A Table Spread - Communion

 Psalm 23:5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: 

You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. 

    What is on the table which God has prepared for His people? for the table which God prepares is not for everyone, but for anyone who calls Him Shepherd, who follows where He leads and rests where He rests. 

    It is a table set up where our enemies can not only see us, but see us dining at this table which our God has prepared in advance for us. It is a table spread with many good and wonderful items. 

    Such as Bread and Wine, Honey and Honeycomb, Living It is a spiritual table meant for Spirit-filled people, for we are not of this world but the world to come. Our bodies are merely passing through this earth, sharing the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ to anyone who will hear and listen. 

    The Word tells us that we who are God's people must worship God in spirit and in truth. We must be honest with ourselves that we may be people of honor. We must search our hearts for the stains of sin and repent of it quickly, for our next breath is not a given. 

    We who are God's people are hungry and thirsty for the righteousness of God: He is our Bread and Wine. He is our Honey and our Honeycomb. He is our Living Water. Jesus is our Bread of Life. He showed His disciples the blessing of the new covenant between God and God's people: the rite of remembrance. 

    Luke 22:16-22 details the rite which we call "communion" and 1 Corinthians 11:23-30 tells us that we are to commemorate this rite on a regular basis, but with a warning: that any who partake of the bread and wine in this manner must first search their own hearts, and ask God's forgiveness for the sin that has separated them from God's presence. There are no little sins for any sin causes separation and distance between God and His people. 

    Therefore when we come together and dine at the table which God has prepared for us, we know that we will be ready to dig into the meal that is set before us. More of Christ Jesus, for our hunger is never slaked, our thirst is unquenched. Oh How I Love Jesus! the songwriter says, "Because he first loved me." Did you know that? That Jesus loves you. With a neverending love. And in this love He calls our us by name to come into His presence and enter into His rest. In the presence of our enemies. 

    The people we interact with on a daily basis will know right away whether or not we are God's people. For we will talk different. Our words are words of encouragement, words of love, words of hope, words of faith, words that speak differently from the voices heard in the world. We behave differently. We live differently. And when we are reminded who we are supposed to be when it appears we are not who we say we are, The Spirit of conviction immediately grabs hold of our attention and we repent. 

    The Word of God, Jesus Christ is our Honey and our Honeycomb: every verse within the books of The Holy  Bible/Scriptures plus the whole book entirely is both sweet to the taste and begins to satisfy the hungry. Jesus Christ is The Living Water we get to drink when we believe on His Name and declare He is Lord of our lives. While the thief on the cross didn't have the opportunity to turn his life around, he did have enough faith to believe that the Man hanging next to him was indeed LORD for that is how he addressed Him, when he said, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." (Luke 23:42). 

    There is a table spread by God for those who believe and receive His Son Jesus Christ into their hearts and His Spirit into their lives. Do you believe? Come to Jesus. 

The Cup of Blessing

 

The Cup of Blessing

PS 16:5

LORD, You are my Portion and my Cup of Blessing; You hold my future.

1 COR 10:16

The Cup of Blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

What is in the Cup of Blessing that we should desire to drink of it? What was in Christ’s Cup? 

PS 116:13

I will lift the Cup of Salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

PS 23:5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my Cup overflows.

The first sip we take is BETRAYAL. Betrayal is bitter when tasted. It dissolves loyalties and gives a false empowerment to the ones who have prepared to betray another person for whatever reason. People who have been with us will turn us into the authorities. Plus betrayal always involves some kind of reward. Judas Iscariot, the treasurer of Jesus’ following, was given thirty pieces of silver to betray The Teacher he followed. Money was more dear to him than people and greed won out over loyalty. 

Judas made the decision to betray Jesus before the Last Supper took place. But it was during the Last Supper that he followed through on his volunteering to betray Jesus. This wasn’t a random amount of money. It was an insulting value of services rendered for a prophet’s work. Zechariah 11:12,13; Matthew 27:9. 

The second portion of blessing in our cups is COMMUNION with Christ. Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-30. COMMUNION is joint partnership, a sharing in of the work that is to be done. COMMUNION is fellowship with Christ, with God and with other saints. We cannot have communion with the world and the world’s many beliefs and gods. Nor can we have communion with unbelievers. 

COMMUNION requires steadfast loyalty: no matter how tough it gets we remain in Christ and He has promised to remain in us. John 15:4. 

COMMUNION with Christ demands Faithfulness on our part. Not just blind loyalty - following because we are compelled to do so - but eyes and ears open to the hearing of The Word of God and the receiving thereof. Job 42:5; Romans 10:17. 

COMMUNION demands holy living, a righteous lifestyle in Christ through The Holy Spirit on us. 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 1:15. 

