1 Corinthians: "Among you"

1 Corinthians in chapter 1, 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 and commence reading at verse number 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that on every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Just look at verse 5, in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge. Verse 9, God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, and by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contingents among you. Now this I say that every one of you say, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were ye baptized in the name of Paul? Now chapter 3, and verse number 1, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? Chapter 5, verse number 1, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

Ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this thing might be taken away from among you. Chapter 6, we'll just break in at verse number 5. This is the disputing among brethren, I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren, but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers.

Chapter 11, now we'll have to be selective here, it will be good to read the entire section, but begin at verse 17. Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it.

Look at verse number 20. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating, every one taketh before other his own supper.

One is hungry, another is drunken. What? Have ye not houses to eat and drink in, or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? Now look down the chapter, verse 27, wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread or drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, or in a manner that is unworthy, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Verse 30, for this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Now we could read more, but let's turn to chapter 15, if you will, and again we'll just pick up at verse number 12. The great problem here was that some were saying that there was no resurrection. In verse 12, Paul says, Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? Now I trust that God will add his rich blessing to the reading of his word, along with other scriptures that will be cited and other aspects and truth that we will be looking at.

Now just a few, maybe just a few basic things to say and a few things to help us navigate and know where we are going and what to expect. There will be quite a bit of overlap, and what we will do most occasions is not necessarily to deal with each and every section of the word of God we have read together, but in the composite of the weekend try to cover virtually every issue that is raised in the epistle. So, whereas tonight we have read from five different sections or six different sections of the word of God, we may just pick out two or three of those to stress, and some of the other areas we will come back to as we look at it in a different way on another night.

I have to ask, I see gray hairs here, I have gray hair so I am not preaching down, I see gray hairs here. I am going to have to ask your indulgence because what I am going to be taking up is extremely basic, extremely simple. It was the bread and butter we were raised upon as young believers relative to assembly truth.

So, there will not be anything new and startling and any great discoveries this weekend. It will be basic truth from the word of God, hopefully with freshness and hopefully as well with power. So, for those of you who are my age and older and probably some even younger, these are familiar, almost second nature truths that we have learned and lived in the good of for all of our Christian lives.

But there are younger believers here that for some this may be fresh and new and hopefully insightful. And so, I trust you will bear with me and appreciate the fact that we are mainly gearing this for younger believers. I may also ask, I take the liberty of a visitor, I may make one or two changes in the order of the subjects that we will look at from the order you have, but I will let you know ahead of time.

You can be sure the first one tomorrow morning will be on fellowship, but towards the end we may do some switching for the sake of maybe ending on a higher note. Having said that, let us look then at the book of 1 Corinthians and the subject before is chaos at Corinth. Now, there are many ways we could look at this epistle.

Many ways the epistle could be divided and could be profitably enjoyed and understood. Someone has well pointed out it's the epistle of rights and wrongs. What I mean by that is as you go through the epistle in the first six chapters, you have things that were wrong that Paul was setting right.

Things that were wrong that needed to be set right. There were divisions. There was carnality.

There was immorality. There was disputes going to law. Things that were wrong that Paul had to make right.

Just skip over and come now to chapters 11 through 16, and there were things that were right that were being done in a wrong way. So there was the Lord's Supper being carried out. That's right.

But it was being done in a wrong way. There was gift that was functioning. That's right.

But it was being done in a wrong way. There was the preaching of the gospel, which was right, but being done in a wrong way. And there was the collection of the saints.

So at the end of the book, he comes to things that were right, but being done in a wrong way. What about the in-between chapter six, seven, eight and nine? There are things that are neither right nor wrong. Marriage, neither right nor wrong.

It's something which is an individual issue before God. Eating of meats, neither right nor wrong. Taking of support, the support of the preacher.

Paul says, I could do it. There's nothing right or wrong about it, but I chose not to do it. So it begins with things that were wrong that had to be made right.

It ends with things that were right that were being done in a wrong manner. And in the middle, things neither right nor wrong. And he gives principles to guide believers in those chapters for those issues which for one could be right and for another could be wrong.

So it's the epistle of right and wrongs. It's the epistle as well, if you look at it, of replies and reports of replies and reports. Four times over.

