The Table of the Cross-Shaped Life

John Turner's sermon from Thanksgiving Sunday, November 21, 2010

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Old Corinth had been destroyed, but because Rome needed a city in this strategic transportation and commerce hub, they had sent freed slaves to found a new city. There were opportunities for rapid advancement, and several generations into the development of the new city, self-made stature was the great emphasis of Corinthian culture. Social life was designed to display economic and social advancement. Prosperous homes typically had dining rooms that could serve 9 to 12 people and a courtyard that could handle another 30 to 60. For large banquets, those of highest status were invited to the dining room. Others had to make do in the courtyard. The quality and quantity of food and wine was much greater in the dining room than in the courtyard. Some gorged and got drunk in the dining room while others observing from the courtyard had less or even nothing. There are a number of complaints about this practice in the Greco-Roman literature of the time.

The practices and the attitudes of the culture crept over into the church. Corinthian house church worship meetings tended to resemble secular banquets, complete with status distinctions and unequal provisioning of the guests; this was true even of the Lord’s Supper. Paul saw that this was completely contrary to Jesus’ purposes for his world, for his church, and for this table.

The Bible does not say how often the early church celebrated the Lord’s Supper. Where fellowship meals were a daily affair, as may have been the case in Jerusalem, some scholars believe that they opened each meal with the bread representing Jesus’ body and closed it with the cup representing his blood. Probably in Corinth and most mission churches, the Lord’s Supper was observe d at least on the evening of the first day of each week. However often it was celebrated, and by whatever means, Paul wanted to talk about the right attitude in which to celebrate it.

1. Paul understood that this meal is a Thanksgiving meal, a table of gratitude for the blessings that are ours in Christ. Our high church Christian friends have long called this meal the eucharist, which is simply a form of the Greek word eucharistia meaning thanksgiving. Right at the center of that word is the Greek word charis, meaning grace or unearned gift. This is the table where we receive and make grateful response to the unearned gift that is ours through Jesus Christ, the gift of his incarnation, his life and ministry, his death and resurrection, his ascension, his coming again, and his eternal new creation; AND the gift to us of forgiveness, of being clothed in his righteousness, of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, of being called and gifted as children and servants of God, of being assured that we are co-heirs with Christ of the new heaven and new earth. We have abundant reasons to give thanks at this table.

2. Paul asserted that this is a meal of proclamation. He said that, whenever we come to this table, we are proclaiming a message about the significance of Jesus’ death, and, by implication, the subsequent resurrection, ascension, and coming again. That fits with Paul’s overall message in the entire First Letter to the Corinthians where, focusing on Christ’s self-giving love on the cross, Paul then draws out theological, moral, spiritual, social, and missional implications for the church. Because our salvation is rooted in an incredible act of costly grace displayed by God the Father through God the Son, every part of our lives is to show our deep appreciation of this fact. On the basis of his message of the cross, Paul says to us, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” In other words, let everything in your life be a proclamation of the amazing grace we know through Jesus Christ. That proclamation is in focus at this table.

3. At the heart of Paul’s thinking was that the meal offered at this table defines a covenant community of those whose lives have been and continue to be primarily shaped by the gracious, saving, self-giving love of Jesus Christ. When we were baptized, we were symbolically and sacramentally dying with Christ to the power of sin to dominate our lives and coming alive with Christ to the power of the Holy Spirit to renew our lives in the image of God. That was our start on the Christian life, but that business of dying to sin and coming alive to God needs regular maintenance. Here at the table we are invited to check up on whether we are letting any wrong attitudes and practices, things not consistent with our baptism into Christ, creep into our hearts and minds. If we find things that don’t fit with being shaped by the cross of Christ, we repent, we get our signals straight and head in a new and better direction. We are in covenant with all who have been baptized into Christ, with all who share this supper with us, a covenant that together we are on a journey of renewal in self-giving love through our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Since this table defines a covenant community, we need to recognize that our intentionally choosing to treat each other as beloved fellow pilgrims toward the cross-shaped, Christ-like life is a key test of whether we are ourselves on the path of renewal for which this table provides the spiritual food.

4. In writing to the Corinthian Christians, Paul was teaching them that status distinctions were to be left at the foot of the cross, that each believer’s significance in the church was to be measured by their moving toward Christ-like character and by their mutual loving service to one another. Nowhere should this be more evident than in their covenant meal which proclaimed the self-giving love of Jesus Christ on the cross as the foundation of their community life.

