The Loaf

By Jeff Fry, Darwin Park Community Church

I.       Intro

A.   Review

B.   We should be a unified community of brothers and sisters in the Lord.

II.    We should be a unified community of brothers and sisters in the Lord.

A.   State

1.     Read 1Corinthians 11:17-34

2.     Background

a)    Eating of cultic meals was a regular part of worship in antiquity.

(1)  For Israel (Deut 14:22-26)  and for the nations which surrounded Israel (e.g. Egyptians : Exod. 32:6).

(2)  Festival meals and private celebrations were common at the temples in Corinth (e.g. for celebrating the birthday of a son or daughter).

(3)  There were three parts to the meals:

(a)    Preparation

(b)   Sacrifice

(c)    Feast

(4)  These cultic meals probably met  both a social and religious need

(5)  The gods were thought to be present as it was done in their honor and sacrifices were made.

(6)  The gentile Corinthians would have grown up with this as this was the basic restaurant in antiquity and every kind of occaision was celebrated in this way.

(7)  Illus.

(a)    Like hiring out the Bowling Green pub in Lichfield for your daughter’s birthday celebration except that this pub is a pub dedicated to the god Mercury or Aphrodite etc.

(b)   Invitations would read: “Marquis requests your company at the table of the lord Sarapis at the ….”

3.     v.17 “I have no praise for you”

a)    something serious is going as Paul has zero praise for them on the issue of their celebration of the Lord’s supper

4.     v.17 “do more harm than good”

a)    serious accusation by Paul

b)    what could be going on?

c)     How could the Lord’s Supper be harmful?

5.     v.18  “when you come together as a church”

a)    lit. “For in the first place …” explanatory – why their coming together is harmful

b)    there are divisions – this is the big problem Paul wants to address

6.     v. 20 “when you come together it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat”

a)    they were coming together for what they called the Lord’s Supper but this was not a true representation of the Lord’s Supper  - something was wrong

7.     v.21 “for …”

a)    the explanatory “for” – here comes the reason

8.     v. 21 “each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else”

a)    “each one” phrase is given an emphatic position in this sentence meaning there is a spirit of individualism

b)    disrespect for others in the body of Christ

c)     they are overlooking a key element of what it meas to be the body of Christ

9.     v. 21 “One remains hungry, another gets drunk.”

a)    This was a proper meal that the whole church ate, not just bread and wine as we celebrate it today

b)    Remember that they were used to celebrating religious, cultic meals in their culture. 

(1)  They were bringing some of this over into the Lord’s Supper

10. v. 21  “one remains hungry, another gets drunk.”

a)    “one remains hungry” =  “those who have nothing” (v. 22), ie. the poor.

b)    “another gets drunk” = rich group of people

c)     there is a rich/poor division in the church that is being accentuated at the Lord’s Supper meal

d)    some of the rich are having their own private meals

(1)  layout of houses back then would have been such that there was an eating room for about 10-12 people (rich)

(2)  there was a courtyard-like area where many more could gather and eat.

(3)  There are accounts from this time period of meals which were divided along these lines – rich and poor. 

(a)    Poor would get low-quality food (Waitrose Essential line beef!!)

(b)   Rich would get best-quality food (Aberdeen Angus beef!)

e)     Absurd that a Christian brother or sister would go hungry when others are gorging themselves! 

11. v. 22 “you … humiliate those who have nothing?”

a)    thinking of themselves first while the cross (and therefore the Lord’s supper) teaches us to sacrifice for others

12. v. 23-26

a)    Paul reminds them that the Lord’s Supper was an institution (ordinance) given by the Lord to His followers such that they would remember Him and His death by it.

b)    The Supper itself is a proclamation of their belief in the death of Jesus for them which was supposed to unify them, not divide them!

c)     1 Corinthians 10:16 says “… And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?  17 Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one loaf.”

(1)  The death of Christ for the fogiveness of our sins (represented in Lord’s Supper) is the one thing that we all believe and that all binds us together as one, as a unity.

d)    So as we take this communion together if you take communion now you are saying to the other people in this room: “I believe in the death of Christ for the forgiveness of my sins and am seeking to live in accordance with the ways of Christ as far as I can manage.”

13. v. 27 “guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord”

a)    means “liable” (technical word) for the death of the Lord!!

b)    Strong words!

14. v. 28 “a man ought to examine himself”

a)    in this context it means that one ought to reflect on how he/she is treating other people in the body of Christ esp. those who are participating in the Lord’s Supper with them!

b)    Often taken to mean other things such as:

(1)  One ought to check for unconfessed sin in his/her life

(2)  One ought not to have any sin in their life

(3)  One ought to be worthy before they can take the bread and wine!  Amazing contradiction here as what one is celebrating is Christ making them worthy by taking our sin.

15. v. 29 “For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord …”

a)    “for” = Paul gives the reason why one should put oneself to the test

b)    “body” = church or gathered assembly o f believers!  Not physical body of Christ represented in the bread!

16. v. 29 “… eats and drinks judgment on himself”

a)    this judgment is the judgment mentioned in the next verse – ie. that some of them are weak and sick and have even died (fallen asleep).

b)    Probably prophetically discerned by Paul – ie. that these illnesses and deaths were God’s judgment (grace?)

17. v. 31 “judged ourselves”

a)    examined if our relationships with our bros and sisters in Christ were God-glorifying when taking the Supper

18. v. 32 “When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined …”

a)    God disciplines those he loves so that they are not destroyed by their sin.

b)    This is a loving God, not a jugdmental God.

c)     Like the discipline of a loving parent.

B.   Illustrate

C.   Apply

1.     How much do you think about the body of Christ to which you belong?

a)    What does it mean to you?

b)    Would you sacrifice for anyone in this room?  How much?

c)     Would you give up your own comfort?

d)    Would you give up your own time?

e)     Would you give up your own money?

2.     acts 2:42-47  The Picture of a New Community (God’s Community)

a)    devoted themselves to the community (not individualism)

b)    were together

c)     had everything in common

(1)  their possessions were not theirs – they were everybody’s – maybe because they understaood that their possessions were first of all God’s!

d)    giving to others

e)     “together” (v. 42, 44, 46)

f)      generous (v. 46)

g)    God-focused (v. 47)

h)    Had favour with others

III.  Conclusion

A.   Are you committed to this kind of New Community?  Then Let’s Go and ask God for the grace to live like he wants us to.

B.   And we will have favour with others and grow!