Paul says now concerning, in other words, they had written to Paul about things. And so he takes up his pen and he says now concerning marriage and he says now concerning meats, now concerning spiritual gifts, now concerning the collection, the offering for the saints. So he's replying to to four questions they asked him.

But as well, there are four reports he heard. He tells us in chapter one, it's been reported to me by the house of Chloe that there are divisions among chapter five, he says, it is commonly reported that there is fornication among you. And as he comes as well to chapter six, it's reported that there were brother going to law against brother.

And finally, he tells them in chapter 11 that he has heard that there is disorder at the Lord's Supper for report. So it's the epistle of of replies and reports. But as well as the epistle of rebukes and remedy, because if you were to trace Paul's handling of the subject and he does it in such a masterful way, he will put his finger upon a problem and immediately he will bring you to the remedy.

And in every case, the remedy is the same. He brings the Corinthian believers to the person and cross of Christ. And so we read together in chapter one, when he's dealing with divisions, what's the first thing he says? Was Paul crucified for you? How can you take Paul's name, how can you link yourself with a man? Was Paul crucified? And what does he do in chapter five when he deals with the issue of immorality in the assembly? He says, Christ, our Passover was sacrificed.

Therefore, he says, let us keep the feast, let us live lives marked by holiness. If he is our Passover lamb, then we should be marked by unleavened bread conditions in our lives. And he does that on every occasion.

And you can trace it through the epistle, the epistle of rebukes and of the remedy. But we are going to take a different approach to the epistle in the hours that we have before us, not the epistle of rights and wrongs or the epistle of replies and reports, nor the epistle of rebukes and remedies. But we are going to look at this epistle as the epistle of repetition and reinforcement.

And what I mean simply by that is there are words and phrases that keep recurring through the epistle. And if we could gather those expressions together and trace them through the epistle, we would find tremendous truth that Paul is unfolding to us in the epistle. We have read tonight, it occurs 11 times in the epistle.

We have read perhaps. Seven of those rather seven or 10 of those occasions, rather, where Paul says among you, among you, and so he has told us that there are divisions among you. It is reported there's fornication among you.

And so we have read together of those occasions where Paul is pinpointing the problems, the blemishes and testimony which all center around this word as we trace it through the epistle among you. So let me, first of all, just draw your attention before we look at them individually. Let me just draw your attention to this.

What Paul is doing with this expression is he's identifying the source of the problem. Identification, you see, what's becoming abundantly clear as you look at that expression is this. The problem was internal, not external.

It was not some enemy besieging the assembly at its walls. It was not some insidious foe who was invading the assembly. He says the problem is among you.

It is internal, not external. The majority of our problems as assemblies tragically are internal, and the majority of our problems are not doctrinal. Isn't it amazing that Paul has placed his finger with tremendous skill, six problems in the assembly at Corinth? How many of them were doctrinal? How many of them were theological issues? Only one, the last one.

Most of our problems are not doctrinal. Most of our problems are not theological amongst us. Most of our problems are internal and our personality issues, our difficulties because of unforgiving spirits, difficulties because of carnality in our flesh, difficulty because we think we deserve more than we're getting or we don't feel we're getting the recognition we deserve or no one appreciates us.

And on and on we go with our list of complaints, Paul says, among you. So he first of all makes clear the problem is internal, not external. But the words also remind me the problem is in the present, not in the future.

This is not preventative ministry Paul is giving. This is ministry which is practical for the current need. Now, I believe in preventative ministry.

I believe in ministry that should preserve and protect the people of God. But here Paul is saying what I am addressing is not a theoretical possibility for the future. I will not, if you'll allow me just to put in everyday words, I will not ignore the elephant in the room.

I'm not just going to preach to the gallery and tell them what they want to hear. I'm dealing with what really exists right now. So it's not external, but it's internal, it's not future, but it's present.

And it's not hidden, it's obvious he is going to deal with it and identify he identifies the problem, but he deals with it as well because of the influence that was was at work. He could see it as leaven that was spreading in the assembly. And in each case, he is seeking to to abort something, to bring something to a halt because of its tremendous power to to spread among the people of God and to cause loss of testimony for God.

