The Right Observance of the Lord's Supper
(No. 2638)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1899.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
4, 1882.
"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: and when Hie had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take, eat:
this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.
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 you as often
as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this
bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He comes."
1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
WE have no respect whatever for the ordinances of men in religion.
Anything that is only invented by churches, or councils, is nothing
whatever to us. We know of two ordinances instituted by the Lord Jesus
Christ–the Baptism of Believers and the Lord's Supper. And we utterly
abhor and reject all pretended "sacraments" of every kind. And because
we observe these two ordinances, and these two, only, we are the more
concerned that they should be properly used and duly understood, and
that they should minister to the edification of those who participate
in them. We would have those who are baptized understand what is meant
by that expressive rite–that they, being dead with Christ, should also
be buried with Him and rise with Him into newness of life. And when we
observe the Lord's Supper, we feel a deep and earnest desire that none
should come to the Table in ignorance of the significance of the
observance–or that, at least, ignorance may not be an occasion of
eating unworthily–but that we may comprehend what we are doing and
understand the spiritual meaning of this pictorial instruction by which
the Lord Jesus Christ would, even until the end of the age, remind His
Church of His great Sacrifice upon the Cross.
I. So, first, I will speak briefly concerning THE FORM OF THE LORD'S
SUPPER.
We do not think that it is at all material where that supper is held.
It is just as valid and helpful in your own private apartments, in your
bedroom, or in your parlor, as it is in any place where Christians
usually congregate. We do not attach so much importance as some people
do to the time when it is observed, but we are astonished that High
Churchmen should be opposed to evening communion, for, if any definite
time for partaking of it can be quoted from Scripture, it certainly is
the evening! I should like to ask the Ritualists whether they can find
any instance, either in holy or profane things, of a supper being eaten
before breakfast–until they invented that absurd practice! There is no
time that is more like the first occasion when the Master celebrated
the ordinance with His disciples than is the evening of the day. Then
it was that He gathered the 12 Apostles together and instituted this
blessed memorial feast! At Emmaus, too, it was at the close of the day
that He was made known to His two disciples in the breaking of bread.
It must be sheer superstition, utterly unwarranted by Holy Scripture,
which tells us that the Lord's Supper can only be properly received in
the morning and that we ought not to eat anything before we partake of
the sacred emblems! We reject all such nonsense, for we find no
authority for it in the only standard which we recognize, that is, the
Inspired Word of God! Let us see what it teaches us concerning this
ordinance.
We learn, first, that the Lord's Supper should begin with thanksgiving.
So the Master Himself evidently commenced it–"He took bread and gave
thanks." All through the Supper, the emotion of gratitude should be in
active exercise. It is intended that we should give thanks for the
bread–at the same time giving still more emphatic thanks for the
sacred body which it represents. Then we should also give thanks for
the cup and for that most precious blood which is therein represented
to us. We cannot rightly observe the Lord's Supper unless we come to
the table, blessing, praising, magnifying and adoring our
Savior–praising Him even for instituting such a festival of
remembrance–such a memorial ordinance to help our frail memories! And
praising Him yet more for giving us so blessed a thing to remember as
His own great Sacrifice for our sin.
After the thanksgiving, it is very clear that our Divine Lord broke the
bread. We scarcely know what kind of bread was used on that occasion.
It was probably the thin passover cake of the Jews, but there is
nothing said in Scripture about the use of leavened or unleavened bread
and, therefore, it matters not which we use! Where there is no
ordinance, there is no obligation and we are, therefore, left free to
use the bread which it is our custom to eat. When the Master had broken
the bread, He gave it to His disciples, and said, "Take, eat." And they
all participated in eating it. And this, mark you, is essential to the
right observance of the Lord's Supper, so that, when the priest, in
celebrating "mass," takes the wafer, which is not bread and which he
does not break, but which he, himself, eats whole, there is no Lord's
Supper there! Whatever it may be called, it is not the Lord's Supper.
In the eating of the bread, there must be the participation of such a
number of faithful, godly disciples of Christ as may be present, or
else it is not the ordinance which the Lord instituted.
That being done, the next thing was that, "After the same manner also
He took the cup." That is to say, after the same manner of
thanksgiving, blessing God for the fruit of the vine, which was
henceforth to be the emblem of His poured-out blood. Even so should we.
