We turn now to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 for our New Testament reading. I will be reading verses 14 through 22 of 1 Corinthians 10. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. You judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? is not the bread which we break as sharing in the body of Christ. Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. Look at the nation Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything? Or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than he, are we? Let's ask the Lord's blessing. Father, as we come now to this text of your word, we pray that you would help us to understand its meaning and that you would also be preparing us to partake of the supper and to feed by faith upon Christ. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. This morning we take a brief break from the Sermon on the Mount in order to focus on the Lord's Supper. At a recent session meeting, your elders made a wise and prudent suggestion that I was only too happy to implement. It was suggested that before we make the proposed change in our celebration of the Lord's Supper, I should teach on this topic. And to that end, I wrote a bulletin insert, which you received last week, outlining the basic rationale for this shift. But to more thoroughly explain the matter, I chose to preach a preparatory sermon before we partake of the sacrament this morning. And so please give me your careful attention as we look into this passage in 1 Corinthians 10. We want to consider, first of all, the Corinthian problem and Paul's solution. Then we want to look at sacraments, symbolism, and substance. And finally, looking at some questions and answers, blessings, and benefits. You might notice that in your bulletin you have an insert which has a number of passages from 1 Corinthians, and you might just want to pull that out and have that handy. The church in Corinth was Paul's problem child. To say that this congregation was not without difficulties is to put it mildly. This church fairly boiled over with strife and at the heart of their problem was a recurring tendency towards division. Deep schisms had developed between the brethren in Corinth And Paul spends much of his letter of 1 Corinthians in confronting and correcting their factionalism. Just a quick survey of this epistle shows that this was a well-established and well-documented problem. Already in chapter 1 verses 11 through 13, it is clear that they have problems. Paul says, For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I am of Cephas, and I am of Christ. Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Well, there were quarrels in this congregation and these quarrels arose over a party spirit that was developing. The party loyalties were pitting the friends of Paul against the followers of Apollos or of Cephas. There was even a Christ party, the super pious ones. Division was rife in this church. Then in chapter 3, Paul identifies it again. For you are still fleshly, he says. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly? And are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believe. even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one." And so he says, your strife over these party loyalties is fleshly, it's carnal. You're acting like mere men when you do this. Again in chapter four, verses six through eight, the apostle touches this topic, warning them there against their attitudes of arrogance and their sense of superiority against one another. But what we find in the opening verses of chapter six is even more distressing still. For brother goes to law against brother, and this before unbelievers. Moving on to chapter 8, we discover yet another side of this problem. Some supposedly strong believers were using their Christian liberty in such a way that it became a stumbling block to the weak. They were ruining their weaker brothers by their insensitive conduct. But without question, the worst display of disunity had to do with the Lord's Supper. In that famous chapter, chapter 11, this problem is front and center. Just look at these verses. But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you because you come together not for the better, but for the worse. 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. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. 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. 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 shall not praise you. Paul is scathing here. One goes hungry, another is drunk. The rich members flaunting their prosperity and shaming those poorer brethren and despising the Church of God. Well, in a section and an epistle that is filled with strong language, I think this is the strongest denunciation that Paul gives. Well, these words should easily have caught their attention. But if they did not, Paul underlines his point there in verse 30. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. Because of their wicked abuse of the Lord's Supper, some of them were weak, some of them had become sick, and some had even died. Their abuse had been so evil in God's sight. Mess with the Lord's supper and you better beware because God might strike you down for it. While Paul did not merely identify the problem, but he also prescribed a solution to their disunity. His solution is as rich and complex as the problem itself. Paul really proposes a multifaceted response. To go into all of the nuances of Paul's reaction to the Corinthian divisions is really beyond our scope this morning, but let me highlight one important aspect, and that is the Lord's Supper. Understanding the symbolism and the significance of the Lord's Supper is a key antidote to disunity within the church. And that is because the Lord's Supper, by its very nature, emphasizes, encourages, and fosters our unity. Our unity with Christ and our unity with his people. in and through our celebration of the Lord's Supper, we can realize afresh our union with Christ and our communion with our fellow believers. And that emphasis is primarily found in our text this morning, 1 Corinthians 10. I invite you again to look back at those verses. In verse 16, Paul asks rhetorically, is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the loaf which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? And so in the participation in the sacrament there is a real spiritual connection between the believer and Christ in the Lord's Supper. Our Westminster Shorter Catechism says it very well in question and answer 96 when it states that in the Lord's Supper, quote, worthy receivers are not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith made partakers of his body and blood with all his benefits to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. And so when we partake of this sacrament, we are partaking by faith in Christ, in His body and His blood. We are taking to ourselves and we are acquiring all His benefits and all the blessings that He brings. We are feeding by faith upon Him. And all of the benefits of the covenant of grace come flowing and flooding to us. To drive his point home, he points them to the Israelites and how those who ate the sacrifices shared in the altar. And the analogy that Paul draws is just this. As the Israelites ate the sacrifices and shared in the altar, so we share in Christ when we eat the bread and drink the cup. And here is where we especially zero in on the one loaf principle. In verses 16 and 17, it talks about the bread, artos in Greek, I think best translated here, loaf. It's not focusing so much on the bread as bread, but it's talking about a loaf of bread. And that becomes especially important in verse 17. And so, because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. As we look at this, this morning, and as we have this, what does this symbolize? It symbolizes Christ. Christ is one. And as you look at this one loaf, you are reminded of the one Christ who is the singular head over his body. This is a picture. This is a visual demonstration of the unity and the oneness of Christ. And so we fix our eyes on the one loaf, but then as we sit in the pew, we kind of steal a glance here and there, and we look around and we think, wow, there's a lot of us. There's many of us here. And we are different people. We come from different places, different backgrounds, different families. We have different life experiences. We're at different places in our spiritual walk. There's so much different about us. We're so varied. Is there anything that binds us together? Is there anything that makes this disparate group of people into one singular body? Yes, there is. It's this. It's Christ. It's Christ that binds us together. And so, we who are many are one body because we all partake of the one love. All the Christians from all over the world from every place and time in history are melded together and joined and fused as one because we have one Lord who gave His body and His blood for us upon the cross. And so we see this one loaf principle as something which binds us together It draws us to one another, and it makes us one, and it reminds us of our oneness. As we look at the one loaf, we are reminded one Christ, one body. We are connected to each other. Now in considering the sacraments, it's also important for us to think very carefully and very clearly about sacraments, symbolism and substance. I believe strongly that our Reformed view of the sacrament is thoroughly scriptural, but I do not think that it is widely held or commonly understood. And so follow me now through a series of propositions regarding sacraments, symbolism and substance. You've got to have each one of these. They come as a package. Listen to them all and consider them all. First, we believe that the sacraments are signs and seals of the covenant of grace. They are signs. Signs point away from themselves and they point to things of substance. And so we can properly say that our view of the sacraments, the Reformed view, recognizes a certain symbolic value to the sacraments. But it also recognizes a connection between the signs and the substantial realities. A second statement is that the sacraments are clearly symbols and they are not the substance themselves. In other words, the bread is a symbol of Christ, but it is not Christ himself. The bread points us to something spiritual, something substantial, but the bread remains the bread. I think it's a grave error to begin thinking that the elements become the substance Because then you must put all of your weight and all of your emphasis on the elements as ends in themselves. Please do not load up this bread with undue expectation. It is not magic bread. It's not spiritual bread. It's not