Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
Video Link: https://youtu.be/FPXWfWBaKQo
Structure:
- Introduction
- Blood Connections
- Bread Connections
- Unseen Connections
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
Some things cannot happen at the same time. For example, if you flip a coin, you will get either heads or tails. You can’t get both heads and tails simultaneously.
Likewise, if you take one card from a standard playing deck, then you cannot draw both an ace of diamonds and a two of spades at once. That’s not how cards work.
Or if you are invited to a party then you either attend or you don’t attend. You cannot attend and not attend at the same time. Just as you cannot have your cake and eat it too.
The technical word for this is ‘mutually exclusive’. Mutually exclusive events cannot take place at the same time. Basically, the occurrence of one event means the other event cannot happen.
Today we continue our series in First Corinthians chapters 8-10, where Paul writes about Christian freedom. When it comes to Christian freedom, there are some things which are mutually exclusive. For example, you cannot be a follower of Jesus and be involved with pagan worship at the same time.
Now, in using a term like mutually exclusive, I don’t mean to imply that the Christian faith is closed off from the world or insular. At its heart Christian faith is outward looking. Jesus and Paul were missionaries. They were seeking people they could include.
At the same time, they were not willing to include everything. They held onto their belief in the oneness and goodness of God. They did not sacrifice what they knew to be true.
There is a tension with Christian freedom. On the one hand, we are free to reach out to others with the love of Jesus. But on the other hand, we don’t have a license to compromise our belief or loyalty to Christ. We need to be mindful of this tension as we listen this morning.
From First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 14 we read…
14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. 18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
As we heard last week, some of the Corinthian believers were walking on thin ice by eating the meat of idols in pagan temples. In today’s reading Paul says quite plainly, you cannot do this. Taking holy communion and joining in pagan worship are mutually exclusive. You cannot do both.
Just beneath the surface of these verses is the idea of spiritual connection or partnership. In particular Paul highlights two things that connect people to God and to one another: blood and bread. Let’s begin with the blood connection.
Blood Connections:
Many of you knew the late Bruce Murray. Bruce played cricket for New Zealand during the 1960’s. He toured India and Pakistan with the Black Caps. Bruce told me of an incident that happened during the third test against India in Hyderabad in October 1969.
The Indian crowd had greatly enjoyed watching two of their batsmen play. When these two men (Venkat and Bedi) were leaving the cricket pitch some of the spectators were so excited they jumped the fence and ran on to the field to congratulate Venkat and Bedi.
Now a cricket pitch is a mutually exclusive place. You cannot have players and spectators on the field at the same time. A good number of auxiliary police (armed with long sticks) saw what was happening and intervened to protect the two Indian batsmen from over-zealous fans.
A young boy slipped past the police. One policeman threw his stick at the boy and missed. When the boy bent down to pick up the stick, another policeman hit him over the head.
The boy put his handkerchief to the wound and saw he was bleeding. When he held the bloodied cloth up to the crowd, the people rioted. The sight of blood created an instant connection. The police had done this to one of their own.
The crowd broke down a wire gate, set the score board on fire and ripped hundreds of chairs out of the grandstands, throwing them on the field.
Players were told to stay in their rooms that night. Bruce recalled the uneasy feeling among his teammates.
There’s something about blood that connects us in a deep and visceral way. Blood ties speak of family connections of course, but it’s more than that.
Blood is life to the body. Blood is pumped through the heart, sustaining every limb and digit. If blood flow is cut off, then the limb dies.
In ancient worship rituals, blood was shed in sacrifice to atone for sin, to make people right (or at one) with God. A life for a life.
In verse 16 Paul writes, is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the bloodof Christ?
Paul is referring to the Christian ritual of communion here, also known as Mass or the Eucharist or the Lord’s supper. Communion was first instituted by Jesus.
On the night before his crucifixion and death, Jesus was celebrating the Jewish Passover meal with his disciples in the upper room. During the meal, Jesus gave the cup of wine new meaning. For Christians the cup signifies God’s new covenant, sealed with the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sin.
Jesus’ blood, poured out on the cross, atones for the sin of the world. Through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice we are made right with God.
Paul is saying that when we share the cup at communion, we are participating in the blood of Christ. That word translated as participating comes from the Greek word koinonia. Koinonia and its related cognates appear six times in today’s passage. So koinonia is key to understanding Paul’s thought.
