Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You a Super Christian? | New Testament | 1 Corinthians 11

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Be honest, do you think you're a better Christian than some of the people around you? Maybe you're prone to judge churches. In today's episode, Patrick explores 1 Corinthians 11 to discuss how to approach conflict and live with more humility. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Corinthians 11

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. As a pastor, I've met many Christians who are sorely disillusioned with the church. The church is full of sinful people with messy lives who hurt themselves and hurt one another. They'll often tell me, I'm going to leave this church, and I'm going to go find a church that was like the early church, back when they did things right. Every time someone says something like this to me, I chuckled to myself, not because sin

in the church is funny, it's really not. I chuckle up myself because I'm not sure it was much better in the past. For example, at your church, have you ever seen someone get drunk on the communion wine because they were rich? Have you ever had all of the wealthiest people in your church drink all the wine and eat all the bread before those in poverty could eat? Yeah, me either. I've never seen that happen. But that's exactly what happened in the early church in Corinth. Let's read 1st Corinthians 11, verse 17. In the following, directives, I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent, I believe it. No doubt, there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's

approval. So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord's supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry, and another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you?

Certainly not in this matter. You see, the truth is that it's easy to look at your own church and judge it. And it's equally easy to forget that churches have always been messy. But if you found a perfect church, you'd have to leave it because your sin would mess that perfection up. What if we spent less time judging our churches and our brothers and sisters in Christ?

And what if we spent more time in self-examination? What if we judged our own sin more fiercely than we judged the sin of others? Multiple studies have shown how hard this actually is. For example, in a conflict, you're quick to assume the best about your own motives and the worst about the motives of others. Of course, the truth is always way more complex than that.

But imagine what would happen if you inverted this paradigm? What would happen if you assumed the worst about your own? motives and the best about others. Would that change how you approach conflict? Would you walk through life more humbly? As Paul goes on to talk about communion, he says that this is actually one of the purposes of communion. When we remember Jesus' death for our sins, we are called to examine our own lives and our own sins. Let's pick up in verse 23. For I received from the Lord, but I also passed on to you. the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took the 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 and the same way after supper he took the cup

saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes so then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of Jesus. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ, eat and drink judgment on themselves. That's why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

He's saying people have died because they took communion the wrong way. But if we were more discerning with regards to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. nevertheless when we are judged in this way by the Lord we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world so then my brothers and sisters when you gather to eat you should all eat together anyone who is hungry should eat something at home so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment Paul was saying something really important and straightforward. Be more discerning about yourself than others. Examine yourself more closely than you examine others. Otherwise, you will drink and eat judgment upon yourself. Don't look down on those who have less than you. Don't think of yourself more highly than others because you have more than they do. No, you have to realize that we all share the same cup because we all, whether we're wealthy or poor, we all equally need the saving grace of our same. Savior. You may think you're a super Christian, but you need Jesus no more or no less than the lazy

Christian next to you in church. Don't judge them. Examine yourself, not them. Remove the log from your own eye before you take the speck out of theirs. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening. You know.