It is no vain thing to praise the Lord, though we do it twice,
thrice–yes, and ten thousand times! Well did the Psalmist say, "Praise
you the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is
pleasant; and praise is comely." Especially comely is it for us to
praise our God when we are calling to remembrance the unspeakable gift
of His only-begotten and well-beloved Son!
Then came the partaking of the cup–the fruit of the vine–of which the
Master expressly said, "Drink you all of it." Hence, when the Church of
Rome takes away the cup from the people and denies it to them, there is
no observance of the Lord's Supper, for another essential part of the
ordinance is left out. It may be the "mass," or it may be anything
else, but it is not the Supper of the Lord! There must be a
participation by all the faithful in the cup, as well as in the bread,
otherwise the Lord's death is not shown, or proclaimed according to
Christ's most holy and blessed command.
Further, in order that this may be the Lord's Supper in very truth, it
must be observed in remembrance of Christ, who said to His disciples,
"This do in remembrance of Me." From which we learn that only those who
know Him must come to His Table, for how shall we remember what we
never knew? And how shall we remember Him with whom we have never
spoken and in whom we have never believed? You are not to come to the
Lord's Supper to get faith–you must have faith, first–or else you
have no right to draw near to this sacred spot. What do you do here? If
you suppose that this is a saving ordinance, I must say to you what
Christ said to the Sadducees, "You do err, not knowing the Scriptures."
Salvation comes to us through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and it is
the result of the effectual working of the Spirit of God within us This
Supper is a most instructive ordinance for those who are saved, but
those who are not born again and are not, by Divine Grace, members of
the Lord's family, have no right here. They who ate the Passover were
such as were born in the priest's house, or bought with the priest's
money–and if you have been born in Christ's house, or bought with
Christ's blood–if you know, by blessed experience, the meaning of
regeneration and redemption, then you may come to the Communion Table.
But, if not, as the Passover was only intended for Israel, so is this
supper a family feast for those who belong to Jesus Christ–no others
may come to it! If they do come, it will be at the peril of eating and
drinking unworthily since they are unable to discern the Lord's body.
I have thus given you a very brief account of the form of observing the
Lord's Supper, as we find it in the New Testament. You notice that I
have not said anything about a chalice, or a paten, or about
consecrating the elements, or uplifting the host and all that Romish
rubbish of which some people think so much. The reason for my silence
is that there is nothing about these things in the Bible. "To the Law,
and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is
because there is no light in them." Clear away all the additions of
superstition–they are but the dust and the rust which have accumulated
during the ages and they spoil and mar the purity of Christ's own
ordinance! Our great concern must be to observe it exactly as He has
delivered it to us, in accordance with His own injunction, "This do in
remembrance of Me"–not something else in its place.
II. Now, secondly, from our text I gather THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LORD'S
SUPPER.
First, because it was revealed by the Lord Himself. Paul wrote to the
Corinthians, "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered
unto you." Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were all accessible to Paul
and, though they had not then written their Gospels, yet he could have
learned from them how the Savior instituted the Supper. But, as if
Christ would not let it be secondhand, He was pleased to declare to
Paul, personally–to Paul, himself–directly and distinctly, how the
Supper should be celebrated. The Apostle says, "I have received of the
Lord"–not, " we"–not, "I and the rest of the Apostles and disciples,"
but–"I have received of the Lord," indicating a definite personal
Revelation from Christ as to this matter. After the Lord Jesus had gone
up into Glory, His Revelations were but few, yet this was one of them.
He would have His disciples, therefore, pay due attention to this
important matter which He thus especially revealed to Paul. O Beloved,
I often tremble for those who tamper with the ordinances of
Christ–they alter them, or shift them out of their proper places–and
then say that their alterations are unimportant! Mary said to the
servants at Cana of Galilee, "Whatever He says unto you, do it." And we
have need of the same command today! We must not alter anything that
Christ has ordained, for, "where the word of a king is, there is power"
and, in the Word of the King of Kings, there is power to condemn those
who alter His Word. Whatever Christ has commanded is to be obeyed by
us– and as He took special pains concerning this ordinance, to make a
distinct Revelation over and above the guidance of the Holy Spirit to
the four Evangelists, we may be certain that He intended to surround
this Supper with the utmost solemnity and authority.
