The Lord’s Supper

The church’s most public displays of faith are the Communion and Baptism, both of which focus their purpose on the death and bodily resurrection of Jesus. 

 

The word “Communion” has many synonyms, but basically it means to share! The Church shares in many things. But the most important sharing we have in the Body of Christ is this:  His flesh & blood!  His Spirit shares Himself with each of us personally as much as we will let Him share with us from His word, Acts 5:32.  In the act of sharing the memorial bread and cup, we are sharing in the public PROCLAMATION of His death until he comes, 1st Corinthians 11:26. 

 

God has appointed every individual Christian to come together in worship on the Lord’s Day to share in the Body of Jesus, his flesh and blood.  Why?  Because we are human and our human hearts are deceptive, Jeremiah 17:9.  We are self-willed and it’s too easy for us to swell up with pride throughout the week, thinking we make our selves better, instead of remembering that it’s only the sacrificed and risen body of Jesus that can make us better in the presence of God. 

 

What exactly is the Communion? † A Memorial for us personally, 1st Corinthians 11:25.

† A Proclamation for the public, 1st Corinthians 11:26 & Matthew 26:28.

 

How often does God want us to observe the Communion?

† His Apostles & disciples continued steadfastly in observing it, Acts 2:42

† The Church in Troas shared every Lord’s Day, Acts 20:7

† The Church in Corinth shared, “often”, 1st Corinthians 11:26

 

Who actually participated in the Communion? † Members of the Jerusalem

Church, Acts 2:42. † Every member of the body of Christ, 1st Corinthians 10:16

                   

Is The Communion really essential? † Yes, John 6:51-58, in order to maintain a holy lifestyle and grow into eternal life. † The Lord God commands us!  1st Corinthians 11:24, we prove His Lordship over us in our actions. Our actions in this memorial, put our minds and hearts on his death, burial & resurrected body.  Forsaking the assembling of ourselves on the Lord’s Day is forbidden in God’s word. Hebrews 10:25. The church in Jerusalem, Corinth and Troas were all assembling on the first day of the week to “break bread”, Acts. 2:42 & 20:7, 1st Cor. 11:20 & 16:2. The Communion is the climax of Christian worship.

 

Is The Communion literally the actual flesh & blood of Jesus Himself?

† Obviously not, John 6:54 & 63. What exactly did Jesus mean by his flesh & blood? His disciples were accepting it as what it always had been and were not shocked, they may have been curious with questions and uneducated, but they were not confused. Matthew 26:26-30.  † The meaning was changed, not the material. It no longer represented a ‘Passover’ feast’s message of God’s deliverance of a holy people from Egypt to Canaan, but rather, it’s meaning lay in the love of God delivering us in the body of Christ. This is where the spiritual meets the physical, not where the physical meets the physical as the false doctrine of transubstantiation infers.

 

This week’s pointer in prayer: Do we practice self-examination in our prayers ONLY on Sundays? How do we examine ourselves in prayer? Is it through our eyes or His?