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The Lord's Supper with Attitude By Kevin Matthews

Matt 26:17-30 1 Cor 11:17-34

It's been a desire of mine to preach at a Lord's Supper sermon for some time.
I guess ever since I started preaching it's been a desire of mine to actually preach when there's been a Lord's Supper because I quite like the idea of the Lord's Supper.
It reminds me of what the Lord's done for me.
And I've always wanted to preach on it.
But having said that, it's rather interesting the passage I've spoken because it's got something to do with it, but not directly to do with Christ's sacrifice.
But nevertheless, tonight we want to look at this passage here in 1 Corinthians 11.
We're going to look at it under three main headings.
They are, first of all, the background to the passage.
That involves going back to a few passages that, well, the passage that Steve read and a few other passages just to see what was going on.
The second point is the problem at Corinth.
There's what in the world was happening there. Can anyone know?
Well, the apostle Paul seems to think he got to the bottom of it.
So we'll have a look at that.
And thirdly, we want to look at the relevance and application for today.
And so all those three points are under this rather strange heading of the Lord's Supper with attitude.
Does that mean that we're meant to have an attitude or that we're not meant to have an attitude?
Well, we'll have to have a look at that and find out.
First of all, the background then.
If we'd understand this passage in 1 Corinthians 11,
I think it's pretty important that we have a fairly good idea of what the background to the Lord's Supper is.
I'm going to tip this over, I think.
What the background to chapter 11 is.
And when we think about that, well, 2,000 years down the track,
after the Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ when he was celebrating the Passover,
you'd expect there to be some differences in tradition.
And there are.
We can't get away from that.
We try not to, but we can't help it.
We seem to be creatures who like to change things.
And that's happened to the Lord's Supper.
And that's a bit controversial, perhaps, but we'll think about that.
What differences are there?
Well, 2,000 years ago it would seem, if one was to look at the passages,
that they actually ate a meal while they were celebrating the Lord's Supper.
And I suppose you could have good and worthy arguments about whether we should
or should not have meals today with the Lord's Supper.
Another thing that one will see fairly easily, really, at looking at these passages,
is that there was only one cup used.
Now, I don't know how big it was that there was only one cup used.
And I suppose good and worthy arguments could be brought up to use only one cup.
But we're not going to go on about such little things tonight.
Not entirely, anyhow.
It is my belief that when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, as we will a bit later on,
we do observe the essential substance of the Supper,
all that it symbolizes we actually observe.
And I think that's probably the most important part of this,
is that we recognize what these things symbolize and we have the essential parts of it.
But still, let's have a look at these passages.
If you want to look at Matthew chapter 26, we'll go back there first.
This is the passage that Steve Redd taught for us.
When Christ instituted the Lord's Supper.
Let's read a few of these verses. Verse 17 firstly.
Now on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying to him,
Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?
I'll flip down to verse 19.
So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover.
When evening had come, he sat down with the twelve.
Now as they were eating, he said, Assuredly I say to you, one of you will betray me.
And then verse 26.
And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said,
Take, eat, this is my body.
Now here in this passage, as I said, this is the passage where the Lord's Supper was first instituted.
This is the first time that it was celebrated.
That verse 26, it was eaten with the Passover meal.
As they were eating, Jesus broke the bread.
Also in Mark chapter 14, it's a parallel passage.
It says pretty much the same thing. As they were eating, Jesus broke the bread.
So that's a fairly reasonable to assume I think that they were eating a meal at the time.
We look over to Acts next, Acts chapter 2.
Now from verse 42.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers.
And fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house,
they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all people.
And the Lord added to the church daily, those who were being saved.
And then quickly over to chapter 20.
Now verse 7.
Now on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul, ready to part the next day, spoke to them and continued his message under midnight.
I'm not going to do that tonight.
There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.
And in the window sat a certain young man named Eutychus who was sinking into a deep sleep.
And don't you do that.
He was overcome by sleep and as Paul continued speaking he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.
But Paul went down and fell on him and embracing him said,
Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him.
Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long lull,
even till daybreak he departed and they brought the young man in alive and they were not a little comforted.
Now those two passages of reading Acts aren't entirely clear.
Some would say that those passages refer to the Lord's Supper.
Some would say no, they refer only to eating a meal.
And some would even say that no, it refers to both.
Now I don't know what camp you would put yourself in.
I don't even know what camp I'm going to put myself in.
But there's some interesting verses there to think about for the time being.
1 Corinthians 11, the passage we're in, in verse 21, says,
For in eating each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one is hungry and another is drunk.
Now that passage as we're seeing is in the context of the Lord's Supper problems that they were having there at Corinth.
Certainly it's clear that the Corinthians at least, they thought that the Lord's Supper was to be associated with a normal meal.
A shared common church meal, if there's such a thing.
Now what do we get out of all those passages? A lot of confusion perhaps.
Did they or did they not eat their meals together with the Lord's Supper at times?
Well I think we can safely assume a number of things.
Now first of all we can say that when the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper it was fairly clear that they did have a meal with it.
Well it was probably convenient to do it then, to institute it, but they had a meal with it nonetheless.
You could say there it was celebrated within the context of a shared common meal of the church.
The church has then existed in the disciples.
Certainly Matthew 26, Mark 14 and 1 Corinthians 11 do suggest that there was a shared common meal.
Acts 2 and 20 suggest that they had everything in common.
So that if they did have a meal, then obviously they had everything in common, they shared.
Well at least that was the principle of the thing.
It also suggests that they ate together quite often.
When they came together to eat, having all things in common it was obvious that someone was bringing the food, they were all bringing something.
And I guess it's safe to assume that the richer people probably bought more and the poorer ones probably bought nothing, if not just a little bit.
But that's okay, because it would seem that whatever happened here with this meal situation was that it was meant to express something very important I think.
It was meant to express and to be a recognition that together they made up one people.
They were the people of God in that place. They shared and have everything in common.
It was a celebration, if you like, of their united faith, the united salvation in Christ.
And I think that's basically the theory behind this shared common meal situation.
So that's the background.
Don't get carried away and think, well that's only the first point and the other two points are going to be just as quick. No, that won't be the case.
The second point will be a long one.
So that's the background and you should be able to work out pretty much yourself what this passage here in 1 Corinthians 11 is talking about.
And it's really pretty simple to understand now.
Paul had received news about the Corinthian church.
And I think from memory that's if you will find that in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10.
Let's read from there.
So it was this Chloe that brought the news to the Apostle Paul.
And here in 1 Corinthians 11, again it mentions the bringing of the news.
Verse 18.
So what he's saying here is that the news that I've got from Chloe isn't good.
It's not something to be proud of. It's not something to laugh about. It's not something that I'm going to praise you about.
Because it's not worthy of praise.
It's not good but it's shameful news.
And in part I believe it.
I think it's because he recognizes that Chloe is a reliable witness.
He can't just put it aside and say that's just one person coming along and having a bit of a wind.
But it's something that he obviously trusts.
And that's one of the reasons why he believes it.
But the second reason he believes it is because it says there in verse 19.
So there's two reasons why the Apostle Paul believes that what he's heard is true.
A reliable witness and a necessity of factions that will come in time.
And we ought not to be surprised when they erupt even in our presence.
Because they must come.
So let's look at this passage in a bit more detail.
Verse 17.
That little phrase in giving these instructions would be better rendered now giving these commandments.
Instructions sort of give you the idea that they're optional.
The words commandments.
Because what Paul's saying is something which they must change.
They must do these things that Paul wants them to do.
Because what they're doing is not good.
Their behavior needs to be corrected.
Their present practice is wrong and it must change.
So therefore Paul is going to give them commandments to get them to change.
He says you Corinthians what you're doing is not for the better but for the worse.
When you come together you would think that the church of God would edify one another.
But you Corinthians it's not like that.
When you get together you go back home worse than when you came.
It's a rabble raising sort of situation.
All the rabble get together more or less and cause trouble amongst each other and there ends up to be fights.
Divisions.
There's nothing good about it.
Why am I going to praise you? Do you think I'm going to praise you for it? No.
