I Corinthians 11:17-34
We are continuing on in our series on the book of I Corinthians. Last week, Carl covered the first portion of
chapter 11. Now, we’ll pick up there and
finish the chapter with the subject of the Lord’s Supper.
This whole chapter is best understood in the context of actions done
in public gatherings, rather than what goes on in the privacy of one’s own
home. And, these themes continue through
the remainder of the entire book of I Corinthians.
Let’s pray before we start into today’s
verses.
Lord Jesus, thank you for sacrificing your own body on the cross for
us. Thank you for the memorial of the
Lord’s Supper. Please sharpen and
freshen our minds and our hearts regarding this special remembrance of
You. Teach us, we pray. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
We’ll start with I Corinthians 11:1-19:
In the following directives I
have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first
place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions
among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be
differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
Interestingly, last week (though it was a tough passage), Paul had
commended (praised or applauded) the Corinthians for following the traditions
given to them. This week, we find the
opposite, Paul is confronting the Corinthians.
He has no praise for them. There are
problems in the church’s gatherings.
Scripture encourages us to meet together as believers. Meeting together is a good thing. (Hebrews 10:25) But for the Corinthians,
their meetings were doing more harm than good. What was going on?
Well, they had divisions which carried over to their meetings. Way back in chapter 1, Paul addressed this
issue of division. At that point, the
division in focus was related to which leader the Corinthians said they were
following (some followed Paul, others Cephas, others Apollos). Paul was very blunt in telling them this was
completely wrong. He told them, “Jesus
is not divided.” Jesus himself prayed
that all believers including us should not be divided, but “that all of them
may be one.” (John 17:21)
If there are in fact people who are acting contrary to the ways of
Christ, Paul indicates that there will be visible or detectable
differences. I think this is an
important distinction. Division is
clearly wrong, but people who are in a right relationship with Jesus cannot
simply be made indistinguishable from those who are in opposition to
Jesus.
Have you heard the word syncretism?
Syncretism says that it is possible to take different beliefs and blend
them all up together. There are people
in various seminaries and so-called churches which would say there are multiple
ways to God … that you can take a little of this belief system and a little of
that belief system and just roll them all together and out comes something we
can all live with. This verse (there have to be differences among you to
show which of you have God’s approval) says that is simply not
possible. There is in fact right and
wrong, and there are things which are pleasing to God of which He approves, and
there are other things of which God does not approve.
Let’s continue. What were the
Corinthians doing in particular?
When you come together, it is
not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without
waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don’t you
have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and
humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you
for this? Certainly not!—I Corinthians 11:20-22
The Corinthians attempt to practice the Lord’s Supper was profaned by
gluttony and discrimination. It was so
bad that Paul said it wasn’t possible to describe it as the Lord’s Supper
anymore.
Imagine there’s a potluck dinner where the food was not set on a
common table. Where the people who
cooked or brought the food were the only ones who expected to eat it. Each family or class of people sat at
different tables. Then, they put their
own food on their table.
If you couldn’t afford to bring food, you might be able ask others for
a portion of their food, but that was apparently frowned upon. There was this awkwardness among the
Corinthians which I think we thankfully have a hard time to grasp. Class consciousness was much stronger than
today’s American culture.
We’ve also talked about Corinthian culture, and how idolatry and
worship of false gods was commonplace.
Many of these immature Corinthian believers came out of backgrounds
where there were raucous feasts with all sorts of immorality and
overindulgence. This contributed to some
of this wrong behavior. I think the
problem for the Corinthians was that no one was addressing this problem. News of it finally reached Paul and he wrote
to them about it quite sternly.
We can look at this situation and feel pretty safe, right? We don’t do these kind of things, do we? We put all the food on a common table. We share and enjoy ourselves. There always seems to be an abundance, so we
aren’t too worried about anyone going hungry, right?
And yet, there are things we do which communicate things to one
another which we would never want to communicate. I see at least two ways this plays out. On the one hand, someone can do something
that makes us think that they think something.
We never talk about it to anyone else and the conclusion we made becomes
“permanent” in our minds. I’ll give you an example. Last week, Tina was a greeter. The “on duty” time for a greeter is 10:15 am. Well, we have the 9:45 study time, so we have
a flurry of folks coming way before 10:15 am.
Tina had come with us to church when we came over to music practice, so
she was here before 9:45 am. Christine
Custer was also here and as the 9:45 study time participants started to arrive,
she greeted folks warmly as they entered.
After church, when we were home, Tina asked me if she had done
something wrong. Was Mrs. Custer in fact
communicating to Tina that she hadn’t done her job correctly when she stepped
forward and began greeting people? I
told Tina that Mrs. Custer hadn’t given it a second thought. She was greeting people when they arrived
because she’s friendly and she shows the love of Christ to people when she sees
them. We then talked about the fact that
it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just watch Mrs. Custer at times and make mental
notes about what she does. In other
words, “be an imitator of Christine as she is an imitator of Christ.” (No pressure, Christine!)
