Firstfruit Offering

1 Corinthians 15:20-28    
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

Christ rose to be the first offering to God of life from death to set the way for we who are called out in Him.  As children of the first man, Adam, we are born with death in spirit and mortality of body.  But in Christ as a second and perfect Man, the second Adam yet also the Son of God, in Him we shall be raised up to life unending before our Maker as intended in Eden.  Christ is the first given to God the Father and we follow in and through His resurrection to our own as new creations.  In the end this Kingdom and its rule by God over all will end enemies and demonstrate His sovereignty over all the universe.  When all are subject to the absolute rule of God seen everywhere, that is heaven for us forever before Him.  This victory in Christ begins with His gospel, His suffering and death that culminated in the resurrection.  This is the triumph over death due by wrath and certainty of the eternal hope of mercy and grace. 

Resurrection and the Life

1 Corinthians 15:15-19    
15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

If there is no resurrection of Christ, there is none for us either, and we are liars when speaking of the gospel.  If there is no new life from spiritual and physical death for us, it is because Christ did not rise to life.  This would leave us dead in sin, without hope or faith for the present nor eternity.  All who died before are simply gone and we are quite pitiful in everyone’s eyes... but there is infinite hope in the risen one who died, even as those around that cross looked up at Him and then looked down in sorrow as they thought the kingdom Jesus spoke of had died along with Himself.  It was a dark day, but ultimately a good one, for He died in our stead to cancel our sin debt as He took the responsibility for it on Himself.  

Crux of the Cross

1 Corinthians 15:12-14    
12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

The resurrection is the crux of the cross’ message.  Christ not only died by dying as a curse for us on a tree as it is written, but came back up bodily from the grave.  No true Christ follower can deny this, for without Jesus coming back to life, we cannot either.  If Christ is not risen as we remember on Easter or Resurrection Sunday, then all we preach as good news is as empty as our faith in Him and the gospel.  

Worthy by Grace

1 Corinthians 15:9-11    
9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Paul did not consider himself great, just an unworthy apostle because he so persecuted followers of Christ before God blinded him so he could see.  This humility was based on knowing the depths of God’s grace and mercy to an undeserving sinner.  That grace, however, called him to serve and be as he was made to be and do for His glory.  And he then put all effort into hard labor for the gospel’s sake; not to earn or keep God’s favor or salvation, but loving the One who first so loved him out of the world.  He sums it up with pointing to the preaching of the words of life, not the particular messenger (apostle) who obeys and God subsequently uses.  

The Gospel Summed Up

1 Corinthians 15:3-8    
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

What did Paul preach, what was the good news in the words of life he was willing to die for?  Not only did he speak of who Christ is, but also what He did to make reconciliation with God the Father through Him possible.  It begins with Christ dying in our place to justify the due punishment for sin of us all.  Then the facts that He was buried because He was actually dead, but also that He brought His body back to life as God among us (Emmanuel).  Finally, the proof was seen by witnesses that Christ Jesus was alive and walking among them again, just as He said from the Old Testament till then.  Finally, Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus, blinded so that he might see.  Therefore, Paul gave his life to bear witness and to be used to explain what all that means to us.  This is the gospel we live and die for.  

Hold the Gospel Fast

1 Corinthians 15:1-2    
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Not only did Paul address church order to build itself up in love, he focused on the gospel, the heart of our mission on earth as that church body.  He told it to them clearly and repeatedly so that they would keep it firmly in mind, as we must also do.  We are saved from the due wrath of God on our rebellious sin and its eternal consequences according to the clear truth of God’s word delivered to them and to us.  If we do not take what we have heard to heart, it is an empty and half hearted ineffective belief.  True belief is not an emotion or decision, but God’s word worked into the heart and mind by conviction and enlightenment by Himself as the Holy Spirit of the living God.  That living message and living Word in us is the gospel’s power to save as He calls.  

Order, Order

1 Corinthians 14:34-40   
34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.  36 Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? 37 If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.  39 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

The first part of this seems to be addressing a problem in the church at Corinth specifically.  Most likely there were some women there stepping in to evaluate the use of gifts like prophecy, taking on leadership roles reserved for male elders, and were told to go back to the rule of doing things right and in God’s order, not to keep them from speaking at all.  Paul again reminds them of his authority to say these things, for they are what God says, not himself.  He realizes some refuse to accept this in willful ignorance, however.  The end summation is for all the gifts and working in Christ’s body to be done decently and orderly, with grace and dignity worthy of His children.  

