In 11 of the book of 1 Corinthians, and if you take those two chapters as a unit, I would suggest that the whole passage turns on the word therefore in verse 14. And I trust that we'll see what I mean by that as we move on this evening. Let's just look at the end of the first section, and then we'll back up and put it into context. one of the most famous, most important promises of Scripture, one that I'd very much urge you to, as the prayer that Jim was quoting, would go on to say, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest this particular promise.

In verse 13, no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. In other words, you may think you're different,

but you aren't. The word fellowship means a couple of fellows in the same ship. we're all in the same boat no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man and here's the promise God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it mark that learn that commit that to memory what God is saying here is I will not let you get out too deep for you to swim.

I will not let the air to get too thin for you to breathe. The going may be rough, but I'll go with you. I won't allow a temptation to be more than you can handle with and in my strength.

It has a more specific application than that. We've taken it out of context and made it very broad, and I think that's appropriate because it says, temptation. But specifically, it comes in the context of a recapitulation of the wanderings in the wilderness on the part of the Israelites who went out from Egypt. We're going to move through this very quickly. Paul begins, I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food, drank the same supernatural drink.

For they drank from the supernatural rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things are warning for us not to desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were.

As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance. We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and 23,000 fell in a single day. We must not put the Lord to the test as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come.

Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. And then we come to the passage that we were just looking at.

If you were to go out from bondage in Egypt when that great day finally came that they'd been waiting for, and plague after plague had visited the Egyptians, and finally the firstborn of all Egypt was killed, and the Israelites escaped unharmed because they had the blood on the doorposts and across the top the lintel of their doors. And the angel of death passed over, And they went out victorious. The Lord our God has delivered us.

And if you were to move in a straight line at a pace that the great majority of the company of 600,000 men, women, and children could move at, it would take you 11 days to get to the promised land.

Instead, it took them 40 years

because they didn't believe God.

And he says, that's a matter of putting me to the test. And you remember, I'm sure, the broad details of the story. They came up to the borders of the land of Canaan and set in 12 spies, one from each of the 12 tribes. And they all came back and they said, they're huge giants in the land.

Joshua and Caleb believed that the Lord would take them in and allow them to be victorious. But the other 10 said, they're too much for us. They could conquer Pharaoh and his army.

God could conquer Pharaoh and his army, but he can't conquer the giants in the land.

And God said, because you have disbelieved me, you're not going to enter my promised land. This is what I brought you out for, but instead of going in, you're going to wander around for 40 years, a whole generation, until all the adults among you die, and your children will get in.

and out of that company that left the land of Egypt there were precisely two people who made it two adults who made it 40 years later into the land of promise and they were Joshua and Caleb the two who believed and all the rest perished whole generation perished in the wilderness

there's a little saying which is just worth repeating I suppose that what you believe you receive Joshua and Caleb believed it was theirs and they finally received it. The others didn't believe and they didn't receive. That's the great message of the Exodus story to us. This first section recapitulates that with a number of specific references. Verse 3, you were all baptized into Moses, obviously an allegorical reference to the crossing of the Red Sea.

They went through unharmed, whereas all the others drowned who were trying to capture them, drowned in the sea, so too in Christian baptism, symbolically, we drown in the water, we're dead, buried, but then we're resurrected again. They should have drowned. There's no earthly reason why they escaped through the Red Sea. There's only a heavenly reason.

God was with them. It was as if they would have drowned and been raised, just as we represent in Christian baptism. A reference then to crossing the Red Sea specifically and to the whole escape from bondage generally. That was verse 2, sorry. Verse 3, the reference to supernatural food. You remember that God said, I'm going to provide for you bread from heaven.

And we tend to call that manna, that's really just a Hebrew word that means, what is it? What is it? What is this stuff? And it fell from heaven supernaturally. You remember the story that each day they could gather enough for that day, enough manna for each day's needs. If they tried to keep it for the next day, it would rot.

They had to believe God day by day for their provision. I want you to hold your fingers here and turn back to the book of Numbers.

It's a fascinating addendum to that story in chapter 11

because he didn't only provide the manna, but he also provided meat for them. And I want you to see something of the attitude of these Israelis as God was leading them through the wilderness.

And we begin to sense what the problem was as they continued, not just initially, but continued to disbelieve God and to grumble and murmur against him. You all find numbers?

We'll wait.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, right? Okay. In chapter 11. Now look at verse 4. Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving, and the people of Israel also wept again and said, Oh, that we had meat to eat.

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic. Ah, the garlic.

