Selfishness can poison the church. We’ve already seen how it damaged the church in Corinth outside of their corporate worship. But this week we also realized how their selfishness ruined their worship time together.
We can fall into the same trap as the Corinthians. We can be selfish about the way we conduct ourselves in corporate worship. And it can have dire consequences. Read 1 Corinthians 11:27–34.
What are the consequences that Paul names to taking the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy—or selfish—way?
27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.
31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
33 So, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. 34 If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.
1 Corinthians 11 (NLT)
God disciplines us when we’re selfish about communion—or anything else involved in corporate worship. He does it to show us how seriously he takes the church. He wants the church to be unified and characterized by selfless living. That’s why Paul suggests a solution to the problem at the end of the chapter. He knows God desires unity so Paul suggests a way to get there.
Think about how you act during church on Sundays. Are you on your phone during the opening song?
Could your clothing be distracting?
Do you talk with your neighbor while your pastor preaches?
Do you grumble about the worship music?
What do you say about the sermon after the service?
Take your answers to God in prayer. Pray for forgiveness for the ways you might be acting selfishly.
Pray and ask God to show you how you can focus on Him and be more considerate of others while you’re at church.
Text your response to the above prompting questions to your group and/or share it as a comment below
Those are certainly a lot of questions. One that stood out first was if my clothing can be distracting. This stood out because on communion I choose to dress nicer because it’s something my grandma actually instilled in me. To dress decent every Sunday, but on communion even more since it’s the day we take communion to remember Jesus’s death for us to be able to be redeemed. So is my outfit distracting? Hmm? As for the rest, I can’t say I can relate. But certainly I think I should dialogue about the Sunday sermon with everyone. We definitely should dissect what we just heard so that it could pierce through our hearts even deeper.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your loving sacrifice to suffer for us all while leading us to the light. In your guidance, may your wisdom flow through the Holy Spirit instilled in me to be more considerate of others while worshipping you at church. To know how to present myself and to be able to discern the things i shall avoid. This way we can spur one another on like branches on a tree. May our branching of one another be as strong as your faith in us that way all our relationships may continue to flow down like a river and bear more fruit each and everyday until the day that we see you in heaven God. Amen.
Dear God, I pray to be more considerate of others and to be able to focus more on you. I will admit to the embarassment of myself that I do tend to nod off during service and admit that I have recently been staying up late the night before, which contributes to my nodding off. I realize now that the consequence of this is that I can appear distracting to others and that I also lose focus on you due to missing out on the sermon. I pray you instill in me discipline to sleep my Saturday nights on time. I also pray that I am not tempted to ruin my sleep schedule to make the most of my weekends even if I think it necessary to recharge before the work week. Amen.