I have already referred to the next point, but it is so important that
I remind you, again, that this Supper was commanded by the Lord. He
said, "This do in remembrance of Me." And again, "This do you, as often
as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." If I love Christ, I am bound to
keep His commandments–and among the rest of His commandments, this one
in which He, here, says, "This do." I might have thought, from the
conduct of some professing Christians, that Jesus must have said, "This
do not" but as He said, "This do you," where shall I find an apology
for those who either never have done it at all, or, being His people,
do it so seldom that He could not say to them, "This do you, as often
as you drink it," but He might rather say, "This do you as seldom as
you drink it," since the idea of frequency does not enter into their
observance of it? But, dear Friends, what Christ revealed and
commanded, it is incumbent upon His own beloved ones to obey!
Notice, again, that this supper was instituted by Christ, Himself,
andHe, Himself, first set the example for its observance. As to
Baptism, you remember how He said, "Thus it becomes us to fulfill all
righteousness," and so He set us the example in that matter. And, in
the Supper, it was He who first blessed and broke the bread. It was He
who first passed the cup and said, "This cup is the new covenant in My
blood." If He had given the command and the Apostles had been the first
to attend to it, it would have been binding upon us, but, inasmuch as,
in addition to giving the command concerning it, He, Himself, set the
example of observing it–sitting at the center of the table, with the
12 all around Him–I think He has put a special halo about this
ordinance and we must, by no means forget, or neglect, or despise it.
Remember, too, that He established it on a very special occasion. To my
mind, it is very touching to read, "The Lord Jesus, the same night in
which He was betrayed, took bread." I cannot help noticing that the
Apostle is very particular to say here, "The Lord Jesus." Very often He
uses the name, "Christ," in speaking of the Savior. But here it is,
"the Lord Jesus," to show the awe and reverence which the Apostle felt
as, by faith, he saw the Master at the first Communion Table. Paul
could not forget that, though Jesus was then Lord of All, He was that
same night betrayed. He that ate bread with Him lifted up his heel
against Him and sold Him for 30 pieces of silver! Yet, even while the
anticipation of that betrayal and all which it involved was tearing His
heart asunder, He remembered us and established this ordinance that, by
refreshing our memories concerning His blessed Self, we might not be
left to play the traitor, too, but might be kept steadfast in every
time of trial. O Brothers and Sisters, it seems to me that we must be
especially careful to observe such an ordinance as this, instituted
when our Savior's heart was breaking with anguish on our behalf!
And remember, too, the importance of the ordinance, because of the
peculiar personal motive with which it was instituted–"This do in
remembrance"–of what? Of Christianity and its doctrines and practices?
No. But, "in remembrance of Me." You know how tenderly a thing comes
home to you if a dying husband says, "This do, my beloved one, in
remembrance of me, when I am dead and gone." You never fail to do that,
I am sure, if it is in your power. You know how it is with a friend who
has gone from you and who has left you some forget-me-not. You treasure
it with the utmost care. The memento is very precious for your friend's
sake and our dear Lord and Master has put about this Supper all the
loveliness of His personality, all the graciousness of His affection
for us and all the tenderness that ought to be in our love to Him. If
there is anything that He bids you do, you ought to do it–but when it
is something to be done in remembrance of Him, you must do it–your
love impels you to do it! Are you not ashamed if you are not doing it
in the most loving, humble, grateful and earnest manner possible, as
becomes the memory of Him who loved you and gave Himself for you? I
would not like to have to urge any Christian to come to the Communion
Table–I feel as if I would do nothing to spoil the perfect spontaneity
of it. If you do not love Him, do not come to His Table! But if you
love Him, come because you love Him. Come because you remember Him and
because you wish to be helped to remember Him yet more. If there is
nothing about Him that you wish to remember, do not dare come! But, if
He is precious to your soul, your transport and your trust. If His very
name is music to your ears, honey to your mouth and joy to your heart,
then you do not need me to press you to come to His Table, but you will
come because He says, "This do you in remembrance of Me."
