November 7, 2015

“Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it. Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!” 1 Corinthians 11:17 – 22

“When I stand shoulder to shoulder with Christians, all declaring our common faith…something very deep stirs within me. I feel like a tree out in the great forest, surrounded by other trees all reaching up together from the same ground…all steadily voicing the same ageless sounds that swaying trees have always made. Long longWe  ago, those about to be received into the church affirmed their faith even as we do now. This is the place where I meet my brothers in the Lord…” John A. Ross (1919 – ) This We Believe, “For All The Saints”, volume II (p. 997)

Oh by the way, and this should not be a surprise to anyone, there have been factions in the church since the early church. Is that news to anyone? Is it any surprise that even before two generations passed after the resurrection of Jesus, people were throwing their weight and influence around the church, just like they did in regular society. What Paul was pointing out, was this: knowing the state of the human condition, the factions that would form within believers, this knowledge would serve one major purpose, to point out who was genuine in their faith. For example, you are able to tell who is happy by looking for the sad. Or you can tell who is poor by looking for the rich. In the same way, you can tell who has a genuine faith by looking at how they treat one another. Those with a genuine faith know how to show the love of G*d to all people, in all situations. Or, as Paul stated, those who show contempt for the church treat their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ the same way inside the church as they treat them outside the church. In other words, there were those who, because of their wealth and status in society, did not have to work as long in the day, and thus could be the first to arrive for an assembly of believers. They, believing they were of better standing because of their wealth, would partake in the meal and the Lord’s Supper, and would not wait for their fellow believers and therefore there would be nothing left for those arriving later.

My friends, we all affirm the same faith, using the same words of the creeds and the prayers. Thus, we are all one in the Lord. No one is better or worse in the eyes of G*d. Can we extend the same feeling to our brothers and sisters – that we are of one mind, one faith, one church, one priesthood of all believers?

Pastor Dave