Well, good morning, good morning, good morning

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Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Hope you had a great week and a great start to your New Year. Hopefully it was a little more resembling of some kind of structure than over the holidays. My name’s Jake and if we have not met, I would love to meet you. If you were here last week you heard Aaron announce that – Wednesday of last week that they were going to have their baby and that happened. Her name is Kadence Lilly Brocket, a beautiful girl. The family is doing great. They appreciate all your love, encouragement, and support. And while Aaron was saying that he was saying that for the next three weeks he would be off teaching and I and Matt Hessel, our connections pastor, would be filling in. And, I was really excited about Matt getting his first shot at this until this week where I started to develop these mixed feelings. So, let me explain. Sunday, Aaron gets up and he’s like, “Hey, Jake’s preaching next week.” And it was silent. Nothing. I was like, “Whatever, late night, New Years Eve. Whatever.” And then he says, “Oh, and then Matt’s preaching his first sermon.” And [there’s] this low excited rumble across the crowd. They were like, “Oh, it’s going to be Matt.” Whatever. So then, Monday my always loving and encouraging Mother-in-law says, “Oh, hey. What are you doing this week?” And I said, “Well I’m preparing for the sermon.” She says, “Oh, yeah you’re preaching. I’m really excited about hearing Matt.” I’m like, “What in the world. It’s my own family here.” Then, on Thursday I get my copy of the communicate cards. Each week we get a copy of all the communicate cards that you guys fill out and drop off. And, on one particular page – everybody has a highlight just to make sure that everybody is covered. I get to my highlighted page and I see it’s my good friend Jay Dziwlik who is an elder here and a great servant. And his first two prayer requests were really admirable – like, help me God, grow me as a better leader in 2012. And then his third one said, “Pray for Matt Hessel as he prepares for his sermon. And I’m like, “What is happening.” So, I used to really like Matt but now I hate him. No, I’m totally kidding. He is an awesome guy and he’s one of my best friends and I can honestly say that he is just a genuine off stage as he is on. And so you will be really blessed by him next week. But for this week we are going to launch back in to our Cow Tipping series. And if you were with us in October, you were with us as we decided that week by week we would go chapter by chapter through the letter of I Corinthians. So let me recap after our break. I Corinthians is a letter from a guy named Paul to a very specific group of Christians in a town called Corinth. They were just starting this thing called church. The letter would have been written no more than 100 years after the death of Christ. So not only was church brand new, but Christianity was brand new. And they were just working out the kinks. And you would think that a church that existed so close in proximity to the death of Christ would have a pretty easy time staying on mission. They weren’t even that far away, how could they mess things up? But what we read in I Corinthians is that could not have been further from the case. There was in fighting, they were gossiping about each other, there were all these breaks in their community over these little things. And so what Paul is doing is he is writing to them and he’s saying, “Here’s what I’m hearing, or here’s what you’ve asked me about. Here’s how you stay focused. Here’s how you stay on mission.” So that’s what the whole thing about I Corinthians is really, if there was a sub-title to I

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Corinthians it could easily be – how to be the church. He’s communicating here are some of the problems going on and here’s how you fix them. So we’re going to be in I Corinthians 11. If you have your Bibles or your Bible app you can flip over there. And what Paul does is that, in I Corinthians 11, he gets us to this place of taking ruthless inventory. Taking ruthless inventory. How many of you have ever worked for retail? You had a retail job you worked in a store, clothing store, grocery? Great. So you would know a lot about inventory. You know what the purpose of inventory is you know how it works. The whole purpose behind inventory is seeing how are we doing? We see what’s on the shelf. What’s not on the shelf. What do we have too much off? What don’t we have enough of? What have we sold? What are we not selling? And at the end of the inventory the store knows – here’s how we’re doing. That’s what inventory is all about. Maybe over New Year’s you happened to take a self inventory. That’s what we do when the calendar flips to a New Year. We take a self inventory. So we ask certain questions about how we are doing. Am I doing well, am I doing poorly? What can I improve on? And then what we do is we say we are resolute to making ourselves better. We make these resolutions, these