You go into some of those little bazaars there in the city of Jerusalem, they're still eating the garlic, I'll tell you. But now our strength is all dried up. There's nothing at all to eat but this manna.

Now, if you ever wondered what manna was, you find out in the next verse. Now, the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium. Aren't you glad you asked?

People went around and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the ground, the camp in the night the manna fell with it. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families.

Every man at the door of his tent. The anger of the Lord blazed hotly and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the Lord, Why have you dealt ill with thy servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight? They were complaining against Moses and he said, I can't cope with that. I didn't call him out of here.

You did. Why are you angry with me, God? He says, Can I bring them forth? only you can. Let's skip down. Verse 16, The Lord said to Moses, Gather for me 70 men of the elders of Israel.

Verse 17, And I will come down and talk with you there and take some of the spirit that is upon you and put it upon them. And we have the beginning of the whole system of elders here to lead the people. God gave additional elders to Moses and distributed the role of leadership. And then comes the promise, speaking to the issue.

Verse 18. Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat. For you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. 430 years they're complaining that it's not well with them in Egypt. But now they get out in the wilderness and all they can remember are the leeks and the garlics.

Therefore, if you think the Lord doesn't have a sense of humor, get this next little interchange. Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month until it comes out your nose and becomes loathsome to you.

And the Lord sends the quails, and he gives them their food until literally they are so sick they want to throw up over the quails. There's humor there. There's rebuke there. There's also demonstration of his mighty power. The day that they crossed finally, after 40 years of wandering into the promised land, the manna stopped.

God's provision was for that time in the wilderness. He provided supernatural food. He provided supernatural drink as well. We're not going to take the time to read it, but you might go back at your leisure and read Numbers chapter 20. when God says to Moses, if you come into a dry and arid place, speak to the rock, and the rock will gush forth water sufficient to assuage the thirst of all the people.

It's an interesting episode because Moses, in that instance, turns around and rebukes the people and he says, Here now, you rebels, must we bring forth water for you to drink. He turns around and he strikes the rock with his rod. and you see two things immediately God provides the water just as he promised but he says to Moses you have acted presumptuously who are you to say must we provide water I said I would do it who told you to strike the rock I said speak to it and God says to Moses guess what you're not going into the promised land either and for that moment of presumption of putting himself in the place of God, of forgetting that it's against him that they're railing, Moses also loses out on the promise to which he's given his whole life.

He can only look over into the promised land. A double reference then. God has fed them. God has given them drink. It followed them, as it were. It's not as if a rock literally is following them, but when they needed it, they'd turn to whatever rock was handy, and God would give them drink out of the rock. Paul takes this as an image of Christ. It's as if Christ, who is the rock, was accompanying them, as if Christ, who is the bread of life, was giving them supernatural food and giving them supernatural drink.

So it's projecting Jesus back into that story. And the warning is very clear. He, in fact, is our sustenance. It's on Him that we would be nourished. It's on Him that we would feed ourselves and quench our thirst. We mustn't make the same mistake that they made. Which was what? Grumbling against God,

preferring a way of life previous to His deliverance, seeing that through rose-colored glasses, and disbelieving that he's able to provide for us. That's the real essence of it, isn't it? Disbelieving that he can give us the land of promise, disbelieving that he can provide meat for our stomachs, disbelieving that he can provide all by himself without striking the rock, it's a matter of disbelief in his sufficiency. That's the temptation to which they succumbed.

Repeatedly. At the beginning, when they could have gone right into the land of promise, and for the next 40 years. Do you see that? That's the specific reference then of verses 12 and 13. Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength. with the temptation, will provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

The temptation is on the one hand to think that we would be equal in our own strength to providing for whatever the need is, as Moses did for that one awful moment, or to think that God is unequal to provide for the need. So as we're going along and we hit a dry patch, we hit a rough patch, we hit a tight place, And the temptation is to disbelieve that God is able to provide for us. And Paul's word to us is, don't be like those Israelites.

You're going to lose out on the blessing. God is able, but you've got to keep looking to him.

Temptation is to grumble against God, and that's a denial of the sufficiency of his provision. Now the second section recapitulates the argument of chapter 9. And you'll remember that. I'm not going to take you through it point by point because we did that last time. But I'll just summarize it. It was an argument about food offered to idols. And the argument was, number one, an idol has no real existence in and of itself. It's just a thing. It's like an ornament.

But there is, secondly, a spirit realm unseen behind or beyond the visible. And therefore, three, the worship of idols is really an involvement with evil spirits.

