Coming Together For The Better

Well, we are right now in week 12 of the coronavirus crisis and the reopening of our society, as many of, is gathering steam. This past week, the reopening began to reach churches here in California. And it did so at a quicker pace than previously expected. After our president ordered all churches to be opened immediately in his announcement last Friday, our governor held a press briefing in which he said, and I quote, I have deep reverence for parishioners that want to reconnect with their community.

And to their faith and be able to practice accordingly, we're just a few weeks away from meaningful modifications that will allow that to happen, unquote. Guys, that was 9 days ago and our governor was talking about reopening churches being a few weeks away. Well, 3 days later, on Monday of this past week, our governor made an announcement allowing churches to reopen and to gather immediately so long as they follow state. And county health guidelines, we should not fail to appreciate what a dramatic leap forward this is that God has brought about for churches throughout our state since the new federal, state and county guidelines have been published, church leaders throughout.

The state of California have been combing through these guidelines and making a variety of nuanced decisions at this point. Some of these churches are meeting today and seeking to adhere to the guidelines that have been given to them. Some are meeting today and they're picking and choosing. Which guidelines they will follow, ignoring some of the guidelines and seeking to follow others.

Some churches are not meeting this Sunday, but they plan to meet next weekend, and others plan on continuing doing online services, and they'll just wait until the present guidelines are relaxed beyond their current level. These are not easy days for church leaders, and I know that church leaders around our state and our nation could use your prayers. I want to take a few minutes to explain to you what the Cornerstone elders have decided to do. But before I do that, I want to very quickly give you 5 principles that have guided us in our decision.

the first is prayerful trust in God to work through the hearts of our governing leaders whom he has established over us. Yes, doing this requires patience on our part, but we've been blessed to pray for our leaders and we've also been blessed to see God answer those prayers and turn the hearts of our leaders in the direction that he would have them to go. The second principle that we have sought to follow is Thanksgiving. We are told in 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1 to pray for our leaders with thanksgiving, the apostle Paul says, and we are thankful for our city, county, and state and federal leaders who have been working hard on our behalf, including our president and our governor and our county board of supervisors who have worked hard to put us on a path.

Toward regathering as a church. Another principle guiding us is the principle of submission and honor. In 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 13, we are called to submit to every human institution, speaking of our government, and we apply Peter's words equally as elders to our federal, state, and county. Governments.

We don't wanna be in the business of picking and choosing among them as to whom we're going to honor and submit to. We wanna submit to all of them as much as we possibly can. In Romans chapter 13 verse 7, we are called to give honor to whom honor is due. And we believe that we owe this honor to our county, state, and federal government leaders, and we believe as elders that we now obey that call by abiding by the safety and health guidelines.

That they have given to us as much as we possibly can. Another principle guiding us is the principle of humility. We elders are not doctors, nor are we public health experts, even though we've all spent countless hours reading and digesting information over the last. 2.5 months or so, some people might think.

That we should throw caution to the wind and ignore the guidelines that have been given to us by our government leaders, but we believe as elders that the path of humility is for us at this time to accept these guidelines with humility and to endeavor to follow them rather than acting as if we know better than our health officials who have given them to us. A 5th principle that we are seeking to follow is the principle of love, love toward the members of the Cornerstone congregation, love toward the people of this community, love even toward the weakest and the most vulnerable among us.

And when I speak of the most vulnerable among us, I'm not just talking about our church members who may be physically vulnerable or have a compromised health condition. I'm talking about vulnerable people whom our church members go home to each day.

Following the path of love. Means seeking to do no harm to anyone, and it also means looking out for the health of all of our people here in the Cornerstone family, including the health of those whose lives our people touch. I mentioned to you last Sunday that we had two new cases of COVID-19 in our congregation. A younger married couple who said that they had never been sicker in their lives.

I'm happy to report to you this morning that they are doing much better now. however, after I recorded my sermon for last Sunday, we heard about an additional member of our church who now has COVID-19. Having said that, I'm happy to report to you that this church member seems to be on the mend with only mild symptoms now coming in waves. So we're encouraged by that.

But guys, such cases are sobering reminders to us that COVID-19 is a reality. And that the path of love for us is to comply with the guidelines that we have been given by our government leaders and to seek to follow them at this time as much as we can. Well, governed by the five principles that I've just given to you, the elders have combed through the federal, state, and county safety guidelines for churches, and we've essentially as elders arrived at two decisions. The first is negative, and the second is Positive The first decision is for us as a church to refrain from meeting indoors until state and county restrictions are loosened beyond their current level.