heavenly bread. It's bread from West Side Bakery, baked by the hands of fuzzy. It's bread. It's a sign, it's a symbol, it's not the substance itself. A third proposition is that while the sacraments are symbols and not the realities themselves, we don't want to view them as mere symbols or as empty signs that are disconnected from the realities and devoid of all significance. We do not want to consider the symbols and the substance as one and the same, but neither do we want to divorce them entirely. We do not want to say that these symbols have nothing whatsoever to do, no connection in any sense. That would be an error, too. You can load them with too much expectation, or you can drain them of all significance. And we don't make either one of those mistakes. Let me add a fourth concept very quickly. And that is the concept of the sacramental union. Now sometimes when Reformed people hear that term they think, ooh, that sounds Roman Catholic. That sounds like something other than the Reformed position. But this is actually something that comes straight out of our Westminster Confession. I would ask you to turn in your hymnal to page 864 In the back pages we have the Westminster Confession of Faith, page 864. We want to look at paragraph 2 of chapter 27. It's about two-thirds down the page in the left-hand column. There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation or sacramental union, you see there's the word, sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified. Once it comes to pass that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other. And so this is saying there is a union, there is a relation between the sign and the thing signified. In fact this is so clear in the Bible that often times the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other. They are used interchangeably almost in scripture. Now the next paragraph is also important. The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used is not conferred by any power in them. Neither doth the efficacy of a sacrament depend on the piety or intention of him that doth administer it, but upon the work of the Spirit and the word of institution, which contains together with a precept authorizing the use thereof a promise of benefit to worthy receivers." Now what that paragraph says is that the power of the sacraments is not an inherent power of the sacraments in and of themselves. These are not magic ordinances that have inherent spiritual power. The sacraments as such don't do anything. It's not the sacraments themselves. Neither, praise God, is it the minister who administers it. if not the piety or the intention of the person administering it. Aren't you blessed? Where is the power of the sacraments? It's the Holy Spirit using the Word. And the Holy Spirit using the Word powerfully takes up these elements and he uses them for his spiritual purposes. And this is the whole idea of the sacramental union. But as this bread is set apart by prayer and the words of institution are read, the Holy Spirit takes these things and he uses them to convey grace to those who partake in faith. And so this becomes a spiritual experience because the Holy Spirit powerfully employs these elements and these actions in the moment of administration. And so here it all is in a nutshell. Let me put all these things together. The Holy Spirit powerfully employs the sacraments always in conjunction with the Scriptures to graciously and abundantly bless all who partake in faith to their great spiritual benefit. and continued growth in grace. It's the Holy Spirit taking and using and blessing these things to our spiritual benefits and growth in grace. I might just add one other proposition. It is not only the elements of the sacrament that are significant. There are also sacramental actions Watch the drama unfold. Appreciate the choreography of the sacraments. As I go from the pulpit to the table, I am descending from the chief means of grace to the secondary and subordinate means of grace. And being a good Presbyterian, I invite my brother elders to come help me. And we, working as a unit, Take the bread and break it and distribute it. And as it goes down the rows, you're taking your piece off and you are acquiring the grace of Christ for yourself. And as you hold it, you're reminded of Christ and how He is yours and you are His. And then the elders come back and I serve them as they had served me. And then we all eat at the same time. as one mouth eating one piece of bread. And then we do the same with the cup of Thanksgiving. You see, there's a choreography that you need to watch. Look at the elements. That's good. But look also at the actions. Well, let me close by briefly addressing a few questions that some people might have. And let me say, if I don't cover your question, please come speak to me. Ask me your question. I'd be glad to think on it and to give you whatever response I can give you. Dialogue is good. It's healthy. And so if you have further questions, please, please come talk to me or to one of the elders. But let me pose and answer a few. First of all, why, again, are we making this change? Maybe there are some who have drifted off for a while and just now are coming back to focus. Why are we making this change? Well, we're making this change in order to be more biblically consistent in our practice. I hope that you see from 1 