Good Instead of Harm

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GOOD INSTEAD OF HARM

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

Wow, they must have been having one party after another, instead of worshipping the Lord with a righteous communion. However, was it possible that Paul was talking about how communion, or partaking in the elements, should be practiced? What was it that was causing them more harm than good when they gathered together? What were the divisions among them? Why would divisions among them be needed in order to show who had God’s approval? Do we have that kind of division among the church today that would indicate some of the people who come to church have God’s approval, while others who come to church do not have God’s approval? Are there both these kinds of divisions? One that does more harm than good, and one that show which has God’s approval and which ones do not must be two different types of division. We do wonder how many are divided in the church today, and if there are, we wonder what people are divided about. Certainly, we all believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. We must also believe in the need to follow Jesus through the waters of baptism, or maybe there are some who do not. Maybe there are secondary or tertiary doctrinal issues that divide us, or perhaps it is simpler than that. Could it be about an issue of pride, with some thinking more highly of themselves than they should, thinking they are better or more knowledgeable in the scriptures the others? Undoubtedly, we might see some divisions within the church, but we think there should be none. We are all supposed to build each other up until we all reach unity in the faith. There should not be one person greater than another. This should be demonstrated in the fact that we all need Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and must partake in the same elements of communion remembering what Jesus did for us. We think what Paul could be saying about some of them eating and others going hungry might be related to how we practice communion in that we all should partake simultaneously. Yet, it seems like he was speaking about having these linger longer or carry-ins, and those that were first in the line filled their plates with no concern about those at the end of the line. If this were to happen it would most certainly cause hurt feelings, and thus divisions and more harm than good. What we think is the main point here is that we should make sure that when we gather at the church we are not doing any harm to anyone, but we are all looking out for the good of others, and that should carry on outside the physical church, because we the people are the church.