Well, good morning everyone. For those of you who don't know
me, my name is Reverend Alan Mills.
By day, a military chaplain, by Sunday, part of this church
community and happy to be here with you today to open up God's
word with you. As we do so, let us pray to the
Lord. Please join me in prayer,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 1 God, we bless you this day and
pray that we may be a blessing to you.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be
pleasing to you and acceptable in your sight, our rock and our
Redeemer. Amen.
Some decades ago, a Romanian woman was strolling through by
the banks of the Boozawa River in southeastern Romania when her
eye fell upon a reddish Black Rock.
How interesting, she thought, how attractive.
She picked it up. It was heavy, about 8 lbs, about
the size of a large coconut, she said to herself.
I know just what I will do with this.
She brought it home and she placed it right by her back
door. Whenever a a pleasant breeze
would blow and she wanted some fresh air, she would use the
rock to prop open her back door. From time to time she noticed
that when the setting sun bathed the rock, it seemed to glow with
reddish orange hue. It was beautiful, she would
admire it once in a while, but for the most part it just sat by
her back door, only put to use when the need arose.
When the woman died in 1991, a relative inherited the house.
He noticed this rock by the back door, and he suspected that the
door stop might be more than what meets the eye.
He knew about the local gemstone mines dating back to the 1920s.
The man took the rock to a government expert for appraisal,
and to his surprise and delight, he was offered over $1,000,000
by the Romanian state for what turned out to be one of the
largest Nuggets of ruminite ever found, a fossilized form of tree
resin. Now this gemstone has a
permanent home in the Provincial Museum of Buzow and is
considered a national treasure of Romania.
I want you to keep this chunk of amber ruminate before you and in
your mind as we proceed today. I tell the story of it because I
think it sheds light, pun intended, on particular
realities of our life in Christ. The body of Christ, you and I
together are like this gemstone, created by God with inherent
beauty and uniqueness and now indwelt by the Spirit of Jesus
Christ. His glorious light is meant to
shine through us, to illumine a Dark World, and when we are
walking and worshipping in union with Him and each other, the
world is illumined by His beautiful colours as they shine
through us. When this light is compromised
or concealed, the world is deprived of the light of His
presence through you and me. Well, my brothers and sisters,
if that's all that you remember from today's sermon, that would
be enough. But Paul has more for us as we
look at this passage in court to the church in Corinth.
As we continue this series through the summer, I I will
invite you to consider with me two ideas that Paul illuminates
for us now. The cultural setting is very
different from ours today, but the principles are just as
relevant to us today as followers of Christ.
Paul has a word here for us about communion with Christ and
a word about loyalty to Jesus Christ.
So first, a word about communion with Christ and his body.
Paul illustrates his larger point first by making reference
to the central act of Christian worship, Holy Communion.
Now, at any point in our Christian journey, each of us is
going to be growing in our comprehension and understanding
and experience of what is actually taking place in Holy
Communion. There's always going to be more
to grasp and a deeper revelation and experience to receive as we
participate in Holy Communion. But human language and human
understanding limit us until we will see him face to face.
Then we will know the fullness of that joy and union that is
we're introduced into in Holy Communion.
But Paul does want us to lay a hold at least of a couple of
core truths, and he says he speaks of them in verses 16 and
17. He says the cup of blessing that
we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of
Christ, The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the
body of Christ? Because there is one bread?
We who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one
bread. Paul stresses 2 things about
Holy Communion. First, it is the God-given means
by which our union with Jesus Christ is pictured, enacted,
facilitated, nurtured and deepened.
And secondly, simultaneously, it is the God appointed means by
which our connection with His human family, the Church, is
portrayed, enacted, facilitated and deepened.
The Greek word Koinonia that is used in verses 16 and 17 has the
sense of intimate participation or union with, and that's where
we get our word in English communion, Union with in the
Eucharist as instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, bread and
wine received in faith become the incarnational means by which
we are. We receive the glorified risen
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, intimately participate in his
life, are united to Him, and are incorporated into His body,
embodied as the community, centered on and in his living
presence. 1 old Anglican theologian in the 1600s put it
this way, that participation in Holy Communion is like the
invisible ligaments of the body of Christ.
It's what binds us together to one another and makes US1 body
in the Spirit and by the Spirit. Now we often confess, as you
confess the the the Apostles Creed, the words of the Apostles
Creed, and perhaps of you as you have recited the Apostles Creed,
you've wondered about that little phrase, the communion of
Saints, and what that might mean.
Well, the Apostles Creed is drawing upon the language here
in First Corinthians chapter 10. The word Saints has a dual
meaning. It can mean holy ones, as in
believers set apart for God and dwelt by the Spirit, And it can
also mean holy things, that is, the elements of consecrated
bread and wine that become for us the body and blood of Jesus
Christ. Thus, by means of these holy
things, we holy ones commune with the Holy 1 and in Him
commune with one another. The Christian Church from its
earliest times has affirmed this baptismal creed.
