[Steve Myers] Well, welcome to another session of Epistles of Paul. We left off last time in 1 Corinthians 11. Remember the theme of Chapter 11. Traditions in the Church, that's right. Traditions in the Church is what Chapter 11 focuses on. And the Apostle Paul, as he guides the Corinthians, deals with a number of issues. We just finished this section that talked about the order of the family. I like to think of it as the divine order of the family. The guidance that he gives here for proper behavior, not only in the Church, but in the family as well. And as he begins to get into another aspect of traditions in the Church, he addresses another subject as we get down into verse 17.

So let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 11:17. After dealing with this concept of God as a God of order, not only in the family, but also in the way we conduct ourselves at Church, he moves into talking about the Passover. So let's take a look here. He says in verse 17.

1 Corinthians 11:17 "Now, in giving these instructions, I do not praise you since you come together not for the better but for the worse."

Of course, when we come together as the body of Christ, it's supposed to be building us up, keeping us together, unity. But Corinth had problems. He says, verse 18.

1 Corinthians 11:18 "First of all, when you come together as a Church, I hear there are divisions among you. And in part, I believe it."

And so we see the same theme, division in the Church. That shouldn't be the case. And so he says, verse 19.

1 Corinthians 11:19 "There must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you."

Now, we don't want to take this in the wrong way. It doesn't mean that there has to be division in the Church or there must be faction or give us an excuse to say, well, there's problems in the Church because it says here there must be factions. No, that's not the intent of what he means when he writes this. This idea for factions, in the King James Version, it uses the word heresies, heresies in the Church. And there is a connection here, not necessarily talking about doctrinal misunderstandings, doctrinal heresies in that sense. Here it's talking more about this idea of following your own tenets, following your own people, having sects or groups or cliques, that sort of thing.

He's getting into that and he says, it shouldn't be that way. We shouldn't be divided into different parties, different groups in that way. We should be one, is what he's really getting at. And this idea that there must be is that it points to, well, who is true followers of Jesus Christ and who are not? And so when you look at this particular passage, yes, there are, but those who are approved will be shown by their actions. That's the idea here. When there are difficulties, when there are divisions, those who are following Christ, well, it's going to become evident. In fact, if you look back at verse 17, 18, 19, I really appreciate the message translation. If you look back at verse 17, here's what it says.

1 Corinthians 11:17-19 Paul says, "Regarding this next item, I'm not pleased. I'm getting the picture when you meet together, it brings out your worst side instead of your best. Well, it should bring out your best." It goes on, "First, I get this report on your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing each other." He says, "I'm reluctant to believe it, but there it is."

The best that can be said for it is that the testing process will bring truth into the open and confirm it. And that's that idea of, yes, these things are evident. There are difficulties, but those who are approved may be recognized. Those who go through the testing and the challenges, it's ultimately going to bring truth into the open and either confirm the fact that you are a follower of Christ or prove that you're not. And so that's what he's pointing at. And so he uses this as an example of that. Well, what's one of the issues that they had? Well, the Passover itself. Notice what he says.

1 Corinthians 11:20-22 "Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. He says, for in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others. One is hungry and another is drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you."

So here are a couple of interesting things going on in these verses as we get into verse 20. One of the factions, the divisions, becomes evident. You've got people who are well off, people who take things to themselves. They're selfish. One takes his supper ahead of another. He says some people are coming to the Passover drunk. Others are hungry. And, of course, it comes back to this idea, well, what was the Corinth Church consisting of?

Well, you had Roman citizens, you had slaves, you had ladies, you had also those who were freedmen, poor, rich. You had a whole diversity of people here. Were they unified by the faith? Well, obviously he says, no, they're not. They had formed cliques and factions and different groups. And even when it came to, you know, something like a potluck meal, they couldn't even find unity in that. The food wasn't divided fairly. It was inequitable. People were getting drunk. And they were bringing criticism on the Church itself. And so this example of this is what Paul calls the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper. Well, what are we talking about here? Is that another name for the Passover? Or is that maybe re-identifying the Passover as something different now in the New Testament? No. No. Evidently, this is pointing to something that Jude also referred to.