Corinthians 10, verses 16 and 17, that this seems to be the biblical model, one loaf. We who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf, it seems to me. a very biblical thing. Now, of course, there are also confessional reasons for this change, but I think they are secondary to the biblical reason. I would also suggest that there are going to be practical spiritual benefits that will come as a result of a more scriptural approach. Second question. Aren't we changing the element in the Lord's Supper? No, we're not. Now, if we were going from bread to corn chips, you'd have a point. We're going from bread to bread. It's not the element that's changing. It's the form of the administration. But it's not the element itself. We're keeping bread as bread. And we don't have any authorization of scripture to use anything but bread. If we did change the elements, that would be unbiblical and unconfessional and arrogant. but we're simply trying to adjust the administration to a more biblical form. A third question. Does this mean we will also have a common cup? No. 1 Corinthians 10 emphasizes one loaf. It says nothing about a common cup. Now some people and some denominations might infer a common cup from this passage, but I don't think that's the right inference. The emphasis is on the loaf, the oneness of the loaf. And so I don't think that anything in scripture demands a common cup. The fourth question, isn't this somewhat unsanitary? Won't we spread germs? I think we all recognize that there is some level of risk in coming to church. You come to church, someone else might have chicken pox. You might go home with chicken pox. There's a certain level of risk that we run. Sitting next to people, talking to them, sharing the same air in the same room, you can get sick. It's possible. With that said, I think if we all use common courtesy, There shouldn't be any health risk at all to anyone. Obviously, if you have a cold, don't sneeze on the bread as it comes by. Common sense, common courtesy. If you feel like you're sick, wash your hands before worship. Or ask the person next to you, could you please tear off my piece? Because I think I'm sick and I don't want to touch the loaf. Well, that's OK. And I'm sure anyone sitting near you would be willing to comply and help. And so we can serve and help one another if there's a case of sickness. And for most people, I think you'll see that as the plate comes by, you'll hold the plate and you'll be able to reach onto the loaf and pull your piece off the loaf. And your fingers will really only touch your piece of bread. You don't have to have your hands all over the loaf. You can just simply pull your piece off. And it's a fairly clean and sanitary situation. Another question. Are we going to be the only church doing this? No, not at all. Now, I don't have statistical data from the OPC, although I'm reasonably sure it must exist somewhere. However, in my travels around the OPC, I have found this to be a fairly common practice. Not every church, but a significant number of them. We're not the only ones. In fact, the last two congregations I served, one OPC, one PCA, we used a common, a single loaf. And so it's not an unusual thing. We should not think that we are the odd church that's out of the mainstream. A final question, and this may be the most important question of all. What are the benefits from this change? I could talk long on this subject. Let me just summarize a few thoughts. God blesses his people when they willingly submit themselves to his authority and when they strive to conform their practice to his word. Blessing always follows obedience. And when the hearts of God's people are tender before the Lord and they say, Lord, we want to do what you have told us, God will bless that in supernatural ways beyond our ability to explain. Secondly, we will all be regularly reminded through this celebration of our union with Christ and of our unity with one another. This becomes a powerful visual lesson of our connectedness to Christ and our connections to his people. Finally, I think this practice will help us to deal lovingly and tenderly with our fellow Christians. and help them to do so with us. This is what I call the jerk factor. Yes, you heard me, the jerk factor. There are people in the Christian community, you know this, that are just hard to deal with. Try as we might, they irritate us. We try and force ourselves to like them. But we're not always so successful. And so the little things that they do just rankle us. And we find ourselves struggling not to despise that person. And then on Sunday, we're sitting there and we look across the aisle at that jerk over there. And we see that he's taking from the one loaf. And we look down at our hand and we say, I took from that loaf, too. That jerk is bound to Christ, just like I am. And if we are connected, each of us, to Christ, there's also an invisible spiritual bond between us. Lord, soften my heart. Help me to be charitable, loving, to this person, and even if they continue to irritate me to no end, help me to love them. And so I suggest to you that by moving in this direction, we are actually proactively strengthening the bond of love within our fellowship. And we will see over the years that we grow tighter and closer because we constantly are reminded we are one body because we partake of the one love.