statements. So maybe you got on the scale and you saw that number and you said, “That’s too high. And so, I’m going to try to make that a lower number on the scale when I step on it. So, that’s my resolution.” Maybe you looked at your bank account and you said, “I sure would appreciate an extra zero at the end of there. That’s my resolution. I’m going to try to make that happen.” Over the Christmas break my family and I traveled down to Lexington, Kentucky which is where I grew up, visiting family. And we had the opportunity to go to a University of Kentucky basketball game. Growing up that was very exciting for me – and like one other person over here. And so, that is just so exciting for me. I grew up loving them [basketball games]. It’s so much a big part of who I am. And so, I get to Rupp Arena where they play and I’m just like a kid in a candy shop. I’m just breathing more just to suck in more of the air ‘cause I’m so excited to be there. And my wife, she went to IU and so I’m trying to – no, no – and so I’m trying to convert her. I’m trying to explain to her why this is so great. Before the game they show one of those highlight montage clips of great moments in Kentucky basketball history, which there have been a lot. And so, I’m watching that and as I’m watching I’m getting emotional. I’m seeing this and I’m like, “Oh, I remember when that happened. I remember where I was when that shot went down. I remember who I was with when that happened. And, it’s like welling up inside of me. I realize that my wife is sitting next to me and if she sees me get emotional about that and not the birth of our two children, I’m a dead man. So, I try to roll it up … it was kind of like dusty – that kind of thing. Afterwards, I get home and I’m talking to Sean who is a big Kentucky basketball fan, too. I’m telling him about all of this and I said, “Man, I came to the conclusion that five of the top ten moments of my life had to do Kentucky basketball.” I just know that. And I was telling him – it was like a good thing because we share that in common. And then afterwards I starting thinking, it’s like, “Really? Like really? That’s who I’m going to be?” I look at the top ten moments of my life; five of them have to do with me watching other people do something. That’s what my life has amounted to. Now, I love sports as much as anybody else. But, maybe that’s not where I want to be. You have your thing. You have your thing that consumes you out side of your relationship with God. So maybe it’s about – five of the top ten things in your life have been about the raises that you’ve gotten in your career. Or maybe the validations from people around you who say, “Hey, you’re a good person.” Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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That really means a lot to you. And so what we do as we take self inventory is we look inside. We get beyond the façade that we are putting out there and we say, “What’s really going on in my heart? If people could see the truest me possible, what would they see?” And then we ask these questions. How’s it going? What am I good at? What am I bad at? How can I improve? The whole point of self inventory is to get an honest picture of who we are and then the second part is really important, it’s coming up with an action plan to improve. It’s one thing to know where you stand; it’s another thing to put together an action plan to get better. That’s where Paul is going to lead us in I Corinthians 11. He’s going to lead us to the point where we have to be really honest with ourselves. And say, “Who are we and what is God leading us to?” As we read in I Corinthians 11, we’re going to hit on a topic that could potentially be quite a lightening rod, quite a lightening rod issue. And, not just for people that are outside the church looking in and we disagree. But even people inside the church disagree on this stuff. And so, what I’m asking for you to do today is just be patient with Paul. That’s all I’m asking. Read it and then give him time to explain. And we will dig deep into what he’s really saying and hopefully come out better for it. So, I’m going to pray and then I’m going to jump into I Corinthians 11. God, You are glorious just like we sang. You move mountains. You save us, have saved us from the darkest moments of our lives. Right now, we’d like to give You the next few minutes just to hear you out. Hear what was going on in Corinth. See what’s going on in our lives today. And see what we can learn and maybe even change our lives. We love You, God. In Your name I pray. Amen. So we’re going to jump into I Corinthians 11. What I would like to do is read verses 2 – 16 all at once. Now, I know that that’s a lot. So, what I’m going to do is read the whole chunk of it and then we’re going to go back and break it down piece by piece. So, I Corinthians 11 starting in verse 2, here we go. “Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.” Alright, now there are two big responses to this section of Scripture. The first one is, “What?” What in the world are you talking about, Paul? Head