Well why is it shameful? Why is it wrong? What's happening here?
Well we can say well first of all God's dishonored by wickedness.
It doesn't bring glory to his name.
The people who are his, who go by his name are raising all sorts of trouble in the church.
What good does that do to God's name?
It dishonors him.
It brings blasphemy upon him.
Because the nations and the people around about say well look at those people. What's their God like?
That maligns the gospel.
How can it be true? How can it be life changing if what they're doing there is what we see down at the pub?
It's no different.
And how can it be doing any good to the people that were coming together?
Those poor people.
People who saw their need of the gospel and who had embraced Christ and thought they were amongst friends and brothers.
Who when they had a look at the situation and they were getting divided up, the rich were going one way and the poor the other.
How can it be doing those people any good emotionally and spiritually?
What's praiseworthy in that? He says in verse 22.
What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.
Can't you see that what you're doing is destroying the body of Christ?
You're pulling it apart.
You're damaging people.
They're losing their confidence in Christ.
They're losing their confidence in the body of Christ as being able to help them.
What do you expect me to do?
Do you want me to praise you for that? How can I?
And I guess, well, the question that we have to ask ourselves tonight is what is our attitude as we come together to celebrate this Lord's Supper a bit later on?
What's our attitude? What's my attitude? What's your attitude?
Have we come together and will we cause more harm than good?
Now on the surface we could say, well, no, that's not the case.
We're all here. We all know each other. We all get on well.
One doesn't have to be too wise to know that there are times when underneath the surface, ready to erupt like painful skin lesions or pus,
that under the surface these things can soon come out.
There can be bitter spirits ready to burst forth into all sorts of trouble.
So we need to ask ourselves individually and as perhaps groups of people that we may have here,
what is our attitude as we've got together tonight?
Well, what a tragic thing it is when the professing body of Christ comes together in a given place,
making up the body of Christ, the living stones of God's temple, and become like a wallow of pigs.
Perhaps you don't think that's a good illustration.
We come together and we become something like a wallow of pigs,
all wallowing about in the mud of our own self-interest and desires and interests and centeredness,
sloshing about in our own mud, spraying it everywhere, staining the church of God, maligning its character.
No concern for anyone else but just what we want.
Staining the witness of God in this place and polluting His name.
What a tragic thing when that happens.
And really when we look at it, that's what's happened here at Corinth.
The mud's been flying about and it's sticking to everyone, even to God.
Not rightly so, but it's affecting the witness of the church and of the gospel.
Think about that. Think about your own attitude, as I have to think about mine.
What sort of attitude is it that you have that is causing your behavior tonight?
What sort of attitude is it? Is it a good attitude or a wrong attitude?
And that's where we want to get somewhere towards the end.
Do we have a right attitude or a wrong attitude?
Let's read verse 18.
For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you and in part I believe it.
What was it that caused Paul to say that their meeting together was causing more harm than good?
It was this, that there were divisions.
The Greek word, some of us budding Greeks, whatever you want to call them, Greek translators or whatever,
will be interested to know that this word is schismata and it's the word from which our word schism comes from.
And I think I said that right. We're learning how to pronounce all these words as well.
Schismata. It's a word which is used to describe parties or cliques that are separated by alienation or furling.
Now you know what that feels like.
When you've been offended by a friend or a brother, you sort of sit over this way somewhere and you sort of go,
I'm not going anywhere near that fella for a while.
You sort of feel alienated. You feel like you can't get together.
Well this is the situation that was present at Corinth.
There were all these little groups and cliques that just could not go near everybody.
One clique would be here, one over there, one over there. They just wouldn't get anywhere near each other.
They were alienated by silly little things.
Silly little things like, I've got more money than that group over there. I can't mix with them.
What a tragedy. What a tragedy.
We can think about the Republican monarchist debate in Australia.
Now at the moment it's not causing so much friction as it possibly will in the future.
But there are people who are alienated from each other over this.
I know if I was to go into my grandfather's place at Rosecourt in the Hawken Masonic Village,
swearing my allegiance to Paul Keating as the President of Australia, he would get very upset.
