Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. 1 Corinthians 11:17-20

One thing that is very clear about the Apostle Paul, is that he doesn’t mince words, he was a straight shooter. Notice how he rebukes the Church of Corinth here, he says “I praise you not, that you come together not for the better , but for the worse” Most Pastors would be encouraging their people to come to Church, however these Christians at Corinth, it was better they didn’t even come! I’m sure some of us probably could relate to a Church like this we know.

What was the problem here? Isn’t  “Going to Church” a good thing? Well not if you are doing it in an unworthy manner. If you are not going to Church , with the love of God in your heart, you’re not going for the right reasons. We don’t just gather with Christians to check off a box, we go to worship and fellowship with the body of Christ.  Paul was saying when alot of these “Christians” in Corinth got together, there was actually more problems than good

So what were some of the problems, well Paul lists divisions and heresies, doesn’t that sound familiar in todays Church? Satan loves to divide the Church, Satan loves to plant new ideas in the minds of prideful people and run with it. Today we have over 40,000 different denominations of Christianity, how did we get to this point? 

One command Paul did give to these divided Christians, “therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper” Now there are a few things we can take away from this, First having Communion or the Lord’s Supper, was a common practice in the early Church. I only say this because there are many Christians today, who have seemed to abandon the sacrament all together. I think it’s a shame, if you have never broken bread with the body of Christ, it’s a powerful practice

Secondly, The Lord’s Supper is to be taken seriously and in reverence. On one hand we don’t want to forbid the children from coming to The Lord (Matthew 19:14) but on the other hand we should make sure those partaking are Christians and understand the symbolism behind the elements

The Church of Corinth was abusing The Lord’s Supper as a time to eat and get drunk. We should inject some historical context here also. Communion was not the same as we know it today in the Church, The Lord’s Supper was an actual meal together , more similar to a “pot luck dinner” most Churches have today, it was known as a Agape Feast. So many people in Corinth would just come to the Lords Supper to get a free meal, and have no reverence for The Lord Jesus Christ at all

We will continue more on this topic in my next post, but remember when coming to The Lords Table, examine yourself and make sure your heart is right with God , Amen!