In the final part of a series on the Lord's Supper, Robert Bosley focuses on 1 Corinthians 11:27-34, addressing what it means to partake of the Supper worthily. The sermon revisits previous discussions on the misuse of the Supper in Corinth and explains that the divisions and lack of care among believers were central to this issue. Bosley identifies seven key concepts to help understand worthy participation: eating and drinking in an unworthy manner, being guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, examining oneself, eating and drinking judgment to oneself, discerning the Lord's body, interpreting the consequences of being weak, sick, or asleep, and understanding the judgment and condemnation discussed. He argues that the Supper is both a proclamation and a means of grace, which must be approached with faith and a heart right before God and others. The sermon emphasizes unity among believers and faith toward Christ as essential for partaking in a worthy manner, while warning against the severe consequences of misuse.

All right. First Corinthians chapter 11, this is going to be our third and final look in this chapter as we're continuing on with the series on understanding the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. The previous two times that we were in 1st Corinthians 11, we looked, this whole section covers verses 17 through 34 at the end of the chapter. The first section we looked at verses 17 through 22 and considered the abuse of the supper that was occurring in Corinth. And through that we're able to see the importance of the supper.

It's one of the main purposes for which the church gathers, but how their disunity in that church was undermining the purpose of the Supper. And Paul admonished them focusing in and getting a laser focus on the particular issue at hand, their hard-heartedness and loveless attitude toward one another, their disunity. Everything else was a symptom of that. Then last time we looked at the next section of verses 23 through 26 as we considered the institution of the supper under four headings, the background, the historic background of the supper in the Passover and the memorial meal of the Old Covenant. And we looked at the elements of bread and wine and this great truth that Paul gives us that as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes and so we see that the supper is a proclamation of what Christ has done, what he is doing, and his return one day to bring things to its appropriate end.

And so today we're going to finish this looking at verses 27 through 34 under this idea of what does it mean to rightly partake of the Supper. If Paul talked about their abuse and went through the institution, now what does it mean to rightly partake of the supper? This is probably the most controversial and difficult section of this passage to understand There's many debates about particular matters here. And there's much to untangle from bad interpretations, bad applications, and just traditions that people hold onto that are not actually borne out from what the text says. So our outline today is pretty simplistic on the one hand, but it's also a little bit more extensive.

It's not gonna be covered under three points. We're gonna walk through these verses and look at what is meant by certain terms and key phrases, key ideas, and contrasting that with common misunderstandings. And so we don't have two or three points. I've actually got seven, but we're going to go through them Lord willing quickly and make application as we go. So with that, let's read verses, we'll just read the whole section, but again we're gonna be focusing on 27-34, but begin reading in verse 17.

Now, in giving these instructions, I do not praise you since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all when you come together as a church I hear that there are divisions among you and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others, 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 shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this?

I do not praise you. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

And in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do 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 till he comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged, but when we are judged we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment.

And the rest I will set in order when I come. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this passage. We pray that you would open up our hearts and our minds to receive its instructions, to receive its warnings. Lord, may you use this to correct us and draw us closer to your son in his name.

We pray. Amen So as I said, this is probably the most controversial section of this There's much agreement on the past two sessions. There would be much agreement across Christian groups with what I had said previously. Here is where much of the application and the interpretation would come out with disagreements, but I want to look at these seven key concepts throughout these verses that I think will help us to understand what it means to rightly partake of the Lord's Supper. First, I want us to consider what does it mean to eat and drink in an unworthy manner?

That term unworthy manner is there in verses 27 and 29. Second, what does it mean to be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord in verse 27? What does it mean to examine ourselves in verse 28? Fourth, what does it mean to eat and drink judgment to yourself? From verse 29.

And fifth, what does it mean to discern the Lord's body? From verse 29. Sixth, what is meant by those who are weak, sick, and asleep? In verse 30. And seventh, what is the judgment and condemnation that is talked about in verses 31 and 32?

Let's begin with what does it mean to eat and drink in an unworthy manner? Verse 27 and again verse 29, Paul writes, Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner." And then verse 29, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner. What does this mean? Real quick before we get to that, some One point I do want to hit on, I've belabored it before, I'm going to do it again. Note that Paul is still calling it bread and the cup, bread and wine.

He shows no indication of holding to believing or teaching any theory about the local physical presence of Christ where the bread and wine become anything other than bread and wine. We have not, we will not, ever in any passage of Scripture see any text that supports the theory of transubstantiation. It does not exist. That is a later development. I don't care what Rome says.

