Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In our family, we have an unspoken tradition about when the Christmas season begins.

It started more out of convenience than anything else.

The first year we were married, we decided to go to Home Depot to get our Christmas tree a few days before Thanksgiving.

We were happily surprised that Home Depot was empty, and no one was yet thinking about getting their live Christmas trees.

So, every year, we’ve decided to go a few days before Thanksgiving to get our tree and set it up in our home.

We then leave it undecorated until after Thanksgiving Day, at which point the decorating and the music may begin.

Well, for the sake of sermon illustration, I’m breaking my family tradition.

Many of you are familiar with the classic Dr. Seuss story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

In the children’s book, the Grinch is this angry grump who lives up on the mountains and who steals Christmas from the town of Whoville.

But, of course, even when all of their outward displays of presents and decorations are taken away, the Grinch learns the lesson that he can’t steal the Christmas Spirit, and so his heart is melted and grows 10 times bigger, and he joins the Christmas celebration and its a big happy ending for everyone.

Now, in the book version, the story is very onesided, and we find that the Grinch is very much a villain, but the Whos of Whoville are the example of love and charity.

But the movie version, starring Jim Carrey, opens this story up to a bit of reinterpretation.

The Grinch is still the Grinch of course, but the Who’s of Whoville are not so innocent.

For under the shiny veneer of all their presents, decorations and Christmas rituals lied a people who were shallow and empty; far more concerned with outward appearances and the show of it all than they were with the charity and love that was supposed to be at the root of it all.

It wasn’t until they suffered the great loss of all of their possessions - and the courage of Cindy Lou-Who - that the townspeople finally learned what Christmas was really about.

How did the Who’s of Whoville get so offtrack?

Well, one might say they just got too comfortable with themselves.

They rituals of Christmas became a show to compete with each other and put each other down, rather than an opportunity to love and support each other.

We could ask a similar question about the church in Corinth.

How did they get so off track?

The passage we’re studying this morning should be one that shocks us.

There is great danger in living the Christian life in a way that merely goes through the motions, entirely too comfortable all the while ignoring the seriousness of our sin.

One commentator remarks that we are fortunate the Corinthian church was so messed up otherwise we would be without a great number of instructions for the church.

That’s a bit crass, but he’s not wrong.

Our text reveals to us a church that was so comfortable with their sin that they were grossly abusing the Lord’s Supper, one of the most sacred acts that we have the privilege of participating in.

I’m very excited about getting into this text with your this morning however, because as we do so I want to show you how special the Lord’s Supper really is, and how it has the ability to bring about renewal in our hearts and in our church family.

Our text this morning has 3 pretty neat sections to give us 3 points in tackling the text this morning.

The first is Wrongful Participation in the Lord’s Supper (vv.

17-22), second is Rightly Remembering the Lord’s Supper (23-26) and the third his Helpful Practices for taking the Lord’s Supper (27-34).

Let’s get after it.

Wrongful Participation in the Lord’s Supper (vv.

17-34)

Paul uses the expression “when you come together” 5 times in this passage.

3 times in this first section, and another 2 times at the close of the passage.

As we have seen throughout the letter to the Corinthians, Paul is very much concerned with how the members of the church treat and interact with one another.

We’ve seen how he has addressed very practical and relational issues such as sex and sexuality, Marriage and divorce, being single, and protecting the conscience of others.

One of the issues that presents itself at the very beginning of this letter and continue to rear its ugly head is the presence of schism and division in their church community.

I want you to see how seriously Paul takes this issue.

Look at the weight he gives it in verse 17.

He actually says, your divisions are so bad, that when you come together it is not for the better but actually its for the worse because of how badly you hurt one another.

One of the things that has surprised me in studying 1 Corinthians in closer detail is how often Paul is interacting with the popular philosophy of his day.

I’ve been sharing some of these with you for a couple reasons.

First, because there is a lesson for us in there about how we can interact with popular culture today and having this ability to both affirm the godly things in our culture while challenging those things which are not godly.

But second, and maybe more importantly, it’s good for us to try hear and hear the Scripture the way the original audience would’ve heard it, to strike us in a way that it might’ve struck them.

The language Paul uses in our text is intentional, and it would’ve been very familiar to those in the audience, likely the elites and those who were better educated, because Paul is pulling from teachings that can be traced back to Aristotle.