Present guidelines that have been given to us will only allow for 100 of us to meet indoors in the Bourne's Auditorium. And there's a number of other guidelines, social distancing, screening, and face mask wearing guidelines that would make the gathering experience more frustrating than satisfying for the 20% of our people who would be permitted to gather. So until safety guidelines are relaxed beyond their current level, we are not planning to have indoor church gatherings. Thankfully, health officials promised to reevaluate and update their guidelines 15 days from now.

So it's possible that 15 days from now, the new guidelines will be less restrictive. And make an indoor church gathering more doable for us, and we'll definitely be keeping you posted on that. The second decision that the elders have made is to hold an outdoor worship service next weekend here in the Bournes parking lot. This service will take place this coming Saturday evening at 7:30, and it will take place in lieu of our Sunday morning service.

Health and safety guidelines for outdoor gatherings are far more manageable, and there are actually no limits placed on how many people can gather outdoors for a church service. So next Saturday evening. We will be having a live service at 7:30 p.m. We may very well end up having such a service on a Saturday evening for the next few weeks until safety and health guidelines change and make meeting indoors more workable for us as a church.

Now, for our outdoor service this coming Saturday. You will have two options if you choose to attend. You can bring your own chairs and sit in an area that is designated for such seating, or if you wish to stay in your car for the whole service, there will be spots for you to park your car where you will have a good view of the stage. Our audio for the service will be set up in a way that you who are in your cars will actually be able to hear the service through your car radio.

You literally will be able to pull up in your car, take in the service, and then drive away if you like without ever getting out of your car. We will be sending you an electronic RSVP for you to fill out this week, and we will make that form available to you on our church website as well. If you would like to attend the service next Saturday, either in your car or bringing your own chair and sitting in the seating area, we are asking you to fill out that form. Letting us know if you plan on staying in your car or sitting outside, so that we can plan the spacing for the service accordingly.

Now, based on the safety guidelines that we've been given by our governing authorities, the guidelines that we will ask you to follow in next Saturday's service are pretty simple. You may not like them, but trust me, they're far simpler than what the guidelines would have been if we were meeting indoors. Here's the guidelines, essentially that we will ask you to follow next Saturday. Number 1, practice social distancing, staying 6 ft apart from those who are not in your family or who don't live in your household.

This would mean no handshakes or hugs in this coming Saturday's service. We hope this is just something that will just be for maybe this Saturday and the Saturday beyond, but for this Saturday, we are asking that you honor this guideline. Number 2, masks are recommended by our governing authorities. But we will leave it up to you as to what you will do with that recommendation, so long as you are practicing social distancing and are outdoors in the church parking lot.

Number 3, our indoor restrooms will be available for your use. And masks will be required for you to enter the building and to use the restrooms to honor the guidelines that we've been given by our health officials. We cannot allow more than 3 people in a restroom at a time, so we will have ushers stationed at our building entrances to control the flow of traffic to and from the restrooms, and they will also Be able to provide you with a mask if you need one. As of now, these are what we expect our guidelines to be for this Saturday.

in the RSVP form that we will be sending out to you, we will be kindly asking you to commit to abiding by these guidelines and also to making sure that your children abide by them as well. If these guidelines will prove too challenging for you and for your children to follow. Then we would kindly ask you to maybe consider staying at home and just watching the service from home for this Saturday. And yes, for those of you who are not yet comfortable attending a service like this, we hope to live stream the service, or at least play a recording of the service the following Sunday morning.

So you should be able to take in. Our service this weekend. So there you go. Next Saturday will be our first live worship service gathering in 3 months.

I am so excited about that and I know you are as well. I'm thankful for all that God has done to bring this about. Our staff and our volunteers are already working hard to make this service happen, and I cannot wait to see your faces and to worship together with you once again after 3 long months. And let me just hasten to say, That our service Saturday night is not going to feel totally normal with some of the guidelines that we've given to you, but it represents a first step on the path toward normal.

And I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be on the planet than on that path toward normal together with you. As we think about gathering together next Saturday and beyond, I. Also feel not just excitement, but also a deep sense of responsibility to use this sermon time this morning to prepare us all to begin to come together again next weekend. After all, we are out of practice and we might be a little rusty.

And a lot has happened in the last 3 months that may have changed us. For the better or for the worse. So it's important that we maybe take this time to calibrate ourselves and to get ready for coming together again as a congregation in 6 days. So the title of my message this morning is Coming Together for the Better.

