It is our practice here every
Sunday evening to conclude the day in the observance of our
Lord's Supper. And we do so because that's the
way it was done in the New Testament. There's no requirement that it
has to be done every week, but that's clearly the way it was
done in the New Testament, and I see no reason to alter that.
But lest we should simply go through the mundane ceremony. and miss the importance of it,
and miss the significance of it, and miss the responsibility
of it, I think it's important periodically for me to bring
a message to you dealing specifically with this blessed ordinance by
which we worship and remember our Savior called the Lord's
Supper. So I want us to begin this evening
by reading 1 Corinthians 11. Verses 27, 28, and 29. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup. For he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body. These three verses of scripture
have perhaps been more troubling to sensitive souls than any others
in the New Testament. Many of the Lord's people read
these verses and think, surely, if anyone is unworthy to eat
the bread and drink the wine here set before us in the Lord's
table, it is me. There are others who, on an erroneous
principle, who would take these verses of scripture and keep
people in bondage and make us constantly look within ourselves
and say, now, if we don't measure up to a certain standard, then
we're unworthy to eat and drink the bread and wine of the Lord's
table. Satan roars against the weak. the poorly taught believer,
accusing him of sin and of guilt, and tries his best always to
put us upon a legal ground so that we attempt to stand before
God on the footing of our works rather than the footing of free
grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. You see, the old serpent is hellishly
subtle. is clever. Under the disguise
of a pretentious humility and a personal holiness, he would
have you to turn your eyes away from Christ to yourself and thereby
keep you from worshiping Christ in the ordinance he's given.
What could be more horribly, hellishly subtle? Under a pretense
of humility, under a pretense of personal holiness, he would
turn your eyes away from Christ, whom alone is our acceptance
with God, to yourself, so that you look to yourself in a self-righteous
piety, in a self-righteous humility and say, well, I'm not worthy
to do what the Lord commanded me to do. That certainly is not what's
taught in this passage of scripture. He seeks to make us look to ourselves
rather than Christ alone for acceptance with God, for worthiness
in heaven. And when we talk about being
worthy to eat and drink the Lord's Supper, we're talking about being
worthy to approach God in any way at all. This is an ordinance
of worship. He who is worthy to eat this
bread and drink this wine is the same one who is worthy to
call on God's name in prayer. The same one who is worthy to
eat the bread and drink the wine is worthy to lift his heart in
praise to God as we sing in public worship. He's worthy to come
into the fellowship of God's church and family. He is worthy
to walk with God and worship and serve Him. He's worthy to
give to the cause of Christ. He's worthy to worship God. But if you're not worthy to worship
God, then you're not worthy to eat the bread and drink the wine
at the Lord's table. The two stand and fall together. Therefore,
I want to answer this one question in this message this evening.
Who is worthy? Who is and who is not worthy
to worship God? Who is and who is not worthy
to eat the bread of the Lord's table and drink the wine? Now
let me answer the question clearly now and distinctly, lest there
be any mistake as I go along, and then I'll answer it from
the scriptures as we go along in expounding this passage. Every
true believer, every true believer, every sinner who trusts Christ
alone for acceptance with God, every sinner who trusts Christ's
blood and His righteousness alone to give him standing before God,
every true believer is worthy to call on God's name. to receive
his ordinances and to worship him. Every true believer, because
he discerns the Lord's body, now that's the issue. Every true
believer, because he discerns who Christ is, what he did and
why he did it, he is worthy to take the bread and take the wine
and remember the Lord in this ordinance. Now let's see if I
can make good on that in the text. Hold your Bibles open in
this passage of Scripture and we want to look at this whole
context together. Always remember when interpreting
Scripture, when trying to find the understanding of the Holy
Spirit in Scripture, interpret scripture in the light of the
context in which it's found. I'm so sick and tired and weary
of versitis Christianity. Give me a verse for this. Give
me a verse for that. Give me a verse for the other. Give me
a verse to prove this. Give me a verse to prove that.