There is one more thing which adds to the importance of this Supper and
that is, it is to be observed "till He comes." It is not an ordinance,
then, for the first Christian centuries, alone, to be, as it were, the
bridge between the ceremonialism of the Old Testament and the
spirituality of the New Testament. No, it is intended to be celebrated
"till He comes." We must keep on gathering at His Table, giving thanks,
breaking bread and proclaiming His death till the trumpet of the
archangel shall startle us–and then we shall feel it to be truly
blessed to be found obediently remembering Him when He puts in His
appearance at the last! As He comes to us, we shall say, "Blessed
Master, we have done as You did bid us. We have kept alive Your memory
in the world to ourselves and to those who looked on as we broke the
bread and drank of the cup in Your name. And now we rejoice to see You
in Your Glory." I do not know that the meeting between Christ and His
people could happen at a better time than if He were to come when they
were gathered at His Table, obeying His command and showing His death
"till He comes."
Thus I have tried, as briefly as I could, to give instruction as to the
importance of this Supper. I hope that the Holy Spirit will press home
the Truth of God upon the hearts of any who have not observed this
ordinance, before, and that He will lead them to ask if they are,
indeed, Believers in Jesus, and lovers of the Lord, how they can
justify themselves for their disobedience to what Christ has so
expressly commanded!
III. But now, thirdly, let us enquire, IN WHAT SPIRIT OUGHT WE TO COME
TO THIS TABLE?
I should say, first, that we are bound to come in the spirit of deep
humility Brothers and Sisters, to my mind, it is a very humbling thing
that we should need anything to help us to remember Christ. I see no
better evidence of the fact that we are not yet perfectly sanctified,
for, if we were, we would need nothing to help us to remember Him.
There is, alas, still an imperfection in our memory–and that strangest
and saddest thing of all–in respect to Jesus Himself. It is
extraordinary that we should ever require anything to help us to
remember Him. Can He, to whom we owe so much, be ever forgotten by us?
The fact that this ordinance is to be observed in remembrance of Him,
"till He comes," is a humbling proof that till that glorious event, His
people's memories will be faulty and they will need this double
forget-me-not to remind them of Him who is their All-in-All.
What do I see on that Table? I see bread there. Then I gather this
humbling lesson–that I cannot even keep myself in spiritual food. I am
such a pauper, such an utter beggar, that my own table cannot furnish
me with what I need and I must come to the Lord's Table–and I must
receive, through Him, the spiritual nutriment which my soul requires.
What do I see in the cup? I see the wine which is the token of His shed
blood. What does that say to me but that I still need cleansing? Oh,
how I rejoice in that blessed text in John's first Epistle–"If we walk
in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another." And then what follows? That we do not need to make any more
confession of sin because we are quite cleansed from it? Nothing of the
sort! "And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all
sin." We still need the cleansing fountain even when we are walking in
the light, as God is in the light–and we need to come to it every day!
And what a mercy it is that the emblem sets forth the constant
provision of purifying blood whereby we may be continually cleansed! As
we partake of this cup, we must do so humbly, for thus it becomes us to
come to the Table of our Lord.
But, next, we must come very thankfully. Some pull a long face when
they think about coming to the Communion Table, like Mrs. Too-Good who
is described in Rowland Hill's Village Dialogues. She made a mistake
about the week that the ordinance was to be observed, so she did not
play cards during that week and kept herself wonderfully pure, poor old
soul. And then, when she found, on Sunday, that she had made a blunder
as to the time, she said she had wasted the whole week in getting
ready! Ah, dear Friends, I hope we do not know anything of thatmethod
of keeping the sacred feast. We are to come in a very different frame
of mind than that, for we are not coming to a funeral supper, but to
the luxuries and dainties that become a marriage feast! Let us come,
therefore, with thankfulness, as we say to one another concerning our
Lord, "He is not here, for He is risen, glory be to His holy name!"
These tokens of remembrance tell us that He has gone where it was
expedient for Him to go, that the Holy Spirit might descend upon us.
Therefore, Beloved, rejoice even because of the absence of your Lord,
for it is well that He should be gone up into Glory. And, as we come to
the Table, each one feeling what a sinner he is–how unworthy he is to
come–how unfit he is to sit with saints–should not each heart say,
"Bless the Lord, O my Soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy
name"? Twice during the feast, special thanksgivings are to be
presented–but all through the feast let the heart be full of holy
gratitude and praise to
God!
But, we should certainly come to the Table with great thoughtfulness.