Coming together for the better, and I'll draw my message from 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Verses 17 through 34, a text that is unbelievably appropriate for us in our current circumstances. It may surprise you to know that physical health and safety had actually become a major issue for the Corinthian Church. And it had everything to do with what some of them were doing during their times of assembly.

In 1 Corinthians 11:17, Paul acknowledges that the Corinthian Christians were coming together, all right, but he isn't inclined to praise them for this. He says in verse 17, I do not praise you because you come together, not for the better, but for the worse. And after pointing out what they were doing wrong in their times of assembly, he says to them, for this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. The sleep of death.

Imagine that, guys. Imagine finding out that people in the Cornerstone congregation are getting sick and dying, and the reason is because of things that happened in our time of assembly next Saturday. Imagine that, and imagine that it had nothing to do with the coronavirus. Well, that's what was happening with the Corinthian congregation.

And Paul seeks to address that problem in our passage for today. In fact, a quick read of this text shows that it's all about the gathered assembly. In verse 17, Paul says, come together. In verse 18, we see the words come together.

In verse 20, we have the expression meet together. And in verse 33, we have the words come together. And in verse 34, the words come together. And throughout this passage, Paul is seeking to change the way that these Corinthian Christians were behaving when they were coming together, or assembling together.

So from what he says in this text, I think we can derive what amounts to 6 guidelines that we must follow to ensure that when we begin assembling next Saturday, we will do so for the better and not for the worse. And guideline number one is this. Number one, we must not allow divisions to form among us. We must not allow divisions to form among us.

Observe what Paul says to the Corinthians beginning in verse 17. He says, but in giving this instruction, I do not praise you because you come together, not for the better but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it. One of the things you notice right away is that the Corinthians had no problem with gathering.

Nowhere in this letter does Paul fault any of them for failing to attend church. These guys were faithful church attenders. The problem was with how they behaved when they attended church. And the first concern that Paul addresses.

With their behavior is in verse 18. Where he says, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you. The Corinthians We're assembling together. Yet when they assembled, it was evident that they had been torn into several factions that were postured against one another.

Back in chapter 3 of this very book, Paul says to them, there is jealousy and strife among you. Which hindered their ability to be taught the solid food of God's word. Paul goes on in that very chapter to speak about how some of them were saying, I am of Paul, and others were saying, I am of Apollo, and others were saying, I am of Cephas, and others were saying, I am of Christ. And those who were saying these things were saying way more than just that they appreciated these particular persons.

They were speaking this way to distinguish themselves from others. For example, someone saying I am of Paul was really trying to say, I am not of Apollo. I am not of Peter, nor am I like those who are of Apollo and Peter. Rather than this person cherishing what he might have had in common with those who valued Peter and Apollo's ministry, he's priding himself on how he is different from them, and so he's announcing it just to make sure that everyone knows that.

We can do the same thing. Today Some Christians today are of John MacArthur, and others are of Al Muller. And others are of Timothy Keller. And some are of Mike Barry, like I can be sometimes.

Some are of Breitbart News, and others are of the Huffington Post. Some are of Rush Limbaugh, and others are of Don Lemon. Some believe that Trump's orders. Trump our governor's orders, and others believe that our governor's orders trump Trump's orders.

Some of us are in favor of the shutdown and others are in favor of a faster opening up of our economy. Some among us are of the social distancing party and some are of the school of thought that this whole crisis has been overblown. Some of us feel strongly about the value of wearing masks, and others among us don't. And the truth is, guys, that there's nothing wrong with holding an opinion on any of these things.

But when you begin to take pride in your opinions. And you begin to view your differing opinions as more important than what you hold in common with your fellow Christians. And when you allow those differences to loom larger than the gospel. And allow your opinions to create separations between you and them, then you have just become guilty of having a party spirit that is divisive.

And when a congregation is populated by people who are doing this, that congregation may come together. But it comes together, not for the better. But for the worse Such divisions are always unfortunate and amount to a victory for the devil. He laughs when Christians are divided.

That said, Paul does see a degree of God's providence at work in even divisions that form among believers. Because divisions always serve as revealers. You learn a lot about a person by watching how they respond to potential or real division. In fact, listen to what Paul says in verse 19.

He says, for there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. Divisions in the body serve to reveal who is approved by God and those who are not. Based on the Greek term that is translated, approved here, Paul is saying that factions in the church, divisions in the church, serve as a test allowed by God to reveal those who meet with God's approval and those who don't. And of course everyone in every division.