Read your Bible. Read the whole thing in its context
and grasp the message of scripture and forget about proof text and
forget about trying to prove something to folks who won't
bow to the word of God. The scriptures must be interpreted in their
context. So hold your Bibles open here
to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. In this part of 1 Corinthians,
the Apostle Paul, by divine inspiration, is setting in order the disorderly
affairs in the local church at Corinth. More particularly, more
importantly, he is setting in order for us the proper form
of public worship. He's doing so for Grace Baptist
Church in Danville, Kentucky. He's telling us how we must worship
God in the assembly of his saints if indeed we worship God. Now,
if all we're doing is playing church, if all we're doing is
maintaining religious status quo, then you don't have to pay
any attention to what he says. But if you're interested in worshiping
God, you must hear what he says, because here he tells us how
we must worship God. All right, let's begin in verse
20. When you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not the
Lord's Supper. Now, there are three things obvious
in that verse. First, the place of worship.
Second, the purpose of worship. And third, the pattern of worship.
There was a specific place where the Corinthians came together
as a church and assembled at given set times for public worship. There was a specific place. You
recall earlier when Paul talked about giving, he said on the
first day of the week, let each one of you lay by in store as
the Lord has prospered him, giving for this cause or that. There
was a specific place and time when the church came together
for public worship. Here in Danville, we come together
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Tuesday night. Three times a
week, the doors are open, the body of Christ gathers together
for the worship of God. Now, I'm putting a little bit
of stress on this because there are some super pious folks, that
is people who think they're super pious, learned, spiritual, deep
thinking, ignorant people. who like to run from one place
to another, or go to no place at all. And they call that spiritual
freedom. We don't think y'all have a place
to worship, or not have a set time to worship. Just come whenever
you're moved of the Spirit to come. I call it irresponsibility. Irresponsibility. You see, when
the local church where you are, to which you belong, meets together,
it is your greatest privilege and your responsibility to be
present with the family of God. You say, well, Pastor, how come?
Let me just give you one simple answer. One simple answer. This
is where God meets with His people. This is where He meets. And this
theme is important. It's important. The local church
would soon cease to exist if everybody decided, well, no point
in keeping any kind of schedule, no point in keeping any kind
of responsibility, no point in making this thing serious. We
don't want to get too serious about this. The family would
soon fall apart. That's not the way you maintain
a family. And God has brought together a family of believers
here. And it is our responsibility
to commit ourselves to the family, as a family, as we gather together
in the worship of God. All right, secondly, why do we
come? What's the purpose? When the Corinthian church came
together at the appointed time, they claimed that they did so
to eat the Lord's Supper. They met in Christ's name, they
met according to Christ's command, with the pretext of observing
Christ's ordinance. But that was not the case at
all. Oh, I don't doubt there were some, maybe many in the
congregation, who were sincere worshipers of God. But insofar
as the bulk of the people were concerned, at least insofar as
the bulk of those who seemed to have their way. It's amazing,
rebels stir up a lot of difficulty and trouble and folks just kind
of let them go and have their way. So there are times you'll
have just a few folks who appear to be speaking for the crowd
when in fact they aren't at all. But there were some people here
at Corinth who apparently had caused some great difficulties.
Perhaps they were in the majority, perhaps not. But as they came
together, Paul said, because of this disruption, you say you've
come to eat the Lord's Supper. He said, it's not so. You didn't
come here to worship God. They met together, assembling
at the appointed times, not to worship God, but to enjoy their
own festivities according to their own whims, calling it the
worship of God. Does that speak to this generation?
Does that speak to this generation? I lay that charge at the door
of every church in this town. every church in this town, and
I'm not going to take it back. You can take the tape and leave
it on the desk of every preacher in town if you want to. They
gather together in the name of Christ, under the command of
Christ, saying they come to worship Christ, but they keep their ear
to the ground, find out what you want, and that's what they
do. That's the reason you've got
This club and that, women's clubs and men's clubs and fathers'
clubs and singles' clubs and divorce clubs and young people's
clubs and babies' clubs and hell clubs. It's all there is. Just serving the souls of men
for damnation rather than salvation in the name of worshiping God.
Paul said, you didn't come to worship God. No, sir. And then
he gives the pattern. He tells us how it must be done.
You see, if we don't observe the ordinances of divine worship
in the manner prescribed by God, we cannot observe them at all.
In 1 Corinthians, the Corinthians seem to have said, let's go to
church and worship God in the observance of the Lord's Supper.
But in reality, they came to throw a party. They came to have
their love feast, and they called it the Lord's Supper. They came
to get together and show who had the most. And they came to
do their pleasure, and talk about things they wanted to talk about,
discuss things they wanted to discuss, and feel good. They
wanted to feel good. And Paul says, when you come
together in this place, it's not to eat the Lord's Supper.
