Bible Reading Challenge #33
1 Corinthians 11:29-34
29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
Paul’s words to the Corinthians are heavy. He warns that taking the Lord’s Supper carelessly or selfishly brings real consequences. Some in Corinth were experiencing weakness, sickness, and even death because of their disregard for the holiness of God’s table. That may sound more like the Old Testament God of judgment than the New Testament God of grace—but Paul is reminding us that they are one and the same.
God is holy. He does not treat sin casually, and He does not allow His people to treat His presence as ordinary. Divine discipline is real. Yet we must remember—discipline is not the same as condemnation. Paul clarifies: God disciplines His children so that they will not be condemned with the world. In other words, His discipline is an act of mercy.
Think of it like a loving father. A good father does not ignore harmful behavior in his children, but neither does he discipline to destroy them. He corrects in order to mature them, so they might flourish in the long run. In the same way, God disciplines us—not because He delights in punishing, but because He delights in us. His goal is holiness, maturity, and restoration.
So how should we respond? With humility. With self-examination. With a heart ready to honor God and love others. The table of the Lord is not a place for selfishness or pretense but for honesty, gratitude, and unity.
Response:
Worship God honestly.
Honor God with your actions.
Place others above yourself.
Receive His discipline as an expression of His love.
When we approach Him rightly, the Lord’s table becomes not a place of fear, but of grace—a reminder of the price Jesus paid, the holiness of God, and the love that keeps shaping us into His likeness.
Bible Reading Challenge #32
1 Corinthians 11:27–28
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
How we approach the sacred things of God matters.
In Corinth, the people were approaching the holy things of God carelessly—what was meant to be hallowed had become haphazard.
Unworthy Manners:
Ritualistically
Simply repeating something over and over can cause it to lose its weight.
If we treat the Lord’s Supper as a mere ritual, we rob it of its meaning, its message, and the power of what it represents.Are you tempted to treat this meaningful meal as just another tradition? Pause and consider its true significance.
Indifferently
Some come to the table simply because “that’s what Christians do.” They take it without reflecting on what it represents.
Instead of being moved by the sacrifice of Jesus, they’re more concerned with not being embarrassed by staying seated when others get up.Have you grown numb to the wonder of Christ’s sacrifice?
Remember: we must never “graduate” from the gospel. The cross must never become common.
Unrepentantly
Others partake with no intention of turning from sin. To take the Supper while refusing to repent is to misunderstand what it means to follow Jesus. We do not “sin so that grace may abound”—we fight sin because Christ died to set us free from it.
While Paul’s immediate focus here is on the Lord’s Supper, these same dangers apply to how we approach God in general.
So let me ask you:
Are you a ritual Christian, going through the motions?
An indifferent Christian, careless with holy things?
An unrepentant Christian, unwilling to turn from sin?
Paul says, “Examine yourselves.” That’s the invitation—to come to Christ honestly, reverently, and repentantly, so that the meal becomes once again what it was always meant to be: a proclamation of His death, a celebration of His grace, and a renewal of our devotion.
Bible Reading Challenge #31
1 Corinthians 11:23–26
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 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.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
The Lord’s Supper is not simply bread and juice.
This meal is the Gospel in tangible form.
In it, we see the body—the fully human body of Jesus—represented. The One who lived among us, who stepped down from heaven into our neighborhood, who died for us. His body was broken for all to see. His blood was poured out to cover our debt. He became the once-and-for-all sacrifice for the sins of all humanity.
Paul reminds us that this ordinary meal carries extraordinary meaning. These simple elements encapsulate the very heart of our salvation.
The body and blood of Jesus, offered to us, give us access to God’s grace, goodness, and promises. When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim not only the Lord’s death but also His resurrection. It is an ordinary meal with eternal significance.
Michael Green beautifully summarizes the Lord’s Supper as causing us to:
Look back – at Christ’s death.
Look up – to fellowship with God.
Look around – to fellowship with others.
Look forward – to Christ’s return.
Look outward – to those who still need to hear the Gospel.
Bible Reading Challenge #30
1 Corinthians 11:17–22
17 But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, 19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
Over the first eleven chapters, Paul has addressed many serious issues in the Corinthian church—immorality, idolatry, and improper worship. But now he pivots to perhaps the most frustrating of them all: the abuse of the Lord’s Supper.
Paul essentially says, “Yes, you’re gathering—but it’s not for good. Your gatherings are actually doing more harm than good.” Instead of building unity, they were exposing and enlarging inequality.
What was happening?
