The Cup of Demons or the Cup of Christ
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
As your turning their allow me to remind you of where we are in this letter, and particularly where we are in Paul’s argument.
in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul’s focus shifted to one particular situation going on in the church.
1 Corinthians 8:1 (ESV)
Now concerning food offered to idols:
This is the situation that Paul continues to address in our passage today.
Some of the Corinthians believed it was a serious sin to eat food offered to idols.
Some thought that since they knew idols were not real gods, they were free in Christ to eat Whatever they wanted wherever they wanted.
In eating, however, these Corinthians who claimed a higher knowledge, were causing many to stumble.
Paul’s first concern was their heart posture.
They were living and acting as if their own personal freedoms and preferences were more important than their brothers and sisters in Christ Who were stumbling over the situation.
In chapter 9, Paul directs their eyes to his own example.
He shows how he sacrificed his own rights and preferences to get the gospel to the Corinthians.
In chapter 10, he turns back to their arrogance and he warns them that they are following after Israel’s example in the Old Testament.
His primary warning Is emphasized in verse 12.
Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Now, after all this argumentation, Paul returns to the issue of eating food sacrificed to idols.
And as we read, let me remind you how prevalent this was for them.
Before Christ, their whole social lives would have revolved around idol worship.
It was the world they lived in. feasts for the worship of false gods were the norm for celebrating all kinds of events in their culture. This issue was in their face all the time…, so with that in mind, lets read and pray.
14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Lets Pray
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Notice the tenderness yet firmness with which Paul addresses the Corinthians here.
My beloved….,
flee from idolatry…
there is love here… and there is directness..
find people in your life who will talk to you like this…
find people who love you like this, so much so they will tell you, flee from idolatry my beloved.
Run from this thing that is killing you.
Run from the false gods in your life that lead to destruction.
Find a group of people you can meet with regularly who will love you this way.
Don’t wait for this kind of community to find you…. Go searching for it… try to create it… don’t stop until you have it.
Paul is loving the Corinthians well.… and we need that kind of love in our lives.
Paul is loving by carefully crafting an argument to dissuade them from participating in the pagan meals and festivals that were designed for the worship of false gods.
He does this by first directing them to the nature of the covenant meal that they should have been participating in regularly As Christians.
He directs their attention to the nature of the Lord’s Supper.
15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
The Corinthians were arguing that it was no big deal that they were taking part in pagan idol worship meals.
They were saying that it did not mean anything.
But Paul wants to remind them that Christianity has their own kind of covenant meal And it does in fact mean something.
Christians very much mean something when they partake in the Lord’s Supper together.
We are very much communicating something.
We are very much communing with someone.
God gave us the Lord’s Supper for a purpose.
Paul is making a couple points about the Lord’s Supper here so that the Corinthians would see it is a big deal to participate in meals that are designed for worshipping a false God.
Here are two truths about the Lord’s Supper:
Truth #1 The Lord’s Supper is an Expression of Fellowship with Christ
Truth #1 The Lord’s Supper is an Expression of Fellowship with Christ
I want you to notice the repetition of the word “participation” in verse 16.
16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
that word participation is the Greek word “koinonia”
Its the same word used in Acts 2:42 to describe the fellowship of the first Christian Church.
Listen to how fellowship is described in the first church.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
The word fellowship - emphasizes a unity, a communion, a participation, a sharing.
It is a relational word.
God gave us the Lord’s supper to be for his people an act of communion with God through our remembrance of what Christ has done for us on the cross.
Jesus, himself, sat around a table with his disciples.
They were partaking in the passover meal to remember God’s great act of salvation through the blood of a spotless lamb.
The passover meal was an opportunity for the people of God to reflect on God’s great grace, and thus worship God together.
And during that meal, Jesus takes the cup and he takes the bread and he assigns new meaning To the meal.
Now we are to eat and to drink the Lord’s supper in remembrance of Jesus and how we are saved from the wrath of God through his sacrifice on our behalf.
In taking the Lord’s supper together as a church, we fellowship with Christ himself. We worship him. We commune with him. We give him glory.
It is an expression of our fellowship with him Through our faith in what he did on the cross for us.
When we drink the cup, we proclaim that we are united with Jesus because he poured out his blood for us.
When we eat the bread, we proclaim that we are united with Jesus because his body was broken for us.
We express our fellowship with Christ when we pray, when we sing, when we give, when we serve, when we read his word, and in a special way we express our fellowship with him when we participate in the Lord’s Supper.
But thats not all.… The Lord’s supper was not given to be taken as individuals, but rather as a united people.
