The LORD’s Supper: Our LORD has given us some great Scripture that deals with the subject of Intimacy with Him.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
031719
The LORD’s Supper: Our LORD has given us some great Scripture that deals with the subject of Intimacy with Him.

As we begin our subject concerning the LORD’s supper, we need to make sure that we are on the same page and thinking as our LORD would have us think. For example, we start out with a little bit of encouragement: PHI 2:1-2, If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ [and there is], if there is any consolation of love [and there is], if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, bring to completion my inner happiness [in your life] by thinking the same things, maintaining the same virtue-love, united in soul, concentrating on the same objective.

This is a passage that reveals the importance of unity or the importance of thinking as our LORD would have us think.

PHI 2:3-4, Do nothing from selfishness motivated by empty conceit or contentiousness or ambitious pride, but with humility of mind [by means of grace orientation] let each of you keep on considering one another as more important than himself; do not merely be regarding your own personal interests, but also for the personal interests of others.

Then in that very famous command that we read in PHI 2:5, “Keep on thinking this [doctrine] within yourselves which was also resident in Christ Jesus,”

MAT 11:20-22, Then He began to reproach the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.”

By the way, this is one of the many passages that reveals that there are degrees of judgment in the eternal state. This means that some individuals will be under a severer judgment because of their attitude toward the LORD which is revealed by their negative volition toward His Word. Just like there are degrees of blessings for the winners in the eternal state, there are also degrees of punishment for losers inside of the plan of GOD.

So, in MAT 11:23-26, “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

Now, continuing with our subject of the unity of believers who have the very mind or the very same thinking of our LORD, beginning in MAT 11:27, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Notice the tremendous power of GOD working with the omniscience of GOD as verse 27 states. There is the principle in MAT 11:27 which states that there are a few vital passages for us to live by. Let me break it down a little so that you and I can get a few Biblical principles to live by. Therefore, our LORD says that “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father;”

As a part of the doctrines found in the Word of GOD, GOD the Father has given all believers the same divine power that GOD the Son had when HE walked on the face of the earth. Remember that when our LORD lived on earth, HE relied on the same exact power available to us: GOD the Holy Spirit along with the power of the Word of GOD.

HEB 9:14, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to GOD, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living GOD?

So, as a part of the doctrines found in the Word of GOD, GOD the Father has given all believers the same divine power that GOD the Son had when He walked on the face of the earth. In MAT 11:27b, we are told and instructed that no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son. In fact, it is quite obvious that we cannot force anyone or anything that would hinder our relationships with GOD as well as our relationships with man.

Our LORD said certain things and gave certain promises for the people of GOD. Remember, in LUK 2:40, The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom ; and the grace of GOD was upon Him.

In LUK 2:52, And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with GOD and men.

Then, in the last half of verse 27, anyone that our LORD willed to reveal Himself to or that man has the power and will have the Word to handle whatever the LORD wills or desires. With all of that in mind, look at how powerful the Word of GOD is whenever the believer submits to the Word of GOD as the vehicle of the supernatural life that flows through the believer's, body, soul, and spirit. Remember something our LORD said in JOH 7:37-39, Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

These words are words of life that can sustain the believer when he or she is faced with any problems, any difficulties, or any form of stress whatsoever. How do we know that? We know that because of what our LORD taught to believers of the Church-age. MAT 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy‑laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.”

So, our LORD has given us some great biblical passages that deal with the subject of intimacy with HIM. There is a translation called the Complete Jewish Bible which translates PHI 2:5 like this: Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua: That is a great translation as it applies and is revealed to GOD's family.

In PHI 2:6-11, we read, who, (a reference to our LORD) although He preexisted in the essence of GOD, did not think equality with GOD a gain to be seized, but He deprived Himself or He emptied Himself of the proper function of deity when He had received the form of a servant and was born in the likeness of men. Although having being discovered in outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of spiritual death, that is the death of the cross. Therefore, also the GOD has highly exalted Him to the maximum, and bestowed on Him the name or rank which is above every name, in order that at the title of Jesus every knee of the heavens should bow, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should acknowledge that Jesus Christ is LORD, resulting in the glory of GOD the Father.

Remember, in 1Co 11 the apostle Paul is dealing with the abuse and disorders which were taken place in the churches at Corinth concerning the celebration of the LORD’s table. 1CO 11:17, But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together NOT for the better but for the worse. Notice a few things that are mentioned concerning the introduction to our LORD’s supper.