If you want to hold your place here in 1 Corinthians, go over to the book of Jude. Of course, there is only one chapter in the book of Jude. And if you take a look down to verse 11, Jude discusses some of the contentions that were in the Church. Kind of sounds a little bit like the issues that Paul was dealing with. And Jude definitely gets right to the point of those who are teaching false things, acting inappropriately, doing the things that God certainly disdained. And so in verse 11.

Jude 1:11-13 He says, "Woe to them, they have gone the way of Cain. They have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit and perished in the rebellion of Korah." And these are all things that divided people, things that put them at odds with God and with each other. Then he makes this point, verse 12, "These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. You see, those that were divisive, those that were not being unified, those that were being selfish, self-centered, when they would come together for a meal."

He says, "these are spots. These are stains. These are things that showed you're not unified." And so it seems that there were meals, traditional meals that were eaten. Sometimes, yeah, even before the Passover, it seems that that might have been a tradition in some of the congregations. They weren't eating a Passover meal. That's not something they were eating. Here it was something that they call this agape feast, agape meal, this supper. And what does Paul say about that? Well, here Jude obviously is putting what they did, their practice and their attitudes. He's saying this is unacceptable of God's people. It was unacceptable in the way Jude wrote about it. If you go back to 1 Corinthians 11.

1 Corinthians 11:20 Paul also says, "This meal that you were coming together, it's inappropriate. When you come together," in verse 20, he says, "it is not to eat the Lord's Supper."

Don't label this as some kind of meal that's honoring God when your behavior is totally unacceptable. He says this kind of supper, this kind of feasting, is not appropriate. And of course, this is not saying, well, we should have some kind of Jewish Seder before the Passover. That should take the place of Passover. He's saying, no, those types of meals are unacceptable. He says, "Don't you have houses to eat and drink in?" You want to have the supper? You eat and drink before the Passover. Because what is the Passover all about? Well, he's going to get to that. It's about the symbolism that Christ initiated at that Passover that he so longed to eat with the disciples. And so that becomes important. He says, "Here, look at this. Because of the way you're treating each other, the way you're despising each other, that's bringing contempt and criticism on the Church. And there's never a reason to have that, especially when you think about the symbolism and the deep meaning of the Passover." Think about this for a moment. We can recognize it pretty clearly that it's not about eating a meal at the Passover.

If you go back to Luke 22, Luke 22, we have the Passover mentioned where Christ is going to institute the symbolism of the bread and the wine. And it's interesting as he describes that Passover, notice the way Christ words this. This is in Luke 22. Let's pick it up in verse 15. Luke 22:15. Here in preparing for that last Passover that Christ would celebrate with them, here's what he said.

Luke 22:15 "With fervent desire, I've desired to eat this Lord's Supper with..." Oh no, wait, it doesn't say that, does it? No. "With fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." So what's the name for this get-together that we have? It's Passover. He says, "For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God."

And what was the focus of that Passover that he was so fervently desiring to eat with them? It wasn't even the meal part. That's not what he was talking about. What does he speak of next? He takes the cup, he takes the wine, and he shows this amazing symbolism of the sacrifice that he will give where he will shed his blood. And then what does he do? He talks about His bread, His body. His body would also be given bread, that would be that symbolism of the bread. And so it's not about eating a meal. It's not about a love feast that Jude talked about. That's not what...Paul made it very clear, it's not about those things. It was the Passover.

And this particular Passover was really what Christ was zeroing in on. The fact that the bread and the wine would have that deep symbolism of his sacrifice, of his beating that he took as he suffered before the crucifixion and then shedding his blood as he was being crucified and giving his life for us. That's what it was all about. So Paul focuses on that. It's not about a meal. Eat at home. You do that before the Passover. You come together for the Passover and you participate in the symbolism of eating the bread and the wine, partaking of his body and his blood.

So if you head back to 1 Corinthians 11, notice what he says about this. He gets right to the heart of what the Passover was all about. What they were doing, unacceptable. You eat at home, you come together, you can't come hungry or drunk. That's unacceptable. Well, what should we do? What should we do? Well, that's where he goes next.

