The Lord’s Supper and God’s Glory, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
In the weeks leading up to last weekend’s Bible Conference, we had been talking at some length about the glory of God because it is critically important for us, as God’s children, to get this right. Why? Because, as we’ve discovered, God is very serious about His glory and He expects us to be serious about His glory as well.
“GLORY” DEFINED—Now, just to make sure that we’re all starting on the same page this morning, let’s briefly remind ourselves that the word, “glory” speaks of all of the many ways by which God makes Himself known to us.
–Jesus revealed God’s glory because He helped us see that God is good, loving, kind and gracious.
–The Bible reveals God’s glory because it helps us see that God is pure, righteous, eternal and holy.
–God’s creation reveals God’s glory because it helps us see that God is awesome, mighty, powerful and creative.
In short, everything that accurately reveals any aspect of God’s heart and character is an expression of His glory. So, it shouldn’t surprise us to learn that God is very serious about His glory because it speaks of Him.
OUR MANDATE—So, with all of that providing us a foundation upon which to stand as we consider God’s glory, we can’t help but be both greatly encouraged and greatly sobered as we discover, in the Scriptures, that God has given to every one of His children the mandate to live our lives in such a way that we make His glory known.
1 Peter 2:9 says it like this, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God…(for this reason)… that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” And what that means for us as children of God, is this—first, God called us out of the darkness of this world and set us apart to be His distinct, holy people and claimed us as His own and then immediately sent us right back into that same sin-darkened world so that we could spend the rest of our lives here declaring His praises or making His glory known.
That is our God-given mandate. It’s why we’re here. It’s why He saved us. We exist to make God’s glory known. And, as I said a couple of weeks ago, this mandate conveys to us a two-fold obligation.
–Our first obligation is to declare His glory. To intentionally live our lives in such a way that the people who are watching us get accurate glimpses of God’s heart and character—His kindness, His compassion, His mercy, His love, His generosity, His goodness, and so forth. We are to declare God’s glory through both our spoken testimonies to God’s greatness and also the unspoken testimony of a daily life that consistently, intentionally and accurately reflects that heart and character of God. So, our first obligation in making God’s glory known calls us to declare His glory.
–Our second obligation is to protect God’s glory. God does not expect non-believers to protect His glory, but He most certainly expects that His own children will protect His glory. How do we do that? Well, that was the focus of my message 2 weeks ago but, in short, we protect God’s glory by treating every expression of His glory as the holy, precious, priceless treasure that it is. Folks, we don’t ever want to be guilty…whether it’s through willful disobedience or casual carelessness…of doing anything that would in any way diminish, tarnish or obscure God’s glory. We’re here to magnify His glory.
So, we come back, now, to where we started, namely, that God is very serious about His glory and we need to be serious about His glory, as well.
Now, I told you a few weeks ago that, as you grow in the discipline of being a “glory focused person,” you will discover that the number of situations that you deal with every day that in some way bring God’s glory into play is far greater than you previously realized. After all, as children of God we carry our Father’s reputation with us everywhere we go. Consequently, we regularly engage in choices and activities that reflect, either positively or negatively on God’s glory.
Case in point—The Lord’s Supper. In just a few minutes we are going to participate together in this incredibly familiar event; an event that we have shared together countless times before. In fact, we’ve done this event so many times that most of us could probably do it without even thinking.
But, in light of our recent glory focused journey, I’m thinking that this is a very familiar event that deserves the very best of our attention because what you see on these tables is not just juice and bread. What God intends for you to see on these tables is His glory. And, again, because God is serious about His glory we must be serious about it as well.
So, let’s walk down this very familiar road to the Supper once again, but this time let’s do so with this question in mind—How can we declare and protect God’s glory through our participation in the Lord’s Supper?
Let’s begin by reading Paul’s remarks about the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 and let’s focus on what we’re actually doing when we do the Lord’s Supper. Let’s begin reading at verse 17.
17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
33So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when I come I will give further directions.
Now, by my count, this text identifies 6 different things that we are doing when we do The Lord’s Supper.
