Sunday Morning February 23, 2003 Bel Aire Baptist Church
Series: ¡§Church On The Rocks¡¨ [#14]
LET US BREAK BREAD TOGETHER
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Introduction:
1. When we come together to worship, what types of things do we do?
„« Sing
„« Pray
„« Fellowship
„« Read Scripture
„« Study Scripture
„« Give Offerings
„« Observe Baptisms
„« Observe Lord¡¦s Supper
2. Which one of these is the most important? They are equally important.
Points Of Worship
1. When we sing we are to lift our voices to God in praise and worship. We are to think about the words we are singing or hearing sung. It is about much more than just notes and pitches.
2. When we pray together, we join together as one body and lift our praises and petitions to our Father.
3. When we come together and enjoy our time with one another that is fellowship. Fellowship is much more than just eating and ¡§goofing around¡¨. We are family. We are God¡¦s family and we need to spend time together encouraging one another, laughing together, crying together, learning together, worshipping God together; doing this all in love.
4. When we read or hear Scripture read, we are opening God¡¦s letter of love and instructions to us as His children.
5. When we open God¡¦s Word together and study His Word as it is proclaimed, the Holy Spirit convicts us, grows us, teaches us, and strengthens us so we can continue to go out into a lost and dark world with an excitement and love of Christ in us to lead the lost to salvation.
6. When we give of our offerings, we are worshipping God by giving Him a portion back of what He has given us. All we have comes from God.
7. When we observe a new believer being baptized we worship and praise God for what that picture means to us. That person is proclaiming to each of us as their new brothers and sisters in Christ that they have died and buried the old self and have been given new life through Jesus Christ. Baptism is one of two ordinances that we are to observe. The second is The Lord¡¦s Supper.
8. The Lord¡¦s Supper is also an important part of our worship. It is as important as preaching or singing. You may be thinking then why do we not have Lord¡¦s Supper every week? The Bible does not tell us how often we should take the Lord¡¦s Supper it just explains to us with what attitude we take the Lord¡¦s Supper with. We do not want it to become routine or ritualistic so therefore we do not observe The Lord¡¦s Supper every week, but there is nothing wrong with having it every week. The early Church would come together and eat a meal together weekly. This was a great celebration and time of fellowship. This meal was considered to be a ¡§Love Feast¡¨. During this time of eating the meal, The Lord¡¦s Supper would be observed in remembrance of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. They would then sing songs of praise and worship, read Scripture, and have preaching of the Word. Simply stated, they had a Worship Service.
Unfortunately, the Church in Corinth had many problems and we find Paul having to scold them for yet another very serious problem.
1 Corinthians 11:17-19 (The Message)
Regarding this next item, I¡¦m not at all pleased. I am getting the picture that when you meet together it brings out your worst side instead of your best! First, I get this report on your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing each other. I¡¦m reluctant to believe it, but there it is. The best that can be said for it is that the testing process will bring truth into the open and confirm it.
Pollution Of Worship
1. Instead of coming together as a body of believers for the purpose of worship; they were divided, arguing, competing for power, and criticizing one another. These brothers and sisters in Christ would show up to worship with all sorts of sin going on within them. Paul told them it would be better not to even have a Worship Service than to show up with garbage in their lives and pollute the Worship Service.
2. When divisiveness is in a congregation it will definitely affect the Worship Service negatively. If you are not here to worship God and to grow in your walk with Him, why bother? Playing the ¡§Church¡¨ game will do you no good. This is a place of worship! When you come for any other purpose it affects the worship of God.
1 Corinthians 11:20-22
And then I find that you bring your divisions to worship- you come together, and instead of eating the Lord¡¦s Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk. I can¡¦t believe it! Don¡¦t you have your own homes to eat and drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating God¡¦s church? Why would you actually shame God¡¦s poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this. And I¡¦m not going to stand by and say nothing.
3. These people were eating all of the food and getting drunk on the wind and were then calling this The Lord¡¦s Supper. These people were literally pushing and shoving each other to get to the food and wine. They considered themselves important and powerful as they ate all of the food and got drunk on the wine. They had perverted something that did not even belong to them, the worship of God. They had completely forgotten why they were meeting together for Worship Services.
In the next verses Paul reminded them of the purpose of The Lord¡¦s Supper. I want us to look ahead at the warnings given concerning The Lord¡¦s Supper. After we look at the warnings and instructions concerning The Lord¡¦s we will partake of The Lord¡¦s Supper.
1 Corinthians 11:27-34
Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of ¡§remembrance¡¨ you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.
If you give no thought (or worse, don¡¦t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you¡¦re running the risk of serious consequences. That¡¦s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. If we get this straight now, we won¡¦t have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later.
So, my friends, when you come together to the Lord¡¦s Table, be reverent and courteous with one another. If you¡¦re so hungry that you can¡¦t wait to be served, go home and get a sandwich. But by no means risk turning this Meal into an eating and drinking binge or a family squabble. It is a spiritual meal- a love feast.
The other things you asked about, I¡¦ll respond to in person when I make my next visit.
Principles Of Worship
Paul gave them specific instructions on taking the Lord¡¦s Supper and warned them about not following those instructions.
1. The Lord¡¦s Supper is only for believers in Jesus Christ. Non-Christians are not to take of the Lord¡¦s Supper. If a lost person takes of the Lord¡¦s Supper they drink damnation upon themselves.
2. Believers must never forget the importance and sacredness of what they are remembering as they take The Lord¡¦s Supper.
3. Believers are to examine their lives and get right with God before they take The Lord¡¦s Supper.
Inventory:
1. I want to use a couple of minutes for you to take a very quick, urgent inventory of your spiritual house.
In a booklet titled ¡§My Heart ¡V Christ¡¦s Home¡¨, it describes the areas of life as the rooms of a house.
This inventory is in the bulletin and I want you to grade each room as follows:
A = excellent rating
B = good rating
C = passing, but needs a little dusting.
D = barely passing, needs a lot of cleaning.
F = I am not a Christian; I will fail on this inventory.
Library
This room is your mind-what you allow to go into it and come out of it.
It is the ¡¥control room¡¨ of the entire house. Grade: ___________
Dining Room
Appetites and desires. Those things that your mind and spirit feed on for nourishment. Grade: _______________
Drawing Room
This room is where you draw close to God; seek time with Him daily, not just in times of distress or need. Grade: _____________
Workshop
This room is where your gifts, talents, skills are put to work for God¡K by the power of the Spirit. Grade: ______________
Rumpus Room
The social area of your life- the thing you do to amuse yourself and others. Grade: ______________
Hall Closet
The one secret place that no one knows about, but is a real stumbling block in your walk in the Spirit.
Evaluation Of Inventory:
1. Time is short, you need to act now.
2. If you had to take an ¡§F¡¨ because you have never asked Jesus to be your Savior, you have never allowed Jesus into your heart¡¦s home; He is knocking at your heart¡¦s door and waiting patiently for you to let Him in.
3. Christians today is the time to allow Christ to clean you up. Today is the time to let Him clean up those hidden closets. Today is the time to allow Christ first place in your life. You need to clean house before you partake of the Lord¡¦s Supper.
Invitation: (¡§What Sin¡¨)
Presentation Of Worship
1 Corinthians 11:23 (The Message)
Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord¡¦s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you.
[Pass Out Bread]
[Prayer]
1 Corinthians 11:24 (The Message)
The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said, ¡§This is my body, broken for you. Do this to remember me.¡¨
[Eat Bread]
[Pass Out Wine]
[Prayer]
1 Corinthians 11:25 (The Message)
After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: ¡§This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you. Each time you drink this cup, remember me.¡¨
[Drink Wine]
1 Corinthians 11:26 (The Message)
What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.
Conclusion:
1. Each time we come together to worship; we must be reminded that we come to worship and glorify Jesus Christ who died for us so that we might have salvation.
2. We are to come with an open heart so that God can mold us and make us. If you don¡¦t come prepared to let God change you, nothing will happen.
3. We are to leave with the boldness and strength of The Holy Spirit ready to lead lost people to Jesus, looking forward to the next opportunity we have to meet together and worship The King of kings and Lord of lords.
[Join hands together as we close in singing ¡§Family Of God¡¨.]
