Sermon for MHBC (3 April 2022). You can watch on our website or on Facebook or YouTube. Live at 11:00am on Sundays. Also available as a podcast here or by searching “Monument Heights Baptist Church” in your favorite podcast app.
I was having a conversation with a pastor friend this week, who has recently began serving a new church. One of the things he has been untangling is the idea that the church is not important to the Christian life. The previous pastor would often say, “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” No doubt you’ve heard that. And certainly it is true to a degree. Our salvation doesn’t hinge on our works, even our church attendance. But there’s a great danger in making the church secondary to the Christian life.
We are in this mini sermon series on the believer’s privileges—those things that the Lord has uniquely given us for formation and growth as God’s people. Today I want us to consider the privilege of the church. As Baptists, in particular, we believe that the church is the unique privilege of the believer. Baptists believe the only rightful members are believers, and only believers have access to the privileges of baptism and the table. So here’s the unique privilege: The believer is called into the church of God. And that church has sacred possessions, the waters of baptism, the bread and the cup of the table, and the Word of God.
These privileges are on display in 1 Corinthians. While you’re turning there, I want to note something about the word “church.” The basic meaning of the word church in Scripture is “congregation.” Nowhere in the NT does the word church refer to a building. So when I say, “The believer is called into the church of God,” you could substitute “called into the congregation of God” or “called into the people of God.” Whatever phrase you prefer, I just want you to see the foundational privilege of being called into God’s own people.
Now the Corinthian Church is one with many problems. Paul writes to address these problems. When Paul opens his letter to the Corinthians, he says this them: To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours (1:2). Notice all of these phrases.
(1) To the church of God that is in Corinth. There’s that amazing phrase we just talked about—the church of God. Also notice that they are the church of God in a specific location. Nevertheless, they are fully the church of God.
(2) They are made holy in or by Christ Jesus, called to be saints, but not as individuals. They are called to do this together with the collective people of God.
(3) Who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. What is the binding factor for the congregation of God, what is the magnet that draws it together, what is the glue that keeps it together? The shared confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Isn’t that what Paul says in Romans 10:9? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
I’ll return to the importance of confession in just a moment, but let’s go to 1 Corinthians 11 first. Let’s look at the problem of disunity and factions in Corinth. Start in v. 17. And as we read these verses, note the language of coming together or gathering together. Verse 17:
17 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. 18 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, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
The church is a gathering of people. It is a congregation. And it is supposed to be beneficial, but in Corinth, they are fractured. If the church is a singular people, fractures can be dangerous. They can also be exposing—proving who is sharing in the same confession and who is only pretending to.
Now these divisions are especially visible when they gather together to partake in that great privilege of the Lord’s Supper. In the early church, the supper was much fuller, or, at the very least, took part at the end of a shared meal. This is why there’s a problem. Certain people are selfishly using the food while others are neglected. This is a symptom of deep factions in the church.
Look how sharply Paul speaks in v. 20: When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. They aren’t partaking in anything sacred. This is a sobering thought. It is possible for us to miss the benefits of table, especially when we are fostering factions in the church.
But I want to emphasize how sacred this meal is. It is not merely eating some bread and drinking some juice. That’s why Paul can say what he says in v. 20. Another place is in v. 27 when he gives this warning: 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. This verse has been misunderstood in the past, and tragically so in some cases. The text does not refer to the person as unworthy. It refers to eating and drinking from these elements in an unworthy manner.[1] An unworthy manner refers to failing to recognize the sacredness of this meal.
What are they doing to jeopardize the meal? Look at vv. 21–22: For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. The factions are visible at the table, and notice what Paul says about this in v. 22. He says this is despising the church of God.
What is the corrective to this situation? It is returning to a shared confession. I was talking to Jon about this this week, and he rightly pointed out that when Paul is most concerned about fractures in the church, he appeals to a shared confession. We see it in Colossians and Philippians. And we see it here. Look at v. 23: For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. See the connection. The answer to disunity is a shared confession, a shared statement on who God is, what Christ has done, and what that means.
This is a key point for us this morning: our unity is grounded in a shared confession. Paul is explaining to them that when they gather together, they are doing so as something totally different from any other gathering in the world. There are clubs and organizations and teams and fellowships and also sorts of organizations to be part of, but the church is entirely unique. When the church gathers together, it is a gathering of the people of God.
And when we come to the table, we are performing our shared confession. Here’s what I mean. When Paul reminds them that the table proclaims Christ’s death, he’s showing them that they aren’t just eating a meal. They are taking part in the sacred mysteries of their faith. They are performing their confession. By performing their confession, I’m thinking of something like an actor acting out a script. Confessions are like scripts. They tell us the story. They tell us all the details. But confessions must be acted upon. They must be performed. They must be understood. They must be taken up.
Look at v. 26: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Don’t miss this. When we come to the table, we are collectively proclaiming the gospel—the good news that Christ’s death has changed everything. Think about it: We are performing our confession.
This is why Paul is so deeply concerned about their behavior. It calls their entire confession into question. Look at Paul’s advice in vv. 28: Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Why?
Look at v. 29: For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. Discerning the body could be a reference to the congregation—the body of Christ (1 Cor 10:16). Or, he could be referring to consideration that Jesus’s body is represented at this meal—he who gave himself for us willingly. And who are we to be so self-motivated in light of such a sacrifice?
One of the most important commentators on this book writes: “Their behavior has belied the gospel they claim to embrace. Before they participate in the meal, they should examine themselves in terms of their attitudes toward the body, how they are treating others, since the meal itself is a place of proclaiming the gospel.”[2] When we come to confess Christ as Lord, we are invited to gather with the people of God and proclaim our confession together. One primary way we do that is through the Lord’s Supper. The Supper is a hallmark of the church, so when we gather, we must give careful consideration to what we believe, and we must give careful consideration to what we are doing when we are gathered.
We do this to ensure that we understand our privileges as the people of God. Peter says it better than I can.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9–10
Let me close with this application. We must be diligent to grab hold of the privileges of being the church. We must give careful and thoughtful attention to our shared confession; we must attend to those sacred practices of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and they must be administered properly; and we must be diligently devoted to the Word of God. These are chief privileges of the church. And as believers, we have been called into the church of God.
[1] The adverb applies to the verb not the subject.
[2] Fee, 1 Corinthians, pp. 621–22.