Here's what I just said and thinks that the side they are on is the approved side. But the truth is That both sides in a division can be unapproved by God. And people on both sides of a division can be unapproved by God. For example, regarding those who were saying in the Corinthian church that they were Paul and Peter and Apollo and Christ, Paul has a problem with all of them.

Because of the way they were all posturing themselves against one another. All of them were falling short of God's approval because of the way they carried themselves with regard to this division. Even in our passage for today, Paul refuses to take any sides in the divisions that he speaks about. He simply faults them for being divided, and he takes their division as revealing that something was at work in their assembly that did not meet with God's approval.

So, those who are approved of God in a time of division are not simply those who happen to be on the right side of a two-way controversy. It's those who handle that controversy in the right way. It's those who don't allow selfish ambition to take hold of them in that controversy. It's those who refuse to parade their viewpoint in a way that reflects pride.

Over those who hold to a different viewpoint. Those approved of God in a controversy are those who choose to view their disagreements with brothers in the light of the mountain of truth that they hold in common and agree on. It's those, the people approved of God in any division are those who in any disagreement with other brothers in Christ can say to themselves, my brother is more important than my opinion. And in our passage for today, Paul says that these Corinthians were not assembling for the better.

But for the worse, because of the the division that they allowed to exist among them. So I think we learned from Paul's language here that if we here at Cornerstone want to assemble together for the better next Saturday, then we must be committed to coming together as one in Christ. Rather than making our differences of opinion. On other matters, the most important thing.

There's another guideline that we must follow to ensure that when we assemble next Saturday, that we assemble for the better and not for the worse. And that is 2, we must not show selfish disregard for the physical well-being of others. We must not show selfish disregard for the physical well-being of others. Listen to what Paul says in verses 20 and 21 as he describes the way these Corinthians behaved when they came together.

Keep in mind that when the early Christians gathered together, they would often eat a full meal together. And that meal was often called an agape feast, and the apex of that feast was the partaking of the Lord's Supper. But listen to what Paul says beginning in verse 20. He says to the Corinthians, therefore, when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's supper, for in your eating, each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and the other is drunk.

So they weren't coming together to eat the Lord's supper, Paul says, with all of its richness of meaning, they were showing up merely to eat their own supper. So much so that they would serve themselves and shove their mouth full of food without any regard for others. With the result being that some of them were left full and drunk, and others in the congregation were left hungry. In other words, these thoughtless and selfish Corinthian Christians were showing up at church only thinking about their own physical needs and completely ignoring the physical well-being of their fellow Christians who are now left hungry with their physical needs left unmet.

And what resulted was yet another division in the Corinthian church, a division between the haves and the have-nots, a division between the full and the hungry, a division between those who took their own meal first and those who had no meal at all, a division between those whose physical needs were considered and those whose physical needs were not regarded as important. And this division is deeply concerning to Paul. It's part of the reason he says that the Corinthians were not coming together for the better, but for the worse.

And I think we can apply something of Paul's critique to our current situation as well.

When you do assemble with other believers in this congregation starting next week. You and I, we should all be other centered in our thinking. You should not just be thinking about yourself, but thinking about others, thinking about everyone else, thinking about their physical needs during this time, and striving to make sure that their physical needs are considered. And if this means in our case at this present time following safety guidelines that our authorities have given to us to follow for now, then you should want to follow those guidelines out of consideration.

For the physical safety of others. If you're anything like me, I know that when you show up on campus next Saturday, you're gonna wanna hug and shake hands with everyone that you see. But if our government's guidelines right now. Tell us to abstain from such activities during our gatherings for the time being, will you?

Refrain from Hugging and shaking hands out of loving consideration of others. There's actually some people in our church family whom I've talked to about our service next Saturday, and they're excited that we're having the service. I was excited and telling them about it, but in the course of our conversation, they voiced the fact that they will likely be staying home. And the reason it's not because they think that we should not have the service.

It's not because they think that county and state guidelines are inadequate. It's because they're not sure that everyone's going to keep to the guidelines that our authorities have given to us. They're not judging anyone for that. They get it, but they just don't feel safe showing up.

In a situation where people are not honoring the guidelines that our leaders have given to us. And so when I've heard that, They're certainly free to stay home and enjoy the service online, but I'm left asking myself, what can I do? What can I give up in order to help create an environment in which this person With a compromised health condition might feel safer in joining us for our service. And whatever the answers to that question are or to that question are, I, I want to do those things out of loving consideration for that person.

