Rebuke For Divisiveness

Transcript

GR 1339
11-26-06
Rebuke for Divisiveness
1 Corinthians 11:17-22
Gil Rugh

We're going to return to our study of 1 Corinthians and we're in the 11th chapter. We took a break for a couple of weeks to look at some other subjects, but now I want to return and pick up with you in the middle of chapter 11. But it is a change of subject here so it's not like we broke off in the middle of a theme or a subject. For the first half of this chapter down through verse 16 the Apostle Paul dealt with the differing roles of men and women and the context of the ministry of prophecy and prayer in the assembly of the saints. And now Paul is going to turn and talk about the issue of the Lord's Supper and communion for the last part of the chapter, chapters 17-34. And it seems like these are two strange subjects to bring together. How do they relate? You talk about the role of men and women and now you're going to talk about the communion service and the issue in the communion service is not going to have anything to do particularly with the differing roles of men and women. Why jump from one to the other? Let me just remind you of what Paul is doing through this letter.

First he is responding to issues that come to his attention, in two ways. First by those from the church at Corinth, or who have been involved there at least for a time, who have come and reported to Paul of certain things taking place in Corinth. In chapter 1 verse 11 he talked about those of Chloe's household who have reported to him about divisions and things taking place in the church. In chapter 11 verse 18, for in the first place when you come together as a church I hear that divisions exist among you. So Paul has head certain things from those who have been in the church at Corinth, and then have reported to him about activities taking place there. So he is addressing these things that have come to his attention. Also back in chapter 7 verse 1 Paul says, now concerning the things about which you wrote. The Corinthians also wrote him a letter and asked him to address certain subjects. So Paul's method in this letter is not to give a consistent theological development of a subject, like the book of Romans where he takes the gospel of Jesus Christ and unfolds it in an orderly and systematic way. But in this letter to the Corinthians he is picking up on issues that have come to his attention, either verbally or addressing issues that they have written to him about. And so he may jump from one subject to another subject because that is the reason for the letter.

In chapter 11 there is a connection between the first part of the chapter and the second. In chapter 11 verse 2 Paul began, now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. So he gives them a word of commendation and praise, and particularly in the context of moving on to talk about how women are to function with their heads covered when they pray and prophesy, in contrast to men who are not to cover their heads. Evidently the Corinthians were conducting themselves properly here, and Paul gives them a word of praise on that. But then in verse 17 you'll note he says, but in giving this instruction, that he's going on to now, I do not praise you. And he repeats that down at the end of verse 22. In this I will not praise you. So there is a connection here within the framework of chapter 11, two of the issues that have been brought to his attention, either verbally or by letter. One, the issue of how women are to function, particularly when praying and prophesying in contrast to men. He praises them because evidently they were functioning as they should in that area. But now as he turns to talk about the Lord's Supper and communion there is no praise. This is something I cannot praise you about, but I have to rebuke you. And this becomes a very serious matter. Paul says it is so serious that God Himself has directly intervened in the church at Corinth to take away the health of some of the members and also to bring about the premature death of others, because they have not conducted themselves properly in this most important area. And we get some idea of the seriousness of it.

So those two areas, Paul is responding to what has been brought to his attention in one way or another, and he is dealing with two areas—one where he can praise them and one where he cannot praise them. And he's coming to talk about the Lord's Supper. He's already addressed that issue and we use the term “the Lord's Supper” and “the communion service” interchangeably, but there is a distinction. We'll talk more about that in a little bit.

Back up to chapter 10. Paul did speak to the matter of the communion service when he talked about the issue of idol worship. And in chapter 10 verse 16, is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ. Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? So there you have the bread and the cup which we observe in the communion service which he will talk about in some detail beginning in verse 23 of chapter 11. He goes on in chapter 10, since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Paul sees here clearly that in the observance of the communion service we are declaring the unity and oneness we have as the body of Christ. Later he'll say in 1 Corinthians 12:13, for by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body. The partaking of the one bread is portraying that we have become the body of Christ and we are one now as God's people, His church, His body. That becomes important when you come to chapter 11 because the issue in chapter 11 is the fact that when they come together for the observing of the cup and the bread, it's a cause of division rather than a manifestation and encouragement in their unity. And so the rebuke will be given.