And finally, then, let me just come to the issues that he will confront with the assembly in these expressions. Let me hurriedly go through them with you. Just give you an outline of it and then maybe deal with two or perhaps three as time permits.

The first thing was there was a blemish in their identity, a blemish in their identity. He tells him in chapter one, there are divisions among you. Some will say, I am a Paul.

Another, I am of a policy of Cephas, I of Christ. So there is a a blemish in their identity. When he comes to chapter three, it's a blemish in their maturity.

Their maturity. And so in chapter three, where he is dealing with the fact that they were babes, he says that there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal, a blemish in their maturity. When he comes to chapter five, of course, it is a blemish in their purity, a blemish in their purity.

There is among you that awful sin among you, a blemish in their purity. Chapter six, brother going to law against brother, a blemish in their harmony, the harmony that God intended between brethren and a blemish in it. When we come to chapter 11, it's a blemish in their unity.

There was division, rich and poor at the Lord's Supper. When you come to chapter 15, there is a blemish in their theology. How say some among you that there is no resurrection? So he is giving us an overview in the six expressions of the blemishes that existed upon the testimony for God in Corinth, a blemish in their identity, a blemish in their maturity, a blemish in their purity, a blemish in their harmony, a blemish in their unity, and finally, a blemish in their theology.

Now, just come with me then quickly, we'll look at some of these and consider it. First Corinthians chapter one, a blemish then in their identity. I want you to think of the confusion that existed.

There were those that were gathered behind a movement. Paul was the new movement. He was the new vanguard of Christianity.

My, he was breaking loose from the shackles of a Christianity that seemed bound to Judaism. He was the man of liberty and the man of power and the pioneer and the one that was taking the battle to the enemy's walls and furthering the cause of Christianity. And so there are those that align themselves with this new movement.

We're Paul men, movements. Then, of course, there were those who were behind a man, you can say what you want to about Paul, but don't forget, Peter, he is the first and Peter was the one that brought the gospel to the Jews and brought the gospel to the Gentiles first. You can have your movements.

We want our men and we're going to follow a man. And we're a Peter. Peter's our champion.

He's a man we look to. He's the one we are pattering ourselves after. So I am of Peter.

Well. Movements and men, well, then there's some, well, you know, oh, that's fine, but, you know, you should hear Apollos. Man, if you had Apollos at your assembly, he would fill the place.

He's terrific. You know, Paul is OK, but Paul isn't he doesn't have much presence about him. You know, he's really he's really pretty tough to look at.

He's not a very appealing individual to look at. And he's not really well known for his oratory. And Peter, well, Peter is an all action man.

He's not really much when it comes to preaching. But Apollos, you can have your men in your movements. We want our ministerial gift.

This is what really makes a church what it ought to be. We are Apollos men. So you've got people following movements.

People following men. People following ministerial gift. And then there were those who sat back and said.

We're of Christ, we are, you know, we've got the inside track on all the rest of you boys and we're of Christ and you're not. So there was a problem there as well. So there was this tremendous confusion that was going on at Corinth.

What was the cause of it? Paul says the cause is he tells us in chapter one, we don't have to guess what it is. You're not perfectly joined together in the same mind, in the same judgment. You don't discern things the same year.

You're all looking at something different and valuing something different. The consequence is that there was division and contentions and he tells them of a great need for for unity in the assembly. So let me come then to this very simple, but very, very vital, valuable thing.

To what name do we gather? Upon what ground do we gather? Now, younger Christians, of course, you've been taught that and to do that, you've been you're thinking, well, we gather to the name of the Lord Jesus. What does that mean? What did it mean here at Corinth? Notice what it says at the end of verse chapter in verse number nine, God is faithful by whom you were called under the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. So it is a fellowship that is linked with a person who is Lord.

And so he brings them to this great truth, the one to whom they are gathered, the fellowship to which they have been brought is not a fellowship that gathers around men, nor a fellowship that gathers around movements, nor one that gathers around gift or one that imbibes a party spirit. But it gathers to a person. It takes his name.

It links itself with his person. And it owns his lordship gathered, called rather to the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It's often been pointed out.

Hardly need me to to mention it. How often the name or the title of the Lord Jesus Christ is just in this early part of First Corinthians, this first chapter, how often he stamps it with this great truth. He is Lord.