They are more important to me than my personal preferences. So I've, I've made a decision about our gathering next Saturday. That I'm personally going to follow the guidelines that I reviewed for you at the outset of this message this morning. I will practice social distancing.

And because I love everyone in the Cornerstone family. I won't hug or shake hands with any of you this coming Saturday, though I will want to with everything in me. I will for now lay down my preferences for the time being out of consideration for all of my brothers and sisters so that everyone feels safe, and I will do this until the safety guidelines for our times of assembly change. Guys, these are honestly issues that I never imagined that I would have to work through for myself or even.

Talk about in a sermon. But these are the times in which we live, and what we all need to do is think through how we will walk the path of submission to our government. and walk the path of loving consideration of others during our times of assembly for now. The choices we make concerning these kinds of things may seem like small matters to you.

Just like the Corinthians probably thought it was no big deal about how they ate during their church potlucks. But we must realize that such things are important to God, and the choices we make about such things will have abundant bearing on whether we come together for the better. Or for the worse. I will leave it to your conscience as to how you follow guidelines we've been given in your own life as you live from day to day, but in our times of assembly for this coming Saturday, these are the guidelines that the elders have given in obedience to our governing authorities.

And we are asking you to Abide by those guidelines out of consideration for everyone so that everyone, as many people as possible would feel comfortable and safe in assembling together with us. And let me be straight with you about next Saturday. If the elders observe next Saturday that The people gathered are not honoring the safety guidelines that we have asked to be honored. Then out of loving consideration for all of our people, we will not have another assembly here on this campus until the safety guidelines from our leaders change.

That's how serious we are about living out the ethic that Paul identifies here in 1 Corinthians 11, where we all show due consideration for the physical needs of others. That's how serious we are about seeking to follow the ethic of 1 Peter 2 and Romans 13 for the time being. The ideal though is that we all seek to live out the spirit of what Paul is clarifying for us here in our text this morning and that we thereby come together next Saturday and beyond for the better and not for the worse.

Now very much tied to this guideline is yet another guideline that we simply must follow to ensure that when we assemble next Saturday, we come together for the better.

Let's put it this way. Number 3, we must prepare ourselves to arrive at church, ready to respect and bless others. We must prepare ourselves to arrive at church, ready to respect and bless others. We're not just gonna show up at church and just automatically behave in all the ways that we should.

We need to prepare ourselves at home to come to church ready to love other people and to respect them and to bless them in any way we can. Observe Paul's reaction to these selfish Corinthian church attenders who were feeding their own faces without any consideration for the physical needs of others who were left with nothing to eat. In verse 22, he says, what? Do you not have houses or homes in which to eat and drink?

Or do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this, I will not praise you.

What Paul is saying is, guys, don't you have a home that you can eat and drink at so that you can come to church with a fuller stomach and be ready to think about the needs of other people rather than simply your own appetites and needs? This is actually a stunning principle that Paul is identifying here that he's going to circle back to later in this passage. Paul wants these Corinthians to do something at home in order to ensure that when they arrive at church, they will be in a state of mind and body to think about other people rather than themselves.

In the mind of Paul, church doesn't begin the moment that the service starts.

Church doesn't begin the moment that you drive onto the church campus. Church begins before you even leave your home. So let me say it this way. Next Saturday night service does not begin six days from now at 7:30 in the evening.

It begins today, right now, and it involves all that you do this week to take care of yourselves physically. It involves all the work that you do and preparing yourself and your family to show up next Saturday ready to lay down your life for others, ready to esteem others more important than yourself, ready to Follow the leadership of the elders that God has placed over you. Ready to show due consideration to every brother or sister in the Cornerstone family. The Corinthians were not thinking this way though.

They didn't eat at home. Then they showed up at church with a. Rumbling stomach, and they were stuffing their faces with food to the point where they were leaving others without food to eat. And Paul says to them, do you despise the Church of God?

I'm sure these Corinthians would have said that they didn't despise the Church of God. Yet Paul would say that's exactly what they were guilty of because they were by their actions showing that they thought so little of their brothers and sisters whose needs were being left unmet because of their selfishness. He also says to them. Do you shame those who have nothing?

They did this by declaring through their actions that their brothers and sisters were unimportant, thereby publicly shaming them and leaving them without something to eat. In our service next Saturday. You and I have incredible opportunity to show how much we love the Church of God. You will have opportunity to show honor to those who have less than you.

Who have less good health than you. Who have fewer years of life left on this earth than you. To show honor to those who may have a weaker immunity than you. Perhaps some of them are more worried than they need to be.