There are three sections in the last part of chapter 11, the first one is in verses 17-22, and there Paul rebukes them for their divisiveness. Then in verses 23-26 Paul explains the significance of the cup and the bread that we partake of. And then in verses 27-34 Paul warns them of the seriousness of the discipline of the Lord. We're only going to look at the first of these sections in our study together today, and then we'll look at the subsequent sections in our coming studies.

One thing to note over the issue of communion. There have been serious battles and conflicts down through history. Is it transubstantiation? Is it consubstantiation? Is it simply a remembrance or a memorial? We'll say more about that in our next study. Interestingly, there is no doctrinal issue that Paul addresses here. The problem is with their conduct in the carrying out or the practice of the communion service and the Lord's Supper which is inseparably tied to it here, as we'll talk about. So there is no doctrinal issue, they evidently understand rather clearly the facts of the Communion Service. The problem is in their practice it brings about divisiveness, not unity, when really the partaking of this service is to be a manifestation of the unity we now have as one body, the body of Christ.

All right, let's pick up with verse 17, but in giving this instruction I do not praise you. And he makes clear he's talking about what is going to follow and he picks up that statement, in this I will not praise you at the end of verse 22. That word translated “instruction,” I think instruction is a valid translation, but it is a strong word. It's a word that is normally used of giving a command. If you went to a Greek dictionary they would give this meaning, it means to give orders, to command, to instruct, direction given by all kinds of people in authority. There is the emphasis on an authoritative instruction, a command given here. So in giving this command, I do not praise you. The instruction I'm giving you to be obeyed. And we noted the contrast with chapter 11 verse 2. The problem is because you come together, not for the better, but for the worse. That expression to come together, key word, it's one word in Greek, we have it translated as two words. Key word through this section, it's used five times. Let me just note them for you, then we'll see them as we come along them. I've underlined them in my Bible, you may want to mark them. But in verse 17, middle of the verse, because you come together. In verse 18, for in the first place when you come together. Verse 20, therefore when you meet together. Down in verse 33, so then my brethren, when you come together. Middle of verse 34, so that you will not come together. It's only used two other times by Paul in any of his writings, and that's over in chapter 14.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 14:23, therefore, if the whole church assembles together. And there assembles together, translation is the same word we have translated come together in chapter 11. And then verse 26, what is the outcome then, brethren, when you assemble. Same word. When you come together. And Paul uses it almost as a technical expression of when the church assembles together as the church, what we might call the formal meeting of the church. Not talking about when portions of the church might meet together on occasion like in a home Bible study or in another meeting. But here we're talking about when the church comes together as the church. This is the meeting of God's people in this place, like we are this morning. Not necessarily everybody who is part of our fellowship as a church is here today, but this is the collected meeting, the assembling together of the church as the church.

The sad commentary, back in chapter 11, verse 17, because you come together not for the better, but for the worse. I mean, when the church comes together, it ought to be for encouragement, nourishment, edification. Paul said just the opposite happens when the Corinthian gets together. It's not for good things. It’s for bad things. They're worse off as a result of getting together, not better off. What a terrible thing to have to tell a church. How would we like to get a letter under the inspiration of the Spirit of God from the Apostle Paul to be read at Indian Hills on Sunday morning that said I just want you to know when you get together as a church, it's not for the better, it's for the worse. I mean, that's about as stinging a rebuke. Just the opposite is happening when that church assembles of what ought to happen. Why do we get together? For encouragement, edification, worship. Paul says the church at Corinth gets together not for those good things, it's for the worse.

