A farmer once hired a man to work for him. He told him his first task would be to paint the barn and said it should take him about three days to complete. But the hired man was finished in one day. The farmer set him to cutting wood, telling him it would require about 4 days. The hired man finished in a day and a half, to the farmer’s amazement. The next task was to sort out a large pile of potatoes. He was to arrange them into three piles: seed potatoes, food for the hogs, and potatoes that were good enough to sell. The farmer said it was a small job and shouldn’t take long at all. At the end of the day, however, the farmer came back and found the hired man had barely started. “What’s the matter here?” the farmer asked. The hired man replied, “I can work hard, but I can’t make decisions!”1
I imagine that many of us sometimes feel the same way. We feel as though we could glide through life rather smoothly if we just didn’t have to make so many decisions. There is a sense of responsibility that comes from making decisions that can be overwhelming to us. If someone would just tell us what to do, we could do it, and we could do it well.
But the truth is, we cannot escape the fact that we have to make decisions. We make millions of decisions in our lives, dealing with everything from what we will wear on a daily basis to who we will marry. Some of these decisions feel very insignificant, but some feel so important and life-changing that the fear of making a bad choice can become a crushing burden in our lives.
So how can we make good, God-honoring choices? How should we approach the process of decision making? These are the questions that we will deal with today in our study of the book of Proverbs. Let’s look together at three principles that Solomon shares with us about how to make good decisions.
I. Choose to Follow God’s Way of Living, Not Your Own
For every decision that we face in life, we can find guidance in God’s written Word—the Bible. This is true for every decision, without exception. In the Bible, God has explained the kind of life we should live, so as we make our decisions, we should choose to follow His way of living—not the way of living that might flow from the sinful desires that we have in our hearts.
Let’s look at a very familiar passage—Prov. 3:5–6. First of all, Prov. 3:5 says [READ 3:5]. One thing that we need to realize in life is that our understanding of the world has been influenced by many different things—such as the culture in which we live, the time period in which we live, and the part of the world in which we live. Our understanding of the world is influenced by many things, and they haven’t all been good influences!
Therefore, we need to trust in God and embrace His way of looking at our world. And as this verse says, we need to embrace His way whole-heartedly, because sometimes God’s way is really different from our way of looking at the world. For example, think about the command that God gives us to love our enemies. That command seems so backward to us. We’re tempted to think, “How in the world will it help me to love my enemy? I’ll just become a doormat, and he will just walk all over me!” But we can’t even imagine how God may work through our love, so when we’re faced with a choice like this in a relationship, we have to follow God’s way of living instead of our own.
Verse 6 then goes on to say, “In all your ways acknowledge him.” Now we could misunderstand this statement if we only took a casual glance at it. Sometimes we use the word “acknowledge” to speak of thanking someone after we have accomplished something, but this verse isn’t talking about something that we do after we have made a decision. In the American Heritage dictionary, the first definition for “acknowledge” is “to admit the existence, reality, or truth of.” The last option is the one that fits here. When we “acknowledge” God in this sense, we are admitting the truthfulness of His ways; we are agreeing that His way is true and correct.
So, in every path that we choose to follow, if we will admit that God’s path is true and right and then choose to follow that path, the last part of v. 6 says, “he will make straight your paths.” The picture behind this phrase is of someone walking in front of you to move things out of your way. That person is making your path smoother and easier.
A few years ago, President Bush visited the suburb of Kansas City that I was living in at the time, and I went out to the road to see his motorcade pass by. It was really a fascinating thing to watch. Before he came by, the police department went ahead of him and closed down every intersection that his motorcade would pass through. That way, there would be no other vehicles on the road, and he would have a smooth and steady ride all the way to his destination.
That’s the picture in v. 6—if we will trust God and follow His way of living, He will go ahead of us to make life smoother and steadier. This is quite a blessing, and we can enjoy it if we will choose to follow God’s path instead of our own.
Now oftentimes, we find ourselves facing choices where we say, “I would be happy to follow God’s path if I just knew what it was!” These times may come when we face choices about “big” life decisions, like what to do after high school or where we should live or whom we should marry. We often feel like the Bible doesn’t give us specific guidance for these choices, but in fact it does. It gives us specific guidance by helping us assess our motives and our goals.
In every choice that we make, we have certain motivations for making that choice, and we have certain goals that we hope to achieve by making that choice. The Bible has a lot to say about the motives and the goals that we should have in life, and we can get very specific guidance for our choices if we will assess our motives and our goals in light of Scripture.
The Bible is where we should look when we want to find God’s will for any decision. Too often we try to interpret how we feel or what our circumstances are or what the clouds look like on a certain day. But when you face a decision, God doesn’t expect you to try and interpret a shiver in your liver that supposedly tells you what His will is. In the Bible, God has given us all of the guidance that He feels we need, and all He expects of us is to make our choices within the parameters of biblical morality. If you will simply do that, you will be on the right path.
