We've been looking in recent months at a book that leads us through a topical consideration of the Lord's Supper. And the first of these studies was to see the Old Testament Passover and then its foundational place in the New Testament Lord's Supper. And then most recently we looked at the Lord's Supper in the Gospels, and now we're in a section that is entitled the Lord's Supper in the Epistles. And outside of a passage in the book of Revelation that may hint at the Lord's Supper, but quite honestly, I had never even considered it as a Lord's Supper passage, then we have a mention in the book of Jude, and then two references in 1 Corinthians. The reference in Jude reads like this. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves, and it's just saying that there are individuals who come in and they are hidden there as if they were believers, but they are not really. And then 1 Corinthians 10 that we've just read, and of course we're all familiar with the 1 Corinthians 11 passage. 1 Corinthians 10 deals with the problem of some of the Corinthian believers going into a temple or into a home and participating in a meal that is dedicated to a false god. Someone has found an invitation to one of these meals. It comes from the second century. The host is Karaman, and here it is. Karaman invites you to dinner at the table of our Lord Serapis. That's the cult god's name. In the Serapion, tomorrow, the 15th, at 9 o'clock. Now, to have an invitation to one of these meals in Corinth was evidently a very common thing at the time of the New Testament. For those men who were converted and those women who were converted and received something of an invitation, some of them were indicating to the Apostle Paul that these meals are harmless. And so Paul is going to have something to say about this. What Paul makes clear is that sharing in these temple meals involved a communion, a shared life, a participation with pagan gods, even though you know that there's nothing to the idol, there may be a demon that is behind that idol. And Paul reasons that when we have a meal from the Lord's table, that we are partaking, we are participating, we are having a share in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in a similar way, if we were to be at the table of a demon, then that would be altogether inappropriate. The second thing that I want to mention as we come to our passage this evening is to recognize that we often think of the vertical connection of the Lord's Supper. there is in 1 Corinthians 11 the warning that we are not to eat or drink the elements of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy way, or we will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. So that directs us to be looking up. We are to be involved in self-examination But here in 1 Corinthians 10, there is more of an emphasis on that one common loaf of bread or that one common cup. that one common cup that we should all pass around and drink from. Are you ready to go back to that in these COVID days? Well, we might want to have alcohol in that cup if we were going to be passing it from lip to lip, but we'll hold that thought for a month or two at any rate. but there is in this one loaf and this one cup something of a horizontal relationship, something of a horizontal thought that as we see that one common loaf before it is broken, that we are to be thinking in terms of, here are the many people of God, but the many people of God are represented by this one loaf. Well, with that, let's jump in. Notice with me, Romans 1, the unity message of 1 Corinthians 10, 14 through 22, used against idolatry. And we see, first of all, A, Paul's impassioned plea with verses 14 and 15, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men, judge for yourselves what I say. The address, my beloved, the single command, flee idolatry. The appeal to their judgment, they were Greeks. They liked to think of themselves as wise individuals. And Paul says, fine, I can go along with that. I speak to you as to wise men, judge for yourselves what I say. Secondly B, Paul's three arguments and conclusion. This is verse 16 through 21. First of all, argument one, shared religious feast equals shared religious life. Verse 16, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion, the koinonia, the shared life, the shared participation of the blood of Christ? So if you take that one common cup of the wine, you partake of that then you have at least spiritually, if you're reflecting on Christ at all, then spiritually you have had a share in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Further now, middle part of verse 16, the bread which we break Is it not the communion, the koinonia, the shared life of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread." So it is saying, Paul is saying, that this cup of blessing involves a shared life, a shared participation in the blood of Christ, a shared participation in the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ. But then there is as well a summary inference from this participation in the one loaf. Here's the one loaf. The one loaf might be a more accurate translation. This is suggested by Lenski, Wilson, Hodge, and Morris that I checked. But notice the individual parts of the argument. There's the one loaf. There are the many participants. and there is that one body of believers that is represented in that one loaf. And the basis of the whole argument is that our common participation in this one loaf expresses something of our congregational unity. Argument number two. The old covenant religious feasts involve participation with God. This from verse 18, observe Israel after the flesh. Old Israel, old covenant Israel, are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar. And this is saying that when a family came and they were participating, they were eating, they were drinking something of a sacrificial meal, then it's more than just the dad and the mom and the kids and maybe there's a couple of cousins that have joined in with this, but that God is there. There is a participation with the God of the altar. Listen to how it's worded, Deuteronomy 12 and verse 18. But you must eat them before Jehovah your God in the place which Jehovah your God chooses. A little bit later, you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God in all which you put your hands. So, they had an Old Testament religious feast, the Passover. We have a New Covenant religious feast, and it, like the Old, involves a fellowship and a communion with God. And what Paul really is arguing is that this then gets extended out