He goes on in verse 18 to give the reason. For in the first place. The good preacher that Paul was, you cannot find the second or third place here as happens at different times in his writings. He'll tell you point one and then you wait for the rest of the letter for point two, and it just never comes. It may be that he sums it up at the end of verse 34 of this chapter, the remaining matters I will arrange when I come. I'm not going to give you the rest of my points, I'll do that when I get there. And really this becomes another way of saying of prime importance, in the first place, number one on the agenda. He doesn't plan to give a number two. I want your attention, this is the issue that I have to address here that is of prime importance right now.

In the first place when you come together as a church. Literally, when you come together in “church” or in “assembly.” He's not talking about in a building, because the church in Corinth as in other places met in homes. They did not have formal buildings as such for a few hundred years in the church's history. Nothing wrong with a building, but they didn't have formal buildings dedicated to that yet. So what he's really saying, when you come together in church or in assembly, which really would be meaning a church, as God's people assemble together as the church. And as the church gives you the idea. It is God's intention that we assemble together as the church in this place.

Turn over to Hebrews 10. You are aware that in Hebrews 10 the writer talks about the priesthood of Jesus Christ, He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And really because He is our high priest we are priests under his high priestly ministry. So in chapter 10 verse 19, therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. Verse 21, since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith. We don't have to have an order of priests that go into the presence of God on our behalf. Remember the Old Testament system, the Levitical system, you have the high priest, then you have the Levitical priesthood under him, and those priests represented the people. And on the basis of the high priestly ministry and their priestly ministry, they went in before God on behalf of the people. Now the writer to the Hebrews says each one of us as believers in Jesus Christ who is now our high priest, have the privilege of going into the very presence of God. We have confidence to enter the holy place on the basis of the blood of Christ, His death. We have a great high priest so we draw near with assurance. You know some people evidently already when the writer to the Hebrews is writing have taken that to mean it doesn't matter whether I get together with the church when they assemble or not.

Periodically in my years of ministry, I've met people, some of them have been part of this congregation, and I have occasion to meet them or talk to them on another occasion. And I'll say, where are you going to church? Oh, I don't go. You know, I can study my Bible on my own, I have the Holy Spirit, I have the Word of God, I study the Word of God and I pray and I worship the Lord. I don't find it necessary to meet together with a church someplace. I say, well, there's an element of truth in that. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you do have your own priestly ministry in that sense, in that you are a priest and Christ has provided access into the very presence of God for you personally. And you do have the Holy Spirit and you can read the Word of God. But that's not the whole story.

Look at verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some. Already some thought it was all right that they not get together when the church gets together. It was optional. It's not optional in that sense. We don't just decide, well, I think I feel like going today. Well, I don't think I feel like . . . And our attendance gets sporadic or rare. Now the Hebrews may have thought well because of persecution it's just as well if I avoid the assembly of the church because that could only get me in trouble. But we are not to be forsaking our own assembling together. Different word that we have in Hebrews 11, but referring to the same activity. As is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 11. The New Testament doesn't say how often believers ought to assemble together as the church. And you'll note, when the church in this place assembles together, this is the church. We are not part of the church, we are the church in this place. But it does indicate it is to be a regular practice. Our practice is we meet together on the first day of the week, and we do it morning and evening. That is the prime time when we assemble together as the church, meet together as a body. Now portions of the church meet together in a variety of ways through the week, for a variety of activities.

All right, let's see what happens here and what the problem is. Verse 18, in the first place when you come together as the church, I hear that divisions exist among you. Here is the problem. What is the church? It's the body of Christ. We are the household of God, God's family, the church. We are one body, the body of Christ. The problem is they come together and they're characterized by divisions, factions. That word divisions, we carry it over into English, the word schismata, ism. We bring it over. A “schism” is a division. There are schisms, divisions among you within the church. When the church assembles together they are not of one mind, they are not together as one body, but there are divisions there. We saw divisions in the opening chapters of this book, particularly into the first four chapters or so. Paul said around personalities. Some parts of the church said, this is my favorite teacher, Apollos. This is the teacher and leader I like best, he warms my spirit, I like Peter. Well you know Paul, he's the one . . . , I'm really a Paul guy. Paul says, what is that? This is the church of Jesus Christ. Paul says I didn't die for you, what are you uniting around me for? So those kinds of divisions. Here the divisions will be different, but they are still divisions. They'll be divisions based on social and economic conditions among the members of the body of Christ.