coverings, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” And this is like, “I read this stuff in the Bible and I don’t totally get it and so this why I’m not even going to bother. This just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. What are you talking about, Paul?” The second response is, “See, I told you.” Maybe you had that response a little bit when you were reading it. “See, I told you that the Bible is ridiculous. I mean, I told you that what Paul is writing is just stupid. We don’t live like that anymore. We, as a people; we, as a culture have progressed past this.” We look at people, Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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in countries like the Middle East and we say, “That’s oppressive. And that’s what it looks like in the Bible. So, how could we possibly allow something that was written 2,000 years ago govern our lives? I’m out.” What I’ve asked you to do is be patient. What we’re going to do is go back and break it down piece by piece and really get at what Paul is describing. So let’s do that together. Okay? Chapter 11 verse 2, we’re just going to take it piece by piece and see what’s going on. Chapter 11:2 says this, “Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.” Okay? What Paul is doing is this classic management trick of when you have something of constructive criticism to say, you lead with a compliment. That’s what’s going on. So he’s about to drop the hammer but first he wants to encourage them a little bit. So, what he’s saying is, “What you are doing slightly resembles what I taught you to do. Good job. Now, let’s get to the point.” Verse 3, we’re going to read verse 3 through 7; this is where it gets tricky. “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.” Okay. So what is happening here? What we need to do is evaluate this passage from three different levels. The first one is the ground level, what is immediately happening, what is Paul immediately talking about. The 10,000 foot level is what is behind what Paul is saying. So Paul is talking about something, what’s really behind that? And then the 30,000 foot level is the over-arching theme of the entire chapter. At the heart of what Paul’s saying, what’s really going on? So let’s start at the ground level and then we’ll work our way up. At the ground level, Paul is talking about head coverings. Now, why? In the cultural context, in Corinth in 1st Century, the tradition was for women who were married to wear their hair up and have a head covering on. What that symbolized was unavailability; they were taken. They were respecting their husbands, they were married, they were off the market, hair is up, head is covered. That was the game plan. Anyone that would wear their hair down, any woman who wore her hair down, a married woman, would be symbolizing one of two things. One, that she was mourning the death of a loved one. Or two, she was experiencing the shame of adultery. So, ladies who happen to where your hair down, don’t worry – that was 1st Century Corinth, it’s not you. What they were doing is that they had married women coming into the congregation with their hair down and it was quite literally disrupting what was happening in church. On the flip side, they had men that were covering their heads which was a tradition reserved solely for women. And so, at the very ground level they were disrupting worship because of the way their hair was fashioned and it was really disrupting what was going on. At the ground level that’s what Paul’s talking about – disrupting the worship. Let’s zoom back a little bit, 10,000 feet. What was the issue behind the head coverings? Well it was that men were acting like women and women were acting like men. So the line between genders was being blurred and it was causing a lot of confusion within the church. Which leads us to a big question for today, why is it important to be different? Why is it important? Why should men be different than women? Why should that line exist? Why should there be things that are mostly manly and things that are womanly? What was the point? What was the purpose? Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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There are three responses to what verse 3 says. It talks about the man being the head of the woman. Number one is chauvinism. Chauvinism. Chauvinism says that women are an inferior gender to men. On every level, in every way. So, emotionally, intellectually, physically – all of that. Men are superior to women in every way and that’s why men should lead. And what will happen is that some meathead that never matured past seventh grade will get a hold of this verse and when he feels like he’s being disrespected he will wield it like a club and say, “I’m the head. You remember that.” Or when he feels like she is speaking out of turn, he’ll say, “I’m the head. You remember that.” Or when he gets in her face, when he yells at her, when he hits her – he says, “I am the head. You remember that.” The Chauvinism response to this verse is incorrect, it