Have your Bible tonight. Let me invite you to open to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 11. As we go through this series in 1 Corinthians, we've been looking at issues at the Church of Corinth that surround the Lord's Supper. Paul began this section in verse 17 of chapter 11, and we're gonna finish this section tonight. In fact, this text is the primary one in the New Testament addressing the proper manner in which we should all partake of the Lord's Supper. And this is a big deal to our Savior, and this will become apparent even tonight. You know, the Lord's Supper is something Christ himself instituted. It belongs to him. And he desires that all of his children in this dispensation partake of it in a way that brings him into focus. It's something to do together, something to do in a proper manner, as we will see. And so it's funny, through these verses, beginning in verse 17 through 34, we have the words come together in the Greek mentioned five different times. And that is an emphasis of this passage, though the words aren't always translated, come together in it. And so it's not as striking, I guess, if you're reading it in English, It's a reminder that unity, being a one mind and one accord, and striving together for the faith of the gospel is important to our Savior, because that's the theme that connects us together, and the Lord's Supper is an expression of all that. You know, some of Paul's first words in the practical section of the Book of Ephesians, I've pointed this out before, was that we would guard the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace and we'd make every effort to do so. And that ties into what Paul emphasizes here. in this passage. And so in verse 17 we can pick it up. It says, Now in giving these instructions to you, I don't praise you, since you come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there's divisions among you, and I in part believe it. For there must also be factions among you that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Therefore, when you come together in one place, it's not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of the others. One is hungry, the other is drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? 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? And the answer is absolutely not. And so even in context here, remember in the first century in particular, that when the church gathered together to celebrate the Lord's Supper, they would have what's called a love feast or an agape feast, something like a potluck. But in the Church of Corinth, it was anything but that. In fact, Paul says, you come together to do this, but what you're doing is not the Lord's Supper. It's far removed from it. What you're doing is really your own supper. That's how he says it. And it was done to the disdain and to the shame of others in the body of Christ. And that's horrible. It ends up being a slap in the face to the Savior. And Paul makes that apparent. As you think of the Lord's Supper, the Lord gave two ordinances to the church. One is water baptism. That's done individually. It's to be done by each person. It's unrepeated. It's a one-time event. And through that ordinance, the believer signifies his union with Christ and what he does, it pitches his, it pictures the believer being identified with him in his death and his burial and his resurrection. And that's what that does, it's symbolic, shows that, indicates that the believer is risen, from the grave with Christ and can walk in newness of life. And the other is the Lord's Supper, and that's to be done corporately as a body when the church comes together. It's done repeatedly. It's done as often as you do it. There's no set amount of times that you are to do it. And this signifies his work on our behalf and his victory over sin, hell, and the grave. And the whole point of it is to remember it's a memorial that honors the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done for us. And so if you think about a few introductory comments here, the Lord's Supper is an ordinance instituted by Christ to remember what he has done for us. It's his supper. And so Paul here in trying to communicate to these carnal saints what they were missing, goes over the procedure of the Lord's Supper, beginning in verse 23. He says, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. The same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it again. And remember me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. And so it's very clear this is to be done in remembrance of him. It's a memorial. And it was being profaned here in this assembly because what they were doing and their attitude toward it was anything related anything. It wasn't anything close to what God intended when we did this. It's intended to convey to every participant, it's precious before God. I mentioned that last time. Everyone that's part of the local church, Christ purchased with his own blood. And because of the factions that existed here, They were communicating that those who didn't have anything materially were not very important. I think the word I said last time was worthless. And so that's really the mindset of a carnal believer though. You know, the carnal believer rarely thinks of sacrificing for anyone else. They don't think about the benefit of anyone else. And the Bible says to be carnally minded is death, is to be self-absorbed. And even when there is self-sacrificing going on, the carnal believer, the bottom line is still, it's all about them. It has at its core and its thinking, the essence is, what about me? And so if I'm even doing something, it's for the wrong motivation. It's still about me. And so that's always an indication of a carnal mind. And so when it comes to the Lord's Supper, we're to actually approach it with the mind of Christ. What was his mind like? Lest mine be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Though he was the