God confronts
1 Corinthians 11:17-31
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
We will be coming together to eat and drink in a love feast. In this love feast we will also be coming together to participate in Communion or the Eucharist. It is meant to be a meal of togetherness and thankfulness. If we come together with factions and descent we are not demonstrating the truthfulness of the body of Christ, we are not discerning his body! And we eat/drink Judgement!
Let me say this with the utmost clarity, if we come together with sin dividing us as a body we are profaning the body and blood of Christ! We are saying that His death did not unify us as one… we are saying His death was pointless. We proclaim his death every time we partake of communion- we can either proclaim it faithfully by our love for one another or falsely by our selfishness and sin!
Church confesses
Let us turn to Christ, who shed his blood and allowed his body to be broken for us, and confess our sin!
-Do I have any sin against another member of this body?
-Have I demonstrated the Love of Christ through sacrificial service to the members of this body?
-How might I demonstrate this Love today?
God's promise
I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
You are united to Christ by faith. However your unity with Christ is a unity to ALL of HIM, including his members here! If you are truly united to Christ through faith (that works its way out in Love) it is my privilege to proclaim: Your sins are forgiven through Christ!
Congregation: THANKS BE TO GOD!