Back in that time of the Exodus, when it talks about they sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance, That's a reference right out of chapter 32 of the book of Exodus when they were worshipping the golden calf. Behind the golden calf is an evil spirit. The golden calf in and of itself is nothing. But they were looking back to one of the most powerful gods of Egypt. They were having an affair, if you will, with an evil spirit. Don't be like that, he says.

Therefore, you remember the bottom line of chapter 9 was, don't offend the conscience of a brother by even appearing to have such an involvement. If my brother is going to take offense at my eating food that's been offered to an idol, I won't do it for his sake. Now that's exactly the same argument that we get in the latter part of chapter 10, but here it's used in deliberate juxtaposition to the Lord's Supper.

Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible men. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Consider the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? No. I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.

You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market. You remember that I commented last time that it was common practice before food was ever sold at the meat market to dedicate it to one or another of the idols or the gods or the spirits.

He says, go ahead and eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. Why? Because the earth is the Lord and everything in it. If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

But, but, if someone says to you, offers an objection out of conscience, this has been offered in sacrifice, then out of consideration for the man who informed you, and for conscience sake, I mean his conscience, not yours, do not eat it. for why should my liberty be determined by another man's scruples? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced?

Because of that for which I give thanks. So, the bottom line, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, but give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many that they may be saved. You remember exactly the same comment in the last chapter, I become all things to all men that by all means I might save some.

The argument seems to be this, that if eating sacrifices offered to idols,

deliberately doing so in their worship, if eating sacrifices offered to idols is in any sense partnership with demons,

then, by analogy, consuming the Lord's Supper in worship is an expression of partnership with the Lord Jesus.

Behind the elements, whatever they might be, there is a spiritual reality. The worship of idols, the idols themselves are nothing, but the worship of them may be an involvement with spiritual beings who stand behind them. Similarly, the bread is not the thing that we're concerned about, The cup of wine is not the thing in and of itself we're concerned about, but it's the Lord Jesus who stands behind it. If participation in the sacrifice to idols is involvement with demons, so participation in the supper of the Lord is a partnership with the Lord Jesus himself.

Therefore, let's relate the two sections.

Therefore, to participate in the Lord's supper is to confess my dependence upon the Lord Jesus, my confidence in the God who is in Christ and in his sufficiency for my every need. What am I doing in the Lord's Supper? I'm eating. I'm drinking. I'm consuming. I'm finding my nourishment. I'm casting all of my dependence upon him.

When I do that, rightly, what I'm doing is with body language, I'm expressing my total commitment to Christ and the fact that I'm looking to Him for the satisfaction of my total need. Are you with me so far?

Is anybody out there? You with me? All right. Amen, brother. Preach it.

To participate in the Lord's Supper is to confess the sufficiency of God, To deny his sufficiency is to succumb to the temptation of an evil spirit. Do you see the therefore in verse 14? Do you see how the one section relates to the other? Therefore, my beloved, what's the wherefore? The wherefore is God is able. God is sufficient.

God will provide for your every need. There's nothing that will overcome you, but he is able. Therefore, my beloved brethren, don't give in to the temptation to grumble against him, to doubt him, to deny him, which is the sin of the Israelites, and which in the last analysis is giving in to the temptation of evil spirits.

That's a very powerful statement, isn't it?

I'm going to skip over very quickly the first part of chapter 11 because it's not really germane to this particular theme, and I want to move into the latter part, which picks up again on the Lord's Supper. Two comments, just in passing, on the first part of chapter 11.

It's a discussion of women and men once again, but not all women and all men. It's been taken that way many too many times. It's a discussion of headship. But the first comment I want to make, it is not the teaching that men have headship over women generally, but rather that husbands have headship over their wives specifically.

All right, there's a big difference, isn't there? Big difference. And if you want to get into that particular question, very deeply, I'd urge you to read Ephesians 5, in which you will immediately see that headship is not a right, but it's a responsibility, and that it is not a call for the husband to lord it over his wife, but rather to be her servant.

Scripture does teach the headship of the husband. But what it means is he is responsible before God for his wife and for the children. Responsible as a priest of the family to bring them into the deepest relationship with God possible. And the pattern for headship is that of Christ himself, who makes a present of himself to the church. The teaching of Ephesians 5 is husbands love your wives as Christ loves the church.

You stop and think about that for one moment. Do we have anything in all the New Testament that would suggest Jesus lording it over the church? And yet we say he's the head of the church. His pattern of behavior is to serve. Gets up from supper, puts a towel around him and washes his disciples' smelly feet. That's how husbands are to treat their wives.

