We see in the above focus that some in the Corinthian church were not discerning rightly the body of Christ. These people were observing communion with the sacraments in an unworthy manner and because of that some of them were experiencing the judgment of God. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. This sounds like a judgment of their physical bodies. Paul is addressing a Greek church; these people are still inundated with the culture of the Greek community. For them there is nothing wrong in gathering together and eating separately without thinking about others in the church when they are remembering the Lord’s death. But now since they have come under the authority of Jesus’ Christ's blood and body, they are to discern the needs of the whole body of Christ. As far as we know this judgment of God has historically not been perceived much in the church. But we do know that God wanted this nascent Gentile church to understand they are through faith in Christ’s work on the cross one body, bound to Christ and God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, they were not free to act independently from the obligations they have to their brothers and sisters IN CHRIST. In gathering together in remembrance of Jesus’ death on the cross, they are not there just to eat food and drink wine. Paul reminds them of why they are together celebrating communion: when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. (20,21) This separatism is an anathema to the body of Christ. God will judge such actions of selfishness. Of course this is a Greek church with little understanding of spiritual matters. Paul, throughout his letter to the church of Corinth is in the teaching mode. He explains to them that true wisdom comes from Christ, not their philosophers and wise teachers. He expresses to them what is sin and what in their lives they should avoid, such as idol worshipping. He tells them how dangerous sexual promiscuity is to their spiritual health. He explains how they should act in their marriages, having fidelity to their mates. He instructs them on their activity within the church. Paul, as their spiritual father, is desiring them to reach maturity in their walk with Christ. The Greeks are beginners in knowing Christ. In the Jewish community we see this newness in knowing and discerning the body of Christ in the activity of Ananias and Sapphira. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (Acts 5:2-4) Ananias and Sapphira both died that day. The Holy Spirit killed them because they did not understand what they were doing in this new life found in Jesus Christ. Christ's body is holy and the people’s activity in the body should be pure, upright, and holy. Their self-will brought immediate judgment on them. Great fear fell upon the Jewish church for they now realized they were accountable to God because they were one with him. The Corinthian church also needed to realize that their activity was being monitored by God, and that there were consequences for not serving the body of Christ in an honest and upright manner. Paul tells them that some are sick because of not discerning the body of Christ appropriately. As we look back into the history of the church, we can assume that many people took communion unworthily and we also can assume that many people lie to the church without outward consequences. But the scriptures are telling us that spiritual activity within the church is a serious matter and that we who have a history of 2,000 years behind us, should be involved with the church in a serious and honest manner.
As children of the living God with the Spirit fully inside of us, we must understand that God has provided Jesus to us so that we might live eternally and be lights to a dying world. When we corrupt our lives with dishonesty and illicit activity, we cloud the the living light of God within us, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus alone is THE LIGHT and He is THE DRINK that provides life. Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39) After Pentecost the Spirit came to present Christ to the world. And we see in today’s focus, Christians have been charged with a great responsibility of taking care of the Body of Christ. The self-willed Christians who do not discern the body of Christ rightly will come under judgment if they continue to ignore the needs of the whole body. A healthy church will reveal the light of Christ clearly, but a defiled church will distort that light and be called by the secular world as hypocrites, saying one thing but not living up to their own creed. Paul is instructing an unhealthy Corinthian church, one where a little yeast has spread to the whole lump. They had allowed open sexual sin within their community and they were in the mode of quarreling and disputing over who they should follow as leaders. He knows the acts and activities of their former lives are still operative within the Corinthian church: sexual immorality, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, (Galatians 5:19-21) Their willingness to take communion in a self-willed way is just part of their lack of obedience to God’s will for their lives. They were still functioning as secular Christians, not as the body of Christ. They lacked the willingness to be as Christ, a servant to all. Jesus demonstrates what a mature Christian’s life should look like in washing the disciples’ feet. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17) The Corinthian church was not being blessed because some of them were not concerned about the weaker brethren in their midst. By eating their own sumptuous supper and drinking wine until they were drunk, they were humiliating those who have nothing? They definitely did not have a towel wrapped around their waist washing the feet of those in their midst who were poor. God judged them for their lack of love; their unwillingness to serve others.
Paul has great love for the Gentiles and he has paid a high price to minister to the Gentile world. The Jews have the law to help them know God’s will for their lives, but the Gentiles had nothing like that but social mores that they had constructed their lives by and philosophers and learned men. But to know God’s holiness and his righteousness was far beyond their conception. But now the Christian Greeks contain the holy God within them through the works of the Holy Spirit. To be containers of a holy God, they must alter the way they have constructed their lives within their culture. No more serving other gods, idol worshipping, sexual promiscuity, anger, self-willedness, or license to self-indulgence. The darkness of their society should be put aside. Jesus has come to show God to the world. He has come to bring the Creator into everyone’s life. Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. (John 12:44-46) Jesus is the perfect representation of God, to see Jesus is to see God, the Creator of all things. Now, the Corinthians who have taken the name of Jesus by faith as their Lord are to be representatives of Jesus Christ and God. To take communion unworthily, to be selfish in remembering the death of Christ is not representative of the love of Christ for all humanity. Quarrels, dissension, battles, wars, and rumors of war are the characteristics of those who do not love others, but Paul is telling the Corinthian church to grow up, to mature, and to put on the mantle of Christ, which is love. Not discerning the body of Christ rightly is not an act of love. Jesus tells his disciples their hope of life rests in him, Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:19-21) What are Jesus’ commands? There are two of them: love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and secondly, love others as you love yourself; do good to all people. We see the Corinthian church violating that second royal law. The communion table reveals that; they are allowing some to starve as they participate within this sacred activity. They are violating what the Holy Spirit is revealing to them about God. They are willing to not show the love of God to others in the church and outside of the Christian community. But for all Christians everywhere today, we should not follow this immature church in their attitude and activities. We are to love everyone in and outside of our community. We are to live as Christ lived, as a servant to the world. The Spirit has come to us in his fulness so let us live by the Spirit. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:25-26) Instead, let us yield to the world: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (22-23) May the Lord bless you as you bear fruit for him today.
No comments:
Post a Comment