What was happening in the Church of Corinth? That's an easy question that all of GOD's people need to perceive and to apply. What was happening in the Church that love was supposed to be building? Love was not building the local assembly, it was lusts and lack of forgiveness that was the problem in the early Church. What was happening to the son of one of the leaders in the Church of Corinth when his son committed adultery with his father's wife? So, let's get into the passage as we should.

1CO 4:16-21, I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the LORD, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the LORD wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power. For the kingdom of GOD does not consist in words, but in power. What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

1CO 5:1-8, begins to report that there is immorality among them, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. And you have become arrogant, and have not mourned instead, in order that the one who had done this deed might be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our LORD Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our LORD Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the LORD Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?

Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Back in 1Co 11:18-19, where the apostle Paul says, For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.

Factions are dissensions, divisions; discord, strife, contention, conflict, friction, argument, difference of opinion, disagreement,  quarreling, bickering, etc.

With verses like this and ISA 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

2CO 13:8, For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.

DEU 23:5, “Nevertheless, the LORD your GOD was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the LORD your GOD turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your GOD loves you.

That my friends is exactly how GOD can turn the curse into a blessing. And that is another reason why GOD's people remain under discipline because of what GEN 50:20 says you and I can remain and be blessed.

GEN 50:20, “And as for you, you meant evil against me, but GOD meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

Back in 1CO 11:18, For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part, I believe it.

Please notice two things here;

1. All of us are told to “come” or “gather” together with one another. And here it is once again in HEB 10:25, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging {one another}; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.

Next, notice the second principle.

2. This second principle is that I want you to notice that we come together as a Church not in the Church.

For example, in 1CO 11:20-34, Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the LORD’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of GOD, and shame those who have nothing?

What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. For I received from the LORD that which I also delivered to you, that the LORD Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way {He took} the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink {it,} in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the LORD’s death until He comes.

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the LORD in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the LORD. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.

For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the LORD in order that we may not be condemned along with the world. then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment. And the remaining matters I shall arrange when I come.”

Back in 1Co 11:18-19, where the apostle Paul says, For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.

The apostle Paul had to deal with the fact that even in the Church, believers were fighting against each other concerning which one of them should be the greatest. Now, you cannot have divisions or factions without heresies so that we can hear the voice of our LORD. In 1CO 11:20, Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the LORD’s Supper…

Beginning with verse 20, we have the purpose of the LORD’s table. However, by divisions and dissensions in the Corinthian church, the very purpose of the eucharist is destroyed. One thing that should characterize our LORD’s table is unity among believers. Notice once again, especially those of you that know 1CO 11:20, Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the LORD’s Supper,

The apostle Paul is actually saying in this verse that it is impossible to eat the LORD’s supper when there are divisions among you. And this includes the fact that none of us have the right to participate in the celebration of the LORD’s supper if we have unconfessed sins in our Life. This is something that PSA 66:18 states, “If you regard evil or wickedness to rule in your heart, The LORD will not hear your prayer.” What about forgiveness or lack of it, what does the Bible say about that? Look at MAT 6:14-15, “For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

If we had time I would show you what 1Co 11:21 means when it says  For in your eating [this is a reference to the agape feasts in the ancient world] each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.

1Co 11:22 goes on to say, What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise or treat with contempt the church of GOD, and shame those who have nothing?  What shall I say to you?  Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.

Why?

It is because 1Co 11:23, for I received from the LORD that which I also delivered to you, that the LORD Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; And, of course, the bread represents the human body of our LORD which was given for us not for the payment of sins but for a home for our LORD to reside in. It was also a time when our LORD would  be forsaken by His Father and separated from Him in His spiritual death when GOD the Father forsook HIM for the first and only time.

1Co 11:24, And when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is my body, or this keeps on being my body which is for you; keep on doing this in remembrance of me.”

Now, a few things concerning this verse;

Notice, that our LORD is the one who gave HIS life, HE chose himself to be broken for our sins. Therefore, HE took the bread and HE broke it = which means no one killed our LORD unless the LORD allows it. And when HE said, “This is MY body, HE used the pres-act-part-ind of the verb eimi which is the verb of absolute status quo, and therefore it should be translated: this keeps on being my body. And this is very important for you to understand because these were HIS words to the disciples just before HIS death. So, HE takes the bread and says, “This keeps on being MY body” which is given to you.