richest person in the universe, he didn't consider it to be robbery to be equal with God, but he chose to make himself of no reputation. He took the form of a slave. He came in the likeness of men, a tremendous humbling. And being found in the appearance of a man, he humbled himself all the more and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. And so that's to be the focus, that's to be the mindset, not look at me and boy, look at you, you whatever loser. And so the elements are to communicate that when Christ instituted, Luke mentioned this in 2219, Christ took the bread, he gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Now the word bread there can be translated loaf, and how this was done in the early churches, they had one loaf of bread and they broke it off and they shared it with one another. And so the one loaf spoke of unity. And so the bread not only reminds us of Christ's sinless body, which he gave because of his love for us, it's also a reminder that we're all members one of another, and we're all part of the same loaf, if you will. And so that's what they did in the early church. And so they would pass the bread along, and they reminded that we're all together in this, and Christ gave himself for all of us. And we're all partaking of this together. So the bread symbolized his body, which was given for us. In fact, notice the words here. For you, for you. Now that should sound familiar because that's, when it comes to the gospel message, it's the exact same Greek word, hupar. I deliver to you first of all that which I also received, Paul said, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. He died, here it is, for our sins, same Greek word. And it means in the place of. Christ died in the place of our sins. When God, the Lord Jesus Christ gave his body, it was for you. All in love. The whole point of it is to remember what he did for us in love. We were so unworthy. He offered his body as a sacrifice on our behalf. Now it says here, he broke the body, but it says, my body which is for you, and we have here What we have here actually in the King James Version is kind of a misleading translation because it says there in verse 23 or 24, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. And those words broken for you shouldn't be in there. And so, though the bread is being broken, Christ's body, though it was broken for you, and bruised in one sense, none of his bones were broken, and that's important. In fact, John 19.36 makes it clear. For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, not one of his bones shall be broken. And so if Christ had a broken bone, it would have actually been, it would not have been fulfilled prophecy. You know, Psalm 22, 14 says that his bones were all out of joint. Psalm 34 in verse 20 says that not one of them is broken. And so that's a fulfillment of scripture. And that's why we read this oftentimes, well, we do every time, we eliminate those words, is broken for you, because his body, in terms of his bones, wasn't broken for you. It's not in the oldest manuscripts. However, he was crushed, he was bruised, we read in Isaiah 53.5, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised, he was beaten almost to a pulp for our iniquities, and the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and it's through those stripes we are healed. And so his body was given for us, that was followed by the cup, symbolizing the blood that was shed for their mission of sins. And we see that in Matthew 26, it says, then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, what, for the forgiveness of sins. So we know from the book of Hebrews, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And so Peter captured it this way. He says, he committed no sin. He was the sinless, spotless lamb of God. Neither was deceit found in his mouth. He was reviled, he didn't fire back. He didn't revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. But he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. And so Christ offered himself a living sacrifice. Or excuse me, yeah, a living sacrifice to die in our place for our sins. And so what that means when we're taking the Lord's Supper is the focus of our thoughts when partaking that Lord's Supper is to be centered on Jesus offering up himself as a sacrifice for us and paying for our sins. That's what we're supposed to be focusing on. That's not what the Corinthians were focusing on at all. He was scourged, he was crucified, he gave his life so we could have peace with God, By trusting Him and Him alone as the one and only sacrifice that can forgive our sins, that's why Christ said He's the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Him. This is communicated in 2 Corinthians 5.21. For He, God, made Him Christ who knew no sin to be a sin or a sin offering for us in our place that we might become the righteousness of God and Him. And so this is what we are to remember. It also, the ordinance is that which proclaims Christ. Notice again, verse 26, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you're proclaiming the Lord's death till he comes. This is a means by which we proclaim and preach the gospel. And as I mentioned last time, if there's unbelievers in the assembly that come, the Lord suppers to picture and proclaim what Christ did for us on the cross. And so it's not even inappropriate to think about how important the message of Christ is and how you have the privilege of sharing it with others at school or at work or in the neighborhood or wherever the Lord might bring you. And so one of the purposes of celebrating the Lord's Supper is to share the good news of what Jesus has done for you and others. That's to be on your mind. We're proclaiming the Lord's death. And this ordinance is also to cause you to look for Christ's return. Again, verse 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you'll proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. This should be causing us to look ahead, to remind us and bring our attention to the fact that Jesus is coming again to receive us unto himself, and that rapture could happen at any moment till he comes. It's also a reminder that he's coming back. And so, all these things are gonna be part of what we're doing in our brains when we're participating in the Lord's Supper. It's not just about the death of Christ, it's about the reign of Christ. He resurrected from the grave, he's ascended into heaven, one day he's gonna assume his rightful throne, and he's gonna come back and take us to himself. And so, what's painfully obvious here is that Christ And his love, his sacrifice, his person, is to be the focus of what we're doing when we're partaking in the Lord's Supper. But as we repeatedly stated, this was not happening in the Corinth. Those elements symbolized this message, but they were treating it profanely. They were treating it like it was a common meal. And this was very offensive to God. I mean, Christ again said, do this in remembrance of me, and that's not what's going on. in remembrance of him at all, they were just doing it. But they actually weren't even doing it because they were having a meal and there was selfishness and disdain and shame going on. And again, this is serious business before the Lord. And so if God has taken this to heart, we're gonna see that he disciplined some of these. Again, it's a reminder that we need to take this to heart. We need to see it how Christ sees it. And so that brings us to verse 27. Therefore, here's the application Paul's gonna make to these saints here. Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And so not partaking in the Lord's supper in a worthy manner declares you guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Sounds kind of serious. The word guilty there carries the idea of being liable, to be answerable to God for this abuse. You're not responsible for the body and blood of the Lord. And so instead of proclaiming the Lord's death, to misuse the symbols of that death, is actually, what he's saying is you're sharing in the guilt of those who crucified Christ. In fact, one pastor put it this way, to trample our country's flag is not to dishonor a piece of cloth, but to dishonor the country it represents. And so to disrespect for a flag is understood as contempt for the country it represents. And so when you are disrespecting the Lord's Supper, you're showing contempt for the Lord Jesus Christ. So you're not simply dishonoring the ceremony, you're dishonoring the person of the ceremony, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the whole thing is designed to honor him. So what do you become guilty of? We become guilty of dishonoring his body and blood which represent his work and his suffering and death on our behalf. You're dishonoring him. And so they would take this bread at a common meal without consideration of the symbolic significance of the bread. And they drank the wine and they didn't take into account the symbolic significance of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But Garland captures it this way. Paul's logic is this. He said, the Lord's Supper proclaims the Lord's death. Those whose behavior at the Lord's Supper does not conform to what the death entails effectively shift sides. They leave the Lord's side and align themselves with the rulers of this present age who crucified the Lord. This explains how they make themselves so vulnerable to God's judgment. And so, again, this is sobering in that regard. And the word unworthy there refers to something that does not square with the character or nature of something. It's incongruous, it doesn't fit, it doesn't match. It's the same word except with an A in front of it that we read. And again, Ephesians 4.1. Therefore, I therefore, Paul says, the prison of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you are called. And so if you're not walking worthy, you're not walking in a way that's commensurate with who you are in Christ, what he's done for you in love, and what he's provided for you in love. And that principle is the same when it comes to celebrating the Lord's Supper. As a believer, we're to walk in a way that's commensurate with all the blessings he's freely given us in Christ. We're to walk by faith in those. And it's the same thing with participating in the Lord's Supper. Now, sometimes people miss, Understand this, an unworthy manner does not mean you have to be worthy enough to take the elements. That's not what he's really talking about here. I mean, we're all unworthy from that perspective. I mean, Paul, even toward the end of his life, considered himself to be the chief of sinners. So that's not the focus of what's being emphasized here in this ordinance. And so sometimes think, well, they examine themselves and think, well, am I really worthy to take this? That's the wrong question. That's not what he's after. The issue is the manner, your approach to the Lord's Supper. It's the posture in which you take in doing this. It's your understanding of what you're doing and the internal attitude of reverence you're to have as you're doing it. In fact, I think, All believers are to partake in the Lord's Supper. In verse 25 there, in verse 24, it says, do this. The Greek word means all of you do this. And so it's, we're all to do this. We're all to do it, but we're all to do it in the right manner. So it has nothing to do with worthiness to take it. It's just, it's the manner in which you take it. It's about glorifying Christ. And I think in context, he's talking about verse 21. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of the others, and one is hungry and the other is drunk. Their whole approach to it was profane. It was wrong. They were coming together in selfishness, not in humility and love. And it's to be a time of communion together to honor the one who loved us, gave his love for us, and put us all together in his body. Again, Garland says this, the divide is between those who incarnate the cross of Christ with their self-sacrifice and those who put Christ to death again with their self-centered feasting. There's those that came with the right attitude of the mindset of self-sacrifice, the others came with a selfish mindset. He insinuates that the Corinthians violate the spirit of the meal, which remembers Christ's self-sacrifice by eating it unworthily. So hopefully that's all making sense. And so, God wants to use the Lord's Supper as a time of examination, verse 28. But let a man examine himself, and then so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. And so, there's to be an examination before you do it. The word examination in the Greek means to put to the test, to determine the genuineness or value of something. So in other words, you have to think this through. It's not to be a brainless exercise. And once you think it through and you have the proper mindset, you're to do it as unto him. Go ahead and partake. And so the issue is your own relationship to the Lord in the context of all being together in the body. We're not here to evaluate everybody else. We're to take heed to ourselves for the benefit of everybody else. I mean, you know, it's none of your business to examine so and so and think, well, how are they partaking? You know, the Corinthians neglected to examine themselves, but because of the factions in the church, they were very good at examining everybody else. They're missing the whole point. In fact, the mindset that God wants us to have, I think, is communicated very beautifully by David in Psalm 51, verse 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, oh God, you will not despise. It's a broken heart before the Lord. It's a humble heart before the Lord. And so what are some areas of examination to consider? Again, well, first of all, it's not, you're not determining whether or not you're saved. Okay. That's, You know, am I truly a believer in Christ? That's not the issue here at all. It has nothing to do with that. In fact, if you weren't saved and you did it, it's a meaningless ritual. It means nothing to you, though in your own mind, you might think it would. This thing doesn't impart anything spiritual to you. It's again, it's a memorial. It's a time of remembrance. But you can ask yourself this question. Are you taking heed yourself before the Lord and acknowledging his sacrifice on your half? That's the essence of what he's after here. Now, you might have to, in doing that, take time to confess sin, because that's important. This is to be a time of intimate fellowship with the Lord. But you know, Paul's not specifically addressing, you know, unconfessed sin in general. but the careless manner in which they were taking the Lord's Supper, which is not honoring to Christ. So it's not like, you know, you need to do it in fellowship with God, and so it might be appropriate to examine yourself to confess your sins. But you can ask yourself, are you really, you know, you could be thinking about anything under the sun. You know, what are you gonna have for breakfast tomorrow? You could be, this could be a mindless ritual for you, and that dishonors the Lord. You can go through the motions and not think about your Savior at all. And that would make you guilty of that very thing. No, we're to come in humility with thankfulness to the Father at a time of thanksgiving. And so, It's about remembering Christ. And so it requires your brain to be engaged. Are you indifferent to others in the body? This was an issue in Corinth. You know, verse 22 again. What, don't you have houses to eat and drink with? Do you despise the church of God? Do you shame those who have nothing? That was their mindset. If you go to the end here, verse 33, he says, therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And so it's a mindset in which you consider someone else. Not to be indifferent to your dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Obviously, God doesn't want you to partake of this when you have got bitterness in your heart towards someone else in the body. You know, grace reminds us that I am no better than anyone else in the body, and you're no better than anyone else in the body. And so, any example of self-exaltation is to be done away with, because we're all equal in Christ. There's no class divisions in Christ. That's never to be on display when we gather together, especially when celebrating the Lord's Supper. So it's not only making sure your heart is right before the Lord, but it involves considering others because we've all been forgiven by the same work of Christ, the same act of grace, and no one is more deserving than anybody else. It's not a bad thing to ask yourself, do I love my brothers and sisters in Christ like Christ does? Because he loves us all. Do I love all of them? Am I thankful for the forgiveness and grace that I've received so I'm willing to share that with others? You know, actually Christ, when he walked on earth, made our relationship with one another an issue in worship. He said in Matthew 5, 23 through 26, these words, He says, therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother. This is a transdispensational principle. And then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly while you're on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge. Judge hand you over to the officer and you'll be thrown into prison. And assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there until you've paid the last penny. And this is not physical prison, this is spiritual prison. Mental torment. And so then he asks a question in verse 29. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, it's a body. Are you discerning the Lord's body? Are you discerning the Lord's body? Now what does it mean to discern the Lord's body? And there's disagreement among people who study the Bible. The Amplified says this. For anyone who eats and drinks without discriminating and recognizing with due appreciation that it is Christ's body, eats and drinks a sentence, a verdict of judgment upon himself. And so the issue there is the elements of what you're doing, the significance of that. We says for one who eats and drinks is eating and drinking so as to bring judgment upon himself if he does not proper evaluate the body. What are we talking about? There's two possibilities really. One, am I taking it with a reference to the symbolic significance of the bread and the cup as depicting the body and blood of the Lord? Discerning the body then means recognizing the uniqueness that the elements represent Christ's death for me. And so some take this to mean the elements themselves. Another view is Paul refers to the Corinthians' failure to recognize the church as a body of Christ or Christ's presence among his people which displayed itself with factions at the Lord's table. MacDonald thinks it's the elements. Garland says a proper understanding of what these elements represent should change the Corinthians attitude and behavior toward others. He kind of combines them here. Reminds them their dependence on Christ and their own interdependence which should cause them to share their own provisions with others at the meal who have little or nothing. Krell says, one who treats fellow believers poorly fails to discern that they're members of Christ's church, his body. I'm leaning toward Garland and Krell here. I think you're not discerning who you are in the body and how we're all members one of another. I don't think it's the elements at all because it refers to the blood and the cup together every other place. Here he just says the Lord's body. And I think he's talking about the body of Christ. One may also fail to discern the significance of Christ's death. Since his death, he created a people and therefore one who mistreats his fellow believers. The Lord's Supper reveals here she has little understanding of why Christ died. Didn't sugarcoat that at all. And so I think it's an emphasis of not being in fellowship with the Lord and with other believers. that you're not striving to resolve differences in the body because this is, again, to be an expression of corporate worship where we're of one mind and one accord striving together for the faith and the gospel. Another one stated this is the blood and body used in communion to avoid God's judgment. One must properly discern and respond to the holiness of the occasion. And some say it's a dual meaning. And I think it's, obviously there's some overlap there. In fact, 1 Corinthians 10, 17 says, for we being many are one bread, we're one body. And I think that's the idea. We're one body and we're to consider one another. And so if I'm not considering one another as I go through this, I'm lacking in my understanding and reverence for it. And what's he say here in verse, 29, it says, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, because he's not discerning the Lord's body. So failure to examine yourself properly relative to the Lord's Supper results in God's discipline. God's discipline. Verse 30 goes on to say, for this reason many are weak and sick, The word judgment there is the Greek word, means you receive judgment, but it's the word that doesn't mean eternal punishment, because there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. In fact, when you got saved, you passed, John 5.24 says, from death unto life, never to return. So this is what we call, or could call theologically, divine discipline. Divine discipline, which means God's not always pleased with you, because if he was, why would he discipline you? You know, divine discipline is something that's mentioned extensively, referred to extensively in the book of Hebrews. We should just put a marker there, marker here rather, and go to Hebrews chapter 12 for a second. Hebrews chapter 12. Endurance is kind of a key word in this section. In fact, if you back up to Hebrews chapter 10, notice verse 32. It says, we recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, that's a phrase that means you were saved, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle, both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me and my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. And so the admonition, verse 35, is don't cast away your confidence, which has a great reward. Endure, verse 36, for you have need of endurance so that after you've done the will of God, you can receive the promise. And then if you go to chapter 12, What's he saying in verse one? Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let's lay aside every weight, and the sin which easily ensnares us, and let's run with endurance the race that is set before us. Well, how do we do that? Looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. He despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God. You know, if you look at Hebrews chapter 11 there, In fact, at the end of the chapter, he talks about verse 36, till others had a trial of mockings and scourging, yes, chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. They all had to endure. There's this point here. And so in verse three, he says, you do what? You consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself. Otherwise you're going to become weary and discouraged in your souls. And he says in verse four, you've not yet resisted the bloodshed striving against sin. In other words, you haven't been martyred yet, which was maybe something on the horizon. In fact, it was. And then he continues on by saying, and you've forgotten something, and the word, the Greek word means you've totally forgotten, you're oblivious to this reality. The exhortation which speaks to you as sons, my son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you're rebuked by him, for whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. And so he says, don't despise the chastening of the Lord. The word despise there means to treat lightly, to regard lightly, something of little value. The writer's saying this is a big deal. Don't treat it lightly. And then he says, don't be discouraged by being rebuked by the Lord, don't faint, is the idea there, is that if you're getting a raw deal, like the Greek word means to become so tired and weary as to give up. Look at Job's perspective. Five verses 17 and 18. Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Are you happy when God takes time out of his schedule to correct you? Therefore, don't despise the chastening of the Almighty. For he bruises, but he binds up. He wounds, but his hands make whole. That's the whole point of chastisement. It's not to punish you, it's to build you up. Psalm 94, 12 says, blessed is the man who you instruct, and the word instruct here is the dear, who you correct. Oh Lord, teach out of your law and teach out of your law. The blessed man or the blessed woman is one who the Lord corrects and teaches out of the word of God. And so we're not to faint because of God's chastisement, because he gives us strength. His goal is not to weaken us, but to encourage us, not to destroy us. And it's very clear in verse six that it's done in love. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. God's discipline, like everything else to the child of God, is all done in love. Which means the persecutions, testings, trials, the sickness, whatever it might be, is not a sign of God's anger or displeasure per se, in the sense that it's all done in love. It's done in love. And so chastening is a word that means the training of a child. Talk about pedagogy. The pedagogos was the child trainer, or the child mentor, or child teacher. The noun, paideia, or paideia, is child training. It's part of our training. So God says, I'm gonna chastise you. I'm gonna train you. And the expectation here is that you would endure it, verse seven. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom the father does not chasten? He's doing it to all of us. In fact, if you don't have any chastising, verse eight, because all have become partakers, then you're not really saved. If you're saved, guess what? God is gonna chastise you to some degree. That's part of this. And so you do it by fixing your eyes on Jesus. Goes on to say, verse nine, furthermore, we had Human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect, shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as it seemed best to them. But God does this for our profit, that we might be a partaker of his holiness. Now this never seems fun, verse 11. It's not joyful in the middle of it. It's actually painful. But nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. You know, Tom Landry said, the job of a coach is to make men do what they don't want to do in order to be what they always wanted to be. Good football players in that case. Now when it comes to these Corinthians, you can go back to chapter 11 there, verse 30. God's discipline of the Corinthians included weakness, sickness, and physical death. Weakness, sickness, and physical death. That's what verse 30 says. Now, this isn't just normal weakness. This is divine intervention. This isn't normal sickness. And it says sleep there. The word sleep used in the New Testament primarily means the death of a believer in Christ. Now when it comes to weakness, some think it's spiritual weakness. In other words, you're taking the Lord's discipline lightly. But it's my conviction these things are physical. It's physical weakness. It's physical sickness. And obviously, it's physical death is the idea there. But what jumped off the page here when I read this verse is the word many. Many are weak and sick among you. Now, it's a different word for many, sleep. In other words, there's a number that sleep. But many, so this church is in tough shape. Ouch. Now 1 John 5 tells us there's a sin unto death. Now there's been speculation as to what that is. Is it a specific sin? Is it a pattern of sin? Some that have a wrong understanding think he's describing an unbeliever. There's debate, is it spiritual death? Is it physical death? It may be referring to the outcome of a believer pursuing a sinful lifestyle in which God allows him simply to reap the natural consequences of his decisions. Now, we know the sin of death doesn't refer to the unforgivable sin mentioned in Matthew chapter 12, because the essence of that sin is unbelief, you're not trusting Christ as your Savior. Now, I haven't looked at that passage in a while, and I haven't fully landed on my understanding of that passage. But I didn't think about it, and there's two instances in the New Testament where a believer was, believers have died physically because of God's chastisement. In Acts chapter five, we have Ananias and Sapphira, who lied to the Holy Spirit, and they kept back the full price of the land, even though they said that they didn't. And then we have it here, And as I thought about this, in both cases, these sins were affecting the body of Christ as a whole. And I think this is where I'm leaning toward, is that this sin takes place when there's ongoing unrepentant sin that affects the whole body, and it's not stopping, and the whole body's going down. And earlier in this epistle, Paul said this. Do you not know that you, plural, are the temple of God? So he's talking about the whole body, the church. And the spirit of God dwells in you corporately. This is not individual, but corporately. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are corporately. And so it could be that this is maximum divine discipline. When someone's going on, they're not willing to repent, they're affecting others and bringing them down, and God may take them home. I'm not fully there. I don't think it represents categories of sin, but I think it represents, perhaps, based on the other two usage, someone who's negatively impacting the body of Christ in a very significant way. But verse 31 reminds us divine discipline can be avoided by proper judging of oneself. If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. If you judge yourselves correctly, the idea there is you won't be judged by God. Those are in the imperfect tense. In other words, it's to be something I regularly do, especially when coming together as an assembly and to celebrate the Lord's Supper. And so if we're carrying out self-examination each time we gather, especially before taking the Lord's Supper, we're not gonna need to be disciplined by God. That's the idea there. He also goes on to say, if you are judged, it's a display of God's discipline. You're not receiving the condemnation of the world or the unsaved. Verse 32, when we are judged, We're chastened by the Lord, and God only chastens those whom he loves, that we may not be condemned with the world. And so divine discipline, child training, correcting, instructing, It's what God does to us in love because he wants our lives to count. If you read that Hebrews 12 passage, the whole point of all that, and God repeatedly encouraging them to endure their hardship is because he wants their lives to count in light of eternity. He says, don't cast away your confidence. It has great reward. And you know, in America, we're kind of cream puffs, right? Things get hard and we say, you know what? I'm doing something else. And they were under circumstances that we really can't really relate to because we have, relatively speaking, an easy life in this country. But are you prepared for this to change? Are you prepared to have our country shift so that persecution becomes an acceptable thing to those who are saved and that People are going to actually be on the same page in their efforts to squash out Christianity. That could happen. That could happen. Increasingly, our country is getting away from biblical values. You know, Satan, the god of this world, is influencing different things within our culture. And this is why even my prayer for this last election is we can live quiet and peaceable lives in which we can worship God and share the gospel. That's really the whole point. And thankfully, God's in charge of who's in charge on a governmental level. And that's why you pray for your government leaders. Because the worm could turn. North Korea, places in Saudi Arabia, other places in the world where Christians are India. I mean, it's unthinkable. And God says, endure, it'll be worth it all when you see Jesus. That has to be a mindset. And that's what really the writer of Hebrews is trying to teach. And this is what Paul, with this assembly, is trying to teach him. Listen, this is a big deal. God wants your life to count, and what you're doing here just honors him. So make the adjustment. But this has nothing to do, verse 32, with eternal condemnation, eternal judgment, at all. Because it's the unsaved that suffer that fate. So verse 33, here's his final words to the saints at Corinth regarding this whole ordeal. He says, therefore, my beloved brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another, If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come. And so summary command number one in this passage is, this is a command, wait for one another. That's what the loving thing is to do. In fact, there's the fifth time the phrase come together is mentioned. That's how he opened up this passage, that's how he's ended this passage. It's about coming together and God wants us to come together, but he wants us to come together in love, considering one another. He said in the beginning, you don't come together for the better, you come together for the worse, and the point here is let's come together for the better. So the Lord is seeking to cultivate an attitude of oneness and fellowship in our body. in which we prefer one another in love, as Romans 12 tells us. I like how Constable captured this. He says, rather than disregarding the members of the congregation who had little or no food to bring to the love feast, those who had plenty should share what they had. They should also wait to eat until all have been served. That's what we do even when we pass out the elements. It's not going on there. In fact, the word wait there is a compound word. It means wait deliberately and receive kindly. Sir Berg said this, eating and drinking of the Lord's body and blood has implications which no other eating and drinking ever does. And the final command is that, hey, you know what? We're to be in this thing together, so if you're hungry or whatever, eat at home. You know, don't treat this thing as a time to get together with your friends and then exclude other people. So what can we take away from this? One, the Lord's Supper is a big deal. Two, we need to be reminded that we are what we are by the grace of God. Three, let's not take each other for granted. Let's love one another with a pure heart, fervently. And let's do what we do in a worthy manner that honors the Lord. You know, sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the details of the machinery and forget that our ultimate purpose is to honor the Lord. It's to worship Him. And when He's the focus, like the Lord's Supper should be, those things all tend to fall into place. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank you for this study, getting some things clarified regarding the Lord's Supper and just how you want us to think one toward another, and especially how we're to think reverently and humbly about our Savior, to remember Him moment by moment and day by day, what He did for us in love, that we can proclaim Him and that we can focus on Him and know that He's coming back for us at any moment. and what a day of rejoicing that will be. So help us to ponder these truths, to chew on them, to understand them, and to consider one another as you consider us. One body, members one of another, connected to you. And may you be glorified in it all. I pray in Christ's name, amen.