Worship Order and the Lord's Supper

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1. Observe

   What problem does Paul describe at the Corinthian Lord's Supper gathering (vv. 20-21)?

   • Some were eating meat sacrificed to idols during the meal
   • Some were speaking in tongues without interpretation
   • Each person ate their own supper first — one was hungry while another was drunk — shaming those who had nothing
   • Women were praying without head coverings at the table

2. Observe

   What does Jesus say the cup represents in Paul's recounting of the Last Supper (v. 25)?

   • The blood of the old covenant made at Sinai
   • The forgiveness of sins poured out for the nations
   • The new covenant in his blood
   • The coming judgment on those who reject him

3. Interpret

   Paul says that eating and drinking the Lord's Supper unworthily means eating and drinking "judgment to himself, if he doesn't discern the Lord's body" (v. 29). What does "discerning the Lord's body" most likely include?

   • Verifying that the bread has been consecrated by an ordained minister.
   • Conducting a forensic examination of what the elements physically become.
   • Recognizing both the broken body of Christ represented in the bread and the church itself as Christ's body — so that treating fellow believers with contempt (as the Corinthians were doing) is a failure to discern what the Supper proclaims.
   • Reading aloud all four Gospel accounts of the Last Supper before partaking.

4. Interpret

   Paul says the discipline of sickness and death among the Corinthians (v. 30) is meant to ensure they are "not condemned with the world" (v. 32). What does this reveal about the nature of God's judgment within the church?

   • God randomly strikes believers with illness to humble them.
   • Christians can lose their salvation if they take communion unworthily.
   • The Lord disciplines his people like a father — correcting rather than condemning, so that they are restored rather than swept up in the world's final judgment.
   • Physical suffering is always a sign of hidden unconfessed sin.

5. Apply

   Paul calls believers to self-examination before the Lord's Supper (v. 28). What would honest self-examination require a person to look at, based on this chapter's context?

   • Whether they have attended enough church services to be worthy
   • Whether they have memorized enough Scripture to receive the sacrament
   • Both their personal sin before God and how they have been treating fellow believers — since the entire warning flows from social contempt at the table
   • Whether their theological understanding of the elements is correct

6. Apply

   Verse 26 says that every time believers eat the bread and drink the cup they "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." How could a believer make their participation in communion a more deliberate act of proclamation?

   • By speaking the words of institution aloud while eating
   • By inviting unbelievers to attend and explain what the service means to them afterward
   • By approaching the table with conscious attention to what the death of Christ cost and what it accomplished — letting that reality shape both gratitude and behavior — rather than treating it as routine ritual
   • By celebrating communion more frequently, ideally daily

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