1 Corinthians 11:23 He says, "I receive from the Lord that which I also delivered to you."

So Paul says, I'm not making up some Passover ceremony. This is what Jesus Christ Himself taught me. Christ Himself gave this to me. Now, you might say, well, wait a second, he wasn't one of the original 12. When did He come to understand these things? Well, I think we have a description of that in Galatians 1, where it talks about Paul's calling and how he was taught in the wilderness by Christ Himself. And so by that teaching, he says, "I received it from Christ, and now I'm passing it on directly to you." So this is from Christ. This is Christ's teaching. This is not my teaching, Paul is saying.

Well, what is the teaching when it comes to the Passover? Not the Lord's Supper. That's not what it's about. It's not about some Seder meal or Passover potluck. That's not what it's about. It's about the symbolism of the bread and the wine.

1 Corinthians 11:23 And so he says, "The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread."

So that's an important point that we understand when it comes to the Passover. It's on the night of the 14th. That was the night that Jesus was betrayed. Now in Scripture, sometimes people will point to various sections, even in the Old Testament, when it comes to the Passover and get into arguments about, well, when should we keep the Passover? And sometimes there are passages that just aren't as clear as others. Well, this one is very clear, and this sets the tone for the New Testament Passover. When do we celebrate the New Testament Passover? Well, we follow the example of Jesus Christ, on the same night in which he was betrayed. And so we always celebrate the Passover in the evening, the evening of the 14th, and we follow exactly what Christ established on that Passover that he fervently desired to eat with his disciples. We follow that example.

And so what did he do on that evening? Wasn't about a meal. It was about he took bread. So the same night he was betrayed, he took bread. And what about that bread?

1 corinthians 11:24 It says, "When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat. This is My body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.'"

So Christ took the bread as the symbolism of His broken body that was beaten and scourged on our behalf. He suffered. This is part of His complete sacrifice. It wasn't just the fact that He was crucified. The beating was part of the sacrifice as well, that He was scourged and bloodied as they led him to the crucifixion. And so his body was broken for us. He took the beating, really that we deserve when we consider the penalty of sin. Here we have a sinless Messiah who didn't deserve any of this. We deserve this, and he took this on our behalf. "It was broken," He says, "for you." He was beaten with a beating that we deserve. You know, that should be the consequence of sin, but He did it on our behalf.

And we're to do this, take that Passover bread, in remembrance of Him, of His sacrifice. And so we remember this bread, this, do this in remembrance of me. This is my body. This is symbolic of my body. And so do it in remembrance. Some translations translate that remembrance, do this as a memorial to me, a memorial to me. It has this connotation of we recognize, we announce the fact that His body was given for each of us. We make this known, this idea of proclaiming, that word could be as a remembrance, this memorial, this idea, that we declare it, we make it known. And so at the Passover, we certainly do that, don't we? We proclaim the fact that He was sacrificed for me. And we renew our baptismal covenant at the Passover. It was broken for me. His sacrifice was for me. We proclaim that. We make it known. And we show that His death was on our behalf.

And so we can read about these same instructions that he gave, not only with what we read in Luke 22. We can find this in Matthew 26. Also find it over in Mark 14, that night of the Passover and the instructions that he gave. And so when we recognize that, we begin to see that is such an important aspect of what we're doing. And the Corinthians, they missed it. They missed it. They didn't understand. And of course, remember the timing of this letter as well. This is probably written during the Days of Unleavened Bread. They had gone through the Passover. This is what they should have been recognizing. And so as we consider that, taking the bread as His body as this proclamation of the covenant that we have with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Verse 25, he goes on here in 1 Corinthians 11.

1 Corinthians 11:25 "In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.'"

So once again, we see the sacrifice of his blood. Jesus Christ was crucified for us. He bled to death. He certainly fulfilled those old covenant sacrifices of the various animals that were sacrificed to God. He bled to death on our behalf. So we recognize that blood.

We recognize the new covenant, this agreement that we have made at baptism. We made that covenant with God. And that covenant was certainly recognizing our Savior, Jesus Christ. In fact, don't we say those words at baptism? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord, your master, your high priest, your soon coming king? Have you repented of your sins? That's accepting that agreement, that new covenant, that covenantal agreement with God that we will follow God and we'll do His will and strive to accomplish those things in our life. And we recognize we can have forgiveness of sin because of Christ's sacrifice. And we have that recognition once again, not only at baptism, but as we renew our baptismal covenant at the Passover. And He says we do that every year. As often as we drink it, do it in remembrance of me. As He said about the bread, do this in remembrance of me. As a memorial, as a proclamation of our covenant with God.