And he says here that you can eat and drink in an unworthy manner. It's an eating in an unworthy manner. This is key. It's an unworthy manner. The King James unworthily, that L-Y ending, it's an adverb, not an adjective.

It's how you're doing it, not who you are. So it's you are eating in an unworthy way, an unworthy manner, an improper way, is another good translation, not that you are unworthy, or that you have to make yourself worthy to partake. That is not the point, because ultimately the fact is, you are unworthy. I am unworthy. We are all unworthy to partake if it was based on how good or properly fitted we ourselves are to receive Christ.

Thankfully that's not the point of the supper. None of us can come to the table with any type of self-righteous confidence that we have made ourselves worthy in any form or fashion where we have done enough good throughout the previous week to merit partaking the bread and the wine. You can't do enough to make yourself worthy of the life and death, body and blood of the Son of God. That's why this is a means of grace, not a means of legalistic obedience. It is a gift to you.

His point isn't to call attention to who you are in yourself, but rather the manner in which you partake. It's an improper way of taking the Eucharist that is the issue. So what does this mean then? Taking in an improper or unworthy manner seems to indicate that the proper way of taking the supper, or sorry, that this Improper way of taking the supper is something that contradicts what the sacrament is meant to do To take it in an unworthy way is to take it in a way that you're destroying the purpose of the thing And contextually the clear implication is that the Christians in Corinth are eating in an unworthy manner because of their divisions. Because of their factionalism, their hard-heartedness toward one another where they are not caring for one another, taking care of one another, and selfishly consuming the the food at the feast with no concern for their brothers and sisters.

Their divisions and hard-heartedness had made the supper into a sham, as we had seen previously. And this is because the supper is intended to be a means by which we have communion and fellowship with one another. It's not just about you with God, it's also you with your brothers and sisters. And so if that unity is missing, then the ordinance is being taken in an unworthy way. And I believe this is reinforced when we get to verse 30 in discussing what it means to discern the body.

And I believe Paul's conclusion into this section in verses 33 and 34 clenches this idea that an unworthy manner is here primarily related to your interaction with your brothers and sisters because listen what Paul's conclusion is verse 33 Therefore my brethren when you come together wait for one another That's his conclusion Just wait for one another make sure everyone gets what they need. That's your conclusion? Well, yes, because that is the primary way that they were taking the supper in an unworthy fashion. They were being selfish and self-centered. They were not waiting and caring for one another.

But if anyone's hungry, let them eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. Don't be a selfish pig at the feast. That's his conclusion. That's how they were taking the supper in an unworthy way. But I do believe there is a further application that can be made to this.

The sacrament of the table is also a means of our communion with Christ. It's about us together, but it is also us with Jesus. We receive and feed on Christ when we take the elements by the Spirit. And so I think we have to conclude, and I believe 28 and 29 support this as well, that partaking without faith is partaking in an unworthy manner as well. The sacraments are visible pictures.

They are signs to display the goodness and grace of God. There are pictures about God and the spiritual realities of what he has given to us in Christ and just as those realities are only for those who have faith so the signs should also be only given to those who have faith. And this is why we don't give, as Baptists, why we don't give the ordinance of baptism to children without faith. And this is why even most Pato Baptists in the reformed tradition don't give the table, the bread and wine to infants without faith. There is a group advocating for Pato Communion.

It's happened in the past. There are people arguing for it today. I don't think it's a tenable argument. I think this passage absolutely demolishes any idea of giving the supper to unbelieving infants. Because you must be able to take in a worthy manner and we'll see later, you must be able to examine yourself.

There's another interesting thing here. Certain groups such as the Roman Catholic Church and some high church Protestants have what they what is called an ex operato view of the sacraments and that's Latin for from the working of the work. Okay, and what this means is that they believe that the sacraments work simply by being administered. That you you give the bread and wine and people receive Christ simply in receiving the bread and the wine or people are baptized and they are it's a true baptism simply because baptism was administered but I don't think we can hold to that kind of a view of the of the ordinances because what is he saying here you're taking it in an unworthy manner There's a right way to do these things. As we've seen before, they were taking it in an unworthy manner such that when they were coming together, they weren't even really participating in the Lord's Supper.

Their misuse of it was so egregious, it was as if they weren't taking it at all. And so I do not believe that it's simply the the working of the work, it's not simply you receive the Lord's Supper by receiving bread and wine when it's handed to you by your elders. That seems to be refuted here. Rather, there is something that must be real in you, in your heart. It must be received by faith.

