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  • The Last Supper + Communion + a Family Meal

    The Last Supper + Communion + a Family Meal

    Maundy Thursday – The Last Supper

    The following is an UPDATED post from Maundy Thursday of Holy Week in the year of our Lord 2015 about the Last Supper of Jesus and the Twelve and communion of the saints of the Church. - RH

    Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
    who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. 

    Psalm 41:9
    The Last Supper scene staged by Rembrandt. Actually the Twelve Apostles in customary 1st century Jewish custom were 'reclined at table.'

    Institution of the Lord’s Supper

    As a Christian you may have your own name and picture of Maundy Thursday.

    It is a celebration of the Church commemorating the LAST SUPPER of the Lord Jesus Christ with the Twelve Apostles, His friends and followers for previous three years.

    Many Christians and Messianic Jews will also recognize that these Jewish men were also celebrating the Passover meal.

    Yet this meal both commemorates a covenant of old and establishes a new covenant by the BODY & BLOOD of the Savior who serves it.

    In Paul’s letter to the CHURCH at Corinth the ‘apostle to the gentiles’ describes our commemoration of the NEW COVENENT of Communion:

    1 Corinthians 11: NKJV

    23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:

    that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,

    “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

    25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying,

    “This cup is the new covenant in My blood.

    This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

    26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

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    Commemoration of the First Covenant

    Deuteronomy 12:

    7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

    8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— 9 for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

    Joshua 5:11-12

    And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

    Communion: OUR Family Meal

    • How important is your ‘christian’ and biological family to you?
    • Is Jesus head of your family?
    • Do we not need the intimacy of the love and time together in relationship and meals?

    As WE COMMEMORATE the LAST SUPPER OF JESUS let the saints called into His CUURCH remember that Communion is NOT an Old Covenant, but a New Covenant renewed in the ever-lasting family of Christ Jesus.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com + Thursday April 6, in the year of our Lord 2023

    We have forgotten the communion of relationship and intimacy of sharing our joy, our sorrows and our meals. We have forgotten to leave a place for the Lord at the head of our table and a time for all to partake in His righteousness and love.

    LORD, we have not even invited you and each of our loved ones to enjoy your peace, your love, your compassion, your teaching… LORD we have lost the family in our home… LORD we have lost the family in your church. Lord help us.

    Prayer of the original A.D. 2015 post. – RH

    Communion

    Holy Communion and the Passover Seder which Jesus commemorated on the night in which He was betrayed are much more than just a ritual.

    Do you realize that Jesus, our Lord and Savior said:

    “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

    In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” – 1 Corinthians 11:25

    It was after supper. It was a toast, as we would properly identify the proclamation over the wine this close family of Jesus was about to share.

    Yes, the Twelve were Jesus’ close family.

    They shared meals — almost all meals together. They broke bread together. They prayed together. They discussed Jesus’ teaching of the day and the day’s events.

    These were regular times of communion — intimate familial community — fellowship still familiar to members of the first century church and most familiar to families.

    Yet it is a communion, a fellowship of love, even an eventful love feast; which Christians in this century and  our Christian families have sacrificed to the leaven of this world.

    • Communion is fellowship with God
    • Communion is between Christ and the church by the Spirit
    • Communion is the fellowship of believers with one another

    Ephesians 4:

    Once again, encouragement from Paul to the CHURCH in Ephesis where the apostle had by example spent much time.

    Unity in the Body of Christ

    I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

    4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

    The communion and fellowship of believers in your family, of your church and in the body of all faithful believers is even more than this.

    We remember by Christ’s blood that He IS and we are joined to one another in Him.

    Unbelievers have no part in this. Those separate from Christ Jesus have no LIFE of His saving Blood.

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    The New Life

    17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

    18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.20 But that is not the way you learned Christ! +

    Do you not find this true?

    Are beloved family members even callous to your love for them and our love for Christ Jesus?

    And if like Christ we are hated by the world and even those of our own household, how much more important is communion and fellowship of His body the church.

    • How important is daily communion and fellowship in your Christian home?
    • Where is the place of Christ at your table, with husband and wife as one with Him?
    • Do our children come to commune with the Lord in our ‘christian home?’
    and here I confess that 'I am the chief of sinners.'

    At the table of the last supper sat Judas, as ALSO sits the one (maybe, if you insist) who hates Jesus and will betray you.

    At the table of the last supper sat Peter, as ALSO sit ones you may have to forgive three times (or seventy times seven) when they deny your love and Christ’s way to take up the cross and follow Him.

    Lord help us. Help us to commune with you and to love one another as You have loved us. Bring our beloved ones to your table of communion and fellowship and eternal love.

    Amen.

    To READ MORE about COMMUNION click HERE.
  • No Foolin’! Satan seeks christians

    No Foolin’! Satan seeks christians

    April Fools! (Don’t get caught, child of God.)

    Proverbs 10:23 KJV It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.

    And note from the definitions that in addition to stupidity, the attitude of a fool could include arrogance. Let us not as Christians believe that only unbelievers are prone to actions of foolishness.

    Easter and Christmas are always a time for rebellious sinners to make light of Christ: with bunnies and Santas, Mardi Gras revelries and crowded mall party madness. Yet even the marginal christian who adds Christ to their resume may show up at church for these two celebrations of the faith.

    Pray for these. I love so many who Satan also seeks.

    What do you suppose happened to the great crowds who shouted HOSANNA as Christ Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? (After all, they were good Jews for their faithfulness to just show up for this annual religious festival.)

    And how many of us who worship the Lord every week believe ONLY an unbeliever (or possibly a marginal believer) can be a fool?

    If we do, would we not do well to ask how easily WE might become one of those wayward christians who all-too-often deny Christ in the crowds and ignore God in our daily life?

    You may think such questions for an ‘April Fools’ day not entirely liturgical and appropriate for the middle of Holy Week (in which it falls this year); yet consider the foolishness of ignoring any scripture of God and deceiving attacks of Satan against you and me when we draw nearer to Jesus.

    Consider that the Passover, to which Christ Jesus and thousands of the faithful of God made their annual pilgrimage, is foremost worship of God. And consider from the Gospels the significance and nature of the sacrifices for their sins.

    Genesis 4:

    3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.

    Even in the beginning, two brothers brought their sacrifices of worship to the Lord God.

    And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?”

    [Now note this, Easter worshiper, as you run back into the world on Monday…]

    7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? 

    And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

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    The serpent deceived adam and all sons of adam except Jesus. It was more than foolishness for Cain to envy the worship of Abel; it was sin.

    And lest we imagine that our worship might not also turn, as did the HOSANNA’s of Palm Sunday turn into the sinful shouts, CRUCIFY HIM! on Good Friday; let’s look a little closer at some cautions of Christ Jesus.

    Matthew 7:26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a man who built his house on the sand.

    Where have all the foolish ones run the day after Easter?

    Will you be one of these who run to build your week on the sand?

    Even prior to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus had taught tens of thousands of the faithful religious followers of God. He had done miraculous deeds in witness to the crowds.

    Yet when He proclaims His own death and requirement of true obedience to God, how many remain?

    John 6

    15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

    “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

    35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst… 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

    53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

    You have heard it before: You must be born again.

    63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) …

     66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”

    68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

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    Now my caution against foolishness for Holy Week:

    Luke 22

    The Plot to Kill Jesus

    Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

    Judas to Betray Jesus

    3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve…

    19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

    20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

    21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

    Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

    31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,

    32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

    33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34 Jesus said,“I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

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    Perhaps you are not so foolish as Judas this day – Judas, who when he repented too late did hang himself and is by his betrayal is sentenced to Hell!

    Perhaps you are not even so foolishly arrogant as Peter – Peter, who would deny knowing Christ Jesus, whom he had called, “Lord,” and asked knowingly, “to whom else shall we go?”

    Yet humbly I ask you – I ask each one of us to set aside our own foolishness.

    Let us humble ourselves as our Lord Christ Jesus did for each and every sinner by His Holy Sacrifice on the Cross.

    For as our Lord prayed for Peter to not be sifted by Satan, the enemy of Christ’s righteousness and Sacrifice, the deceiver who roams the earth and stands in the vestibule of our churches; let us also pray for those we love.

    Let us pray that the Lord would win those hearts and join those beloved weak spirits with our hope in the resurrection and eternal love of Christ Jesus, God our Father and the Holy Spirit.

    Lord may they join us in our worship and Your love, for ever.

    Amen.

  • My Love – 6 – If I have not love

    My Love – 6 – If I have not love

    ‘I’m not happy.’