In this baptismal creed, what Paul affirms here in verse 17,
that the many who partake of the one bread of life, Jesus Christ,
are made one with him and one body in Him.
Now we celebrate this holy mystery every Sunday.
Why? Well, Jesus commanded us to do
so when we gather together. And it's also more something
that is made real by doing it. It is something that is enacted
by the enacting of it, the doing it, and our participation and
our comprehension week after week as we do so in remembrance
of Christ as He taught us. So much more could be said about
the Eucharist, but perhaps, and Paul will speak more about it in
the next chapter, Chapter 11. But hopefully these brief
reflections will be, at least for us, food for thought in our
spirit and mind the next time you say the Apostles Creed and
also when we come to the Lord's Table today and every Sunday.
So first, Paul has a word for us about communion.
But that leads to a second realization, because commitment
with, sorry, communion with Christ and his body calls forth
a response from us and a response of commitment.
And this is the main thrust of Paul in this portion of
Scripture that we've read loyalty to Jesus Christ.
Now return with me for a moment to our our ruminate nugget.
And I want to affirm in our midst here today a vital truth,
a truth that maybe some of us need to hear today and afresh.
And it's this you, my dear brother.
You, my dear sister, are not intended to merely be a doorstop
in the royal palace of our King Jesus.
You are a living and vital member of the Body of Christ,
and you belong to Him. He considers you attractive,
interesting, beautiful. He redeemed you by His blood.
He has reconciled you to His Father, if you will.
He found you on the riverbed of life and picked you up and took
you to Himself, and is in the process of polishing you up as
His precious treasure so that His Christ colour might shine
through you to the world. You are His treasure.
And if this is true, which it is, and it's also the case that
we owe him our loyalty in all things, every part of our life,
individually and as a community of of believers in our beliefs,
in our worship, and in our conduct.
And for that reason, Paul here enjoins us to carefully and
thoughtfully identify, renounce, and avoid anything which would
compromise our loyalty to Jesus Christ and impede His light from
refracting through you and me to the world.
This brief section of 1st Corinthians 10 is actually the
the third part of three lessons that Paul is giving them to
equip these Jewish and Gentile believers on how to sort through
their past and how to live out their new faith in the
surrounding Pagan culture. In the previous two parts, Paul
first advocates in Chapter 9 for Christians to identify
creatively and fully with the fallen world around us as fallen
creatures and seek to be all things as much as we can to all
people in order to we might win some.
And then in this in the secondly, in the first half of
chapter 10, right before this passage, Paul instructs them
about their that they can partially identify with their
Jewish past, with the covenant heritage, the exodus, the feasts
and the sacrifices provided they don't fall into Israel's sins.
And that they understand and celebrate Jesus the Messiah as
the fulfillment of all the covenant promises.
Now in this third section, Paul is going to show them when it
that when it comes to their Pagan past and worship
practices, there is no identification possible, no
ground for commonality. He counsels a full break out of
loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 14 says he speaks to these dearly beloved brothers and
sisters with a warning saying flee from idolatry.
I speak to you as sensible people.
Judge for yourselves. He's telling them, use your
godly reason. And if you stop and think about
it, you will realize that you can't mix good with evil and
still be on the side of good. Truth doesn't just doesn't work
that way. And evil never cooperates like
that. Instead, your loyalty to Christ
must outvote and take priority over all other allegiances.
So how are we to understand the context that Paul is speaking
into? Well, in ancient Pagan societies
like Corinth, social order was built around sacrifice to the
Pagan gods, and adherence to this social order was thought to
literally hold the world and society together and prevent it
from falling into chaos and plagues.
And the particular way that this social salvation was ensured was
through the ritualized sacrifice of animals to the gods, which
was believed to secure the gods health, wealth, and their
fertility for the gods provision of those those things.
Now, eating the flesh of those sacrifices signifies 1's
submission to and participation in that whole world.
Order to dedicate food to an idol was to dedicate yourself.
The meat from these sacrificial animals was then sold in the
marketplace, entrenching the entire system insidiously
throughout the economy and the culture.
No wonder, Paul says don't have anything to do with that system.
Flee from idols. For evidently there were some in
the Corinthian church who had not completely broken their
social patterns of participating in the Pagan sacrifices.
They were still trying to live in both worlds to get along by
going along. But Paul warns them that for the
Christian, this will not do. The risen Lord Jesus Christ is
Lord of all creation. He is the one who commands our
full allegiance and loyalty in every area of life.
And even as Paul assures these Corinthians that idols have no
real power of existence, still there is a twist.
