Discerning the Body
“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 is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”
Today’s Text: 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
I wonder if I will ever hear a preacher preach on these verses. I would guess not. Every congregation has people who get weak and sick. Sooner or later every congregation of as member who passes away. Paul must be referring to people who pass away before their time.
Thank God that people passing away before their time has been extremely rare in Canvas and in GCC, but it has happened. And so the reason that we never hear a sermon on these verses is because (1) it might be quite insensitive toward those who are grieving, and (2) the implication is that they passed away because some people (perhaps the deceased) were not “discerning the body of Christ” and brought “judgment on themselves.”
Yeah. That’s hard teaching, and it’s difficult to find any measure of love in that message.
Because of that, I might never preach a sermon on these verses. However, it is the word of God, and so we must reflect on what the Lord may want to communicate to us.
First, it’s worth remembering that our lives are not our own, but belong to the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:19). Second, it’s worth remembering that through faith we have eternal life (John 3:16). Life does not end with death. Third, the importance and significance of the church, the body of Christ, to God cannot be overemphasized.
Not “discerning the body of Christ” means to undervalue the importance of our church in the heart and mind and the plan of God. We must all repent and have the proper attitude towards our church. The less we discern the body of Christ, the more corrupt and weak a church becomes.
At the pastors’ prayer breakfast this morning, one pastor shared about how his church’s property is being controlled, managed, and manipulated by a related entity. The relationship between the church and the entity is being kept in the dark by the trustees of the entity and even the trustees of his own church. Something is very wrong, and the pastor has a holy unction to get to the bottom of it, as he should.
That’s the kind of thing that happens when Christians are not actively “discerning the body of Christ.”
But praise God! It is His church, after all. And He brought a pastor to that church who does discern the body of Christ and who has nothing to lose. That does not mean that he will sacrifice his members for the sake of his crusade. But I pray that the Holy Spirit will protect the pastor and his faithful members, and that the evil in that church will be rooted out. And I pray that God’s cleansing fire will spark a massive revival in the churches of the Long Beach Harbor Southern Baptist Association. In Jesus’s name. Amen!
