Bread & Cup (Part 2)

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Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing

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Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures verse by verse with No Compromise.

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Paul gives them a warning. The outline in this passage is simple. The diagnosis found in verses 17 through 22, the solution found in verses 23 through 26, and now a warning found in verses 27 through 34.

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Let's take a look at this sober warning when it comes to the Lord's Supper. There should be festivity in our heart.

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There should be joy. But there's an examination too. Both are true.

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I liken it to this. If you are a Romans 7 Christian, oh wretched man that I am,

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I met some of those people. Some of you are those people. I'm just wretched. And you never can kind of remember

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Romans chapter 8. There's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The Romans 7 only's need to get into the

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Roman 8's. That sound right? I won't say that next service.

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Sometimes there's Roman 8 people. No condemnation. You can just kind of see them dancing around, tiptoeing around.

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And they're forgetting that Paul would say that he's the worst sinner of all. A sinner yet justified.

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And so it's the same thing here. Communion should be both. Not just the first part where we say, do you know what?

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There's this joy that Jesus is going to return, but also a healthy dose of examination. And so he gives a warning to this church for their selfishness.

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And if you're selfish, then the warning goes to you as well. This correction. Don't you forget, congregation, please, beloved, don't forget that Paul is showing his love for the people.

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People always say, well, that's not loving. This is a very loving correction. When you correct your children, it's because you love them.

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And so Paul is going to make sure that no one makes a mockery or a joke out of the

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Lord's Supper. No one would say, ah, this is a joke. This is nothing. But by their own lives, they're betraying that very thought.

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They're portraying that very thought, rather. Here's the amazing thing. If you just read this passage fast and don't get the context, you'll think examining self means spiritually examine yourself.

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But after you read this, you're going to say, I must spiritually examine myself as I deal with other

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Christians socially in the church. It's not just a spiritual examination. It's a social examination, too.

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So let's find out what happens. Verse 27, oh, before I read this, there are no warnings that I can find of in the

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New Testament for if you don't sing properly, here's the correction. If you don't give the right way, here's the correction.

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If you don't preach the right way, here's the correction. Now, we should give rightly, preach rightly, listen rightly, do the baptism rightly.

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But there's nothing in the Bible that says if you don't do baptism just right, watch out, you could be killed.

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And fascinatingly, this is the passage that Paul says, when you do it wrongly, some are even sick and dead.

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Not for incest in chapter 5, not for divorce in chapter 6, not for lawsuits in chapter 6, not for a lack of theological unity in chapters 1 and 4.

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This is, if I can say it, the killer, whoever, verse 27, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the

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Lord. See how many times the word Lord is used there for a reason. In an unworthy manner, remember the context, this is not general unworthiness.

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This is the unworthy manner. Jesus the self -sacrificial Savior gives himself, but I take, will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the

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Lord. When you say, I'm a Christian, and you take communion wrongly because you're not thinking about the social implications, you say, you know what,

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I just as soon march over here and I'm on Pilate's side. Kill him.

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I'm on Caesar's side. Kill him. I'm on Herod's side. Kill him. I'm on the centurion's side.

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Kill him. Because this killing idea is selfish. That's the kind of language

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Paul uses right here. Boy, this makes me think, this can't just be a ritual.

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This can't just be something I just go do nonchalantly, superficially.

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Kistemacher said, a person who burns the flag of his native country testifies that he has no respect for his homeland.

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Granted that a flag is a mere piece of cloth, we nevertheless know that it is a symbol of a nation.

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Disrespect for a flag is understood as contempt of the country it represents. Likewise, partaking unworthily of communion signifies sacrilege.

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Just like the priests who would have to go into the temple grounds and have certain preparations for cleanliness and ritual sanctification, so too we want to be careful when we eat the bread and drink the cup.

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So we do it in a worthy manner. Now when I was a kid,

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I didn't care about English. I didn't care about grammar. And now I care about English and grammar because this is very, very important.

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Let's take a look at the word unworthy manner. That my friends is an adverb.

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Doesn't that give you just a spiritual warm feeling? That's an adverb. This does not say, if you are unworthy, don't take it.

