Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; you judge what I say. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?
In these verses, we see another timeless truth that can occur when Christians act unchristian. And that timeless truth is that Christians act unchristian when we fail to flee from idolatry. Paul challenges the members of the church at Corinth to judge and evaluate the wisdom of his command to flee idolatry by applying the knowledge that they possessed to the argument that he will make in the rest of this passage as to why they were to flee idolatry.
First, we fail to flee from idolatry when we fail to properly understand worship. Paul explains that those in the world who do not follow Jesus and instead worship false gods, their worship ends up pointed to demons and the demonic instead of toward God. Paul is revealing for us the reality that those who do not follow and worship God through faith in Christ instead worship and follow demons. All other religious systems are created, controlled, and influenced by demons, which are supernatural spiritual beings that were once angels but rebelled against God and place themselves in opposition to God and His kingdom.
And because of this reality, when we participate in the worship of something other than God as God, we are taking part in the worship of demons. Whether it is Wicca, or the occult, or atheism, or any other religious system with an ism, these religious systems were created and are controlled and influenced by Satan and demons to turn people away from the relationship with God that they were created for. In addition, whether it is the idol of position, possessions, pleasure, pride, or any other idol that we worship as God, those idols are used by Satan and his servants to turn people away from their Creator and towards creation.
Paul then hammers his point home: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” Paul is explaining that followers of Jesus cannot participate in the worship of God through the celebration of communion and also participate in the worship of something other than God as God, whether it is participating in the worship of demons through eating at the pot luck fellowships that were occurring in Corinth, or though the participation of any other religious system or object.
You see, the issue is not whether or not we worship; God created all of humanity to be worshippers. The issue is what we worship. And Paul here is revealing for us the reality that we can only truly worship one thing. We cannot worship Jesus plus something else. We were not created with the capacity to worship more than one thing as the center and focus of our lives. We either worship, serve, and follow Christ, or we worship, serve, and follow something other than Christ. But only one person or thing can be the center and focus of our true devotion.
So what do you truly worship? What is the center and the focus of your life? What are you most devoted to? Because that is what you worship. If you are not sure what you worship, let me help you. To find out what you are devoted to and what is most important in your life, all you need to do is look at your checkbook, your calendar, your conversations, your contemplations, and your circumstances, because you spend your money and your time on what you are most devoted to; you think and talk about what you are most devoted to; and you lean into and trust what you are most devoted to in difficult circumstances. So what does your checkbook, your calendar, your conversations, your contemplations, and how you respond to your circumstances say about who or what you worship?
And because of the reality that we can only truly worship one being or thing, Paul explains that we provoke the Lord to jealousy when we worship something other than God as God. To provoke the Lord to jealousy literally means that we insult the Lord’s nature and character by worshipping something less than God as God. It is insulting to God to worship something other than God as God.
Paul then reinforces this reality by asking another question: We are not stronger than He, are we? God desires our total devotion because of His incredible love for us. The most unloving thing that God could do is lead us to worship something less than the best, the most powerful, loving, intelligent, just, and eternal being. For God to want anything less that our total devotion would reveal that He does not want or know what’s best, which would mean that He would not be the best, and thus would not be God. It is because God is who He is that leads Him to desire our best, which is our total devotion and worship of Him.
So what do you truly worship? What is the center and the focus of your life? What are you most devoted to? Because that is what you worship.
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