There are some, we are told, who do not discern the Lord's body–let us
think and pray, lest we should be numbered with them. If there is no
right thinking, there will be no true spiritual feeling and there will
be no Lord's Supper so far as you are concerned. Think of what your
Savior suffered for you, what He has done for you and what He has gone
to prepare for you! Let us remember that the bread sets forth the
suffering of His body, that the wine typifies the blood of the
Atonement whereby we are cleansed–that the two, apart–the body
separated from the blood, form a most suggestive symbol of the
matchless death whereby we are made to live! Think much at the Table,
but think of nothing but Christ! Fix your thoughts entirely upon Him
and so shall you eat of this bread and drink of this cup to your soul's
refreshment and profit!
But come, also, with great receptiveness. It is a meal, you know. We
receive the bread and the wine. So, come to the Table begging the Lord
to give you the Grace to feed upon Himself spiritually, that you may,
by faith, receive Him into your inward parts–that in your inmost soul
you may have the virtue of His life and of His death! Come empty,
therefore, for so you will be the better qualified to feed upon Him.
Come hungering and thirsting–thus you will have the greater appetite
for Christ. Receive Him in all His fullness by a wonderful faith that
takes Him in to be a joy to the heart forever.
That is the spirit, then, in which to come to the Lord's Table. May the
blessed Spirit be with you, dear Brothers and Sisters, that all who do
come to the Table may come in that humble, thankful, thoughtful,
receptive style!
IV. Now I finish my discourse by dwelling, for a minute or two, upon
THE GREAT LESSONS WHICH THIS SUPPER INCIDENTALLY TEACHES.
The first lesson is, that Jesus is for us. There has been a great
dispute over this verse, "This is My body, which is broken for you."
The word, "broken," appears in some of the ancient manuscripts, but it
is, undoubtedly, an interpolation. It is absent from several of those
manuscripts upon which we are obliged to rely for the correct text of
the New Testament and, therefore, very properly, the Revised Version
reads, "This is My body, which is for you." And, to my mind, that
rendering gives a new thought which is well worth having. "This is My
body, which is for you." That is to say, Christ is for you–does not
the Supper, itself, say that? The bread represents His body for
you–the wine represents His blood for you. We know that it is for you
because you are going to eat it. There is nothing that is more
certainly a man's than what he eats or drinks. Our proverb says,
"Possession is nine points of the law." And I wonder how many points of
the law it is when a man has eaten a thing up? There is no legal
quibble that can deprive him of that. Whatever suit at law may be
brought, there is no possibility of taking away from a man that which
he has eaten and, in like manner, when we have really received Christ
by faith, there is no possibility of robbing us of Him. "This is My
body, which is for you." Oh, what a blessed Doctrine! Lay hold of this
great Truth of God, all that there is in Christ is for you! All the
fullness of the Godhead is in Him, "and of His fullness have all we
received, and grace for grace." Glory be to His name for this!
The next lesson is that His blood has sealed the Covenant. "This cup is
the new covenant in my blood." I wish I had an hour or two in which I
might speak to you about the Covenant. It is no use to begin on that
great subject in the few minutes we have left. There was a Covenant
that cursed us–the Covenant of Works. There is another Covenant that
has blessed the elect of God and shall bless them to all eternity–the
Covenant of Grace–and this Covenant is signed, sealed and ratified, in
all things ordered well–and for its seal it has the blood of God's own
Son! Therefore it shall stand fast forever and ever. So, as you partake
of that cup, drink with joy because it reminds you that God has made
with you "an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure." Oh,
I am certain that if you know the music of that word, "Covenant," you
will enjoy coming to the Table, even if nothing but that one word shall
be brought to your memory!
The third great Doctrine that is taught by this Supper is that
Believers feed on Christ Himself. Sometimes they forget this and they
try to feed on doctrines. They will make as great a mistake as if the
Jew, when he went up to the tabernacle, had tried to feed on the
curtains, or the altar, or the golden tongs! What did he have for food?
Why, the peace-offering! When he drew near to his God, he fed on the
sacrifice–and the true food of a Believer is Christ Jesus, Himself!
Feed on Him, then, Beloved. We cannot literally eat His body or drink
His blood–we would be worse than cannibals to attempt such a thing!
But we can do it, and we must do it spiritually, by having our hearts
and our minds resting upon what Christ is and what He has done, and so
feeding upon our Lord Jesus Christ.
