Disrespect for the Things of the Lord

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Disrespect for the Lord's House

 ["Click here for I Corinthians 11:1-16"]

We need be very careful in the development of our conclusions about these verses. We have to determine what Paul is saying from what he is not saying. I believe that the lesson in these verses to the Corinthians is to maintain the traditions or ordinances of the church that he had taught them.

Paul wants them to remember everything about him, his life, his teachings, his sacrifice, his office,(Apostle) in the assimilation of the instructions that he is about to give them.

His first instruction called "the order of things", was traditionally accepted in those days.

We need to understand this in its entirety without degrading any one. God, as the Head of Christ, did not degrade Him, to the contrary, He was lifted up to the position of the second Person in the Trinity. Christ, as the Head of man, did not degrade him, to the contrary, man, thru Christ, has been lifted up and made a little lower than the Angels. So, Man, as the head of the woman, does not degrade the woman but accepts this position in a household as the one God created for him. In the beginning, woman was made for man, not man for woman. Time has "equalized" this position for as the woman was originally made from man, now man is born of woman.

We see, throughout the whole Bible, clearly defined lines of separation between male and female. Many of our problems today lie in the assumption that there is no difference between the two.

Now, lets see what was bothering Paul concerning the women at Corinth. It appeared to be women who prayed or prophesied with their head uncovered. The problem does not seem to be with their praying but rather the fact that they did not cover their head while doing so. Paul could have and did go much farther than this for in 1st. Timothy, He said that women should be silent in churches. Why did Paul first state his position concerning the woman's relationship to man, and then complain about women praying with their heads uncovered? If we miss this, we miss the whole lesson in these verses. The lesson is that positions for both sexes have been established by the Lord and we should not try to change the order of things. At the time of Paul, man prayed with his head uncovered, therefore the woman who prayed with her head uncovered dishonored man by attempting to imitate him.

At the time of Paul, men had short hair and women had long hair. It was degrading for a man to have long hair and women took great pride in their long hair. Both of these were encouraged and practiced, not that in and of themselves they merited anything but rather that they maintained the differences between the sexes.

Note what Matthew Henry said about this 250 years ago, "Women should not dress or appear as a man, this throws off the token of her subjection to man." "Women should keep to the rank which God had created her." It is man who is set at the head of this lower creation." "The woman, on the other hand, is the image of God in so much as she is the image of man." "She shall do nothing that looks like she is seeking equality or likeness to man."

Then Paul warns against taking this to far. Man and Woman was made to be a mutual comfort and blessing to each other, certainly one was not to be a slave and the other a tyrant. He assured the Corinthians that this relationship of the woman to the man was the custom of all churches.

Now, how does this relationship relate to the Lord's house? Less we forget, our bodies are the dwelling place of God. Any disrespect that we show to our bodies is disrespect to the Lord's house.

Disrespect for the Lord's Supper

["Click here for I Corinthians 11:17-33"]

Here Paul condemns the way the Corinthians were partaking of the Lord's Supper. Reading this account I find it hard to imagine how any church, no matter how pagan was its beginnings, could possibly observe the Lord's Supper in this fashion. Paul was normally, very careful to consider the "frames" of these young Christians, and very often commended them but here he makes it plain that when it came to following instructions, they were well short of his expectations.

Matthew Henry says concerning our religious practices, "If it does not make us better, it will very certainly make us worse." Paul said, "Examine yourself." "If anyone eats and drinks (the Lord's Supper) unworthily, they will be guilty of profaning the body and the blood of the Lord.

Lets look at the way they were observing the Lord's Supper.

  1. "They divided themselves." They got in separate little groups according to race, wealth and persuasion.
  2. "They did not wait upon one another." There was no order to the observance nor did they observe it in reverence.

We are often condemned for being to formal in our observance of the Lord's Supper but these people had no organization at all. Note:

  1. They observed it like a covered dish supper.
  2. They ate whenever they got there, not waiting for any one.
  3. Some brought more than they could eat, while others had nothing.
  4. Some literally ate until their stomachs busted or until they fell into a drunken stupor, while others, the poor, had nothing to eat.

Paul said that their conduct completely destroyed the solemn ness and purpose of the sacrament. They would have been better of to have completely forgotten the observance. By being gluttons and drunks they showed great disrespect for the Lord's Supper and the Lord's House.

Then Paul renewed his instructions to them concerning the observance of the Lord's Supper. These verses are the most complete account that we have of this event. Ten instructions are given:

  1. He tells them where he got these instructions. "I received them from the Lord." Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these instructions as He did everything that Paul wrote.
  2. When was the Lord's Supper instituted? "On the night that Christ was betrayed." Thursday, in the last week of Christ.
  3. How was it observed? Jesus took bread and broke it and gave it to the Disciples to eat, then He took the cup, sipped from it and then gave it to the Disciples to drink.
  4. What did the bread and cup represent? The broken body and the shed blood of Christ.
  5. What is the purpose of the Lord's Supper? Christ delivered to the Disciples all the benefits procured by His death on the night that this sacrament was initiated. He continues to do this every time we do this as "worthy believers". At that time, we renew our dedication and He renews His promises.
  6. What do we declare to the world when we observe the Lord's Supper? We declare that we are the Disciples of Christ, that we trust in Him alone for salvation and imputed righteousness before God.
  7. How often should we observe the Lord's Supper? Paul does not say. He does say that every time we observe it, we do it in remembrance of Christ.
  8. How long should we continue to observe the Lord's Supper? Paul says, "Until He, the Lord, comes again."
  9. How should we prepare of this observance? We must examine ourselves if we judge ourselves, than we will not be judged.
  10. What's the procedure. You would think that this instruction would not be needed, but at Corinth, it was. "When you come together to observe the Lord's Supper, wait for one another." There needs to be an organized delivery of the elements to the people and an organized partaking of those elements.

The various Christian Denominations have come up with various beliefs about the nature, the frequency, the symbolism and the name of this event. In the Bible it is referred to as the "Lord's Supper", the "Love Feast", the "Common Meal", and the "Eucharist". We, as Christians, are divided as to weather we should call this even an "Ordinance" or a "Sacrament". An ordinance implies that there is no change in the elements ( bread and wine ) but that they are symbolic of the body and blood of Christ. A sacrament implies that there is a mystical change in the elements and they become the body and blood of Christ. I have, perhaps, used both words in this dissertation when in reality I believe that the event is an ordinance but I have no problem with those who prefer to call it a sacrament. As to the frequency of the celebration, some observe it every Sunday, others quarterly plus at others specific celebrations.

This account written by Paul, is regarded by most as the earliest written record of the Lord's Supper. It was probably no more than 30 years after it was instituted. His account was not meant to be a record of the first supper as we have recorded in the Gospels, it was written as a protest to the "light hearted" way in which it was being observed by Christians in most of the churches. He was led of the Spirit to set up an orderly way of observance for all of the churches, that would show reverence to the Lord.


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