Perhaps you think they would be far less worried if they had the knowledge that you have about everything that's going on. Fair enough, but will you adapt yourself to where they are at at the present moment so that they feel comfortable enough to want to worship together with you. Are they more important and more precious to you than your opinion? Are they more precious to you than your freedoms?

Are they more precious to you than your knowledge? I hope they are. And like I said at the outset, we, we have some people in our church who have no worries about their own physical health, but they have concerns about an elderly relative. Or spouse who is either elderly or has a compromised.

Health condition that they will be returning home to. Will you prepare your heart in advance so that you can show up on Saturday, ready to show consideration for them and for the loved ones that they care about? And I hope that you will, and I hope you realize that doing this does not mean that you are living in fear. Any more than someone wearing a seatbelt or wearing a bicycle helmet is living in fear.

Taking precautions, following the guidelines we've been given by our leaders for now is not living in fear. We're simply being prudent and seeking to follow the guidelines that we have been given by our government leaders for now, and we're seeking to show loving consideration to every member of our church in doing so. And I hope that you will join us in doing that until these guidelines change, hopefully, very, very soon. But we must all think this way, not just in the areas that I'm mentioning here, but in every area to where we come together as brothers and sisters, and we're not thinking about ourselves, we're thinking about others.

And I encourage you to come next Saturday just ready to show love and to speak encouragement. In Christ to everyone that you see, so that when we drive away, we'll all be saying that we have come together for the better and not for the worse. There's another guideline we must follow to ensure that we assemble for the better and not for the worse. Number 4.

We must be deeply mindful of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We must be deeply mindful of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And guys, when we are deeply mindful of Jesus Christ, there's a whole lot of good that flows downstream of that and a whole lot of giants that get slain. Observe what Paul says beginning in verse 23 in order to make this point to the Corinthian Christians.

He says in verse 23, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

When we celebrate the Lord's table, we do so in remembrance of Jesus Christ. When we assemble with one another, we, we do so with the mindfulness of Jesus above all else. Jesus Christ is the main attraction of our gatherings. And the Lord's Supper is one of God's ways of helping us as a church to keep the main attraction, the main attraction.

Beyond that, consider why Paul even says what he says in these verses. We often view verses 23 through 25 by itself as a unit. We forget about the context that it is situated in. In the first place, keep in mind that Paul is talking to people who are being selfish at meals, serving themselves and leaving others hungry and without food.

To them, Paul gives Jesus an example of his behavior at a meal. How did Jesus behave at this supper that he had with his disciples? He served others. He served them bread, and he gave them the cup to drink, which represents the full sacrifice of himself.

On their behalf. Jesus took what was rightfully his, and he laid it down for the eternal good of his disciples, and he serves them the bread and the cup to symbolize this wholesale giving of Himself on their behalf. And part of Paul's point is, he's saying, guys, when you celebrate your agape feast, the climax of that feast is partaking of the Lord's Supper, which celebrates a savior who showed his love for others in these sacrificial ways. And here you are, gorging yourselves on food and leaving your brothers and sisters hungry while you are drunk.

You can't possibly be more unlike Jesus than you are acting right now, while seated at his very table. Look at verse 26. Paul says, as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Paul is saying, guys, think about what you're proclaiming when you celebrate communion.

You're preaching Christ's death. You're preaching Christ's loving sacrifice of Himself for the salvation of others. How can you proclaim his selfless sacrifice for everyone gathered around his table in your times of assembly? While you cannot at the same time, even show consideration for those brothers and sisters that you are leaving hungry because of your selfishness.

We learn here the value and the power of the Lord's Supper, and why this ordinance should be central in the life of every church. We learn here about the value and power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and why we should never let it fall from the place of first importance in our lives. We also learned the value of imitating Christ and the way that we go about showing loving consideration for others during our times of assembly in every possible expression of that love. We simply must.

Show loving consideration of others, being willing to lay down our lives for the good of others in our times of assembly, serving one another in sacrificial ways. If we wish to come together as a church for the better and not for the worse. Next week we're going to celebrate the Lord's table as a part of our outdoor worship service. We're gonna do this in a different way that is safer for you than passing around a tray.

But I want you guys to be prepared next Sunday to celebrate our Savior, who laid down his rights and who showed greater consideration for us than he showed for Himself. And we will have opportunity to truly celebrate his sacrifice while at the same time mirroring his likeness and his love and the way that we get to show. Loving consideration for one another during. This service during this most unusual time.

