Gathering Separately

Introduction:
Ever been told to do something, but you didn’t want to do it  In fact you didn’t do it, but you acted like you did?  We like the Andy Griffith show at our house.  There is a first season episode where Opie fakes brushing his teeth; he just wets the brush and all.  Ever do that as a kid?  I’m guilty; not any more, but I did that as a kid.

Jesus told a parable with a situation kind of like that…  It was after Triumphal entry, during that last week before Jesus went to the Cross.  The setup is in Matthew 21:23-27 where the chief priests and elders come to challenge Jesus by asking what authority He has to do and say the things He did and said.  Part of Jesus’ response is the parable recorded in Matthew 21:28-31.  In this parable, a father told two of his sons to go work in his vineyard.  One son told dad “no”, but then felt remorse and went and did it.  The other son said “okay dad” but didn’t do it; he just wet the toothbrush. 

This week we are in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22.  The Holy Spirit continues His transition to a new, yet related topic.  So far, through Paul, the Spirit has rebuked the church at Corinth over division, pride, etc (1 Cor 1-7).  He has rebuked them for idolatry (1 Cor 8-10).  He also rebuked their disrespect of Godly authority (1 Cor 11:1-16).  Today we will see the Spirit’s rebuke the church’s “gathering separately.”  What in the world is “gathering separately,” right?  And you’re probably wondering what this has to do with Jesus’ parable of the 2 sons, right?  Well, we’re about to tackle all of that. So let’s see what the Spirit has to say to the Churches…

Title this morning is…
Gathering Separately

Gathering Separately to Their Shame (11:17-19)
We start in 11:17 with some hard words for the church at Corinth.  God was not well pleased with them and it says they, “came together not for the better, but for the worse.”  Remember that beginning back in 1 Cor 7:1, questions previously asked by the church at Corinth are being answered: 7:1 – relating to marriage, 8:1 – relating to idols, 12:1 – relating to spiritual gifts, and 16:1 – relating to the collection for the saints in Jerusalem.  This discussion in 1 Cor 11 is still relating back to the question about idols in 8:1.  Until now, the Spirit has been rebuking their idolatry and their abuse of liberty, but now He turns to proper worship, the Worship of Christ. 

Now, I find The Word of God to be amazing…amen?  The Word, that is Scripture, given by the Holy Spirit, reveals a pattern in the idolatrous and divided church at Corinth.  It is the same pattern the Word Made Flesh, that is Jesus, addressed in the idolatrous/divisive chief priests.  So lets compare Matthew 21:23-31 and 1 Cor 11:17-22 for a moment.  In Matthew, the chief priests / elders questioned, even challenged Jesus’ authority.  In Corinth, everything from division over leaders, to demanding their own liberty, to rebellion against God’s natural order with hair length, the church in Corinth was questioning, even challenging God’s authority as well.  Also, in Matthew Jesus responds with a parable about one son, who represents the tax collectors and harlots, says he will not obey his father, but later regrets it and obeys.  Meanwhile the other son, who represents the religious people, says he will obey but he does not.  In 1 Corinthians, you’ve got this church that is following the path of the chief priests, saying they obey God, but not doing it!  The church at Corinth was full of religious people who were not obeying God and now in their gathering together, they were divided, separated, due to all the selfishness, pride and other sins, bringing shame upon Christ’s church. 

The Spirit begins by having Paul issue the rebuke of 11:17, saying that the church was not “coming together” or “gathering” for good, but for worse.  How can that be, the church is commanded to assemble together, right?  Hebrews 10:25 commands us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves.  So, NOT gathering is sin.  Yet the Spirit says that obeying God’s command in the way they were was worse than breaking that command about gathering together.  Ah…that sounds like a problem don’t you think?  So what were they doing that was so heinous, so repulsive to God?  Just read the next two verses.

In 1 Corinthians 11:18 we see that it’s that same problem that’s been addressed throughout the letter…division.  That division was evident in so many ways and the impact was being felt in all areas.  It was certainly being felt in their poor attempts at worship.  After all, you cannot go on praising, giving thanks, and worshipping when divided, self-centered, and prideful?  There were obviously divisions among them.  The Greek word used in 11:19 that’s translated “factions” is the same Greek work used in Galatians 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions…  Such factions, division, and contentions are serious offences to God.  Contention in the church at Corinth was enough to make their gathering worse than not gathering…when gathering is commanded by God!  One thing for sure, that division did reveal who among them was “approved.”

