Search
I. The Lord's table meeting is the bread breaking meeting (Acts 20:7), in which the believers come together to eat the Lord's supper (1 Cor. 11:20) and attend the Lord's table (1 Cor. 10:21).
А. The Lord's table meeting is the most important meeting of a local church; it is for remembering the Lord with the remembrance of the Lord as its center for the Lord's enjoyment.
1. Everything done in the meeting — whether the singing and speaking of the hymns, prayer and praise, Bible reading, or words of inspiration — should take the Lord as the center.
2. The attendants in the meeting should speak concerning the Lord's person and work, His love and virtues, His living and suffering on the earth, or His glory and honor in heaven, that others may consider or realize these things in order to remember the Lord Himself.
B. The Lord's table meeting of a local church must be proper and adequate.
1. A poor meeting exposes the weakness of the saints in a local church.
а. An improper meeting shows that the church has not received the necessary training.
b. An inadequate meeting shows that the church is immature.
2. A strong meeting indicates that a local church bears a prevailing testimony of the Lord.
II. First Corinthians 11 deals with the Lord's supper (v. 20); the Lord's table is dealt with in 1 Corinthians 10 (v. 21).
А. When we eat the Lord's supper, the emphasis is on the remembrance of the Lord.
B. Attending the Lord's table is for the fellowship of Christ and for the members of His Body to fellowship together in the Lord, the stress being on the fellowship among the saints.
C. The Lord's supper does not include the Lord's table, but the Lord's table includes the Lord's supper.
1. When we eat the Lord's supper, we remember Christ.
2. When we gather for the Lord's table, both aspects are included — we remember the Lord and we fellowship with Christ and His members.
D. The Lord's supper is for the Lord's enjoyment and satisfaction; the Lord's table is for our participation, enjoyment, fellowship.
III. There are two major aspects of the Lord's table meeting.
А. Eating the Lord's supper is for the remembrance of the Lord — 1 Cor. 11:24-25.
1. This could be called the vertical aspect of the Lord's table meeting.
а. It is a remembrance of the Lord's person, not His work.
b. Our prayer and praise rendered to the Lord should be concerning the Lord Himself.
2. First Corinthians 11:24 speaks of breaking the bread "unto the remembrance of Me."
а. We come to the Lord's table not to remember the Lord's death,
b. But rather Christ Himself.
3. First Corinthians 11:25 speaks of drinking the cup "unto the remembrance of Me."
а. We come to the Lord's table not to remember the Lord's work,
b. But rather Christ Himself.
4. To attend the Lord's table meeting and automatically eat the Lord's supper in remembrance of the Lord's death is a natural concept; to remember Christ Himself, we need a vision regarding His person.
5. We should remember the person much more than the work.
6. By eating the Lord's bread and drinking the Lord's cup, we eat the Lord's supper in remembrance of the Lord.
B. Attending the Lord's table is for us to have the fellowship with all the members of the Body of Christ — 1 Cor. 10:16-17.
1. This could be called the horizontal aspect of the Lord's table meeting.
2. We have this fellowship because of the Lord's body, which He gave for us on the cross and the Lord's blood which He shed for us on the cross.
а. The cup, which we enjoy together and which symbolizes the blood of Christ, removes all barriers between the saints; the bread, which we partake of together and which symbolizes the individual body of Christ, comes into us to make us one bread, signifying the corporate Body of Christ.
b. Our eating and partaking of one bread and drinking and sharing one cup imply mutual fellowship.
c. Such a fellowship becomes the fellowship of the blood of Christ and the fellowship of the body of Christ — 1 Cor. 10:16.
3. In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 and 21, both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the Lord's table are seen — the fellowship with Christ and the fellowship with the Body of Christ.
а. When we eat and drink together, sharing in the Lord's bread and the Lord's cup, "we partake of the table of the Lord."
b. We must partake of the Lord's table with other saints; otherwise, we would only have the vertical aspect.
IV. How do we remember the Lord and fellowship with the members of His Body?
А. How do we remember the Lord?
1. The breaking of the bread is that we may eat it — Matt. 26:26; 1 Cor. 11:23-24.
а. Concerning the bread the Lord said, "This is My body, which is for you; this do unto the remembrance of Me" — 1 Cor. 11:24; Luke 22:19.
b. The Lord also said, "Take, eat, this is My body" — Matt. 26:26.
c. We remember the Lord by eating the bread — 1 Cor. 11:24.
1) To remember the Lord is to feed on Him, to eat Him — John 6:57b.
2) The more we receive, eat, and feast on Him, the more we remember Him.