The one in the midst is Lord. You know what Pharaoh said, you can learn things sometimes by by the negative. Remember when Moses went into Pharaoh and he said, the Lord of the Hebrews said, let my people go that they may serve me, and Pharaoh says, who is the Lord that I should obey him? Now, just flip it, OK? Just look at the opposite.

Pharaoh knew if he's Lord, he should be obeyed. And so he says, who is the Lord that I should obey him? So if he is Lord in the midst. That brings his authority, his sovereignty.

It tells me it's a place where his rights are recognized, not mine. You will search in vain going through this book where you have a bill of rights when you come into God's assembly. There's no place on Earth like it.

There is no soil in which you as a believer can grow and reach your potentiality for God like God's assembly, but there is no bill of rights. The only rights in God's assembly are the rights of the sovereign Lord. He's in the midst.

So what then do we learn about a local company gathered to the Lord's name in chapter one? Let me just point out to you very hurriedly five things that we have in the first few verses. I want you to think, first of all, of their accountability, their accountability. It is the church of God.

That's what we read in verse number two unto the church of God, which is at Corinth. So there is an accountability. In other words, there's accountability to God.

A local assembly, while it has lordship claims upon it, is a church of God purchased by him and accountable to him in all of its dealings. Not a place where we can do what we please, not a place where we can say what we want, not a place where we can insist on our own ways. An assembly is accountable to God.

It's accountability. But then it's the church of God that is at Corinth. So that tells me not only of accountability to God, but responsibility where we are.

So the assembly at Waterloo has responsibility for this area. The assembly I am from has a responsibility locally for for testimony, for God to display the character of God and to declare the gospel of God and to carry out the truth of God. So there is responsibility locally.

But you will notice as well, he says, with all that in every place. That brings us to a tremendous truth, the truth of autonomy. Now, that may sound like a strange word.

What is it? What does autonomy mean? What do we mean when we say an assembly is autonomous? What it means really is that Paul does not say that here is the rule for every church and you're all one and I am the headquarters. Now, every church individually stands on its own, responsible to God and its measure of fellowship is the measure of truth that it shares together. So local assembly autonomy means that there is no central headquarters.

There's no group of men that somehow legislate and preside over a number of assemblies. There's no board, and I say this kindly and reverently, there's no board of preachers that decides what assemblies ought to do. The assembly at Waterloo, there is no higher authority over this assembly.

Once you get beyond the oversight of the assembly, there is no higher authority than the Lord himself. That's the next step up, next court of appeal. That has tremendous implications.

God and his wisdom, and this may sound very, very simple and naive, but I am amazed and I guess we shouldn't be because God is is constantly showing us his wisdom. I am amazed at the wisdom of God in establishing local assembly autonomy. You know why? This is not a pat on the back for us, and this is not look how great we are.

This is really a reflection of God's wisdom. Assemblies have been preserved in large measure from doctrinal error. There's a lot of reasons for that, but one reason is because of local assembly autonomy.

Now, you just think of it. If there were a board of three or four men who sent down decisions to all the assemblies in North America, all you would need to do is influence two or three men, and wrong doctrine spreads to every assembly in North America by fiat, by declaration. But the result of local assembly autonomy means each assembly is responsible for doctrine.

Each assembly becomes pillar and ground of truth. And each assembly preserves testimony for God and preserves the truth of God. Tremendous to think of how wisely and skillfully God has preserved us in what might seem like weakness, and that's really what it is.

We all would like to be big and have numbers and be a part of a huge conglomerate and tell people we belong to a church which is 5,000 strong in the state of Iowa, and this is our name. We are the church of Iowa now. Local assembly testimonies in simplicity and in weakness.

Nevertheless, as a result of that, answerable to the Lord alone, preserving truth, preserving doctrine, preserved in their practices because each assembly is autonomous. So the autonomy of a local assembly, we could take time. Let me just mention one or two things because I think it's vital for young believers.

Whenever he speaks of the church of God at, it's always a specific location, the church of God at Corinth, the church of God, which is at Ephesus, the church of God, which is at Philippi, whenever he uses the expression church of, it's always one individual assembly. Whenever he refers to an area like Asia or Macedonia or Galatia, a country or a region, he never speaks about the church of Galatia or the church of Asia or the church of Macedonia. It's always the churches, the church is plural, the churches of Asia, the seven churches of Asia, the churches of Galatia, the churches of Macedonia.