Not the way you've come. Now you and I have come together
here this evening to observe the Lord's Supper. We've come
to worship our God. Or have we? It's a question worth considering,
Larry. We've come to worship God, or
have we? We've come to observe the Lord's Supper. It's called
His Supper because He's the author of it. He's the one who's the
subject of it. He's the one who hosts it. And
He's the one who's the reason for it. But why have we come?
To worship Him or to see each other? To worship Him or to impress
one another. To worship Him or to make one
another feel good. To worship Him or to discuss
things that we enjoy talking about. Look at verse 21. Notice what I'm talking about.
I'm not just pulling these things out of my hat. For in eating,
every one taketh before other his own supper. And one's hungry
and another's drunk. Now here Paul explains exactly
why the Corinthian practice was not an act of worship at all.
Couldn't be considered an act of worship. They added to the
ordinance of Christ a gaudy feast that quickly got out of hand.
And any time you add anything to the worship of Christ, the
worship of Christ is soon gone. Doesn't matter what it is. It
doesn't matter how you justify it. It doesn't matter how you
pretend that it's good. And if you add it to the worship
of Christ, you soon are doing something altogether different
from worshiping Christ. Rather than waiting for one another,
these folks rudely jumped in front of one another. After all,
they were having a feast. Man, I want to get there before
all the ribs are gone. I want to get there before all the good
pieces of chicken are gone. Instead of waiting for the poor, the
poor were left hungry. While the poor got nothing, those
who jumped before them, gorged themselves, drank insatiably
to the point of drunkenness. Their love feast was a crude,
cruel, self-serving feast for their lust. That's what it amounted
to. Well, they came to church and
called it worshipping God to throw a party for their own lust. What a stern condemnation. Look
at verse 22. What, have you not houses to
eat in, to drink in? Or despise you, the church of
God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? Why,
I praise you not. Now this is not... I've told
you this many times, but it bears repetition. Especially in this an area in which we live. This
is not a prohibition against having a fellowship dinner in
the church house. The church house is just the house where
the church meets. It's not the church. We are not
idolaters. This building is not a holy place. God's people are holy because
Christ has made them such. God's people are his church,
not this building. It's amazing to me, folks get
the idea that somehow Eating and drinking in a structure made
out of brick more than wood is evil. And yet, they have toilets
in the back. I believe I'd rather eat in my
house. That's not what he's talking about. Well, preacher, what on
earth is he talking about? The Lord is here speaking through
the apostle, and this is what he's saying. If you're going
to behave like this, If you're going to just serve your lust,
if you're going to just gorge your flesh, then stay at home. Don't come defile God's church,
God's people. Now look at verse 23. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. Remember the feast
he was at, it was that Passover feast, and there was bread sitting
there. Was it soda crackers? No, it
was bread. Was it a loaf of wholesome bread? No, it was bread. Unleavened
bread. Passover bread. That's what it
was. He just reached and took it. Same bread they had there
for the Passover feast. And when he had given thanks,
you remember in the gospels it's translated when he blessed him.
When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat,
this is my body. In the same manner, after the
same, I'm sorry, which is broken for you, this doing remembrance
of me, verse 25. After the same manner also he
took the cup. cup of wine sitting in front of him, when he had
sucked, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This
do you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For
as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show
the Lord's death till he come. Now, be sure you get this. The
Holy Spirit here tells us plainly that when the gospel writer said
the Lord Jesus blessed the food, When he blessed the bread, when
he blessed the wine, he did not do some kind of a hocus-pocus,
mumbo-jumbo, wave a censer around it, cross himself, bow before
it, and somehow turn it into something. He just gave thanks
for it. That's all. When we give thanks
for our food, we call it saying the blessing down south. Well,
saying the blessing, not really a good term. Blessing the food
is not a good term. I can't bless pork and make it
good for you. If my wife cooks it, it's going
to taste good. But I'm not going to tell you it's good for you.
But I can give thanks for it. I can give thanks for it. And
that's what we do when we give the blessing or offer the blessing.
We're simply giving thanks. Now, look at what our Lord teaches
us here. We are to observe the Lord's
Supper the same way he did it with his disciples on that night.