is uninformed, and it is sinful. It needs to be said and it needs to be correctly stated. Chauvinism is sinful and it is not what Paul is talking about. The second response is this, egalitarianism. Egalitarianism. Basically what that says is that men and women are equal in everything. It’s the complete opposite of Chauvinism. Men and women are equal in value and in role. There is no distinction whatsoever. And in fact if we’re being really honest, men have kind of messed this whole thing up. They need to let women in – would have been a lot better. The economy is broken, let a woman fix it. School system is broken, let a woman fix it. The Colts are broken, let a woman fix it. That would be the idea – we’ve got a clapper. So, egalitarianism says there is genuinely no difference whatsoever – they are equal in value and honestly they can do the same thing. And so what happens is we blend the line, if not erase it altogether, when we say men, “Get in touch with your feminine side.” You need to act more sensitive, be more feminine. And then women, you need to be more masculine. Step up – we can act just the same. Now, Paul is not endorsing either of those views. Neither chauvinism nor egalitarianism. He’s proposing a very different thing and that’s called this, complimentarianism. Complimentarianism. Here’s what that means. It means that men and women are equal in value, period. End of sentence. So in God’s eyes, He does not have a favorite gender. Men are just as valuable as women, women just as valuable as men. The love is the same; the respect is the same in God’s eyes. There is no difference in value. The difference comes in roles. There’s a distinction in roles. Equal in value distinct in roles. Now, where do we get that idea? Where did that come from? Paul teaches that, and he goes back to Creation, to the original plan. He goes to the blueprint. How did God intend for it to be – let’s get back there. So let’s read as Paul explains that. He does so in verse 8. Let’s go back to verse 8 and see how Paul explains it. “For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.” So here’s what Paul is describing. If you go back to the very beginning of the Bible, you’ll read a book called Genesis. In Genesis we have the creation account. In the first few days we see God create everything that you see. Land, and sky, and trees, and water, and all of the animals. And then at the apex of creation, He created human beings. That was the most prized possession. That’s what He capped it all off with, human beings. And the very first human being was a man named Adam. God created Adam out of the dust, he hollowed him out of nothing and then he said, “Adam, here is your job. Here’s what I want you to do. I’m going to give you domain over all creation. I want you to name all the animals. And, I’ve got one thing for you. One thing in the entire world. There’s this one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I want you to stay away from that one. All the others, they’re fair game. Just stay away from that one … you’ll be good.” That was Adam’s job. Sounds like a pretty sweet

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gig, if you ask me. He has domain over everything; he was naming animals, he had this one tree he had to avoid – not a bad job. Then God looked around and said, “I don’t want him to be alone. But, I look at the animals and it doesn’t seem like there’s a suitable helper among them.” Thank you. And he says, “Adam, I want you to go to sleep. I’m going to take a piece out of your side.” Adam’s asleep, piece out of his side, He forms Eve, first woman, Adam wakes up, sees Eve in her literal birthday suit and says, “Best day ever!” And so now we have the very first relationship. The very first relationship ever – Adam and Eve. And as we read and as we see the relationship play out their value is equal, their value is equal – but their roles are distinct. Adam is charged with being the administrative leader of that relationship. Eve is described as the helper, the helpmate. She comes alongside Adam and helps execute what God wants from them and their lives. That’s important to know and I think that God did this on purpose. He did not take Eve from Adam’s front so she was leading out. He didn’t take her from his back so that she was trailing behind like a nothing. He took her from his side … she comes alongside him and they do life together. They do what God has called them to together. And that’s what we see – complimentarianism. What we have here in verse 3 is a real clear leadership structure that we need to be reminded of. In verse 3 it says, “God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of woman.” That’s a really important structure for us to maintain. So, let’s break it down piece by piece. Number one, God is the head of Christ. There is this really thick theological belief called the Trinity that we don’t have time to explain, but I’ll do my best in this short time. The Trinity means this, that God exists as one God but in three different Persons. There are three individual Persons that serve as one God. There’s God