What he first wants to deal with, though, is that I hear there are divisions among you. Divisions, whatever the cause, whether they are around personalities, whether they are around your social or economic, financial status, whether they are around the kind of job you have, your position of influence or whatever in the world, any kind of division in the church is a denial of the work of Jesus Christ. And it's bringing into the church that which denies what the church is. It is united, not because we are of a common economic status, not because we all agree that Gil Rugh is the best preacher in the city or in this church, or because we share a common love of golfing, or whatever we might divide over. Why do we get together as the church? Because we are the redeemed in Jesus Christ who gather together in submission and obedience to the truth of God's Word. That's what unites us. Other things are a denial of that truth. I left because my friends left, I attend here but I don't like so-and-so. Well I go there, but we only get together with people of our class. You know, we have poor people, we have rich people, we have people who are educated, we have people who are uneducated and you know within our church we have our own little groups. Nothing wrong with little groups, there is something wrong with divisions in the church, because in Christ we have been made one body. Doesn't mean we don't have different roles, different responsibilities. My arm is an arm, my hand is a hand, my ear is an ear. But there is only one body and it works together in harmony and unity. No place for divisions. Diverse functions, no divisions. That's the issue here.

I hear that divisions exist among you. And in the church at Corinth there would have been innumerable opportunities for division. One person wrote this. The potential for dissension within the community is evident. Most members have in common only their Christianity. They differed widely in educational attainment, financial resources, religious background, political issues and so on. Let's face it, in Paul's other letters we know there were slaves that were saved and were in the church, there were masters who were slaves and in the church. Here you are, totally different social strata. You have a slave, he's not part of the master's family in that sense, not involved in the master's social world, he doesn't get to eat the same things that his master's family does. He is part of the master's property. Now we come to church and those distinctions are gone. Maybe this slave is a godly man who has been appointed an elder in this church and the master is not an elder. Now the spiritual leader is the slave over the master. And if we bring this in so the masters and the upper class, they sort of get together, and the slaves and the lower class, they sort of get together. We try not to mix it up even though we all belong to the church at Corinth, for example. That's a denial of what Christ has done. We're saying we have not been brought together as one body and made one people. We're just different people from different strata who happen to meet together in the same place. That's a denial. So that's the issue here.

I hear divisions exist among you and I partly believe it, in part I believe it. That's an interesting way to put it, in part I believe it. I mean, do you have doubt about it? Paul says, no, I don't. I believe at least partially it's true. In other words, I don't know, and I don't have a complete understanding of how this permeates, but when I hear there are divisions, I believe there is at least some truth to it. And his reason is interesting. It’s the next verse. For there must also be factions among you. So I have good reason to believe the report that there are divisions among you. There must be divisions among you. I thought I just got done saying there shouldn't be any divisions among you. We are one body. But Paul says there will be divisions among you. There will be those who rebel against God and God allows them to infiltrate His church for His purposes. Keep this in mind. I've been asked more times than I can count, why do we always have conflict in our church? Why are there always these divisions? Don't you think if we were doing what was right, we wouldn't have these? Well in one sense, if we were all doing what is right, but I also understand God allows these things to happen in this church for His purposes. He says there must be factions among you. This is another word that you know about in English, it's the word heresais. Recognize it? “Heresy?” A heresy is a faction or a sect. Now over time it came to refer to particularly a group that was in doctrinal error. So we talk about heretics. We're going to see that particular form of the word in a moment, a heresy. Well that is something that is contrary to the Word of God. Early on its meaning was just a particular sect or group, but it came to have that particular meaning that we're familiar with. It is a faction. Here it's basically a synonym for divisions or schism in the previous verse. I hear that divisions exist among you, for there must be factions. A faction is a division. Among you. Now note. There must be factions among you. I hear that divisions exist among you. There must be factions among you. That word translated factions is listed among the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:20, in contrast to the fruits of the Spirit, because when it exists among God's people it's a sign the flesh is at work.

