Selfishness (Part 1)

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Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Avendrop.

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Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing 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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How do you help selfish people become selfless? Everyone here struggles with selfishness, so how do we become more sacrificial?

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How do we become more selfless? I guess we could say to ourselves, self, get in line, stop it, maybe there'd be remedial therapy for some people to become less selfish.

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But Paul has a different thing that he does. How do you solve selfishness?

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Paul doesn't say put some post -it notes in your office, be more giving. Paul says, here's how you help struggling

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Christians who are selfish. You show them the selfless, sacrificial

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Christ. Get your eyes on Christ and see the sacrificial selflessness in Christ Jesus, and then you begin to ponder

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Him. The Spirit of God attends to the word as you think of Him, and you become less selfish.

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These are good words for us, and they were good words for the Church of Corinth as well, because they were so selfish.

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And every one of us here struggles with selfishness, and so you'll see this passage very applicable.

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True or false, all the Bible is relevant. True. True or false, it's our job to make the

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Bible relevant. False. I love preaching to you. A, I love preaching.

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B, I love you. C, I love preaching to you. This is the best.

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I'm just having some warm feelings right now. Better stop. I saw some vocabulary in a dictionary that have stemmed from our world's fascination with selfishness, self -centered, self -seeking, self -love, self -importance, self -satisfaction, self -esteem, self -will, self -portraits, self -assured, self -help, self -conscious, self -realization, self -reliant, self -expression, and there are many more.

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And those focused upon themselves, I have another self -word for them. It is self -deception.

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The Bible says we are to be selfless, to be without concern for ourselves.

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We are to deny self, and actually we are to die to self.

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Let's look today at 1 Corinthians 11, verses 17 through 34. We won't get through it all today.

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Today we'll get through part of it, and next Sunday, Lord willing, we'll get through the rest. But what I'd like to do is

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I'd like to read verses 17 through 34 so you see the context you're still in public worship.

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Paul has just addressed the head covering issue, men's roles, women's roles, and now he addresses this bad behavior in the church, this church behaving very selfishly, and he's going to address them.

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So let me read verses 17 through 34 so you can see the context yourself as well.

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1 Corinthians 11, 17. But in the following instructions, I do not commend you, because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse.

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From the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part.

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For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

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When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal.

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One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?

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Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall

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I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. I receive from the

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Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.

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And we had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

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In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

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Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the

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Lord's death until he comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the

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Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

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For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill.

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Some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.

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But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

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So then my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that when you come together, it will not be for judgment.

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About the other things, I will give you directions when I come. Too often the discussions about communion,

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Lord's supper, have devolved into, well, should we really use wine?

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Should we be alcoholic or should we use grape juice? Should we use baked bread and we all can take a piece from it or should we use unleavened bread?

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Should we use the common cup and have a napkin and we take a drink and then wipe it off and pass it to the next guy or should we have little cupettes?

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They're called something. What are they called? Plastic communion cups. They're simple.

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Should we have a meal with a supper or should we not? But the real issue when it comes to the

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Lord's supper here for Paul is not how you conduct it, although we can see here how he conducts the

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Lord's supper. No place else are we told how to conduct it outside of the Gospels. You can look at Acts through Revelation and this is the only place and so I'm happy that it's here.

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But Paul uses it not as a how to conduct a communion service, but how to deal with people who are selfish, who are consumed with themselves, who aren't loving other people.

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And he's gonna say if Jesus is love incarnate and he gives himself primarily and exceptionally at the cross, dying on our behalf in our place, selfless love at Calvary, raised from the dead.

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If Jesus does that and we call ourselves Christians, ought we not to be selfless as well?

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And so the way God works sanctification here through the Corinthians and then through Bethlehem Bible Church, when you are selfish, the remedy is

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Christ Jesus. Well, the outline is simple. The outline is there's a problem and then there's a solution.

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Let's take a look at the diagnosis first found in verses 17 through 22 and then we'll go see the solution for the

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Corinthian selfishness and for anyone who struggles with selfishness as well.

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Now, before I get into the problem, just a quick background so we know what's happening.