Because the whole Christian life is one of faith. You cannot receive grace, even the grace in the ordinances, without sincere faith toward Christ. So what does that mean for us? Are we partaking each Lord's Day when the bread and wine are distributed? Are we partaking in a worthy manner?

How is your heart toward your fellow church members? Are you harboring any bitterness or resentment toward a brother. Are you partaking but do not have real living faith? These are worthwhile questions and why Paul admonishes them to examine themselves. Moving on, secondly, to verse 27, and secondly, what does it mean to be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord?

The consequences given here of unworthy participation is a frightening concept. Whoever eats or eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Guilty of the body and blood. Now there are two, I believe, possible interpretations for this. One is simply that you incur guilt as one who is profane and treating as common something that is holy.

If you're participating in the supper in an unworthy way where the ordinance has lost all meaning, you are profaning what ought to be sacred. You're treating as common what ought to be regarded as holy. It's to show a lack of care. To show a lack of care toward the elements is to show a lack of care toward the one who instituted the elements. A flippancy toward the table shows a flippancy towards Christ himself.

And so you are guilty of the body and blood in your lack of reverence for the elements. Or, that's one interpretation, or that plus your guilt is so severe in profaning the table because of this flippancy that God will now reckon you personally as one who is guilty of shedding that blood and breaking that body. Where if you are eating in an unworthy manner, it makes you as guilty as if you had personally crucified the Son of God. Either way, whichever interpretation you go to, whichever one you think is being pointed out there what an awful thing it is to say that you have become guilty of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It should cause us to to pause and almost tremble.

Oh God how have I taken your ordinance unworthily? How have I done this in an unworthy manner where I might be guilty of the body and blood of your son? And it's not wrong to let fear of this guilt motivate you to write participation in the supper. That's why it's written. It's not wrong to be afraid when you have a reason to be afraid.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, we are told. Be afraid that you would be guilty of the body and blood of Christ. So eat and drink in a worthy manner. Third, what does it mean to examine yourself? Verse 28, but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." Now, some have tortured themselves under this admonition.

Under the idea that examining themselves means that they must look inward and see if they have reached a state of morality that where they can determine if they have Merited enough of God's favor that they can participate in the Eucharist in a worthy manner We've already Refuted and rejected the idea that worthy eating and drinking means something that you do. It's not about you checking off the boxes, have you sinned less this week, or anything like that. It's not a table for those who have reached perfection, it's a table for sinners to come and fellowship with Christ. And so when we see examine yourself, Paul is not now turning that on its head. He's in a way stating the same thing again.

Examine yourself. Look at your heart. How is your heart and your attitude, your affections toward your brothers and toward your God? The word used here for examine is used frequently, most frequently in the sense of testing the genuineness of something throughout the New Testament. Luke 14 19 in a parable that Jesus told another one said, I have five yoke of oxen and I am going to try them.

That word try is the word for examine here. Hebrews 3 9 where your fathers tried me by testing me that testing is the word for examine here and saw my works for 40 years 1st Timothy 3 10 regarding deacons the men must also first be tested and then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. So you test them to see if they are beyond reproach. They must meet this qualification. You're testing the genuineness.

And I think probably most famously, 2nd Corinthians 13.5, test yourselves to see if you're in the faith, examine yourselves. Same word, same translation. And the word certainly carries the same idea here. This testing, this examining, this trying of yourself is a questioning of your heart to see if your heart is right before God. It's not are you doing enough.

That's not the point. This is an examination of your heart and soul before God, are you relying on Jesus, or are you relying on your works, your church attendance, your lack of sin, or anything like this? That's not the point. It's are you trusting Christ? Are you coming to the table to receive Christ?

Are you coming to this as a means of grace, not as a measuring stick on how well you did the last week? Calvin wrote, if you would wish to use a right the benefit afforded by Christ, and he's talking about in the supper, bring faith and repentance. As to these two things, therefore the trial, the examination must be made if you would come duly prepared. So is this how you're coming to the table? Not are you coming with a checklist?

Not coming with morbid introspection on how you're unworthy because you had an argument with your wife or you yelled at your kids too much? Are you coming with a heart of faith towards Christ and repentance? Is it real or is it merely ritual? Fourth, what does it mean to eat and drink judgment to yourself? Verse 29, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself.

