Lessons From 1 Corinthians – Lesson 13
I said there are two things that get some people upset in the beginning of 1 Cor chapter 11.
The first was hair. God has the right and authority to use whatever teaching picture that He wants to. And God chose to use hair that is not long on men and for women not shaving her head but having hair to be a visible outward sign of you voluntarily showing forth that you are in God’s authority structure.
It really is nothing to get mad about. Those verses clearly say that the woman has power over her own hair. Choosing to go along with the picture that God wants shown forth is voluntary.
The second thing that I have had some get mad about is verse 1.
1 Cor 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Some people will go off on a rant about we are to only follow Jesus and never any man. You really can’t help someone who is going off about that.
Paul is in no way teaching that men should put him above Jesus.
You have to take what Paul is saying in context with the issues going on in the carnal church of Corinth who are listening to and following a preacher from Alexandria Egypt. A worldly preacher.
A man who’s teaching does not line up with Paul, who was an Apostle chosen by God and a man who wrote a great deal of the N.T.
Paul was given the authority of an Apostle and they should follow the teaching of that authority and not an in the flesh preacher.
Paul starts this section with an instruction to follow his authority.
1 Cor 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
1 Cor 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
Remember me in all things is talking about all that Paul taught. He taught them a lot for a year and a half and they are to remember what he taught them and follow that.
And after this opening statement about following Paul’s authority, Paul then gave an illustration about God’s authority structure. And that was God the Father, God the Son, the man and then the woman.
And the visible teaching picture of that was hair.
Some think that the whole hair section is out of place because Paul started with authority and will get specifically to the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.
But the hair discussion is not out of place because it is an object lesson about the authority structure. And in that illustration every person is mentioned and all are to be under authority. So it fits and is right where it is supposed to be.
The hair topic is like additional information in a set of parentheses. So let’s read this section without the additional information.
It is sometimes helpful when reading Paul to get what is in the additional section fresh in your mind and then read it without the additional section.
It helps you see better the flow of the main topic Paul is discussing.
1 Cor 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
So even Paul is under authority.
1 Cor 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
So the main topic here is following authority and specifically Paul’s teaching about the ordinances.
Notice it is ordinances plural. That means more than one. There are two. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. There are only 2. And they are to keep them pure. Don’t change them, don’t mess with them. Do not bend the rules on them, even for some sob story.
Don’t play games with them. Do not make drama out of them or a sideshow out of them.
Don’t have the Lord’s Supper in a way where you have to betray other Biblical principals.
Do not make entertainment out of them with mood lighting. Do not change the type of bread you use for convince sake. Don’t use leavened bread.
Do not give the ordinances qualities that they do not have. Some will attach saving grace to them. Others will not go that far, but they will attach powerful blessings to doing them and harsh chastisement for not doing them. For example some would teach that we will have harsh chastisement coming for only doing the Lord’s Supper once a year.
All of those ways that churches mess with the Lord’s Supper, and it is a long list, are not Biblical. And sad to say all of us here have personally seen quite a few of those things in that list.
Just keep them simple as Paul taught them. Keep the meaning of them strictly Biblical. And don’t change them.
1 Cor 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
1 Cor 11:17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
Context is everything. The context here is they are coming together for the Lord’s Supper and they are messing it up. They have it so wrong that Paul says that when they come together for the Lord’s Supper that it is for the worse.
A way of kind of saying it would be better if you did not come together for this at all. You have it that wrong. The way you are doing it is actually doing harm. It is for the worse.
And now Paul is going to specifically list how they mess it up.
1 Cor 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
The first thing wrong is that they are doing the Lord’s Supper when the church is fighting. There is division. They are not in unity like they are supposed to be.
1 Cor 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
2nd they had false teaching going on in the church. Paul here calls them heresies. So it was really bad. Not just off a little or off on a side issue. Heresies. To be a heresy it has to be teaching that is actually contrary to and against the teaching of God.
3rd they totally changed the meaning of the Lord’s Supper and what it was about. They no longer really knew why they were to do it. They turned a serious reminder of what Jesus did on the cross for us into Sunday dinner.
And not even a nice civil dinner with manners.
1 Cor 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.
A way of saying, you are so far off that what you are doing is not the Lord’s Supper. You can lie and put the Lord’s Supper name on it but what you are doing it not the real thing.
1 Cor 11:21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
They are eating to fill their bellies. A full meal. And the shame of it is some of them are drunk. Here comes the strong rebuke for this. And it should be. To shame our Lord and what He did on the cross in this way.
1 Cor 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
Eat your meal at home. And if you don’t you are despising the church of God.
I mean come on. Have some respect for God and the other believers. Remember a church is not a building. It is the people who assemble to honor, worship, praise, and do the work of God.
And the institution of the Church, how it works and its purpose is designed by God. So have some respect for God’s plan and have some respect for the other believers. Eat your meal at home. And come to the Lord’s Supper in the right way for the right purpose.
Anything less is to despise the church of God.
Now after this rebuke, Paul is going to teach the right way to think about and observe the Lord’s Supper. Paul already taught them this when he was there for that year and a half.