And so it doesn't mean take it any time you want. I mean, it's interesting, you know, most denominations today, you know, either call it the Lord's Supper or communion, or they get all the wrong ideas when Christ clearly describes what happens in that event as the Passover. We also see that many denominations do it weekly. They have their communions every week, or they do it once a month, or once a quarter. They do it whatever they feel is best. Is that what we're supposed to do as often as we drink it whenever we want? Well, it's described here as a remembrance, as a memorial. As a memorial. Well, how often do you have a memorial? Well, we can even think about how here in the United States, how often do we have Memorial Day? Anytime we want? No, it's a national holiday once a year. That's the idea of a memorial, of a remembrance.

And so Christ made it clear, especially in his practice, what did he do during his earthly ministry? He kept the Passover, and He did it once a year. He did it once a year. And so we follow His example. And so we eat this bread, this bread that carries that symbolism and that depth of meaning of His broken body. We take this cup that He pointed out, symbolic of His blood, His sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice of giving His life for us, and we recognize His death on our behalf. So the Corinthians should have really understood this. And so in verse 26.

1 Corinthians 11:26 He says, "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."

So that proclamation, that announcement, that declaration is Christ died and we recognize His death because without His death, there is no penalty for sin, which means we'd have to give our life for our sin. But Christ died on our behalf. And so He says, we proclaim that, we recognize that ultimately until He comes.

1 Corinthians 11:27 He says, "Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." And so now he's pointing out the manner in which we take the Passover, the manner in which we do this. In the Old King James version, it says, "Who take this unworthily," not a very good translation. The New King James gets it more accurately in saying, "Whoever takes this in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord."

And so this idea of carelessly, is that what the Corinthians were doing? Yeah, absolutely. Irreverently? Yeah. Were they not doing it seriously? Absolutely. If they were coming hungry and drunk, were they really understanding the depth of the symbolism of the sacrifice of Christ? Yeah, see, they weren't. And so he says, we better do it in a worthy manner. Well, how do you do that? How do you observe the Passover? How do you take the Passover, the bread and the wine, in a worthy manner so that we're not guilty? See, the idea is if we do it irreverently, if we do it carelessly, then we don't have a sacrifice for sin. And if we don't have a sacrifice from sin, we deserve death. We have to pay the penalty. And so we better be doing it in a worthy manner. And so Paul wants to make sure we understand what exactly is a worthy manner in the observance of the Passover. So he describes what that is. How do you take the Passover in a worthy manner? Well verse 28, he describes how that can take place.

1 Corinthians 11:28-31 He says, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." He says, "For this reason, many are weak and sick among you and many sleep. Many have died." Many have died. He says, "If we judge ourselves, we would not be judged." And so as he talks about the proper way to observe the Passover, he's saying we have to judge ourselves. We better look at our own lives. We better examine ourselves, really look at our lives.

This word for examine here is an interesting word. In the Greek, it's the word dokimazo. Dokimazo is the Greek word that's used here for examine. So examine yourself. Some of the translations will say, instead of examine, they'll say test yourself or prove yourself. Sometimes it refers to scrutinizing yourself, which gets to the heart of really taking a deep look at your own life. Not just a casual thing. The Corinthians were guilty of that. No, we take a deep look at our own life. We examine ourselves and scrutinize our own lives. And that really comes through in the way that the Greeks used this particular word. The Romans did as well when it came to the idea of examining something or really scrutinizing something. The Greeks would use this word in an accounting sense, almost like a banking term. And of course, in the Greek system and then later in the Roman Empire, there was definitely a sophisticated banking system. And money changers were an important part of the empire.

You know what was also a difficult thing back in those ancient times, counterfeiting. Counterfeiting was a difficult problem, big problem. People would take coins. Let's say you had a silver coin, oftentimes people would scrape off the edges and just get little shavings of the silver. And they'd collect these shavings and then make their own coins so that the original coin was no longer full value because they had scraped off the edges, so they would file them down, and now that coin wasn't valuable, wasn't true valuable, the same value as it was originally. So when you think about a dokimazo, the dokimazo, examine yourself, prove yourself, scrutinize. A dokimazo in the old system was someone who would examine the coins to make sure they were full value, to make sure somebody hadn't filed down the edges, someone hadn't given counterfeit. So a dokimazo would do that very thing. And so if you went to a dokimazo in the old system, this is somebody you could trust. This is someone that gave full value if you were going to exchange your money.