    ‘I met someone’

    IF you claim to be a follower of the Bridegroom of the church, Jesus Christ and things don’t go quite your way, would you tell Jesus to ‘get out’?

    Would you look for someone better, who might make you happy in this world?

    (Did God really say, “Don’t eat of the fruit of that tree?”)

    IF you are unfaithful to Christ’s love, would it not be adultery?

    christian whoreThough you claim to be a follower of Jesus, so had Judas!

    This is the unfortunate false witness of some with a cross in front of their home, ‘christianity’ claimed before ‘friends’ as religion, their stamp of approval before the world. These claim many things by the ‘Blood of Jesus,’ yet their more bold witness of worldly sins again crucifies hope in His body and true Bride, the church.

    Some have heard the following, even at weddings, known as the ‘love chapter.’

    IF Jesus Christ is your love, listen then to true love, you adulterers of Christ!

    1 Corinthians 13

    The Way of Love

     If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

    I have heard in churches the noisy gongs of ‘single moms,’ divorced grandmas and others clanging the noise of their own ‘higher’ worship, ‘tongues of angels,’ God’s messengers; as if we should follow these women, rather than Christ Jesus as Lord. Will they who are not bowed down to their husband or any man in Christ not lead the faith astray with their babel?

    2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

    I have heard prophesy given in the church. Is it from God? Why then did the church not record the very prediction of God given? Is the prophesy confirmed and witnessed to the glory of our Lord, Christ Jesus? Yes, sometimes; but believer beware of the wolves in our midst.

    Have you not endured some claiming such superior knowledge and understanding of mysteries who would teach us of their ‘faith to remove mountains’ in their Sunday school class or church small group?

    Did you experience the embrace of Christ’s love in their Pharisaical instruction? Did you hear love for you in their teaching or prophesy?

    I, too, have received prophesy and spoken it. The revelation of the Lord is a terrible and awesome thing!

    Some prophesy has not yet come to pass. For all I know, I may have been given some spirit of deception to accomplish the Lord’s overpowering purpose. Yet in these last days we must fear the Lord, always listening for the approaching trumpet of truth over the blaring cries of some claiming ‘understanding.’

    Read your Bible and pray for revelation by the Spirit of Truth in scripture.

    3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

    ‘And though I bestow,‘ states the King James; bestow, an interesting word more related to charity as we understand it – charity, agape love of God, used in application throughout these verses of the love chapter.

    Bestow: to feed by putting a bit or crumb (of food) into the mouth; of infants, young animals etc.; to feed, nourish to give a thing; to feed someone, feed out to

    Feed on God’s word in scripture. Nourish your spirit in prayer.

    Does this not also bring to mind the love a father and a mother, given to their child, their teen, their grown adult children, even their spouse given in marriage into your own family? Is this not also the gift of adoption given by our Heavenly Father through Christ to gentile believers (like most of us)?

    Are we not all poor and needy, dependent on our Father’s forgiving gracious love?

    Though I give to the poor, but have not love…

    Is that our charity of witness?

    Now that I have shared the seriousness of God’s love for us, allow me to share the more familiar actions of love often and appropriately shared at weddings:

    4 Love is patient and kind;

    love does not envy or boast;

    it is not arrogant 5

     or rude.

    Are you patient to your spouse, to whom you are joined to each other and God by your vows?

    Is your husband (or wife) patient with you – patient for you?

    Is your love for your beloved partner until death – kind?

    Are you, dear father, and you, dear mother, kind to your son – kind to your daughter – kind to each and all of your children (obedient and faithful, or rebellious and hateful)? Are you kind to your adopted child, your step-child, your child (even an adult child) given into your nurture by God to raise and guide in the Lord, Christ Jesus?

    Is your love patient and kind even to your prodigal teen?

    Is your love for your spouse, your children, your brothers and sisters in Christ ALWAYS patient and kind? Lord help us, impatient and unkind sinners!

    It does not insist on its own way;

    it is not irritable or resentful;

    it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

    Are you just another ‘spoiled child’ of God in your relationships with others in your daily life?

    7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

    Lord: Convict us and forgive us, for the sake of your Son, our loving Savior, Jesus Christ. Help me – help us to love you more and more; help us, miserable saved sinners, to love those you love with your overflowing agape love.

    8 Love never ends.

    To be continued…