To abuse what God calls holy is ultimately to despise God himself. And God will not let that go unpunished. And this is why the table is here and ought to be everywhere fenced and what I mean by fenced not everyone is allowed to take Now the elders aren't going to tell go up to somebody and say you aren't allowed to they don't have a checklist as far as I'm aware of When they're passing out the elements to say hey don't give it to that guy But there there is a fencing going on with the elders say if you have not been baptized if you are not under church Discipline or if you're under church discipline or if you're an unbeliever don't take let the elements pass That's fencing the table not everyone is supposed to come and that's a good thing That is That is your elders looking out for the souls of those who are here in this room. Because to eat and drink in an unworthy manner, eating and drinking when you are not showing that you have real faith by either being a known unbeliever or being excommunicated from the church or when you're in disharmony and disfellowship with your brothers and sisters and you know that you are.

It is right for the elders to fence the table. Sometimes shepherds protect the flock by keeping them from doing foolish things. If your elders did not fence the table, it would not be loving. Why is this? Because taking in an unworthy manner you eat and drink judgment to yourself, God will hold you guilty, You will suffer.

It's gonna look different for some people, but God does not, God is not unaware of how people mistreat His holy things, including the ordinance. I was reading a book recently and it had this great line describing the purpose of church discipline. Churches that do not discipline, jeopardize the lives of those who like Nadab and Abihu, disregard God's instructions as they approach him and risk being consumed by an outburst of his holiness. That is what church discipline is. Fencing the table is a form of church discipline.

And this is why it is so vital that you do not eat and drink in an unworthy way. Because God has given you a particular way to do it. And if you do it in a way that violates his instructions, you risk being consumed in an outburst of his holiness. Now does this apply only to unbelievers talking about coming without faith? No, I don't actually think so because this warning is given to the church entirely with no distinction of saying this is only unbelievers who are acting in such a way and in verse 32 we'll get there in a minute where he talks about being chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world.

That's a description of Christians. So even as a Christian, you are in danger by profaning God's sacred things of judgment. You're in danger of a temporal judgment. You're not going to lose your salvation and suffer hell, but God brings temporal punishments oftentimes for our sins, as we'll see more here in just a moment. Verse 29, and the clock does not slow down.

Fifth, what does it mean to discern the Lord's body? Verse 29, eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body. And there are like earlier I said there are two views for this, there are also two views on what does it mean to discern the Lord's body and I don't think they're actually contradictory at all. I think they are complementary, they go hand in hand, so I'm going to say it's both. I know that's a great cop-out of interpretation but sometimes it's true.

These two interpretations are this. First that the body is the real body, and by implication, the blood of Christ as given in the elements, or that it's the body, meaning the local church, which is the body of Christ on earth. And the context here I believe actually supports both interpretations. Again, we just talked about being guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. He's talking about Christ, His body, His blood in the immediate context.

We must discern the Lord's body, seeing that the bread is given as a symbol, an emblem of Christ Himself, body and blood, given under the symbols of bread and wine. Verse 24 and 25, earlier in the institution passage, clearly in this immediate context, body and blood often refer to the body and blood of Christ literally. There's another sense in discerning the body, the body of the local church as the body of Christ on earth. The whole section is about unity, our unity as a body. Even going back to chapter 10, where he first really introduced the concept of the Lord's Supper, what does he say in verses 16 and 17?

The bread which we, or the cup of blessing which we bless is not communion of the blood of Christ the bread which we break is not the communion of the Body of Christ for we though many are one bread and one body for we all partake of that one bread These two images are so closely intertwined that Paul uses them at the same time in one verse in the previous chapter. The body and blood, the bread and wine are so closely united that it is participating with Christ's body and blood and it's also the means that we become one body because we all share that same loaf of bread and the same cup of wine. So to discern the Lord's body, I believe, is to do both. You must see the significance of the elements. Yes, there is a sense in which it is only bread and wine.

They do not change, but they are also given greater significance because of what they represent and what they are doing in that moment. They are emblems of Christ himself. And at the same time, we must discern the body. That brother or sister I may be inclined to have bitterness toward. That's my body.

I'm part of the same body with him. We eat the same bread. We eat the meal together. We are one body How dare I have? Hard-heartedness toward this one Christ died for him So are we discerning the body both in the elements and in one another.

Sixth, what is meant by weak and sick and asleep. I think this is obvious we all know this. Weakness, sickness, just bodily ailments. Sleep, common euphemism for death. So does this mean that people were eating in an unworthy manner and so God was making them fall sick and some of them die?

Yes. That is absolutely what the Apostle Paul is saying. Some of the Corinthian Christians had been killed by God because of their mishandling of the supper. And that can be very shocking if we don't know the rest of our Bible. Consider Uzzah in the Old Testament.