The same way. With simplicity. With utter simplicity. All children of God, in the worship
of God, Simplicity, that is singularity of purpose and simplicity of
act, simplicity of doctrine, simplicity of ceremony is absolutely
essential. We simply come together and worship
him with this bread and wine. Make no more of it than it is
and no less of it than it is. Now this means, the means by
which we are to worship him in this ordinance is using unleavened
bread and wine. Because the unleavened bread
represents, it only represents, but it represents the body of
Jesus Christ. His holy humanity, crushed under
the wrath of God for us. The wine represents, it only
represents, but it represents the holy blood of the Son of
God. That's the reason we come here, we use unleavened bread
and wine. Somebody asked me sometime back, he said, what would you
do if you went to a church where they used soda crackers and grape juice
and Lord's Supper? I said, the first time we had it, we'd use
unleavened bread and wine. Well, what if folks didn't want to?
What's that got to do with anything? That doesn't cut any mustard. No! What does God teach? We use
that which our Lord set before us. Folks say, oh, I couldn't
do that. I just, I don't feel good about
that. You mean you're more holy than God? Well, no, I didn't mean to say
that. Well, say what you mean then. You mean you're a better judge
of what's good than God Almighty? No. No, no. Well, let's do it
the way he says that. The bread and wine does not become
the body and blood of Christ. The bread and wine is not mystically
the body and blood of Christ. The bread and wine is not spiritually
the body and blood of Christ. But the bread and wine represents
the body and blood of Christ. We observe this blessed ordinance
often, as our Lord says here, and as often as we do, we are
to do so in remembrance of him. Now, children of God, as these
men in a little bit take this bread and this wine and pass
it around, try your best to forget everything
and everybody but him. Everything and everybody but
Him. I wish, I wish somehow when people
come to sit at the Lord's table, we'd learn not to watch other
people. Not to think about other people
except thinking about them in love. Folks say, Shelby wasn't
taking the Lord's supper. I wonder what's wrong with her?
What business are you doing watching her? Did you see her take? What has
she got to do with it? What's that to you? That's not
your affair. Remember the Master. That's your
business. Remember Him. Remember Him. Now
the true observance of the Lord's Supper shows forth his death
till he comes. It shows sinners just like baptism
does. We baptize folks by immersion
because that's testimony of the gospel. We're saved not by changing
our course of life or not by us being changed. We're saved
and justified before God because Christ died, was buried, and
rose again. And we died, were buried, and
rose again in him. And this bread and this wine
represents the righteousness of Christ and the death of Christ
by which alone we have access to God. We show forth his death
in anticipation of him coming. Now look at verse 27. Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord
unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Now what does that mean? Without question, there is a
sense in which if we come to the Lord's table with the wrong
motive, with the wrong reason, with the wrong elements, in which
we would observe the table unworthily, in a sense. There are many who
commonly interpret this passage, most that I've read or heard
in dealing with it, they'll take this passage and make People
feel like they oughtn't to eat the bread and drink the wine. You've got to search yourself
now. See if you're worthy. If you've got any unconfessed
sin in your life, you can't come. You don't have? You don't have
any unconfessed sin? I beg to differ. You don't even
know what sin's in you. Well, if you haven't prayed like
you ought to, have you prayed like you ought to? Well, if you
haven't read your Bible, have you read your Bible? Much as
you should. Well, if you're not as near the Lord as you ought
to be, are you as near the Lord as you ought to be? In other
words, by interpreting the passage like that, they cause men and
women, in an act of pretentious humility, when they take the
bread and drink the wine, to say, now, Lord, I'm coming to
worship you, because, buddy, I'm a good Jew, and I've got
a right to come here, because look at me. Look at me. And other
folks stay away, because they acknowledge and confess their
sin. But in the New Testament, it's just the opposite. Folks
who think they're good can't come. Folks who know they're
not good can come. Folks who acknowledge their sin
can come. Well, what on earth is the pastor talking about then?