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We have something called pot providences here, potlucks, carrion dinners, whatever you want to call them.

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And so we're used to this idea. Everybody brings their tater tot casserole in and then you bring something big, something cheap, some brownies or something so you can share.

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But that's not the idea back then. Everybody brought their own. You brought like your own sack lunch.

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Actually, they were called basket dinners, basket lunches. And so you'd have a basket like a little picnic.

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You're gonna go to someone else's house and there's gonna be a worship service. It was usually at a rich person's house because it was bigger.

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Not gonna go to a poor person's house. How can you fit 50 people in a little tiny house? So you go to a rich person's house and everybody would bring their basket full of their own meals.

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What was happening though, the rich people, they didn't have to work. They owned businesses. They owned things.

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They were rich. They could get there early. The poor people, the slaves, those that had to work all day and their work days weren't eight hours, all day till the sun went down.

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They couldn't get there till later and they didn't have very much. And so with that background in mind,

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Paul is going to deal with this church that gets together rich and poor, different backgrounds.

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And when they get together, what's happening? They're not acting like the selfless

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Christ Jesus. And Paul's tone switches from the head coverings passage where he says,

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I commend you, to he gets the rod out and he's going to give them, like my mother used to say to me,

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Mike, you need a blistering. Is dad home? I'd much rather get a blistering from mom than dad.

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Paul is going to give them a blistering for not acting with love. Love seeks the best in the other, agape.

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The love feasts were turning into crazy, selfish feasts.

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So Paul gives criticism, then he gives the answer, the solution.

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So let's take a look at the diagnosis first. And Paul's language is harsh, severe, rebuking.

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Verse 17, but in the following instructions, I do not commend you.

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Because when you come together, it's not for the better, but for worse. It would be better if you didn't celebrate the

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Lord's supper. It'd be better that you didn't take communion. The way you're doing it now, maybe the actions of, this is the

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Lord's body, this is the Lord's blood. Do this in remembrance of me. Maybe that part was done right and technically correct, but their attitudes behind everything else in the meal, it's better if you don't even celebrate the

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Lord's supper. If you look back at verse two, I just referred to this a moment ago.

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Now I commend you. Yes, you did have a soft spot in your heart for me, Paul says, but now he says,

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I do not commend you. It's not for the better, but for the worse.

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Evil, it's for evil you get together. That's pretty bad. You're supposed to come together as an assembly, as a church for fellowship.

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You're just dividing over financial situations.

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When you have a meal together, it's supposed to mean something. Even today when we have a meal together, but especially back then, you get together, everyone's equal, serving one another.

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Everybody gets some food and meals in those days were meant to just bind everyone together.

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No more social structures. No one's sitting at my feet. No one's over here serving me.

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We're just together. Paul says, you get together and it's for evil.

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You do more harm than good. You're forgetting what Jesus did and the implications of his life and his death.

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And he says in verse 18, for in the first place, by the way, if you ever say to your kids something they did wrongly or something, and you say, here's what

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I like to say. I say, number one, and then I go into this thing and I never get to number two. Right, they're doing some things that are wrong.

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I mean, maybe they're your kids I'm talking to. Number one, and I never get to two.

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Why do I say number one? Because it's important, it's emphatic. And so Paul is going to say in the first place, and he never gets into the second place.

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He never gets to third place. Why? Because he's trying to drive home the point. And here's how he says it.

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For in the first place, when you come together, you're supposed to be coming together as a church.

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I hear there are divisions among you. In part, I believe it. Remember, Paul's not there anymore. He gets the report and he's like, yeah, that's probably happening there.

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They're supposed to be coming together and there are divisions. Now in chapter one, verse 10, they had divisions for what reason?

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Well, I follow this guy. I follow this guy. Philosophically, theologically, I've got my own leaders.

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I'm following Paul. No, I'm following Jesus. No, I'm following Peter. No, I'm following somebody else. This isn't a division based on who you're following.

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This is a division based on income. So the Church of Corinth had division problems in two ways.

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Sometimes they were following the wrong people and sometimes it was because of finances.