But now they need a strong rebuke and then need to be taught again.
1 Cor 11:23 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:
Paul starts off saying I received these instructions from the Lord and I delivered them to you. You have received the same instructions that the Lord gave me.
And then a reminder that it was the Lord Himself that instituted the Lord’s Supper.
It is His. No one else came up with it. Jesus taught this. It came directly from His lips. If you think about that for a min, it is a powerful reason to not change or mess with it at all.
And Jesus did the first Lord’s Supper a short time before He was arrested. Instituting the Lord’s Supper was important to Jesus.
He arranged it all so that there would be ample time for the first Lord’s Supper before the cross.
1 Cor 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Jesus clearly gives the first reason for the Lord’s Supper. This do in remembrance of me.
And He gave two symbols of two specific things that He wants us to remember.
The first is in verse 24. His broken body.
It should be very obvious. When Jesus took a piece of unleavened bread and said this is my body, it was not literally. It was not a literal piece of His body.
It was a piece of the traditional Passover unleavened bread like we use today. It was made according to the O.T. way. Moses was told by God to have it made this way.
No leaven to picture no sin. Stripes and pierced which is a picture of Jesus taking our stripes and being pierced for us. And it was put to the fire which is a picture of being put to the judgment of God.
Somehow, in some pagan thought process, Catholics came up with the idea that it was literal and that when they say some Latin words that the bread literally turns into the real body of Jesus.
And they killed millions of people thru the ages who said it is just bread. It is just symbolic. A teaching picture. A symbol to remember what Jesus went thru on the cross. A picture of how His precious body was broken for us.
When they took the first Lord’s Supper and Jesus said this is my body they might have been scratching their heads just a little. It would not make sense yet. It would after Jesus body was broken on the cross. The wounds and the damage to the joints caused by the cross.
The spear piercing I believe all the way thru the protective water sack that is around the heart to the heart itself. Letting the blood spill out.
Jesus wants His followers to break a piece of this bread and pause and think about and remember His broken body.
1 Cor 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
He also wants us to remember His blood. And again it is just symbolic. Only a picture. Not literally His blood.
He wants us to remember that He shed His blood as a sacrifice for our sin. Jesus gave it all. Even the blood in the heart was poured out for us. And it was not just any blood. This was the precious blood of Christ.
The just giving His life for the unjust. The creator dyeing for His creation.
Jesus wants His followers to pause and remember and think about how He voluntary went to that cross and let His blood be shed because there was no other way. No other blood would work.
The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. Only Jesus’ blood.
And He wants His followers to remember what He did for us.
1 Cor 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
And as often as ye. Jesus did not set no schedule or no time frame for how often it should be done. I believe it should be far enough apart that it does not become a ritual or just routine.
Another reason for the Lord’s Supper is given here. It is to show forth the Lord’s death till he come. Death and coming in the same sentence. The resurrection was included in the Lord’s Supper.
I have seen some ignore that. They turn the Lord’s Supper into a funeral. No! Included in the instructions that Jesus gave is the resurrection.
We are to remember it all. His body was broken, His blood was spilt, He did literally die for our sin, but do not stop there. He did not stay dead. He is risen. He lives for evermore.
Yes we show forth His death when we do the Lord’s Supper but we are also showing forth that He is risen and that He is coming back to get us.
The Lord’s Supper should be full of many different emotions. Some sadness for the horrible things He endured on the cross like His broken body.
Gratefulness that He loved us that much. And yes we should be awed that God would go thru that for sinners. And Thankfulness for what He did.
But we should not stop with those. We should also have joy because of what He saved us from and for the wonderful eternity that we will have. And hope. Hope in that it is guaranteed that He is coming back.
In the end we are on the winning side. And that thought is also included in the Lord’s Supper.
We have a lot to remember and think about when we do the Lord’s Supper.
And it should be taken serious.
1 Cor 11:27 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.
1 Cor 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
Of course no one is worthy. Only Jesus is worthy. That is why it uses the word worthily. So in a manner that is proper. And that you take the Lord’s Supper in the way that Jesus would have you take it.
1 Cor 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
1 Cor 11:30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
1 Cor 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1 Cor 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
1 Cor 11:33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
1 Cor 11:34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
It is a law of first mention thing. The institution of the church is new to the N.T. and the Lord’s Supper is new.
And this is the first time that believers made a total mess of the Lord’s Supper in a very disrespectful way.
And to show forth the picture of what God thinks of disrespecting and messing with the Lord’s Supper many of them got sick and many died.
After the picture is shown of what judgment would look like without mercy, then God deals in mercy.
And so today many mess with the Lord’s Supper and do not get sick and do not die.
If God did not deal in mercy on this today, there would be Christians sick and dying all the time. But God recorded how terrible messing with it is and what judgment would be appropriate if it was not for mercy.
So we should take the Lord’s Supper seriously. And focus on what Jesus told us the purpose is.
To remember His broken body, His shed blood, to shew forth His death until He comes back.
And do in a way that is worthy of Him.