Remember the account of the nation of Israel standing on the boarder of the Promised Land not long after they left Egypt and then Mount Sinai?  Together the whole crowd of them decided not to trust and obey God; they decided to follow the 10 spies who said that God was wrong…that they’d loose if they tried to take the Land from those giants.  They decided to reject the 2 spies who trusted God and insisted that He was able to deliver the giants into their hands.  Those two men, Joshua and Caleb, were “approved by God” and were the only two of that entire company over the age of 20 to enter the Promised Land.  The division at Corinth would also reveal who was approved in God’s eyes. 

So the church in Corinth gathered separately to their shame.  But, as we will see, they were also…
Gathering Separately to Their Harm (1 Cor 11:20-22)

Here in lies a BIG problem with division within the church: worship time is a façade, and a disgrace, and never more so then when sharing the Lord’s Supper, otherwise known as Communion.  Communion is all about our unity with Christ and thus with each other.  The Spirit says to them, “when you gather together, it’s not Communion.”  They had made the Lord’s Supper into a fiasco where some of them hogged all the food, leaving nothing for others.  Everyone made sure they got theirs first and they didn’t care if others got nothing.  Talk about being self-centered!  It’s the same attitude that makes us care nothing about what our liberty does to someone else.  It’s the same attitude were we get when we’re offended if things go the other guys’ way.  It’s the same attitude as “I don’t like him or her, I’ll just stay away from them.”  Communion is not about getting your fill; this isn’t Burger King!...it’s not about “having it your way.”  Communion, and any gathering of the church is about fellowship with Christ and each other.  Fellowship is not about you; it’s not about having your needs met. 

Communion, and all worship, is about gathering together, giving praise to the Holy God.

Conclusion:

Fellowship and unity were major ingredients of worshiping God in Israel.  Jesus rebuked the chief priests and elders for ignoring that.  Fellowship and unity are major ingredients of worshiping God in the church.  The Spirit rebuked the church at Corinth for ignoring that.  When our self-centered living leads us into idolatry, we may gather together, but we’re separated, divided, and our worship is displeasing to God.  My challenge to you this week: READ 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 everyday, and pray that God will reveal any ways you may be “gathering separately.”

Communion in Christ

Introduction
Over the last couple weeks we’ve been talking about idolatry.  It is        something that has plagued mankind since being expelled from the Garden.  It was a problem to the Israelites under Moses.  It was a problem to the believers in Corinth.  It is a problem for us, and it’s not just a little problem, it’s sin that keeps us from communion with God.  Last week I challenged us all to read 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 everyday, and pray that God would alert you when you were using human wisdom, which leads to self-centeredness and idolatry, instead of God’s wisdom, which leads to love for God  and  people.  I trust you took that challenge.  How has it been so far?

In 1 Corinthians 10, the Spirit continues to tell us to flee from idolatry and cling to community with God and His people.  God has organized perfect community among His people, the Church, although the church only acts as perfectly as those who are part of it.  Hence the problem!  Within the church, God provides everything we need through Christ and He gives us the Holy Spirit to enable us to function as a very successful unit.  Jesus said that the gates of Hell could not withstand the power of His Church.  But we are always fouling up that community by our own sin and self-centeredness which inevitably leads to idolatry within the church and making my liberty more important than anyone (or anything) else.  We thus rob the Church of its power.

So, let’s hear what the Spirit says to the churches in I Corinthians 10:14-22…

Communion in Christ:
Seek Communion in Christ (10:14-17)
As we read 10:14, we see God’s command the church to, “flee from idolatry.”  We’re told to stop loving anything more than we love God and His People.  As most of you know, we had shirts made up that say, “life is short, serve hard”, because that’s the essence what God says many times in the New Testament.  Until the day we die our God-given purpose is to love Him and His Church such that we are compelled by that love to serve Him and His church.  What does that kind of love look like?  Well, Matthew 10:37-39, gives us a clue.  It says, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”  Now, it seems like anytime you hear a message on those verses, you hear apologies and sidestepping, but it means what is says!  No apologies.  If we are to be counted worthy of Christ, we can’t just serve Him when it’s convenient for us.  He can’t just be one of our priorities, He must be our only priority.  He told us to honor father and mother, and to care for our kids, raising them in Godly homes and giving them the love they need, yet, our love for God should far exceed our love for anyone else. 

