The Table of the Lord

Q: What does the Bible say about the Lord's Supper?

The Lord's Supper is observed to remember Christ's sacrifice, reflecting on His broken body and shed blood. The Bible teaches us that the Lord's Supper, also known as communion, was instituted by Jesus the night He was betrayed. According to 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul relays what he received from the Lord: that the bread represents Christ's body which was broken for us and the cup symbolizes the new covenant in His blood. This sacrament is to be a remembrance of His sacrifice, not a means of salvation in itself. It serves as a memorial, allowing believers to reflect on the significance of Christ’s death until He returns.

Q: Why is it important to observe the Lord's Table properly?

Proper observance of the Lord's Table reflects our understanding of Christ's sacrifice and maintains the sanctity of Christian worship. Observing the Lord's Table with reverence is crucial because it honors the significance of Christ's sacrifice and reflects our faith in Him. Paul's admonition to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11 highlights that failing to observe it correctly can lead to divisions and diminish the solemnity of the act. Proper conduct at the table ensures that we collectively recognize the body and blood of Christ as the essence of our faith, avoiding any mockery or trivialization of such a sacred moment. This act is not about fulfilling a ritual, but about genuine worship and remembrance of our Savior's atoning work.

Q: How do we know the significance of the bread and wine in communion?

The bread and wine symbolize Christ's body and blood, reminding us of His atoning sacrifice. The elements of bread and wine hold profound significance in communion as they represent Christ's body and blood, which were given for our redemption. As articulated in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25, Jesus instructs us to take the bread and cup in remembrance of Him. The bread is unleavened, symbolizing His sinless nature, while the wine represents the purity of His blood. Thus, when believers partake of these elements, they affirm their trust in Christ's sufficient sacrifice and their unity in faith. This sacramental act serves as a physical reminder of our spiritual nourishment found in Him.

Q: What does it mean to partake of the Lord's Table unworthily?

Partaking unworthily means approaching the table without genuine faith or understanding of its significance. To partake of the Lord's Table unworthily, as noted in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, is to approach the sacrament without the proper reverence and faith in Christ's redemptive work. This may involve taking the bread and cup while not genuinely believing in Christ as Savior or using the elements as a means to earn salvation, which they do not provide. Instead, those who partake of the table should examine themselves to ensure they are rightly discerning the body and blood of Christ. This self-examination is vital for worship that honors God and acknowledges the seriousness of the spiritual truths represented in communion.

Q: Why did Paul rebuke the Corinthians about their treatment of the Lord's Table?

Paul rebuked the Corinthians because their behavior turned the Lord's Table into a cause for division and insensitivity. Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11 stems from their disregard for the unity and sanctity that should characterize the observance of the Lord's Table. Instead of coming together as one body to honor Christ, they practiced selfishness and indulgence, with some overeating and others going hungry. This behavior led to divisions within the church and diminished the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. Paul's admonition was to restore the focus on worship and mutual concern among believers, emphasizing that the table is not merely a meal but a profound act of remembrance that necessitates genuine love and respect for one another.

