The Meaning of Communion 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Corinthians: A Window into the 1st Century Church n Rapid Growth u Coleman (Master Plan of Discipleship) : F Acts 1: Christians. F 22% Growth Every Year for 2 Centuries F 200,000 Christians by Acts 28 F End of 1st Century:.5 Million F Nero: “Multitudes [in Rome & elsewhere] are…embracing the new religion.” F Tacitus says Nero martyred “immense multitudes.” F Justin Martyr “throughout the cities of the world… barbarians, Greeks, nomads, vagrants, herdsmen…”

Corinthians: A Window into the 1st Century Church n Rapid Growth n A Different Kind of Meeting u In Homes u Not Institutional, formal, ritualistic. u “Love Feast” u Communion u Reading/Teaching for 4 hours! for 4 hoursfor 4 hours u Corporate Prayer

Corinthians: A Window into the 1st Century Church n Rapid Growth n A Different Kind of Meeting n A Spirit-Led Church

Paul’s Rebuke 11:17-23 n A Really Bad Meeting. “But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.”

Paul’s Rebuke 11:17-23 n A Really Bad Meeting. n Divisions v.18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part, I believe it. v.19 For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.

Paul’s Rebuke 11:17-23 n A Really Bad Meeting. n Divisions n Rampant Self-Focus v Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. v. 22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. “You come together not for the better but for the worse.” 1 Cor. 11:17

Having a Successful Meeting 1. Get God’s perspective beforehand. u “When you come together as a church…” Ekklesia - “Called Out” James 3:15 on divisions: “This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.” 1 Cor. 11:18 …When you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you… James 2:2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, James 2:4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? James 2:3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,"

Having a Successful Meeting 1. Get God’s perspective beforehand. 2. Come together to Fellowship.  - “Fellowship”, “Share”, “Make Common”  - “Fellowship”, “Share”, “Make Common” n Finding Role as Contributor / Investor. Acts 2:42 “And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Having a Successful Meeting 1. Get God’s perspective beforehand. 2. Come together to Fellowship. 3. Our Heart Attitudes are Paramount. n It’s not a Christian meeting otherwise. 1 Cor. 11:20 “Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper…”

Communion: An Example of  For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.“ In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.“ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Communion: An Example of  n Remembering Christ’s Death on the Cross. u Appreciation and worship. u Rejecting self-glorification.  Basis for . n A Corporate Act: Proclaims our unity. 1 Cor. 10:16-17 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

The Story of Eutychus Acts 20:7-9 And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them…and he prolonged his message until midnight. And there was a certain young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he…fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead.