A communion sermon from 1 Corinthians 10:14-18. 

<p>A communion sermon from 1 Corinthians 10:14-18. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Pagosa Springs SDA

Skip Dodson

Christianity or Idolatry


All right, so before we begin our study time together this morning, let's take a moment to seek God in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come to you this morning. We're grateful for the privilege that we have of coming to your table today. What a blessing to return to it after so long. But we ask that you would fill our minds with the things that will inform our experience today.

We need to be edified, encouraged, and challenged as we come to the table. So Father, use this text from 1st Corinthians 10 to do those things for us. Send your Holy Spirit, Father. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Stephen Lewis Davis was an engineer at Wright Industries, a company that Gillette contracted to assist with the development of its next generation razors.

Many of us use those on a regular basis. Some of us do not, like Josh. But in 1997, Davis, having had some unpleasant exchanges with his boss, decided that He was going to get some revenge. And so he faxed and emailed drawings of Gillette's new razor to every rival company that he could get in contact with, including Warner Lambert, Bic, and American safety razor. This intellectual property theft was ultimately discovered, especially because Davis used such traceable means to do it.

I mean, think about that. Today, faxing and emailing sensitive documents? I mean, ridiculous, right? Davis was prosecuted and pled guilty to theft and wire fraud, and in 1998 was sentenced to 27 months in prison. Other corporate espionage is done not merely for revenge, but for money or for position or for other benefits.

But the principle is all the same. Betray your corporation for selfish gain. France people do the same thing to God every single day. Is this true? They take the gifts and blessings he gives them and devote them to the service of the enemy of our souls with the hope that they will receive some sort of personal gain from it.

The spiritual term for this is idolatry. Our scripture reading this morning is an exhortation to turn away from it, to flee from it actually, and to devote ourselves to God's cause exclusively in the context of the Lord's Supper. This passage is not like the historical accounts that we read in the gospels. You probably discerned that as Tom read it. Rather, this is Paul's theological reflection on what the communion service means as it relates to the practical life of the Christian.

And I think you will agree, if we need anything in our world today, it is practical Christianity. How many would say that's true? Okay. So let's take a moment again to read the words of the Apostle Paul from 1st Corinthians 10. Tom read them a few moments ago, read them beautifully.

We'll read them again. 1st Corinthians 10 verses 14 through 17. Paul says, therefore my beloved flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men, Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?

The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are 1 bread and 1 body, for we all partake of that 1 bread. Now I have only 1 general observation to make in regards to this passage, and I will put it this way. Idolatry may be ancient, but it is by no means extinct. We can see this clearly because Paul warns the Corinthians in verse 14 of this chapter to flee from it.

I think you will agree it would be ridiculous to think that the apostle was telling people to flee from something that was no longer a viable threat to them. Yes, idolatry existed in Paul's time. We have a clear record of it in the New Testament. And it exists in even more subtle forms in our own day and generation. It is true that no shrine or graven image may be visible today, although that type of idolatry is by no means passé in many parts of the world.

But in the West, idol worship has generally transmogrified into materialistic and ideological forms. Now, I don't want to belabor this point, but let me just assert that the vast majority here in America worship idols just as surely as did the Canaanites of ancient times. Would you agree with that statement? Let me give an example. Well, let me say first about the Canaanites.

In fact, really, the gods that are worshipped today are essentially the same as the gods worshipped by the ancient people. It is only the form in which they are worshipped that has changed. For example, the Canaanites idolized human sexuality as exemplified by the behavior of their gods, Baal and Ashtoreth. Their cult rituals demonstrated this in obvious ways, and their society was rife with the immoral, degrading practices that were the inevitable result of their devotion to these things. Things.

LGBTQ, and so on down the list. You can find all of that referenced in the Old Testament. So let me ask this question. Are things really any different today? Friends, what do you think?

Is it any different today? No, multitudes today are still devoted to the worship of human sexuality. How else would we propose to explain the degradation of morality in our culture? Yes, I tell you, it is adherence to this cult that makes a highly educated Supreme Court nominee entirely unable to define what a woman is. And it's why a majority of people refuse to call out something as grossly inappropriate as the cross-dressed dude in the pool competing in swimming races against women.

Friends, these things can be considered acceptable only by people who believe that sexuality is the ultimate defining characteristic of human existence, transcending even biology. This is yet another denial of true science in favor of idolatrous zealotry. The bizarre events we have witnessed and are witnessing only make sense if we see them through this lens. And there are many other gods of this age. For in this very same letter, 1 Corinthians 8, verse 5, Paul declared that there were many gods and many lords being worshipped in his time.

Still today, many people make gods of their own works and their own abilities, their possessions, their accomplishments, their position, and so much more. They devote themselves to all kinds of things except to the true God who created and redeemed them. But friends, I trust that we have come to this service today to express a very different kind of devotion, a non-idolatrous worship. Let's take a few minutes to consider the significance of what we do today in light of what Paul says here in 1 Corinthians. We covered verse 14 already, but now let's move on in the passage.

I hope you're still looking at it, and I want to point out the first thing to consider, and that is the intimate nature of the Lord's Supper. I draw that point from the word communion itself. It's a word we don't often think much about unfortunately because over time it has devolved into a technical term for this service that we do in church, right? People think of the 1 that, when you say the word communion, somebody says, oh, that's that service we do every quarter, or that we will be doing every quarter now. But we should reflect on this word as we prepare for the service today.

