In I Corinthians 11:20 Paul begins to explain to the church in Corinth how to partake worthily of the Lord's supper or, as we call it today, Communion. To begin, Paul speaks to the error in which they come together - not for the Lord's supper but for their own bellies. In other words, they were falling short of God's idea regarding the eating of food in the church, carnal instead of spiritual. It appears to me that what we know as Communion today had a much deeper meaning than what the Corinthian church was aware of.
In verse 22, Paul says, "What! Don't you have houses to eat and drink in?"
Certainly they were not eating an drinking in remembrance of Him!
Verse 24-26. "and when He had given thanks He broke it (the bread) and said, 'take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me'. In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me'. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes".
Now we see the significance of eating and drinking in the church. If we feed our mortal flesh in the church will we receive the Communion with Him with carnality? These at least were not!
Who do we proclaim the Lord's death to when we partake of the Communion elements, to anybody but ourselves? And when Paul says "till He comes", comes to what? Could it be to His temple(us) in His fullness?
In a Communion service a few years back, I sensed the inspiration of the Holy Spirit saying that I should be willing, in the celebration of Communion and whenever the Holy Spirit reminds, to
partake fully of who He is (Jesus Christ). As we partake of the Communion elements, we should reach out to Him to receive what He knows we must understand and do to walk just as He walked!
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