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Who here is worthy? Would anybody like to come up to the microphone and say, I'm worthy.

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I've kept all the law. I've kept everything. I've loved the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

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I've loved my neighbor as myself and I'm worthy to take communion. Well nobody would ever do that because we need

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Christ's righteousness credited to our account. But you can take the cup and the bread unworthily.

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In other words, we're all unworthy. But Paul is trying to say here, of course we're bankrupt spiritually and we're not worthy.

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We're sinful people even after we're forgiven. But there's a way to take the cup in an unworthy fashion, our manner, that basically says,

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I don't care about anybody else. I don't care about the poor people. I don't care about the have -nots. I don't care about anybody else.

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It's me and Jesus. So that's what he's talking about. I've talked to many people as a pastor and the pastors in the congregation can attest to this fact.

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Well, Pastor, I don't know if I could take communion today because I'm so unworthy. Friends, it's for the unworthy.

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But don't take it in an unworthy fashion, our manner. Our sinner said, who can come?

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Those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned and that their continuing weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to lead a better life.

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So if you're an unbeliever, you ought not to come. Because you're celebrating the self -sacrificial one and you haven't repented and believed in the risen

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Savior yet. But if you're a Christian and you say, I've committed some sins this week and the last month

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I've committed some sins, confess those and then come. But if you say, you know what,

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I've got these issues with these other people and they're not like me and they don't measure up to me and they're this other kind of person and state and color and practice and they're not rich, they're not, they don't drive such and such.

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Well, obviously then you ought not to come to the Lord's Supper. Paul is saying, observe the

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Lord's Supper with care. Not by humiliating people who aren't like you.

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Unworthily is the actual Greek word and it's an adverb talking about the manner in which you eat or the attitude in which you eat.

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Now we come to verse 28. Oh, I'd like to be, I'd like to eat in a proper way.

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Okay. Verse 28, let a person examine himself, present imperative, keep on examining himself and so eat of the bread, see, examine and then eat.

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And so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Remember, it was

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Christ atoning death for sinners. So we're not all of a sudden now saying we don't sin.

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We do sin. But we examine ourselves, Lord, how am I acting towards other people in the church?

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This can branch off into, do I have issues with other people at church? Do they have issues with me?

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As much as possible with me to be at peace with them, I will try to do that. Here's what the

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Corinthians were doing. They were examining everybody except themselves. They were good at examination, checking everybody else out when it should have been themselves.

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And at the Lord's Supper, that's a time where there's nobody who's better or worse or higher.

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An elder could be a slave who serves the master, the Lord's Supper in the

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Corinthian church. Self -examination. Lord, am I selfish towards other people?

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Do I love my other brothers in Christ Jesus? Lord, search my heart.

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And also found in verse 29, discern the body. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, fellowship of Christians, thinking about other

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Christians who Jesus died for as much as he died for you, eats and drinks, pretty amazing judgment on himself.

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And instead of picking up the cup saying, l 'chaim, to life, you pick up the cup and say, judge me.

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The Lord's Supper should be a wonderful time then for a transformation of the social aspect of the church.

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All social strata, nobody's poor, nobody's richer, we're in Christ Jesus and we're equal.

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Well, this is tough language from Paul. Jesus has shed his blood for everyone in the church equally.

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Some have disregarded it. What is the outcome? Verse 30, many ways

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I like the ESV, I don't like it here. Verse 30, that is why many of you are will, will, and many of you are weak.

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That's why I don't like it, it's a mistranslation. Many are will, they just contract words like they did in England.

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Many of you are weak and ill, this is the judgment of God on Christians and some asleep.

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Now, the text says died, but the word is to sleep. Now, why does it matter?

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Well, if you look at a person who's dead, if you're not thinking properly, you'll say, they look like they're what?

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Asleep. I'll look at a dead body and I'll think, you know, I don't see their chest moving up and down, they're not sleeping, they're dead.

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True or false? The Bible uses the word sleep for an unbeliever's death, it never does.

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The Bible uses the word sleep for a believer's death because it just takes the edge off.

