Redeeming PleasureSample

"Pleasure in the Church"

We even see this discussion popping up in some rather unexpected areas in the first-century church. Writing to the church in Corinth, Paul reprimanded them because they weren’t taking communion the proper way. You might expect Paul was referencing the style in which they took communion, or the frequency of how often they did, or even whom they allowed to take it with them. None of these were the issue.

Paul was mad because they weren’t doing it together in a spirit of unity. Some people took so much communion that others had nothing. As a side note, this would have been a full meal, different from most cultural representations of communion in churches today. I can’t imagine filling up on the stale wafers I’ve seen in some churches. But notice the last phrase: some people were using communion to get drunk!

Or another time, a day famously known as Pentecost, onlookers accused the apostles of drunkenness since they were each speaking different languages. The apostle Peter gave the defense for his crew, and I love his argument: “These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!”

He didn’t say, “These people are not drunk, as you suppose. We have never drank alcohol!”

He didn’t say, “These people are not drunk, as you suppose. We gave all that up when we followed Jesus.”

He didn’t say, “These people are not drunk, as you suppose. We don’t drink, smoke, or chew, or go with women who do.”

Rather, Paul’s argument was that it was too early in the morning to drink! In effect Paul said, “Seriously, at 9:00 a.m.?”