Episode 199 - "Do not despise the church or its members" - 1 Corinthians 11:17-22

1Cor. 11:17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

Verse 17 through the end of the chapter deals very specifically with the Lord’s Supper and how Christians should partake of it. We’ll examine Paul’s teaching about this over the course of a few episodes.

Notice that Paul begins this section by chastising the Corinthian believers. He’d already commended them for holding to a number of the traditions practiced by churches. But concerning the Lord’s Supper, they were off track. Paul says, “In the following instructions, I do not commend you, because when you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse.” (v. 17) It would be easy to jump ahead to find out what it is they are doing that is “for the worse.” But don’t miss the point that the purpose of Christians getting together is supposed to be “for the better.” Fellowship and congregational worship is to edify, encourage, and strengthen the church as a whole and each member of the body. From the beginning of this letter, Paul has emphasized the importance of setting aside things that divide brothers and sisters in Christ. In my opinion, if we get nothing else from 1 Corinthians 11, it would be that we need to value the church and conduct ourselves within the church for the specific purpose of growing in our faith and helping others grow in their faith.

Paul lays out the problem that there are “divisions among you.” (v. 18) That’s bad, right? Yes, but then Paul writes, “There must be must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” (v. 19) I believe what Paul is saying is that while divisions within a church are not good, they will occur and need to occur in order to manifest those who are sincere about following the Lord and those who aren’t.

In verse 20, Paul gets more specific. He says, “It is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.” He explains that they’ve confused dinner with a sacred event of the Lord’s supper. Some eat their own meal, some drink their own wine and get drunk, and others don’t have anything. This is clearly not mutually edifying. It’s self-indulgence and disregard for others in the community of faith.

Look at his sharp indictment in the middle of verse 22 as he rhetorically asks, “do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?”

In our culture today, many people are leaving their churches and not continuing in a local community of believers. Perhaps the reason is they, too, see the divisions and hypocrisy within some churches. But we need to value coming together with others who sincerely want to follow Jesus and remember him in our worship. We cannot treat the Lord’s supper as a party opportunity. It’s not a time to fill our stomachs. It is a time for our souls to be filled with gratitude for the love of Christ and the forgiveness of sin we have through the cross. Let us share that experience with our brothers and sisters in Christ.