THEME SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 11:20-22 (NIV)
[20] So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, [21] for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. [22] Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!
I Corinthians 11:20-22 (NCV)
20 When you come together, you are not really eating the Lord’s Supper. 21 This is because when you eat, each person eats without waiting for the others. Some people do not get enough to eat, while others have too much to drink. 22 You can eat and drink in your own homes! You seem to think God’s church is not important, and you embarrass those who are poor. What should I tell you? Should I praise you? I do not praise you for doing this.
MESSAGE:
Our walk with God as Christians requires that each one of us keeps a personal relationship with God and maintains a daily communion with the Holy Spirit. However, there are certain Christian practices that require two or more persons coming together to achieve God’s purpose. Such is the case with the Lord’s Supper.
The Church is all about two or more people coming together in the Name of Jesus! The Church is not the building in which we meet; it is the people who meet together in one place who constitute the Church. Once Christians meet together in the Name of Jesus, that is the Church! Our Lord Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20, NKJV).
The Corinthian Church didn’t have the revelation of what the Church is; they did their own thing when they came together to eat the Lord’s Supper. One person would be hungry while another would be drunk. Apostle Paul queried such practices and reprimanded those who indulged in such acts. He suggested that if it was a question of eating and drinking alone, they could have done so at home. But when it comes to eating together in the Name of Jesus, it is a spiritual act! Doing something other than what the Lord Jesus Himself has instituted is tantamount to despising the Church of God (1 Corinthians 11:22).
The Scripture calls it “The Lord’s Supper” because it was the Lord Jesus Himself who instituted it during supper. This was the last meal Jesus had with His disciples, the same night in which He was betrayed. The fact that it was instituted during supper doesn’t mean we’re to practice it only at supper. We will discover in subsequent teachings, that, rather than eating the Lord’s Supper only during supper, we’re encouraged to do so often, because of its tremendous benefits to the body of believers.
I believe Scripture gave it the name, “The Lord’s Supper” because it was during this particular supper that the Lord Jesus gave us one of the most powerful practices of the Christian faith. The instructions holy people give when they’re about to leave the earth must be taken seriously. We must take seriously the Lord’s Supper, especially in this end-time, if we want to remain victorious till Jesus comes.