COMMUNION demands loving obedience to The Truth. 1 Peter 1:22; 2 John 1:6; Deuteronomy 10:12,13. 

As we see the bottom of our cup, we are aware there are dregs in this cup. Dregs are the bitterest to swallow. They are the sediments or grounds left in the cup. In a societal sense dregs refers to some people as “worthless, the worst kind of people, the ‘undesirables’. This is our drink. 

We have been deemed UNDESIRABLE. For our insolence in rejecting the demands of this world, we will be hated: some of us will be arrested, judged, punished and even killed. Matthew 24:9-13; Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:10-19. 

Jesus was an UNDESIRABLE to Israel’s religious leaders and council leaders. Isaiah 53:1-8; Matthew 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; John 18:19-24; 1 Peter 2:21-25. 

We will remain silent, as Christ before us remained silent in the presence of His accusers. The Lord’s Silence: Isaiah 53:7; Mark 14:61. Our Silence: Hebrews 12:3; 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 3:9.   

And, yet, it is brought to our remembrance by The Holy Spirit of God that the Cup of Blessing is ours to drink by choice and affiliation. We choose to believe God. We choose to believe and obey God’s Word. We choose to follow Christ Jesus wherever He leads us. We choose to love one another the way Christ loves us: unswervingly, unconditionally, unchangingly. We choose to drink this Cup. 

For in this Cup is our salvation: Psalm 116:13. In this Cup is our redemption. In this Cup is eternal life. For in this Cup is Christ: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Having drunk this Cup, though our bodies cease to exist, our soul lives forever; we will not taste death. “When we draw our last breath here, we draw our first breath in heaven.” ~ Rev. Billy Graham. 

And when we drink from our cup faithfully, our cup overflows into the lives of those around us. With whomever we come into contact with the contents of our cup is made known to them. Psalm 23:5. 

It is a Joy to drink from our Cup of Blessing. For the rewards of following Christ are to be enjoyed and shared. But woe to the people who drink of this Cup unworthily! For they will be punished for their arrogance and judged by God for their unfaithfulness. 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. 

Are you ready to take hold of your Cup, lift it to your mouth and drink of your Cup of Blessing? You know your own heart. Only you can know if you are ready to drink of it. 

These songs went through me as I studied this morning:

 FILL MY CUP - Andrew Ripp (I've been singing this one since it came out)

WE ARE BLESSED - All Sons & Daughters (this one was on mental repeat)

MY PORTION - Isla Vista Worship (You must know by now how much I love this song)

 

The Responsibilities of Communion

 

 

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord Himself that [instruction] which I passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed took bread;

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is (represents) My body, which is [offered as a sacrifice] for you. Do this in [affectionate] remembrance of Me.”

In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant [ratified and established] in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in [affectionate] remembrance of Me.” 

For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are [symbolically] proclaiming [the fact of] the Lord’s death until He comes [again].

But there's more to taking communion than this. It's partaking in the Lord's Communion.

1 Corinthians 11:27-29

So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a way that is unworthy [of Him] will be guilty of [profaning and sinning against] the body and blood of the Lord.

But a person must [prayerfully] examine himself [and his relationship to Christ], and only when he has done so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks [without solemn reverence and heartfelt gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ], eats and drinks a judgment on himself if he does not recognize the body [of Christ].

And, if we fail to do this, and take part in the ceremony of communion, there are consequences for our actions.

1 Corinthians 11:30

That [careless and unworthy participation] is the reason why many among you are weak (either physically or morally, without strength) and sick (feeble), and a number sleep [in death].

What are we eating and drinking into? A contractual agreement with Jesus Christ regarding the breaking of Bread (His body) and the pouring out of wine (His blood). As He was, many of us will also be: broken and poured out before God.

We are being called to suffer for the sake of the cross. 

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus told His disciples, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me."

1 Peter 2:21

For [as a believer] you have been called for this purpose, since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you may follow in His footsteps.

1 Peter 4:13

But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.

1 John 2:5-6

But whoever habitually keeps His word and obeys His precepts [and treasures His message in its entirety], in him the love of God has truly been perfected [it is completed and has reached maturity]. By this we know [for certain] that we are in Him: whoever says he lives in Christ [that is, whoever says he has accepted Him as God and Savior] ought [as a moral obligation] to walk and conduct himself just as He walked and conducted Himself.

1 Peter 4:11

Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

Being a Christian is no light thing. It will be the hardest job you ever take on. But we have nothing to fear, for we won't be doing it alone:

When Jesus left (ascended into heaven), God sent Someone else to help us, The Holy Spirit of God. Therefore, we are most able to overcome all obstacles in our way and run 'the race set before us' to it's completion and our win.