Saturday, June 4, 2016

Food for Idols and the Lord's Supper

14Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
18Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:14-22)

Thoughts: Eating food offered to idols and eating the Lord's Supper are stark contrasts.  For Paul idol food-eating is not to be confused or associated with the Lord's Supper.  Idols are really nothing.  But the bad thing is that we make the idols bad.  Paul uses strong language here- the sacrifices offered to idols are really offered not to the statue- but to demons- the spirits behind it all.  Jews were very strong against idol worship. It was idol worship (along with the breaking of the Sabbath) that were seen as the cause of the 70 year exile.  The first two commandments- and really all the commandments could be broken down into making a false god in place of the real God.
    In our day of "I'm okay and you're okay" - the Postmodern thought of "as long as you're sincere the truth doesn't matter", Paul would stand up.  Truth matters no matter how sincere you are.  You can be sincere and still be wrong.  The worship of a spirit is not the same as the worship of God.  Just because something is spiritual or religious does not make it Christian.  God is a jealous God.  He is the only one who has a right to jealousy- for He deserves all the praise and honor.   To take His glory and give it to an idol- crediting the idol for work God has done is simply wrong.  

Prayer: Lord, let my heart be not only sincere but true.  Let me be true to you.  Give me grace to flee from falsehood that I might not take your glory away.  

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