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Move in Unity

September 15, 2024

1 Corinthians 10:14-22

14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is 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? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You 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. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Read 1 Corinthians 10:14-17

  1. A great rule of thumb for understanding and interpreting the Bible suggests “When you see the word ‘therefore,’ ask what it’s there for.” With that in view, how do these verses connect with the verses that immediately precede them?
  2. What practice of the church is Paul talking about in verse 16?
  3. Read Matthew 26:26-29. In this passage, how does the Lord’s Supper serve as an expression of unity among the disciples? How does it function that way today?
  4. What can Christians do to foster the kind of unity Paul is speaking of here? What can/will you personally do?

Read 1 Corinthians 10:18-22

  1. In the Lord’s Supper we find communion with God as well as communion with one another. What is the experience of the Lord’s supper like for you personally? To what extent does it affect the life you live outside of the church?
  2. What does it look like in our context to ‘drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons’? Same question asked another way: what are some attitudes, practices, and actions in your own life that exist in contradiction to your overall submission to God? What can/will you do about it?
  3. Jumping ahead a little bit in 1 Corinthians, read 1 Corinthians 11:28-31. What do you understand that passage to mean?
  4. What does it mean that everyone ought to ‘examine themselves before receiving the Lord’s Supper’? To what extent do you make that part of your practice?
  5. Paul speaks of ‘arousing the Lord’s jealousy.’ How do you feal about God being described as ‘jealous’?
  6. Do a search in your Bible for verses that speak of God being jealous or the jealousy of God. What did you find? What did you learn?