Think about this sequence of statements over the last several chapters of 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 6:19 “your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit -you are not your own.”
1 Corinthians 7:19 “keeping the commandments of God is what matters…”
1 Corinthians 8:13 “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. “
1 Corinthians 9:19 “for though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.”

As followers of Christ, we are not our own to go off doing whatever we want, whenever we want, and we better be careful what we say, think, and do since we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  After all, it is important to keep God’s commands, not to earn salvation, but to be His holy people as He commanded.  Something that He commands over and over again is to love people, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.  So, out of my love for others, I will limit even the things that might be okay to say or do if in the process I cause them to be tempted and sin.  In fact, even though I am not under obligation to men, I will make myself a slave to all so that I might win them to Christ through the Gospel of Christ.  But instead of loving and worshiping God like that, we just go on doing our thing, living as we want, which throughout history has led to serving and loving idols.

Reading on in 1 Corinthians 10:15-17, we see that our ability to flee from idolatry has strong connections with the community we have in Christ.  Not only is communion with God and His people why I should flee from idolatry, it is how I flee from it.  As believers, we are meant to be in communion with the blood and body of Christ and with each other.  The cup of blessing is a symbol of our being united by the blood Christ, united to Him by His sacrificial death on the cross in our behalf.  The bread of blessing is a symbol of our being united in the body of Christ.  We are many, but we are one body.  Thus, my idolatry is sin against Father, Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  It is also sin against God’s people, Christ’s Body.  It takes my time and passion away from God and His Church.  The Spirit has given each of us at least one spiritual gift and we rob God and His Church when we don’t use it, or worse yet use it on ourselves.  Jesus commanded His disciples: “but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses…” (Acts 1:8).  If you have the Holy Spirit, that is your job.  Idolatry will definitely keep you from that job.  However, if you are truly in communion with God and the Church, you will have plenty of strength against any idol, and addiction, and the worship of anything other than God Himself.

So, flee from idolatry and instead seek communion with Christ and His Church.

Forsake Communion in Demons (1 Corinthians 10:18-23)
In 1 Corinthians 10:18 we are reminded that the priests in the Old Testament we told to partake of certain offerings, they ate some of the meat from sacrifices on the alter.  We partake of the Communion Table as an act of worship and unity.  Then 1 Corinthians 10:19-20, like 1 Corinthians 8:4 says, “an idol [itself] is nothing.”  But there is more to it, for behind the idol is most often a demon who wants nothing more than to steal the worship we owe to God.  The idol is just an object, person or activity, but the force behind it that makes it appealing to us is demonic.  The fact is that we are in a spiritual battle. 

Now if we’re talking about drugs, witchcraft, child abuse or murder, we’d all say, “yeah, that’s demonic.”  But if we’re talking about sports, TV, shopping, entertainment, or family…anything or anyone that we love and sacrifice for more than God, we say, “that’s not demonic!  That’s nothing!  Those are harmless things!”  But anything that robs God of the love, worship, and service He deserves…is sin.  Stop the fellowship with demons.  Why do we struggle with idols so much?...because we try physical defenses; it doesn’t work. 

Finally, 1 Corinthians 10:21-22 tells us we cannot worship God and idols too.  The Israelites tried that all the time in the Old Testament and it didn’t work for them either.  We cannot have communion with God and with demons.  God won’t let us get away with that.

Conclusion

My challenge to you this week: READ 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 everyday this week, and pray that God will remove the idols and prepare you to be His witness so some person in the next 30 days.

Learning from History

Introduction:
I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase, “history repeats itself”?  It seems like I used to hear that often, but not as much anymore.  Yet history does repeat itself, not with specific people, or places, or nations,   but certainly in human behavior, and God’s interaction with mankind.  History repeats because mankind thinks we’re going to know better than the ones before us and that we can break the pattern of foolishness and consequences that’s as old as man.  Today we’ll be reminded of the pattern of foolishness connected with human wisdom.  A pattern evident 4,000 years ago in the early days of Israel, a pattern evident 2,000 years ago in Corinth, a pattern evident today in 2013, and a pattern that can only be broken by forsaking human wisdom and living by God’s wisdom.