chapter 11, 1 Corinthians, the
table of the Lord. Now the Apostle Paul had to rebuke
the church at Corinth for several things, as you know. No need
to go over those first ten chapters in which he dealt very firmly
with his church because of their error. And in these verses that
we're studying tonight, Paul is rebuking them for their conduct
in respect to the observance of the Lord's table. They were
observing it all wrong. We're told by some writers that
the church at Corinth, and not only this church, but there were
others guilty of this, that in the observance of the Lord's
table, they had preceding that observance what they called a
love feast. They were trying to imitate the
master and his apostles when they observed the Passover, and
then they went into the Lord's table, but they ate the Passover,
and then they had the Lord's table. These churches certainly
didn't eat the Passover, they didn't observe the Passover,
but they had love feasts. And folks would prepare their
supper at home and bring it to church. They'd prepare lavish
meals, huge banquet meals, things like that. And they'd sit around
with their family or friends and eat these huge meals and
even drink too much wine. And some of them were getting
drunk. And they were having this love feast. And they were neglecting
some of the poor people who didn't have suppers to bring. They didn't
share. They didn't wait on one another.
They didn't distribute it and so forth. But they just bought
their supper and had a banquet, love feast. And then they observed
the Lord's table. And so Paul starts in verse 17.
And he said, now in this, that I declare unto you, I praise
you not. I praise you not. That you come
together, not for the better, but for the worse. He says, the
matter that I'm going to deal with, I don't praise you for
it. I condemn you. I condemn you. What you're doing,
when you come together in these so-called fellowship suppers
and love feasts, You're doing more harm than good. It's not
for the better, it's for the worse. And he said in verse 18,
for first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear
there be divisions and schisms among you. I partly believe it.
He said these love feasts and the way you observe in the Lord's
table is responsible for a lot of these divisions. The divisions
among you, and he said, I partly believe it. Now verse 19 is an
interesting statement. He's saying here, there's no
perfect church. And I recognize that there must
be also heresies or divisions among you. What do you mean there
must be divisions? Well, there'll always be some
sort of conflict among human beings, because there's no perfect
faith, there's no perfect believer, there's no perfect church. There
will always be some sort of conflict, some sort of division, some sort
of misunderstanding, and even heresies in a large congregation. There are several reasons for
that. Number one, Satan is always busy sewing tears. And where
God is working and moving and blessing and people are being
brought to knowledge of the gospel, Satan is not going to take a
holiday. go off somewhere and hide, he's
going to sow terrors. You've read that all the way
through the scripture. He's going to sow terrors among the wheat. And then another reason for heresies
and divisions and conflicts is not only because we're human
beings, not only because Satan is very active and busy in sowing
terrors and causing division, but false preachers and teachers
abound everywhere. Peter told us that. He said,
as there were false preachers among the people of Israel, there
are false preachers also in your day. And you're exposed to them. And whether you like it or not,
too often they influence people. They cause problems. They cause division. Whether
you like it or not, whether you admit it or not, these ill winds
that blow, they affect you. They affect some more than others.
And then thirdly, there must be divisions among you. There
must be heresies. There are going to be. You've
heard the reasons. We're human. Satan is busy sowing tares. Number
three, there are false preachers and teachers and influence. All
influence is not for good, but there's bad influence. And then
fourthly, our God in his providence and purpose allows these things
to come. He allowed Peter to deny. He
allowed the apostles to forsake him. He allows these things to
happen in order that we might discover and always be reminded
of the sin that continually lives in us. Now, they're going to
come. He told Paul that. He gave him
a thorn in the flesh. God gave it to him, a disturbing,
troublesome thorn in the flesh. And he gave it to him for this
purpose, that Paul might not be lifted up, become proud, exalted,
think he's what he's not. So he's going to keep on humbling
us and thank God for it. He's going to keep on bringing
us down and we get to thinking we're something or somebody and
that we're important and that God can't do without us, he'll
show us that we're just human beings, that's all. If he left
us alone, we'd be worse than we are. But there's another reason. These divisions and heresies
and whatever they might be called, troublesome times, these errors
of spirit, of attitude, of judgment, even of doctrine, make the truth
of God to shine more brightly. Now look at this next line, verse
