Don't Look in the Courtyard
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Social
I really enjoy fellowship dinners. Which is probably because I like to eat.
You can probably guess what my favorite part of fellowship dinners are....
If I were super spiritual, I would say the fellowship. But, it is the desserts. I’ve got a huge sweet tooth.
But, I do like the fellowship. God designed his church to fellowship with each other. And that is done better downstairs during a meal than upstairs during a service.
I feel sorry for those who cannot attend fellowship meals, because they are missing out on a rich blessing from God. Just like those who have to miss services hurt.
Nancy really missed the fellowship not being able to be here for a month. And others who have been out for so long experience the same.
God designed us to be together and to yearn to be together. Unfortunately, we are pulled in so many ways to not be together. Busyness of life, schedules, commitments, wrong priorities. They all keep us apart if we are not careful.
But, our own selfishness, our own wrong attitude, even when we are physically present, can keep us apart, and tear us from the fellowship and worship of being the Church of Jesus Christ.
Last week, Paul transitioned into a substantially long section on worship. We talked about head coverings, and if you weren’t here, I’m sorry that you missed the memo. We will begin instituting head coverings next week. That’s a joke.
In our current passage, which we will spend three weeks on, Paul talks about the attitude of worship, the focus of worship, and the result of worship.
Let’s read the passage.
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. So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
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.
So then, 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. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, you should all eat together. Anyone who is hungry should eat something at home, so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment.
And when I come I will give further directions.
Today, we are just going to discuss verses 17-22, the attitude of worship. Will you pray with me?
The early church celebrated the Lord’s supper every week. The couched communion within a fellowship meal, called the Love Feast.
These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
They met together for a meal, and part of that meal was the Lord’s supper.
As people stopped meeting in houses, the practice of a meal dropped off, becoming more of what we do, a fellowship meal after the service, with the Lord’s supper as a focus within the service.
This is an important background for this passage, which might clear somethings up. Hopefully, I will connect some of the dots through this sermon, as we see how the Corinthians were not having the write attitude of worship in their fellowship with each other.
1. Attitude: Humility
1. Attitude: Humility
The first attitude which we see in this passage is humility.
Paul writes, rather scathingly:
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.
When the Christians met in each other’s homes for services and taking the Lord’s Supper, there were literal divisions among them, divisions based on social status, splitting the guests up into different rooms.
In the late 1970s, James Wiseman excavated a Corinthian villa, which is dated between AD 50 and 75, so about the time of Paul’s writing. The site is still there and can be visited.
When guests entered the house, they came into an atrium, or a courtyard hallway, which opened into four or five other rooms. One of these rooms was the triclinium, basically the dining room.
It was roughly 24x18 ft, with couches for reclining on. About nine guests could fit in it.
The courtyard hallway was about 16x20 ft, with a pool in the middle of it. About 30-40 people could fit in the courtyard, either sitting or standing.
If more than nine people came to eat at these homes, there would be a division. Nine would eat in the dining room, and the rest would eat in the courtyard.
If that division wasn’t bad enough. Normally the division was made on social status and wealth. The poorer or less esteemed guests would be placed in the courtyard, which was scarcely furnished. Normally, the quality of the food, drink, service, and comfort was much less than that in the dining room. In fact, those in the dining room would be served first.
The Corinthians were using their divisions to show who was “favored by God.” Unfortunately, it backfired, because now Paul and everyone else knew who really had God’s approval.
The proof of someone who is truly following Christ is not a correct belief system, but in behavior that reflects the Gospel.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
The Corinthians were showing by their deeds that they were not truly following Jesus Christ. Yes, they might be saved, but they are not following Jesus.
They were proud.
The right attitude of worship is humility. It is a knowledge of what Solomon confesses in Ecclesiastes:
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
no one who does what is right and never sins.
We are all in the same boat: sinners in the hands of an angry God, because we have lived our lives against him.
We all are in need of mercy. Paul over and over again urges Christians that no one is better than another: it doesn’t matter the nationality or the belief system. We all desperately need Jesus.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Knowing this fact brings humility. We are all the same: you, me, and the guy in the sound booth. We might have different roles, but we don’t have different statuses.
2. Attitude: Unity
2. Attitude: Unity
With Humility, comes unity.
Let’s read those verses again:
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.
Because of their pride, they were divided.
Humility brings unity.
Paul said it differently in Ephesians.
Beginning in chapter 2, Paul discusses the Gospel:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
We are all the same: we all need God’s amazing grace for salvation. It is nothing that we can do to earn.
Once Paul makes that foundation statement about the Gospel, he continues into discussing the two main groups of Christians at that time: the Jews and the Gentiles, who were historically divided.
