1 Corinthians 11:17-34
Ps Paul Cheng
~7 min read
Dear Bethelites,
Every first week of the month, we come together to partake of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. Some would approach the Table like a ritualistic routine, some with an unprepared heart, others with a careless attitude, yet others with unrepentant sins. Is there a right and wrong way to approach the Table? Is there anything one must beware of? Are there any warnings or consequences one has to face if he does so in an unworthy manner? These are some of the lessons we want to learn from this passage 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, and since it is a vital topic, I would prayerfully divide it into three parts, the perversion, the purpose and the preparation for a deeper consideration.
Firstly, it is important to understand the background of this passage. Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted two sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Communion, so that those who believe in Him would obey and follow faithfully. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commanded His disciples to go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. During His last Passover meal in the upper room, Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, telling the disciples to do this as often as they can in remembrance of Him.
Apparently, whenever the early church was celebrating the Lord’s Supper, they would first have a special fellowship which some people referred to as the love feast (agape feast), and then they would conclude that meal with the observation of the Lord’s Supper. The purpose of having this love feast was because of fellowship, affection and mutual caring for one another, and it was also a way of providing a meal for those who were poor. The Corinthian church followed this custom, but sadly, they had turned the meals into a drunken party. But most importantly, those meals were connected with the Lord’s Supper which they observed at the end of their partying; therefore, they had desecrated the very sacrament which the Lord Jesus had instituted.
I. The Perversion
1 Corinthians 11:17, Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. Instead of those celebrations being times of loving fellowship and spiritual enrichment, the Corinthians started to indulge themselves selfishly, shaming those brethren who were poor, mocking the Lord’s sacrificial death, and being a bad testimony to the unbelieving world around them. It would have been much better for the Corinthians never to have the love feast, and never to have observed the Lord’s Supper, than to have abused them.
For application, let us consider our fellowship meetings which are spiritually healthy and enriching. But when should we stop coming together for fellowship meetings? When people start to abuse those fellowship meetings, or instead of being times of edification and encouragement, they have become a place of gossip, divisions and tearing one another apart. It is very sad because we have come to a point where we have to say, “Enough is enough, we have to stop this fellowship meeting because our coming together is not for the better, but for the worse.”
1 Corinthians 11:18, For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
That was happening in the Corinthian church. Whenever the Corinthians got together, they were bickering and fighting. And as difficult as it was to believe that this was happening in the church (the house of God), Paul had to say, and I partly believe it because it was typical of the Corinthians to be divided. Remember in chapter 3, some of the Corinthians were saying, I belong to Paul, others were saying, I belong to Apollos. Spiritually, they were divided, socially, they were also divided - the rich separated themselves from the poor!
1 Corinthians 11:19, For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
The word heresies mean a group of people following a particular thinking, and it can mean faction. One of the worst things that could ever happen to a church is faction or division. The Bible has given to us ample warnings about people who cause divisions in the church and how we are to treat them; we are to mark them, reject them, withdraw ourselves from them, and we must have no company with them. When we associate ourselves with such people, we are approving their actions, and when we allow these divisive people to continue in their ways, the church would be divided.
Paul said there must be also heresies among you because he knew that it was inevitable there would always be divisive people in the church. Until the Lord Jesus returns, there would always be tares amongst the wheat, goats amongst the sheep (meaning unbelievers amongst the believers). In a sense, God allowed them to be there so that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. Church division, though as ungodly and sinful as it is, nevertheless is used by the Lord to prove who His faithful servants are. In every church, God has chosen His faithful servants to serve Him, and one of the ways in which God will show to the people that these are His chosen servants who have the spiritual strength, wisdom and leadership to do His work, is through these ungodly men who cause divisions.
Dear friend, there will always be divisive people in the local church like Bethel, but as we keep a watchful eye on those troublemakers, at the same time, we must not forget to watch out for those faithful men whom God will reveal to you. God will use evil to reveal good, and He will use divisive people to reveal His chosen people.
1 Corinthians 11:20-21, When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
The term Supper was the normal word used for a meal (especially the evening meal), but with the addition of the word Lord, it was given a very special and significant meaning because it was instituted by the Lord Himself. As mentioned earlier, the people would gather together to eat of the fellowship meal known as the love feast, and then they would conclude it with the observation of the Lord’s Supper. The love feast was only the precursor; the Lord’s Supper was the main course (so to speak). And because they had abused the love feast, they had also desecrated the Lord’s Supper.
The poor brethren came and were expecting to share in the food brought by the wealthy brethren, but they went away hungry. The rich brethren brought food and drink and refused to share with the poor. It was like having their own private party; they gorged themselves and became drunk.
Church history tells us that initially the early church had both the love feast and Lord’s Supper side by side, but it was so abused that eventually the church was forced to separate the two, in order to protect the Holy Communion. Soon, the love feast disappeared altogether!
It is very sad when brethren bring the world into the church, and when the fellowship becomes a time of show off. Instead of “pot-bless”, bringing the food to share with one another, it has become “pot-curse”, people care only about themselves, or show off to the others that they can afford better food. One must never bring these kinds of attitude into the church!
What is the thing that brought us together as a church? Our Lord Jesus Christ! Our Christian attitude and motive should be pure at all times, and how much more when we come before the Lord’s Table and share the bread of His body, and the cup of His blood. It is absolutely necessary that we remove all our sins, worldliness, pride, racial, class and social differences. Our situations and circumstances are so different, and we must be sensitive to one another’s needs.
Whether they were doing that ignorantly or on purpose, of all places, the Corinthians were abusing the Lord’s Table!
1 Corinthians 11:22, What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. Here, we can almost sense Paul’s disgust. He was saying, “If you intend to selfishly indulge yourselves in your food and drink, could you not do that at home? Why do you purposely do it in the church? Why do you purposely embarrass and shame those poor brethren? If you cannot show love to those poor brethren, why have a love feast? Shall I praise you? Most certainly not!”
Dear friend, those people who bring those worldly, insensitive, sinful and ungodly attitudes into the church, and cause trouble and division, the same would not do so in their homes. They may be attending the fellowship meetings regularly, but they ought to be praised for their regular attendance. Sometimes, it is right to say to such people, “It is better for you not to attend, than to attend, because you come not for the better, but for the worse.
With love in Christ,
Pastor Paul Cheng
(To be continued in the next pastoral chat)
1 CORINTHIANS 11A Right Understanding Of Spiritual GiftsA Right Understanding Of Spiritual Gifts1 Corinthians 12:1-3