19, there must be also divisions, heresies among you that they
which are approved, they which are truthful, they which are
according to scripture may be made manifest among you. In other
words, These areas of spirit, judgment, and doctrine make the
truth to shine more clearly. Nowhere does the grace and truth
of God shine more brightly than against the background of our
weakness. In other words, here's an individual
with a bad attitude, a bad spirit, and believers get that way sometimes.
And then here is the true spirit of God in opposition to that. And this true spirit of God and
the true attitude shines more brightly in the light of that,
or in the darkness of that sort of thing. And it's just so. And that's the reason he says
that. He says, now, you're doing all these things and you're not
helping matters. It's not for the better, it's
for the worse. But these things must come. So
don't ever think you're going to block them all out. Don't
ever think that you're going to be rid of all conflict and
trial and trouble and divisions and things of that nature, because
they must come. They just must come. Now verse
20 and 21. Now when you come together therefore
into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. The way
you're doing this, he said, this is not the Lord's table. No. Every one of you take it before
others his own supper. You know what I told you? See,
according to some writers, these Corinthians, in imitation of
the Passover feast which preceded the Lord's table, where our Lord
instituted the table. These people were preparing these
lavish meals, according to their ability to do so, at home and
they were bringing them to the meeting place. Some people at
the, this was a big church, Corinth was a big church, big congregation
of people. And some people had plenty, some
had enough, some had a meager amount, and some were poor, some
had nothing. And some had little to eat. And
these folks came together and turned this evening into a, into
a, into a banquet, into a love feast. Even he says, verse twenty-one
and eating every one of you take it before other his own supper
one is hungry another's drunk and here's some people over here
don't even have anything to eat and you're over here having a
big banquet and carrying on and they don't have anything to eat
and you've turned the evening into an ugly scene and then you
try to observe the Lord's table he said this is not observing
the Lord's table this is not observing the Lord's table you
can't observe the Lord's table in such an atmosphere. In verse
22 he says, what? Have you not houses to eat and
drink in? If you're going to have a banquet,
have it at home. If you're going to have this
sort of thing, private dinner for your family and your close
friends and these folks, have it in your home. Despise ye the
church of God, and shame them that are poor, that's the word
there, that are poor, that don't have anything. You've got your
huge banquet feast prepared here and people are sitting over there
with nothing to eat. Do you despise the church of
God? Are you shaming these people that have nothing? What shall
I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I
praise you not. Do you have contempt for the
house of God? Do you have pride and contempt
for the poor? That's a good thing for a church
to come together, for fellowship to eat. and to equally share
what we have. We have that often back here,
but not in conjunction with the Lord's table. We don't have anything
like that before we observe the Lord's table. And when we do
have a fellowship supper back here, everybody brings whatever
they can bring, or whatever they want to bring, and they put it
all together, and everybody waits on one another. There's no rushing
to have group over here having a big time and drinking and carrying
on, another group over here starving. But it's all put together, and
everybody waits on one another, and then we all eat this food
together and share it. But not in conjunction with the
Lord's table. You see, and also another era
has borne out of this verse right here. What have you, not houses
to eat and drink in. I don't know where it started
some years ago, Some people got the idea that you want to have
a fellowship separate all in the building. Well, that's ridiculous. That's not what he's talking
about. Strictly these love feasts, the way these people were doing
this thing and connecting it with the Lord's table. That's
what he's talking about. You see, the church, it says,
despise the church of God. This building is not the church.
This building is a meeting house. It's just like That house over
there on Stevens is not the home. The people is the home. That's
the house they live in. This is the meeting house. And
there's certainly not anything wrong with having a fellowship
supper in this family's meeting house. There's nothing sacred
about these boards and bricks, you know. As it makes a lot of
difference how you behave in here. That's what he's dealing
with. He's dealing with the Lord's table. Now if you're going to
have a love feast and a banquet of this nature, have it at home.
If you're going to entertain your friends around a little
group and ignore everybody else, do it at home. But when you come
together as a church, as a whole family, that'd be like some of