So that the New Testament really only knows two things. It knows a local church gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in a location, in a specific locality, and it knows of the church, which is his body, which is every believer from Pentecost to the rapture. So there is no such thing as the church of North America.

There is no such thing as the church of the 20th century. There is no such thing as the, as the church of Asia. Those are unscriptural terms.

We hear them every day and it creates tremendous confusion in our minds. Bear in mind the word of God. If you look at it, if you trace it, if you follow it, when it's a given location, it's an individual church.

When it's a region, it's the churches of, and when it's the church, when it's that, which includes every believer, it is the church, which is his body that'll preserve you because there is a vast difference between a local church and the church, which is his body. We do not, and we'll come to this later. We do not gather on the ground of the one body.

Now that has been a difficulty that has been something which has led to confusion and has led to disorder. Let me just give you one reason, if nothing else, and we'll come to some differences in just a moment. Who introduced the truth of the one body aspect of the church, who introduced it, who taught it to whom was it revealed? Well, if I'm correct, it was revealed to the apostle Paul and the apostle Paul taught it and yet assemblies were gathering in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria before Paul ever got the revelation of one body.

So if churches gather upon the ground of the one body, you had assemblies formed and gathered who had no idea what they were doing because the truth of one body was revealed to Paul and he taught it later. But let me just bring you to at least three or four differences between the church, which is his body and a local assembly. First of all, the place of gathering.

We will read later in first Corinthians when the whole church become together. Well, how could that be? He must be referring to a local company because there never has been a time. The only time we have in the word of God, at least the first time we have in the word of God of the entire church, which is his body being gathered together is in 2nd Thessalonians 2 where Paul says, I beseech you by our gathering together onto him, where he's referring to the rapture and every believer ever saved from Pentecostal, the rapture there.

So the church has, which is his body has never been together in one place yet. The first meeting of us all together will be when he comes in the air. So the place of gathering, the church's body has never all been together.

But Paul says a local church should all be together. In fact, in fact, Paul never anticipates willing absence from an assembly gathering when the whole church become together, when the whole church is gathered together. Paul doesn't say, you know, when, when you've got a quorum, when you've got a majority of the assembly, he says, when everyone's there, just expected, just the norm to all be there at the gatherings of the saints.

So there is, first of all, then this difference in the place of gathering, there's a difference in the progress of spirituality. We read together in chapter three, Paul says, you're carnal, you're babes. So that in the church, local church, there are those who are babes.

There are those who are carnal. There are those who are spiritual. There are varying degrees of spirituality, but in the church, his body, we are all being brought to fullness.

We are all seen as sons. We are all seen in the same aspect. So totally different view of believers in each.

You can look at that as well when it comes to male and female. First Corinthians 11 chapter, first Corinthians 14, first Timothy two, first Timothy three, all will bring us to this great fact that in a local church, there is a, a gender distinction that is there for a purpose and for a tremendous lesson to be taught a gender distinction. But when you come to Galatians and it speaks about those who are saved and brought into the body of Christ, there's no distinctions, male, female, Jew, Greek, barbarian, and so on.

All differences are put aside. No differences in the church, which is his body. There are differences as well in the pat in the pattern for growth.

You recall that when it comes to the church, his body, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I will build. I will build. We will read later on.

First Corinthians chapter three, Paul says for the local assembly, I laid the foundation and I built that every man take heed how he builds. So the church, his body, the Lord is building. But a local assembly, you and I are building vastly different.

And let me just mention one more. And that is the permanence, a permanence to be gloried in. No one can be placed outside of the body of Christ.

Impossible. All the powers of hell, all the machinations of the devil and all of the councils of the wicked and all of the planning of the ungodly can never prevail. The gates of hell, he said, will not prevail against it.

Satan cannot take anyone out of that body. Tragically, we will see in first Corinthians five, someone can be put out of a local church. So there is a vast difference between the church, his body, and a local company of believers.

So there is the thought of accountability to God. There is a thought of responsibility to the neighbors, the locale. There is a thought of autonomy in our functioning relative to other assemblies.