Wash their smelly feet. Care for them. Headship means service. Service. And again, it's within a larger, a broader context where it says wives be subject to your husbands. That's preceded by the statement be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ, which is also what we find here.

Second comment in passing is verse 14, when it's talking about women covering their heads in prayer, and Paul says, does not nature itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is degrading to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her pride. I want to just suggest to you that the use of the word nature there really is custom.

It's custom. It's not rooted in biology.

You know, there have been lots of time in history when men have worn very long hair. There's nothing biologically that makes that impossible, except for Billy Hutchison.

And Bob Tilton.

I think what Paul is saying here, and I'll admit I'm into an opinion area here, okay, but I believe I'm on good grounds, and if we had the time to spend, we could see several other examples of it. I believe that is saying is that it is not appropriate for the Christian to trample on social mores.

Okay? That if there is an expectation that proper behavior is thus and so, proper dress is thus and so, proper manners are thus and so, we might feel a liberty not to be bound by those before the Lord, but again out of consideration for our brother or even for our neighbor we're not going to be the innovators just think for a moment can you remember most of you when the beetles first became popular how horrified people were at the length of their hair remember and now you look at a picture of the early beetles and they look kind of cute little choir boys you know and most guys that you meet on the street have hair longer than that today.

And yet it was a scandal at that point for them to wear their hair that long. Similarly, can you remember when miniskirts first came out? And it was a scandal for a woman to wear a miniskirt. And then a few years later, nobody thought a second thing about it. I would just suggest to you that that's the sense in which Paul is making this comment. For a Christian to jump into that sort of innovation of trampling on the expectations of people around him abusing social mores is inappropriate.

And I'm going to leave it at that because I want to push on very quickly into a much more exciting area.

Verse 17, chapter 11, verse 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. For in the first place, when you assemble as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it. We're right back to the beginning now. That's how the book opened. There's party strife, there's division, there's this group and that group and all of them saying we're the best ones.

I partly believe it, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. Isn't that an interesting comment? There will be some wolves in sheep's clothing. and they'll emerge. You get talking about unity. You let the Holy Spirit really fall and the wheat will be separated from the chaff.

When you meet together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal and one is hungry and another is drunk. 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. Now, what's happening here? The church is gathering. They're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper.

They start to distribute the food, and it's completely unequally distributed. Some have a whole lot and others are going very hungry. They start to distribute the wine. Some get none and others, can you believe it, get drunk in the middle of the communion service. What does it tell you about the nature of that meal?

It's a real meal.

It's not a symbolic meal. At this point.

This is a major turning point in the celebration of Christian worship. up until this point the celebration of the Lord's Supper has been much more like a parish potluck supper than it's like what we now call the Holy Eucharist people would come and bring their basket of food and the idea was to share it equally amongst each other amongst themselves the problem was one group would keep all the food to themselves while another group that had very little got none.

Hold your finger here again and look back at the book of Acts, chapter 2.

This is the day of Pentecost. You remember the story. The apostles have been meeting in the upper room and the Holy Spirit has finally fallen upon them and they rush out They proclaim the gospel. Peter stands up in the square of Jerusalem, begins to preach.

Everybody thinks that they're drunk because they're so full of joy. He says, no, it's only 9 o'clock in the morning. And he preaches such a stirring sermon that we read 3,000 people were converted that day. That's fairly good results. That's a real success story. Verse 38. Well, let's go back. Verse 37. They were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?

Peter said to them, Repent, be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you too will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit just as we have received him. For the promise is to you and your children and to all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. So, verse 41, those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

And then in the next verse you get what has been called the fourfold mark of the apostolic church. If any of these four things are lacking, you really are not following in the apostles'

line. Verse 42, And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, number one, and fellowship, number two, to the breaking of bread, number three, and the prayers. Now in that context, what would the phrase, the breaking of bread, suggest to you?

The Lord's Supper, very clearly. This is the mark. This is the sign that Jesus said, whenever you eat this bread, you remember my death. Whenever you drink this cup, you do it as a memorial of me. The breaking of the bread in that context is clearly a reference to the sacramental meal that he instituted on the night he was betrayed. But look what goes on to be said in the next paragraph.

And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common.

They sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all as any had need. They practiced a kind of economic communism.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. What does the phrase baking bread in their homes suggest to you in that context?

Eating a meal, clearly. And there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the deliberate juxtaposition of those two phrases is suggesting that they're one and the same.