Note the purpose here, then we'll look at some other verses that parallel this. There must be factions among you. Why? So that those who are approved may become evident among you. You know what happens when there is a division or a faction within the church? We're talking about a local church, here, like Corinth, like Indian Hills, like a local church. It is allowed by God so that His people can be put to the test. That word approved, those who are approved, dokimos, means to put something to the test to approve it. It's used of metals like gold and silver. We often use the example, that is put to the test of the fire so that the genuine can be approved. So that's the meaning here. Why do factions and divisions come into the church? Why does Paul believe it is probably true that it's going on in Corinth? Because there has to be that, because that is part of the process that God allows to happen so that His genuine people can be approved. And note, so that those who are approved may become evident, manifest among you. Not just for self-approval, it's so that the body will recognize. Over the years that I've been here, we've had different divisions and factions arise in our congregation. Many of you have been here for some time and have been manifested as approved, because you have faithfully stood firm and true to the Word. That's what Paul is talking about.

I sometimes visit with other pastors as we did here a week or so ago in our meeting. I often share with these pastors that one of the blessings that I have as a pastor in this local church is people who are approved, people who have weathered the storms, so to speak, have stood faithful in conflicts and divisions and demonstrated that they are approved of God. They are known among our congregation. And that's what Paul says is happening in the church at Corinth. Paul doesn't think it's some strange, unusual thing, it's something that has to be dealt with. I'm not saying factions are a good thing, it's not the factions that are approved by God, but God allows the devil to do a work in the church to approve His people that are genuine. The approval comes to those who are faithful and true and not caught up in the division, the divisiveness, in the factions that divide the body of Christ and deny its testimony.

Turn over to Titus 3:10, reject a factious man, a hereticon, a heretic, a factious man, divisive man. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. That's a serious warning. Too often, there is the test to whether we'd be approved or not, whether you get caught up in the factiousness and the man who is creating the faction. The church just let him be. No, you give him a first and second warning. After that he is rejected, he's got to go. You deal with him the same way you deal with an immoral man, according to 1 Corinthians 5, he's rejected. Don't just allow that to go on, but there is a test for the approval of those who are genuine. They unite and stand firm.

Back up to 1 Thessalonians 2. Paul says concerning himself, verse 4, just as we have been approved. There is our word. We have been approved, we've been tested and passed the test, we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. Remember elders and deacons are to be men who have been tested first, and then they are appointed to their office. They have been demonstrated as approved, they passed the test. Paul says we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men who examine our hearts. They've demonstrated their commitment is to the Lord and to His truth, and now they are entrusted to the responsibility of that truth.

Come back to Romans 16, then we have to move on. This issue of divisiveness in the church is not new, it plagued the church, it plagued the various local churches that we have recorded in the New Testament. Verse 17, now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissension and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. Such men are slaves, not of our Lord Jesus Christ, but of their own appetites. By their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. The report of your obedience has reached to all. This issue of whether it's division over doctrine, whether it's division over personalities, whether it's division over social or economic conditions. Whatever it is, it has to go. It has to be dealt with. It's not to be tolerated. The church is about Jesus Christ. It’s His body. It's not your body, it's not my body, it's His body. We share together as a people who are one in being part of that body. It's not mine, so my opinions have to prevail; it's not yours, so your opinion has to prevail. It's not for you or me or others, these are my favorites . . . Because I have this, I . . . In this we are the body of Christ. We try to maintain this. That's why we don't bring titles and so on into the functioning of the body. It's not that we don't appreciate when certain people attain certain things, but in the body that's not what characterizes us. The most uneducated person who never got out of kindergarten is on the same spiritual level as the person who has earned four doctorate degrees, because in Christ we are one body. And it's not those external distinctions that are of importance and significance. Nor does it matter whether you're the richest person in this church or the poorest person. Doesn't matter whether everybody in the city knows and honors you or nobody in the city knows and honors you. Because what joins us together and makes this distinct from any other meeting or any other group, we are the church. I realize there are other local churches. They have that identity as well. And it marks the church out from all other groups.