We appreciate fellowship, but each assembly stands on its own. Notice as well, just to close, he mentions here their purity. They are sanctified and their dignity.

They are saints. Now I have to leave that. More could be said on chapter one.

Let me just come hurriedly to chapter three and mention here the blemish in their maturity. There was a lack of growth and there was a loss of truth. There was the great fact that they were still babes, their immaturity as believers.

There was carnality at work and Paul places his finger upon it. Now we're going to come back to this because while I may be glossing over it right now, I would take it first Corinthians chapter three is almost key, almost key to understanding this epistle and understanding what is at work because he says that in this section, are ye not carnal and walk as men? Some say, well, what does that mean? They walk as men walk on two feet standing upright, you know, instead of all fours like a, like an animal. What does it mean to walk as men? Well, just allow me just to give you a little better, more accurate rendering than our King James version gives walk according to man.

In other words, they were imbibing. They were buying the thinking of everyone else around them in Corinth. So the way Corinth was thinking became the way they thought they were gauging their lives.

The rule of their life was the rule of Corinth and we'll come back to that. But it was carnal. It was leading to contentions and strife, envying divisions, are ye not carnal? Chapter five is a blemish on their purity.

We'll come back to that as well. And on other occasion, come with me to chapter 11, if you will, because that's probably all we will have time for tonight. I want you to look at the blemish on their unity.

Let me just give a brief overview, if we can, of the Lord's Supper before we come to this. Where would you go for the inauguration of the Lord's Supper? Now, come on, if this were a Bible reading or a reading in someone's home, you know, I'd ask some of you young men, where would you go for the inauguration? Where would you go to find out how it began? Hopefully you'd tell me you'd go to Matthew, Mark, or Luke, and you would call from those accounts how it was inaugurated, how the Lord Jesus began it. And it's interesting, of course, to carefully notice the differences between Matthew's account, Mark's account, and Luke's account.

And if you get three Bibles out, if you need that to help you and just have all three of them open, one to Matthew, one to Mark, one to Luke, compare the words, you'll see some very helpful, very insightful lessons as to the differences in those three accounts. And then I might ask you, why doesn't John mention it in his writings? You would think John, the closest to the Lord, would have mentioned the Lord's Supper, and John gives us the most detail about the upper room, but John doesn't mention the Supper. Interesting.

Let me just give you one suggestion, and that is John, of course, is bringing before us the deity of the Lord Jesus. Bringing before us the one who is omnipresent. And so would it then be out of keeping for him to have an account of that which speaks of his absence when he is the one who is always present? Just one suggestion.

But John doesn't mention it. But we would go to the Gospels for its inauguration. We would go to the Book of the Acts for its commemoration, wouldn't we? And we would see the believers in Chapter 2 breaking bread, and we would see what led to it.

They gladly received this word, were baptized, they continued in the Apostles' Doctrine in the fellowship, and as a result, the breaking of bread and prayers and so on. We would see it implemented. We would see it commemorated when we come to the Book of the Acts.

And we would see it in Chapter 2. We could trace it further on in Paul's movements in Chapter 20 and so on, and notice it being implemented, being carried out in the Book of the Acts. And we would see there, of course, that it is linked with a local testimony on every occasion. We would see as well something of its preservation, its preserving effect upon ourselves.

I have thought that along with what we've already mentioned, two things that have preserved us as believers, or two things we owe a tremendous amount to if we are preserved, is the breaking of bread and a clear gospel message. You may say, you know, what's that got to do with it? I don't know what means anything to you. But sometime you sit back and, maybe sitting back is a poor word to use, shouldn't sit back at the Lord's Supper.

I don't mean this, just sit back and do nothing. Sometime when your mind is fresh and you want to really appreciate something, you just take a mental note of all the doctrinal truths that are mentioned on a Lord's Day morning when brethren rise to their feet, or when a hymn is given out and we sing it. Invariably, you just begin to catalog them, the eternal sonship, the creatorial power, the incarnation, the virgin birth, the sinless humanity, the perfect life, the atoning death, the resurrection, the ascension, the glory, the coming, the kingdom.