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Chapter one, it says, I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus that all of you agree that there be no divisions among you but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

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I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. I follow Cephas. I follow Christ. So earlier they were divided because of theological personalities.

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Now they're divided because I've got more money than you do. You've got less money than I do.

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And Paul says in the first place, status and community means nothing in a local church. Everyone here, by the way, is equal in Christ Jesus.

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The rich are here. The poor are here. We have all kinds of different colors here, male and female here.

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It's all moot because Jesus Christ dies for us equally. Paul's not even gonna get to the next point.

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Social differences can't divide a local church. Paul won't allow it. And he gets the bazooka out to blast them.

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All divisions in the church are bad. You think you're coming together, but when you come together, you're really fractured.

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It's ironic. Verse 19, and there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

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Paul was a realist and he knew that when Christians get together, there can be problems. But you know what you can do?

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When you see a church and they get together and there are divisions, it makes you easily say as a leader and Paul as an apostle, yes,

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I know which ones are walking by the Spirit. I know which ones are submissive to the Lordship of Christ. And I know which ones are trying to walk out of step.

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So when there are divisions, something actually good comes up. When church splits happen, something actually good comes up.

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The thing in and of itself, division, isn't right. But what comes out of it, you can see what's in the heart of people after they do things, because you can't have an x -ray mind to see what they're thinking, but you can see what they do, which tells you what's in their heart.

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Oh, we're theologically sound, but we separate based on money at the Lord's Supper. And Paul says, this is uncommendable behavior.

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Yes, it's beneficial because I get to see what's happening. And I know who's faithful. I know who's trustworthy. I know who's selfless, but it's still not good.

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Verse 20, when you come together, notice all this language, among you, among you, assemble together, come together.

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Are we supposed to do that at the Lord's Supper? It's not the Lord's Supper that you eat. By the way, whose supper is it?

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It's Jim's supper. It's the richest supper. It's not the Lord's Supper, it's selfish supper.

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Maybe we should not have one of those. Tonight, please come and bring your food. We'll have the selfish supper.

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I have my little sushi platter. You have your dried bread.

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Whenever I pause like this, I'm thinking about, should I say something or should I not? Usually, whenever you do that as a pastor, you just should not.

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It's not the Lord's Supper you eat. By the way, he could have said Jesus's Supper, the Messiah's Supper, but he says the

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Lord's Supper because Jesus is Lord. He's the king, he's the sovereign, and we're supposed to be submissive to him.

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It's his supper. It's like you're going over to someone else's house for supper, and so you do what they say.

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You come to my house for supper, I'm the king of the castle. I decide when we pray. I decide when we serve things.

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I decide when to open the gifts that you've brought over. I am the king. This is the

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Lord's Supper. This is God's Supper. Yet you do what you want.

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Paul says no. Verse 21, for in eating, everyone goes ahead with his own meal, his own little basket meal, his own big basket meal.

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The rich don't have to work all day. In the agrarian culture, agrarian culture rather, have to work all day.

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Now, what about the people who were slaves, indentured servants? They couldn't get there till the end. They probably don't have anything.

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They don't even have any time to go someplace. Actually, believe it or not, they had fast food kind of restaurants in those days, and actually the poor ate there more than they ate anyplace else, and they would go and give some wages, and then they would have this kind of little bit of food, but they couldn't afford much.

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So it says at the end of verse 21, one goes hungry, another, exactly opposite, gets drunk, he's got too much.

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Paul says when it comes to Christianity, Jew and Gentile, together, male and female, together, rich and poor, together.

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It doesn't matter who you are or what your background is or what you look like. At the cross of Christ, we're equal because Jesus dies for us equally, and aren't we supposed to celebrate that at the

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Lord's Supper? At the Lord's Supper, shouldn't you say to yourself, Jesus died for me, he redeemed me, reconciled me to God, he was angry with me, and yet the

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Son stepped in as my advocate, as my mediator, and took the full wrath of God. God's holy law must be executed, must be executed, and Jesus is the one who was executed in my place.