you at home preparing a big feast for mom and daddy and making
the kids go in the back room and eat peanut butter and cracker,
you know. That's not the way that your family behaves. The
family does things together. They do things together. So Paul
is saying, now this business of this love feast and carrying
on like this, that's not the Lord's table. All right, here
is the way the Lord's table is to be observed now. Look at verse
23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered
unto you. Paul, how did Paul come to a
knowledge of observing the Lord's table and how it's to be done?
He said, I received it of the Lord. I received of the Lord. We have no right to alter what
we have received of the Lord. We have no right to do it in
a more fashionable way. We have no right to change the
elements. We have no right to add to it.
When our Lord instituted the Lord's table, he took the bread
and the wine, he said, this do, this do. He didn't tell us to
have special uniforms on, and tell us to have a love feast
prior to it, and tell us to shut people in or shut people out.
He says, this do, you see. We have no right to change it,
we have no right to alter it. He probably says, what I'm delivering
to you is what he gave me. All right, look at the next line.
The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took
birth. He's the author of The Lord Jesus
is the author of this table. He instituted it. He ordained
it. He gave it to his people. And
when the table was instituted, it was the same night in which
he was betrayed, the same night in which he went to trial, the
day before he died on the cross. It was that very time that he
instituted the Lord's table, because he's the fulfillment
of the Passover. He is our Passover. Christ, our
Passover, is sacrificed for us. So what I'm giving you, I received
from him. He's the author of it. And when
he instituted it, when he ordained it, was the same night in which
he was betrayed. And what did he do? Well, he
took bread. He took bread. What kind of bread?
Unleavened bread. I noted that when I was reading
it while it was the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Our Lord
took this unleavened bread. It was bread without yeast or
leaven, because when the Passover was observed, there was not to
be any leaven in the house anywhere. Leaven is a scriptural type of
evil. And so this bread which our Lord took was unleavened
bread, and he baked it. Now this unleavened bread, he
said, this is my body. This unleavened bread represents
his body. He's saying in this fashion,
my body is broken. My body is broken. And that unleavened
bread, because of the absence of leaven, is a suitable picture
of Christ in that he was without sin. Our Lord had no sin. Just plain bread with leaven
cannot cannot picture our Lord's perfect, sinless nature. He had no sin. So he took this
unleavened bread and he baked it, showing how his body was
broken and bruised and battered on the cross. So he took this
bread and baked it, and he gave thanks. And he said, take and
eat. This is my body, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. Now, this is not a sacrament.
He didn't say, this bread will save you. He said, you take this
in remembrance of me, not in order to be in me, not in order
to have me in you. The Lord's body and blood is
not present in this bread and wine. This bread and wine, when
it's blessed and when we pray over it and when we take it,
does not turn into the body of Christ. Now this wine, the blood
of Christ, it's a symbol. It represents his broken body
and shed blood. He didn't say this do in order
to be saved. He said this do in remembrance
of me. It was my body which was broken
through you. And then in the same manner,
verse 25, he took the cup, which was wine. There's not any doubt
in my mind that it was wine. All wine in the Scripture is
wine, it's fermented wine, and wine is a proper symbol of our
Lord's blood because of its purity. Because it can sit in the open
for any length of time, any number of days or months or years, and
never spoils because it's without that ingredient that would cause
it to spoil, and that represents his blood. And people ask me
why we use unleavened bread and why we use wine in the Lord's
table. Same reason we use water to baptize,
because that's what he said do. In other words, they baptized
at a certain place because there was much water there. Why did
they need much water? They needed much water to bury
people, put them under the water and bring them forth. That's
what he said do this. And when he gave us the Lord's
table, he said just do it. And you say, well, we could make
arrangements to do other things. I tell you this, if Israel had
not used unleavened bread, there'd have been trouble in the camp. If Israel had not slain a lamb,
a firstling of the flock, without spot or blemish, and roasted
the body with fire, and ate it with bitter herbs and unleavened
bread, and put the blood on the door, there'd have been death
in the camp. So I don't have any reason to
change this, do I? Shall I change it for one of
you sitting out here? What kind of pastor would I be?
Some obstinate person or opposing person who said, I think it's
wrong to drink wine, so don't you do it? Shall I bow to him