And so interesting that Paul uses this word for looking at ourselves, looking at ourselves. Looking at ourselves. So when you think of a dokimazo, giving full value, making sure it wasn't a counterfeit. At Passover, what are we to do? We look at ourselves. We ask ourselves, am I a full value Christian? Am I the real deal? Or am I a phony? Am I a counterfeit? You see, Paul says that's what we need to do. If we're going to take the Passover in a worthy manner, then we have to make sure we're full value, that we are committed to God the Father and Jesus Christ, that we certainly are scrutinizing ourselves to make sure we're rooting out those things that aren't of God and not be a counterfeit. That we are a full value Christian. That's the goal. So as we examine ourselves, that's what we do.

Now, what are we going to find? We're probably going to find some edges that have been filed down. We're probably going to find areas of our life that we don't measure up to the standard and the fullness of Christ. Well, that means we need to change. We need to ask for forgiveness. We need to ask for God's guidance and direction in our life. And the purpose of this examination is to do just that, to see where we fall short. And also like any other test, where we do measure up to the standard. We don't want to forget that. That as you take an examination, as you take a test, you're going to find areas that you do well in. So we don't want to just find the faults and the difficulties. We also find areas of our life that we are measuring up to the standard that God has set. Now, in the areas that we don't, that we do seek forgiveness, we repent and we change, and then we go on. And that's the interesting part here. If you take a look back at verse 28 again. when he says, "Let a man examine himself," what do we do then? We get so down and discouraged that we find problems and issues that we don't take the Passover? No, not at all.

1 Corinthians 11:28 He says, "Once we do this examination, let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup."

You see, because we're going to find areas that we're doing well in. We're going to find other areas that we fall short. We need the sacrifice of Christ. And so he's emphasizing that very fact. Without the sacrifice of Christ, we have no forgiveness. And so when we find those shortcomings, we seek God. We seek His forgiveness. We seek that reconciliation. So we have to take the Passover. We must take the Passover. So we examine ourselves. And then, "So let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." We see even that deeper need that becomes so evident that comes at Passover time. So we examine ourselves and we then take the Passover.

1 Corinthians 11:29 "If we do it in an unworthy manner," he says in verse 29, "we drink judgment to himself because we haven't discerned the Lord's body."

Not discerning the Lord's body. So that's part of this examination. Part of the examination is we recognize the Lord's body. Almost sounds maybe a little odd there, doesn't it? We are to discern the Lord's body, right? So what does that imply? Well, certainly we examine the Lord's body, literally in that sense, we examine the sacrifice of Christ. Christ gave His body for us. We rehearse that at Passover time, don't we? We rehearse what happened when He was scourged and when He was beaten. We rehearse what happened when He was crucified. We look at that specific sacrifice. And so we realize the price that was paid for us, for what we deserve. We examine, we discern the Lord's body.

Now, it's also interesting to think of this in another aspect. When you think of the body of Christ, okay, we could look at the actual circumstances that He went through. Discern the Lord's body. Discern what the sacrifice was all about. We certainly should do that. Also interesting to think of the body of Christ. Well, what is the body of Christ? The Church. Do we discern the Church of God? I think that's an interesting aspect to consider here as well, that we are a part of the body of Christ. We are a part of the Church. We discern the Church of God as well. We recognize the Church of God. Paul is giving direction on how the Church of God should function. What about our place in the Church of God? That's something I think we should consider as well. What is my part in the body? Paul is going to get into that coming up in the next chapter, that we are a vital part of the body of Christ. Do we discern the Lord's body in that aspect? I think that's part of of perspective that we could have at Passover time as well in discerning the Lord's body. And of course, part of that that examination is examining ourselves as well and our part in that.