And what will that do for the disciples? Well, our LORD is going to die physically within the next 24 hours, but HE says here “this keeps on being MY body.” What's HE telling them? HE's telling them that HE's going to die physically but HE will rise from the dead and therefore, our LORD can say HE has to rise from the dead because “this keeps on being my body.” And this also means that He will keep on being humanity forever.

Now, let me challenge you with some things or riches from the original language.

The present tense speaks of certain points of time when the LORD’s supper is to be celebrated...as well as reminding us that it is to be habitual. Now, don't miss this!

The present tense here does not mean that we are to habitually celebrate the LORD’s supper, but that we are to habitually have certain points of time that are set aside to bring to remembrance the death of our LORD. It is in the imperative mood which means, you and I are ordered to do it habitually! And why is this so important to every one of us? It is a sin not to celebrate the LORD’s Supper and you are living in sin, just like the other sins that believers commit. I did not say this, our LORD did!

1CO 11:24, And when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is my body, or this keeps on being my body which is GIVEN for you; so keep on celebrating our LORD’s death because we are commanded to keep on celebrating this most solemn ritual that demands reality from all of us.

The communion table has a purpose. The purpose of the bread is to bring to your memory the uniqueness of the person of Christ. Now, you might ask, “Why do we need a commandment to bring to remembrance the unique person of Christ.” Well, how many of you can actually say that this past week you sat down and began to think of how unique the LORD really is? And you can do this in detail because we have learned to focus on such doctrines as the hypostatic union. Now, you may have done so....but the fact of the matter is that there are times when we simply get so wrapped up with the details of life that we simply forget to focus our attention on the uniqueness of our LORD Jesus Christ. So the purpose of the bread is to remind us of the uniqueness of the person of our LORD Jesus Christ.

And by that I want to challenge you concerning who it is that you are remembering when we celebrate our LORD’s supper. Are you focusing on the person of Christ, and who He truly is and what HE did for each and every one of us? Or are you plagued with guilt and condemnation because you focused in on all the areas in your life that caused you guilt and condemnation, because you were concentrating on yourself and not remembering HIM. HE is the One who gave us the power and the virtue to keep on thinking of HIM and what HE has done. And not only is that wrong but it can cause other believers to insult our LORD as if GOD the Father and GOD the Son along with GOD the Holy Spirit were not satisfied. And there are certain doctrinal privileges that we should be thankful to our LORD for by remembering HIM, and what HE has done for all of us.

Therefore, the celebration of the LORD’s Supper is NOT designed for you to think about how awful and terrible you are as a believer. It is designed for you to focus your attention on the unique One of the universe, our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ and what HE did for us.

PSA 32:1-5, How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent {about my sin}, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away {as} with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to Thee, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Selah.

Now, in 1Co 11:25, we read: In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me”

The bread refers to the person of Christ. The cup refers to the work of Christ. The person of Christ had to remain impeccable first, in order for the work of Christ to propitiate or satisfy GOD the Father. This is why we eat the bread first and then drink the cup. Now, the meaning of the cup is derived from two passages of scripture;

MAT 20:22, “Are you able to drink from the cup that I am about to drink”?

This referred to HIS death on the Cross.

MAT 26:39, He said My Father if it is possible, let this cup pass from me;

Therefore, the cup refers to the sins of the world being poured out upon our LORD Jesus Christ. So the cup represents the fact that all of our sins were placed in the cup and then poured out on our LORD and then HE drank them, as it were. And then GOD the Father judged HIM for every single sin in the human race. And that's why, even the unbelievers will not be judged for their sins, because under the doctrine of the unlimited atonement and the fact that the LORD paid for them as well.

REV 20:12-13, And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is {the book} of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one {of them} according to their deeds.

So, 1CO 11:25, in the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, “this cup [HIS death on the Cross] is the new covenant in my blood or by virtue of his blood; The new covenant refers to his payment for the sins of the whole world. The word covenant is dia-the-ke which is used to denote the close relationship which GOD enters into with man. However this is called the “new” covenant or the kainos covenant meaning a brand new covenant that never existed before.

1CO 11:23-32, For I received from the LORD that which I also delivered to you, that the LORD Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way {He took} the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink{it,} in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the LORD’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the LORD in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the LORD. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the LORD in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.