Truth #2 The Lord’s Supper is an Expression of Fellowship with the Church
Truth #2 The Lord’s Supper is an Expression of Fellowship with the Church
this is Paul’s point in verse 17.
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
The Lord’s Supper emphasizes this reality.
Our salvation is a community creating event.
We are not just united to God when we put faith in Jesus, we are united with God’s people.
When we partake in the Lord’s Supper together we are professing together that the thing that unites us in this room is our common faith in the same Jesus.
We are united by the fact that Jesus died for us, and that we are forever forgiven by God’s grace through our faith in him.
This is why, in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul urged the church not to eat with such a one who claimed to be a brother in Christ, but who functionally rejected Jesus with their lives.
The Lord’s Supper is a testimony of unity with God’s people, and as God’s people we declare something about each other when we take this together.
Its a big deal to partake of the supper together.
We are physically and actually communicating true things both about ourselves and about the people we are partaking with.
WE are expressing our fellowship with God through our faith in Jesus and our fellowship with each other as a church.
“We who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”
Paul will again utilize that analogy of the church as a body later in chapter 12.
The point is this…. Church we are meant to be united together so very closely that we function like different parts of the same body, different, but interconnected under the leadership of the same head which is Jesus Christ.
The supper expresses that reality.
Now lets take a step back…., why is Paul making this point?
Because the Corinthians are saying it’s not big deal to participate in the Lord’s Supper as well as the covenant meals and festivals in the city that are expressing allegiance to false pagan gods.
They are saying since the idols are worthless, it’s no big deal if we go to the party and the feast Where everyone is worshipping those gods..
But Paul is trying to warn them that it is deeper than that.
Those idol worship meals are expressing the same things that the Lord’s Supper expresses.
They are expressing your participation and your fellowship with the pagan God and with the pagan people whether that’s what’s going on in your heart or not.
He makes another quick line of argumentation in verse 18.
18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
Israel ate the passover meal after sacrificing the spotless lamb as a symbol of their fellowship with God.
AND Israel was judged because they sacrificed to a false god and threw a party to commemorate in Exodus 32.
Paul referenced this event in the previous section.
6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
Their idolatry was tied to their eating and drinking and playing.
And so, Paul makes the application.
You can’t go to the pagan party where you are eating and drinking to the glory of false God’s, and not participate in the Idolatry itself.
Even though the idol itself, is not really a god… something spiritual is happening There!
In fact, Paul argues that something demonic is happening.
Let’s continue in his argument.
19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
Truth #3 We Cannot Fellowship with the Demons of Idolatry and the Lord
Truth #3 We Cannot Fellowship with the Demons of Idolatry and the Lord
We live in a spiritual world.
There are evil spirits, and there is the Spirit of the One True God.
And these are at odds with one another.
There is no neutral ground.
ITs true that an idol does not represent a god.… but there is a spiritual world that is doing everything it can to get you to worship anything other than the one true God.
We have before us two options of how we will live our lives.
WE can fellowship at the table of our Lord.
WE can give him full devotion and allegiance.
OR we can fellowship at the demonic table of our idolatries.
What we CANNOT do is sit at both tables.
When we put faith in Jesus Christ, a miracle happens in our heart.
We call this miracle regeneration.
It sets our affections on our God whom we believe in and it gives us a heart of repentance.
We still fail. We still sin. But we no longer want to sit at any table other than the Lord’s.
God graciously gives us a dissatisfaction with the things of the world.
We don’t have the same taste for it we once did.
We can’t dwell in it like we once did.
The difference between Christians and non-Christians is not that one is sinless while the other is not.
The difference is that Non-Christians make peace with their sin,
and Christians make war with their sin.
Non-Christians befriend their sin,
they welcome it to the table.
Christians make enemies with their sin,
they flip the table, and drive it out with a whip.
Beware….
If you find yourself comfortable At the table of demons… it might be because you fit right in.
It might be because there is not much different about you, or your fate.
Verse 21 is pretty clear about this.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
All of this assumes something about what God has accomplished in you when you put faith in him…
And all this assumes something a bout the very nature of God… and this is where Paul leads us in his final turn of the argument.
Look at verse 22.
22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
All of this talk of our fellowship with God is predicated on a particular characteristic of God himself.
Truth #4 God is Jealous for Us (v.22)
Truth #4 God is Jealous for Us (v.22)
God is the kind of God who is jealous.
This point is explicitly stated by God when he gave the 10 commandments to the people of Israel in Exodus 20.
Look with me at Exodus 20.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
God is a jealous God.
He wants all of your worship,
all of your devotion,
all of your allegiance
Worshipping another god is unacceptable.
The concept of jealousy strikes many of us as strange because we associate jealousy with sin.