I have finished when I have mentioned one more lesson which is to be
learned from this ordinance. It is clear, from this Supper, that the
way to remember Christ is to feed on Him again and again. Is it not a
strange thing that if I have had a great mercy, the way to remember
that mercy is to come to God and get another mercy? If Christ was ever
sweet to my taste, the way to perpetuate that sweetness is to come and
taste Him again! Dear Brothers and Sisters, do not try to live upon
your old experiences! Even the best kind of bread will not stay fresh
very long–it soon gets musty if you lay it by. You need to have bread
constantly coming fresh from the oven. Even the manna, which came down
from Heaven, could not be kept, lest it should breed worms–and so it
is with the food for your souls. Do not try to live on moldy
experiences.
More than 30 years ago I had great joy in the Lord when first I knew
Him. I am very glad that I can remember it, but that recollection is of
little use to me when I get depressed in spirit. No, then I need the
Lord to come to me again as He came then. You came to Jesus Christ, did
you not, as a poor, empty sinner, ever so many years ago? Then, come
again in the same way! Come to Christ every day as you came to Him the
first day! "Oh, but I was only a sinner then!" Well, you are not much
more than that now! And you will find it the safest thing to come just
as you came at first. "Well, but am I not an experienced saint by this
time?" Yes, yes, I daresay you are, but I find that whenever I have on
the one robe of my experience, I am like the lady at court with a long
train–somebody is sure to step on it–and then it gets torn. I like to
come to Jesus Christ just as I came at first.
Suppose that the devil says to me, "You are no child of God." I have
often said to him, "You do not know much about that matter, though you
know that you are not one, yourself." "But," he says, "you do not know
the Lord." "Ah, then," I ask him, "what am I?" He answers, "You are a
great black sinner!" Then, like Luther, I cut off his head with his own
sword, just as David did with Goliath, for I say to him, "Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners and I am going off to the sinners'
Savior, just to trust in Him as I did at the first!" And the devil
generally departs when I tell him that. There is nothing that is so
soul-strengthening as taking another look at the bronze serpent, or
having another plunge in the fountain filled with blood, or feeding,
once again, on the inexhaustible provision that is stored up for us in
the Person of our Lord!
If any of you who have come to the Table of the Lord are not believers
in Christ, never dare to come again while you are in that state! You
have no right here unless you are resting in Jesus and trusting in Him!
This is the proof of your being new creatures in Christ Jesus. But if
you have the faintest, feeblest faith in Jesus, come and welcome! If
you are trusting in your own merits, go to your own table–if you think
there will be some meritin your coming to the Communion Table, do not
dare to come, for that were to turn the ordinance upside down! You are
not to bring something, but to receive something. May you who love the
Lord find Him to be very precious to you and may those of you who do
not know Him, seek Him at once, not at the Table, but at the Mercy Seat
and at the Cross! Trust in Jesus, for so you shall be saved, and then
you shall have the right of entry to the Lord's House–and you shall
have the privilege of sitting at His Table and of enjoying every other
blessing which is the portion of the chosen family. The Lord make it to
be so, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 CORINTHIANS 11:17-34; LUKE22:14-24.
The members of the Church at Corinth abounded in gifts and, therefore,
they thought it right for each one to speak to edification. They had no
pastoral oversight whatever–acting, in this respect, like certain
brethren whom we know nowadays. The result, however, was very
deplorable. They do not appear to have been able to even conduct the
Lord's Supper without the most disorderly proceedings. Church
discipline was utterly forgotten or neglected and it seems as if the
two Epistles to the Corinthians are given to us as beacons to warn us
against that form of worship, seeing that it produces such mischievous
and sad results!
1 Corinthians 11:17. Nowin this that Ideclare unto you Ipraise you not,
thatyou come together not for the better, but for the worse. I t is a
very bad state of things when we meet for worship and separate without
any improvement, or, like these Corinthians, "come together, not for
the better, but for the worse."
18. For first of all, when you come together in the Church, I hear that
there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it I t was very
gracious and kind on the Apostle's part to put it so mildly–and he
sets us the example of not believing anything against our brethren too
quickly. "I partly believe it."
19-21. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are
approved may be made manifest among you. When you come together,
therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper For in
eating everyone takes before others his own supper: and one is hungry,
and another is drunk They seem to have regarded it as a common feast to
which they brought their own provisions and, without waiting for each
other, they disgraced the Table of the Lord by their scandalous
proceedings.
22. What? Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise you
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 No doubt they hoped
to be praised and expected that they had done everything in the right
way! Perhaps they even believed that they were acting under the
Inspiration of the Spirit and, therefore, could not do anything wrong.
