Remembering The Lord's Body (Part 1)
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A man is trying to find a parking space outside his local Walmart on a busy day, but cannot find a single one.
He looks skyward and says, "Lord, if you grant me this space, I'll come to Church every Sunday like a good Baptist"
Low and behold, a space opens up right in front of him at which time, he looks skyward again and says, "Never mind, I found one."
Historical/Cultural Context -
Historical/Cultural Context -
Paul preached the gospel in Corinth in the early 50s AD during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:1–18). When opposition grew fierce there, the Lord Jesus spoke to him in a vision assuring him that he had ‘many people’ in the city (Acts 18:10). With this encouragement, Paul stayed on for eighteen months, ‘teaching them the word of God’ (Acts 18:11). God used Paul’s ministry to bring about the birth and establishment of the church in Corinth.
Biblical Text -
Biblical Text -
-[Prayer]-
-[Prayer]-
Life Principle - Jesus & His Church Are To Be Honored. Don’t Put Him To An Open Shame
Life Principle - Jesus & His Church Are To Be Honored. Don’t Put Him To An Open Shame
Life Point- Have Proper Divisions In The Church
Life Point- Have Proper Divisions In The Church
Exegetical -
Exegetical -
But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together.
First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it.
But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!
Homiletical -
Homiletical -
In our scripture Paul has moved on to conduct in the church. You see communion during this time was much more like our Fellowship Breakfast or supper, but with a similar remembrance in it of the Lord Jesus.
Imagine it like this. We meet for supper, kind of like we do for homecoming, and in the beginning of that we stop and do what we call communion. Except the whole thing is considered communion. not just the ceremony.
Now the first thing Paul points out is that they get to gether during a time that the Holy Spirit is with them and Jesus is in the midst of them and they have hard feelings against each other, there is division and anger brewing under the surface.
They should deal with that before they come together.
“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you,
leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
Here is the kicker, the person who is going to other is not the one who is upset, it is the other party.
Let’s say I ticked one of you off and I know that I did. But you have not yet come to me about it. My job, then, is not to wait for you, but my job as a Christian is to go to you and make it right, as much as possible and then bring my gift before God.
Now let’s say I ticked you off and I don’t know about it, or maybe I do, and I haven’t come to make it right. Now, as a Christian, it falls to you to make it right. To talk to them instead of stewing about it. But if you don’t then that person, if they know you are ticked, it would fall to them to make it right.
Let’s talk a minute about the gift. What is in view here?
Well Jesus is using an Old Testament example here. If you were to come and make the sin offering, or come before God’s alter to make any offering whether for purity, piety or whatever; Jesus is saying to examine your relationships before you come to a Holy God and make it right.
Paul is telling us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to deal with our petty divisions before we come into communion with God and with each other. This is what must be done so that we do not dishonor God and bring a reproach on ourselves.
But Pastor what do you do if you go to the person but they will not forgive? They will not give you a fresh start?
I am glad you asked. I have someone in my life right now that I am constantly dealing with that they just know how to push my buttons and they do it purposefully! Before you ask it is not my wife.
Then we get angry or upset they will say, “see I told you you’re a hypocrite!”
Those kind of people are tempting you to sin and then when you try to make it right they don’t want to forgive you, because if they do it would mean they would have to change too, and they don’t want to change. Deep down they love their bitterness and love to feel like the martyr.
God has an answer for this situation:
Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable.
Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.
Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”
Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
But you know what? This is not an easy thing to do when the person or people you’re dealing with push your buttons over and over again. Admit your fault, if they hear you, great! If they don’t? Then you have done your part.
In a situation like this, ask God to change you so that you don’t get angry and do or say something stupid. Ask God to turn you into the person He wants you to be. Now get up and when it happens again, let it go and do better.
Remember this:
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!
There are a couple of things going on here.
1) This kind of division is between those who are approved by God and those that aren’t. This means that it is obvious to all who are living in open sin and are not. If I am living in sin with another individual, whether that be heterosexual or homosexual, then I am not living approved unto God.
If I have not dealt with my relationships with others and made things right, then I am not approved unto God.
If I am an open gossip, an open liar, adulterer, whatever that sin may be; I am not approved unto God.
There should be a division hear amongst the brethren. We should not be partaking of the communion celebrations.
2) A false teacher or those practicing idolatry should not be partaking of communion either. This division should exist.
Someone like this reminds me of the warnings Jesus gave:
But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
“What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.
So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet.
And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
“Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.
The person who tempts God’s children, both young and old, are not approved unto God and should not be allowed to partake of communion.
Illustration -
Illustration -
Speaking of difficulty in relationships, A son asks his dad "Daddy, what is string theory?"
The dad replied "Why are you asking me such difficult questions, come on ask me something easier"
The son then asks "Um, ok, so why does mommy get mad sometimes?"
Well you see son, "String theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics..."
Life Point - Don’t Defile Yourself With Self-Centeredness
Life Point - Don’t Defile Yourself With Self-Centeredness
Exegetical -
Exegetical -
When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper.
For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk.
What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!
Homiletical -
Homiletical -
There is a lot going on here in just this little bit of scripture
First Paul addressed their Improper divisions and divisiveness
Now He says that they aren’t really interested in the Lord’s Supper. They are more interested in their own stomachs.
They have taken their eyes off of the subject and meaning of the event and turned the interests inward, on their own stomachs. They have turned that which is Holy into that which is profane.
How often have we done this in our own lives as it relates to the things of God? How often have we traded that which is Holy for our own desires and not God’s desire.
How often have we decided that our desires are more important than God’s? But someone is saying, “Pastor I have done this, I have followed God’s desires.” Have you though? Have I? Perfectly and in all things?
Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
He told them to go into all the nations, but for the most part those early believers before 70 A.D. stay around Jerusalem. But after the temple and Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, then they were forced to go to other nations. Then there was a massive scattering where the Gospel was carried everywhere.
While there were missionaries and Apostles before this that went and planted churches, there was a huge dispersion after this. I call to Christ from the unknown masses that to Christ everywhere they went.
Have you taken Christ everywhere you have gone? No matter where you have ended up? Through what seems like just a natural part of life to get you physically from one place to the next, have you spread the Gospel?
Many times God will use circumstances to get His will accomplished just like he did to those early Christians.
For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk.
What? Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!
The modern day equivalent would be in our fellowship dinners where there are those in our church gatherings who will load up their food and eat it quickly before others have a chance, so that they don’t have to share. There are those who load up their plate and don’t eat it all, just throwing it away. This is pure selfishness.
Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Paul says that these, so called, Lord’s Supper times are really not. But, they are in actuality a time of bringing disgrace to God’s Church and shaming the poor. You know, the people we are supposed to help? They put them to an open disgrace in front of everyone. They wanted Paul to praise them for the piety in their church, but he refuses to do so because what was supposed to be good turned out to be evil.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
This scripture is talking to those in the world who do not know better, but how much worse for those who know better, those that are Christians who put Jesus to an open shame. This is why further down Paul writes:
For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.
That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.
Life Principle– Jesus & His Church Are To Be Honored. Don’t Put Him To An Open Shame
Life Principle– Jesus & His Church Are To Be Honored. Don’t Put Him To An Open Shame
Call to Action – altar call….
Call to Action – altar call….