Author of Purpose in Order

1 Corinthians 14:26-33   
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.   29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

When the church gathers, any God-given gift must be done with order and purpose, whether a song or teaching or exposition or even another God-enabled language which is interpreted if the hearers do not know it.  If someone reveals something it must be already written already in the scriptures, and so must be examined for accuracy to encourage others to follow Christ and glorify God.  We are only to exercise these spiritual things for building each other up, not as disturbing mayhem, but bringing peace to the soul.  Unfortunately, what is often seen today is the false teaching saying the gifts are part of salvation, or make one a more full Christian; they make the pretense of what should come from God as an exhibition of self exaltation instead of lifting up God and building each other up.  

Languages to Hear the Gospel

1 Corinthians 14:22-25   
22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. 23 Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. 25 And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.

Because speaking in languages unknown to the speaker are God-given to convict, they are a sign to those not knowing Christ, without His presence living in them.  Those who already believe need exhortation, not conviction to salvation.  Yet if God’s word is revealed in the congregation, those unbelievers entering will find conviction in clear truth, not in a show of gifting.  If all entering only hear a jumble of multiple languages without interpretation, there is no value and no drawing to Christ.  But if truth is heard, hearts are convicted as they are convinced of their sinful and hopeless state before a holy God.  This is how the good news of Jesus’s atoning death and resurrection is heard to act on, and God gets glory and worship as He is seen in the congregation.   

Speak to Reach

1 Corinthians 14:18-21    
18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; 19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.  20 Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.   21 In the law it is written: “With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord.

Building on the previous verses on speaking understandably and to edify, we now see clear communication of God’s truth to teach is of infinite value over unnecessary gifts of languages except when needed, as at Pentecost when the separation of people at Babel was reversed to make God’s people of all nations one in Christ.  Therefore we must understand when God spoke in Isaiah 28:11-12 that this pointed to something beyond that unity - those with hardened hearts would hear many languages, even supernaturally given, yet still refuse to believe.  Tongues (languages) are only effective in reaching His people, and the message in those words is what is heard or rejected.  

Clear Communication

1 Corinthians 14:14-17    
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. 16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? 17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

We are to pray, sing, preach and hear with understanding to be fruitful.  If someone is moved to speak in Mandarin to a church of westerners, where is the spiritual gain for the listeners?  Even if we pray in a foreign language to God alone, without understanding it is an empty effort that only entertains.  The example here of doing this publicly without a native or supernatural interpreter leaves the congregation unable to agree with “Amen,” because they cannot confirm what they cannot receive. Such thanks we might give is empty if others are not built up.  The gifts of God are to build up, not confuse.  Let the hearts and minds be moved with understanding in using true gifts like supernatural enabling of foreign languages to exclaim, “it is so, amen!”

Gifts are for Others

1 Corinthians 14:10-13    
10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without significance. 11 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. 12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.  13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.

There are over 6,900 languages in the present world, all with varying sounds and ways of saying similar things, yet for the most part completely unintelligible to outsiders.  But these mean nothing if not understood, as foreigners between speakers and hearers.  Therefore, any spiritual gifting for speaking in other languages must be to those knowing that divinely given language, or someone who knows it must interpret to convey God’s meaning that brings understanding to the scriptures being brought out.  If the speaker or another cannot interpret, there is no spiritually eternal value, only speaking selfishly.  We are given gifts to glorify God by building each other up, not to entertain others or commend ourselves.  

Profitable Gifts

1 Corinthians 14:6-9   
6 But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? 7 Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? 8 For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? 9 So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.

The only good that helps others when supernaturally speaking other languages that are not known to the hearers is when God’s word is made understandable and applicable.  This is only revealed by God’s Spirit in a man given insight by God, and it is to make clear the understanding for His people.  Like instruments, the words we speak need to be clear and not random noise, real languages and not contrived to impress or entertain.  We do not want to speak into thin air, but into the thick of men’s hearts and souls by God’s word.  If the hearers speak another language than what the speaker knows, that is where God steps in to give that certain understanding in speech that can reach to teach.  

Gifts to Edify

1 Corinthians 14:1-5   
1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

Love and using the gifts we are given by God should be things we want, but we should especially strive to bring forth the meaning of God’s word which we speak.  That builds up others.  Speaking in languages which are unknown to those around us and which we unnaturally acquire from God have value only when bringing out God’s word to those speaking those languages, or when God unnaturally gives another the ability to also understand those as at Pentecost and interpret for the edification of others. The reason for gifts is to build the body in love, not minister to ourselves only, so we should seek to bring forth God’s word and its meaning in order to build up, to edify, God’s people.  

Grow Up!

1 Corinthians 13:11-13    
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.  13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Looking for the fantastic, self-serving edification, and acting without love are marks of spiritual immaturity.  Growing up in Christ requires understanding beyond basic wants to God-driven desires of the heart.  We do not see eternity, only looking at a dim enigmatic reflection, misted over the surface.  When we stand before the Lord and Lamb, understanding will be clear without the mirrored sin in and before us.  God’s pure love on top of and foundational to faith and hope will be fully realized... Oh, to see His face at last, how my heart yearns within me along with Job!  

