Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
I want to get right into the message today by picking up where I left off last week.
If you recall, we were considering this thought in relation to our text.
What happens when we refuse to do things God’s way?
Remember that the Holy Spirit is dealing with the misuse of the Lord’s Table.
The Lord’s Table is one of the two ordinances given to local churches.
The other is baptism which is a topic for another day.
For now, as we are working our way through 1 Corinthians, God addresses some things that were not right when it came to observing Communion.
We noted last week that God was not happy with local church of Corinth.
Look at our text.
This section starts with some pretty strong statements from the Holy Spirit.
He rebukes them by invoking first His authority as God.
Look again at verse 17.
The phrase “I declare” has the same weight as saying “I order you.”
Thus, what is about to follow is God’s clear directive concerning matters of the Lord’s Table.
He follows that with the statement, “I praise you not.”
In other words, God was not happy.
It is a dangerous place for a person or a church to fall out of God’s good grace.
This was a very serious matter.
Why was it so serious?
Look at our text and note verses 20 and 21.
This local church, group of believers, were misusing the Lord’s Table.
Instead of observing it as the Lord instructed before His death, burial, and resurrection, they had turned it into a self gratuitous feast.
Note that everyone was bringing their own food and enjoying what they had.
In the process, there were poorer church members who were going hungry while rich church members filled themselves with gluttony.
It was about as far from what Christ intended as possible.
They were refusing to do things God’s Way which brings us back to the question at hand.
What happens when believers individually or corporately refuse to do things God’s way?
The short answer is this - nothing good.
The refusal to do things God’s way always results in negative and spiritually catastrophic consequences.
Individually, it comes down to sin and death.
For the believer, death means a break or a separation in our relationship with God.
Our sin stands in the way of fellowship and harmony with Him.
Sin destroys that relationship.
That is the reason why God gave us 1 John 1:9 along with many other passages concerning forgiveness
However, for a local church, there are also consequences.
Note what occurred in the church of Corinth.
There were four significant consequences of deviating from God’s way of observing the Lord’s Table.
There was Division
The Holy Spirit notes that there were “divisions among you.”
The Greek word for “divisions” is the same word by which we get our English word “schism.”
All of which point to a division among them.
They were all coming together each Lord’s day, but as they assembled, they did so divided.
I can almost picture it this way.
Each Lord’s day, the church doors are open, and everyone begins arriving.
As they came, some would sit in one corner of the church, others in a different corner, and so on.
The fact they were divided was noted early in this letter.
You might recall these words in 1 Corinthians 1.
Now, let me ask you this.
When a church is so divided with contention between different factions in a church, what is the atmosphere?
Is there a peaceful, loving, and forgiving atmosphere?
No, it is full of tension, fear, anxiety, and even anger.
How many of you like being in situations filled with such friction?
I know I don’t.
A church filled with such division and tension is a church that does nothing to glorify God and accomplishes nothing for Him.
It was not a great atmosphere.
But that was not the only result of their refusal to follow God’s instructions.
There was Heresy
Look again at our text and verse 19.
The word “heresies” is pretty deep.
It is about making choices.
The Greek root word literally means “to choose.”
However, with the word “heresies,” the choice is made to do things man’s way instead of God’s.
The objective of such a choice is to lift one’s self up over others.
The result of “heresies” is the division and formation of sects.
It is essentially someone saying look at me or follow me because I am the only one who knows the mind of God.
No man knows the mind of God.
Our understanding of God only comes through His Word and our willingness to let the Holy Spirit work in our hearts through obedience to His Word.
Our job is not to lift ourselves up but to point all men to Christ.
There is a great danger when a person begins to believe they are the only ones who can know, preach, and teach God’s Word.
Pride becomes a massive issue at that point.
My job as your pastor is to study God’s word for myself, preach it as it is given, and let you decide to follow it.
In fact, one of my significant responsibilities is to lead you so that you begin reading and studying it for yourself.
God gave us His word in written form so we can learn it on our own.
Heresies arise when one person or a group of people are filled with pride, thinking their way is the only way and no longer point people to God.
There is one positive thought surrounding heresy.
The Holy Spirit notes this in our text.
Look again at verse 19.
The last part of this verse is positive.
Those “which are approved” are those who are not fake or counterfeit.
They are genuine articles.
The “approved” are those committed to the truth of God’s Word.
When heresies arise within a congregation, those who are “approved” God manifest them.
The word “manifest” means clearly revealed to the mind, the senses, and judgment.
Thus, God uses heretical teachings to clearly show those who are faithful to Him and His Word.
There was Self Deception and Selfishness
Note that their claim that they were coming together to “eat the Lord’s supper.”
Yet, the next verse reveals that was not the case.
There was no remembering and honoring the Lord’s death in their actions.
In their minds, they convinced themselves that what they were doing was okay.
Surely, God would be pleased.
But no, God was not pleased.
What they were doing in the name of the Lord’s Table was utterly meaningless and useless to the Lord.
This should be a warning to us.
We must take great care that everything we do both individually and corporately matches God’s Word exactly.
There is a great danger when we think we can merge our ways or the world’s way with God’s Word.
Listen to these verses.
Believer, be careful about inserting your opinions when reading and studying God’s Word.
Let it speak for itself.
Our duty is to obey, nothing more and nothing less.
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