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.

We Meet the Lord, Crucified and Risen

I will summarize rather than read today’s text from Luke 24:13-35. On Resurrection Sunday afternoon, two disciples of Jesus were walking to Emmaus, a village about seven miles from Jerusalem, talking with grief and despair about the events of the week. The risen Jesus drew near and walked along with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. They expressed their previous hopes that seemed to them to have come to an end with the crucifixion. Their despair was so deep that they took no renewed hope in the empty tomb or in the women’s testimony that angels had told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus responded, “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” It was drawing toward evening when the disciples came to their destination and invited the still unrecognized Jesus in to dine with them. I take up the reading with Luke 24:30: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’ 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’ 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

We at First Christian Church of Berryville are a people of the Lord’s Table. Week by week, we gather around this Table to meet our Lord, crucified, risen, and present. For many of us, the observance of the Lord’s Supper is the high point both of the worship service and of our week. Strangers may ask how we can do this every week without allowing it to become humdrum, a merely empty ritual. They are rightly aware of a danger that does exist, but it is a danger that ought not exist. Coming to this Table is like going to a gourmet restaurant which offers a brand new special every day; there is always some rich new experience available at this Table if only our eyes are opened to see it.

It was on Thursday evening just prior to his Friday crucifixion that Jesus observed a last Passover meal with his disciples, instituting the Lord’s Supper as a new covenant meal to be regularly observed by his followers in all times and places, taking bread, blessing and breaking it, and giving it to his disciples. It was on Sunday evening, just after the discovery of his empty tomb that morning, that Jesus supped with two disciples in the village of Emmaus, and, it was as he took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, their Risen Lord. I do not think that it is an accident that the wording of what Jesus did at table on Thursday evening prior to his crucifixion and what he did at table on Sunday evening following his resurrection are so closely similar. This is the Table not only of crucifixion, but also of resurrection. It is a Table of many experiences.

I want to lay before us today just a portion of the richness of this Table summarized by seven words: 1. Commemoration, 2. Proclamation, 3. Examination, 4. Participation, 5. Anticipation, 6. Incarnation, and 7. Celebration.

1. Commemoration In instituting the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me.” The Greek and Hebrew words behind memory involve more than mentally recalling something; they involve re-entering the experience. This meal is a commemoration, a memorial, a re-presentation of what Jesus has done for us as he fulfilled all the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament, especially as he opened the possibility of our redemption from sin, death, and hell by dying for us on the cross. I remember a time when the Lord’s Supper in many churches was observed as if it were a funeral service for Jesus, complete with grief and gloom. It was considered irreverent not to act as if you had just suffered an irreparable loss. Nothing could be less appropriate. Note that Jesus who instituted the commemoration meal saw the grief of the two disciples on the Emmaus road as a sign that they were foolish and slow of heart to believe. To be sure, Jesus’ death on the cross was agonizing and so a solemn awareness of the cost of our redemption, and an awestruck wonder at his amazing self-giving love, is appropriate. But although Jesus died, he is not dead, and although he died because of our real guilt, the point is that he died and was raised to redeem us from that guilt. What we are most to commemorate is that, as the redeemed of the Lord Jesus, we have entered a new and eternal covenant with God. Let us commemorate his great gift of redemption with that attitude of joyful gratitude for redemption.

2. Proclamation One of the benefits of observing the Lord’s Supper weekly is that it guarantees, whatever the deficiencies of the preacher (ahem), that you will receive in every worship service a proclamation of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and a very potent proclamation it is, complete with tangible representations of the torn body and poured out blood that paid the cost of our redemption. The Lord’s Supper is the enacted gospel, the supreme object lesson of the lavish and costly grace of our God. More than a few people have been converted by the sight of it. Let us at this Table proclaim his death, resurrection, exaltation, and coming again until all is fulfilled.

3. Examination When we are baptized into Christ, we die to sin and come alive to God. Paul says that it is not appropriate for the baptized to go on sinning. But ungodly actions and attitudes continue to creep into our lives. It is not fitting for us to be re-baptized each time we stumble, but it is very important for us to get back on track as quickly as possible. The Lord’s Supper offers us weekly opportunity to examine our hearts, minds, and actions, to confess our sins, to repent, and to seek the renewal that Jesus offers. We all know that skipping regular maintenance of a vehicle or of a home heating and air conditioning unit is asking for big trouble down the road. The Lord’s Supper is sort of a spiritual maintenance contract that comes with our baptism. It is foolish to pass it up.