He probably would write me out of his will if I'm in it.
And he would say, well no, because this is the man who gets dressed up in a suit when the Queen comes on TV.
He would be offended.
Now, in Australian politics, and in the community at large, it is getting bad.
Where people are being alienated from each other over this debate.
And it can happen in the church. Little things.
And really, if we see this Republican monarchist thing in context, it is a little thing.
With all the other problems and things that are happening in Australia.
And so often these little schisms, these little clicks that develop in the church are over little nothings.
Well what were these little nothings? Well back there in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where we read a bit earlier.
1 Corinthians 1 verse 10.
Now I plead with you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing,
and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement.
For it has been declared to me concerning you my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.
Now I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ.
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptised in the name of Paul?
They were divided over which preacher they would follow. Now it's a tragedy that in our own day,
that we're running after preachers and not after the gospel, and we're doing that.
We have a fairly clear division in reformed circles, reformed Baptist circles at least,
between one group that calls themselves Grace Baptists and one that calls themselves Royal Sovereign Grace Reformed Baptists.
For we're pretty much the same thing we do, but we like to practice things a little bit differently.
But yet there is a clear contention, a division, something that really ought not to be destroying the unity of the faith.
But it's there. In verses 21 and 22 of chapter 11 of Corinthians here, we see another reason for the divisions,
these schisms, these cliques.
For in eating each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one is hungry and another is drunk.
What? Do you not have houses to eat in and drink in, or 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.
This passage is talking about class distinctions. Between the rich and the poor, you have the rich snobs and the poor paupers.
Those that wouldn't mix, wouldn't get together. There are rich groups and there are poor groups.
Now, we're beginning to get a picture here of a church that is in rabble, which has fallen apart. Can you imagine it?
You've got a rich poor group, a poor poor group. That's not a fruit. A rich Apollos group, a poor Apollos group.
All sorts of different groups. You wonder if they're meeting in someone's house, how could they each have a quorum somewhere?
Where could they all fit in without mixing with each other? How must they have big houses to accommodate such a falling apart church?
What a rabble it must have been when they were trying to celebrate the Lord's Supper.
One body, one cup. Well, they must have had someone who they all got on with and they all went around and said, you take the cup to that group over there.
It must have been a terrible situation to be in.
When they came together as the professing body of Christ, their deeds pulled down what they professed.
They said, yeah, we're a unity, we're a body of Christ, but yet in everything that they did, there was no real living reality. There was nothing there.
Instead, there were little groups, little fragmented bickering groups who were intent on maintaining their little cliques along party lines.
Whoever didn't fit in, they didn't talk, they didn't get on with, they didn't want nothing to do with it. There was no unity. There was no unity at all.
In verse 19, Paul says, for there must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognised among you.
Now Paul recognised that in the Church of God at various times there will arise divisions that must come.
Now the Greek word there I'm not even going to try and pronounce, but it suggests an act of choice or an act of party to deliberately divide away from the other group.
Paul saying, I recognise that there must be divisions at times, there must be separations in order to prove genuineness of character, genuineness of reality of saving faith in Christ.
To show those who are in fact unbelievers, to show those who are false, to show those who are not true Christians. He says, I recognise that.
And the reason I think he says this is to get them to recognise or to get them to think about the situation that they're in, to think about their attitude, their behaviour, to think about whether they in fact are really Christians or not.
I think that's the reason why he uses that phrase there.
Are we true Christians? That's what Paul wanted them to ask themselves.
The way they respond to each other will betray whether they are or whether they're not.
The way that they deal with the various disputes that arise, these little petty things will help them to decide whether in fact they are true Christians or not.
Who is the genuine article? Who is not?
Verse 20 and 21. Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper.
For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others and one is hungry and another is drunk.
Now the Corinthians would say, no we are coming together to celebrate the Lord's supper but Paul says, no you're not because you're not coming in the right attitude.
What you're doing is a form but it's not what God wants. You're wasting your time.
There was an opportunity they saw to further emphasise the divisions in the church.
There was a further opportunity to put forward their own self-centred ideals.
There was an opportunity to outdo one another in snobbishness.