But the Apostle deals very faithfully with them and tells them how the
Supper is to be celebrated. How much we have gained by the mistakes of
others! As the Inspired Apostle is guided to inform us as to the right
mode of observing this ordinance, we may almost be thankful that the
Corinthians fell into error concerning it–as much as we may regret
their faults on their own account.
23, 24. 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: and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take,
eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance
of Me. These are the words of the Lord Jesus, Himself, and therefore
they come to us with all the weight of His Infallible authority! Then
Paul continues–
25, 26. After the same manner, also, He took the cup, when He had
supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood: this do you,
as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat
this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He
comes. "Show" or, "proclaim." The latter is the better word. "You do
proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." That last phrase ought
finally to settle the question of the perpetuity of the Lord's Supper,
which is to be observed "till He comes."
27. Therefore whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the
Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. '
'Unworthily," that is, in a thoughtless, careless way–or with a view
to worldly gain, as some used to take it in order to obtain an office
under government and as some, doubtless, do take it, to obtain the alms
of the church. Such an unworthy participation is a sin against the very
body and blood of the Lord!
28. But let a man examine himself, andso let him eat ofthat bread, and
drink ofthat cup. Paul does not say, "Let a man examine himself and
then noteat or drink at the communion." The examination should lead him
to repentance, to faith and should then bring him to the Table of
fellowship in the right state of mind and heart. The examination is not
a door to shut him out from the ordinance, but a door at which he may
pause awhile, to see whether he is in a right condition to enter. And
if he is not, he should seek to be made so, and then enter.
29. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation
to himself not discerning the Lord's body. "Eats and drinks judgment to
himself," for "judgment" is the word here used by the Apostle.
30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
It appears that God visited this Church at Corinth with sickness, and
took away many of the members by death because they had profaned the
Lord's Table and had walked in a disorderly manner before Him. Paul did
not mean to say that these persons were lost–he intended to remind
their fellow members and all who might read his Epistle, that God
visits Churches after this fashion with discipline and chastening
because of the unseemly conduct which is always so offensive to Him.
31, 32. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But
when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be
condemned with the world. So, you see, that chastening process, which
is going on in the Church, is all in love–"that we should not be
condemned with the world"–just as a father exercises discipline in his
household and uses chastisement that his children may never disobey the
laws of the realm. They will never come before the police court, for
they are kept under proper control at home and are tutored and trained
by their father's wise government. So we come not under the judgment of
the Law of God, as the world, itself, comes–we come under the
disciplinary treatment of the great Head of the Church, even the Lord
Jesus Christ!
33, 34. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry
one for another Andif any man is hungry, let him eat at home; that you
come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order
when I come. Now let us read Luke's account of the institution of this
Supper. As we do so, it will be well for us to remember that Luke was a
friend and intimate companion of Paul.
Luke 22:14-16 And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve
Apostles with Him. And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to
eat this Passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will
not any more eat thereof, until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
This was to be the last occasion on which our Lord and His disciples
would thus meet.
17, 18. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and
divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the
fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. That was the
Passover cup. Now the Passover melts into the Lord's Supper and,
henceforth, the Lord's Supper remains and the Passover has passed away.
19-21. And He took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto
them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in
remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup
is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. But, behold,
the hand of him that betrays Me is with Me on the table. What a
sobering, saddening effect this must have had upon those who were at
that festival! We have reason to fear that it will be true of our
gathering, also. There were only 12 Apostles, yet there was a Judas
among them. We shall have many hundreds at our observance of the
ordinance–may we not fear that there will be many a Judas, too? Can we
expect that we shall have a better selection of professed followers of
Christ than the Lord had made for His Apostles?
22-24. And truly the Son of Man goes, as it was determined: but woe
unto that man by whom He is betrayed! And they began to enquire among
themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. And there
was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the
greatest That had been their question among themselves, but now they
have another enquiry, of quite a different sort, to answer. It was wise
of the Master to give them a heart-searching question to drive out that
question of ambition which had filled them with pride and contention.
Oh, if any of us ever had such a thought as that in our bosom–which of
us is greatest?–who can speak the best?–who can serve God the
most?–who can take the lead?–let all such questions be set aside
while we sorrowfully entertain the other sad enquiry–which of us will
betray our Lord? God grant that none of us may ever do so!