When I studied church growth years ago one of the principles that they emphasized was, everybody likes to be with their kind of people and so if you're really going to build a church you have to build it with the same kind of people, the same social class, the same . . . One of the largest churches in the country . . . , our goal and we have set as our goal, we're going to reach the upper middle class. Here are the characteristics of the kinds of people we are going to reach. We're not selling a product. We’re not creating a club. This is the church of Jesus Christ that He has purchased with His own blood. I don't doubt you can create a large organization using certain human methodology, but only God can build His church, the church He purchased with His own blood, according to Acts 20. And that is not going to be done on man's principles. The true church is built by God, and so we come together. And any dividing of the church over personalities, social, economic whatever is a denial of the work of Christ. We're going to come to that issue here in a moment.

Back to 1 Corinthians 11. Verse 20, therefore, when you meet together. This is about the church coming together. It is not to eat the Lord's Supper. So he's talked about the general issue of divisiveness in the church, now let's focus on the particular case in point that's going on in the church at Corinth. And it's a division over the Lord's Supper. Now in the early church including in the New Testament times, it was customary for the church to have a meal in connection with what we would call the observing of communion, partaking of the bread and the cup as Paul will talk about the bread and the cup down in verses 23-26. He talked about that in chapter 10. Now remember when Jesus instituted this as recorded in the gospels, it was in the context of having a meal, a supper with His disciples. So the early church continued to observe the communion service in the context of having a meal together. That happened in the early centuries of the church as well. In fact there are certain churches, the seminary I attended was part of a denomination that practiced what is called . . . communion. They would have a meal, observing the supper, they would have foot washing, and then they would have the communion elements, the bread and the cup. My understanding of the New Testament is that only the bread and the cup are what is required. And so there is nothing wrong with the church observing the bread and the cup in the context of having a meal, but the meal itself is not what is required. We'll talk more about this in our next study in the next section.

The problem was when they came together to observe this meal they had set it aside as the Lord's Supper in the context of observing what He had required in taking the bread and the cup. But the way they were handling it was not proper. This becomes a problem in other sections. Go to Jude, and there Jude condemns a believer for allowing false teachers to be part of the Lord's Supper, their love feast. Verse 12, these are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feast, agapais. Sometimes it is called the agape feast, the love feast. When they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves, and then he describes them, concluding in verse 13, for whom the black darkness has been observed forever. What do you mean? This is a supper and a memorial that declares our unity in the body of Christ, and you allow false teachers to come and be part of it. I mean, it's a denial of what it is.

So back in 1 Corinthians 11. It's not to eat the Lord's Supper. When they had a meal, what they would do, is each person would bring his own meal. So it's not like our potlucks, where we all bring something but then we put it all out on the table and everybody dives in. This was an occasion where everybody brought their own meal and ate their own meal. We on occasion do that, we've had occasions where people have had a get-together in their home and you just bring your own food, you've maybe had a picnic at the park and each family brought their own picnic meal. Fine. We're talking about what happens and the church meets together to observe the Lord's Supper. Here it will first be a full meal and then as part of that, the partaking of the bread and the cup.