There was a further opportunity to further humiliate the poor people who had nothing.
The people who should have expected and should have got some help in that body but got nothing.
We had the rich gluttonising and getting drunk and keeping everything to themselves.
How, oh no, we're not going to share anything with those people, they're nothing.
How would I appear in a community and the poor left with hardly anything to eat, rejected by everyone else in the church,
made to look like unimportant nobodies, as if it didn't matter where they went, as if it was no importance to the church.
What happened to them? Humiliated by the rich. Oh Paul says no, there's nothing praiseworthy in any of that, nothing.
In verse 22 he says, what? Do you not have houses to eat and to drink in?
Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing?
Paul begins here to argue and remedy this situation by going from the lesser to the greater problem.
The lesser problem was this problem of food, where who was going to get enough to eat and who wasn't.
That was the lesser problem. And he says, well, you've got your own houses to eat in, why don't you have your meals at home?
That would solve all this problem about who's going to eat what and who's not going to get enough.
That would solve all that problem. But really, that little problem is a symptom of a much larger problem.
And that larger problem is this. Do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing?
Do you care about the body of Christ? That was the problem. By these clicks, they were showing they had no concern for the body of Christ united together.
They didn't care for one another. They didn't recognize that they were part and parcel of the same person, the same body.
They despised the body of Christ. They tore down the profession of their lips with their actions.
The Lord's Supper, when rightly observed, is a further expression of a unity, a unity in faith in Christ, a unity in the saving death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's meant to express a oneness, that that sacrifice was not for individuals alone, but for a body that made up the one whole.
Paul is saying, what you're doing is just pulling all that to pieces. You're showing it to be nothing to you.
If you just look at chapter 12, Paul begins to show how they can deal with the problem there.
Chapter 12 from verse 12.
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ.
For by one spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or three, and have all been made to drink into one spirit.
For in fact the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, because I am not a he and I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as he is pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
No, much rather, these members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, on these we bestow greater honour, and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty.
But our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honour to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body.
But that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
Now you are the body of Christ and members individually.
What they needed to grasp to solve all this problem of these cliques, was to recognise that the Church is made up of many members.
That they are made up of all many members, it is one body. Every part indispensable to the other.
They weren't to get carried away in their own self-centred attitudes, thinking that because I'm an I, all the E's are wrong.
But they needed each other, they needed each part. The I needed the E, the E needs the I.
Every single part is essential. And if these cliques are to be corrected in the Church at Corinth,
and they would be, if the Church at Corinth was the true body of Christ, then this is what they had to grasp.
That the body of Christ is important. That the body of Christ is made up of the rich, the poor, those who think the polis preachers better than Paul.
All those people made up the one body. They are essential to one another. They all had essential parts to play.
And that's what they needed to grasp.
Well, thirdly then, what is the relevance and application to us? Is there any relevance and application to us?
Well we think we haven't got any trouble with this. Is there any relevance and application as we come to celebrate the Lord's Supper tonight?
Well, there are many things on our minds I'm sure. Maybe not even a sermon.
But many of us will have all sorts of things on our minds. The things of the past week, the things of the next week.
Where the next meal is going to come from. All these sorts of things occupy our minds.
And I know as I try to listen to a sermon, so often these little things pop into my head.
Now that's neither old man or new man. That's human. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing sinful with that.
We each have these times when we will think about things other than the sermon. And I'm not saying that that's wrong.
Now some people might disagree with that. You try and show me a person who does not do it. There's no need to feel ashamed about that.
But yet, while those thoughts are in our minds, we battle with them don't we? Because we want to hear what's being said.
And that's the right desire. As we come together to celebrate the Lord's Supper tonight, it is our desire isn't it?
Both individually and as a body, to recognise what Christ has done for us.
And to thank Him for it. And to praise Him for it. And to love Him for it. To express it to Him in a new way each time we do it.
Fresh praise, fresh gratitude, fresh love. And we recognise the many things that the Supper symbolises.
The one body, the one blood that was shed, the one church that was shed for. All these things we recognise.
And this is observing the Lord's Supper I think with the right attitude. The desire to do it in such a way that we recognise that we're a body together.
