It has been several days since I have posted a blog. God has just been pouring new revelation into me this past week and it has been his turn to write a blog in my heart. I am leaving here in a few minutes to go to the Limestone County Flea Market where we have begun a Sunday morning prayer and worship gathering from 8:10am-9:40am. I am going to give the devotion this morning and I an going to reflect on the Lord's Supper. My reflections from my time in 1 Corinthians 11 that I will use as the center of my devotion.
"Now in giving the following instruction I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. For there must in fact be divisions among you, so that those of you who are approved may be evident. Now when you come together at the same place, you are not really eating the Lordʼs Supper. For when it is time to eat, everyone proceeds with his own supper. One is hungry and another becomes drunk. Do you not have houses so that you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show contempt for the church of God by shaming those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and after 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 also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lordʼs death until he comes.
For this reason, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself first, and in this way let him eat the bread and drink of the cup. For the one who eats and drinks without careful regard for the body eats and drinks judgment against himself. That is why many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few are dead. But if we examined ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned with the world.“ (1 Corinthians 11:17-32)
At the Lords Supper, Christ brings His passion to our remembrance and draws us into wonderful communion, Holy Communion, with the Father and with Himself and one another, proleptic of our life in the Kingdom of God, nourishing our faith “till He comes” (Lk 11:2). "Proleptic" is a word we do not use much in our conversations. It means, if you do some thing then it will cause something else to occur and or enter in. Also a future event to be manifested in the present. Example: Say there is a road with 45 MPH speed limit and a half a mile down the road is a speed trap and a billboard with a police car behind it waiting. If I tell you, "If you go 65 MPH down that road you will get a ticket." It is a proleptic fact of a future event that will take place if you do a present action." A police car will enter in and you will get a ticket. Jesus words to us will proleptic, If you do this, share in the Lord's Supper, then I will enter in and so will my kingdom.
In the Lord’s Supper we remember. Jesus said to His disciples, “I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Comforter… and He will bring all things to your remembrance” (Jn 14:26). At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19). We remember in such a way that we see our participation in the past event and see our destiny and future bound up in it. We remember in such a way that we know by the grace of God we are the people for whom the Savior died and rose again; we are the people whose sins Jesus confessed on the cross; we are the people with whom God has made a new covenant in the blood of Christ; we are the Israel of God to whom God said, “I will be your God and you shall be my people” (Ex 6:7). The work of memory, of realizing our participation and fellowship in the sufferings of Christ, is the work of the Holy Spirit. We remember Christ, yet it is not so much we who remind ourselves of these events, but Jesus Christ, who brings his passion to our remembrance through the Holy Spirit, as our ever-living and ever present Lord.
Jesus said of the Lord's Supper, 'Do this often...." I pray you do. I pray you will today. I pray you will remember in a proleptic way today and allow Jesus through the Holy Spirit in enter into your life and situation and allow you to tangibly enter into his kingdom.
Please share your reflections and thoughts on the Lord's Supper below.
Grace and Peace