Victorious Love

1 Corinthians 13:8-10    
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

The love which comes from God and through us always is effectual and victorious for God’s glory.  If we only look to spiritual workings and gifts God gives for His body, we have only the transitory.  Prophecies will end, languages will not be needed in eternity, and we will know completely as we are completely known when standing at last before Him.  We know and see so little in this imperfect world, but when in perfected bodies before the perfect One in a new creation, all that will seem as a distant memory.  But how we loved as His and loved Him in this life is effectual forever.  We should then strive for the best way and not a mere better one.  

An Alien Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-7    
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

The character and actions of love include looking to be kind while enduring much over time, not wanting immediate satisfaction, and not wanting what others have that we think we must have.  It is humble, courteous, giving, and looks out for others instead of what is evil and reactionary.  Love cares for what is right and holy, it therefore puts up with much while trusting God in all, keeping hope in Christ till the end.  Love is therefore an alien and supernatural outworking of God’s Spirit in and through us; we cannot love this way in or of ourselves, no matter what effort we conjure up.  

Instruments of Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-3   
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Being in the know and having incredible gifts or abilities falls flat as misplayed instruments all by themselves.  If we could speak in any language and to all of God’s creation in heaven and earth, it is of no purpose without showing the love of God.  Even if we could trust God to do great miracles and explain the entire Bible, love is required for it to make a difference.  God so loved the world, shone His love in our hearts in Christ, and commands us to love others only next to loving Him first.  Because He so loved us, all our acts of charity to the poor and starving, all the sacrifices we make for the gospel (even to giving our lives) must be tempered with God’s selfless agape, or we gain nothing in eternity.  

Body Parts

1 Corinthians 12:27-31   
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

We who are in Christ are one as His body, yet remain individuals with differing appointments by God that are enabled by His spiritual gifting to accomplish these for the body’s sake.  Everyone does not have every calling or gift (though we all exhibit the Spirit’s fruit), but the one thing we do have is the love shown us first by God through Christ.  The second command after loving God is loving each other, and so the gifts and callings must be used for the good of others, which is love.  They are not for personal power or bragging, but for ministry to each other under Christ’s authority. 

One Body

1 Corinthians 12:20-26   
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

In Christ’s body we all have differing gifts and callings, yet only together we are a whole.  Therefore, each member needs the others to function well and to do what God has called us to.  This means that we lift up the weaker parts while never looking down on any.  We concentrate care on those needing it while not caring less for any other.  We must avoid divisive care.  When a member likewise suffers, it is essential that we empathize and assist, especially in prayer and practical ministry.  Equally important is rejoicing and sharing the joy of others when God so works in their lives.  This body must move and think and feel as one under Christ’s word, authority, and His love.  

Individual Membership

1 Corinthians 12:15-19    
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

As individuals in the body of Christ, the church, we each have been created and gifted as new creations with the spiritual means to build up and minister to others.  We do not all possess all gifts or callings, and this is by God’s wisdom to enable us to value and rely on each other.  None is more valuable than another, for only Christ is the head, a position God alone holds in omniscient authority.  Therefore, He gives varying gifts to each of us as He wills, not as we demand or expect.  Only in His sovereign choices of who receives which enabling spiritual gifts can this body be healthy and build itself up as Ephesians 4 gives the pattern.  

Body Members

1 Corinthians 12:12-14   
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.

So also is Christ.  As His body we are one under and in Him.  When the church is seen, Christ is seen there.  All of us who are justified, redeemed, and reconciled to God in His Son are now joined to each other under Christ’s authority and united by faith to Him.  It does not matter if we were born as a Jew or any other nationality, nor if we we of low state in bondage or free and mighty enough to rule a country; His Spirit bonds us to Him as one people and so to each other.  The second birth is what gives us eternal identity and freedom that a nation or human association cannot.  Therefore, each of us is part of the whole which is Christ as the church in a sense (“so also is Christ”).  

Selected Gifts Given

1 Corinthians 12:4-11    
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

God gives the gifts necessary for His church to learn, grow, and glorify Him.  All come from His Spirit, not our desire or effort to gain them.  These are shown in the list here, but notice carefully why - it is “for the profit of all.”  These are to build the church, not feel good, make one important, or for personal profit.  They are to benefit the body as a whole.  Do not overlook the fact that each gift and its use is worked by God’s Spirit and given as He intends and wills to each person (individually), not as we command or ask for.  These are not acquired by our insistence or for ourselves, but as God decides to give to the different ones that make up the whole of His people.  Nobody can insist that you ask for or must have any of these.  