or bow to God's word? I'm going to bow to God's word
and let him handle his affair like he wants to. But this is
the way the scriptures... He said this too. He didn't say
do what's convenient. He didn't say do what you think
you ought to do. He didn't say do what most of
the people think you ought to do. He didn't say take a bone
on it. He said this too. By God's grace I'm going to do
it. Aren't you? This too. The broken brain, my
body, do it in remembrance of me. The curve, which is his blood. This too, he said over in Luke
22, in remembrance of me. Verse 25, after the same man,
he took the cup when he had sat, saying, This cup is the new covenant
in my blood. This do ye, as oft as you drink
it, in remembrance of the world. You can't remember what you don't
know. You can't remember what hadn't happened. In order to
remember something, it has to have already happened, and it
has happened. His body's broken, his blood
shed, we're redeemed by him and him alone. We're doing this in
remembrance. We're doing this in remembrance.
All right, look at the next line, next verse. Now, as often as
you eat this bread, now two things are given here, as often as you
do it, as often as you do it, You show forth the Lord's death
till he comes. You show him. As often as you
take this broken bread and this wound, which represents his body
and blood, you show him the Father, faith. We're doing this, our
Father, because our Lord commanded it, because we've received it,
my Lord, because He gave it to represent his broken body and
shed blood. We're doing it because we're
so prone to forget. Aren't we prone to forget? We're so prone to get busy and
ignore that which is most important. And we're doing this once again
before thee, sharing faith in God, faith in Christ. We're doing it secondly, showing
ourselves. This is my hope. Joe Turner,
the broken body and shed blood of Christ, and yours too. This
is all my hope. I'm doing it before God, and
I'm doing it before my own soul and heart. We're not playing
at this thing. We're sincere and dedicated,
devoted to our Lord. And thirdly, we're doing it before
our friends and our children, and our loved ones, and others
who are among us. We're saying this is salvation.
This is the best sermon that can be preached. There's no doubt
about this message, you see. It's Christ that saves. And he
said as often as you do it, you see there's no set time. There's
no set time, there's no set frequency. He doesn't say now when you do
this every Lord's Day. He didn't say when you do this
on every fifth Sunday. He didn't say when you do this
on a Wednesday night. He didn't say when you do this
every quarter, do it when you want to. He said as often. Isn't that what it says? It says
that anywhere it comes through that in the road, you see that
as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show
the Lord's death. Till he comes, and we won't need
it anymore. We won't need it. Till he comes,
it will no longer be observed after he comes. Verse 22, Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord
in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord. What is it to eat and drink this bread and wine
in an unworthy manner or unworthily? Well, number one, for me to take
this bed, which represents his broken body, and this wine which
represents his blood, when I have not by faith taken him, when I have not by faith received
him into my heart or into my soul as my Lord and Redeemer,
that's to take it unworthily. I'm demonstrating a lie. You
see, I take the bird, which is his broken body, he said, you
eat my flesh and drink my blood, you see, and I put it here, and
I haven't received Christ? I haven't believed on Christ?
I haven't trusted Christ? I'm making a mockery of the table.
So that's unworthy, isn't it? All right, secondly, if I take
this bird and wine as a means of salvation, if I am deceived into believing
that salvation is by taking this beer and drinking this wine,
and I believe that these elements in themselves have saving qualities,
I'm taking it in an unworthy manner. I'm not doing it in remembrance
of what he did, but I'm doing it because of what I'm doing.
You see that? So that would be unworthy. No
one here has that concept, do you? No one. I'm sure you don't.
I'm sure no one here would take the bread or the wine tonight
that was passed out among you who hasn't believed on Christ.
I'm sure you wouldn't do that, because that would be hypocritical.
It would be mocking God. And to take it as a means of
salvation would be a lie, because it does not save. This does not
save. Christ saves. This is for those
whom he has saved. Understand? To do what these Corinthians
had done, to turn this table of the Lord into a ritual of
religion, to turn it into a church fellowship supper, to use it
as a tool or weapon against any man or woman, or use it to accomplish
my purpose, is to drink and eat unworthily. In other words, if I, as the
pastor of this church, use this table of the Lord to discipline
people and to hurt people and to turn people away, or to use
it for my means, other than for the glory of God, as I, a member
of the church along with you, back off from this, and these
dear men serve it to all of us. We're not using this table of
the Lord in any leverage way at all against anyone. To do