I know with absolute certainty, I don't have any question about
it. The unworthiness spoken of in this text has absolutely nothing
to do with the manner in which we observe the Lord's Table,
nor with our own personal worth, our own personal holiness. It
has nothing to do with us not being holy enough, righteous
enough, upright enough, spiritual enough, pious enough. It has
nothing to do with those things. Not at all. How do you know,
Pastor? That person who eats and drinks
unworthily, the text says, eats and drinks damnation to himself. Now, David, if you're in Christ,
you can't do that. If I'm a child of God, I can't
do that. The believer can never bring damnation on himself. Well,
what's he talking about then? He's talking about eating and
drinking without faith in Christ. He's talking about not being
capable of discerning the Lord's body. Look at verse 28. Our Lord
says here by the apostle again, let a man examine himself. All right, now, this is what
I call for you to do. Examine yourself. I call on you
to do it all the time, Bobby. I try to do it myself. The text
does not say, let every man be examined. I don't have any right
to examine you. And this congregation doesn't
have any right to examine anybody else, try to determine whether
or not they know God. That kind of religion is mean, it's self-righteous,
it's contrary to the word of God, it's everything except Christianity. Everything except Christianity.
It says examine yourself, whether you're in the faith. That's the
issue. That's the issue. Forget this morning, yesterday
morning, forget 20 years ago. Do you or do you not trust Jesus
Christ, the Son of God? That's the issue. Do you? Do you? Well, let a man examine
himself and so let him eat. It doesn't say examine himself
and beat himself down and say, well, I can't eat. You see, with
believers, the ordinances of Christ are not optional. This
is not an option. Our Lord doesn't say, now if
you want to, confess me in baptism. He says, rise and be baptized.
He doesn't say, now if you really feel good and spiritual and pious
and holy, then once in a while you come take the bread and wine.
No. It's not optional. He says, follow me. Confess me. Remember me. Know what he says?
That means well you do it. Examine yourself. Now if you
don't know him, don't confess him. If you don't know Him, don't
profess to know Him. If you don't know Him, don't
eat the bread and drink the wine. If you do, then follow Him. Confess it. Remember Him. Look
at verse 29. For he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body. Now here's the issue. The Holy
Spirit doesn't leave us in the dark here. He tells us exactly
who is unworthy and who is worthy. Those who eat and drink unworthily,
James, are those who don't discern the Lord's body. They don't know
what this means. They don't have any idea what
it means. They don't have any idea what this means. They don't
have any idea. To them, it's just a religious
ritual. It's a religious ceremony. It's got some connection with
something to do with what Christ did and said. But they don't
know what it means. To them, the bread and wine is just a
solemn superstition. That's all. They don't discern
the Lord's body. Oh, they may know their church
creed frontwards and backwards. They may be religious as all
get out. They just don't know God. That's the problem. They
may be smart and have great discernment about nuclear physics, they just
don't discern the Lord's body. They don't understand the sin
and depravity of their own hearts. They don't discern why Christ
came. They don't understand the law and justice of God. They
don't discern that justice must be satisfied, righteousness must
be maintained by a man in a body who is himself God Almighty.
They don't discern it. They don't discern the necessity
of Christ taking a body to be a sacrifice for us. They don't
discern what Jesus Christ accomplished by his life and death in his
body. They don't discern the gospel
of the grace of God. You see, the presumption, I hope
you'll hear this, the presumption of righteousness and redemption,
regeneration, grace and acceptance with God, the presumption of
salvation with God Almighty without the knowledge of and a God-given
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is damning. And religion without Christ,
David, is damning. It's damning. It's damning. Most dangerous thing on this
earth to the souls of many women is a carnal familiarity with
the things of God, not knowing God. Most dangerous thing on
this earth. True believers are a people to
whom the Holy Spirit has given and to whom He continually gives
discernment. They have the mind of Christ.
They understand the things of God. They discern the Lord's
body. Look at verse 30. For this cause,
because some folks come here and they practice religion without
Christ. Many are weak, sickly among you, many sleep. Here Paul
was declaring that the judgment of God had fallen upon the church
of Corinth. Because like Uzzah of old, they
saw him not after due order. They claimed to be worshiping
God, but they weren't. They were worshiping themselves.
They claimed that they trusted Christ alone as their Savior,
but they didn't. They trusted themselves. Look
at verse 31. I'm hardly giving any comment.
The text interprets itself. For if we would judge ourselves,
we should not be judged. What on earth does that mean?
