Introduction – The Lord, in his goodness and mercy to us, gave us visible words along with the preached word.
I. The Worship Services in Corinth.
A. The worship service of the Corinthian church were so messed up that they were worse off for getting together, 17.
B. They were practicing the Lord's Supper so wrongly that it wasn't the Lord's Supper at all, 20!
C. Their worship problems extended to their view of preaching, praying, giving, and singing, chpts. 12 and 14.
D. But their biggest sin, the sin that caused some to be sick or even die (30), was that they were coming to the Supper as a divided body, 18-19.
1. There was schism in the church, that is, unbiblical division.
2. There was wide spread dissension in the church.
3. Whatever the form dissension takes, it is a satanic work that destroys the church and is met with severe judgment of the part of God, 30, 34.
E. In the Lord's Supper Jesus says, "Here is my body broken for you, so that you may be all in one body."
F. By coming to the Lord's Supper with divisions, we are breaking the Body of Christ, the Church, again and again – that the Lord is not going to allow it.
II. The Lord's Supper Finds Its Origin in Christ, 23.
A. Jesus instituted it during the celebration of the Passover.
B. This was an important occasion for Jesus – with fervent desire I have desired.
C. It is one of two ceremonies that Christ instituted, the other being baptism (Mt. 28:19).
D. The Lord's Supper finds its origin in Christ and it points to Christ – do this in remembrance of me.
III. The Lord's Supper Is a Proclamation of Christ, 26.
A. This goes back to the Lord's Supper being a visible word.
B. Not simply the eating of bread and the drink of the cup, but brothers and sisters united to Christ and to one another through his death and resurrection.
IV. The Lord's Supper Was Given to the Gathered Church, 18.
A. There are times when Christians who are members of the same local church meet together for religious purposes that are not the gathering of the church.
B. The Lord's Supper is for those times when the church is gathered, that is, for when the church is formally called to worship together.
V. The Lord's Supper Was Given to the Israel of God, 25.
A. The Bible says that that the New Covenant was made with Israel.
B. Here the same Spirit that inspired Jeremiah inspired Paul to say that the Lord's Supper is the New Covenant given to the church.
C. Putting the two together and assuming that the Holy Spirit did not make a mistake, we conclude that the Church is the Israel of God, organically and institutionally united with the Old Testament people of God.
D. Some have said that this is a different New Covenant, one that is not mentioned in the OT.
E. The Lord's Supper IS the New Covenant in the same way that circumcision IS the Abrahamic Covenant, namely, it represents the New Covenant.
VI. The Lord's Supper Is for Those Who Have a Credible Profession of Faith, 27-29.
A. Paul says three things about those who are to partake of the Supper:
1. They must do it in a worthy manner, 27.
2. One must be able to examine himself, 28.
3. One must discern the body, 29.
4. These three activities can only be done through faith in Christ and do require a certain level of cognitive ability.
B. Some Reformed scholars have said that this passage says nothing concerning children and the Lord's Supper.
C. This view is a betrayal of a proper and historically Reformed understanding of the Church.
D. Some may draw a line between the Passover and the Lord's Supper and say that children ate the Passover, therefore they should indiscriminately partake of the Lord's Supper.
E. Some say that this view excommunicates children from the church.
VII. The Lord's Supper Is a Ceremonial Meal That Looks backwards and Forward, 22, 26, 34.
A. It is not a dinner as we think of dinner.
B. The Lord's Supper looks backward to the cross and forward to the coming again of Christ, 26.
VIII. The Elements of the Lord's Supper, 24-25.
A. Bread
B. Wine
IX. The Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, 24.
A. There is so much controversy about the word "is" in this verse
B. "This bread is my body," means that Christ is actually present in the sacrament, but not in physical sense, rather in a spiritual sense.
Conclusion– The Lord has blessed us with this wonderful proof of his love for us.
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