Just as we use the phrase that way today. We can say, let's break bread together. What do we mean? Let's go out and have a meal. Or we speak of the breaking of bread as a reference to the Holy Eucharist. At this point in history, they're one and the same. And if you stop and think about it, that was the way in which Jesus himself instituted it. It was a real meal. In fact, it was the Passover meal.

A full-fledged seven-course meal. And in the midst of it, he identified two of the elements with himself. There were many other elements. There was lamb, and there were bitter herbs, and there was a paste made of apples, and so on. But he took the bread and identified it with his body and the cup and identified it with his blood. And he said, whenever you eat, do it in remembrance of me. Whenever you drink, do it in remembrance of me.

What he's saying is every meal ought to be a recollection of that meal, which in turn was a portrayal of his death on our behalf. He sacramentalized all of life. Do you see that? And what does it say? How often did they do this? Every day. Okay. For about a hundred years, it was never required that the apostles, or after them the bishops or the presbyters, presided over the Eucharist.

They were often present, but often they were not. They weren't even in the room when it happened. How often do you think they could get 3,000 people into one room for a common meal? Obviously what they did was they went into each other's homes.

That leads to some interesting consequences when you start talking about the role of the clergy and the role of the laity. When you talk about the role of women, it leads to some interesting problems because the woman presided over the meal, as she still does in Jewish households. But what I'm saying is that up to this point, the Lord's Supper was simply part of a regular, real meal. But Paul says, you're abusing it.

You're abusing it. What is supposed to be communicated here is your oneness. That's the point of having this potluck supper. The word communion comes from the two English words common union.

common union there are lots of other words with the same root commune communicate and as I've already suggested communism what is it? having all things together being at one with each other here's what he says is happening you're coming together to celebrate not only your union with Christ but your union with each other and instead of that you are so abusing your unity that some are gorging themselves while others go hungry some are still thirsty while others are getting drunk is this the Lord's Supper?

God forbid

and then he goes on and repeats the very familiar words to us for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me the same way also the cup after supper this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes

he draws his conclusion then whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. And that's why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we've judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged.

But when we're judged by the Lord, we're chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

now in that context what do you think it means to say discern the body

he who eats or drinks without discerning the body of Christ eats and drinks judgment upon himself what's he saying

what being conscious of what

with the other people in the congregation what is the body of Christ?

the people

don't you see what he's saying? you are celebrating in your eating of this bread the fact that you are corporately the body of Christ to come and eat this bread and fail to see the corporate nature of Christ's body is a self-contradiction.

This is in no way, my friends, a reference to the medieval doctrine of transubstantiation. Not in the slightest. That is the farthest thing does he have from his mind. The notion that the bread now has become literally Christ's flesh and that that's what you've got to perceive. Not at all. He's not introducing a totally extraneous reference to some supernatural miracle here of changing the substance of bread into the substance of flesh. He's consistent with his theme.

You corporately are the body of Christ. That's what you're expressing when you come to the Lord's table. To come to the Lord's table and to fail to be at one with each other is a self-contradiction. It is a profanation, a profaning of the very act that you're celebrating.

Look back in chapter 10 again.

Verse 16, the cup of blessing which we bless. Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ, the bread which we break? Is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. If I put that into the vernacular, he's saying you are what you eat.

You are what you eat. We take one loaf of bread.

Here's oneness. One loaf. Do you see it? Now we distribute amongst all of you. And that bread becomes part of you. That one loaf is part of all of you. You are one loaf. You're one. We eat of one bread. That makes us one body.

That's what we're celebrating. That's what we're demonstrating. Not only our union with Christ, but our union with each other as members of His body.

Do you see what's at stake here? To come to the Lord's table then and be at war with my neighbor is a hopeless self-contradiction. I am eating judgment upon myself. I'm saying I'm not only reconciled to God, I'm reconciled to my neighbor, to my brother.

And if that's a lie, I'm lying before God. If there are people in the body of Christ with whom you have unresolved conflicts, grudges, problems, and you come to the Lord's table, without having done absolutely everything that you can to overcome that conflict. You're eating and drinking judgment upon yourself.

That's exactly the meaning of the peace, by the way, when we pass the peace. We're not simply saying, you know, how are you? A little cocktail conversation here. We're saying the peace of the Lord be with you, which he says is different from the world's peace.