Last week we were in 1 Corinthians 9:19-27.  The context is about fleeing from idolatry and not abusing of liberty.  God calls us to be slave to all and gives some examples: to the Jew, to those with law, to those without law, and to the weak, we are to become as they are.  That does NOT mean we engage in their sin.  We are still under the Law of God and Christ.  Also, I don’t do this just so I can just “fit in” or be a friend, but…it is for the sole purpose that some of them may be saved.  Recall our theme verse for 2013 – “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2).  In these verses we see Paul being an example of following our perfect example who is Jesus Christ.  That we are to forsake our liberty and do all for the sake of the Gospel.  To do that requires discipline.  Our live is then compared to running a race in that we are to focus everything on the goal living for Him and advancing the Gospel – no self indulgence, no cruise control.

In 1 Corinthians 10, the Spirit continues to focus on the problems if idolatry and abuse of liberty where we see that those problems are more deeply rooted in the problem of living by human wisdom.  Human wisdom says, “this isn’t idolatry, it’s liberty and I can handle it” and, “I’m entitled to my liberty,”  That human wisdom kept the ancient Israelites in the pattern of foolishness and consequences, kept the less-ancient Corinthians in the pattern of foolishness and consequences, and keeps us in the pattern of foolishness and consequences of ignoring God’s wisdom.

So, let’s hear what the Spirit says to the churches…

Learning from History:

OT Examples of God’s Wisdom (10:1-5)
The Spirit reminds us of how God, in His wisdom, provided a way for Israel.  Q way out of slavery in Egypt, a way into a covenant relationship with Him, a way into being His people.  The unity and fellowship among the Israelites was very important!  Much of the Law dealt with proper treatment of each other and that violation of the Law often meant being put out of that fellowship.  Fellowship within Israel was a BIG DEAL!   

That fellowship is emphasized in the next phrases…”ALL our fathers were:”
Under the Cloud
For the nation of Israel traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land, the Cloud was their guide by day; it was what they followed (Psalm 78:14).  The Cloud was also a covering to give them protection from the scorching sun (Psalm 105:39).  The point is, they were all together, being led and protected by God through the Cloud.

All passed through the sea

The miracle where God divided the Red Sea so Israel could escape Pharaoh’s army is a central unifying event to the Jews.  God opened the way of their final escape from their slave masters and delivered the nation from bondage.  The point is, together, God redeemed Israel.

All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and sea

This is an obvious connection with Christian baptism.  The nation of Israel was united in Moses by the cloud and in the sea.  That is, it was through Moses that God led them and made them His people.  We are united in Christ by His death, burial, and resurrection (which water Baptism symbolizes).  The point is, that it is through Christ that God leads us and makes us His people, and thus we are united in Him.

All ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink

This is making an obvious connection to Communion.  The nation of Israel was united in their basic but miraculous provision for food and water.  Even then, that provision was the manna and the Rock who is Christ!  They didn’t much appreciate it either did they.  By the way, the Hebrew word “manna” means “what is it?”  Now guys, I don’t recommend that when your mom or your wife makes you a meal you ask, “What is it?” 

As believers, we are united in the Body of Christ, which is part of what we celebrate during Communion.  But like ancient Israel, we don’t always appreciate that fellowship either.  And like the Church at Corinth, sometimes we get offended with each other like the “weaker brothers” in that church.  The point is, the Israelite were united by God’s provision, and we are united by Christ’s provision.

Then in 1 Corinthians 10:5 it says, “but with most of them God was not well pleased.”  Why?  Because they complained about, and rejected God’s provision.  They didn’t like the “what is it?”, they didn’t like the direction they were going, they didn’t like Moses, and they didn’t like each other!  Remember that Moses was so occupied with their quarrels, his father-in-law suggested he set up a hierarchy of judges to handle all the disputes!  Then, nearly 2,000 years later, there were nothing but problems in the Church at Corinth and fighting between them was a big part of it.  And now, 2,000 years after that, division is still a problem in the church.  That’s because life being “all about me” is nothing new.  As a believer, complaining about, and rejecting God’s provision is nothing new.  Putting my desires and wants ahead of the church is nothing new.  Making my liberty a priority over a weak brother is nothing new.