The meaning of koinonia is difficult to translate directly into English. It can mean participation or partnership or fellowship or communion depending on the context. In the New Testament, koinonia speaks of a special bond or deep connection between the people of God.
Koinonia is not a light or superficial connection. Men who have participated in combat together, sharing blood, sweat and tears, have a koinonia connection.
Indeed, people who have survived a long ordeal together are bound by koinonia. They share an intimate and unspoken understanding that can only be gained through a common (and often painful) experience.
What then does it mean to participate in the blood of Christ? Well, there is a certain mystery here that cannot be penetrated by mere words. But you need some explanation, no matter how inadequate, so here goes…
In one sense, participating in the blood of Christ, means sharing in the benefits of forgiveness and atonement through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross.
Paul’s argument is this: You cannot be clean and dirty at the same time.
Those two things are mutually exclusive. It’s similar with the blood of Christ.
You cannot participate in the atonement of Christ and participate in pagan rituals at the same time. The cleansing blood of Christ and the defiling blood of pagan sacrifice are mutually exclusive.
Going a little deeper, participating in the blood of Christ, could also mean sharing in the sufferings of Jesus. We probably won’t be crucified like Jesus was (thankfully), but we may suffer smaller injustices and humiliations because of our connection with Jesus.
You know those times when (through no fault of your own) you feel powerless and vulnerable; they are opportunities for creating koinonia (or communion) with Jesus. Our Lord set aside his power, making himself vulnerable for us, even unto death on a cross.
Although unpleasant, these smaller sufferings enable us to know Jesus more intimately. There is a surprising joy in sharing Jesus’ suffering. Joy and suffering are not mutually exclusive.
We are talking about the things that connect us. The blood of Christ connects us, as does the bread of Christ.
Bread Connections:
The English word ‘companion’ literally means to ‘share bread with’.
A companion therefore is someone you eat with. There’s something about sharing a meal that connects people and makes them our companions.
When people eat together, they talk and as they talk, they get to know each other; barriers come down and trust forms. Food has a way too of lingering in our memory. A shared meal creates a feeling of belonging and connection.
Food is a conduit for love. When you cook something special for someone, it is an act of love. And when you eat that meal, you receive that person’s love.
There has been a lot of love put into the shared lunch today.
In verses 16 and 17 Paul talks about the bread of the communion meal saying…
And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Again, that word participation comes from the Greek koinonia.
Later, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul will go on to talk about the church being the body of Christ. Paul’s emphasis in this verse is on unity. Sharing the bread of communion is an act of koinonia with the people of God.
Just as bread nourishes body and soul, so too participating in church life nourishes our relationships together. Koinonia with others who share our faith banishes loneliness, creates trust and fosters a sense of identity and belonging.
In verse 18 Paul draws an analogy saying: Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
The Old Testament background here is that people would bring their food to the priest to be offered in sacrifice to God. Some of the food sacrificed was given to the priest and the rest was returned to the worshippers who shared a meal together. This sacred meal was a participation in the altar.
There’s that word again; participation, koinonia.
One of the things on Israel’s altar was the shew bread, 12 loaves symbolising God’s holy presence. The imagery is clear; God is the one who provides for all the people’s needs. God is the host of the sacred meal in other words. And, as host, God is present at the meal.
Our communion bread (symbolising the body of Christ) is sometimes referred to as the host. Christ is the host of the communion table. Jesus is God’s provision for our needs. When we share communion, Jesus is present, by his Spirit. We cannot see Jesus, but we know by faith that Christ is in the room.
The koinonia of the communion table takes us into the realm of mystery, what someone once called ‘the cloud of unknowing’. Some people are comfortable with mystery. Others not so much.
If you like a rational explanation for everything, if you want all your questions answered, then mystery can make you feel uneasy, vulnerable even. The realm of mystery requires us to exercise faith, to trust ourselves to the unseen presence of God.
We’ve talked about the connections created by blood and bread. Now let’s consider those unseen connections in the spiritual realm.
Unseen Connections:
One of the difficulties with spiritual things is that we cannot see them. Spiritual reality may be felt or sensed, but it is seldom seen. In truth, there is an unseen reality to our lives.
There are many things in the physical / material world which we cannot see and yet we know are real because of the effects they have on our lives.
Gravity is perhaps the most obvious invisible force. The gravitational pull of the moon causes the oceans tidal movement. Gravity also keeps our feet on the ground and can inflict some pain if we get on the wrong side of it.