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Yes, unbelievers, they will be resurrected. But the way Paul talks, the way the

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New Testament talks about believers sleeping, it just takes that sting away because they'll be alive again with their bodies, resurrected with their bodies.

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Of course, they are alive now. So these are Christian people, some sleep, some are dead because they don't care about what's going on in the body of Christ.

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This is not the eternal judgment of God. You can't lose your salvation because you didn't earn your salvation.

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You can't lose your salvation because God earned it for you. So some are sick, some are ill, and some sleep.

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This is an amazing quote, Ignatius, when the Lord's Supper is misused, it can become a mortal toxin.

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Well, you know, I like communion when it's actual juice. No, I like it when it's really wine.

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Well, you could either drink the juice or the wine in a wrong way, and you could end up drinking poison, deadly poison.

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Now, if you're thinking like I am, we want to try to restrict our mind from making this deduction.

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There are people here at the church who are sick, there are people here at the church who are ill, and some people used to be at the church and they're dead.

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Hmm, deduction? I think they took communion wrongly. Well, that explains it.

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Now, just like when you're sick, when you are sick, you should say to yourself, Lord, I long for the day where I get a new body.

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I long for the day where there's no more tears and crying. You give me the resurrected body. I long for that day.

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The world, because of Adam's fall, it groans and my body's groaning, but Lord, could it be my personal sin that is causing my sickness?

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And if it is, would you show me that and would you forgive me? Sometimes I can't tell, but Lord, it could be possible that it's because of my own sin that you're disciplining me because of this sickness.

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And if that's the case, Lord, then work through that in me. But we don't know.

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If you want to say that about yourself, I want you to. That's a good theology of sickness. But the second you start saying, well, the pastor's got headaches now for five months.

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I think he must be in sin. When I was going through that last year, I thought, maybe

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I am in sin. Lord, is this a judgment from you? Lord, show me. Show me my pride. Show me my selfishness.

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Show me. But I don't have some kind of providential view of things, so I won't know until I get to heaven.

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So what I don't want you to do is say sick people of the church and ill people of the church and those that have recently died, they took the

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Lord's Supper the wrong way. But it might be true. God disciplines those that he loves.

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The serious nature of this sin. All these other issues. He didn't say if you didn't wear a head covering, you might be dead.

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He didn't say if you eat some food that's offered to some other idol in chapter 8 through 10, you might be dead.

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You might be sick. You might be chastened. What a fascinating way

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God purifies his church through the

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Lord's Supper. Spiritual issues can cause physical sickness.

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Well, so what's the remedy? I don't want to get sick. Verse 31.

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But if we judged ourselves truly, if we see ourselves like God sees ourselves, not because of our money and our clothes and all these other issues, we would not be judged.

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Again, not eternal judgment. If we would esteem others higher than we esteem ourselves, then we're not going to be judged.

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If we have a special love in our heart towards the poor people of the church, then we're not going to be judged. If we especially say

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I'm no better than these people, I'm actually worse. Honestly, if you don't think you're the worst sinner here, you need to study the doctrine of the holiness of God.

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I'm not exaggerating. Sometimes I use hyperbole from the pulpit. I know that's probably a shock to you.

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But this isn't hyperbole. If you don't think you're the worst sinner in this room, then you need to study the holiness of God.

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And if you're the worst sinner, then how could you ever look down your nose at someone else because of their color, race, gender, or how much money they don't have?

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Paul says this takes the holy and makes it profane. So don't do it.

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Just judge yourself rightly. You don't have to be afraid walking in. Oh, I've got to take the Lord's Supper this week. I could be dead next week.

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I'll get a will. Well, if you want a will, that's fine. But your thinking should be instead, I've got to celebrate the

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Lord's Supper next week. This might be the last Lord's Supper I ever have until the Lord comes back.

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He is coming back. I need to be reminded of that because I'm always forgetting. And I want to make sure my life is in order.

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I'm thinking about the return of Christ. Mike, get your life in order. Verse 32, but when we are judged by the

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Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Even if God does chasten you, it's not to throw you into the lake of fire.

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No, it's discipline like a father disciplines. It's not punishment. It's not condemnation.