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Everyone's equal. Nobody's better, nobody's rich. Matter of fact, when we have the

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Lord's Supper here, we have lots of symbolism, and the symbolism is we stand down at the table because I'm not up here, your mediator.

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I don't put my back up here and somehow bless the food. I'm not the mediator.

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I get served last because it's a symbol of I'm equal with you. I'm on the floor with you.

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We also have another symbolism, and that is we take the bread, and we hold it, and we wait one for another.

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Don't say, okay, now, okay, everybody who's rich, you go first. You make 200 ,000 or more, you get to go.

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Okay, go. Poor people, those who don't have a job, you can pick up later.

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So Paul said, you're not loving one another, and it fleshes itself out in a lack of unity.

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Show me someone who's got divisional problems with this, either theologically or socially, economically.

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They're not gonna be thinking what's best about for the other person. They're gonna be thinking, this is what I want. They're in a rich house, most likely, a house with a rich person because gotta have a bigger place to meet.

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There are rich people there, there are poor people there, and it's turned into a drunkard supper, the selfish supper.

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It's not Christ's supper, it's not the Lord's supper. Take a look at the passage again, his own meal.

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They prepare the meal ahead of time, they pack it up and bring it, and they don't bring anything else.

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Don't you think the Christ -like thing to do if you were rich would be to say, oh yeah, I know old

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Felix is coming, and Felix doesn't have any food because he works all day, he's a slave, and I've got a lot because I'm rich, and I'm gonna bring some money, some food rather, for Felix.

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Shouldn't it play out that way? Remembering Christ's preeminent selfless act on Calvary?

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But what their bodies were communicating with the bullhorn was, we don't care about anybody else.

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They'll know we're Christians by our drunkenness. Back in those days, culturally, it wasn't so much you'd go to a rich person's house and sit there and eat, and the slaves and the waiters and the help out here, but the way you would go into the living room, sometimes holding up to 30 people, there was a pecking order even there.

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And whoever was the family leader, the father, he could assign tables.

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You ever gone to a place and there's assigned tables and you got your name there, you got a little name tag, and you're supposed to sit there, it's back by the door where the kitchen is, and you're thinking,

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I'm raiding. I really, I've got this down. So they would line people up according to influence, money, friendship, and see, for us, we think, okay, at home, maybe we do that, but when we go to church, we don't.

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But their church was home because they met in homes. This is more like eating a meal in the name of Dionysus, the

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God associated with drunkenness. It's a travesty. It's your own supper you're eating, not the

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Lord's supper. Verse 22, you can just hear Paul. How'd you like to have Paul say this to you, what?

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Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God?

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This isn't your church. It's not your meal. And humiliate those who have nothing.

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That is humiliating. One's eating lobster and the other one's eating not much of anything.

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What shall I say to you? Look at all these rhetorical questions, trying to get them to think. He's getting the paddle out.

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What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. This is not to be tolerated.

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This is shameful. Here's what's happened. We've got the haves over here and we got the have -nots over here.

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And Paul's saying because of Christ Jesus, aren't we all haves? We have forgiveness.

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We have justification. We have redemption. We have Christ Jesus. Vain said guests of different rank were served different dishes and wine of different qualities according to their respective dignities.

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Oh, so you get the really good wine. You're up here up front. You get, you know,

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Mogadavid Boone's Farm down here, whatever, I don't know. I haven't drank wine for so long.

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Annie Green Springs, you get down here. It's crazy.

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Paul was dumbfounded by their insensitivity to what was going on. So it's one thing to say to selfish people, stop.

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I think that's appropriate. Quit it. Repent. But if you're thinking rightly and you'd like to teach people, you don't just say, stop it.

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You turn their eyes to the positive thing. You could say, don't lie. Tell the truth.

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Don't steal. Work. Don't be selfish. Be selfless.

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But Paul won upset here. He says, don't be selfish. Let me show you the selfless one. Just get a good look at Christ Jesus.

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And if you're struggling, not with selfishness in the local church, but selfishness at home, or at work, or at school, wherever you are, this is a good remedy for our souls.

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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth 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.