II. Seek and Accept Advice from Other People
After we have looked for God’s will in the Bible, we should seek and accept advice from other people before making our decisions. Follow with me as I read a few verses [READ 11:14, 12:15, 13:10, 15:22, 24:5–6]. All of these verses encourage us to get advice and counsel from other people. Remember who was making these statements—this was Solomon, the wisest man on the planet. 1 Kings 4 says “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore” (4:29). People from all nations came to hear his wisdom (4:34).
So what does the wisest man on the planet say about making plans and decisions? He says it is wise to accept advice from other people. If there was ever a man who didn’t need advice from other people, it was Solomon, yet even he recognized its value and importance.
There are at least a couple of reasons that we need to be willing to accept advice from other people. First, we need to admit that we simply don’t know everything. Only God is omniscient, thus, consulting with other people can help us fill in the gaps in our knowledge so that we can make a better-informed decision.
Second, we have to remember the possibility that exists that we might deceive ourselves when we make our choices. Prov. 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” When we face a choice that has two or three or four options for us, it is very easy to deceive ourselves about why we prefer a certain option. Think if you were offered a better paying job than you have now. This job had better pay, better benefits—the whole package. A motivation of greed could come into play at that point, but it is very easy to dress up greed in nice clothes by saying things like, “I just want to provide more for my family.” Pride might also serve as a motivation, but we can dress that up with phrases like “career advancement” or “climbing the corporate ladder.”
But when we seek counsel from other people, they can help us see through our self-deception. They can bring in points-of-view that will help us think clearly again and make us take a cold, hard look at why we truly prefer a certain option.
III. Avoid Making Hasty Decisions
Follow with me as I read Prov. 19:2 [READ 19:2]. Your translation may read “a soul without knowledge” or “a person without knowledge.” The Hebrew term has a very broad range of meaning. It can refer to the entire person, or just the inner person—the soul—or even specifically to the desires of the soul. Regardless, this verse is warning us about making a decision before we have acquired adequate knowledge to make a wise decision.
Proverbs 21:5 carries a very similar warning [READ 21:5]. One definition of “diligence” is “attentive care.” A person who exercises attentive care in planning would be very thorough—he would take the time to consider every option and every possibility. The hasty person, however, is in too much of a hurry to give attentive care to planning and decision making and thus ends up in poverty.
Now, “haste” is not a word that we commonly use today. In one sense, it can simply speak of doing something quickly, which is not necessarily bad. But in the verses that we just read, “haste” clearly means making decisions too quickly, without taking the time to think them through. A quick decision is not necessarily bad if you already have enough good information to make a decision, but that’s a big “if.” That is also usually the problem—we simply assume that we have enough information without taking the time to make sure that we’re correct.
Sometimes we feel pressured to make quick decisions because we feel like we have to be “decisive.” That’s a popular term in leadership training today—being “decisive.” We’re told that a leader is decisive—“when you’re on the horns of a dilemma, you have to grab the horns and take charge. You have to be decisive! You can’t let people think that you don’t know what to do, so you have to make a decision!”
Well, again, a quick decision can be okay if you already have all the information you need, but as we have already seen, you better not simply assume that you already know what you need to know. Sometimes hasty decisions are motivated by pride. Perhaps we think we will look weak or ignorant if we seek out advice, so we just make whatever decision looks best and we run with it. Then sometimes we compound our problems by sticking with a bad decision that was made too quickly!
Giving careful thought to your decisions is not a sign of weakness—it is in fact a sign of wisdom. The simple act of making a quick decision means nothing in itself. It doesn’t mean that you are wise, confident, or a good leader. It could actually mean that you are rash, impulsive, impetuous, and downright foolish. So be careful in making your decisions—exercise attentive care in considering your options, and take the time to gather all the information that you need.
We all know the painful consequences that can come from making a bad decision, because we’ve all made bad decisions! We’ve failed to consult the Bible, or we’ve allowed sinful motivations to push us into a bad choice, or we’ve made a decision without really thinking through it. Our decisions are so very important, so it is vital that we take these lessons to heart today. Solomon has encouraged us to take advice from other people; we should start by taking his advice as he has laid it out in this book. Choose God’s way rather than your own; seek and accept advice from others; avoid making hasty decisions. If we will do these things, we can make choices that will keep us on the right path.
1From http://bible.org/illustration/can’t-make-decisions
Accessed May 13, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Honoring Our Mothers and Wives--Mother's Day 2011
A little boy once forgot his lines in a Sunday School presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help. Her son’s memory was blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, “I am the light of the world.” The child beamed and with great feeling and in a loud clear voice said, “My mother is the light of the world!”1
Our mothers may not be the light of the world, but undoubtedly they are the light of our lives. They deserve our thanks and our gratitude every day, but it is also very appropriate for us to celebrate a day like Mother’s Day, where we set aside some time to give them special recognition.