There's another guideline that we must follow to ensure that we assemble for the better and not for the worse. Number 5, we must engage in humble self-examination and self-judgment. We must engage in humble self-examination and self-judgment. Listen to how Paul makes this point beginning in verse 27.

He says, therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. And part of Paul's point is that this is exactly what the Corinthians were guilty of, by showing such flagrant disregard for one another. This must not be, so Paul says in verse 28, but a man must examine himself, and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Notice that Paul does not call upon us in this passage to examine others.

But to examine ourselves. He does not call upon us to critique others, but to critique ourselves. He does not call upon us to find fault with others, but to find fault with ourselves and then to partake of the elements of the Lord's table in that spirit of humble introspection. He continues in verse 29.

By saying, for he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. What does it mean to not judge the body rightly? Well, it means to fail to understand the meaning and the message of the elements of the Lord's supper, which represents the sacrificial self-giving of Jesus Christ for the good of others. It means to fail to manifest that awareness and how you treat your brothers and sisters for whom Christ died.

To not judge the body rightly means to feast on the food of the Agape feast and serve yourself first to the point where others are left hungry, manifesting by your actions that you despise that part of Christ's body represented by those brothers and sisters. Whose physical well-being you don't care about. To not judge the body rightly means to fail to value as precious other members of Christ's body for whom. He died And Paul says to the Corinthians, if you show up at church and partake of the bread and the cup while failing to judge the body rightly in this way, Then you are eating and drinking the judgment of God into yourself whenever you partake of communion.

Paul continues in verse 30, and he says, for this reason, many among you are weak and sick and in number sleep. there's a lot of concern right now about serving communion during this pandemic. Churches are concerned about how to serve communion in a way that keeps people from Catching the coronavirus through the elements being passed around, and that's a legitimate concern, and we as elders have wrestled through this very question. But guys, there's an even greater concern that we should all be concerned about.

You can have completely sterilized communion elements with not a single germ. With not a single virus on those elements. And if you partake of the Lord's table in an unworthy manner, not judging the body rightly, Paul says you will literally eat and drink the judgment of God into yourself, and you may get sick. Like the Corinthians were.

And the only safety protocol that can prevent that from happening is for you to repent of your sin and make sure that you are partaking of the Lord's supper in a worthy manner. In fact, here's what we all can do to avoid contracting the judgment of God during our times of assembly while celebrating the Lord's table. In verse 31 and 32, Paul says, but if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

Notice those words in verse 31. If we judged ourselves rightly. We would not be judged. We know so little of the meaning.

Of those words. In our culture today. If we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. We should all put these words on our mirrors to look at every morning.

Nowadays we've all become very good at judging other people. I don't think America has ever been more judgmental than it is today. We're so swift to judge hearts and motives with such confidence. We're a very judgmental, self-righteous nation.

And the problem is that we're all judging other people. Republicans are good at judging Democrats, and Democrats are good at judging Republicans. People on the right are good at judging people on the left, and people on the left are good at judging people on the right. People who don't believe in wearing masks are good at judging those who suggest that you should wear them.

And those who think you should wear them are good at judging people who don't hold the same opinion. We are so swift to arrive at judgments. About the actions and the motives of others, but who among us is good at judging ourselves? A congregation that comes together for the better and not for the worse is a congregation of people who Examine and judge themselves.

And they make that a priority over judging others. And when they do judge themselves, they do so with a precious mindfulness of Jesus. And his atoning sacrifice. For their sins that they may discover as they do examine and judge themselves.

This is what Paul is calling us to do in this passage. He says if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged by God. But guys, when we do fail to judge ourselves rightly, we will be judged by the Lord. And if we're Christians, that judgment.

From the Lord of maybe sickness or weakness or some other form of judgment. Is from the Lord for our purification. It's discipline from a God who loves us so that as Paul says, we will not be condemned. Along with the world.

God May even take our lives as an act of discipline and as an act of protecting. The church from us if we go on and sin. In a way that could injure the church. What Paul says in this passage, guys, is a warning shot from Paul to all of us.

Either we learn to examine and judge ourselves or we will be disciplined by the Lord. Because he loves us too much to leave us in a place of sin. There's a final guideline that we must follow to ensure that we assemble for the better and not for the worse. This has already been touched on, but Paul circles back to this, so let's go with him here.

Number 6, we must prepare ourselves in advance to put our fellow Christians first. We must prepare ourselves in advance to put our fellow Christians first. Listen to what he says in the final two verses of this chapter. He says, So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that you will not come together for judgment. Paul gives two instructions here. He instructs the Corinthians to wait for one another. This means to wait for everyone to arrive before they started eating.