I mean, we cover the whole waterfront. Hopefully not each brother does all of it, but if you compile what is said on a Lord's Day morning and what is sung, we are constantly giving utterance to truth that is tremendous in its scope, and we are constantly being refreshed in these foundational doctrines. And then you take that and add to it a gospel meeting that is clear and plain and simple.

I don't mean necessarily a long series. I mean just a good Sunday night gospel meeting when men have helped to preach the gospel. There's nothing like it.

It keeps you where you should be, makes you remember you're just a poor sinner. That all you deserve is eternal judgment, turns your eye afresh to the cross and the grace of God and the wonders of divine mercy, and it just readjusts everything for the whole week. Now, you know what I find interesting? What two things go when an assembly begins to drift? First thing is, well, no sense preaching the gospel anymore.

No one's saved or coming. So either we'll have a little Bible study amongst ourselves or we won't even bother having a meeting or we'll call it something else and no sense preaching the gospel. So the gospel meeting goes.

And then pretty soon the next thing that goes is, well, instead of breaking a bread, we'll have a family Bible hour, and maybe if any want to break bread, we'll spend 15 minutes afterwards among ourselves breaking bread. These are not fantasies. This is what goes on in many places that profess to be gathered to the Lord's name.

No gospel meeting and some secondary importance to the breaking of bread with just a few who want to do it. So these two key things begin to be relegated. Lots of Bible teaching, lots of singing, lots of activity, lots of youth groups, lots of... But the gospel, the breaking of bread, not important.

These two things are tremendously vital to us as the people of God and our preservation, not just our preservation, but what God gets from an assembly. Always remember, and I hope we will afresh discover this and impress ourselves with this great truth, the main purpose of an assembly is not to meet your needs. Remember that.

The main purpose of God's assembly is not to meet your needs, even your spiritual needs. Main purpose of God's assembly is to please his heart. That's the main purpose.

And if you put your all into pleasing him, your needs will be met. Don't worry. But the moment you begin thinking, my needs aren't being met here, and I have such great spiritual needs and such great social needs.

And isn't that what a local company of believers is for? Isn't that what a community of believers is for? To meet each other's needs? No. The primary purpose of a local testimony, ye are God's husbandry, God is getting fruit, lampstand shining for God, house of God, God's order. You can go through them all, all of the different similes and metaphors.

They all relate to what we are to God and what we are to Christ. What he gets from a local company. So it's not to meet your needs.

Yes, you should have an exercise to meet the needs of others in God's assembly. But the reason you're doing it is to please him. You're ministering to them because they belong to him.

So don't sit back and wait for all of your needs to be met. The main purpose of God's assembly is satisfying the heart of God. So let me come then to what may seem like a very elementary thing that older brethren have learned long ago.

Let me just talk about preparation for the breaking of bread. And then I want to come to this portion. If you are anything like I am, or I was, maybe sometimes I still am, you probably think, you know, there's something really, really mysterious about taking part on a Lord's day morning.

You know, it's some special revelation you get somewhere along the way of Christian maturity that tells you, you know, how to take part on a Lord's day morning and when you should take part. And, you know, you wait for this wonderful feeling to come over you and this feeling that goes up your back and it just feels like, you know, something is happening and you know you should. That is not how you know to take part on a Lord's day morning.

It may be you're catching a cold and need some care, but it's not a sign of being led to get up. First of all, let me just back up because we unfortunately, and we're all guilty of it, and so we all have to confess it. We all use very, very loosely the expression being led of the spirit to take part.

It's kind of like an excuse, you know, well, I was led of the spirit, so you can't tell me I shouldn't have taken part. You know, the strange thing is the word of God never speaks of the leading of the spirit when it comes to participation in a meeting. It is spiritual intelligence which tells you when what you have will fit with what is going on.

And so as you are, as you come, hopefully come prepared, come with enjoying something of Christ as you are sitting there and as the meeting is going on. It's not that a brother mentions, gives out a hymn with the word lamb in it and you're thinking of the lamb. So that's your sign.

You jump up. But spiritual intelligence will help you to see here is where my appreciation of Christ will fit in. Here is where my thanksgiving will fit in.