the Father, there’s Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Now, when we study the Trinity what we realize is that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are equal in value. God the Father is not more important than Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is not more important than the Holy Spirit. They’re equal in value but their roles are distinct. And that’s the perfect community. That’s what God is explaining right here. That’s what He is showing. So, God the Father is the leader. Jesus is taking His cues from God the Father. Jesus is following. The Holy Spirit is described as our Helper. He’s not the leader. And in that perfect community they are equal in value but distinct in roles. Jesus is following God the Father and then next comes man following Jesus. And that’s the part where we get lost. A lot of us want to jump to the third part where we say man is the head of woman, end of sentence. That’s all you need to know. But what we see in this leadership structure is that the reason that that third piece exists is because the second one does. And without the second piece, the third piece doesn’t work. That’s real important for us to remember. Men, men listen. Your leadership comes from your submission to Jesus not your gender. That’s really important to remember. A lot of times we read that like man is the head of woman and we think, “Oh, because I’m a man that’s why I’m leading.” Well, that’s not true. It’s clear that the way God laid this out, that the reason you’re leading is you’re following. And unless you follow first you cannot lead. You have nothing to do with being a man. You were just born that way. You came out, the doctor said those look like boy parts; he’s a boy. That was it. End of discussion. You had nothing to do with it. And so for you to suggest that your gender is the reason for your leadership is incorrect. The reason you are worth being followed is because you are following Jesus yourself. And that’s how the family works. That’s how this relationship works. Then you and I, we look around and we see other people doing it and the only people that seem to be trying – it just seems like the man’s leading by brute force and it’s really not loving and we see – that doesn’t work. And our tendency is to say, “Well the product didn’t work so

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the plan must have been bad.” Because of what happened, the plan must have been faulty. And so we look back on God and say, “I don’t know who your design team was, but they totally messed this up.” It would be like me trying to assemble my kids’ Christmas toys, which happens a lot, and I would have in one hand a 75% completed toy and in the other hand two loose screws and saying Fisher-Price came up with a bad plan. Well, it wasn’t Fisher-Price’s fault it was my fault – I need to retrace my steps and come to the honest fact that I messed it up. It was my fault. So where did it fall apart? Well, if we keep reading in Genesis we’ll realize that the human race was only able to hold it together for about two chapters. And then we messed it all up. So, in Genesis chapter 3 here’s what we read, Eve was in the garden one day and she’s having a conversation with a snake. If a snake’s talking to you – don’t. Just don’t. That’s free, just hold on to that. So, the snake is talking to her and it is Satan in the form of a snake giving her a lie. Listen to this lie. Because it’s the same lie that you and I have been buying into for so long. He says, “God has something that you want and He won’t give it to you and you can get it yourself.” You been down that road? You’ve been told that? “God has something that will make you so happy but he won’t give it to you and I’ve got a way you can get it.” And so that’s what he tells Eve. He says, “That tree that God won’t let you touch, it has everything you want. You would be happy forever if you can just get that thing, but God won’t give it to you. I say, do it. Go for it.” And so Eve does and she grabs the fruit and she takes a bite and that’s where you and I often finish the story. We think, “Eve, how could you? You messed it up for all of us. We could have been walking around the garden. It would have been perfect. Eve, it’s all your fault.” If you keep reading in Genesis 3, when God comes to confront Adam and Eve, who does He come looking for? He comes looking for Adam. He says, “Adam, what did you do? What did you do?” And he [Adam] says, “It was her. It was her.” Guess who was sleeping on the couch that night. Adam, right? And he just totally throws her under the bus. But God didn’t ask that question. He says, “What did you do?” And we find that the collapse of this perfect garden, at the root is a passive man not leading his family. That’s where we’re at. That’s the dangerous part of the blending that line between men and women. Is that we breed this passivity in men. That they’re even told that it’s wrong to lead, it’s wrong to step out. And so we have weak men that aren’t taking charge and when no one’s in charge, what happens? It’s chaos. As I’m reading this