Each one making up the body of Christ, recognising that what we're celebrating in Christ's death, in His broken body, in His spilt blood, was done not for just me individually and my own ideas, but for the whole church.
Together as the one body in Christ. Now that's celebrating the Lord's Supper correctly. But we need to take heed lest we fall.
I don't want anyone to read into this sermon tonight that I think that there are divisions within this church that are about to pull the church apart. Little schisms, little cliques, each one concerned for their own ideas. I'm not trying to say that.
But we do need to guard ourselves don't we? Against any of these things happening. Now it may well be that there are some here who have these little cliques, all have wrong attitudes tonight. I don't know. I don't know.
But we need to be on our guard. So when I thought about this, and I must admit I had difficulty thinking about this, how? How can we guard against this? How can we guard against this?
Because we all know from experience, even in this church from experience, that when these cliques come, when the church begins to separate into these little cliques, it can almost pull the church to pieces.
So how do we guard against that happening? Well one of the first things I thought of was gossiping. Gossiping. We need to stamp out gossiping. Not just in the other person who comes running to you, but you yourself.
I've just heard this real beaut little thing about this guy over here. You should have heard what he got up to last night. Oh boy. We need to cut that out. We need to stamp that out.
We've got little parties then. Oh we hate Kevin because he did that. That's what happens. That's what happens in real churches. Oh boy. Look at the shirt he's wearing.
I mean that sounds silly, but that's what happens. Stupid little things like that. I hate the coffee we drink at morning tea and we get all the Nescafe group. It happens. Silly perhaps, but it happens.
Little fights develop over whether we should be drinking Nescafe or some other coffee. Amazing.
Reminds me of a Jake I heard. I'm not even going to tell him Jake's here. Reminds me of a Jake I heard of parliamentarians who managed to spend four billion dollars or something on a major project and to decide to do it within a couple of seconds.
But then when they decided what coffee they were going to drink, it took hours to decide what it was. And that's what the church can be like sometimes. We argue about these silly little things.
But we need to stamp out this gossiping business. In ourselves we've got to try under God's grace and mercy, his help, his spirit help, to not run to others in the tittle-tattle about what we've seen others do or what we've heard others say. We need to stop it. We do.
But we also need to stop the one that comes running to us with a story. We've got to say, instead of wanting to listen to it because it's a juicy story that we might like to hear, we've got to say, no, no, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to know about it. Stop it. I'm not going to listen. And refuse to listen to it and to tell them why.
But there are other ways as well. We can reach out to those who are perhaps on the fringes, those people who are on the outside looking in as it were, the ones who may just have come off the street, become a new believer, don't feel part of the body.
We need to say, well, we need to get alongside them and bring them in so that there doesn't become a little group beginning to develop of people who have just come to the church and who don't feel like they fit in. We can stop that. We need to make a little effort to go out of our way and to do something about that.
And I don't mean just by words. It's so easy. Words are cheap. We can say many things and they can do nothing to help someone. But we need to have concrete things that we can do to help those sorts of people. I mean, they might only be little things, but they're things that we can do.
We need to recognize that that person who's just been saved may well be an important person in this body of Christ. They might be someone who can really minister to some of our needs. And we can really minister to them.
And I guess the most obvious one, which I was thinking I almost forgot about, was we can repent. We can repent of bad attitudes and of the cliques that we might be already involved in.
It's not hard to develop a bit of spirit. It's not hard. It's not hard to get out of it. Let's try and deal with these things while they're little before they become big.
Before we begin to say, well, I've got a problem with Kevin, and then everything that I do becomes a problem because we've allowed the bitterness to swell up. We can stop it right at the germ by going to that person and sorting it out immediately.
So let's do that. Let's repent from any bad attitudes and any cliques that we may be involved in. Now, I'm not going to go on and on and on tonight, draining about the many practical ways that we can do this. There are so many ways.
And it's up to you before God to work out, how can I make a difference? One man can make a difference. One man, under the grace of God, driven by the power of God, by the Spirit of God, can make a difference. You can make a difference by God's grace.