The good news in this particular example is that Tina brought the topic
up, and we talked it out.
But, we’ve all come to conclusions on our own which in fact are
completely wrong. Sadly, we either fail
at believing the best about one another (I Corinthians 13:7) or we fail to
politely ask questions when we think something is out of whack. Our assumptions can get us in trouble. Once we do it, then we can’t help but repeat
it every time we see that person do something.
Suddenly, we’re filled to brim with “proof” that the other person is
“against us.” At this point, division is
almost impossible to prevent. The
solution to this kind of thinking is to “nip it in the bud”. If you catch yourself going down this path,
you need to stop and talk it out with the individual involved or if that is too
difficult for some reason then seek out someone who you trust that is a mature
believer and talk to them. Whichever of
these you do, do not let the root of bitterness gain a foothold. (Hebrews 12:14-15)
On the other side, there can clearly be areas of weakness or
shortcoming where we have a blindness? As a result, we cause someone else pain. I’ll mention two of them. One is pettiness. Pettiness means that you think something is
really big or really important which really isn’t. Typically, pettiness comes into play around topics
of legalism. I don’t think you ought to
be doing x, y, or z (or I think that you ought to be doing a, b, or c), but
there is no definite reason why it is a problem. However, I make you feel really bad about it
to the point you are uncomfortable or even discouraged. Again, I recommend talking about this. If someone does confront you, please be
patient and listen. Then, you can discuss
the situation with the other person. If
needed, please pull in a mature believer and discuss it together.
The other one I’ll mention is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is probably the most
dangerous. Hypocrisy almost always
raises its ugly head in a situation where someone confronts you about something
where you are blind to the problem. If
you refuse to listen and understand what they are saying but simply assure the
other person that it was unintentional and no harm was intended, it is likely
that the problem will crop up again. As
a result, the offended person will become even more frustrated and desire to
stay away from you. If you are perceived
by the person you’ve offended as being more spiritually mature, then you even
have the potential to damage their faith.
In these situations, where one or both parties feel like they have
been slighted or wronged, I find Romans 15:7 to be a helpful reminder. “Accept one another as Christ also accepted
you.” How did Christ accept you? He did it in the midst of every rebellious
thought you ever had. He accepted you;
He loved you before you had ever thought about loving Him. Even further, Jesus exhorted us in John 13
with the physical example of washing the disciples’ feet …
Now that I, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have
set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell
you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the
one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do
them. John 13:14-17
Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another. John 13:34
Jesus said these words on the same night of the Lord’s Supper which
Paul explains in the next verses of our passage, so let’s return there now …
For I received from the Lord what
I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night 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, after supper
he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this,
whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.—I Corinthians
11:23-26
The words “give thanks” together in the Greek give us the root of the
word Eucharist. Some churches use that
word, Eucharist, to describe the Lord’s Supper.
Others use the word Communion.
However it is called, it is meant to be a memorial meal like the
Passover. It is a time to remember what
God has done for us.
The Passover was celebrated annually, but there is no such timetable
for the Lord’s Supper. We celebrate the
Lord’s Supper together at least monthly here.
There is a new covenant. This
is another note about Jesus that clearly shows that Jesus made the claim that
he was God. Occasionally, you might
encounter someone that would say that Jesus is a good moral teacher, but he is
not God. Who other than God could make a
new covenant in their blood which would replace the old covenant given by God
to Moses at Mount Sinai during the Exodus?
This new covenant is mentioned in the Old Testament.
"The days are coming,"
declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of
Israel and with the people of Judah. It
will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I
was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with
the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put
my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and
they will be my people. No longer will
they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they
will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the
LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no
more."—Jeremiah 31:31-34
Do we live in light of this inner transformation? (Obviously, some of the Corinthians were
not.)
We do proclaim or testify to the truth of Jesus sacrifice and our own
salvation when we take the Lord’s Supper.
We shouldn’t think that it is trivial or unimportant. Taking the Lord’s Supper is a significant
declaration of who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
In a recent conference call of our sister churches in the Southeast
region, Freddy Perez, one of the pastors at New Life Church in Miami, said they
were “Seeking to make all of our activities gospel-oriented.” I’ve been thinking about that this week, and
not specifically limiting my thoughts to church activities. There is nothing in the Bible which says we
may not take the Lord’s Supper together in our own homes or at meals with other
believers. Keep that in mind. According to I Peter, you are a kingdom of
priests. You can remember the Lord in
this way whether or not it is a Sunday morning.
I think it is kind of neat that Jesus did not tie the Lord’s Supper to a
date on a calendar.