to the pagans. This is argument number three. Argument number three of participation extended to the table of the demons or extended to the pagan rites, now 19 through 22. What am I saying then? He's reasoned about the loaf. He's reasoned about the old covenant sacrificial meal. What am I saying then, verse 19, that an idol is anything or what is offered to idols is anything, rather that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons." Pretty straightforward, isn't it? Hopefully none of us would even want to entertain socially to consider that we would be at a table of demons or that we would have a cup of demons. Now maybe they didn't either, but they were interested in being at this table which is dedicated to this idol, this false god. So there is nothing to the idols. Is there anything to an idol, verse 19? But verse 20, there is this reality of demons that can be behind that idol. And now the conclusion from the three arguments. It is morally impossible to continue in both feasts. As an unbeliever, you would have received invitations like this, Caraman is inviting you to come to a feast of the Lord's Serapis at the Serapion on the 15th at 9 o'clock. Okay, it's just, it's very common. But now that I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't care if there is free food there and that's all you're going for. Paul says they are mutually exclusive. If you're going to have anything to do with a table of the Lord, then let it be the table of the Lord, and you've got to denounce any demon, any other lord, any other god. And I think that the thing that you and I get, maybe we're not going to be so concerned about going into the serapium, whatever, that's the temple of the Lord's serapis, whatever that is, but what we get is that This is a table that belongs to the Lord. There is a presence of God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit in worship services, and there is certainly the presence of God in the table of remembrance. And now let's come to Paul's warning. This is C, and this is verse 22. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Note the form of the warning. It's a question. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Paul wants to secure their judgment. Many of us know what it is to be married. There are certain commitments that come along with that marriage relationship, aren't there? Do you want the Lord as your marriage partner to be provoked to jealousy and then for him to step forward and to deal with it? Then notice the force of the warning. Are we stronger than he? Now note the majority of the wilderness generation was unconverted. Look back at verse 5 that we read, but with most of them God was not well pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. The majority were not converted. There were severe consequences for their fighting against God. They're not believing God. And Paul is saying, listen, all this stuff in the Old Testament, I've summarized it here in the first part of chapter 10, and I've told you that God has given us these examples to speak to us. Some became idolaters. Some were sexually immoral and 23,000 fell. Some tempted God and were destroyed by serpents. Some were complainers and were destroyed by the destroyer. And with Paul's little refresher course on Old Testament history, he's laying the groundwork for this sobering question. You're married to the Lord. Are you interested in provoking him to jealousy, and are you stronger than he? So here we have Romans 1, the unity message of 1 Corinthians 10 used against idolatry. But now let's go through the same verses and see the unity message of 1 Corinthians 10 used against disunity. First of all, A, consider the Lord's Supper emphasis on local church unity. Verse 17, partaking of a common loaf expresses our unity. For we, though many, are one bread. We are one loaf and one body. For we all partake of that one bread. There is this many who are expressing their unity by being in the same place by partaking of that same loaf. And this is why we wait to break the loaf until we're here all together And we're at that particular point in the service when we are wanting to dedicate the bread, where we are wanting to thank God for that, and then with all of us watching on the bread, the one loaf is broken. Now, yes, we do have our few little gluten-free crackers that are mixed in there, but don't let that mess up the one loaf unity message. If we really wanted to underscore our unity, then in addition to all those little individual cups, because we probably don't want to pass around one big cup for all of us to drink from, But we could underscore the unity if we had a clear glass little pitcher sitting there on the table and it's half full of the grape juice. And whatever went into each of those individual little plastic cups would have gone into there. There's the message of the unity with the cup, with the loaf. But it's really the one loaf in this passage that is highlighted as the symbol of our unity. Now let me give a word of balance. There is nothing in our text that says that unity involves someone being quiet and not asking any questions. There's going to be stuff here about unity. But if we understand unity to be something where you're simply quiet and you don't ask any questions, what kind of unity is that? It's not a very deep and meaningful unity. It could only be a unity that is a shell. But the Apostle Paul, and we're gonna hear some of these verses in a little bit, that he really wants the church to be thinking the same thing. And so gracious questions can actually be a means of discovering what one another are thinking. Oh, now I get it. You're thinking a little loopy. Let me help you out. No, just tease. that someone, by their gracious question, you understand where they're coming from, and then that the explanations and the going back and forth in conversation in a gracious way can promote heart unity. But we can see from 1 Corinthians 11 that disunity can be disruptive of the Lord's Supper. You remember how he talks there in verse 18, I hear there are divisions among you. Verse 19, there must also be factions among you that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. You may call it that, Paul says. but it's not to eat the Lord's Supper because there are these various factions. You can't carry factions in and then carry factions out and then pretend that magically the factions go away during the elements. So as we come to the table of remembrance, we each need to ask, am I contributing to the unity of the Lord's Supper in this place? or am I not contributing