that would be unworthily, wouldn't it? Don't ever let us be guilty
of that. This is not our table, it's his
table. This is the Lord's table. And
he says here in the next verse, but let a man, verse 28, examine
himself. Examine whom? Himself. Herself. Not other people. I hear people
say, you can't come to our table. Well, if it's your table, I will
come. But if it's the Lord's table,
you don't have any right to tell me whether I can come or not.
Because you can't examine me. He told me to examine myself. Let a man examine himself. Examine
himself for what? Examine yourself whether you
be in the faith, whether Christ be in you, whether you discern
the broken body and shed blood of Christ. I'm not talking about
discerning it in a doctrine, I'm talking about discerning
it in a person. A lot of people have the doctrine
and don't have the Lord. Don't examine yourself, see if
you believe a doctrine. Examine yourself, see if you
love Christ. Whether you believe he died for
your sins, shed his blood for your transgressions, your iniquities,
by his stripes you're healed. Do you believe that? Oh, yes,
I do. Well, let him eat. Let a man
examine himself, and after he's examined himself, you let him
eat of that bread and drink of that wine, that cup. For he that
eateth and drinketh unworthily in these ways that we've mentioned
above, he eateth and drinketh judgment to himself. This is
not the time to, like he told these Corinthians, this is not
time for your feast. This is not time for your levity
and lavish carryings on. This is worship. This is worship. And he said, verse 30, For this
cause many of you are weak and sickly, and some sleep. In other
words, because of this unworthy treatment at the Lord's table,
God's bested some of you with judgment. You see, let the potsherds
of the earth argue about their prophecy and their doctrines
and their church government and their little rules and regulations
and laws and standards and all these things, but don't touch
this. You know what he's saying? Don't touch this. Don't touch
this which is near the very heart of God, the very blood and body
of his Son, because if you do, God will visit you in judgment.
That's what he's saying. You see that? That's the reason
some of you, he said, down there in that church at Corinth, a
weak and sickly, you've taken the Lord's table and made a mockery
out of it. That's what he's been rebuking
them for. You go home and have these feasts and so forth, but
when you come together to eat at the Lord's table, you worship
God. This is a matter of heart. Now,
verse 31, listen to this. If we judge ourselves, we will
not be judged, for when we are judged, we are chastened of the
Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. If we'll examine
ourselves, listen, as directed in these verses, if we'll confess
our sins, If we condemn ourselves, if we look to Christ alone, Christ
alone for forgiveness, for redemption, for righteousness, for all things,
through his blood, through his broken body, then we won't be
judged. For there's no judgment to them
who are in Christ Jesus. God's not going to visit you
in his judgment and wrath if you'll just examine yourself,
examine yourself. and look to Christ alone. But
verse 32 says, when we are judged, we're chastened of the Lord.
In other words, when we're under the trying hand of God, that's
all right. Let it not be for foolishness and frivolity and
ignorance, let it be because the Lord's going to teach us
some things. In other words, when we are judged under the
trying hand of God, let us be comforted and realize that God's
dealing with us, not Not in judgment because of our misbehavior, but
he's dealing with us as sons. Verse 33, listen. Wherefore, my brethren, when
ye come together to eat, tarry one for another, wait one on
another. You gather together, observe
the Lord's table, meet together as a body, wait for one another. That's the reason we serve the
bread, and then we pray, and then we take it all together.
We serve the wine, we pray, we take it all together, we wait
for one another. And he said if anyone's hungry,
don't come together for that reason. Eat at home that you
come not together in the condemnation. Any man's hungry, let him eat
at home. This is not the time to satisfy fleshly appetites.
This is not the time to satisfy fleshly desires. This is the
time for worship. This is the time to magnify and
exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did for us in his
death on the cross.

The Table of the Lord

What does the Bible say about the Lord's Supper?

Why is it important to observe the Lord's Table properly?

How do we know the significance of the bread and wine in communion?

What does it mean to partake of the Lord's Table unworthily?

Why did Paul rebuke the Corinthians about their treatment of the Lord's Table?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

The Table of the Lord

What does the Bible say about the Lord's Supper?

Why is it important to observe the Lord's Table properly?

How do we know the significance of the bread and wine in communion?

What does it mean to partake of the Lord's Table unworthily?

Why did Paul rebuke the Corinthians about their treatment of the Lord's Table?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book