Not Discerning The Lord's Body

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. The 1 Corinthians 11, this is the main text. So let's begin reading 1 Corinthians chapter 11, starting in verse 17.

And this is all building up to us observing and celebrating the Lord's Supper. So we should be preparing our hearts as we go. Paul writes, 1 Corinthians 11, 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.

All right, let's just stop there. You can see that there are some problems that this church is going through, right? Communion is supposed to be a time of unity, but this congregation, in this congregation, there were great divisions.

And they were celebrating the Lord's Supper, and the way they were doing it only served to make those divisions worse. One commentator writes this, the worldly carnal church at Corinth had turned these sacred meals into gluttonous, drunken revelries.

Beyond that, wealthy believers brought ample food and drink for themselves, but refused to share, letting their poorer brethren go away hungry. That's what is happening, and Paul explains this. Look at verses 20 through 22.

He says, Therefore, when you come together in one place, is it 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 what? What?

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.

Examining Ourselves Before the Lord's Supper

So let's just skip ahead now to verse 27. A very serious passage, isn't it? First Corinthians 11 verses 27 through 28. Therefore, Paul says, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, you 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. That word examine means to test, right? To test, to scrutinize, to prove yourself, to prove yourself. Are you worthy to partake?

Now, I think it's a common response to have this kind of pious response. Well, no, I'm not worthy. Nobody is worthy. I think that's false. OK, I think that's false. If you are saved, you are at least potentially worthy.

We at least say that if you are in covenant with God through Jesus Christ, you have the right to partake because the Lord has made you worthy. But with that said, he does mention that there are some, it seems, who would be partaking in an unworthy manner.

So what does that mean? What does it mean to partake in an unworthy manner? First of all, let's just kind of throw out the obvious. If you're not a Christian, you don't have any unity with God. You have no union with Christ.

So if you're an unbeliever, then, of course, you are not worthy to partake. You should not partake. But what about saved, born again believers in Christ? Just think of this here. Paul is telling a legitimate New Testament church, you better examine yourselves so that you don't eat and drink in an unworthy manner.

So we know that that's possible for believers to partake in this unworthy manner. And what if people do? What happens? They become guilty of what? The body and the blood of the Lord. So what does this mean to partake in an unworthy manner?

Verse 29. Paul says this for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. So you can't read this and come to the conclusion. Well, this really isn't all that important.

That's impossible 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.

That is, they've died.

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. Now, it should go without saying that Paul's purpose, his intentions in writing to the church, was so that they would, number one, understand what he was saying, see what the problem was, and then fix it.

I mean, that's obvious why he's writing. Identify the problem. Here's what you shouldn't be doing. Make these steps to correct it. So when Paul talks about eating and drinking in an unworthy manner, obviously they need to know what he's talking about.

So what is he talking about? The answer is in the text. The answer has to be in the text. Otherwise, there'd be no way to know. So Paul explains it. What does it mean to partake in an unworthy manner?

Well, the fact is they were causing divisions in the church. They were mistreating one another. They were not sharing. They were sinning. They were getting drunk, some of them. Not waiting for each other, not being considerate.

We know that that's what he's talking about because that's what he writes. If you ever want to know what a verse in Scripture means, you compare Scripture with Scripture. That's true, but you do what?

One of the most basic things, taking things in context, you read the verses before and you read the verses after. And then this statement about not discerning the Lord's body. Well, what does that mean?

A lot of debate and speculation. Not discerning the Lord's body. It's not that difficult. What is the body of Christ? The church is the body of Christ. Paul will go on to explain that in the next chapter, chapter 12.

Now, the bread and the cup represent the flesh and blood of Jesus that were broken or shed on the cross. Here's the point. They were dishonoring the body of Christ. They were dishonoring the church. They were disrespecting one another.

They were mistreating their fellow brothers and sisters. And in the process, they turned holy communion into an unholy commotion. And being the early days of the church, the Lord made an example out of some of them.