This morning we are going to look at a few verses that encourage us to honor our mothers—and not just our mothers, but our wives as well. We’ve been studying the book of Proverbs for several months now, and at the end of Proverbs we find a poem that praises the “virtuous woman” or the “excellent wife.” Why don’t you turn with me to Proverbs 31?
We find this poem in vv. 10–31. We’re not going to look at this entire poem today; we’re just going to focus on the last four verses that describe how this woman’s children and husband respond to her. If the majority of this poem teaches women to live, then these verses teach children and husbands how to honor their mothers and wives. Let’s read these verses [READ 31:28–31].
Let’s take a look at the behavior of the family in these verses. First, look at the children. Verse 28 says that they “rise up and call her blessed.” You can think of someone standing up to give a toast at a banquet or a party. That’s the idea here—the idea of making a declaration of kind words about another person. The end of the verse says that they call her “blessed,” which means that she is worthy of this praise that they give her.
So we can see that this action from the children even goes beyond the casual compliments that we HOPEFULLY give to our mothers on a regular basis. This behavior is more formal, more solemn, and I think we can say that it is even more public. At the very least, these compliments are spoken to a larger audience than just our mothers. Many of the things for which our mothers deserve praise are unknown to other people because they happen in the privacy of the home. Thus, I think it is very appropriate for us to praise our mothers to other people so that their godly deeds do not go unrecognized.
Next, the poem mentions the husband, and he, too, is praising his wife. He really shows us how to do it, men! He says, “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” That’s good stuff right there!
I think it may be very significant that the Bible records what the husband says to praise his wife. Men, it is very important for us to continually offer verbal praise and affirmation to our wives. This is a need for them that we don’t always understand because of our differences.
There is a book that was published about five years ago that I would encourage all men to read. It is called “For Men Only.” The book was based on a nationwide survey of over 3,000 women, and it was written to help men understand their wives more clearly so that we can love them more perfectly.
In this book, the authors write about the deep need that woman have to receive verbal affirmation from their husbands. In one chapter, they write about feelings of insecurity that women deal with. In their survey, they found that 70% of all women said that they occasionally or often wonder how their husband feels about them. But this might be the most surprising statistic for us, men—only 20% of women said that these thoughts only come up during a period of difficulty in the marriage. Do you understand what that means? Even if things are going fine by all accounts, your wife might still be feeling insecure about your love for her! This is not the way that we think, is it men? We tend to think that everything is fine unless we see our wives walking out the door with luggage! But women don’t feel that way, so they need to hear that you love them, and they need to hear it often. Among women who were younger than 45, 91% said that they occasionally or often feel insecure about their husband’s love. If that’s the case, then we should tell them often that we love them.
Our wives also need to hear that we think they’re beautiful. According to the survey, 60% of all women said that they have a deep need to know that their husband thinks they’re beautiful. Among women younger than 45, that percentage rose to 77%. But here’s the best part, men—when asked how they feel after their husband tells them they’re beautiful, 89% of all women said it makes their day. Only 8% said, “It’s nice, but I don’t care that much,” and only 3% said, “It makes no difference to me.” This means that even if your wife doesn’t feel like she needs to hear this from you, most likely it will make her day if you just tell her! So the husband in this poem sets a great example for us by verbally praising his wife. He tells her how he feels about her, and we should do the same.
Verse 30 is a great verse for every young man to keep in mind as he thinks about a potential spouse. The greatest trait a woman can have is the fear of the Lord. Charm is nice, but it may deceitful. Charm may be the only thing a woman possesses, and if that’s the case, she will not make a great wife. Beauty is great, but it will fade over time. Thus, both charm and beauty pale in comparison to the beautiful spirit that is manifested when a woman fears the Lord, and a woman with this kind of spirit deserves to be praised.
Verse 31 then continues on that theme. It says first of all, “give her of the fruit of her hands.” The concept of “fruit” speaks of what the woman has produced with her hard work. In this poem, the wife has brought prosperity to her home through her hard work, and this verse would tell us that she should be allowed to enjoy some of the benefits that her work has created. It would be unfair and unjust to deprive the wife of such blessings. Various lines in this poem describe other people enjoying what the wife’s work has provided, and she should be allowed to enjoy it as well.
Finally, the poem concludes by saying, “let her works praise her in the gates.” In Old Testament times, many cities had a wall built around them, and the area where the gate was located became the place where public matters were dealt with. Business affairs and legal matters were dealt with there. In Montezuma, USA, we would talk about Main Street; that’s where much of our business is conducted and where people bump into each other. So in the New Montezuma Translation of the Bible, we might say, “let her have a good reputation over on Main Street—among the people who gather for coffee at Eva’s, or the people you bump into in the post office. A virtuous wife deserves a good reputation in public.
