<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\u00a01 Corinthians 11:23-26<\/h2>\n
For\u00a0I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:\u00a0that the Lord Jesus on the\u00a0same<\/i>\u00a0night in which He was betrayed took bread;\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>and when He had given thanks, He broke\u00a0it<\/i>\u00a0and said,\u00a0\u201cTake, eat; this is My body which is<\/span>\u00a0broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>In the same manner\u00a0He<\/i>\u00a0also\u00a0took<\/i>\u00a0the cup after supper, saying,\u00a0\u201cThis cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink\u00a0it,<\/i>\u00a0in remembrance of Me.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord\u2019s death\u00a0till He comes.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You may not know this, but the act of taking communion was pivotal in my decision to accept Jesus as my Savior.<\/p>\n
When I was nearly 6 years old, I attended church with my parents and noticed that a plate of bread and a cup of grape juice were being passed around. As the bread came by, I excitedly reached out to tear off a chunk. Unfortunately, my dad stopped me before I could get the snack. I figured he was afraid I would make a mess on the new church carpet.<\/p>\n
Later that day, once we had returned home, my dad took me to my bedroom and began to explain the meaning behind the bread and the cup. He told me about Jesus, His death, and resurrection. My dad shared that I could\u00a0find forgiveness in Christ<\/a>\u00a0and spend eternity with Him in Heaven.<\/p>\n
My first glimpse of communion led to me asking Jesus into my heart. It was January 11, 1981.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s my story, but the Lord\u2019s Supper is significant to all of us for multiple reasons. In 1 Corinthians 11:26, Paul writes how the Lord\u2019s Supper is given to us by God Himself as means to bring unity within the body of Christ. Moreover, when we observe the Lord\u2019s Supper, we recognize that the table looks in three different directions: it looks to the past, the present, and the future.<\/p>\n
The Past: Commemoration<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The Lord\u2019s Supper refers to the last Passover meal Jesus had with His disciples here on Earth (see Luke 22:14-20). At that time, Jesus took the bread and the cup and passed them around, signifying that His body would be broken (torn to pieces) and that the shedding of His blood would usher in the New Covenant (see Jeremiah 31:31-33).<\/p>\n
Therefore, the Lord\u2019s Supper makes us remember what Jesus did on the cross. That is why it says,\u00a0\u201cDo this in remembrance of Me\u201d<\/em>\u00a0in both verse 24 and verse 25. Paul is stressing that we are to always remember the atoning sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross. We are to remember how He was flogged, beaten, and that He shed His blood to take away our sin.<\/p>\n
The Present: Communion<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The Lord\u2019s Supper speaks of the present and how we have fellowship with a living Christ. We have communion with Him\u00a0now<\/em>\u00a0because our sins are forgiven. We do not have to wait for Heaven to have fellowship with God; we can have communion now.<\/p>\n
Not only do we have communion with God, but we can have communion with other believers. This brings unity out of division, which was exactly what was happening in Corinth when Paul wrote this letter.<\/p>\n
The Future: Commitment<\/strong><\/h3>\n
We are to continually observe the Lord\u2019s Supper\u00a0\u201ctill He comes\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(v. 26c). Therefore, this table also looks ahead to Christ\u2019s return.<\/p>\n
It reminds us that Jesus is victorious and He will set up His kingdom here on Earth. We are to proclaim the Lord\u2019s death (through the observance of the Lord\u2019s Supper) until He comes again in the future.<\/p>\n
It also signifies the destruction of Satan, when Jesus will return in victory. We won\u2019t be taking communion at that point. We\u2019ll be at the banquet table, and Satan will be defeated.<\/p>\n
The Lord\u2019s Supper keeps us focused on the cross. It draws us into fellowship with God and the body of Christ. It gives us the hope of the resurrection, the promise of victory over Satan and sin, and the truth of Heaven.<\/p>\n
The next time you observe communion at church, take a moment to reflect on the past, the present and the future\u2014and God\u2019s incredible love and faithfulness. (Graham)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a01 Corinthians 11:23-26 For\u00a0I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:\u00a0that the Lord Jesus on the\u00a0same\u00a0night in which He was betrayed took bread;\u00a0\u00a0and when He had given thanks, He broke\u00a0it\u00a0and said,\u00a0\u201cTake, eat; this is My body which is\u00a0broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In the same manner\u00a0He\u00a0also\u00a0took\u00a0the … Continue reading “54.o. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194665"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194671,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194665\/revisions\/194671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}