As I observed the comings and goings of families to a gathering of the church we call worship it seemed all hurried in from some early morning herding of the young sheep into vehicles and in just an hour herded them out into the parking lot of the world.
Where were all the sheep going?
Inside, scheduled fellowship included just two places for worshipers to join – neither appropriate for me (by definition of these limited communities of saints seeking fellowship and teaching in scripture).
Has the world won over the church or just provided better marketing of how ‘christians’ should invest our time on Sundays?
All that said, it’s a continuing issue for many churches and I have addressed it previously, including most recently in a 2020 series, In Case You Missed It…
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
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.
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.
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:
“Dothis, 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. Dothis, 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
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.
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.
If you think only of a moment of marriage vows for these kind words, think again.
How can you claim a relationship to Jesus Christ when you will not witness by your relationships to other Christians that we are dearly beloved by you?
Christ Jesus demonstrated a genuine love for sinners. (Do we not all remain sinners, even in Christ?) Yet some sinners do cling to an earthly love for temporal things, though Christ offers a clear choice to follow Him or be condemned to judgment.
Jesus has genuine compassion for us. Yet His compassion is not enough to save you from Hell unless you embrace a relationship with Him.
Dearly beloved, dear brother in the Lord,
(Though I speak to you as a beloved brother in Christ, I include our sisters in the Lord also by my appeal.)
Do you have love and compassion for other Christians? Do you care about those of your church – the body of Christ?
Dearly beloved,
Are you not beloved believers, near to the heart of our Lord?
Yet how far removed from His love are your hearts of stone which reject fellowship with your fellow disciple.
Who would Jesus embrace? Think of the example of His Disciples, those who gave up everything to follow Christ Jesus.
Who acknowledges the love of Jesus by nearness to His love?
The risen Christ had been asking Peter for the commitment of His love in leading the church after His ascension. Jesus had asked Peter three times: “Do you love me?”
Following this, the Gospel records: Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved— John 21:20
John will so embrace the believers of the church, evidenced by his witness, letters and Revelation. Yet the Apostle John also cautions believers to have relationship with Christ and not to claim Him only in Name.
1 John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
The ‘disciple Jesus loved,’ who as a young Apostle reclined at Jesus’ side in the fellowship and communion of the Twelve, instructs the church to ‘have fellowship with one another’ – a relationship. John and Peter both frequently address believers as, ‘dearly beloved,’ as do Paul, Jude and the writer of Hebrews.
Dearly beloved,
Do you claim a relationship to the love of Christ Jesus?
You who call yourselves Christians, why do you boast about your special relationship with him? [see Rom. 2:17]
Dearly beloved,
We must also embrace the relationship of fellowship with our beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord. You know the scripture:
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. [Romans 5:8]
Do you neglect the call of righteousness which follows?
So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. [Romans 5:11]
Let us, dearly beloved, also rejoice in the new relationship with one another in Christ Jesus, our Lord and beloved friend.
The beloved disciple, John, writes to us, the chosen, dearly beloved Bride of Christ:
I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth—as does everyone else who knows the truth— 2 because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever.
3 Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love…
5 I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. 6 Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning…
Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. 9 Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.
Dearly, beloved,
Remember the example of our loving Lord, Christ Jesus. Remember the example of love and fellowship witnessed through the Apostles of our Lord.
Remember your relationship to our loving Lord by nurturing and embracing the relationship of Jesus’ unfailing love with one another.