2. The partaking of the cup is that we may drink it — Matt. 26:27; 1 Cor. 11:25.
а. Concerning the cup 1 Corinthians 11:25 says, "Similarly also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood; this do, as often as you drink it, unto the remembrance of Me."
b. The Lord also said, "Drink of it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant" — Matt. 26:27b-28a.
c. We remember the Lord by drinking the cup — 1 Cor. 11:25.
1) To remember the Lord is to drink of Him, to drink Him.
2) The more we drink Him, the more we remember Him.
3. The real remembrance of the Lord is to eat the bread which signifies His body and drink the cup which signifies His blood.
а. When we eat the Lord's body and drink His blood, we not only receive but also enjoy the Lord Himself and all that He has accomplished by giving His body and shedding His blood; this is to receive, to participate in, to enjoy, the Lord who has given Himself to us through His redeeming death.
b. To eat the bread and drink the cup is to take in the redeeming Lord as our portion (Psa. 16:5; Lam. 3:24; Col. 1:12), as our life and blessing.
4. To receive and enjoy the Lord in this way is to remember Him.
B. How do we fellowship?
1. We fellowship with all the members of the Body of Christ by partaking of the same bread — 1 Cor. 10:16-17.
а. We all partake of the same loaf.
b. A piece of bread enters into me and a piece enters into the other brothers and sisters.
c. We fellowship with all the members of the Body of Christ by drinking of the same cup.
d. Christ and the disciples ate of the same bread and drank of the same cup — Mark 14:22-23.
2. When we come to the Lord's table meeting, we should come to receive the Lord into us.
1. For this we must learn how to exercise our spirit to eat and drink Him; we should not only consider the Lord in our heart, but also receive Him and what He did for us as our enjoyment in our spirit.
2. By feeding on and drinking of Christ in spirit we have both aspects — the remembrance of the Lord and the fellowship with all the members of Christ.
V. There are two minor aspects of the Lord's table meeting:
А. To display the Lord's death — 1 Cor. 11:26.
1. First Corinthians 11:26 says, "You declare [show, display, proclaim, announce] the Lord's death."
2. The Lord's supper is to display the death of the Lord, rather than to remember it.
а. We remember the person of the Lord, but we announce, proclaim, His death.
b. We declare His death to the entire universe: to the demons, to the angels, and to human beings.
3. While we remember the Lord, the two elements, the bread (body) and cup (blood), are displayed separately on the table.
а. This shows that the blood is separated from the body, signifying death.
b. With this display of death we proclaim and announce Christ's all-inclusive termination of twelve items on the cross — the angelic life (Col. 1:20), the human life (Gal. 2:20), Satan (Heb. 2:14; John 12:31), the kingdom of Satan (Col. 2:15; John 12:31), sin (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3), sins (1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:6), the world (Gal. 6:14; John 12:31), death (Heb. 2:14), flesh (Gal. 5:24), the old man (Rom. 6:6), self (Gal. 2:20), and all things, or creation (Col. 1:20).
4. By the death of the Lord all negative things have come to an end, and their end is displayed openly; this is the negative aspect.
5. The table also shows we can receive the Lord, symbolized by the bread and wine, into ourselves; this is the positive aspect.
а. On the one hand, the old creation is ended, but on the other hand, His new creation has begun.
b. Now He mingles Himself with us and we live by Him.
B. To express our hope — 1 Cor. 11:26.
1. According to 1 Corinthians 11:26, we are to declare the Lord's death "until He comes."
2. We take the Lord's supper for the remembrance of Him by declaring His redeeming death without ceasing until He comes back.
3. We are declaring a glorious matter, but we also have a glorious hope.
а. In a sense we are satisfied, but there is still a hope within us — Col. 1:27.
b. One day He will return and change our body (1 Cor. 15:51-54); we are waiting for this.
1) Our body will be transfigured at His coming — Phil. 3:21.
2) Our redemption will be complete — Rom. 8:23.
4. The words "until He comes" point to the coming kingdom — Matt. 26:29.
а. In Matthew 26:29 the Lord told us that He would not drink of the fruit of the vine until He drinks it new with us in the kingdom of His Father.
b. The coming kingdom is a matter of God's universal administration.
C. These two minor aspects of the Lord's supper point to the two comings of Christ.
1. In His first coming we have His death to carry out an all-inclusive redemption — the goal of His first coming.
2. His second coming will be after His having received the kingdom (Dan. 7:13-14; Luke 19:12-27), at which time He will establish this kingdom to be God's universal administration — the goal of His second coming.
3. The death of Christ in His first coming produced the church, and the church will bring in the kingdom with His second coming; to declare the Lord's death until He comes is equal to declaring the existence of the church for the bringing in of the kingdom.
а. The church connects the Lord's death with His coming back; the church is a highway from one side to the other.
b. The church continues the Lord's death and brings in His coming back.
