Our text contains a warning which should give us all a moment’s pause.  Paul warns that unless we examine ourselves before we come to table of the Lord, we risk coming under God’s judgment, and as a result, getting sick or even dying.  Now that I have your attention, we are a church which celebrates weekly communion, therefore this is a passage with which we need to wrestle and consider with great care.  But great care is not fear.  Since Jesus has died for our sins (taking the covenant curse which we deserve upon himself), we need not fear coming to the table of the Lord because we are sinners and are struggling with our sins.  But we do need to examine ourselves in the matter prescribed by Paul, and that is the theme of this sermon–how do we properly examine ourselves before we come to the table of the Lord?

We are making our way through 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, where Paul rebukes the Corinthian church for the way in which they were observing the Lord’s Supper.  As we saw when we tackled verses 17-26 of this same chapter, this is an important passage, because in it we find the oldest account of the Lord’s Supper anywhere in the New Testament, written by Paul about A.D. 54, a decade or so before any of the canonical gospels had been written.  Give this early date, this passage provides an invaluable window into how the apostolic church worshiped just twenty years after the life and ministry of Jesus.  Throughout this section of First Corinthians (chapters 11-14), it is clear that the early church focused upon the preaching of Christ crucified, followed by the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  No doubt, this was the ordinary Lord’s Day practice of the apostolic churches.

As we read through this chapter, it is readily apparent that Paul is fit to be tied with the Corinthians.  Just as with Jewish Passover, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper took place within the context of a fellowship meal after the worship service had been conducted.  But in Corinth, the church’s celebration of the Lord’s Supper had sadly degenerated into something like what went on in one of the city’s pagan temples or guild halls.  Some people were not waiting for others to be served and ate all the food which had been prepared, leaving the poor without anything to eat.  Others were drinking all the wine, getting drunk, and behaving in an unruly manner.  Paul is disgusted by this behavior and rebukes the congregation accordingly.  He has nothing good to say about this (“I do not commend you”) and is even worried that the Supper is actually doing more harm than good.  Things have gotten so bad, Paul can even say, “when you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat” (or at least as it was instituted by Christ and taught to the Corinthians by Paul).

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Sunday Afternoon:  Professor Ken Samples is leading our afternoon worship.  Our afternoon service begins @ 1:15 p.m. 

Wednesday Night Bible Study 7:00 p.m. (05/22/13):  We are continuing our series "Studies in the Book of Revelation."  This week, we will go through the letter to the church in Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6).

The Academy will resume in the Fall of 2013

For more information and directions, check out the Christ Reformed website:  Christ Reformed Church

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon (the twenty-ninth in a series on the Gospel of John):  Click Here

Do we have any evidence about the existence of Jesus or the rise of Christianity from sources outside the New Testament? Is it true that passages about Jesus in the writings of Josephus have been proven to be fabrications? Joining the panel is historian Paul L. Maier, author of In The Fullness of Time and editor of Josephus: The Essential Works (originally aired June 27, 2010).

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I struggle with what to recommend--many resources are too difficult for some, or too hostile to the Christian faith.  But one set of lectures keeps coming to mind, and which people have found to be very helpful.

I am thinking about Allen C. Guelzo's lecture series "The American Mind" which was produced for The Teaching Company (Guelzo--The American Mind).  Guelzo is a great lecturer who consistently finds the right balance between mundane facts and primary sources, interesting background material, and his own interpretation of the data.  

Guelzo argues that the two streams which merge to form a distinctly "American mind" are Puritanism and the Enlightenment.  He develops this theme from America's founding through the First Great Awakening, the Jefferson/Jacksonian eras, the Civil War era, the Gilded Age, down to the present and Neo-Conservatism (a list of lecture titles can be found here:  (Guelzo--The American Mind).  The content is a bit difficult at places (if you don't have any background in history or philosophy), but using the study guide really helps.  And you can always listen more than once (which also helps).  Any course on the "American Mind" which includes the contributions of Hodge and the Old Princetonians, and mentions Machen is worth the time.

The Teaching Company courses often go on sale.  That would be the time to snag this one.

Guelzo has written a number of well-received books: [Jonathan] (Edwards on the Will), a stellar book on Abraham Lincoln (Redeemer President), a history of the Civil War (Fateful Lightning), as well as a new book on Gettysburg, which is at the top of my book pile. 

As a caveat, I have enjoyed a number of courses from The Teaching Company through the years (Greenberg's course on "How to Listen to Great Music" was especially good), but I do advise caution since they also feature Bart Ehrman's lectures on the New Testament and early church.

In chapters 11-14 of 1 Corinthians, Paul gives us a fascinating account of what actually transpired during the worship service of an apostolic church.  From Paul’s account, it is clear that worship in the Corinthian church centered on the proclamation of Christ crucified, followed by the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.  The problem in Corinth is that the Corinthians were celebrating the Lord’s Supper in such a way that the Supper had become virtually indistinguishable from one of the banquets held in a pagan temple or guild hall.  Paul rebukes the Corinthians for this behavior in no uncertain terms.  Yet in doing so, Paul also spells out the meaning of the Lord’s Supper as well as informing us why the Supper occupies such an important role in Christian worship.  All and all, this is a fascinating passage and we’ll spend the next two sermons working our way through the balance of this chapter.

In First Corinthians 11:17-34, we have the earliest account of the Lord’s Supper in the entire New Testament.  Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was probably written about 54 A.D., before any of the canonical gospels had been written.  The Corinthian letter, therefore, gives us a very important insight into the Supper as it was celebrated from the earliest times.  The Lord’s Supper is the New Covenant equivalent of the Jewish Passover, and like the Passover, was celebrated as part of a larger fellowship meal, which followed what we might call the ordinary worship service. 
 
As we have seen in previous sermons on this letter, it is vital that we attempt to understand Paul’s discussion of the abuse of the Supper against the backdrop of Greco-Roman culture, with its emphasis upon feasting and communal meals.  Such meals were commonly celebrated in one of the pagan temples or guild halls throughout the city.  On the one hand, the Corinthians would have been very familiar with communal meals like that one instituted by Jesus on his last night together with his disciples.  Yet, on the other hand, the Corinthians would have dined only with those of the same social standing and profession, or with members of the same religious sect.  The Supper as instituted by Jesus was intended to unite God’s people around their common faith in Christ, not divide people along racial or socio-economic lines as was apparently the case in Corinth. 

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