Paul’s message is not about the obligation of the prosperous to be tolerant and generous to the poor. The message is that the actions of the church should indicate that all believers were together on an adventure in cross-shaped living, that they were to help one another on that journey. The message is about mutuality, learning from one another, helping one another. Paul himself knew that he had a ways to go on his own journey. Paul later wrote to the Philippians about his goal of becoming like Jesus in his self-giving, loving death, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” And he thanked the Philippians for the ways they helped him on his journey and in his calling. We are a covenant community of people on the journey toward the cross-shaped life. Not one of us is yet perfected. Every one of us is in need of the help of our faithful friends. We must learn to treat one another as beloved fellow pilgrims and covenant partners. We help one another with the understanding that one day, indeed at any moment, any help we offer will be returned many times over.

But the Corinthian Christians were unthinkingly carrying worldly status into their Christian gatherings. Paul said, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper that you eat.” Why not? They had the right elements. They said the right words. It was not the Lord’s Supper because it was not advancing the cause for which the Lord died. It was not the Lord’s Supper; it was a meal upholding the cultural traditions and social rankings within their community rather than supporting the redeeming mission of their Lord.

5. Paul asserted that it is dangerous to partake of this meal without submitting to its life-changing force. Paul tells the Corinthians, “When you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse.” And again, “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.” That is pretty strong language. How are we to understand it?

Paul’s warning does not mean that you have to hold to the right sacramental theory, whether transubstantiation, consubstantiation, or real presence. Paul taught that we really are participating in Christ’s body and blood through our participation in this meal, but there is no evidence that he insisted on any one theory about how that worked.

Paul’s warning does not mean that, if you are not sufficiently gloomy about the suffering Jesus did for you, if you are not acting like you are mourning at Jesus’ funeral, you will be punished. The Paul who said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, Rejoice!” would hardly commend gloominess!

Paul’s warning does not mean that, if you fail to make yourself worthy before coming to the table, then you may be punished for your presumption. Paul did not believe that even one of us is worthy or that we can make ourselves so. Paul did not say, “You have to be worthy to take the Supper.” Paul did say, in effect, “You have to receive it in a worthy manner.” That is very different. Receiving it in a worthy manner is precisely receiving it with full awareness that we are not worthy, that it is indeed amazing grace at the heart of what is represented at this table.

Paul’s warning did not say that everyone who receives it unworthily will become ill and die. He did not say that those who receive it worthily will never become ill or die. Paul himself had some persistent affliction which was not removed through his earnest prayers, and he certainly expected that, if Jesus did not return sooner, he would one day die.

Paul’s warning does, however, mean that there is a built-in divine judgment when we fail to receive the benefits God offers us, and that sometimes we will experience, in the area of our physical health, the consequences of our failure to line our lives up with Jesus. If we think that our lives are all about us, our desires, our feelings, our agendas, then we will suffer the consequences of our improper, out-of-balance living, sometimes in our health. If we are hypocrites when we come to this table, not coming for the right reasons of deepening our cross-shaped, Christ-like living, then our coming will place an extra burden on our lives; double-mindedness is a stress factor that ultimately wears us down. If we will not allow Jesus to deepen our spiritual roots, then our lives will not unfold as they were designed to unfold. It is only by following Jesus that we will eventually become all that we were created to be. Basically, I believe that Paul meant, “If your life is not being a shaped by the self-giving love of the cross, then you are missing the vital benefit of this meal. You will miss the transforming, vitalizing power of the gospel. Your life will be out of balance, and you will suffer in every area of your life. In that case, this meal will be of no benefit to you and may actually deepen your problems, including physical problems.”

The good news—and this is very important--is that every one of us can partake worthily:

1. coming with thanksgiving for the grace we know through our Lord Jesus Christ

2. proclaiming the death, resurrection and ultimate victory of Jesus Christ and seeking to live the cross-shaped life,

3. knowing that we are part of a covenant community of pilgrims journeying together toward our Christ-like destiny,

4. understanding that, with the support of our faithful friends, we can gradually learn to recognize and repent of any values and practices that are not compatible with Jesus’ saving, transforming purposes,

5. approaching this table with hearts sincerely and humbly open to what Christ would do this day to move us forward on our journey.

This church is a fellowship of this table, a covenant community of faith in Jesus Christ, being transformed from one degree of glory to another into his likeness. If that sounds like a good deal to you, receive it, share it, show it.