1 Corinthians 11:27-32 Why whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.… Perhaps no words in all the Bible have given so much distress as these, yet they need not have given any distress at all. The sufferers have created clouds in their own sky. I want to lift the cloud and to — I. RECALL THE CIRCUMSTANCES TO WHICH PAUL ADDRESSED HIMSELF. 1. In connection with other abuses there arose a peculiar method of celebrating the Lord's Supper. As it was originally instituted after a common meal with Christ and His disciples, people at Corinth said, "We must have a meal first." In conducting that the rich brought their viands and their rich wines, the poor what they could; and this love feast became a revel. The rich man held up his viands and mocked the poor man, and the poor looked with hungry eyes upon the rich man's banquet; and after they had been thus infuriated alike by passion and by drink, they proceeded to add to their intoxication by the very wine that was meant to symbolise the sacrificial blood. Now you see the exact purport of the apostle's words. He says, "Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? etc. Take care, this is not for gluttons and drunkards. You do not come to it in a right spirit, you misconceive its meaning, and if you do not take it worthily you eat and drink damnation to your soul." 2. Now there is no church in England in which this practice is indulged. Your mistake has been in applying the word "worthily" to yourself instead of to the Supper. You must take it in a manner worthy of it, quietly, reverently, self-distrustingly, casting yourself with your sin upon the heart of the Saviour. That is to take the Lord's Supper worthily. How can I speak in terms strong enough against the rubbish about people making themselves fit to come to the Lord's Supper? Shame on the Pharisaism that gets itself ready to come, and blessings on the penitence that comes all tears and yearnings and self-distress, and says, "Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee." Unfitness may arise from two opposite points: the man who thrusts forth a drunken hand to take this cup, and the man who takes it with a hand soaped and dried in the tub of his own morality. These two hands thrust a sharp cold arrow into the Lord's heart. I will presently sit there and say, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." II. WHAT IS THE TRUE AND PROPER IDEA, THEN, OF THE LORD'S SUPPER? 1. It is a memorial. (1) Christ did not say, "This do because ye are angels amongst men," but "This do in remembrance of Me." Is He worth remembering? He took just what was going on, and made it sacred by His touch and blessing. He did not go to far countries and bring rich luxuries which only wealth could supply. He never said anything about morally trimming ourselves up for the purpose of being fit for it. All the fitness He requires is to feel our need of Him. (2) Now, why should any of us go away from this sacred opportunity? Take the children away? Take the poor, broken-hearted sinner away? Take away the poor soul that loves Christ, but knows nothing about theological metaphysics? God forbid. Take away the man who thinks he is fit to sit here, the man who thinks he is conferring patronage upon the table. (3) Then is this feast to be taken without any self-examination? I think not. There must be self-examination, but beware, if you please, of vivisection. A man may lacerate himself, and he will find noworthiness in his own nature. I examine myself to find whether I am really penitent. 2. Being an act of memorial it is an act of love. Make a ceremony of it, and all the pathos is gone, all the deep, holy significance evaporates. 3. It is also an act of happy prospects. It goes back to the past, and it sets forth the Lord's death till He come. III. MANY ENDEAVOUR TO PERSUADE US THAT THE WORD "DAMNATION" OUGHT TO BE SOFTENED INTO CONDEMNATION. Let the word stand; only apply it properly. If we had been spending the last hour in eating and drinking, in gluttony and wine-bibbing, the word "damnation" would itself be too gentle a word to apply to our case. (J. Parker, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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