It is a word that denotes close fellowship. It can refer to spouses, to business partners, or just close friends. People that have exclusive interest in what others are doing. It means not just the contemplation or observation of something, but rather participation in it. It refers to people being on the same page and identifying their interests to a common purpose.

But we should also see here that the Christian is called in the service of communion to affirm his identification with Christ in 2 different aspects. Did you notice that in the passage? 2 different aspects of identification with Christ. In his death, represented by the cup, and in his life, represented by the bread. The cup points to the shedding of blood.

This is what verse 16 points out. You can read it there. The cup refers to the shedding of Christ's blood, and the bread refers to his body. Now that's an interesting 1. We don't often consider that.

The body of Christ, what do we often refer to when we think of the body of Christ? The church, yes. And of course the church is the group of human beings that have accepted Christ as their personal Savior, accepted their position in His humanity. So really what the bread refers to is the humanity of Christ. And of course the church is that subset of humanity that identifies with Christ.

By identifying with Christ in this dual way we are to see ourselves in Him at the cross. We are to see his suffering as a just recompense for our sins, and we should see ourselves as dead to sin in him by virtue of his true humanity. But the identification with Christ does not stop at the cross. It does not end at his sacrifice. We are to identify with him in his holy life as well.

All through his life, Christ's humanity was broken. Is this true? How do we know that? Because all through his life we see him yielding his will to the Father. Now how many of you have ever broken horses?

Anybody? Okay. If you've been around horses, you know that their will needs to be broken, right? Now, there are ways that you can do that that are not very appropriate, but there are also other ways that you can do it that are more gentle and kind. Right?

And the breaking of the will is essentially what is referred to by the breaking of the bread here. Christ's humanity was broken for us. It was broken because he needed to have his will broken in order that he might live the righteousness that we need. And it is our privilege as believers to identify with Jesus in this and to let that mind be in us that was also in Christ Jesus as Paul writes about in Philippians 2 verse 5. It is by this dual recognition that we must live.

We must constantly reckon ourselves as dead to sin, yet alive to God in Christ Jesus. In Galatians 2 20, Paul says this dynamite phrase, this dynamite statement. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." This is the experience of the Lord's Supper, lived out in daily life.

Now the final thing I would point out this morning is that the communion service is meant to be an expression of the unity that should exist in God's Church. Let's all say Amen to that. Unity. What does Paul say there? He says this.

For we, though many, are 1 bread and 1 body, for we all partake of that 1 bread." This is a unity statement. God intends his church to be united. He does not intend us to say, well we are many and we have many dispositions and temperaments and we have many different ideas, so we can just kind of do whatever we want to. Every man doing what's right in his own eyes, as it says several times in that book of Judges, which presents to us the awful record of what that looks like. No, friends, unity in the body, This is 1 of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible.

And it is 1 of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible because it is based in the experience and the humanity of our Savior himself. If we identify with Christ, as we discussed a moment ago, then we will prioritize his interests and not ours. Ours will be set aside. And this is how the church comes into unity, friends. It is through the recognition that we are 1 bread and 1 body in Christ and that through the experiential living out of what we do here at the table, we can achieve true unity.

Disunity happens when people pursue their own interests. You've seen it. Unity is what happens when people surrender self to be hid in Christ. God wishes us to reflect on these things as we come to the table this Sabbath. So let me close this morning by way of this illustration from the perspective of business.

Renee and I own a construction business. Most of you knew that. In the course of our business, we employ subcontractors to do certain aspects of our projects. But though these subcontractors work with us, they do not share in the profits of the business because they do not assume the risks that are associated with the business. Something happens to the house it doesn't sell they got their money they walk away.

They are not members of the corporation. Now that word corporation is quite an interesting word. Have you thought about what it means? Any of you Latin, students of Latin? What is a corporation?

A corporation is the formation of a body. That's what it means. So let me ask you, friend, how close are you with Christ? Are you a member of his body? Are you a member of his corporation?

Or are you merely a sub? When we come to the table this morning, we profess to be members of the corporation, the body. We profess that we are willing to take any and all risks associated with being a member of the corporation, a member of the body, even to the point of losing everything we have in this world. We profess that there are no conflicts of interest with the purposes of this Christ and his body, his corporation. We profess that we are exclusively devoted to the prosperity and growth of this corporation, this body.

Friends, let us examine ourselves today. Is this the case with you? And while you're thinking about that question, let me explain what a conflict of interest is. I think you know in terms of business, but let me put a theological twist on it. A conflict of interest is simply a sophisticated term for an idol.

Just stop and think about this. Whatever it is in your life that hinders your wholehearted service to God is an idol. Is that true? It was true for the Israelites of old. You remember the priests that Ezekiel was shown in their secret room, worshiping their idols in secret?

They still profess to serve God. But you see, there were these other gods that they prioritized in their lives, and they tried to keep that on the down low, and they thought that God was okay with that. Friends, news flash. He wasn't. And he isn't.

As we come to the Lord's table, I'll say it again, this is an opportunity for self-examination. Are we exclusively engaged with Christ in his Father's business that he said he must be about. This is an opportunity to divest ourselves from conflicts of interest, or we should say, idols. So let's make the most of us of it. Let's put Jesus' interests and his cause first in our lives.

Let none of us be discovered to be engaged in fraud. Let none be guilty of selling out the corporation, the body. May God cleanse us, encourage us, and challenge us as we come to his table today. I pray in the name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.

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Christianity or Idolatry

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