Do you know what this means, men? It means that we need to be careful with the things that we say about our wives to others. When the All-Boys Club is in session, its easy to air our dirty laundry a bit, isn’t it? We might joke about our wives or tell stories about some of their short-comings. But—let her works praise her in the gates! Let her enjoy a good reputation among others. A virtuous wife and mother is like an angel from God, so don’t clip her wings with careless words!
Women have such an important role in our world, and that goes for mothers in particular. I want to close by reading a poem that beautifully describes the impact that mothers have on our world. It is called “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle.”
Blessings on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace,
In the palace [or the cottage],
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Infancy's the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mother's first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow--
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Woman, how divine your mission
Here upon our [native] sod!
Keep, oh, keep the young heart open
Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
Are from [mother’s] love impearled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky--
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.2
1 Bits and Pieces, August, 1989
From http://bible.org/illustration/my-mother-light-world Accessed May 4, 2011
2 Poem by William Ross Wallace. Brackets represent my own updates to the language.
Our mothers may not be the light of the world, but undoubtedly they are the light of our lives. They deserve our thanks and our gratitude every day, but it is also very appropriate for us to celebrate a day like Mother’s Day, where we set aside some time to give them special recognition.
This morning we are going to look at a few verses that encourage us to honor our mothers—and not just our mothers, but our wives as well. We’ve been studying the book of Proverbs for several months now, and at the end of Proverbs we find a poem that praises the “virtuous woman” or the “excellent wife.” Why don’t you turn with me to Proverbs 31?
We find this poem in vv. 10–31. We’re not going to look at this entire poem today; we’re just going to focus on the last four verses that describe how this woman’s children and husband respond to her. If the majority of this poem teaches women to live, then these verses teach children and husbands how to honor their mothers and wives. Let’s read these verses [READ 31:28–31].
Let’s take a look at the behavior of the family in these verses. First, look at the children. Verse 28 says that they “rise up and call her blessed.” You can think of someone standing up to give a toast at a banquet or a party. That’s the idea here—the idea of making a declaration of kind words about another person. The end of the verse says that they call her “blessed,” which means that she is worthy of this praise that they give her.
So we can see that this action from the children even goes beyond the casual compliments that we HOPEFULLY give to our mothers on a regular basis. This behavior is more formal, more solemn, and I think we can say that it is even more public. At the very least, these compliments are spoken to a larger audience than just our mothers. Many of the things for which our mothers deserve praise are unknown to other people because they happen in the privacy of the home. Thus, I think it is very appropriate for us to praise our mothers to other people so that their godly deeds do not go unrecognized.
Next, the poem mentions the husband, and he, too, is praising his wife. He really shows us how to do it, men! He says, “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” That’s good stuff right there!
I think it may be very significant that the Bible records what the husband says to praise his wife. Men, it is very important for us to continually offer verbal praise and affirmation to our wives. This is a need for them that we don’t always understand because of our differences.
There is a book that was published about five years ago that I would encourage all men to read. It is called “For Men Only.” The book was based on a nationwide survey of over 3,000 women, and it was written to help men understand their wives more clearly so that we can love them more perfectly.
In this book, the authors write about the deep need that woman have to receive verbal affirmation from their husbands. In one chapter, they write about feelings of insecurity that women deal with. In their survey, they found that 70% of all women said that they occasionally or often wonder how their husband feels about them. But this might be the most surprising statistic for us, men—only 20% of women said that these thoughts only come up during a period of difficulty in the marriage. Do you understand what that means? Even if things are going fine by all accounts, your wife might still be feeling insecure about your love for her! This is not the way that we think, is it men? We tend to think that everything is fine unless we see our wives walking out the door with luggage! But women don’t feel that way, so they need to hear that you love them, and they need to hear it often. Among women who were younger than 45, 91% said that they occasionally or often feel insecure about their husband’s love. If that’s the case, then we should tell them often that we love them.
Our wives also need to hear that we think they’re beautiful. According to the survey, 60% of all women said that they have a deep need to know that their husband thinks they’re beautiful. Among women younger than 45, that percentage rose to 77%. But here’s the best part, men—when asked how they feel after their husband tells them they’re beautiful, 89% of all women said it makes their day. Only 8% said, “It’s nice, but I don’t care that much,” and only 3% said, “It makes no difference to me.” This means that even if your wife doesn’t feel like she needs to hear this from you, most likely it will make her day if you just tell her! So the husband in this poem sets a great example for us by verbally praising his wife. He tells her how he feels about her, and we should do the same.