passage this week, I’ve got to be honest it was a gut check for me. And I was telling my friend Luke yesterday, I just said, “Man, I feel like 99% of this whole experience is just for me.” I’m not even sure why you [the congregation] are here. It was like God just trying to get a hold of my heart and saying, “Hey, I’m talking to you. Talking to you.” And while I was taking this honest self inventory this week I came to this conclusion that there’s a piece of my family that I’m not totally thrilled about. We get distracted a lot. I don’t know if your family is like this. We get distracted a lot, and we’ll come home and we’ll be engaged in things that aren’t each other. I have an iPhone and so I’m on that. I’m checking email and twitter and my kids are watching TV and I’ll just like stop for a moment and I’ll say, “Why aren’t we talking? We should hang out. We should probably get to know each other.” That whole deal. I’m realizing that my family can often be distracted and my initial response is to blame someone else. Like, “Why is my wife always doing this?” And my kids, they shouldn’t want to watch movies all the time. But what I realize, and this is important, is that I led them there. Me as the leader, me as the man, I led them there. I was the first one on my phone, I was the one checking my email, I was the one watching the game, it was me first and they followed. And so for me to sit there and blame them for the state of our family and our disconnection it was improper and God got a hold of me and said, “That’s on you. You led them there.” Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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So men, here’s our first honest self inventory. What’s going on in your world? What’s going on in your relationship with your wife? Your girlfriend? What’s going on with your kids? What are you unhappy about? You know what it is. There’s a really good chance that you led them there. So what do we do? What’s the plan? Instead of us going back and blaming the plan, maybe it’s the fact that men – you’re not [leading]. Men, I’m talking to you. We haven’t stepped up and we haven’t led because we weren’t following. So here’s the challenge. We have to go back to that structure, Christ is following God, we’re following Christ, and then our family will follow – I promise. We have this great opportunity here at church. It’s called men’s fraternity. Some of you guys are a part of it. It’s really cool. There’s information about it in the bulletin if you want to check it out if it’s something that you’re really passionate about and you feel like your family could really benefit from, check it out. Get in contact with them. They’d love to have this week. But it’s all about this. Teaching men how to be the leaders of their families so that other people will follow. Now, women. You’re not off the hook. The wrong conversation to have over lunch would be this, “When are you going to start leading?” That would be the wrong thing. Hopefully, you don’t ever move your head like that [cocked to the side]. Maybe you’re a snapper. I don’t know, but that would be the improper thing. That’s what you could easily be thinking and maybe you were already thinking that a little bit, if you’re honest. Ladies, here’s what we need. When your man, when your husband starts leading, you encourage him and follow him. Here’s a question for you. Are you willing to be led? Instead of nagging, instead of questioning everything, are you willing to be led? And so this is honest, this real, and this is what Paul is talking about. It’s important to be different because God designed it that way. It’s not wrong. And what we need to do is get back to the original plan. Everybody having fun? Doing good? Aaron just had a baby – that was total freak incident. So here we go. We’ve got a whole other thing to talk about here in verse 17. What we are going to see is a separate issue that’s going on in the church that might seem completely unrelated. But what we’ll find is that the heart of the issue is really the same problem. So verse 17 in chapter 11, we’re going to talk about the Lord’s supper. It says this, “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. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” Here’s what’s going on. The Corinthian church is gathering together on a regular basis and there are clicks. Remember high school? There were clicks or maybe your office right now, there are clicks, there are groups. And in high school this is how it would work. You’d be walking down the hall and there would be these circles of students and they would be turned inward with no regard for traffic flow whatsoever. You remember this. And so, there’re clicks and the whole purpose of the clicks in the church was this, “We’re doing it right, they are doing it wrong.” You ever met one of those clicks? We like the traditional hymn songs, they like the rock music. We are right, they are wrong. We’re casual when we come to church because we have a good relationship with God. They get all dressed up because they just don’t get it. We are right, they