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Tuesday 5 October 2010

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 - The Lord's Supper

Paul pulls no punches, there meetings did more harm than good. Meetings are not a good in themselves! Sometimes we judge people by how many meetings they go to, this is nonsense.
At the meetings in Corinth there were divisions among them. We are meant to come before God in unity. Verse 19 is almost certainly said with a degree of irony. They went along thinking how great they were, and that they were better than people in a different group (eg those who followed Apollos over those who followed Paul).
When we meet together we need to be focused on the Lord above all else. 
There was something seriously wrong with there hearts. The Lord's supper instead of being a commemoration of the cross and resurrection was an orgy of food and drink. We come to the Lord in humility, or we do not come at all. We need to take this very seriously for it is so easy for us to get puffed up in some way.
Paul then gives teaching on what the Lord's Supper is meant to be about. First, it is based on what Jesus did at the Last Supper. The bread and wine are to remind us of His body offered up on the cross, and His blood shed upon the cross. Sometimes people have said that the Lord's Supper is just like a normal meal, but this is not so. The food is not the focus, remembering what our Lord did for us is the focus.
So if we take the bread and wine in a contemptuous manner we bring judgement upon ourselves. We need to look at the cross, and recognise our utter dependence upon the grace and mercy of God. None of us can have any pride. We have a choice we can let Christ judge us, or we can repent and be free. 
Note also that Paul attributes the sickness of some to their attitude to the Lord's Supper. What we do can have physical consequences.

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