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
When we realize that we are nothing, desperately in need of God’s grace, we will draw closer to those around us who are also nothing, desperately in need of God’s grace. We will pursue fellowship with the Church, because we need each other.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
We are what God is building. As we are together, united, he is glorified, because we are something that is completely countercultural to the world around. Instead of building barriers and holding grudges, instead of keeping people out or looking down on each other, instead of gossiping and backbiting, we stand shoulder to shoulder, linking elbows to glorify our God.
This salvation we have, this humility that should pour out of us, results in a different attitude and lifestyle, which itself promotes unity.
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Unity.
Turn to someone near you and say: I realize that you are a wicked sinner. But, I am a wicked sinner too. Praise God for his grace!
Now, let’s join hands and sing Kumbaiyah.
Just joking!
In a more serious note, there was a reason while the early church greeted each other with a holy kiss, or as it morphed into a hug, and then into a handshake. Some churches do a passing of the peace instead. But, it started as a reminder for our unity. We are desperately in need of each other and desperately in need of God’s grace.
And we need every reminder for it.
Attitudes of worship: Humility. Unity.
3. Attitude: Service
3. Attitude: Service
For those who are bored with the first three verses, we are about to chart new territory. Service.
So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
Paul says that when the Corinthians met, they went ahead with their own suppers, before others were served.
Picture those gatherings.
The rich are in the inner room, and poorer ones are beginning to assemble, but some are late because they are coming from work. Those in the inner sanctum don’t care and are hungry, so they begin eating. By the time everyone in the outer court have been served, those in the dining room have had more than enough. In fact, they have eaten and drunk so much that they are drunk, while those in the inner court are still hungry.
Part of the force of the phrase: “go ahead with your own private suppers” is gorging themselves. They had no care for those who didn’t have anything. They only cared about their own stomachs.
Paul didn’t object to the well-to-do enjoying a reasonable quantity or quality of food in the privacy of their own families or dinner parties.
However, in a church setting, them gorging themselves at the expense of the “have-nots” is very inappropriate.
We are called to serve, and in our service to lift up those around us.
Jesus gave up his life for us. We are to imitate him by giving up our lives for others.
In a little bit, Paul is going to use a metaphor about a body for the church. he says that we as the church have many members, and each one of us is different. Then he explains:
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
We are to look around us and seek to serve and to lift those in our body. Our worship time should not be, what can we get, but how can I serve the person sitting next to me. How can I serve the person sitting across the aisle. How can I serve the person who has come for the first time.
Peter said it more succinctly:
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
Instead of coming together to gorge ourselves, both literally in a fellowship meal, or metaphorically in a worship service, we are called to serve each other, seeing what each other needs and providing that.
Attitudes in worship: Humility, Unity, Service.
4. Attitude: Focus
4. Attitude: Focus
Our last attitude for today is Focus. This is a teaser for what we will discuss next week.
Look at what Paul writes:
So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
As I said earlier, when the early church got together for church services, they always celebrated the Lord’s supper. But they had forgotten who’s supper they were eating.
Please forgive me for geeking out again. I spent an entire message last week geeking out. Now, I am geeking out again.
Paul is using a very specific construction when he says Lord’s supper. The form he is using refers to ownership. It is the supper owned by the Lord.
This same form is used by the early church for Sundays. As see in Revelation,.
On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
They called it the Lord’s Day, because it was owned by the Lord.
The person who owns it gets to call the shots.
The hosts in Corinth had forgotten whose meal it was. They thought it was their meal to be dedicated to their most favored guests.
Their focus was on themselves. The benefit was for them, in their mind.
But, Paul is saying: who, indeed, is hosting this meal?
If it is the Lord’s supper, he should be the focus of attention, and the benefit should be given to his people, for his glory.
Worship is to be directed to him, so that his people might be compelled to follow him. Unfortunately, as I am sure Brook and David can agree with, sometimes, the focus of worship changes from being directed to Jesus, to being directed at us.
Sometimes it is about who can sing well, or who can speak compellingly. Sometimes it is about what we or someone else is wearing. Sometimes, it is about the cleanliness of the building or the state of the parking lot.
It is easy for us who are human to forget the focus of our worship: Jesus.
Incidentally, if we remember that the focus of our worship is Jesus, we will be compelled to serve his people. We will take our worship of him and turn and love our Christian brothers and sisters, providing for their physical and material needs.
We will do what Jesus did for us.
Our worship, if the focus is on Jesus, should drive us to examine ourselves to see if we have the same mindset that Jesus had toward us.
I love the hymn:
May the mind of Christ, my Saviour,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.
May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.
May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.
May the love of Jesus fill me,
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.
May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.
May His beauty rest upon me
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him
Our focus is Jesus Christ, which drives us to serve those around us, reminding us of the need for unity, based upon the humility that we all need Jesus.