are wrong. A lot of things that we bicker about – we are right, they are wrong – that’s what’s going on in the Corinthian church. And Paul’s getting sarcastic. He’s like, “You’re arguing about things that don’t even matter. You’re on the same team. Get aligned.” Then he says this, we discover what’s at the real heart of what’s going on. He says in verse 20, “When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.” So, what’s going on is that the Corinthian church is really diverse, especially economically. In the first church there were a bunch of rich people and some poor people. And if you’ve ever been to a place, someone’s house that maybe had a lot more money than you and you started looking around and you felt a little on edge and you started comparing yourself – that’s what’s going on here. That’s the vibe that’s happening. And what they would do is that they would come together for a large meal together. It was a pot luck style. So the rich would, understandably, bring more food and drink and the poor would have less to bring. But the problem was is that when they started dishing out the meals, the rich would take the lion’s share of food and drink and leave the poor to stay hungry. And so there was this clear division. We have, you don’t. We are better, you are not. Paul says, “Are you kidding me? That’s what the world does. That’s not you. You’re supposed to be different but you are acting the exact same. You guys are being gluttonous and drunkards. As the church, get over yourselves.” So what does Paul do to correct them? He does a very similar thing. He goes back to the blueprint, back to the plan. He describes how Jesus set it out. What was Jesus describing when He set out the first Lord’s supper. And here’s what he says. Verse 23,“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 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 Lord's death until he comes.’” So here’s what he is saying. He’s saying that the whole purpose of the Lord’s supper, the whole purpose of communion is to remember the most selfless thing that ever happened. That’s the whole purpose, that’s the point. You’re remembering that God left that perfect community that Trinity that we talked about, came here, lived among you, died for your sins, unjustly, and rose again. The most selfless thing that could ever happen and what you’ve done is you’ve made it selfish. You’ve made it about you. Because I brought more, I get more. Because you’re poor, you don’t belong. They made their relationship with God this exclusive, one-on-one transaction that had nothing to do with the people around them. They did not value their relationships; they did not value their well-being. It was all about me and God and that’s it. And you and I, we’re tempted to do that a lot of times, aren’t we? My relationship with God, my spirituality is completely private. I don’t have to make it public. There’s not an influence on my relationships, it’s just about me and God. That’s it. And we’ve bought into this idea that I am an island, I’m an individual. Every ad campaign has told you, “Here’s how you can make your individual life better.” Your career has been about you advancing at all costs. And it bleeds into our faith. We believe it’s just about me and God. That’s it. You – look at everyone around, look at all of these people. They don’t have anything to do with your relationship with God. [You say] it’s just about me and God. That’s it. So, “Yeah, I hope you have a good marriage, but I don’t really care. I hope you heal from your addictions, but I really care. Because, really it’s just about me and God. They made it selfish and their worship was about them. They’re worship was about them. And so when they showed up to this – when they showed up to get together with other people who were like minded and like hearted, they were just saying, “What am I going to get out of it? Wonder what’s going to happen for me?” And that’s really the heart behind all of this chapter, is that their worship had become about them. Their worship was selfish. They were showing up in a way that was completely disrupting everything because they felt like they could. They were taking more for themselves and leaving others out because, really, it didn’t matter. It’s just about them and God and it becomes selfish. It becomes Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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about them. And so we read here in verse 27 what Paul has to say about it. He says, “Look, I’m going to give you a perspective you probably don’t have right now. I’m going to add an extra weight on to what you are doing that you probably have not considered yet. Verse 27, “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 Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 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, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 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. About the other things I will give directions when I come.” Here’s how Paul is closing this chapter. He’s saying, “Remember it was the most selfless