The Lord's Table

Order of Service

• Sunday School Lesson — The Lord's Table
• Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
• Prayer

---

Sermon Title: Preparing to Come to the Lord's Table

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

I. Background and Context

A. The Westminster Standards address preparation for the Lord's Supper

1. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 29
2. Shorter Catechism, Q. 169
3. Larger Catechism, Questions 168–174

B. James Durham (1622–1658), Scottish Covenanting minister and author

1. Co-author of The Sum of Saving Knowledge
2. Known for A Treatise Concerning Scandal (on church unity and schism)
3. Wrote a commentary on Revelation
4. Died at age 36 after an 11-year ministry

C. Scottish Presbyterian tradition of the communion season

1. Multi-day preparation: Thursday and Friday services (confession, encouragement, personal reflection)
2. Elders gave extemporaneous words from Scripture; ministers expounded them on the spot
3. The whole community gathered in anticipation of the Sabbath meal
4. Durham himself was converted during a Saturday preparatory sermon

D. The problem at Corinth: context of 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

1. Divisions by class and factions among members
2. Pursuit of favorite teachers and one-upmanship
3. Sexual immorality and offenses over food and drink
4. Corruption of worship and evangelistic witness
5. Paul writes to correct the church

E. Key text from Durham's sermon, paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 11:29

1. Neglecting self-examination is a life-and-death matter
2. Partaking unworthily means being unprepared and acting unsuitably to the sacredness of the duty
3. The remedy is serious self-examination

II. How Is the Lord's Supper Uniquely Solemn?

A. All gospel ordinances are excellent, but the Lord's Supper is dignified above them all

B. In reference to what it exhibits

1. All ordinances set out Christ's love, but the Supper sets it out in the highest degree
2. It sets forth the Lord's death — the greatest display of his love — in its "loveliest colors"

C. In reference to the benefits communicated

1. As to matter, it communicates the same as Word and Baptism
2. But the words "Take, eat, this is my body" hold out Christ conferring himself — not merely a gift, but his very person in his death and suffering

D. In reference to the manner in which Christ conveys himself

1. The clearest view of a slain Savior and of covenanting with God
2. A "clear glance of heaven on earth" — Christ condescends to be the food and refreshment of his people
3. He gives himself not only to faith but as it were to the senses, made effectual by the Spirit
4. Points to Matthew 26:29 — Christ's promise to drink the cup anew in his Father's kingdom; the Supper is a foretaste of that heavenly communion
5. The Supper seals a special union between the Head and his members, a type of the communion to come in heaven

III. What More Could Christ Have Given Us?

A. The question: what could more confirm and warm the hearts of his people than this lively representation and commemoration of Christ's body?

B. High estimation of the ordinance helps us discern his body rightly

1. No efficacy in the ordinance itself — but as Christ's own institution, it is a more lively means of grace
2. Instituted the very night of his betrayal, after the Passover, as Judas went out

C. Every circumstance of the action is to be wondered at and should draw us to admire Christ's sufferings, the love they came from, and their effects for us

D. In the Supper we also have sweet communion with one another

IV. What Frame of Mind and Heart Should We Have Approaching the Table?

A. We should examine ourselves thoroughly to see that all things are in good order — like a bride trying on her wedding dress the day before the wedding

B. Four frames Durham calls for:

1. The frame you would desire if Christ were coming personally and visibly to marry you tomorrow — clasp hands with him, pursue that kind of nearness
2. The frame you would desire if you were about to die — earthly things insignificant, eternal peace at stake, accounts with God settled, debts not allowed to grow
3. The frame you would desire if the Day of Judgment were tomorrow — humble, abstracted from the world, confirmed in God's love, ready to stand before the tribunal of Christ
4. A heavenly and divine frame, because this is a heavenly and divine action — heart abstracted from carnal delights, conversant with God, meditating on Christ's sufferings, tasting that he is good, delighting in his love

V. Application and Call to Self-Examination

A. The question put to the congregation: Have you come prepared?

B. Fitness comes not by works but by the all-sufficient work of Christ — if you have been washed, you are clean

C. The disciples' response at the table — "Lord, is it I?" — is the model: search your own heart

1. Would I sell Christ so cheaply?
2. May the Lord grant repentance and faith, assured by Christ's merits, to come and eat and drink and have a part in him