Attitude Matters

Introduction

What does the phrase “Lord’s Supper” mean to you? What images come to mind? What purposes are understood? Each week we meet together in order to express our praise and thanks to the God who sustains us. But the pinnacle of our time together is the Lord’s Supper. Some come to the supper with the intent to make sure they are not offended. They surround the supper with rules and tradition so as to make sure we do not violate God’s commands. But God is actually fairly silent about the Lord’s Supper. The few words that are found are less direct command and more inference about what happens.

Extra biblical documents are helpful to understand the significance and practice of the early Christians. Our text this morning is one of the few texts that give us some insight into the practice of the early church. We need to understand that Paul is not giving a theological treatise about the supper. He is correcting a problem in the Corinthian house churches. As we have seen, these early believers had a hard time keeping their cultural attitudes out of the assembly. The emphasis on status; the attitude that allowed one to be superior to another; the desire to win at all costs—these cultural views influenced the assembly. Paul is clear when he says that he has no praise for these believers. He is highly disappointed in their lack of love and unity. He writes to correct it.

Paul’s point is that the attitude of the believers matters. To approach the supper as if someone is better than another misses the whole point of the supper. To shame another is to miss the nature of Jesus’ sacrifice. The supper is a time to remember what Jesus did and to make sure we are all equal before the Lord. Equal in standing with God and with each other. We are all the same as we come to cross and remember. There is no distinction when we submit to Jesus. Let’s remember the great love of God today.

Setting

Paul clearly states that the problem he is going to deal with is the division that is occurring among the believers when it comes to the Lord’s Supper. To fully appreciate the situation we need to understand several cultural differences between these 1st century believers and us. The first difference is that the early church met in homes not in buildings like we do. The building movement came hundreds of years later. This is an important distinction to make because the houses of the Roman world were designed quite differently than our own. Do not envision a 21st century house. Only the wealthy could have a place that was large enough for a group of 20—30 to meet.

The second major difference is that the Lord’s Supper in Paul’s day was shared in the context of a full meal. The believers would meet at the wealthy member’s house and share in a meal. While there is some disagreement, it appears that the host would provide the bread and wine and then all the others would be food to be shared. This is not a potluck meal. There were several issues associated with this arrangement.

First, those who were slaves would have had a difficult time bringing much food at all.

ii. Second, those who were slaves would have had a difficult time arriving on time.

Here is an artist’s rendering of an early Roman house. As you can see the design of the house is quite different from our own. There is at least one large hole in the roof. This is to collect the rain water. This small pool of water is housed in the atrium. This would have been a very cool place. With the roof open, air would circulate through the atrium. Look carefully. This room is called the triclinium. It is similar to our dining room; however, there are no chairs. Instead there are couches for reclining while eating. It was intended to provide a place for eating, visiting, entertaining, and discussing important matters. This arrangement is part of the problem in Corinth. The wealthy host along with his close friends, who would also have been well to do, were invited to eat in the triclinium. The poor and late arrivers would meet in the atrium.

The divisions are based on physical separation but there is also another division. It is the attitude that says the wealthy are better than the poor. Verse 19, in sarcastic fashion, Paul notes that these divisions are necessary in order to demonstrate who the elite are. The problem has become that the wealthy have separated from the poor, physically and spiritually. The wealthy have a full meal. They bring the best food and leave it in the triclinium so that they can enjoy it. The poor and late arrivers come and meet in the atrium. They are able to share a small portion of food. Paul is clear, this is not the Lord’s Supper, where Jesus shared his Passover food with everyone.

This is part of Paul’s remedy. Everyone should eat the bread together. Then everyone should share in a meal together. Then all share in the cup together. The Lord’s Supper surrounds the communal meal as the means by which they experience complete unity. The ultimate remedy is that everyone eats together. The point of the meal isn’t to fill one’s belly. The point is to separate from the world (v. 32). The Lord’s Supper was the means by which each participant affirmed their break with the world and to find comfort in sharing the meal with fellow believers.

Application

So what does this passage have to teach us? Some come to the text trying to make it a series of commands about the Lord’s Supper. There has been much focus on the phrase “examine oneself” in verse 28 and equal attention given to the phrase “unworthy manner” in verse 27. The result has come a theology about the supper that goes beyond what Paul intended. There have been those who have taught that one should refrain from taking the supper because their mind isn’t right at the moment or their life isn’t right with God. This could not be further from the truth that Paul is conveying. We are binding where God has not bound.

What is true based upon these phrases is to make sure that we do not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. 1 Corinthians 10:12, if you think you are strong, be careful that you don’t fall. To examine oneself or to take in an unworthy manner is to take the supper in arrogance and pride believing that you are better than others. It is as Paul writes in verse 29 to eat without recognizing the body brings condemnation. This recognition has a dual meaning. To fail to recognize the body of Christ points us back to the cross but it also points us to the truth that it is at the foot of the cross that we are all equal. No one stands at the foot of the cross. We all bow down and recognize that Jesus saves us. This will result in fully sharing the meal together, rather than making distinction between rich and poor.

From this text some have bound that the statement in verse 22 regulates that we are no longer to have the Supper in the context of a meal. This was not Paul’s intent and is to push the text to go further than intended. In fact, in verse 33 Paul instructs them to eat together. It was the separation that he was dealing with and now is telling the wealthy to come out of the triclinium and join everyone in the atrium. The truth is that once we left the house church and went to buildings having a meal together became more difficult. I believe our monthly meals together comes close to allowing us to experience something close to what the early believers experienced. But the early experience cannot be replicated in a group of 100 as easily as it can with a group of 20—30.

So what is the application? The purpose of the supper is to remind us of the very nature of Jesus. His sacrifice was for our benefit. But his sacrifice was not merely so that we could be forgiven. If the sacrifice doesn’t generate within us a desire to sacrifice for each other, then the sacrifice for us is meaningless. The Savior’s sacrifice leads to sacrifice. God in the flesh gave himself so that we would share in his victory of life with God. There is no place for boasting, looking down our noses at some else or to look at another and see them as above us. We are all equal at the cross. Invitation.

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