4. Participation Paul tells us that the Lord’s Supper is a participation in the body and blood of Christ and in the body of Christ, the church, the community in all times and places of all who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Savior and Lord of the world. The Greek word translated participation is koinonia. It can also be translated as sharing, fellowship, association, or community. It is the word from which our term communion comes. Translators who choose the word participation or sharing are emphasizing our active involvement in the community. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper establish a community of faith in whose fellowship and mission we are active participants. The community of faith is vital to our experience of the Lord’s Supper. The church is founded on the costly grace and self-giving love of our Lord Jesus, and that grace and love must find expression in our relationships with fellow believers and in our sharing the gospel in words of truth and deeds of love with those who are not yet members of Christ’s church.

5. Anticipation Some Bible scholars have noted that, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their eyes were opened to their fallen condition, and that this led to their hiding from each other and from God, and to their being excluded from the Garden of Eden where they had enjoyed perfect fellowship with God and access to the tree of life. The scholars also notice that, when Jesus breaks bread with the two disciples at Emmaus, their eyes are opened to recognize the risen Jesus whose resurrected body is the anticipation of the resurrection we will share in a perfect new heaven and new earth, a restored Eden, complete with an even better tree of life. It is a very different sort of eye-opening event. This Table holds before us the perfect restoration of all creation as a greater and grander Eden where the faithful will reign with Jesus. This Table reminds us to live in anticipation of the future perfection, leaning toward as much of it as possible in this life, praying in words and actions, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Where are you today? Recognizing that you have lost something precious through sin? Or, recognizing that Jesus lives to restore the perfection we have tossed away? Our eyes need to be opened to both realities, but the dominant message of this Table is one of gracious restoration.

6. Incarnation The Word of God was incarnated or made flesh in Jesus Christ at the time of his conception and birth. We are made one with the incarnate Christ at our new birth through the waters of baptism, and that incarnation is regularly renewed in us at the Lord’s Table. Christ is really present to us when we gather around this Table. He meant what he said when he used the words, “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” I am not saying that some sort of magical transformation takes place in the molecular structure of the bread and wine when the words of institution are uttered. I am saying that Jesus is really present not just at the Table, but in these elements on which we are spiritually fed. Because of your baptism and because of your participation at this Table, Christ is really in you as you leave this place and go about your daily lives. He feeds you; he nourishes you, he imparts his nature and purpose to you. Because Christ is in you, you must take proper care of his life in you. Your eating, sleeping, working, playing, serving, studying, praying, and worshiping should all be undertaken with the awareness that Christ is really in you. You are the vessel through which people around you see his grace reaching out to them. Take care that you put good things into your body and mind in which Christ dwells. Take care that your actions and attitudes represent his gracious heart of redeeming love.

7. Celebration Among other things, the Lord’ Supper is an advance experience of the Messiah’s banquet table in the new creation. People will come from east and west, from north and south, from every tribe and tongue and ethnic group and nation to sit at Table in the new heaven and new earth. In short, it is a party. Now I quickly must say that it is not a party like a slumber party, or a fraternity party, a Super Bowl party, a cocktail party (it is not about us, our revelry, our entertainment, our social advancement, and so forth). This party is focused on one subject, the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. In Luke 14, Jesus told a parable about a great banquet to which many proper guests were invited, but they were too involved in the world’s pursuits to come; the master said that none of those who failed to prioritize his party would be allowed to enter. He extended the invitation to people of lesser worldly qualifications who knew how to value and prioritize a good party. In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables, the first about a lost sheep, the second about a lost coin, and the third about a lost son. Each lost thing is found, and in each case the finder throws a party. In the first two parables, Jesus concludes by saying that, just so, there is joyous partying in heaven over every lost person who returns to God. Listen closely now. We are getting to the culminating point of the sermon. In the third story, the elder brother of the found son, complains bitterly about the party and refuses to attend. The father explains that it is only fitting to celebrate, for the younger brother was dead and is now alive, was lost and is now found. The implication is that, if the elder brother shared the Father’s heart, he would be inside celebrating instead of outside complaining. That is the gospel truth, and it is the truth we are commanded to celebrate at this Table.

In summary, the Lord’s Table has many levels of experience. Let’s not miss any of them.

1. Commemoration, 2. Proclamation, 3. Examination, 4. Participation, 5. Anticipation, 6. Incarnation, and 7. Celebration.