Jealousy is when we long for something someone else has that we feel is rightfully ours.
That absolutely can be sinful.
But God does not long for something that is rightfully someone elses.
God longs for something that is rightfully his.
There is no sin in God’s jealousy for our allegiance to him,
because our allegiance to him is rightfully his.
This jealousy for our allegiance, and our worship, and our fellowship with him tells us several things about the very nature of our eternal God.
- God’s Jealousy Reveals He is a Personal God.
- God’s Jealousy Reveals He is a Personal God.
From the beginning of Creation, God created his people to know him and be known by him.
God walked in the cool of the garden with Adam and Eve.
God gave them good gifts,
Even when they sinned, God clothed them, and showed mercy upon them.
God desires a people for himself whom he will lavish his grace upon for all eternity and who will give their allegiance to him as their God.
Jesus describes eternal life in this way.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
God is molding a people for himself who will know him personally And enjoy him eternally.
The great sin of humanity is that we do not see God or worship God for who he is.
The great sin of humanity is that we choose for ourselves our own gods,
or we make ourselves out to be our own God.
And we do so to our own shame.
We do so to our own destruction.
God is jealous for us For our own good.
God wants your full allegiance to him in part because your full allegiance to him is what is best for you.
God is the fount of every blessing.
He is the source of every joy.
He is the love that we so desire to experience.
He wants our worship and he knows he alone can satisfy our longing heart.
Relationship with the one true God is our most ultimate good.
And the alternative is judgment.
If God is the only God.
If God gave us life as we know it.
If God created us, sustains us, and calls us.
He deserves all of our worship.
And if we refuse him, we deserve all of his judgment.
The world is not a world of multiple OK options.
There are two options.
Give our affection and our allegiance to the one true God and enter into his presence forever.
Or reject the one true God and be removed from his presence forever.
His jealousy is a loving jealousy, he wants relationship with you.
But for God to love what is good, he must also hate what is evil.
He made a way of salvation by his grace through the work of Jesus on our behalf.
Trust him and be drawn into his love,
or reject him and face the other side of that jealousy.
14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
Paul’s message to the Corinthians is the same message as Moses’ to the Israelites.
God is jealous for your allegiance
He offers you his love.
But do not put him to the test.
Flee from Idolatry.
Pauls words here remind me of climactic calls that have occurred throughout Israel’s history.
It reminds me of Joshua’s final speech to Israel In Joshua 24.
15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
It reminds me of Elijah’s speech to the people of God in 1 Kings 18.
21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.
Maybe this moment is that kind of moment for you this morning.
Let me ask you...
What table do you want to sit at?
Do you want to dine with the demons of this world and face their fate.
Or do you want to dine with Christ Jesus through faith in his loving sacrifice on your behalf.
there are two takeaways to this morning’s message:
#1 Flee the Idolatry of Demons
#1 Flee the Idolatry of Demons
Run from the things you find yourself worshipping more than the Lord.
Run from the sins which God has warned you do not lead to abundant life.
Don’t play around at the table of the world’s idolatries assuming it’s no big deal.
The idolatries of our world are not as obvious as statues of stone.
They look a lot more like our comfort and money and reputation.
Our idols look a lot more like whatever our version of the good life is that is absent from God’s leadership in our lives.
The good life is the life where we trust God’s leadership over all things.
Its the life where we enjoy fellowship at his table most importantly.
#2 Enjoy the Lord’s Table
#2 Enjoy the Lord’s Table
We are going to take the Lord’s Supper together this morning.
We are going to express our fellowship with God and with each other.
Jesus makes this fellowship with God possible.
He took the punishment for all our idolatries.
He took the punishment for all our false worship.
He died and rose again to offer us eternal life.
When we eat the bread we remember the body of Jesus broken for us.
When we drink the cup we remember the blood of Jesus poured out for us.
Drew is going to come up and play a song while we reflect.
Take this time to confess sin and to rest in his forgiveness.
If you’re not a Christian, let me encourage you not to partake of this with us.
Its ok to let the cup and the bread pass you by.
This is a symbol of our unity to Jesus and to each other.
It’s meant to be a dividing line In the room.
You have to determine whether you are a partaker of the Lord’s table by faith in Jesus or whether you are a partaker of a different table.
If its a different table, let it pass…,
If you are not a believer, let it pass…, but I encourage you…
during this time plead with God, ask him to give you faith, ask him to help you believe and then you can enjoy this fellowship with him And us.
The worship team is going to sing as the elements are passed out, and I will stand back up and lead us to partake together before singing a final song in worship.
As those passing out the supper come forward, let’s pray.
Lets Pray
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 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.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
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