Mistake: Wrong Treatment of the Body of Christ
1 Corinthians 11:27-32:
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
Many at Corinth were weak and sickly, and many died because they made light of the Lord’s Supper, even to the point of eating and drinking the elements without leaving enough for everyone else.
We have what church people call “potlucks,” though in our case neither pot nor luck is involved. There is sometimes a “hog” who mounds up food on his plate with no consideration for the people behind him. It’s one thing if you do that at a regular dinner; I don’t believe that special judgment would fall on someone for that. (The person could lose popularity with the others at the meal, but that would be the extent of it.) But doing the same thing with the Lord’s Supper – a holy ordinance instituted by Jesus – can be deadly. Of course, this would seldom be a problem today because the communion elements are “pre-measured” to make sure that everyone gets them.
For more about this issue, see the section about the Lord’s Supper in the article Sickness as Chastening and Judgment in the New Testament.
Backbiting is also mistreatment of the Body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:5-11:
But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The implication is that you can still be “destroyed by the destroyer” for murmuring and complaining under the New Covenant! If you go around the church criticizing every decision your pastor makes, prepare to be sick.
An even more dire warning appears in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. Paul said that the church COLLECTIVELY was Christ’s body – “you” in the Greek was in the plural. The warning is that if you do things that destroy the local body, God will destroy you. And yes, that is New Testament teaching under our covenant of grace! So mistreatment of Christ’s Body is a lot more serious than people realize.
This passage is widely misunderstood to say that if you smoke or otherwise abuse your body, God will destroy your body. But God CAN’T destroy your body if you’ve already destroyed it! That would make no more sense than saying, “Don’t commit suicide – if you do, God will kill you.”
In fact, the word translated defile in the King James Version of this passage in verse 17 is exactly the same word translated destroy in the same verse. So the wrong understanding of this would be, “If you destroy your body, God will destroy you.” That wouldn’t even make sense. But when you see that Paul is talking about destroying the local church, it makes sense. It would be better for you to be drowned in the ocean than for you to offend one of Christ's believers (Matthew 18:6). This is serious stuff.
If your church preaches against divine healing and you can no longer agree with the teaching there, find a church that does believe in divine healing. Don’t stay and make trouble. Don’t try to undermine the pastor’s authority by secretly getting others interested in healing and setting them against the pastor. That places you on dangerous ground, and ironically your actions can keep healing away from you.
Many deceived people think that they are God’s special chosen channel to wake up their church to the truths of God’s Word concerning the Spirit baptism, healing, and so on. Actually, they are nothing more than church-splitting tools of Satan. If you are not in leadership, you are NOT God’s tool for reformation unless the leadership is open to listen to you. It is working against the plan of God to tithe and give offerings to a church that preaches against Bible truths, thus aiding and abetting their spreading of ignorance and unbelief. You are not God’s channel to wake them up. Quit wasting your time at a dead church just because that’s where Great-Grandpa went and his name is on a plaque on a pew. If you’re not getting fed there, get out and go somewhere where the pastor knows the Word. Life is too short to be wasted in a lousy church. Let me say this – I have been a Christian for decades now and I have NEVER seen anyone accomplish anything when he claimed that he was “sent by God” to a crummy church that doesn’t preach the real gospel to “bring revival” to it. If the leadership doesn’t want God to move, God won’t move there, and YOU are the one who should move – to a church where God is already moving and the pastor is good with that!
Do not deceive yourself into thinking that you can get “fed” online and on television and be OK while you listen in person to pig slop from the pulpit. See The Importance of a Good Local Church.
Jezebel in Revelation 2:20-23 was causing REALLY serious problems for the local church. Jesus gave an ultimatum that if she did not stop, he would sicken her and her co-fornicators and kill her kids. She was destroying the church and Jesus was about to destroy her.
So causing problems in your church can have serious consequences. It can make you sick as well as keep your healing away. Don’t do it.