do they use them for? To look at? No, to look through them. So, use the bread and wine as a pair of spectacles. Look through them, and do not be satisfied until you can say, “Yes, yes, I can see the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Charles Spurgeon
Question:
What are some misconceptions people have about communion?
Have you ever partook in communion in an unworthy manner not realzing it? Explain!
Prayer
Spend some time praying and thanking God for the sacrifice of Jesus!
Spend some time reflecting on the price that Jesus paid for you to be brought into the family of God! Ask God to search your heart for any disunity that you may have towards someone else and help you to forgive that person or ask for their forgiveness. Ask him to search for any bitterness or favoritism that may be in your life and to help you get it out by focussing on Him and what He did for you!