Verse 30 is a great verse for every young man to keep in mind as he thinks about a potential spouse. The greatest trait a woman can have is the fear of the Lord. Charm is nice, but it may deceitful. Charm may be the only thing a woman possesses, and if that’s the case, she will not make a great wife. Beauty is great, but it will fade over time. Thus, both charm and beauty pale in comparison to the beautiful spirit that is manifested when a woman fears the Lord, and a woman with this kind of spirit deserves to be praised.
Verse 31 then continues on that theme. It says first of all, “give her of the fruit of her hands.” The concept of “fruit” speaks of what the woman has produced with her hard work. In this poem, the wife has brought prosperity to her home through her hard work, and this verse would tell us that she should be allowed to enjoy some of the benefits that her work has created. It would be unfair and unjust to deprive the wife of such blessings. Various lines in this poem describe other people enjoying what the wife’s work has provided, and she should be allowed to enjoy it as well.
Finally, the poem concludes by saying, “let her works praise her in the gates.” In Old Testament times, many cities had a wall built around them, and the area where the gate was located became the place where public matters were dealt with. Business affairs and legal matters were dealt with there. In Montezuma, USA, we would talk about Main Street; that’s where much of our business is conducted and where people bump into each other. So in the New Montezuma Translation of the Bible, we might say, “let her have a good reputation over on Main Street—among the people who gather for coffee at Eva’s, or the people you bump into in the post office. A virtuous wife deserves a good reputation in public.
Do you know what this means, men? It means that we need to be careful with the things that we say about our wives to others. When the All-Boys Club is in session, its easy to air our dirty laundry a bit, isn’t it? We might joke about our wives or tell stories about some of their short-comings. But—let her works praise her in the gates! Let her enjoy a good reputation among others. A virtuous wife and mother is like an angel from God, so don’t clip her wings with careless words!
Women have such an important role in our world, and that goes for mothers in particular. I want to close by reading a poem that beautifully describes the impact that mothers have on our world. It is called “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle.”
Blessings on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace,
In the palace [or the cottage],
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Infancy's the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mother's first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow--
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Woman, how divine your mission
Here upon our [native] sod!
Keep, oh, keep the young heart open
Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
Are from [mother’s] love impearled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky--
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.2
1 Bits and Pieces, August, 1989
From http://bible.org/illustration/my-mother-light-world Accessed May 4, 2011
2 Poem by William Ross Wallace. Brackets represent my own updates to the language.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Why Do We Have a Time for Self-Examination Before the Lord's Supper?--Understanding the Lord's Supper series
You may have noticed that we kind of have a routine here at church. We are not a liturgical church, which means that we don’t have certain prayers or Scriptures that we repeat every week, but we still have a routine. We do about the same number of songs every week, and we have our announcements and offering at about the same time, and the sermon is about the same length (provided that Pastor Tim doesn’t get long-winded!).
Now there’s nothing wrong with routine as long as we understand and remember why we do the things we do. But routines have a way of becoming ruts, and when we get stuck in a rut and mindlessly go through the motions, then we have a problem. It’s like the story about the man who won a beautiful ham as a prize at his job. He proudly brought it home to his wife, and she started to prepare it for dinner. As she did, she took a knife and cut off the end of ham. The husband nearly flipped out when he saw this. He said, “That’s my prize ham! Why did you cut the end off of it?” The wife replied, “That’s the way my mother always cooked ham.” So she calls her mom and asks, “Why did you cut off the end of a ham before you cooked it?” And her mom said, “That’s the way my mother always cooked ham.” So they contact grandma and ask her about it, and grandma says, “I don’t know why you two do it, but I never had a pan that was big enough for a whole ham!”
So as we deal with things in church that might become routine, we want to make sure that we understand what we are doing. One routine or tradition that we have in church is celebrating the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. We don’t celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, but I try to schedule it about every six weeks. This ceremony is one of those routines that could become a rut, so its very important that we understanding the meaning behind this important memorial of Christ’s death.
So, for the next several times that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we’re going to talk about what it means and answer some questions that may come up as we think about this ceremony. The question we’re going to deal with today is, “Why do we have a time for self-examination before the Lord’s Supper?” Where do we find this in Scripture and why do we do it?
Why don’t you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11? When you think of passages that would talk about the Lord’s Supper, you might naturally think of the Gospels, since they record the life of Christ, but actually, what we do today in the Lord’s Supper comes mostly from 1 Corinthians 11. In that chapter, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about some problems that they had in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper and he told them how to properly observe this ceremony.
So our teaching for the Lord’s Supper comes out of the context of problems in that church. As we look at this passage, we’ll see what the problem was and how Paul told them to correct it.
I. The Problem—Divisiveness and Selfishness in the Congregation (11:17–22)
First, let’s look at vv. 17–19 [READ vv. 17–19]. Here, Paul puts his finger on the basic problem—divisiveness. The church in Corinth was a fractured congregation. They lacked unity in their relationships, and this seems to have been the result of rampant selfishness in the congregation. As you read through this book, you discover that the people were being selfish in many different ways. They were being selfish in the expression of their sexuality. Some people were engaged in sexual immorality, and apparently some husbands and wives were also being selfish in this area of their marriage. The people were selfishly taking each other to court in lawsuits; they were selfishly using their freedom in Christ without concern for those who had a weak conscience; they were selfishly using their spiritual gifts to build up their own pride. All of this led to a very divided congregation.
Now in v. 18, Paul seems to acknowledge that the reality of their situation may not be quite as bad as the report he has heard about them. But nevertheless, he says that he believes it, because with these attitudes present in the church, he acknowledges that factions and divisions were inevitable. But as only God can do, we see at the end of v. 19 that even these divisions could have a positive result, because they would reveal who was living with a godly attitude and who was not.
Now—sadly—in the next few verses we learn that their selfishness was on full display in their celebrations of the Lord’s Supper [READ vv. 20–22]. Here’s the background to what Paul was describing in these verses. It was common at that time for churches to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in the context of a meal that was known as “the love feast.” This meal was like the carry-in dinners that we enjoy here, and the Lord’s Supper would be celebrated as part of it.
As with our carry-in dinners, the people would all bring something to contribute to the meal, but as we can see in these verses, the people in Corinth weren’t sharing their food with each other! Can you imagine that? They would all bring what they could bring, but then they would just eat it themselves! And the result, Paul says, is that some people were going hungry, and some people were getting drunk!
What a ridiculous scene this must have been, and it was all a result of the pervasive selfishness that existed in their congregation. As a result, Paul basically said in v. 20, “You can’t really call this mockery the Lord’s Supper!” They were disregarding the Lord’s desire for them and the attitude of the One whom the remembrance was all about.
So in vv. 23–26, Paul goes on to remind them what the Lord’s Supper was all about, and the attitude that was displayed by the Lord was the right example for the people to follow.
II. The Right Example—The Lord Jesus and His Sacrificial Death (11:23–26)
Let’s read vv. 23–26 [READ vv. 23–26]. Obviously, there is much in these verses that we could talk about, and we will over the next several times that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but today, notice several things that remind us how unselfish the Lord Jesus was.
First, Paul notes in v. 23 that Jesus did and said these things “on the night when he was betrayed.” Remember, Jesus’ death came about through an act of betrayal from a close companion. Undoubtedly, this added some emotional grief to everything else that Jesus suffered, but did you realize that Judas was actually present when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper? He was still in the room; he took part in all of this! Luke 22:21 records that after Jesus said and did these things with the bread and the cup, he said, “Behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.” Judas was still there! The Lord allowed Judas to participate in this moment that would memorialize the death that he was about to cause! And remember, shortly before that, on the same night, the Lord Jesus washed Judas’s feet, as he did for the rest of his disciples.
Clearly, Jesus continued to show love to Judas even though he knew what Judas was about to do. He continued to extend compassion and consideration to Judas until the moment that Judas left to do his wicked deed. What an example of selfless love, and this was an example that the Corinthians had disregarded in the way that they observed the Lord’s Supper.
Second, notice the reminder in Jesus’ words that His death was for us. After He had broken the bread, He said, “This is my body which is for you.” Jesus’ death was both for our benefit and in our place. It was the culmination of the most unselfish act in history—when God came into our world as a man, and served us and taught us, and then died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. His great love for us led Him to do this, and we should follow His example to show love to our fellow believers. A preacher from the early church named John Chrysostom reminds us, “that the Master gave up everything, including himself, for us, whereas we are reluctant even to share a little food with our fellow believers.”
Clearly the Corinthians were not honoring Jesus in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This problem needed a solution, which we find in the rest of this passage.
III. The Solution—Examining our Hearts for Selfish Attitudes and Acts (11:27–34)
Because of the way in which they had been treating each other, Paul instructs the Corinthians to have a time for self-examination before they partook of the Lord’s Supper. This step would help them avoid some of the serious consequences that they were facing because of their sin. Let’s read through the end of the chapter [READ vv. 27–34].
As you can see, God considered their mockery of the Lord’s Supper to be a very serious matter. He had brought illness upon some of them because of it, and some of them had died as a result! According to Paul in v. 31, the way to avoid such discipline from the Lord is to judge ourselves—to confess our sins and repent of them and thus deal with them ourselves, so that the Lord does not have to deal with us in discipline.
So we can see there in v. 31 and back in v. 28, Paul instructs us to examine ourselves before we partake of the Lord’s Supper. But what exactly should we be looking for when we examine ourselves? The key is found in v. 29, where Paul says that we must “discern the body;” or we might say “acknowledge the body” or “recognize the body” (your translation may read “the Lord’s body”). The Greek word speaks of rendering a legal decision, which would give someone the justice they deserve.
So what Paul seems to be talking about here is not the physical body of the Lord Jesus, but the spiritual body of Christ—or in other words, the church; the members of the congregation. Paul had already mentioned the spiritual body of Christ in this book, and he was about to launch into a long discussion of it in chapter 12.
Thus, during this time of self-examination before the Lord’s Supper, our primary focus should be to assess our relationships with our fellow Christians, our fellow members of the body of Christ. Certainly it would be appropriate to confess our secret sins to the Lord during that time—those sins that no one else knows about—but first and foremost we should consider the way we have acted toward other members of the church and determine if we have anything that we need to make right with them. This idea is similar to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:23–24—“If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
We cannot pretend to offer God pure worship if we have sinned against His children—our brothers and sisters. This lesson today is just another reminder that my Christian life is not just about me and God—it is about me, God, and others. The Christian life is a communal life; accepting Christ makes me part of a community to which I must be rightly related if I am going to honor God.
So in our time of self-examination before the Lord’s Supper, this is primarily what we are assessing—our relationships with our fellow believers. It could be that we will remember something we have done for which we need to ask forgiveness, and if that’s the case, then it would be best for us to refrain from taking the Lord’s Supper until we have had a chance to make that right. Thus, with this lesson, the Lord’s Supper becomes a reminder not only of our bonds with Christ, but of our bonds with each other as well.
Now there’s nothing wrong with routine as long as we understand and remember why we do the things we do. But routines have a way of becoming ruts, and when we get stuck in a rut and mindlessly go through the motions, then we have a problem. It’s like the story about the man who won a beautiful ham as a prize at his job. He proudly brought it home to his wife, and she started to prepare it for dinner. As she did, she took a knife and cut off the end of ham. The husband nearly flipped out when he saw this. He said, “That’s my prize ham! Why did you cut the end off of it?” The wife replied, “That’s the way my mother always cooked ham.” So she calls her mom and asks, “Why did you cut off the end of a ham before you cooked it?” And her mom said, “That’s the way my mother always cooked ham.” So they contact grandma and ask her about it, and grandma says, “I don’t know why you two do it, but I never had a pan that was big enough for a whole ham!”
So as we deal with things in church that might become routine, we want to make sure that we understand what we are doing. One routine or tradition that we have in church is celebrating the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. We don’t celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, but I try to schedule it about every six weeks. This ceremony is one of those routines that could become a rut, so its very important that we understanding the meaning behind this important memorial of Christ’s death.
So, for the next several times that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we’re going to talk about what it means and answer some questions that may come up as we think about this ceremony. The question we’re going to deal with today is, “Why do we have a time for self-examination before the Lord’s Supper?” Where do we find this in Scripture and why do we do it?
Why don’t you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11? When you think of passages that would talk about the Lord’s Supper, you might naturally think of the Gospels, since they record the life of Christ, but actually, what we do today in the Lord’s Supper comes mostly from 1 Corinthians 11. In that chapter, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about some problems that they had in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper and he told them how to properly observe this ceremony.
So our teaching for the Lord’s Supper comes out of the context of problems in that church. As we look at this passage, we’ll see what the problem was and how Paul told them to correct it.
I. The Problem—Divisiveness and Selfishness in the Congregation (11:17–22)
First, let’s look at vv. 17–19 [READ vv. 17–19]. Here, Paul puts his finger on the basic problem—divisiveness. The church in Corinth was a fractured congregation. They lacked unity in their relationships, and this seems to have been the result of rampant selfishness in the congregation. As you read through this book, you discover that the people were being selfish in many different ways. They were being selfish in the expression of their sexuality. Some people were engaged in sexual immorality, and apparently some husbands and wives were also being selfish in this area of their marriage. The people were selfishly taking each other to court in lawsuits; they were selfishly using their freedom in Christ without concern for those who had a weak conscience; they were selfishly using their spiritual gifts to build up their own pride. All of this led to a very divided congregation.
Now in v. 18, Paul seems to acknowledge that the reality of their situation may not be quite as bad as the report he has heard about them. But nevertheless, he says that he believes it, because with these attitudes present in the church, he acknowledges that factions and divisions were inevitable. But as only God can do, we see at the end of v. 19 that even these divisions could have a positive result, because they would reveal who was living with a godly attitude and who was not.
Now—sadly—in the next few verses we learn that their selfishness was on full display in their celebrations of the Lord’s Supper [READ vv. 20–22]. Here’s the background to what Paul was describing in these verses. It was common at that time for churches to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in the context of a meal that was known as “the love feast.” This meal was like the carry-in dinners that we enjoy here, and the Lord’s Supper would be celebrated as part of it.
As with our carry-in dinners, the people would all bring something to contribute to the meal, but as we can see in these verses, the people in Corinth weren’t sharing their food with each other! Can you imagine that? They would all bring what they could bring, but then they would just eat it themselves! And the result, Paul says, is that some people were going hungry, and some people were getting drunk!
What a ridiculous scene this must have been, and it was all a result of the pervasive selfishness that existed in their congregation. As a result, Paul basically said in v. 20, “You can’t really call this mockery the Lord’s Supper!” They were disregarding the Lord’s desire for them and the attitude of the One whom the remembrance was all about.
So in vv. 23–26, Paul goes on to remind them what the Lord’s Supper was all about, and the attitude that was displayed by the Lord was the right example for the people to follow.
II. The Right Example—The Lord Jesus and His Sacrificial Death (11:23–26)
Let’s read vv. 23–26 [READ vv. 23–26]. Obviously, there is much in these verses that we could talk about, and we will over the next several times that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, but today, notice several things that remind us how unselfish the Lord Jesus was.
First, Paul notes in v. 23 that Jesus did and said these things “on the night when he was betrayed.” Remember, Jesus’ death came about through an act of betrayal from a close companion. Undoubtedly, this added some emotional grief to everything else that Jesus suffered, but did you realize that Judas was actually present when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper? He was still in the room; he took part in all of this! Luke 22:21 records that after Jesus said and did these things with the bread and the cup, he said, “Behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.” Judas was still there! The Lord allowed Judas to participate in this moment that would memorialize the death that he was about to cause! And remember, shortly before that, on the same night, the Lord Jesus washed Judas’s feet, as he did for the rest of his disciples.
Clearly, Jesus continued to show love to Judas even though he knew what Judas was about to do. He continued to extend compassion and consideration to Judas until the moment that Judas left to do his wicked deed. What an example of selfless love, and this was an example that the Corinthians had disregarded in the way that they observed the Lord’s Supper.
Second, notice the reminder in Jesus’ words that His death was for us. After He had broken the bread, He said, “This is my body which is for you.” Jesus’ death was both for our benefit and in our place. It was the culmination of the most unselfish act in history—when God came into our world as a man, and served us and taught us, and then died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. His great love for us led Him to do this, and we should follow His example to show love to our fellow believers. A preacher from the early church named John Chrysostom reminds us, “that the Master gave up everything, including himself, for us, whereas we are reluctant even to share a little food with our fellow believers.”
Clearly the Corinthians were not honoring Jesus in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This problem needed a solution, which we find in the rest of this passage.
III. The Solution—Examining our Hearts for Selfish Attitudes and Acts (11:27–34)
Because of the way in which they had been treating each other, Paul instructs the Corinthians to have a time for self-examination before they partook of the Lord’s Supper. This step would help them avoid some of the serious consequences that they were facing because of their sin. Let’s read through the end of the chapter [READ vv. 27–34].
As you can see, God considered their mockery of the Lord’s Supper to be a very serious matter. He had brought illness upon some of them because of it, and some of them had died as a result! According to Paul in v. 31, the way to avoid such discipline from the Lord is to judge ourselves—to confess our sins and repent of them and thus deal with them ourselves, so that the Lord does not have to deal with us in discipline.
So we can see there in v. 31 and back in v. 28, Paul instructs us to examine ourselves before we partake of the Lord’s Supper. But what exactly should we be looking for when we examine ourselves? The key is found in v. 29, where Paul says that we must “discern the body;” or we might say “acknowledge the body” or “recognize the body” (your translation may read “the Lord’s body”). The Greek word speaks of rendering a legal decision, which would give someone the justice they deserve.
So what Paul seems to be talking about here is not the physical body of the Lord Jesus, but the spiritual body of Christ—or in other words, the church; the members of the congregation. Paul had already mentioned the spiritual body of Christ in this book, and he was about to launch into a long discussion of it in chapter 12.
Thus, during this time of self-examination before the Lord’s Supper, our primary focus should be to assess our relationships with our fellow Christians, our fellow members of the body of Christ. Certainly it would be appropriate to confess our secret sins to the Lord during that time—those sins that no one else knows about—but first and foremost we should consider the way we have acted toward other members of the church and determine if we have anything that we need to make right with them. This idea is similar to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:23–24—“If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
We cannot pretend to offer God pure worship if we have sinned against His children—our brothers and sisters. This lesson today is just another reminder that my Christian life is not just about me and God—it is about me, God, and others. The Christian life is a communal life; accepting Christ makes me part of a community to which I must be rightly related if I am going to honor God.
So in our time of self-examination before the Lord’s Supper, this is primarily what we are assessing—our relationships with our fellow believers. It could be that we will remember something we have done for which we need to ask forgiveness, and if that’s the case, then it would be best for us to refrain from taking the Lord’s Supper until we have had a chance to make that right. Thus, with this lesson, the Lord’s Supper becomes a reminder not only of our bonds with Christ, but of our bonds with each other as well.
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