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1 Corinthians 11:22 – “What? No Kitchen?”
Walking into this building is shocking for some; not so much by what is here – pews, classrooms, songbooks – but by what is not here. Notice I didn’t say, “by what is missing.” That would imply they belonged. So what is not here? Statues, Pianos, Kitchens & Gymnasiums.
Nowadays, many churches of Christ have kitchens or gymnasiums. Some only have kitchens thinking gymnasiums unscriptural. Although paying for the kitchen from the church treasury, some don’t pay for the meals from the treasury. Those having both amenities argue they both stand or fall together.
Why don’t we have a kitchen? There are four ways to establish authority (i.e. the right to act).
1) Precept – As a church, we are commanded to meet together (Heb.10:25), not to eat together.
2) Example – In the N.T. hospitality (i.e. eating together) was practiced as part of the home (i.e. today in parks, homes, etc.), not as part of the church’s work. In Acts 2:46 they worshiped in the temple, but went from house to house to eat their meals.
3) Necessary Implication – Being told “not to forsake the assembling together” (Heb.10:25), plus numerous examples, implies a place to meet, hence a “meeting house.” Being authorized, we can use the treasury to pay for it. If eating is not part of our assembling, we don’t need a kitchen. Amazingly, I was told by one preacher that eating a spaghetti dinner in between the contribution and Communion would be scriptural.
4) Silence – God is silent on assembling as a church to eat a dinner, or eating together as part of our “church work,” and about a need for a kitchen. We already have plenty in our homes. In this way, church kitchen are much like instrumental music in worship. There is no authority from God. It cannot be said that it is done in the name of the Lord, if the Lord said nothing about it. Read that last sentence again, because that is one of the most important things in this article because it deals with glorifying God by restricting ourselves to God’s glorious Word.
Two congregations let their desire to eat overcome their command to meet. One group, during the assembly, announced that during the Lord’s Supper, a group who had previously taken it, would cook the meal – cooking during communion? Their stomachs overcame their spirituality even if they were deluded into thinking their “sacrifice” was servitude.
The other was even worse. So blatant in their dishonor of Christ’s Supper, they turned it into a regular meal. Someone chastised their actions. He told them to eat in their houses (1 Cor.11:22). I know the Corinthians didn’t have a kitchen, but the point is to separate how the individual works within the church and how the individual functions at home.
Hospitality is a function of the home, not the church. Peter commands the Christian in the following way in 1 Peter 4:9:
1 Peter 4:9 HCSB Be hospitable to one another without complaining.
The word here translated “hospitality” is the Greek philoxenos, literally, a “lover of guests.” Does a “fellowship hall” help or hinder hospitality? If the “fellowship hall” supersedes and supplants homes, what motivation will there be for people to invite anyone over to their house, or out to a restaurant? From my asking Christians who attend churches with “fellowship halls” I have learned that hospitality suffers.
If you paid attention, you would have seen that I always put “fellowship hall” in quotes. The reason is that “fellowship” in the Bible refers to spiritual activities, and not eating common meals. In fact, there is only one verse in the Bible where “fellowship” is used in reference to eating, and that is the Lord’s Supper. That is why it is called a “communion” which is another translation for “fellowship.” Every Sunday we Christians gather in our fellowship hall – the church building – and eat our fellowship meal – the Lord’s Supper.
1 Corinthians 10:16 HCSB (16) The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
Members here come from congregations with and without kitchens. We are able to work in harmony. Let’s continue to be in harmony, continue to study, and continue to use our treasury for meeting together.
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