1 Corinthians 11 | Are You Eating the Lord's Supper or Just Eating?
At Redemption Gilbert, we take communion every single week. For some people who grew up in other church traditions, that felt surprising at first. But it turns out that rhythm goes all the way back to the very first church, and it carries more weight than most of us realize on any given Sunday.
In 1 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul writes to a church that is doing communion all wrong. Not ceremonially wrong, but relationally and spiritually wrong. And in the middle of his correction, he gives us one of the clearest pictures in all of Scripture of what this practice is actually meant to be.
When Culture Sneaks Into the Church
Paul opens the chapter with a section that can feel jarring to modern readers. He talks about head coverings, long hair, short hair, and the difference between how men and women should appear when they worship. It's the kind of passage that makes people uncomfortable, and honestly, it made Paul's original audience uncomfortable too.
Here is the thing though. Paul is not writing a dress code. He is writing to a church full of people who are still carrying the cultural assumptions of the world they came from. Some of the men were worshiping in a way that mimicked Roman aristocrats who covered their heads to make sacrifices to pagan gods, positioning themselves as men of status and power before God. Some of the women were worshiping in a way that echoed the wild, ecstatic worship of pagan goddess cults, hair loose and untethered, embodying a kind of spiritual performance that had nothing to do with Jesus.
Paul says to all of them: the culture you came from is lying to you. You have to drop your anchor somewhere truer.
The Creational Anchor
What Paul gives them instead is not a new set of rules. It is a story. Specifically, the story of Genesis.
He reminds them that God created humanity in a particular way, with particular roles and relationships, and that the church is meant to reflect that creational order rather than the cultural chaos surrounding it. He also immediately pushes back against anyone who might want to use that idea as a weapon. He writes that in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man independent of woman. We are interdependent. We belong to each other. Everything comes from God.
Paul's point is not hierarchy for hierarchy's sake. It is that we are called to lay down our individual rights and desires in service of one another. He puts it bluntly: if there is anything worth fighting over in a marriage, it should be who gets the privilege of serving the other first.
The Table They Were Wrecking
Then Paul turns a corner, and his tone sharpens. He says your meetings are doing more harm than good.
The church in Corinth was gathering for what they called the Lord's Supper. But before the doors opened to everyone, the wealthier members were throwing a private feast, stuffing themselves and drinking freely. Then the poor, the hungry, and the marginalized would arrive and receive nothing but the symbolic bread and cup.
Paul is furious. You cannot call that the Lord's Supper. You cannot claim to proclaim the death of Jesus while humiliating the very people he died for.
Taking Communion in a Way That Actually Means Something
Paul's correction includes a word that cuts both ways. He says that whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves first. That word, unworthy, has tripped people up for centuries. It does not mean you have to be good enough to take communion. It means you have to be honest.
There are two ways people get this wrong. The first is treating communion like a box to check, going through the motions because everyone around you is doing it, not pausing to think about what is actually happening. The second is the opposite. It is skipping communion because you had a terrible week and you feel like you don't deserve it.
Here is the hard truth: you never deserved it. That is the whole point. Christ came while you were still a sinner. He laid down his life for you before you earned a single thing. Communion is not a reward for good behavior. It is a proclamation of the gospel, that even in the face of your failure, Jesus gave his body and blood for you.
Take it with a joyful heart. Especially on the weeks when you are painfully aware of how badly you have fallen short.
A Community Meal, Not a Private One
Paul ends the chapter with a simple instruction: when you gather to eat, eat together. Communion is not a private spiritual moment you have in a seat surrounded by strangers. It is a communal act. It is the entire family of God declaring together, in their very bodies, that Jesus died and that he is coming back.
That is why churches like Redemption Gilbert have taken it seriously since the very beginning. Acts 2:42 describes the first Christians gathering to read Scripture, pray, and take the Lord's Supper together. That pattern has continued in an unbroken chain every Sunday for 2,000 years. And every time it happens, it is a proclamation.
PERSONAL REFLECTION
Communion can become routine so easily. Paul's challenge in this chapter is an invitation to slow down and actually mean it.
Questions to sit with:
When you take communion, are you truly examining yourself or going through the motions? What would it look like to be fully honest before God in that moment?
Is there someone in your church community who you have been treating as a "have not" in any way, whether in relationships, time, or attention?
Spiritual practice:
Before your next Sunday service, take five minutes to quietly ask the Holy Spirit one question: Is there an area of my life out of alignment with my faith? Then bring whatever surfaces honestly to the table.
GO DEEPER
Paul covers far more ground in this chapter than any summary can do justice to. If you want to go deeper, watch the full sermon in the Redemption Gilbert Sermon Library or on YouTube.
If any of this stirred questions about faith, community, or what it actually looks like to follow Jesus, we'd love for you to join us on a Sunday. Services are at 9am and 10:30am.