It is the attitude of our hearts that is important, not the place or
time …
Therefore, whoever eats the
bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of
sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself
before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and
drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on
himself. –I Corinthians 11:27-29
The Corinthians had been taking the Lord’s Supper in an irreverent and
self-centered manner. When we take the Lord’s
Supper, we need to test the attitudes of our heart and our actions. We should check our awareness of the
significance of the Lord’s Supper. Taking
the Lord’s Supper is a symbol of how we have received God’s grace. People who do not believe in Jesus should not
take the Lord’s Supper.
Among people who do believe in Jesus, the view here is not that we
should exclude ourselves, but rather that we should take the opportunity to allow
our heart to be made right with God. We
are always “unworthy” of the sacrifice of Jesus. We don’t earn forgiveness of sins. Thankfully, Jesus has given it to us freely,
as a gift. “Unworthy manner” here refers
to taking communion when you have a hard or unrepentant spirit. Are we living in ways that honor the
Lord?
We don’t stir up or create spiritual worthiness by our own effort. We open up our hearts to Christ and rejoice
in Him. In fact, we acknowledge to Him
that we haven’t got our act together, that we need help, that most of all we
need Him. We agree that apart from Him we
can do nothing.
Some view that last verse (v.29) as referring to the body of Christ,
the church. This view flows out of the
thoughts in earlier verses in this passage (vv.20-21) about eating selfishly in
front of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
It could also be interpreted as not taking the Lord’s Supper seriously
as an act of worship and communion with Christ.
What is this judgment described in the passage? Paul did not write a definite article before
the word judgment. He didn’t write “the”
judgment. Surely, it is not eternal
judgment. But what is the potential
result of being “guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord?”
That is why many among you are
weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged
ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we
are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.—I Corinthians
11:30-32
Before we discuss the result of God’s judgment here, please note that
if we judge and discipline ourselves, then we can avoid the judgment spoken of
here. Let’s strive to come with a right
heart, a humble heart that worships God and seeks to be in right relationship
to Him and to one another.
One conclusion you can make from this passage is that God does make
disciplinary judgments about us. I think
we all like John 9, which is the story of the man born blind. There, Jesus clearly explains that this man’s
disability was not the result of sin either of the man or his parents. But, also consider Job, God allowed Satan to
do some terrible things to Job. At the
same time, God used those tragedies to humble Job and grow Job’s faith. You may ask, “Was it worth it?” I’m not going to attempt that answer, but
when we get to heaven, I would encourage you to ask Job for yourself. I think his answer will be, “Yes.” My point is that we see trials and
difficulties which are not the result of God’s judgment of sin. We also see trials and difficulties which
are. In this passage, Paul says that
these judgments even include death.
Falling asleep is often used in the New Testament as a figure of
speech for death. Do you remember the
story of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5?
That is an example of what Paul is describing. There is such a thing as “sin leading to
death.” (I John 5:16) However …
“It is certainly presumptuous to think this about every case of an
untimely death of a believer, or [heaven forbid!] to use it as an enticement to
suicide for [a] guilt-ridden Christian. Our lives are in God's hands, and if He
sees fit to bring one of His children home, that is fine.” --David Guzik
Paul does not say or even hint that any of these believers have lost
their salvation. I think we often miss
the reality of our faith when we think of the physical death of a
believer. As Paul said of himself in Philippians
1:21, “To die is gain.” We get to go and
be with Jesus when we die. Yes, it is
often a grievous thing to the survivors when someone dies, but for the believer
who has died, it is a wonderful thing, 1000% gain.
So, let’s talk about this topic of discipline since Paul brought it up.
Discipline shows up throughout
Scripture:
Hearing the Lord’s voice at Sinai is regarded as discipline in
Deuteronomy 4:36, “From heaven He made you Hear His voice to discipline you. On
earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from out of the
fire.” After that, the people wanted
only Moses to talk to God. I think we
can take this as a reminder to us as parents or whenever we are in a position
of authority over others: our words by themselves can be discipline. Choose and use them carefully.
Psalm 6 and 38 begin with David entreating the Lord, “do not rebuke me
in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.”
I don’t think he’s saying God don’t discipline me. He’s just saying, don’t discipline me in
anger or wrath. Jeremiah 10:24 also
says, “Discipline me, LORD, but only in due measure— not in your anger, or you
will reduce me to nothing.”
Psalm 39:11 says, “When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their
sin, you consume their wealth like a moth— surely everyone is but a breath.” This gives the view that God can display this
type of discipline in different aspects of our lives including, but not limited
to, our health and our finances.
Psalm 94:12 … “Blessed is the one you discipline, O Lord.” Proverbs 3:11 … “do not despise the Lord’s
discipline.” The Lord’s discipline is a
good thing.
Proverbs 5:23 … “For lack of discipline, [the wicked] will die.” Proverbs 12:11 … “whoever hates correction is
stupid.” Proverbs 15:10 … “Stern
discipline awaits anyone who leaves the path.”