This is the time that what I have to offer would seem to blend with what is being said. And so if you perhaps are enjoying something relative to the the incarnation and the coming into the world of the Lord Jesus Christ, well, certainly spiritual intelligence would suggest maybe that's early in the meeting, not after brethren have brought us to the cross and to the resurrection. And now you come back to the incarnation.

Now, there are no rules, so please don't take that as some kind of hard and fast rule. It may well be that there's something you will bring at the end that will tie things together and increase the worship of the assembly. But spiritual intelligence is what is vital.

But spiritual intelligence can only work on scriptural knowledge. And so you should be through the week in the reading of the word of God, in your study of the word of God. You should be worshiping every day, not just Sunday mornings, every day.

And so as you read the word of God, you should come to God in worship and thanksgiving, look for Christ in all the scriptures, look for him either in picture or in contrast. Allow everything to be a window into Christ preparation for the Lord's supper. And so as I come prepared, doesn't mean I come determined to take part, determined to give out this hymn, determined to say this.

No, but I come prepared. And it may surprise you that at times what you've been enjoying isn't necessarily what you may get up with, but you've been enjoying something and some brother in his thanksgiving or a hymn in its appreciation of Christ touches on that and yet suddenly begins to open up something new to you, something fresh. And you come with that, but you come with something, come prepared, come with something to bring, come with some appreciation of Christ, something to place before God and appreciation for his son, the preparation for the breaking of bread.

But let me come to this section and not just its inauguration and its commemoration and its implementation or its preparation, but its contradiction, its contradiction. What I mean by that is very simply this. As you go now, 1 Corinthians 11 at the breaking of bread, there was indignity at the time of their greatest dignity.

We have no greater dignity. We have no higher calling than as a priesthood of believers to be remembering the Lord Jesus Christ and the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup. That's our greatest dignity.

And yet here they were heaping indignities upon some of the believers who did not have what they had as well. It was a time of the utmost selfishness at the remembrance of the most selfless act the world has ever seen. Selfishness, just feeding themselves, shaming their brothers and sisters who didn't have as much as they had, just bathing awash in selfishness and yet professing to remember the most selfless act ever known.

What a contradiction. It was as well a time of disunity at the ultimate expression of unity, the ultimate expression of unity. When an assembly is together, and we'll see it from 1 Corinthians chapter 10, so come back, don't just throw a dart for now, when an assembly is together breaking bread, it is the expression of their unity.

And that's one reason that we believe there should be those who are not in fellowship looking on rather than in the middle of everything, because it expresses unity in the assembly in the breaking of bread. It's the time of its greatest unity, and yet it was marked by disunity. The time as well of its greatest honor, and yet it was heaping shame upon others.

He tells them in this chapter, he says, despise ye the church of God and shame them that have not. It was a time of forgetfulness, forgetting divine blessings when it was supposed to be a time of remembrance. It was a time when they were exposing themselves to judgment, yet drinking the cup of blessing.

It was a time, finally, where they had low thoughts of their brethren, and they were remembering one that had the highest thoughts possible for them, contradiction. And so little wonder, he says, among you. Four times over in this chapter 11, he repeats this expression among you, among you, among you.

Is it possible that this kind of thing is going on among you when you gather to remember the Lord? And so he brings them to this, the truths here relative to the blemish in their testimony, a blemish in their identity, not men, movements, ministerial gifts, but a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, a blemish in their identity, a blemish in their maturity, a blemish in their purity, a blemish in their harmony, a blemish in their unity, and then a blemish in their theology, chapter 15, that we did not touch upon. Now, that was very hurried. Hopefully, you can go back over them and gather truth if you have questions about what has been said or you want to challenge what's been said.

Since I don't know many of you by name, this is a good time to challenge me because I never can go back to anybody else and say, you know what so-and-so said. So you'll be kind of have a liberty to challenge me if you want. And I'm happy to have you do it.

Not that I feel I have answers to everything, but if what we are teaching, if what we are teaching will not stand the examination of the word of God, then it should not be taught. We don't need traditions, customs, opinions taught from the word of God. What we would like to do is lay a firm foundation of divine truth.

So if you don't think it's in the book, feel free to tell me. And if I can't show it to you, then I will have to publicly acknowledge it and seek to repair any damage I have done. So may the Lord help us.

Thank you for your patience. Shall we pray?