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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 11:17-34
Two categories of meetings:
I. The ministry meetings:
А. To preach the gospel — Acts 2:6, 14.
B. To give a report of God’s work — 14:26-27.
C. To read the apostles’ writing (the Scripture) — 15:30-31.
II. The church meetings:
А. The Lord’s table meeting:
1. On the first day of the week (the Lord’s Day) — 20:6b-7a; 1 Cor. 16:2.
2. To partake of the Lord’s table — 10:21b.
3. To eat the Lord’s supper — 11:20.
4. To remember the Lord:
а. The focus of the Lord’s table:
1) All hymns, praises, thanks, testimonies, and words should be concentrated on the Lord Himself.
2) All distractions should be avoided.
b. By breaking the bread to apprehend with appreciation and thanks the Lord’s physical body being broken for us — Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24.
In our first lesson on service, we shared about how to meet. The first meeting we should come to is the Lord’s table meeting. Before we fellowship about the Lord’s table meeting, we need to see the two categories of meetings in the Bible.
First, there are the ministry meetings. The ministry means the work. The meetings for the work are for three basic purposes: preaching the gospel, giving a report of God’s work, and reading the apostles’ writing (the Scripture).
The meetings for the work, the ministry meetings, are for preaching the gospel. Acts 2 shows the first preaching of the gospel conducted by Peter at the very beginning of the church life (vv. 6, 14). That was not a meeting of the church but a meeting for the work, a ministry meeting, to preach the gospel.
The ministry meetings are also for giving a report of God’s work. After Paul took his first evangelical trip, he came back to Antioch, from where he was sent, and called a meeting to give the saints a report concerning God’s work among the Gentiles (14:26-27). That was not a meeting of the church. It was a meeting of the ministry.
The ministry meetings are also for reading the apostles’ writing (the Scripture). This is shown in Acts 15:30-31. After the conference in Jerusalem, the apostles and elders made a decision to write something. Then some went out to gather the saints together and read this writing to them. This gathering was not a meeting of the church but a meeting of the ministry. At that time they were listening to the writing of the apostles. Eventually, the apostles’ writings became the Scripture. This implies that a ministry meeting may be for the purpose of reading and studying the Scripture.
In the New Testament there are mainly three things carried out in the ministry meetings: preaching the gospel, giving a report of God’s work, and studying and ministering the Word. When we come together to listen to the ministry of the Word, that is not a church meeting but a ministry meeting.
The second category of meetings is the church meetings, and the first meeting of the church that we need to consider is the Lord’s table meeting.
Acts 2 tells us that the early believers had the Lord’s table, the breaking of bread, every day in their homes (vv. 42, 46). Later, in Acts 20:6b-7a we can see that the saints had a habit of having the Lord’s table on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week. Verse 6b says that the apostle Paul and his co-workers stayed in Troas for seven days. Then the next verse says that on the first day of the week they had the Lord’s table. This strongly indicates that by that time the Lord’s table was conducted mainly on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, the day of resurrection.
We need to say a little word here about the difference between the Lord’s Day and Sunday. Sunday is a heathen, idolatrous term adopted by Catholicism and maintained by tradition. Actually, it is idolatrous to say that a day belongs to the sun. The Bible refers to this day as the first day of the week. Revelation 1:10 calls this day “the Lord’s Day.” We must respect the first day of the week as a memorial of the Lord’s resurrection. We should consider this day as a day of the Lord and for the Lord.
Today the whole world takes Sunday not mainly for worship but for pleasures, for sports, and for all kinds of entertainment. This is more evil than idol worship, but this tide has flooded many Christians. Many Christians not only refer to the Lord’s Day as Sunday but also consider Sunday as a day of pleasure and entertainment. We, however, should consider the first day of the week as a day for the Lord.
In ancient times the saints eventually had the Lord’s table on the Lord’s Day, the first day of every week. This is proved by 1 Corinthians 16:2. In this verse the apostle Paul told the saints that on the first day of each week, they should offer something of their material possessions to the Lord. This proves that on the first day of each week, the early saints met together. Today the best day for the Christians to meet together is the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day. We must make this clear to the saints.
The Lord’s table is a feast. First Corinthians 10:21b uses the term the Lord’s table. We must tell the saints that the table here means the feast. We come to the Lord’s table to enjoy a feast.
First Corinthians 11:20 refers to our eating the Lord’s supper. This is not a breakfast or a lunch but a supper, a dinner. When the Lord established the table, He did it in the evening of the passover, so it was a supper.
Here we must stress that the Lord’s table is not only a feast but also a supper. A feast is mainly a kind of enjoyment, and a supper is a kind of restful eating. After a day’s work, after a day’s labor, people restfully eat their supper. Thus, we come to the Lord’s table not only to enjoy it as a feast but also to take it restfully. After we eat breakfast, we labor, but the Lord’s table is a supper for us to rest. No labor is implied here, but rest. Generally speaking, supper does not imply any kind of work, any kind of labor, or any intention to work. Supper indicates that the work is over, and now is the time for rest.
Here we must say a strong word to correct a wrong concept. Many Christians think that to have the Lord’s table is to remember His death. This is wrong. We are not going to remember the death, but we are going to remember the Lord Himself. The Lord told us to do this in remembrance of Him, not of His death. We remember the person, the Lord Himself. This is the central point of the Lord’s table meeting.
The Lord’s table meeting is to remember the Lord, so any hymns, testimonies, or messages that distract people from the Lord, the person, are not appropriate. In the Lord’s table meeting, someone may call a hymn on fighting the battle, or in the midst of the Lord’s table, someone may give a testimony of how he was rescued from his suffering. That might be good in another kind of meeting, but it is not fitting at the Lord’s table meeting. A brother may come to the Lord’s table with a good verse that he enjoyed in his time of morning revival. He might come with that good verse to give people a good teaching concerning repentance and salvation. This is wrong. Such a teaching is not for the Lord’s table meeting but for a gospel-preaching meeting. The Lord’s table meeting is concentrated on the person of the Lord, so all the hymns, all the praises, and all the speaking should be concentrated on the Lord Himself. All distractions from the focus of the Lord’s table should be avoided.
We remember the Lord by breaking the bread, by eating the bread, and by drinking the cup. In this lesson we want to talk only about breaking the bread. We remember the Lord not by thinking about, memorizing, or reckoning what the Lord did but by breaking the bread. We break the bread to apprehend with appreciation and thanks the Lord’s physical body being broken for us (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24). Many of us do not care for the meaning of breaking the bread. We break the bread in the meeting to signify that the Lord’s physical body was broken on the cross for us and for our sins.
In the next lesson we will cover more concerning our remembrance of the Lord at the Lord’s table. The next crucial point we will see is our eating of the bread to enjoy the Lord as our life supply, to testify that we live by the Lord, and to have fellowship in Christ’s mystical Body. Then we will fellowship concerning displaying the Lord’s death, expressing our desire of the Lord’s coming back, and worshipping the Father.