Spiritual Graces

1 Corinthians 12:1-3    
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

The spiritual abilities and persons God enables in the church are now addressed.  The word spiritual here (πνευματικός pneumatikos) is used of both gifts and one who is enabled by God.   We need to know about what these are and how God intends to use us and them.  It begins with knowing who Jesus the Christ is as the divine Lord to be worshipped.  And because we have the Spirit living in us, we cannot curse Him as the world does and even we used to before regeneration.  Therefore this chapter begins with our spiritual call and spiritual enabling for the church to serve, grow, and minister.  

Come Together over Him

1 Corinthians 11:33-34    
33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

After all things are laid out and addressed concerning the remembrance of the Lord in the supper, the therefore comes.  We must do this together as a body, not individually as self-seeking and self-gratifying ones.  If the appetite cannot be controlled, eat first at home, then come together.  Otherwise we answer to God.  Remember Ananias and Saphira.  We are to honor God as His body, which means we all consider each other in all things, especially those of Him.  This is the healthy church in daily action.  Paul ends here with the reminder that there are many such things to consider, and he will speak to them face to face about those.  We should also dialog with the elders and pastors toward orderly life and worship.  

Remembrance

1 Corinthians 11:27-32   
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

Remembering the Lord’s suffering and death through the bread and cup requires that we look at the state and motives of our heart before celebrating together.  If we look at His body shed for we who are His body, then we wait to take it together as when Jesus had that final meal with the disciples.  We also look inside as we remember Jesus telling us if we have something against another to leave our offering and first be reconciled.  This is both with man and God.  If we take these things lightly, we suffer and require discipline to not suffer consequences as the ungodly do.  Worthy also means we stand in His grace alone, and remember together what He has done; therefore, we do these things in a worthy manner.  

Broken and Bleeding for Us

1 Corinthians 11:23-26    
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”   26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.

Jesus had Passover with His disciples as the Lamb of God, slain for God’s wrath to pass over our sins by His sacrificial death with the bitter herbs of suffering for us first.  His blood on the doorposts of our souls is remembered in the drinking of the cup of wine in this sacrament.  His broken and tortured body, whipped and slain while innocent as a lamb, is remembered in the bread of this meal.  By these we remember and solemnly meditate on all Jesus Christ did for us and how unworthy we are to have death pass us by while destroying others who are not His people.  This is how we tell of His death for us until He comes back to take us to the promised land in eternity.  Selah. 

Lord’s Supper Togetherness

1 Corinthians 11:20-22    
20 Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. 21 For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

Meeting together should be to remember what Christ has done to redeem and reconcile us to the Father through Himself and His suffering, death, and resurrection.  It should not be to turn a meal of solemn and joyful remembrance into a self seeking affair.  In Corinth, people were not eating together and getting drunk from the cup that was to be a mutual and equal sharing and remembrance of our Lord’s body and blood.  Each wanted all of Him and lost sight of the Body.  This was shameful.  We can learn from this to share together, not being selfish, and do all things for God’s glory.

Divided Together

1 Corinthians 11:17-19   
17 Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

Continuing on gathering together as a church, here we find good instruction is needed even more when the things being done are for the worse.  First of all, there are many dissections (σχίσμα, schisma) and dissensions over opinions (αἵρεσις, hairesis).  These minor splits within the congregation have the good outcome of bringing out what is true and right, but can be uncontrolled and lead to heretical or emotional splits in a local body.  Good instruction that is pressed down and flowing over into reconciliation as Bereans to follow what God has indeed said is the favored goal instead.  

Roles and Authority

1 Corinthians 11:13-16    
13 Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

In the time and place of the church at Corinth, Paul had to enforce the authority structure with the outward appearance of hair and other head coverings as reminders.  It was not a command for the hair here, but what it represents for the roles and authority God has placed us in as men and women under Christ.  In the end, the form was negotiable, but not the heart attitude and actions these were to symbolize and teach in practical ways.  This is seen when he tells them it is not a custom to parade around and thereby cause dissension.  As it is written, let all things be done decently and in order. 

Interdependencies

1 Corinthians 11:7-12    
7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man. 9 Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10 For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11 Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. 12 For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.

The scriptures continue on headship and authority by speaking of the symbolism of head coverings in the culture at the time of Christ.  Man was directly created in God’s image from God’s hand, woman out of man and for man, but they are both for His glory.  Both man and woman are interdependent and ultimately come from God, but the order is the design for authority down from and back up to God as Creator and Lord of all.  Even the angels in the presence of God can see the order God created, just as they submit to their Creator’s authority.  We must follow their example, and not that of the disobedient ones.