He simply reached out his hand to steady the ark and God struck him dead because he was told not to touch it. Because he wasn't one of the ones permitted to carry it. No one was permitted to do what he did. R.C. Sproul famously said it was his fault was he thought his hands were cleaner than the dirt.

Or in Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira, they brought money and Peter even said, you could have done whatever you wanted with the money. That's not the problem. Problem is you lied and God struck them both dead. Now why was that? Well, because, Again, God's holiness will sometimes consume those who violate his commands.

To profane that which God has declared to be holy is to literally take your own life in your hands. Now, I personally don't know of any large swaths of professing Christians throughout history dying from the misuse of the Eucharist. There would be a lot of dead people if that was the case. And there would be a lot today. It's been at the Supper has been and is being abused by many.

Now why was Corinth suffering this and the Roman Catholics aren't today or the Orthodox or the liberal Presbyterians or Southern Baptists or whoever among all these different groups that have different, radically sometimes, different views on the Supper, why is it that not, that people aren't falling dead left and right? Well, I believe we have a situation here similar to Ananias and Sapphira, where they were killed for lying to God. They were profaning God's Church, the new covenant temple. And as far as we know, pretty sure I'm right on this, Ananias and Sapphira were not the last people to lie to their elders. People have lied to their pastors since.

Probably other people lied to the apostles. But they didn't die. Why is that? Well, because I believe as our elder Trent covered when he went through this portion of Acts that ultimately this is a example for us and an license to the fire. We're an example to show that this is what all of our sins deserve.

And God used them to make an example in the early church to spur them on to holiness and strictness and So God did not withhold his judgment in that moment and I think something similar is happening here This is incredibly early in the church. Paul is writing this so early that maybe only five or six other books of the New Testament haven't even been written yet, and this church is already going into all these problems. And so this was a display of God's holiness because he's not withholding the judgment that they deserve for mistreating holy things. At the same time though, I don't want to pull the teeth out of what should be a very severe warning to us. God has not changed.

Now we know that not all sins can be attributed to a direct judgment from the hand of God, but we also ought not to rule it out either. It clearly happened. There's nothing that says God won't do it again So should we when we have a sickness or anything should we immediately think that we're being judged by God We should at least consider it And when we consider it consider how you've been taking the supper, how you've been treating God's holy things, the sacraments, as well as the gathering of his church. Not everything. Not every sickness, not every death.

But it has happened. Beware. Examine yourself. Lastly, What is the judgment and condemnation in verses 31 and 32? I, well, let me read here.

I do think our translation does a disservice here, but to just put it in mind, verse 31, for if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world here Paul uses multiple related words but they're different words that are all translated as a judge by our new King James And there are a few other things that I think it would be better translated, something like this. For if we would evaluate or examine ourselves, the first word has more of an idea of a testing. For if we would evaluate ourselves, we will not be judged. But if we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined, or chastened, chastened is not a bad word there, so that we will not be condemned with the world. The idea is, You've been told about eating and drinking unworthily You've been told to examine yourself if and those who do eat and drink unworthily They face God's judgment because they're guilty of abusing the body and blood of Christ They're not discerning the body.

So they bring God's judgment. So test yourself. If we would test, evaluate, examine, or in a sense judge ourselves, we will not be judged. You want to avoid the things Paul says? Come to the table in a right manner and you will not be judged.

But again, this is true of Christians. Christians can take the supper in an unworthy way. If we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined or trained. It's the same word in Hebrews talking about the chastening of the Lord. Just as a father chastens his children, it's not a sign of his hatred, it's actually a sign of his love.

The same thing here. If God is chastening his people even in causing them to be sick because of their abuse of the supper. It's actually a sign of God's care for them Because God chastens the sons that he loves and it has the results so that we will not be condemned with the world. There's much more that could be said but to Finalize and sum it all up. When we come to the table, hold these two things in tension.

Yes, it's bread and wine. They don't change. It's still just bread and wine. But it is a means of participating and partaking Christ himself. It is holy.

It is set apart for God and God's use. It has to be done rightly. So come to the table with a proper reverence and faith toward God. Come prepared, knowing that this is God's means of grace for you if you come in faith. But be forewarned, if you come unworthily, in an unworthy manner, It is not a means of grace, it is a means of judgment.

Take it seriously and if you come in faith, come rejoicing that you are receiving Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time we've been in your Word. Help us Lord to take these things to heart and to draw close to you. Thank you Lord for giving your ordinances to be these means of grace to us.

Lord, you've been so kind. We thank you for the supper. Thank you for the bread and the wine. May you use it to draw us close to Jesus and make us into His image and make us one body united in Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.