AN OLD WAY TO PRESERVE YOUR FAMILY
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
September 19, 2007
mmatevich@aol.com
mikematijevich

Intro:
Tradition can be a very powerful force in your life.
* So important to the local church- God scheduled a family-meal together.
* I wonder if we wouldn't have better results in the church if people took the "eating time" together more seriously.

Three parts (1) The Offense (2) The ordinance (3) The obligation- that we have as believers

I. THE OFFENSE 11:17-22
? Is your family table a BLESSING or a BATTELGROUND?
1 Cor. 11:17 (cp v 2 "I praise you…")
* What God had designed as a blessing had become a battleground.

A. Establish a principle: the Lord's table & the table in our homes are places for unity not division.
1. The Corinthians came together in (chpt. 1 & 3) Paul rebuked them then & here now again.
2. Paul writing that schisms are necessary (v 19)
- "Must be" same word John used & Paul - schisms from time to time in the church so God can purify the body.
Note: Mt 13:35, 38 Devil sows tares- they stay together until He separates them.
From time to time God sweeps through and cleans out the tares so the church can grow.
Note: Mt 18:7
* Divisions & schisms are going to come JUST make sure you are not a part of them.
* Paul back on track here - yes schisms are going to come but the Lord's table is not for that but UNITY!

B. The table of the Lord is a place of sacrificial service & not selfish excess. 11:20-22
In the early years of Christianity when believers came together- very quickly made it into a special celebration.

* They had a ceremony without reality… They had form without substance!

11:22 "Praise you NOT".
* "Ordinances" - they had kept them but perverted them.
* "Sacrament"- man's work upward to avail to God. (man cannot approach God) Grace.
* 2 ordinances- Lord's Supper, Baptism (simple) not a lot of rules here.

* The family table will always reveal the state of the family
* Ask yourself what happens when your family gets together around the dinner table.
Maybe we ought to re-evaluate our lifestyle…
* Why we cancelled our Sunday night service years ago- to spend time with the family & others.

? How did you walk away for the Lord's Table last time? (Bitter & divided or unified & joyful?)

II. THE ORDINANCE 11:23-26

A. The source of the ordinance 11:23a the Lord
1. Think of all the things that the Lord told Paul- he told him the importance of the Lord's Table. (Priorities to Paul) in a world of twisted priorities
a. How will we keep our kids from falling away? Church members gathering around the Table.
2. Acts 2:42, 46-47

* If you had to list the four most important things in the local church today- might have to look hard to find someone that would say the Lord's Supper as one of the four.

B. The setting of the ordinance 11:23b- 26 (Satan's worst God's best) "that night"
1. Jesus knew what was going to happen & he sat down & gave thanks. (in the darkness) God has given us a beacon of Light.
2. This is my body- broken to be distributed
3. A commandment not an option- to remember what Christ is to us. (Joyfully)
4. The cup- the bread (Grace sealed salvation)
5. The frequency of the celebration- "as often" "Shew"= preach (in other places)
(Every time we celebrate the Supper we are preaching a message of salvation)
III. THE OBLIGATION 11:27-34

A. No one is unworthy - but live as though we are unworthy 11:27-31
1. When you come to Lord's Table without examining yourself to see if you are right with God (like the dinner table with Mom)
2. "Not discerning"- discriminating when you come to the Table.
(v 30) euphemistic way of speaking of believers that die.
- Believer needs to judge himself- NOW not God dealing with it later.
B. Need for self-denial following self-judgment 11:33-34
1. "Tarry"- waiter at a meal (server) serving one another

Lesson:
1. There are benefits to a family meal
2. The Lord' Table is more important than most of us ever thought for maintaining unity in the family & spiritual delinquency - and the great falling away.
3. What in your life that needs to be carried to the cross?