Atmospheric pressure is another invisible force at work in our world. High pressure usually means sunshine and low pressure often means bad weather.
We cannot see the movement of tectonic plates below the earth’s surface, but we know about it when the plates do move.
Love is another unseen power which affects us, not unlike gravity or tectonic plates. Love is not a substance. You cannot put love under a microscope and analyse it like bacteria or dissect it like a frog. But love still makes itself known, holding sway over our thoughts and feelings, like the moon holds sway over the ocean.
The greatest unseen power, of course, is God himself. God is Spirit so we cannot see him, but we can see where he has been. The whole earth and everything in it, is his masterpiece, both beautiful and functional at the same time.
In verses 19 and 20 Paul talks about the malevolent unseen forces behind idols.
19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.
The idols which littered ancient Corinth were just lumps of wood and stone. They were dead, impotent, with no power at all in themselves.
However, behind the idols and pagan temples were demons; evil spiritual beings, aligned with the devil. While we cannot see demons physically, we can see their detrimental effect in this world. Things like greed, exploitation, fear, racism, sexual abuse, poverty, violence and so on.
The really twisted thing about pagan idolatry is that those who worship idols think they are doing something righteous or good. They are often very devout and sincere people who are not aware of the unseen reality. The evil one presents himself as an angel of light.
I’m not saying these things to make you afraid. If you remain in Christ, then you have nothing to fear.
Having unveiled the truth about idol worship, that it really is the worship of demons, Paul then states the obvious, in verse 21…
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.
In other words, you cannot partake of holy communion and indulge in the dinner parties held in pagan temples. These two things are mutually exclusive. You cannot serve Jesus and the devil at the same time. You cannot be in partnership with unseen evil forces and remain in Christ.
To do so would be to court disaster. For one thing it would arouse the Lord’s jealousy. Jealousy is not the same as envy. Envy is bad. Envy is when you want something that doesn’t belong to you. Envy ultimately destroys.
Jealousy is different from envy. Jealousy is the righteous indignation you feel when someone threatens what is rightfully yours to care for. Jealousy ultimately protects. A jealous father protects his children, just like a good shepherd protects his sheep.
You may wonder what relevance Paul’s advice has in our world today.
Well, for those who live in countries where people offer food and incense to idols in temples, the connection is clear. If you want to follow Jesus, you cannot go to those temples and participate in worship.
Idolatry is usually more subtle in New Zealand though. While we do have an attachment to certain objects (like our cell phones), I don’t expect anyone here bows down in worship to those objects.
We are more inclined to internalise our idols. For example, we may at times give a greater place to work and wealth than we do to Jesus. Or we might prioritise entertainment and our own comfort over obedience to Christ. Freedom itself can become an idol.
The problem with internalising our idols is that we cannot see them, which means we are less aware of our own idolatry. We risk becoming like the devout pagans who are unaware of their spiritual reality.
Another danger for us in New Zealand is syncretism. Dipping into more than one religion at the same time. Maybe practicing aspects of Christianity alongside some other belief system. That won’t work.
Just like it doesn’t work to use a Ouija board on Saturday night and then take communion on Sunday morning. Mutually exclusive.
Mixing religions and dabbling in the occult are obvious things to avoid. What about those things that are less black and white, more grey?
When in doubt, let peace be your guide. If you are uncomfortable, if it feels like something is off but you can’t quite put your finger on it, listen to your instinct. The Spirit of God often nudges our instinct. If someone invites you to an event or activity and you don’t have peace within yourself about it, don’t go there.
Conclusion:
At the beginning of our message today I talked about the tension that exists with Christian freedom. While we don’t have a license to compromise our belief about God or our loyalty to Christ, we are free to reach out to others with the love of Jesus.
And that’s where our focus should be. Looking for common ground. Looking for those points of connection that allow us to be mutually inclusive so that others might experience koinonia with Christ.
Let us pray…
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, forgive us our idolatries. Help us to walk in freedom and righteousness we pray. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Why does Paul warn the Corinthians against mixing pagan worship with taking communion?
- What connects you to Jesus? What connects you to other believers?
- Have you ever experienced koinonia? What happened? Why is koinonia important? What are the benefits of koinonia?
- What does it mean to participate in the blood of Christ?
- What does the ritual of holy communion mean to you? In what sense is Christ present when we share communion?
- What relevance does Paul’s advice, in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, have for us today? What idols are you most vulnerable to?
- How might we decide whether something is compatible with Christ or not?
Tawa Baptist 