And so important aspects when you consider the depth of the meaning of the Passover in the eating and drinking and the tremendous symbolism behind it. And so he says, when we don't handle the Word of God properly, when we take things lightly or carelessly, there are definitely bad consequences that are going to happen. That's why he says then there are those that are weak. They're sick. They're not right. And I think this applies not only physically but spiritually. They're spiritually sick. They're spiritually dead because they've missed the meaning of the Passover.

I mean, it's also interesting. There is a physical application here as well. If you want to hold your place here, we can take a quick look over at 1 Peter 2. Just as a reminder here as well, I think there is a physical application that ties in with healing. If we look at 1 Peter 2:24. Verse 24, here Peter is talking about the sacrifice of Christ and what he went through for us.

1 Peter 2:24 says, "Who himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree." So Paul was just talking about sacrificing His body as part of His complete sacrifice for us. Then he says that, "We, having died to sins, might live for righteousness." Another reason we so need the Passover is we recommit ourselves to dying to sin and living for righteousness. And then Peter says, "By whose stripes you were healed." It's because of the beating, because of the wounds that He took, we can be healed.

I think the implication here is not only can we have spiritual healing, but we can also have physical healing as well. It kind of ties us back to, you might make a note of Isaiah 53, talks about that very fact as well. So there is a physical application, I think, that applies here that Peter references, and also Paul himself saying, "Many are weak and sick and many sleep." So you see that kind of dual application there, both a physical thing and a spiritual kind of a thing. And of course, we recognize when we realize the sacrifice of Christ, that's what makes it possible for us to come before Him and be anointed, to ask God to heal us. James 5 says a lot about that very fact. We recognize the sacrifice of Christ who brings us ultimate healing and our faith in that sacrifice. It's really what it's all about.

So if you head back to 1 Corinthians 11, no wonder he brings it back to judging ourselves, that we examine ourselves, we scrutinize ourselves. We become that spiritual banker, that money changer, to make sure we're full value.

1 Corinthians 11:30-31 He says, "We should judge ourselves, and if we do," verse 31, "we would not be judged." Yeah, that's what we're supposed to do. Look at our own lives. He says, "But when we are judged, we're chastened by the Lord."

So God wants our best interest at heart, doesn't he? He wants us to be like Jesus Christ. So he says, "We're chastened by the Lord. We're corrected by the Lord. We're in his hands and he wants us to be like Christ." And so he wants us to change. So as we're chastened by God, that chastening doesn't really mean taking a beating. He doesn't beat us up. Sometimes people get the wrong idea about this chastening word.

This chastening word, especially by the Greek use of that word, really meant an educating process, a process of coming to understanding. And so when God brings us to understand, he doesn't want us to be condemned. He wants us to repent and to change. And so that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to judge ourselves. And even if we misapply judgment, God's going to be there to help us. God's going to lead us. God's going to direct us, if we'll take His direction, so that ultimately we wouldn't be condemned with the world. And so Paul gives this instruction on how to take the Passover in a worthy manner.

And so as he concludes that thought, back in 1 Corinthians 11:33.

1 Corinthians 11:33-34 He says, "Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat..." Eat what? Not a supper, not a meal, not a Seder. "When you come to eat the Passover," he says, "wait for one another." You do it together. You do it in unity. He says, "If anyone's hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment." Yeah. Like he just said, you're going to be judged. And that's inappropriate, in other words. That's inappropriate. That's the implication here. And so He says, "That's how you do this in a worthy manner." And He says, "And the rest I'll set in order when I come."

So as we look at this idea of traditions in the Church, we could probably summarize it with that last statement that he makes there in Chapter 11. "I'll set in order things when I come." God is a God of order. And whether it comes to the order of the family, whether it comes to how we take the Passover, we do it decently and in order. And by doing that, then we're certainly fulfilling the things that God intends for us, what is best. And so when we recognize those things, we are properly then keeping the traditions of the Church as Paul says he delivered them to us. And so that concludes Chapter 11, traditions in the Church.

Now, in Chapter 12, Paul's going to address another issue. Remember, the Corinthians wrote to Paul, asked him multiple questions, reports came back to Paul, and he's addressing these different issues. He's going to address another issue in Chapter 12, and that is the issue of spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts will be the topic of Chapter 12. So we had traditions in the Church in Chapter 11. Chapter 12 is spiritual gifts. So we'll take a look at spiritual gifts as we get into our next session next time.