The divide between the “haves” and “have-nots” was mostly along economic lines. The church was made up largely of hardworking, poorer believers who clung to Jesus in hope, despite their difficult circumstances and even persecution. These “have-nots” had no official day off under the Roman calendar, so they arrived at the Lord’s Supper late—tired and hungry—only to find that the wealthy members had already eaten their fill and, in some cases, gotten drunk.
The wealthy, with leisure time and resources, did not wait for their brothers and sisters. They indulged while the food was hot, consuming so much that nothing was left for others. Meanwhile, the working class showed up to scraps—and shame.
Paul’s anger was not simply about the food or drink. It was about their self-centered attitude. Their selfishness turned something sacred into something sinful.
On a personal note: I am grateful that this is not the spirit I see in our church family. While I know of many churches that struggle with these same kinds of divisions, thanks be to God that at FBCFB there is a genuine spirit of unity, fellowship, and encouragement. I especially want to celebrate the women of our church who have been catalysts in creating and protecting this kind of culture. My prayer is that God would continue to bless us with this spirit—and grow it among our entire congregation.
Bible Challenge #29
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Head Coverings
2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife[a] is her husband,[b] and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife[c] who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.[d] 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
This is a passage that can often be difficult or scary because it seems to be so contrary to our current cultural understanding of the relationship between men and women. However, we need not approach difficult Bible passages with fear. When we read this passage we must notice that Paul is giving us two different points of information. First, Paul is giving us a principle. Second, Paul applies that principle to the Corinthian church. The principle is what we also need to follow, but the application may change from culture to culture.
But what is the principle? The principle is that there is an order of submission to follow for the church to be reverently worshiping God. This order starts with God the Son submitting to God the Father, then men submit to God the Son, then women submit to men. However, this is not every woman to every man (only wife submitting to husband, who in turn is submitting to God and to church leadership who is submitting to God), and the Bible is clear that any principle of biblical submission only applies to the family and to the church, this does not speak in any way to the workplace or to the governance of society.
Important caveats aside, we have to acknowledge that this principle is foreign and even hostile to the way our current culture sees the world. However, our culture knows there is some level of submission right? No one would seriously argue that a 5 year old shouldn’t submit to their parents, or that a student shouldn’t have to submit to their teachers’ rules and how they grade. But here is the breakdown, our culture cannot understand that equals can CHOOSE to submit to one another. The issue is that our culture thinks that if someone has ANY authority over me, I must not be their equal (and even those in the church can easily fall victim to this, we were raised in this culture after all).
The good news is that this isn’t true!! Look at our example above. Jesus submits to God the Father, but they are one and the same person, they can’t get any more equal! So this is the fundamental principle Paul is teaching, that there is an order of submission among equals between men and women, just like with God the Father and God the Son. They are unified in dignity, value, worth, and mission, but have different roles to carry out that mission.
Then we get into the confusing bit where Paul applies the principle for the Corinthian church (they have a history of misunderstanding his teachings so he applies it for them), and in their culture head coverings meant two different things for men and women. For men, only the social and religious elite wore head coverings, and only for special times. Hence, for a man to wear a head covering would be placing himself above the others in the church, when in reality they are all submitted to God and to the church leadership who are in turn submitted to God. Therefore, a man shouldn’t wear a head covering. Alternatively, for women a head covering in their culture signified that they were a married woman and were saying I am with my husband. Therefore, under Paul’s principle of an order of submission then it makes perfect sense in that culture for the women to wear head coverings.
Also, don’t miss the key point that this is only even a problem because BOTH men and women are praying and prophesying in the church (verse 5). This is extremely uncommon for that time and culture, and shows an equality across gender lines that was unheard of for that period.
Anyways, so we must follow the principle, but the application may change. For our culture, the application has certainly changed. We simply don’t wear head coverings, and if we do it is a matter of style and not a commentary on gender roles. In fact, I would argue that there is no way in our culture to indicate authority or submission by appearance. In that case, it then comes to each Christian to do their best to faithfully apply this principle in their life.
However, I think because of the confusing part of this passage (verses 2-10), we often miss the most important part of this passage. Paul knows that people are evil, and he knows they are going to twist what he just said to promote inequality between men and women, or to try and force submission as a duty, rather than taking his actual meaning which is equality with submission by choice. So he includes this reminder in verse 11-12…
Men and women cannot exist without the other! We need each other. Paul uses the fact that this is reproductively true to illustrate that it is also true in the family and in the church. Every family and every church needs men AND women using the fullness of their gifts from God, serving and leading, teaching and learning. Because if we don’t have both, we cannot accomplish what God has planned for our families or for our church. God has put us in our families and in our church for this specific time for a reason. Let that be a rallying cry for us, and let us focus on how we can best follow the principle that Paul is teaching rather than getting bogged down in an application that no longer applies to our current culture.