But what was the result of all of Israel’s disunity and rebellion?  “Their bodies were scattered in the wilderness!”  They rejected God’s leading and provision; they rejected fellowship with God and each other, which go hand in hand, so God scattered their dead bodies all over the desert.  Worse yet, we learned nothing from it and we continue to reject God’s leading and provision.  We think we can have fellowship with Him without having fellowship with His Church…so God scatters us.

Our unity in Christ is God’s wisdom!  It is central to God’s leading and provision for us.  We are not to destroy that with idolatry and abuse of liberty that hurts our brothers.

OT Examples of Human Wisdom (1 Corinthians 10:6-11)

Some time ago Kevin filled in for me one Sunday and talked about the list of sins presented here in 1 Corinthians 10:6-11 so I won’t spend much time here.  Just know that these are sins that plagued Israel, they plagued Corinth, and guess what…plague us too.

I must say that 1 Corinthians 10:6-10 makes me challenge people with the question, “Is the Old Testament relevant today?”  Of course it is!  It says here, “Now these things became our examples…”   The account of God’s wisdom and provision for ancient Israel, and their response to God, is recorded in the OT as an example to us.  That sounds pretty relevant to me.  These are our example so that we “should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.”  You see, human wisdom hasn’t changed; we still lust after this same junk, like they did nearly 4,000 years ago, and like they did 2,000 years ago.  Here are some specific examples, and again I won’t spend a lot of time here:

1 Corinthians 10:7 says, “do not become idolaters.”  We’ve been talking about it for weeks, we worship all kinds of stuff.  Anything we love more than God is an idol. 

1 Corinthians 10:8 says, “do not commit sexual immorality.”  That’s a huge problem among God’s people, whether it was in Moses’ time, Paul’s time, or today.  
1 Corinthians 10:9 says, “do not tempt Christ.”  This is a reference to Exodus 17:2 where they contended with Moses about his leading, when the water first came from the Rock.  We also contend with Christ, though maybe not openly, when we contend against His Church and His will.
1 Corinthians 10:10 says, “do not complain.”  Like complaining about someone else in the church, or the leadership, etc.

 1 Corinthians 10:11 says, that “all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition.”  That is a powerful statement.  The testing and consequences  of failure happened to them to be examples to us.  After 4000 years, maybe we better start paying attention.  When are we going to figure out that unity in the church is important to God, that community health is more important than individual liberties, that sacrificially loving one another is God’s wisdom and command, that doing whatever I want is sin (idolatry and abuse of liberty)!

 
So we’ve got God’s wisdom which brings unity and community among His people, and human wisdom which brings idolatry, immorality, contention, complaining…

NT Admonition to Follow God’s Wisdom (1 Cor 10:12-14)

In 1 Corinthians 10:12-14 it says, “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”  The Israelites contended and complained because they thought they were right.  They got into immorality and idolatry because they thought they could get away with it.  In Corinth, the church was divided because they all thought they were right.  They got into immorality and idolatry because they thought they could get away with it.  In both cases they are called out for their carnality and spiritual immaturity and a warning was given saying, “let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

Then in 1 Corinthians 10:13 we see that there is no new temptation, it’s the same stuff today, 2000 years ago, and 4000 years ago.  God always gives you a way out, so take it.  By the way, the easiest time to look for, and take the way out is before the temptation has escalated into a self-inflicted compulsion.  So run early!

I’m ending today where we’ll pick up next Sunday, Lord willing.  That is with 1 Corinthians 10:14 which says, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.  See, we’re still talking about idolatry and the abuse of liberty

Conclusion:

Idolatry and the abuse of liberties are human wisdom that tear down the unity of God’s people.  These are products of living by human wisdom instead of God’s wisdom.  These are problems that have always been trouble for God’s people.  My challenge to you this week: READ 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 everyday, and pray that God will alert you anytime you start to operate by human wisdom instead of His wisdom.