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It's discipline. So we get the word child training here from right from Hebrews chapter 12.

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A father disciplines his child. Why? Because he wants what's best for the child. He wants to teach them a lesson.

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He chastens them. Then Paul gives a summary found in verses 33 and 34.

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The summary could be love your neighbor as yourself. Love one another as Christ self -sacrificially loved you.

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And he says it in other words. Verse 33, so then, my brothers, Christian brothers, when you come together to eat, instead of eating your basket full of stuff and not bringing any for anyone else, especially the poor slaves, bring a bigger basket and then wait for other people.

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Now, remember, they had the cup, the bread rather, then the meal, and then the cup.

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And if they're eating their meal ahead of time, they're forgetting all the bread part too where this is my body given for you.

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Now, just wait for one another. Verse 34, if anyone's hungry, if you say, well,

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I get to get there at noon and we're not going to eat until 6 o 'clock, then have something to eat before you get there. That kind of makes sense, doesn't it?

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Eat ahead of time. If anyone's hungry, let them eat at home. Boy, we sure could take that verse out of context, couldn't we?

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Say that to my kids next time in the car. Daddy, I'm hungry. If anyone is hungry, let them eat at home. Solves a problem.

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But the context here is all this meal that they'd get together and have a huge meal together, have the

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Lord's Supper too, the love feast. Let them eat at home so that when you come together.

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Notice that language again. Verse 33, when you come together, you're the body of Christ. Verse 34, when you come together, it will not be for judgment.

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How about the other things I will give directions when I come? Wait for one another.

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That word is used when Paul waited for Silas and Timothy in Athens. The word is used when a farmer waits for the spring rains.

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Just wait and forget social discrimination. My brothers, he said, wait for one another.

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Love one another. I could ask it this way.

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I don't think this is really an issue at our church, but I wonder if there are any cliques at the church.

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Now, if you have friends and you have things that you like to do together, I think that's fine.

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Until you have your nose looked down on the people who are outside of your clique. I think at the

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Lord's Supper you should say things like, Lord, there are issues surrounding theology.

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And different kinds of, is God sovereign? To what degree is he sovereign? Is there freedom of will?

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Is there not? Am I loving these people who differ with me theologically? But they're new

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Christians. They're Christians. But I don't hang out with anyone unless they can recite

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Tulip. We have some tulips out here. Thank you, Mark, for putting tulips out there.

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I think it's fine if you say, we like to homeschool. But if you start having the homeschool clique and here comes some lady, some single lady.

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She's got a child and she can't break into your clique in just regular ministry and social life because she doesn't homeschool.

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Then I think you ought to examine yourself. Oh, well, we schedule feed.

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No, we feed on demand. Okay, do whatever you want. Honestly, do whatever you want.

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Until you start saying, these other people here, nah, stay away from them.

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So anything else that could potentially divide us as a church, subgroups and cliques, are you in or are you out?

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Fellowship, exclusiveness. That is inconsistent with the oneness of the body of Christ Jesus.

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And at the Lord's Supper, you should examine yourself and say, Lord, if those things are in my heart, forgive me and help me love those in my path.

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Help me love other people. I don't want to be selfish. I want to include people.

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I hate all this language in the society. We have to be inclusive, the inclusive nature of the world.

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Don't you kind of hate that? That is just, but in the church, inclusive.

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Jesus died for someone else. Nah, it's not good enough. Once you get the solace down,

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I'm with you. I think you should actually go out of your way to intentionally place yourself in the company of those people who are the most unlike you.

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You can have friends, of course. I want you to have friends. But if that's why you pick the people to hang out with only, then

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I think you should start picking some other people and be loving toward them. So, looking at the passage, here's the breakdown of the passage.

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The Corinthians had a problem with selfishness. Paul says, let me show you the selfless Christ. And then he gives some warnings.

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I'm going to read you Philippians chapter 2 to close the message. And I think you'll be encouraged as you just hear what

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Christ has done and his attitude. And this should be our attitude in the church. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

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Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.

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Who though was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

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But made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

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And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

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Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

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So that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord to the glory of God the Father. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

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We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

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or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.