First, we are coming together. Four times, here (in verses 18, 20, 33 and 34) Paul introduces his remarks about the Supper with the phrase, “when you come/meet together.” The point is that the Lord’s Supper is intended to be a shared experience, rather than a solo experience. More specifically, it’s an experience that is shared by the “church.” Verse 18 says, “When you come together as a church…” Now, folks, it’s perfectly OK…in fact, it’s a good thing…for non-Christians or non-believers to be present when The Lord’s Supper is served, but the Supper itself is specifically for those of us who have publicly declared our faith and trust in Jesus; those of us who are trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and for the securing of our eternal life. In other words, the church.
Now, let’s ask a glory-focused question—Is it possible for us…the church…to make God’s glory known as we share the Lord’s Supper? Can we do the Supper in such a way that God’s glory is seen in our coming together? Absolutely. God’s glory is revealed in our unity…in our love for one another…and also in our obedience to the Lord’s command to keep doing this Supper. And, of course, the converse of that is also true. If we gather at this table in a visible display of unity that is, in fact, undermined by hidden divisions among us we diminish God’s glory; we fail in our obligation to protect God’s glory; we treat His glory as less than the priceless treasure that it is.
The second and third things that we are doing when we do The Lord’s Supper are eating and drinking. Verse 26 says, “…whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup…” The elements of the supper itself are very simple. It’s just bread and juice or bread and wine, depending upon your faith tradition. The point is, it’s a very simple meal.
The fourth thing we are doing in The Supper is remembering. Beginning in verse 23 Paul writes, “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
So, the point, that Jesus is making there is that the bread and the cup are tangible symbols provided to guide us in our remembering. Come to the Lord’s Table and remember that our life together as a church, that the forgiveness of all our sins and our hope of an eternity in heaven is not grounded in wishful thinking. It’s grounded in history. All of the blessings that we enjoy as the people of God were purchased for us on a real day in history when the sinless Son of God had real nails driven through his real hands and real feet and into a real cross upon which he then hung until he died a very real death.
In telling us to remember, Jesus is saying, “Come to the Table and remember that the blood I shed for you was real and the death I died for you was real. Don’t allow 2000 years of history to obscure the reality of what I really did for you.”
Now, let’s ask another glory-focused question—Was Jesus’ death on the cross for us a revelation of God’s glory? Did we learn anything about the heart and character of God through Jesus’ sacrificial death? Romans 5:8 says that Jesus’ death on the cross for us was a demonstration of God’s love. When we come together around this Table and fail to deliberately remember the love of God demonstrated in Jesus’ sacrifice, we fail to protect God’s glory. But when we do remember, we are fulfilling our obligation to protect God’s glory.
The fifth thing we are doing in The Supper is proclaiming. In verse 26, Paul writes, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” Our participation in this Supper is a public proclamation of God’s love for us demonstrated through Jesus sacrifice. When we pause, in this Supper, to remember Jesus’ sacrifice, we protect God’s glory. And when we hold in our hands and eat these symbols of Jesus’ sacrifice we declare God’s glory. We magnify it and make it known.
Finally, the sixth thing that we are doing in The Supper is examining. In verse 28, Paul writes, “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” Why do we examine ourselves before participating in The Supper? Because, verse 27 says, we do not want to be guilty of eating the bread or drinking the cup of the Lord, “in an unworthy manner.” And the point there is not that we should not come to the Table unless we are so pure in heart and character that we deserve to be there. The point there is exactly the opposite. We pause and examine ourselves to make sure that we have let go of any trace of thinking that we deserve what this Supper represents. We pause to examine ourselves to make sure that we absolutely clear that the only reason we can participate in this Supper is because Jesus did for us what we could never have done for ourselves.
And if we forget that, we fail to protect God’s glory. But when we remember that every spiritual blessing that we have…forgiveness, peace, joy, hope, eternal life… When we remember that every spiritual blessing that we have was purchased for us by Jesus’ death, we protect and magnify God’s glory.
We’ve come together as the church to eat and to drink; to remember and to proclaim and examine ourselves. Let’s do it all to glory of God.