Whatever has come between us, God's peace is sufficient to bridge that gap. God's love is strong enough to overcome that difference. What I'm saying to you is not just some casual greeting. I am saying to you, the peace of the Lord. And that's why we go to each other and express reconciliation before we come to the Lord's table. Do you remember the old words of the old communion service? Ye who do earnestly repent and are in love and charity with your neighbors and intend to lead a new life following the commandments of God.

Draw near with faith and take this holy sacrament to your comfort. See what I mean?

And the conclusion then, So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together to be condemned. about the other things I will give directions when I come.

And so Paul is saying because you have so utterly abused the potluck supper, we're going to do away with it. No more real meal. From now on, a symbolic meal. You do your eating at home and the Lord's supper from here on out will be just a little bite, one mouthful of bread, just a little sip of wine.

and as I say it was really about a hundred years after the resurrection that that began to become common practice Paul's word to the Corinthians was a specific word to a specific church and it was well into the second century before it became normative practice

it still from time to time is a great thing in the midst of a potluck supper to just stop with all the dirty dishes on the table and very reverently take some bread and recall Christ's death. Take a cup of wine and share it together. But what Paul is saying is because the abuse has been so great I don't want you to do it that way.

As a regular thing. Do your eating at home and come for a symbolic meal from here on out.

I think you could picture all of this if you think of a wheel and the spokes of the wheel.

if the spokes are rightly related to the hub of necessity they are in relationship with each other

you cannot be rightly related to the hub without immediately not later it's part of the same event being related to the other spokes

there is no such thing as Lone Ranger Christianity there is no way of talking about me and thee, O Lord, and that's all there is. There ain't no more. There is no way. That kind of rugged individualism of American Protestantism. There's no such thing. That's what's wrong with the guy who says, I can worship God just as well out on the golf course or off in the woods alone.

Well, no doubt you can, but immediately you start a relationship with God, you get in relationship with his other kids.

if you're really relating to the only true God his agenda for you is to find out where you fit into his body that is the powerful image that he's about to develop in the next section chapters 12 to 14 it's absolutely critical that we understand this you'll make no sense whatsoever as the book draws to its conclusion unless you see that what he's talking about the body of Christ what he's saying is we are individually members of the body of Christ and therefore members of each other corporately.

And you remember the teaching. We're not the same. What good is my left foot all by itself? None.

But without it, I'm really in trouble.

I need my left foot. My left foot needs me. My eyes need my ears. My nose needs my tongue. My hands need each other. Without them they can't even clap.

We need each other. That's the body of Christ. Each other. That's what we celebrate in the Lord's Supper.

The closer, stick with that little analogy for one more second, the closer you get on any one of those spokes to the hub,

the closer you're going to get to all the other spokes.

The farther away you get, the farther away from the other spokes. Okay? There is no such thing as being rightly related to Jesus without that involving His body. That's what we celebrate in the Lord's Supper. That He died and rose again on my behalf and I am totally identifying myself with Him but at the same time, in the same breath I am one with you.

We'll come back one more time to that therefore.

If one bread means one body,

then there's a contrast between the self-centeredness, The selfishness that was expressed over and over and over and over again by the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness.

And what we're expressing in Christian worship. They were saying, God is not able to provide, and my own personal needs come first. We are saying, God is able to provide, and the body of Christ comes first.

let's bow our heads for just a moment and then there may be some questions or responses to that we're once again covering an enormous amount of territory and I'm feeling very pressed by our time let's just ask God to sift this down for us

Lord Jesus Christ

we recall those wandering in the wilderness experience over and over and over again forgetting the horrors of the bondage they left behind and seeing instead its security.

And your word to us is stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Lord, we thank you. We thank you that you are able to provide for our every need.

We think of Abraham going out not knowing where he was going and you commended him for his faith because he trusted you step by step into the unknown and you provided for his need.

And we would be those tonight who confess you are sufficient.

Nothing has, does or will overtake us that's too big for you to handle.

We would stand fast in that liberty

forgive us Lord for the the shortened perspective that sees our own needs first when you call us to see our oneness in Christ to be more concerned to meet the needs of each other than to meet our own needs

and Lord we pray that you'd give us a special reverence as we come to your table

a special heightened sensitivity

to what it is that we're confessing in coming forward to receive the bread and the wine.

That we've put our trust in you.

And that as we, like spokes in the wheel, move closer to Jesus Christ, the hub,

were drawn closer to each other at the same time.

Hallelujah. Thank you for the body of Christ. Thank you for each other. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Lord, help us to celebrate your supper appropriately.

We would see you in the breaking of the bread.

for your great name's sake.

Amen. Amen.