thing that ever happened and you’ve made it about you. And if it’s about you, if your worship is about you, if you showed up to this and it’s about you, and you take the Lord’s supper then you are sinning against everyone you’re around. If you are just a selfish person and, honestly, you don’t really care about anyone else around you, when you take the Lord’s supper that’s a sin.” Now, when you and I are taking communion here on a weekly basis, there’s a really good chance that we’re not weighing that all that heavily. But Paul adds this extra weight to it that, honestly, is a big challenge for us. Now we do communion here every week. There’s no clear instruction as to how often it’s supposed to be done, but when we do [take communion] we like to give you an opportunity for this self inventory. What’s going on in my world? What’s God really challenging me with? What do I need to take care of before I participate in communion? And so what we’re going to do right now is – I’ve got a few questions for you that I’d like you to consider. Some things that might speak to where your life is. And then we’re going to take communion together. So here’s the first question. When you prepare for worship do you have an attitude of evaluation or expectation? When you show up on a Sunday morning, a lot of us show up, sit down, and it’s like the first time we’ve thought about it. It was just enough for you to park the car or get the kids in and get seated five minutes late. That’s like – you won that day. And so we really haven’t prepared our hearts, we haven’t really prayed about what God is about to teach us, and the danger is that we can sit back and get our American Idol hat on and just say, “Oh, well I didn’t really like that song,” or, “what did you think of the sermon?” “Oh, it was kind of good.” We become these critics. What happens is we buy into this lie. It’s Sunday. We’re going to find a church that meets all of our criteria. Our list – the top 10. And so when we visit a church and we get seven out of 10 we’ll go somewhere else, and then that church had three out of 10, and then that church has nine out of 10 but it still not quite – we become evaluators instead of those who expect what God is going to do. So when you show up are you ready to evaluate what’s going on or are you expecting God to say something to you in a big way. Question number two. Do you have a dispute that needs settling? The Bible is very clear. It says don’t let the sun go down on your on your disputes, don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Is there someone that you know, a family member, friend, coworker and you guys just aren’t on good terms, if any terms at all. And it’s weighing on you – that drama carried itself in here with you. Is there a dispute that you need to settle before you take communion? Are you holding any ill will toward someone?

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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Question number three. Is there bitterness or cynicism brewing in your heart? Are you just a bitter person? Are you a cynical person? Is there something in your heart to where you always assume the worst about people? So when in your conversations about others you say, “Why – did you hear about them? I knew they would. I always knew that about them. They’re no good.” We become cynical, we become bitter and we start spreading gossip and we start spreading lies about other people even in this room, maybe. Is there any dispute that you need to settle? Number four. Am I willing to be led? Am I willing to be led? And that’s a big thing that we need to ask this morning. So, remember that structure. Everyone is being led. Christ is being led, men are being led, women are being led. We are all being led. But it requires me to say, “I am willing to submit. I am willing to follow.” So, here’s what’s going to happen this morning. Sean’s going to come up and sing a song. And if you know the words you can feel free to sing along. But if not you can sit back and think. The servers are going to give communion and I’d like for you to hold on to it. Hold on to the bread and hold on to the juice. And during the song, I’d like you to take a self inventory that Paul’s led us to. How much of my relationship with God is about me? How much of my worship is about me? Do I have any vested interest in anybody else in my life or is it just about me? Then after the song, I’ll come back up and I’ll lead everyone through communion. Let’s pray. God, You are amazing and You are holy and You are worth all of our praise. And right now we come to You and we just want to be honest. You know what’s going on. We can’t really fool You. So it’s time for us just to be honest. To come up with what’s really going on in our world, to be willing to face the fact that maybe we’ve led some people poorly. Maybe even come up with an action plan to get better and we know You’re going to be a part of that. We love you God. It’s in Your name we pray. Amen.

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

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