Passage: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

The Big Idea

The Corinthians had turned the Lord’s Supper into a self-centered party that divided the church and humiliated the poor. Paul reminds them what communion really is: a celebration of the New Covenant in Jesus’ body and blood, proclaiming His death until He comes. It isn’t a ritual to get forgiven or a time to dig up sin. It’s remembering that we are right with God, and honoring His body, the church, with love.

A Mess at the Table (1 Corinthians 11:17)

Paul says that in the following instructions he can’t praise them, because when they come together, it does more harm than good.

Uh oh. They’d made a mess of communion. (Honestly, many churches still do.) They’d made it all about themselves.

Pagan feasts were known for gluttony and wild behavior.
So from their pre-Christian days, they knew how to party!
But they completely missed the new way, the new life Jesus had given them.

New wine, new wineskins

When John’s disciples asked why Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast, Jesus said the friends of the bridegroom can’t mourn while the bridegroom is with them. Then He added: no one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or the tear gets worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins, or the skins burst. New wine goes into new wineskins (Matthew 9:14-17).

The new wine pictures the life of the Holy Spirit.
It can’t be contained in the old wineskin of law-based religious life.
We need new hearts to be fit vessels for the Spirit God wants to live through us.
So God starts by giving us new hearts and making us pure vessels. That’s the first part of grace: we’re forgiven and made pure.
Then the Spirit lives through us. That’s the second part of grace.

This church wasn’t remembering that they were pure and holy vessels of the Holy Spirit. So they were living and celebrating the way they used to, with total self-focus: getting drunk and impatiently gorging on food that was meant for the whole church.

Social class was one of the biggest dividers in that culture, and they leaned right into it.

Divisions (1 Corinthians 11:18-19)

First, Paul hears that when they gather as a church, there are divisions among them, and he partly believes it.

What was meant to celebrate how good Jesus has been to all of us had become something that divided people and made some feel embarrassed and not good enough.

There must be factions among them, Paul says, so that those who are genuine can be recognized.

Paul isn’t saying everyone has to be best friends with everyone. He understands some people are closer than others.
Especially as a church grows, we need smaller circles of close friends to share life with. Those groups give people a chance to grow as leaders and connect more easily.
Different groups in a church can actually help reveal what’s real. As people genuinely live out their faith and keep their focus on Jesus and His New Covenant of grace, the way they treat people outside their circle shows their character.
That’s far better than not connecting with anyone and just ghosting through church and life with no real fellowship.

Not the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20-22)

When they came together, it wasn’t really the Lord’s Supper they were eating.

The Lord’s Supper celebrates what Jesus gave us at the Last Supper: the New Covenant. Grace.

What’s the New Covenant about?

Forgiveness that cleanses us from all sin: God will forgive our iniquity and remember our sin no more (Jeremiah 31:34).
Transformation: God puts His law in our minds and writes it on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
A close, new relationship with God: He will be our God, and we will be His people (Jeremiah 31:33).

Not religion. Not the self-life. Jesus living through us.

But when they ate, each one went ahead with his own meal. One person went hungry while another got drunk. Paul asks: don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? Should I praise you for this? Absolutely not.

That doesn’t sound like Jesus living through them.

What We Celebrate (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

Paul passes on what he received from the Lord: on the night He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way, after supper He took the cup and said, “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 we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

So what is communion?

Some treat it as a religious duty, something you do to earn points with God or obtain His favor or forgiveness. But that misses the point entirely. It turns the focus onto us. Communion is about Jesus, not you.

It’s rooted in the Passover meal from Exodus.
They baked unleavened bread. As it baked it would often get stripes and piercings, which can remind us of the wounds Jesus bore for us (Isaiah 53:5).
As we break the bread, we remember how His body was broken for us.
That’s His sacrifice, His work. Do we celebrate our works? Nope. Only Jesus.

And now we share His body.

What happened to Him happened to us.
His body paid the price for sin and was raised to new life. That’s what we share with Him: a new life, new strength.
It’s all about union with Him. Unity!

Then the cup of wine represents His blood, poured out to establish a new covenant.

Forgiveness of all sin.
And not just forgiveness, but a new heart.
And a new, adopted life with God.

The New Covenant is everything Jesus has given us, the whole point of His life and death. Why did Jesus come? Just for forgiveness? No. For a new covenant. A new life. “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

Proclaiming His death until He comes

When you receive what Jesus did and celebrate it, you’re preaching His good news to the world. Your life matters. You make a kingdom impact when you focus your heart on Jesus.

Look back to His death; look ahead to His coming. We live between those two events, and they’re the only things that ultimately matter. What do we do in the middle? Celebrate Him. What He did, and what He will do. Oh, He’s so good!

Examine Yourself (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. So let each person examine himself, and then eat the bread and drink the cup.

Many people think this means we need to search ourselves for sin before communion. But that’s not what Paul is saying.

Our sin has already been paid for by Jesus. We celebrate that every day.
This is a call to consider how we take communion, partaking in a way that honors the body and blood of Christ, not to dig up sins or wallow in unworthiness.
The examination is about recognizing the meaning of the Lord’s Supper (the New Covenant) and participating in a way that reflects the unity and love Christ’s sacrifice represents.
It isn’t about trying to become more purified or more right with God. Believers are already forgiven and made righteous through Jesus’ finished work (Hebrews 10:10, 14).
Communion celebrates that truth. We come with gratitude and remembrance.

But they weren’t doing that.

Whoever eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Who is the Lord’s body? His church! By their actions, they were dishonoring Jesus by not loving His people.

Serious Consequences (1 Corinthians 11:30)

That’s why many among them were weak and sick, and some had died.

Their behavior was so bad that it brought serious consequences. The Lord was disciplining them.

(How do farmers party? They turnip the beets. Just not like this.)

The Lesson (1 Corinthians 11:31-34)

If we judged ourselves rightly, we wouldn’t come under judgment. But when we’re judged by the Lord, we’re being disciplined, so that we won’t be condemned with the world. So, brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, eat at home, so your gathering won’t bring judgment. Paul will sort out the rest when he comes.

Your life matters. If we choose self-centered lives, we harm the body of Jesus.
He loves His body so much that He’ll protect it. There will be natural, and even supernatural, consequences for self-centered living.
Communion is never about getting forgiven or making things right with God.
It’s about remembering that we are right with God, through everything Jesus did.
We will not be condemned with the world (Romans 8:1).
We’re free and forgiven.
So we freely give Jesus all our lives and hearts again.

Grace Takeaway

Communion isn’t a test to pass or a ritual to earn forgiveness. It’s a family meal celebrating the New Covenant in Jesus’ body and blood. Come with gratitude, look back to the cross and ahead to His return, and honor His body, the church, by loving one another.

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We Put the Union in Communion