It's like in Acts chapter 5 with Ananias and Sapphira. The Lord made an example out of them. And that's what happened here. The Lord struck some of them with sickness and even death to show the church how serious this is.

Someone might ask, Pastor, do you think the Lord still does that today? I don't want to find out. The church at Corinth was very much divided. We know that. You remember how some of them, I am of Paul.

You know, I'm in the Peter group. I'm in the Apollos group. And they were kind of arguing, you know, we're better than you. Our faction is better than this faction. Causing division in the church. Here, if you take notes, write this down.

Write this down if you take notes. Causing division in a church is one of the things that the Lord hates. The Lord wants unity. He hates those who are trying to cause disunity. Or he hates the act of doing it.

And listen, don't let your mind drift to the universal church and churches all over the world. You know, Christians all over the world. Who is he writing to? He's writing to a local church. Let's focus on unity in a local church.

Again, causing division in a church is something the Lord hates. Proverbs 6, 16 through 19. So, well, my God doesn't hate anything. Well, okay. Proverbs 6 says, these six things the Lord hates, and yes, seven are an abomination to him.

That's in my Bible. I don't know if it's in yours, but it's in the Bible. Okay, trust me.

Look it up. Double check.

Proverbs 6, 16 through 19. These six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to him.

A proud look.

A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that are swift in running to evil. A false witness who speaks lies. And here's the one to pay attention to for this sermon.

The one who sows discord among brethren. According to the Bible, it is an abomination. One of the strongest words you could possibly use. It is an abomination to sow discord among brethren. And this is what some of the church members were doing.

There were factions. There was likely gossip.

Backbiting.

People were running down the church leadership. We know there were people attacking the Apostle Paul. We covered that in 2 Corinthians. So let's take all of this information and kind of bring it down to our level.

Let's make that application. What would that look like in a local church today? Partaking of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner would be eating the bread and drinking the cup when you have hostility in your heart towards another church member.

That is partaking in an unworthy manner. Harboring ill will. Running down the deacons. Running down the deacons. Running down the pastor.

That's two.

But running down each other.

Right?

Running down one another. That is sowing seeds of discord in a local church. Just having that kind of critical, unforgiving spirit. We need grace. We all need grace. This is what it means to partake in an unworthy manner.

These are sins that Jesus died for. These things shouldn't be happening in a local church. But Paul's writing this.

Why?

Because he knows that it is. And from personal experience, we all know that these things do happen. Some of you have been in churches where this was standard operating procedure. This is just the way the culture of the church was.

And you know how troublesome it was. But if there are seeds of discontentment. And thankfully, I don't think that's a big problem here. But if there are seeds of discontentment and irritation between you and a fellow believer.

We all kind of get on each other's nerves at times. I mean, that's life. I mean, that happens. But if you can let something go, hey, let it go. Or maybe as we approach the Lord's Supper, maybe you know that you have maybe mistreated someone.

You feel bad about it. The thing to do is to go to that person and try to make that right. Ask for forgiveness. Something will happen. And maybe we take it out on someone else. Things happen in someone's own personal life.

And they take it out on someone else. They don't want to. They don't mean to. But these are things that are normal. We don't like to admit we're wrong. That's another thing. That person's wrong. And we don't want to take accountability.

So these are all things to maybe keep in mind. And if any of us say, well, okay, I should make this right. Should make that right.

Then make it right.

Pray to God before we partake. Say, Lord, I've done this.

You know it.

It was wrong.

Please forgive me. And then go to that person later on and say, hey, you know what? I'm sorry. Now, if you've been harboring just a piece of personal advice from me. It's not in the Bible. But you do what you feel is right.

If you've had this hatred or like this anger in your heart towards someone and they're just totally unaware of it. Maybe going and telling them that isn't the best thing to do.

Keep it.

If it's between you and God, keep it between you and God. But these are all things that can happen in a church. And Paul is preaching this. He's writing this. And I preach this sermon because we either want to make things right or make sure they don't get to that.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.