to that unity? Secondly B, consider the redemptive basis of our local church unity. Arguments for local church unity. Jesus died to make us one. There will be one flock and one shepherd. Jesus prayed to make us one. John 17, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you. And then again, that they may be perfect in one. The Holy Spirit baptizes believers into one body. Christ died to have us to be one. He prays that we will be one, and the Holy Spirit is the one who baptizes everyone into the body, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. So God works to unite us, and the devil works to divide us. Thirdly, C, consider our duty to cultivate and maintain our local church unity. Our Lord said by this, all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. In Romans 14, 19, therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace. and the things by which we may edify one another. There are some things that will contribute to church unity. One of those things can be a question. Let me understand where you are coming from. Then we find that there are probably other things that don't contribute to unity. Then listen to 1 Corinthians 1 verse 10, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. That's going to take a little work at Corinth, isn't it? But that's still his goal. Ephesians 4, we are to walk with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Philippians 1 and verse 27, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. And in order to come to one mind on things, then we need to talk. We need to help others to understand where we are coming from, and hopefully as we talk through things and bring biblical perspectives to bear, there will be a one mind striving together. Paul says, Philippians 2 verse 2, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. You see, there's nothing in all of these passages about there being just a quiet disposition that doesn't ask any questions. No. That's only going to be a shell of a unity. Now, it's going to be a little bit different than somebody coming in and domineering and pronouncing how everybody else has to think. So there we've seen several lines of thought, the redemptive basis, our duty to cultivate and maintain local church unity, and fourthly, D, consider the blessedness of local church unity. Psalm 133 in verse 1, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. James 3 in verse 17, the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. And what's one of those eight indispensable characteristics of the citizens of the kingdom of God in the Beatitudes? Blessed are the peacemakers. Well, in a few minutes, I will move down to a table that in a special way belongs to the Lord and I will uncover that one loaf and someone will pray and there will be the breaking of that one loaf. And what symbolism ought to be bound up with that one loaf as your eye sees it? Well, it symbolizes the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, but before we get to the broken loaf and therefore the broken body, what's to be symbolized? The one loaf. All of the many bound up together in that one loaf. Well, there are various emphases concerning the Lord's table. Sometimes we could come to the Lord's table and have a message about self-examination, and that would be thoroughly biblical. We could come to the Lord's table and have an emphasis on remembering His death. Well, I don't think you could find much fault with that. Or a consideration of our sinfulness and things that we need to put to the side, or the great cost of our salvation. the blessings that flow from His death, or even our covenantal recommitment. This is the blood of the new covenant. And if I'm going to be walking in the ways of Jesus Christ, this is what I need to be committed to. And yet, at another time, we could come to the Lord's table anticipating the glorious return of Jesus Christ. until He comes. So there's a wide range of appropriate emotions for us, appropriate emphases, and our emotions can be that of great joy, and we're delighting in the blessings of the Christian life, but other times there can be a time of great sadness over our sin over our disappointment that comes in our self-examination. So where we are as individual Christians in our walk with God will greatly impact our emotions as we come to any one particular supper of remembrance. There are times when there is to be that vertical consideration. I need to remember the body and the blood of the Lord, and I don't want to eat of it in an unworthy way. And yet there are other times, or perhaps even at the same Lord's Supper, where we think in terms of our unity with the people of God. If it is in Matthew 5 that we are not to come into a worship service when we know that we've got an ongoing conflict with someone else, we need to address that first, then how much more when we come with fellow members of the same church, of the same body, partaking of the same loaf, of the same cup, although distributed out there in the kitchen into these individuals, to think of our horizontal standing, our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Well, let's pray and commend these words to the Lord's blessing in our life. Father, we thank you for the spectrum of witness that you give to us in your book on the Lord's Supper. We thank you that we've been able to trace out something of the Passover roots, something of how the various gospel accounts bear witness to the institution of the Lord's Supper, and how we can come this evening to 1 Corinthians 10, one of those Lord's Supper passages that we would not gravitate to on a normal and regular basis. And yet we find that there are lessons for us. There is an actual participation, an actual shared life that we have with you, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that there is a one loaf, and there are the many of the church members who are partaking of that one loaf together. We pray, our God, that you would help us to see that the only basis of our being one with one another is through the merits of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived that perfect life and then died that perfect sacrificial death in our behalf. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for that death. Encourage our hearts as we think on the reality even of a free justification that because of what you have done and because you have drawn our hearts out in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have been justified and we have peace with God. Thank you for your many mercies. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.