The Lord's Supper remains a mystery for many church members. It's singular purpose and simple elements have taken second place to tradition and religious ritual. This lesson entitled, " UNWORTHY-UNWANTED", deals with just one of the many misconceptions prevalent today in local churches concerning the supper. It is sent forth with the hope that there will be a revival of truth and a return to a genuine remembrance of the all sufficient death of Jesus Christ.
I call your attention to verse # 27 of our text.
Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this
cup of the Lord, unworthily (Notice the word is unworthily. It is an adverb which modifies the act, ie. the verb, not the actor ) shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.This verse, mistaught and therefore misunderstood, has caused multitudes of Christians in the centuries since it was written to approach the Lord's table with fear and trembling. It has caused people to miss the only real message of the supper, the suffering of Christ for our sins.
It has also caused people to commit an act of sin by coming to the Lord's table with something other than his sacrifice on their minds and in their hearts. I find after having studied the verse and the passage in question for a number of years that this misunderstanding, misteaching, and sin should never have occurred.
The problem begins by reading into verse 27, a word that is simply not there. Often when this verse is quoted the word unworthy is substituted for unworthily and almost every time I have heard a sermon preached on the subject, the word unworthy works its way into the message.
Someone might ask what's the difference? They both mean the same thing, don't they? The answer is, No. The word unworthily places the emphasis on how the supper is to be observed, its purpose, design, and its message. While the word unworthy (if it were used here) would be a word that qualified the one partaking of the supper. So, simply put, the subject under discussion is not whether the one partaking of the supper is good enough, clean enough, confessed-up enough. No, the subject of the supper is the believer who partakes understanding the significance and symbolism of the elements, namely the bread and wine.
The idea, in this kind of preaching (the kind that emphasizes the worthiness of those who partake) is that not everyone is good enough, or right enough with God to be able to come to the table and partake the bread and wine.
The result of someone partaking of the Lord's supper with "unforgiven sin" in their heart is a chastening of the Lord that ranges from sickness even unto death. The verse (they say) that teach this, are those that follow immediately after verse 27.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of that cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh Unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning The Lord's Body.
The key to rightly dividing this passage of scripture is to understand that verse 29 makes it clear that the sin in question, that brings about the chastening of the Lord, is the sin of not discerning the Lord's body, not whether you have told a lie, stole something, had an evil thought, and so forth.
A Christian should confess daily his sins, faults, short-comings, failures or anything else that would hinder his fellowship with Christ, or whenever he or she prays, not just a quick spiritual scrub-up ten minutes before the Lord's Supper so they can then be "worthy". You confess every single sin that you can possibly think about and remember for the next ten thousand years and you will not be worthy of a Savior like Jesus Christ.
For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
The word cause in verse 30 is an obvious reference to the last line of verse 29 "not discerning the Lord's body". That's it! That's the sin! Not discerning what the elements (the wine and the bread) symbolize and represent.
Here at Corinth, satan has been successful in taking the minds and hearts of people from the sole purpose of The Lord's Supper, (again I remind you the suffering of Christ. That's the purpose. That's what we are to remember). Now how did he do this? The answer is found in the passage itself.
In verse 17
, Paul says "Now in this I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together, not for the better". Think of that! The church was meeting coming together for worship service and The Lord's Supper, but it wasn't doing them any good. It was not for the better, but Paul says for the worse.In verse 18
, Paul says he had heard (hearsay, the grapevine) but more than that, Paul had the Holy Spirit speak to him. However the fact is that Paul knew, there were divisions among them. This is most often explaned as just doctrinal differences and doctrinal divisions. Now while it is true that Corinth, like every church, has within it differences of opinion on certain points of doctrine the divisions spoken of here are identified in the following verses.In verse 19
, "For there must also be heresies among you (there is your doctrinal division, but that's not nearly all). In verse 20, "When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper".Some explanation is necessary at this point. Almost all commentators, on this passage, recognize that the church at Corinth was participating in what was known as an agape feast, that is a love feast, or a fellowship feast. During this agape feast, or love feast, a dinner would be served, wine would be served, it was pretty much like a party and then at the end of this love feast they came to the Lord's table.
The closest thing we have to compare to a love feast today is the fellowship meal, for example, on homecoming Sunday minus the wine. Now you that are familiar with such a Sunday gathering can imagine what it would be like at the end of the long service, big meal, talking about grandchildren, jobs, bygone days, all the departed brethren in heaven, and who
knows what else, to all-of-a-sudden try to focus our attention on a piece of bread and cup of wine in our hand.Most people in that situation would struggle to clear their mind, and their hearts to focus on the supper and the Lord. This is exactly what happened at the church at Corinth. They wrongly made the supper supplemental. That was their first mistake. It should have been priority number one.
In verse 21
, the Bible says that in their eating everyone taketh before the other his own supper (gluttony and greed) and Paul says "one is hungry and another is drunk". Now, there were people there who were no doubt, people of means. They had money. There were people there who had none. There were some who were in between. Instead of a dinner with a true spirit of agape they ended up with a drunken food fight.Then when that riot had about played out, some dear brother stood up and said "Okay, brethren it's time for the Lord's supper. Forget that man who stole your food, got drunk, caused a scene with your wife. Put all that out of your mind and be instantly holy".
Now in all fairness to the people of Corinth, idea of placing The Lord's Supper after a meal was not theirs. They had misunderstood what they thought was the example of Christ, when after the supper (the passover meal) had instituted His own Supper. Hence the words in the gospel and supper beging ended {John 13:2.}.
The New Scofield Reference Bible, the 1967 edition, has an excellent note on the order of the events of the night of The Lord's Supper { It is Matthew, 26:20 note }.
The order of events on this solemn evening appears to have been:
(
1) Jesus partakes of the Passover with the apostles, and rebukes their contention ( Mt.26:20; Mk.14:17; Lk.22:14-16, 24-30);(
2) Washes their feet ( Jn.13:1-20);(
3) Identifies Judas as the traitor ( Mt.26:21-25; Mk.14:18-21; Lk.22:21-23; Jn.13:21-29);(
4) Judas withdraws, the others profess loyalty ( Jn.13:30-38; cp. Mt.26:31-35; Mk.14:27-31; Lk.22:31-38);(
5) Jesus institutes The Lord's Supper ( Mt.26:26-29; Mk.14:22-25; Lk.22:17-20);(
6) Addresses the eleven in the upper room ( Jn.14);(
7) Again on the way to Gethsemane ( Jn.15-16);(
8) Intercedes with the Father for His own ( Jn.17);(
9) Agonizes in the garden, Is betrayed and arrested Mt.26:30, 36-50; Mk.14:26, 32:52; Lk.22:39-53; Jn.18:1-12).
So they believed that after supper was an appropriate time to come to the Lord's table. So, just to sum up some of what we have said the divisions were more than just doctrinal. They came to the Lord's table thinking of their own selves and the death of Christ.
Beginning with verse 22
, we have the apostle's decision as to what should be done to correct this situation. He asks, "Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in"? This line of scripture by the way, is said to be biblical proof that no church should have a fellowship hall. It has nothing to do with that. "Or dispise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not" a reference to the way that they acted at the feast. "What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not".In verse 23
, the apostle Paul lays claim to having been given specific instructions by the Lord himself about what took place on that night before the cross. You see the other apostles were present there in the upper room where the supper of the Lord began. Paul, an apostle born out of season, was not even saved at that time. And so, when called first to salvation and then to apostleship the Lord Jesus equipped him giving unto him special revelation{ Read Galatians,1:10-14 }.Paul could speak of the events of that night as if he were present.
In verse 24, he tells of the breaking of the bread and the words of Christ, "This do in remembrance of me". Think of that! The broken bread he says, they were to eat, and that in remembrance of him, of what he did for them. In verse 25, after the same manner he took the cup and said, "This cup is the new testament (or covenant) in my blood: This do, (that is drink it, and as often as you drink it, do it) In Remembrance Of Me".In verse 26
, "For as often", The Lord Jesus did not specify how often this should be done and yet churches fuss and fight over whether the supper should be observed weekly, monthly, semi-annually, or annually. That's just one of the ways that we modern Christians get our minds off of the supper. It does not matter how often, the point is that when it is observed it is to be done in remembrance of Him.In verse 27
, we are now back to where we began with this very much misunderstood verse. "Wherefore", in other words because of what you have learned in verses 17-26, and in order to correct the sinful and selfish activities that they were participating in. Paul says, "whosoever shall eat and drink this supper of the Lord, unworthily", (the way you have been observing it) you will be guilty of the death of Christ just as if you drove the nails.Those who crucified Christ did not know what it was they were doing or who it was that was dying, and so Christ prayed "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". They were in ignorance.
The argument is here made that those who hold in their hand the bread and the cup without discerning, understanding, without being aware of the sacrifice of Christ for their sins, committed the same sin.
No man is worthy of Christ.
No matter how many times you pray, irregardless of how many good deeds you perform, or how much money you give, will not make you worthy. But the believer, the father, is made worthy by the blood of the Lamb.For some church member, some Christian, to be led to believe that he or she is unqualified to partake of The Lord's Supper because they have sinned and trusted Jesus by faith that they may partake of that supper. Recognizing that Jesus paid for every sin and that sinful man, by the
Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ, is made right with God."The just shall live by faith"
, not by works, not by some rigorous prayer schedule, not by an outward religion where that we measure ourselves by ourselves, were one man is seen to be better than another man. But the Just, the justified, shall live by faith. Faith in the finished work of Christ.No Israelite left Egypt because they were good, not one. They did not leave because they were worthy. They were able to leave because the lamb died and the blood was applied.
In most churches today
, the invitation to the supper is by implication, "Unworthy-Unwanted". Only the best may come. Only the pure, the clean, if that were true this preacher could not partake with conscious clean.
In the words of the poet and songwriter, Ira F. Stanphill
Unworthy am I of the grace that He gave,
Unworthy to hold to His hand.
Amazed that a King would reach down to a slave,
This love I cannot understand.
Unworthy, Unworthy,
A beggar, in bondage and alone.
But He made me worthy and now by His grace,
His mercy has made me His own.
Amen.
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