And this is the key. There is a demonic power behind
that idolatry, which is real. Verses 19 and 20 make the point
with clarity. What do I imply then?
That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is
anything? No, I imply that what pagans
sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God.
I do not want you to be participants with demons.
This is the central thrust of Paul's passion for these
Corinthians is that they not entangle themselves with evil
and the demonic. To Paul, this is about loyalty
to Jesus. You cannot drink the cup of the
Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table
of the Lord and the table of demons.
So, friends, if we have been rescued by Jesus Christ and we
have from darkness the dominion of sin and death, our loyalty to
Him must be the primary of primary importance, like
exclusive fidelity in a marriage.
And I think the reason why Paul speaks of the jealousy of the
Lord right at the end of this passage in verse 22 is because
of this. We are the bride of Christ, his
beloved, for whom he gave Himself, that he might redeem us
and present us to the Father, a spotless bride, and to himself a
spotless bride. And love and loyalty is the
response that he jealously looks for in us, his bride and lover.
Well, this contesting of loyalty of course is not unique to these
1st century Christians. We too live in a time in a place
where our loyalty to Jesus Christ is contested every day.
And Jesus himself in our gospel reading said that he that there
are times when the gospel that he brings creates division and
not peace. We too are not immune from the
lure and temptations to split our allegiance between our Lord
Jesus Christ and this world's allures.
Now we may not sacrifice to idols today in the West, but
that doesn't mean that we don't have idols in our hearts and our
affections to which we are tempted to offer ourselves or
parts of ourselves in sacrifice. And it doesn't mean that there
aren't demonic powers at work manipulating and deceiving
people into compromising their souls and ultimately their
loyalty to the only true Lord Jesus Christ.
So Paul's admonition to us Flee from anything that would
publicly dishonor Jesus Christ or draw your heart away from
Him. Paul exhorts us not to traffic
with this world system of entrapment in idolatry, secrecy,
and ethical compromise. Because of our frailty and
fallen nature, as we offered up in our colleague prayer today,
we are often tempted to seek our status and approval outside of
our true identity. As a beloved child of God, we
face decisions. I face decisions every day that
contest my loyalty to Jesus. What?
What am I going to watch on television?
What am I going to keep watching on television?
What purchases am I going to make?
How am I going to use my money? And for all of us, driving in DC
traffic will contest your loyalty to Jesus in our
responses to others around us on the road.
But friends, maybe you are feeling caught up or compromised
by this world's system and the false idols that it worships.
Maybe Jesus is speaking to you about where your allegiance lies
and is calling you to change to effect change.
Sometimes we do get off track and we need a course correction.
But take courage my friends. Jesus is faithful.
His corrections may come in any area of our lives, in your
family, relationships, in the realm of finances, sexuality,
career, in private activities, attitudes, appetites or
ambitions. He will lovingly and
persistently convict you of something that needs attention.
Are there any issues in your life that you hesitate to pray
about or to talk about openly with others?
Are there any? That sense of secrecy or of
shame might be an indication that the Lord is convicting you
that changes are needed. Sometimes our conscience can be
repeatedly bothered about something that just doesn't seem
to resolve. He may be trying to get your
attention. Be still in His presence, listen
for His voice, let Him speak to you.
If you're struggling with something and you just don't
know how to begin to address it, I encourage you to seek out the
help of a trusted Christian friend or talk to those some of
those in your RES group or contact one of the pastoral
staff to help you gain discernment and perspective.
Pray together. Bring it to the Lord.
He will speak to you. He will show you the way
forward. He will lead you to properly
repent if there's something you need to repent of, and He will
heal you of the wounds and scars that resulted from that
situation. And then he will lead you to
renew your allegiance to him. Well, friends, we've seen that
Paul's burden in this passage is that loyalty to Jesus and
communion with him and his with each other are inseparable
realities. My fidelity to Jesus impacts and
influences you, and your fidelity to Jesus effects me,
and together our fidelity incarnates the presence of
Christ into this world. You and I are not unimportant
door stops in the King's palace. We are His precious treasure,
made to shine for Him, living members of Christ and His body,
and He wants to shine through us with all of His glory and
brilliance radiating up and out of your soul and of our
communal, communal life, shedding the beautiful hues of
His presence into the darkness of this world today.
Think on these things when you come to the table of the Lord to
share in the communion of Saints, holy ones sharing in the
holy things, the body and blood of Jesus.
Come to the altar to receive Jesus with joy, to give yourself
to him as your Lord, to renew your allegiance to Him, and to
affirm that you are not alone, but are part of the Body, His
body, in this world, in this church family.
And may we so yield ourselves to Him and to one another that we
will shine increasingly and ever more colorfully with the light
of Jesus Christ for one another and for the sake of the world,
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.