The Lord's Supper
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I Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. |
This ordinance of the church is referred to by Paul as “communion” & “cup of the Lord” and “Lord’s table” in I Corinthians 10, and as “the Lord’s supper” in I Corinthians 11. Let’s go with “Lord’s supper”.
Note: there is no such thing as a “sacrament” in the real church (the body of believers in the gospel of Christ, not a denomination).
Now make no mistake, I am writing about the practice described in I Corinthians 11, not John 6.
Without getting all combative about it, look at John 6:47-58 where Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life and says:
John 6:56
He that eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Then look at Jesus’ personal explanation:
John 6:63
It is the spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing:
the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life.
JESUS, the speaker, clarifies his own statement to his own apostles and proclaims that eating His flesh and drinking His blood are spiritual commands, not physical.
The forbidden private interpretation would be, “Hocus pocus, turn this wafer into the flesh of Jesus and this moonshine into the blood of Jesus and save my soul ‘til I get back here again.” The fancy term for this is “transubstantiation” and I have just been anathema’d by someone. Boo back at you!
You have been convinced by a large pack of wolves that cannibalism is acceptable to the Lord. There is Old Testament scripture (before Christ) and New Testament scripture (after Christ) which forbid the partaking of blood. The Lord is not going to tell you in the middle of holy scriptures to violate the scriptures. For starters:
Leviticus 17:14
For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof:
therefore I said unto the children of Israel,
Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh:
for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof:
whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
Acts 15:20,29
20 but that we write unto them,
that they abstain from pollutions of idols,
and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
29 that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood,
and from things strangled, and from fornication:
from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
You are human and you may be spiritual wolf food, but you do not have to eat what wolves think they are physically eating. And don’t drink fermented alcohol as an ordinance of the church. It isn’t the blood of Jesus; it is what it is.
Here’s the controlling scripture for the Lord’s Supper:
I Corinthians 11:23-32
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: (Paul personally received these instructions from the Lord, see Galations 1:12-18.)
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. (Was it his body? No, it was bread.)
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. (Was it his blood? No, it was grape juice.)
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. (The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to show his death till he come, not re-participate time and time again in his death. He died once for sin. He was buried once, resurrected once, and ascended once. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, ever making intercession for us. His is alive forever more.)
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. (This is the explanation of “unworthily”. Examine yourself, be clean from sin (I John 1:9), and then partake.)
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. (If you are unworthy as defined above, you are at risk of something bad happening to you.)
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. (And here is the definition of “damnation”; weakness, sickness, and possibly physical death, but not burn in hell.)
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. (So judge yourself before He has to judge you.)
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. (If you partake unworthily, he will chasten you with weakness, sickness, or death. But this is better than being condemned with the world, which is headed to hell.)
That’s it, no more, no less.
The Lord’s Supper should be some kind of bread and some kind of unfermented juice taken after a spiritual bath.
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You should be a saved believer to partake and you should judge yourself and ask forgiveness of any outstanding sins to avoid judging and chastening of the Lord.
Do it every day, do it once a month or quarter or year, whatever is right for you.
Remember, this is a spiritual command. The food and drink are not important, the communication with the Lord is what is important.
Photos courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