It also means to let others. Go first. At the meal, or if you are serving yourself first, it means that you're already thinking about others as you're serving yourself. As you are seeking to be careful.

To make sure that others will have enough to eat so that no one is left feeling neglected. Paul then says if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home. So that you will not come together for judgment. That's an astounding instruction.

Paul is basically saying, guys, if you find yourself showing up at church so hungry that you find it hard to think about others. While you're at church, then eat at home. So that your stomach will be full and you won't show up at church hungry, so that you will show up at church in a state of mind and a state of body to where you're ready to think about others and to serve them in whatever ways are needful and to allow them to go first. Get your needs met at home, so that you are ready to wait for others and put them first when you show up at your times of assembly.

Paul tells the Corinthians that he wants him to do this so that you will not come together for judgment. Think about that, them eating at home. Before they come to church, doing that mundane thing of eating at home can contribute to a good outcome. Of them as a church not coming together for judgment.

The judgment that Paul is talking about here is God's disapproval, along with the discipline that some of them were already experiencing at the time that Paul is writing this letter to them. Paul wants them to come together for blessing, not for judgment, which is why he addresses these matters. In this passage So my question for you this morning is not, are you ready to come together. This coming Saturday.

My question is, are you ready to come together for the better? And are you willing to play your part in making that happen this Saturday evening? Will you show up next Saturday night, ready to pursue the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Or will you show up with a party spirit relishing how different you are from others in the church and wanting to talk about that?

Will you show up ready to do whatever it takes to show concern for the physical well-being of your brothers and sisters during our present circumstances? All of them, including those who are older and more vulnerable than you. Will you sacrifice and lay down your preferences and rights in order to protect their physical health. Will you come To church next Saturday evening with a deep mindfulness of Jesus Christ and his loving sacrifice for your salvation and for the salvation of every brother and sister who is gathered.

Will you make it clear by your actions next Saturday that your brothers and sisters are more important than your opinions? And will you prepare your heart in advance? To gather in this way. I have confidence in the Lord concerning you that you will.

Do this And I have every expectation that when we all drive home next Saturday evening after our service, that we will look at one another and say, We have come together for the better. And not for the worse. Let's pray and ask God to make that a reality. For us all Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

And for the guidance that we find in a passage like this. There's 1000 different ways to apply. The ethic that we see presented in this passage and. We've talked about some of them, but God, I just pray that you would help all of us to show up at church next Saturday evening.

Ready to love. And every possible way that we can. To edify each other in the Lord. And that we, Lord, would just be.

So deeply mindful of Jesus. And seek to be like him and to mirror his beautiful image to one another as we gather. Next weekend I pray once again, Lord, for. Our government leaders, we are so thankful, Lord, for the progress that has been made.

That was even quicker than expected. And we pray that you would continue to give wisdom to our leaders in our federal government and state government and our county government and city. That you will turn their hearts in the direction that you would have them to go. And that we would continue to see forward progress.

That hastens the day when we as a church are able to do a full return to. Normal, very soon. In the meantime, help us to make the most of. The opportunities that we do have.

To be thankful To show honor toward all men. To love the brotherhood and to fear you, Lord. And to honor our leaders. And to honor and love one another.

There's a lot of details being worked out for our service next week and I just pray, Lord, that you would cause those details to fall together. in a way that just makes for a wonderful and wholesome gathering for us all. As we come together. To worship you.

Next Saturday You are worthy of our love and our worship. You are worthy of our imitation. And you are worthy of us coming together in any way that we can. In order to worship you and to hear.

From you, Lord We just ask that you would help us to spend this week readying our hearts. To be able to honor you and one another in this way. I thank you for this congregation and the great privilege to be a pastor. Of these precious brothers and sisters, give wisdom to the elders, Lord.

We need it every single day. What I've communicated today represents where we stand right now. But our hearts are open to you and we're asking you to lead us day by day and week by week as we seek to carry this huge responsibility of leading your precious people for whom Christ died. And we ask that you would guide our steps.

And do the same for. Every brother or sister in this body that we might glorify your name, Lord. And shine the light of Jesus Christ upon. This world in which we live.

In which there is division, there is conflict, there's self-righteousness, there is judgment. And they desperately need to see a community. That loves one another with the very love of Jesus in this way. May all men know that we are disciples of you by how we love one another, and may the world know, Lord, that You sent Jesus.

Because they see that we are one. And we ask all of these things in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen.