Sermons

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Table Manners
August 26, 2001
Series on I Corinthians
Pastor Dan Baumgartner

I Corinthians 11: 17-34

My senior year of high school I was involved in a Bible Study with a really great group of guys, some that I played ball with. It might have been the first time I realized that Christians didn’t have to wear shirts buttoned up and carry big black Bibles. This group met our whole senior year. When we headed off to colleges, we still met in the summer, and as we gradually moved further apart we would still meet one time a year.

When we were all home on Christmas break, we would gather on the 23rd of December about 11 pm. We would drive to Magnolia, and climb over the fence into Discovery Park. We would bumble our way out to the cliffs that look over the water, and park ourselves amongst the exposed roots of a big tree. We would sit out there for hours, talking about what was going on in our lives. And we would end the time by taking communion together.

Now, we weren’t really great with the details of getting ready for those times. In fact, one year I distinctly remember stopping by 7-Eleven about midnight for the communion elements. The best thing available was a bottle of Welch’s grape juice and a package of hot dog buns, so we used that. We would serve communion to each other, reading from I Corinthians 11. We didn’t understand an awful lot of things…but those were moments of incredible intimacy…holy moments with God. And 25 years later, as I read Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church…I think there was an awful lot RIGHT going on out on those cliffs. I want you to think about that a bit with me as we read Paul’s teaching on the Lord’s Supper.

Imagine this situation. You go out to dinner at a restaurant with an old friend that you haven’t seen for a very long time. You are really looking forward to being TOGETHER. You order and chat a bit, and then the waiter brings your friend’s food. The waiter says that yours will be along in a minute or two. Your friend, without any hesitation at all, rips into his food, muttering “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse…”

By the time your food arrives, his is well over half gone, with no signs of him slowing down. You’re appalled. You came to dinner so you could be TOGETHER…but it seems like he only cared about satisfying his appetite.

Maybe that’s a teeny bit of what Paul felt like when he heard what was happening in Corinth. As best as we can figure out, the early 1st century Christians met regularly for fellowship, for worship…and for a meal. Since there were no church buildings, they met in the home of whoever had a spacious home…but essentially, they were small meetings.

And the meal seems to have been the original church “potluck,” with people bringing food and drink…at least for themselves, perhaps to share with others. In style, it was very much a descendant of the Jewish Passover meal, including the breaking of bread and the drinking from a cup of wine. For early Christians, this meal was truly a meal, but also incorporated the rituals we associate with the Lord’s Supper.

Now, the make-up of the early church seems to have been quite diverse. There were apparently Christians of economic and social status, with large houses and servants and holdings. And at the same time, it seems that there were freedmen, servants, and slaves. The church cut across a wide spectrum of socio-economic situations.

And it seems that here was part of the issue. Here is what was happening, apparently: On the appointed gathering day, people of some means were arriving earliest at the meeting house. They would bring with them the nice wine and good food that they were accustomed to. They would get the prime seats of comfort (houses seemed to have quite small floor space, and then more room to stand around the edges).

Other people, probably those of working class, or who were servants for others, or even slaves, would arrive later after they had finished their duties. They had perhaps no time to bring food for a meal, or perhaps could afford only a scanty bit. They would have to stand or sit at the outer edges of the room. And by the time they arrived, the “meal” was in full progress…no one had waited for them. Much of the food was gone, certainly the good food. And some of the people were well on their way towards polishing off the wine they had brought. In short, this meal was serving to reinforce whatever social divisions existed there in Corinth.

And Paul writes and says, “When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s Supper.” Oh, you’re coming together all right…at least you’re ending up in the same building. And you’re having supper, perhaps. But it is not the Lord’s Supper. Your supper is all about YOU…your hunger, your thirst, your friends, your comfort. Your supper is all about YOU…about keeping people apart, keeping the lines between people that society has built with income and status. Your supper is creating disunity in the church.

And all of that is diametrically opposite of what the Lord’s Supper is. It’s a different supper…it’s a different table. The table of Jesus Christ is to bring people TOGETHER. It is to erase the artificial lines. And it is about quenching a different kind of hunger and thirst…one that goes very deep.

Now, you need to know that through the history of the church the Lord’s Supper has been the cause of incredible disagreements. Churches have split, books have been written, wars have been fought…over what happens at the Lord’s table.

Some people believe…that the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament, a special and unique way that we experience God’s grace. Others believe that the Supper is a memorial or symbol, that helps us remember. Some believe that the actual presence of Christ is here in the physical elements of bread and wine or juice. Some say the sacrifice of Christ happens here. Others say, no, Christ was crucified one time for our sins, and He is now seated at God’s right hand. Insofar as these differences are divisive, and bring disunity to the church…I think Paul would say: “That may be your supper…but it’s not the Lord’s.”

Something incredible does happen at this table. For many of us at Bethany, sharing in the Lord’s Supper has become an extremely important element of our worship. Reformed theology, like that taught in the Presbyterian tradition, affirms that this sacrament is important … AND that it is something far more than symbolic. Our spiritual forefather John Calvin, trained as a lawyer and a very systematic thinker, wrote page after page trying to diagram HOW it is we come into the Lord’s presence through the supper.

Here is what he wrote: “Now, if anyone should ask me how this takes place, I shall not be ashamed to confess that it is a secret too lofty for either my mind to comprehend or my words to declare; and to speak more plainly, I rather experience it than understand it.” Through it we become aware that we are in God’s presence, that God’s grace is uniquely made present to us. It is a physical act which is a spiritual experience. When we come to the Lord’s table, we are on holy ground. . . .

Most of the 16th century Reformers would agree that a miracle happens here. The miracle at the table is NOT that the communion elements change…but that we do. We come, together, and we receive the grace of Christ.

It would be just like Paul, of course, to identify a trouble spot…and point the Corinthians…and us…back to Christ. It is quite literally Paul’s answer to everything.

You’ve got it all wrong, Paul writes. Your supper is all about you and the barriers among you…you giving yourselves the best. But the Lord Jesus was about removing barriers…and giving the very best, Himself…away. You’ve got it all mixed up, and I know what you need: You need to hear the story once again.

“For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks…” (v. 24-25). He points the Corinthians back towards Christ. And when he is done, he reminds them …that their experience of Jesus is not bound by time. The presence of Christ totally surrounds them (v. 26): “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup (doing it right now, in the present), you proclaim the Lord’s death (happened in the past) until he comes (it will happen in future).” “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

And then in verse 27, Paul says, “Now, listen: Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”

What Paul means, in context here, by an “unworthy manner” has to do with the disregard for the needs of those around you. The “unworthy manner” of focusing our attention only on ourselves. Now, there is a very real sense in which we need to come to grips with this, and it’s partly why we normally have a time of confession here at Bethany PRIOR to the Lord’s Supper.

But this has been misrepresented by many down through the ages to say that “only those whose lives are spotless, who have everything together” ought to be at the table. Nothing can be further from the truth. If only those who have their lives all together can come to the Lord’s Supper…it will be a very short line in front of the table...and I won’t be in it. Confession is partially a time to be reminded of our need. And the invitation from Christ is for people like us…people who are tired, or sick, or feel dirty, or are thirsty…to come and experience the forgiveness and healing and presence of the risen Lord Jesus.

What does that look like?

My favorite Broadway show is “Les Miserables.” For those of you who know the story, you’ll remember that the main character is Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread for his family. When he is finally released, he is simply turned loose out in the countryside. He goes about from community to community, town to town looking for a new start, for a job, for food. But everywhere he is rejected and cast out.

Finally he stumbles onto the home of a local Bishop in the church…and is invited to dinner. After this long journey, he is wonderfully welcomed by the Bishop. He is walked into the dining room of the Bishop’s home where there is a table set just for him: white tablecloth, candles, silverware, people to talk with…it is set for him alone. The Bishop says, “Sit down, you are tired and thirsty…and this will help revive and heal you.”

Friends, as we come to this place, God touches us…the God that longs to revive and heal us.

We may not understand everything about this mystery. It may be hard to explain. Maybe we shouldn’t use Welch’s grape juice and hot dog buns. But this morning I’m not inviting you to a snacktime of wafers and juice. I’m inviting you to participate in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, who though he did not have to…gave himself on our behalf. There is much we don’t know. But I do know…that as we come together, aware of our own deep need, and the needs of those around us…we come to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is good. It is very, very good.