It means exactly what you think it means. Exactly what on the
very surface of things it means. It means if you take sides with
God Almighty against yourself and say, I'm a sinner deserving
hell, God will save you by His free grace. But if you don't,
you're going to hell. That's what Isaiah did, isn't
it? He saw the Lord. And he said, I'm a man of unclean
lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. As
soon as he did, an angel came and purged his lips of hot coal
from off the altar. That's what David said. He said,
Nathan came and pointed out his sin. He said, I've sinned. Nathan
said, the Lord put away your sin. Our Lord says, if we confess
our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin. But if
you don't, if you don't, David burge, if
you cannot, Bow before the throne of God Almighty and judge yourself. Before God Almighty, you're going
to be judged with the world. That's exactly what it says.
Verse 32, but when we are judged, when the Lord deals with us in
what appears to be judgment, it's not judgment at all. He's
chastening us. We are chastened of the Lord
so that we won't be condemned with the world. He's chastening
us like a father chastens the son whom he loves. He leaves
the bastards alone. He chastens his sons so that
they will constantly cling to him, walk before him in faith,
not trusting in themselves. Verse 33. Wherefore, my brethren,
when you come together to eat, tarry one for another, And if
any man hunger, let him eat at home, that you come not together
to condemnation, and the rest will I set in order when I come."
Now here, he wraps this thing up, and he tells us three things. Number one, we're to deal with
professed brethren as brethren until we absolutely can't do
otherwise. Lindsay, when you read the book
of 1 Corinthians, Can you imagine people more confused doctrinally,
more degraded morally, more divided, strife, conflict, one against
another, and yet wearing the name Christianity? And Paul looks
at them. He deals with all those things.
He deals with their asceticism. He deals with their doctrinal
error, he deals with their divisions, their strife, their carnality.
And when he gets down here to the end of this chapter, he says,
my brethren. And he wasn't being sarcastic.
He was being gracious. He was being gracious. Well,
we don't dare call a man brother who's not brother. We don't dare presume we know.
We don't dare presume we know. We simply tell men the truth.
You must believe Christ, you must trust Christ. If you don't
believe the gospel, you're a lost man, you're going to hell. But
that's between you and God Almighty. If God doesn't show it to you,
I sure can't. It's between you and God. I don't know tares from
wheat and you don't either. I don't know sheep from goats
and you don't either. And when you think you do, you're
flat out of the woodwork. You've missed the boat. You're
off center. True believers, you see, often
behave in a terribly inconsistent manner. True believers sometimes
fall into errors of doctrine. Try to tell me what happened
to Peter at Galatia if that's not what happened. True believers
sometimes are engaged in error that need correcting. And yet
at the same time, Paul solemnly warns the self-righteous Pharisee,
the religious ritualist and hypocrite of the certainty of divine worship.
Now secondly, when we come together to eat at the Lord's table, when
we come together to worship God, he says tarry for one another.
That is, be thoughtful of each other. Now, that goes beyond
the bread and wine here. Not only have we come to remember
Christ, we've come together, Bob, as one body in Christ. And we ought to take care of
each other. Take care of each other. Take care of one another's
needs. Look, when you come to the house
of God, look for that fellow who's standing over there by
himself and looks like maybe he needs somebody to pay him
a little attention and pay him some attention. Caring for one
another. Say, well, you know, I like to
do this. It doesn't matter what you like.
That's not how families operate. Caring for one another. Care
for one another. I don't ever think about the
palm of my hand. I never think about it. I don't
ever look at it. I'm too busy. I don't even think
about it. And I haven't looked at this
one in a long time. But the other day, I managed to work a blister
up on that thing. I guess it means I ought to work
more with my hands. But I worked a blister up on that thing. Do
you know why I haven't gone? I bet I haven't gone five minutes
except when I was asleep in the last week without thinking about
that hand, without looking at it, because I feel it. And all it is is that little
blister there. It's about healed up now, but I still feel it.
This whole time. Oh, preacher, what are you getting
at? That little, insignificant, meaningless member, when it's
hurting, needs some attention. It needs some attention. Give
it the attention it needs. Tarry one for another. And we
must not, we must not mingle the worship of God with carnal
pleasure. We must not, we dare not interject
into the worship of God our own whims and ideas. God helping us, we're not going
to do it. We're not going to do it. We've
come to worship God. We've come to worship Him. We've
come to eat His bread and drink His wine in remembrance of Him,
remembering what He's done for us. As a body of believers at the
table of the Lord, the family, sitting down at dinner time together.
Here we are. Now, as we do, let's worship
our God, remember our Savior, remember one another, and seek
to honor Him in all things. Amen.