Proverbs 15:32 … “Those who disregard discipline despise
themselves.” Again, the Lord’s
discipline is a good thing. Ignoring it
or avoiding it leads to disaster.
One more example from the New Testament … do you remember Revelation
3:20? (“Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and
dine with him, and he with Me.”) That’s
a key verse that we use when sharing our faith.
Do you know what Revelation 3:19 says?
It turns out that it talks about discipline. Remember this is Jesus speaking …“Those whom
I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”
As children of God, we are disciplined just as parents will discipline
their children.
Endure hardship as discipline;
God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by
their father? If you are not disciplined--and everyone undergoes
discipline--then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover,
we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.
How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They
disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us
for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems
pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of
righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. –Hebrews 12:7-11
This passage gives several reasons for discipline. One is because it proves that we are God’s
children. Another reason is that by His
discipline, we may share in His holiness.
It produces a harvest of righteousness, and it produces a harvest of peace
for those who have been trained by it. The
passage is also honest about what discipline is like. Hardship and discipline require
endurance. Discipline seems painful at
the time.
Our response to discipline should be respect and submission. Yikes!
I’ve flunked that test a time or two.
We should also seek to be trained by the discipline. I think there is an important distinction
here between trying to solely figure out something we did wrong and avoiding
that one thing compared to being trained.
Sometimes lessons are simple, like don’t touch a hot stove or you’ll get
burned. But, there are also
opportunities to learn deeper lessons.
There are all kinds of different stoves and heat sources. We should be careful around all of them.
Verse 32 from our I Corinthians passage gives us one more reason for
the judgment of God. We are also disciplined
by God so that we are not condemned with the world. God is a loving Father. He won’t allow us to fall away from Him. His judgment and discipline are also intended
to keep us from becoming hypocrites.
What does hypocrisy mean? It
means having standards to which your own personal behavior does not
conform. May we never live such that
what we do brings shame to our God, nor injury to one another.
So then, my brothers, when you
come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat
at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment. And when
I come I will give further directions.—I Corinthians 11:33-34
Paul concludes our passage with another exhortation to be patient and
eat in a way that promotes love and unity.
He also offers another exhortation to self-control. If you’re hungry, go ahead and eat in
advance. Don’t pig out to the point that
someone else has to go without. Serve a
reasonable plate, and then go back for seconds.
Paul’s mention of “further directions” perhaps hints at other issues
related to the Lord’s Supper that Paul would deal with later.
This side of heaven, I think there’s always more for God to deal with in
our lives. One of my Dad’s favorite
books is called Run with the Horsemen. There
is an episode in the first chapter when the main character was a young
boy. The boy’s shenanigans result in the
destruction of half an acre of good cotton.
At the end of the chapter, the boy’s father is standing on the wide
porch of the old farm house observing to no one in particular, “He’s a good
boy. I just can’t think of enough things
to tell him not to do.”
I don’t think God has the same problem that this boy’s father
had. God knows what’s going on with each
of us, all the time. But I think he
doesn’t fix us all at once because if he tried to work on all our weaknesses
and shortcomings at once, we would be overwhelmed. He loves us too much to do that.
I’d like to close with a list of questions for you to consider. Some of them may resonate with you, others
will not. After we read them, I’ll ask
you to bow. I want us to take a few
moments in silence to inquire of the Lord and let Him speak into this area
through His Spirit. After that, we’ll
pray.
Questions …
--Do you feel put down or “humiliated” by other believers? Have you discussed this with anyone or do you
just keep it to yourself? Is that the
right thing to do?
--Are you open to listen to someone who shares with you that they feel
put down by something you have done?
--Are you ready to believe the best, forgive, and love one another as
Christ has called you to do?
--Do you live in the light of the inner transformation of the Holy
Spirit in you?
--What is the attitude of your heart toward Jesus and your fellow
believers as you come to take the Lord’s Supper? Is there anything you need to do?
--Do you see the hardships in your life as loving discipline from the
Father, and are you seeking to learn from those hardships?
--Do you respect God for allowing hardship and submit to Him as you
are going through it?
--Is it in your heart to be fully trained by God in the way of
holiness, or would you rather just “get by”?
--Or, are you over-concerned about what you might be doing wrong to
the point of frequently feeling guilty rather than forgiven?
--Are you being patient to wait on the Lord in your circumstances, or
are you trying to make things happen on your own?
Let’s bow and you can pray silently over these or other things that
the Lord has put in your hearts.
Oh Lord, I don’t want your precious children to be manipulated by
words I have said. I pray that You would
give us right thinking and understanding about these things. Help us to love one another and believe the
best about one another. Give us the
strength to lift one another up and carry each other’s burdens. Please help us to know if there are action
steps that we need to take today. Help
us to listen well and strive to do what is right in Your eyes. All this I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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