Careful Attention Needed

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

CAREFUL ATTENTION NEEDED

1 Cor 11:17-22

17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22 Don't you have homes 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 praise you for this? Certainly not!

NIV

It is certain those people in Corinth had taken the Lord’s supper to a whole new level, making it into one big party, perhaps even a food feast. In fact it sounds more like an all church picnic. However, not as organized as ours today, for it also sounds as though they all just ransacked the food table, some taking more then they share, leaving nothing for those behind them, as well as consuming whole jugs of wine. It sure must have been a lot different than the little piece plastic cup of grape juice and small section of a cracker we get today. How did what we call the Lord’s Supper turn into what it was then to what it is now? What is it supposed to be? We will find out exactly what is what in the upcoming verses, but still they do not explain the exact manner in which we should remember the Lord’s death, that is the style, or ritual that should be performed. It would seem that the whole idea in remembrance of the Lord’s death should be every time we eat and drink, each and every day, rather than an occasional event at church, however this is talking about when we all come together as a church.  For now we should take a look at these divisions among us. The idea that has to been some differences among us to show who has God’s approval is sort of a strange concept. Have we ever dealt with that before? Have we ever noticed that before? What kind of differences would there be between those who have God’s approval and those who don’t? Why would some have His approval while others do not? Have we not been told God does not show favoritism? Does He give more material goods to those He approves of then those He doesn’t? Does He bless them more spiritually? What does that look like? Can we tell who is and who isn’t approved by God? Perhaps His approval is not favoritism but rather simply approval. Perhaps some among us simply do not feel the peace of God, the contentment within, the love, forgiveness, grace, mercy and blessing of God in their life. Is that because God does not approve of the way they are conducting their lives? Or is it just the fact we have both saint and sinner in the church, saved and unsaved, found and lost, born again, and those yet not born again? Those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior are approved by God and surely are, or should be, different from those who have not. It would make sense that God does not approve of those who have not yet accepted His Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, although He does not love them any less, but simply does not approve of the way they are conducting their lives. This would especially hold true if they were among those in Corinth and are among us and join in the Lord’s Supper. We should get to that in the upcoming verses. So what do we conclude from all this? Careful attention to how we conduct our lives would be a good start. Yes, careful attention needed indeed.