Let me read this quote for you and I think you’ll see how Paul is applying it here, and if you’re thinking ahead, you’ll see the similarities to the body metaphor Paul uses in Chapter 12:

For it is possible that the many, though not individually good men, yet when they come together may be better, not individually but collectively … for where there are many, each individual, it may be argued, has some portion of virtue and wisdom, and when they have come together, just as the multitude becomes a single man with many feet and many hands and many senses, so also it becomes one personality as regards the moral and intellectual faculties.

For it is possible that the many, though not individually good men, yet when they come together may be better, not individually but collectively … and when they have come together, just as the multitude becomes a single man with many feet and many hands and many senses, so also it becomes one personality.

Why is this important?

There’s a sense in which Paul is saying, “Everybody knows we are supposed to be better together than we are apart.

Everybody knows that!

Except you.”

Sometimes the world rebukes the church, even though the church ought to be living in a way that rebukes the world.

This is one of those times.

And so what exactly was happening when the Corinthians came together?

Well, the first thing to take note of is that at this time, when Christians gathered together it was in the homes of those who had enough wealth to host a larger meeting.

When the Lord’s Supper was celebrated, as they did very often, it was in the context of a full potluck meal.

Everyone brought food that was supposed to be to share with the whole group.

The meal would’ve begun with the breaking of the bread, then they would’ve eaten their meal together, then they would’ve closed the meal by drinking the wine together.

But that’s not at all what was happening in Corinth.

The problem is summarized in verses 20-22.

The abuses are so bad that Paul said this isn’t the Lord’s Supper at all that you’re eating.

Why?

Because instead of sharing with each other, everyone is just eating their own food that they brought.

Which means, the richer Christians were eating their food and getting drunk on their wine, and the poorer Christians - unable to contribute much if anything at all to the meal - were going hungry.

To our modern ears, this is a pretty unbelievable problem to have.

Its hard for us to imagine that the wealthier Christians actually believed their actions to be justified.

But to these 1st Century Corinthians, their actions seemed entirely normal.

The homes that these people were meeting in would’ve had a small dining room, Archaeological evidence suggests it would’ve only fit 9 or 10 people.

The other guests would have had to sit or stand in the atrium, which could’ve held about another 30 or 40 people.

The hosts of these meals would’ve been wealthier if they could afford this kind of space.

So what was happening was the wealthier and privileged members of the community sat in the dining room, while the poorer members we secluded to the Atrium.

It would’ve been common practice for the host to divide up the food and wine by class, so that the wealthier members received the best food and drink while those in the atrium received the lower quality food.

We may think that sounds unfair.

But it is very easy to be blind to sin when cultural practices favor us.

Its kind of like how first class and coach operates on an airplane.

We sit in the back near the lavatory and think its unfair that people in front get the better food, until we’re the one to get the free upgrade…then..”Don’t mind if I do!”

And so, by continuing to live unchecked lives in a culture which exploited and snubbed the poorer members of the community, the wealthier Christians had become completely desensitized to their sin and its effects.

This is one of the reasons why it is so important for us to reflect on the power the culture has on us.

If we don’t reflect on that deeply and often, we’re going to be blind to the subtle sins of the world we live in.

The best dishes were set in front of himself and a select few, and cheap scraps of food before the rest of the company.

He had even put the wine into tiny little flasks, divided into three categories, not with the idea of giving his guests the opportunity of choosing, but to make it impossible for them to refuse what they were given.

One lot was intended for himself and for us, another for his lesser friends (all his friends are graded), and the third for his and our freedmen.

And so, by continuing to immerse themselves in a culture which exploited and snubbed the poorer members of the community, the wealthier Christians had become completely desensitized to their sin and its effects.

And this is exactly what sin does to us, isn’t it?

I’ve had three surgeries on my left arm. 2 were on my shoulder, one was on my elbow.

My nerve was getting pinched in the cartiledge and tendons or whatever of my elbow, and it was very painful.

So they actually went in and moved the nerve to the other side of my elbow.

So now, when I trace my finger along my arm, I get to a point where I can’t feel it anymore.

God allows schism and division in the church in part so that those who are genuine in the faith may be shown to be true believers.

How one acts in the midst of conflict or division in the church shows whether we are in or out of the faith.

The possibility of church schism serves as a reminder to us to remain vigilant.

It is much like marriage.

There is no such thing as a neutral marriage.

We are either moving forward, intentionally growing our marriage in love, or we are moving backwards toward disaster.

There is no standing still.

It is the same way in the church community.

We are either intentionally growing in our love and unity for other Christians, or we are moving backwards toward schism and disaster.

There is no neutrality.for

Sin has very similar effects on the human heart.