For in your eating each one takes his own supper first and one is hungry and another is drunk. That word first probably could be omitted. Supper first is a compound work and on the front of that word is the Greek preposition pro, and it can mean to be before or first like it does on some of our words. Or it sometimes just intensifies the word, and I think that's the idea here. Each one takes his own supper. That's the emphasis here. He is eating selfishly and the result is one is hungry and another drunk. Now he's not condemning drunkenness here. He’s not condemning gluttony. He's condemning the fact that some people here have so much they eat more than they need and other people sitting next to them are going hungry. In your eating one takes his own supper, another is hungry, another is drunk. One doesn't have enough to eat and the other has more than he needs, it's a selfishness. This is to be the Lord's Supper, part of what it does, it commemorates the fact that we are one, as one body in Christ. And here I am selfishly eating the fine food that I can afford and the slave or the poor man sitting next to me hasn't had enough to eat all day and really couldn't afford to bring anything but half of a crust of bread and I'm just sitting there eating away. And the fact that he is hungry doesn't have anything to do with me, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. He has blessed me and we're eating away.

You wonder, how could they do this? But you know what happens. We get influenced by the society around us and the culture of the day said this is okay. Let me just read you one person. This person lived during Paul's day, he's a Roman writer and he lived from about 40 A.D. to 103 A.D. We see he's right in the time that the Apostle Paul would have been writing to the Corinthians. You get an idea of what their practice was. And he is a Roman and he writes to someone who had invited him to his home for dinner, and it was customary when someone invited you to their home, a wealthy person, they might invite a number of people but you were divided according to class. So if you were a part of the wealthy upper class, there was a certain food prepared for you. If you were of a lower class, there was a different food prepared for you. That's just the way it was done. I mean, you don't expect that those who are not of our stature, even though I've invited them to my home, that's honor enough, but I wouldn't feed them all the same food. So here is what this man writes to them and who had him in his home for dinner. Since I am asked to dinner, why is it not the same dinner served to me as to you? You take oyster fattened in cream of lake. I suck a mussel through a hole in the shell. You get mushrooms, I take hog funguses. You take turbo, I brill. Golden with fat a turtledove gorges you with its bloated rump. There is set before me a magpie that has died in its cage. Why do I dine without you, although, Ponticus, I am dining with you?

Here you find a secular Roman upset. I get invited to your house and you humiliated me. What you gave me to eat compared to what you were eating, you invited me to your home just to shame me and put me down and remind me that I am nothing, and you are important. Is that the only reason you invited me? Well you know you live in this society and it goes on around us and pretty soon, I mean how can a leading evangelical church say, our church is a church geared to the upper middle class? This is who we want in our church, these are the kinds of people we are trying to reach. If you get their material they even have a picture of how he dresses, the kind of music he listens to, where he would live, what kind of job he would have. How do you ever get this? This is the kind of society we live in, isn't it? I mean, it goes on all around and now they think this is what they are instructing you. If you are going to build your church and have it really grow, here's the way you do it. First, decide what your target audience is. Well, I understand God's target audience is the world. Not many might, not many noble, not many high class, according to 1 Corinthians 1, are called. That doesn't matter, we want the few that are. And that solves the problem. And we do tend to gather together, and we have to fight that.

What if somebody comes into our service and he's well known in the city and important . . . Somebody will come and grab you and say, you have to meet these people before they go. Someone comes in dressed in rags and obviously spent the night in the city mission, well, we'll just keep an eye on him so he doesn't steal a hymnbook and maybe he won't come back. We have the same concern and desire for them and somebody gets saved and they come and they don't have a penny to their name, are they as important to us as if a multimillionaire in the city gets saved and comes to our church? James had to deal with that. A poor man comes and you don't care where he sits, just so he doesn't get a prominent place. A rich man comes, get him right in the best place possible.

So they come together, each brings his own meal and here sits the wealthy man who is used to eating like this and is used to the division. When he goes on social occasions, whether he has it in his house or someone else's house, it's divided like this, this is the way we eat. Like Marshall, the Roman who wrote this, invited to Ponticus' house. It's the way it's done, but he says, I didn't like it.

Paul concludes and he's going to have a series of rhetorical questions to really rebuke the Corinthians. What? Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Now I want you to note something here. He doesn't say the rich have to start to eat like the poor. His concern is for the church as the church. Don't turn this into just another dinner, this is the Lord's Supper, you've joined it together to the communion service. So you call it the Lord's Supper, but it's not the Lord's Supper. Eat dinner at home. He's not saying you can't have a potluck or a dinner at church, but he's addressing one kind of issue here, the Lord's Supper. And it is to portray our unity, and you're using it for a divisive purpose, to portray your divisions. You have homes in which to eat, eat in your home. It doesn't say it's wrong for the wealthy to have better food than others. Now there are other passages in scripture that we'd have to consider and take into account if we're going to talk about the responsibility of Christians who have more to Christians who have less. And what about that in relation to the world. The context here he's talking about the Lord's Supper, another occasion. He says if you want to stuff yourself, do it at home. That's not what the Lord's Supper is all about. What, don't you have houses in which to eat and drink? Don't turn this into something it's not supposed to be. This is just not dinner, this is an occasion to portray a specific event and relationship and it must be maintained.

Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? And these two questions go together. The second one gives you the content of the verse. Do you despise the church? That's a strong word, “despise,” means to treat something with contempt or disdain. Here he's talking about those who are part, members of the church at Corinth. Is it your goal to despise and treat with contempt the church of God? And you do that by shaming those who have nothing, because what is the church? It is comprised of those who have been purchased by God with His own blood. It’s His family. We read this account of that secular Roman, how he felt shamed and humiliated when he went to the dinner. What does this poor person sitting here feel while the person next to him has an abundance but couldn't care less about the fact that he hasn't had enough to eat. It's all about me. It's a denial of what the church is, that's despising the church to realize this is one for whom Christ died. He is in every way my spiritual equal, he's a child of the living God as I am. I must be concerned for him. I want to express the fact that I see him in every way as one with me in Christ, and we share together. And I want this meal, the Lord's Supper, to reflect what the communion does and that's identify us as one body in Christ. You see the seriousness of the matter here and how we are to function as God's people.

What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. How can you praise people that are guilty of despising the church, the body of Christ, treating it with contempt? The church is doing that, people who are part of it. What a sad, sad commentary. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The poorest slave, the richest ruler stand on equal ground in Christ Jesus. The fellowship of the church is to reflect that. That ought to be our desire as a church. The diversity is its beauty, that marks it out as different—the people of different social status, economic status, people of different likes and dislikes, different tastes. I mean, we deny the church . . . I go to that church, I like the style of music. I go to that church, I like informal dress. I go to that church, . . . This is the church? I mean, the church is those who are brought together as spiritual one in Christ, the result of His redeeming work. In Christ it doesn't matter what you are or who you are outside of Him, it's what you are in Him. The church is to reflect that. With all that diversity, what gives your church unity? Our oneness in Jesus Christ. You have poor people, you have rich people, you have this race, you have that race, you have people of the upper class and lower class. What gives cohesiveness? We are one in Christ. We are one body. That's the church.

We have to close reading Philippians 2, therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, and he goes on to explain that attitude. That's what is to characterize us. Is that our attitude? Do we think of one another, the person sitting next to me, more important than me? . . . Not cease to be amazed at the work of God's grace in that life. I want to honor them, show them love, encourage them and be part of their growth. That will produce unity and oneness, that we might manifest the attitude of the Savior who loved us and died for us.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege of being your church. Thank you that we have been redeemed, purchased with the blood of Christ. We belong to you, because we belong to you, we are one as your people. How sad that divisions and conflicts arise. And yet, Lord, we understand something of that purpose. It is an occasion for us to be tested, to be tried, that we might be proved, that it might be manifest, even in the body of Christ, to all those who are approved, who have faithfully passed the test and stood firm, being faithful to you. Thank you, Lord, for this church, for the many, many faithful, tried and approved servants of yours. Lord, may we continue to be faithful, may we manifest our unity, even with all our differences and all our diversity, all our likes and dislikes, all the things that make us different. And yet Jesus Christ has made us one. May that be evident in all of our actions and in the way we relate and treat one another. We pray in Christ's name, amen.