Lord Supper 2

LORD SUPPER 2

By John Fenn

Hi all,
After last week's "Thoughts" I received several emails asking me to go into more detail concerning "self-examination" and healing during the Lord's Supper, so that's what I'll share about today.

First things first
Paul said this in I Corinthians 11:26-28 (Amp): "For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are representing and signifying and proclaiming the fact of the Lord's death until he comes (again). So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a way that is unworthy (of Him) will be guilty (profaning and sinning against) the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man (thoroughly) examine himself, and (only) when he has done so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup."

The 3 underlined words above help us understand the Greek word "katangello" meaning 'proclaim'. This same word is used of the girl in Acts 16:17 who had a spirit of divination who followed Paul and loudly cried out (proclaimed) that they were showing the way of salvation (in Philippi 'the way of salvation' to the locals meant following the goddess in the local temple, which of course is NOT what Paul was doing so he cast the spirit out).

Thus we examine ourselves, and by receiving the Lord's Supper we proclaim we are in the number who remember his sacrifice, that our hearts are (now) right in the matter, our choice clear, we PROCLAIM Christ's death, and BOLDLY look forward to his coming again!

Accountability
As noted in verse 28 above, we are to examine ourselves, which means "to prove, test, approve". We might think of a school math test in the same way, as an opportunity to prove what we know; it's not the teacher trying to prove what we don't know. (though it sure felt that way in my math classes)

Similarly this examination of ourselves is to prove and approve our hearts in Christ, not to discover or uncover some deep, dark sin, rather to approve what is right within us - Christ! It is similar to Genesis 22:1 where it says the Lord did 'test' Abraham by commanding him to offer Isaac in sacrifice. It isn't a test to the negative, but rather giving Abraham a chance to prove the covenant with God that was in his heart.

Paul goes on in verse 29-30 saying: "For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks 'damnation' (KJV) to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died early."

The word translated "damnation" in the King James Version is the word 'krima', which means "the sentence pronounced, a verdict." The word 'discern' means "to separate, to learn by, to decide."

Putting this together Paul is saying: "For he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks a verdict against himself, not learning and deciding properly about the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died early."

The very elements meant to be a bold proclamation of our right heart and faith can be a two edged sword: If taken with a wrong heart we become responsible for our lack of respect for the Lord and his sacrifice.

But if a person approaches the Lord's Supper properly, they can be healed while partaking!

In practice
What I do before the Lord's Supper is examine myself spiritually, confess any sin or even the slightest
burden to the Lord, which comes under the blood of Jesus side of it. It just takes a micro-second to forgive, give up stress and worry and fear - just a micro-second to make the heart right.

Then just as quickly I take stock of my body as I consider Jesus' body broken for me - am I tired, under the weather, headache, sore muscles - anything that might come under the heading of healing, weakness, frailty. I thank the Lord that by the stripes laid on his back I was healed, that my peace of mind was purchased for me by his sacrifice, and so on.

I've seen people healed of everything from headaches to muscle pains to sore joints and more during the Lord's Supper. Sometimes I'll have people lay hands on the part of their body that hurts while they eat, and instruct them to think on Jesus' body broken for them as they give thanks for what He did for them. Once in thanksgiving and praise, healing flows!

Judge ourselves
Paul goes on to say in verses 31-32: "For if we judge ourselves, we won't be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord,. that we should not be condemned with the world."

If we 'judge' ourselves. "Judge" is the same self examination with an eye toward approval spoken of in verse 28. If we do that we won't be judged of the Lord. This word 'chastened' is 'paideuo', meaning 'to train children', thus more broadly, education or instruction.

Let me explain it this way; every time you are convicted of a sin in your heart it is the Spirit of Truth telling you that you have sinned. When you confess that sin and ask for forgiveness, you have just judged yourself.

Because you judged yourself in that matter, when you stand before Jesus one day, that sin will not be brought up - you judged yourself and solved the issue here while on the earth.

However, if you were to die before you dealt with it, when you stand before the Lord he will bring it up - you'll have to deal with it here or there, either way. It's not a heaven or hell situation, but it is best to take care of it this side of heaven, don't you think? So Paul says to use the Lord's Supper as an opportunity to judge ourselves.

Just being honest
This isn't a 'deal with it now or watch out' situation. I don't know about you, but the Lord can deal with me on situations in my life for months - elements of my personality that need to be more Christ-like. Most recently (just being transparent) my lack of patience with certain Oklahoma drivers who love staying in the left hand emergency/passing lane while driving below the speed limit and causing a bottleneck.

Much of the road I drive is speed limit 75mph (120kph), which means my cruise control is set at 78mph (133kph). When I come upon a bottleneck caused by someone driving 70mph in the left lane, forcing people to pass on the right - well, throw in a semi-truck or two and you're down to 65 behind 10 cars and trucks for miles on end!

Yes that's a pet peeve. but I know myself; no matter how much the Lord deals with me about my impatience when coming up behind some guy hogging the road this way, as long as I have a driver's license it will always bug me. My job is to deal with my strong sense of right and wrong, impatience, anger, and how I need to take a big picture attitude and cool my jets.

Can you tell this is on going? But I haven't stopped taking the Lord's Supper - because I'm working on it, it's an active thing He and I are dealing with. So this process of judging myself is ongoing, and actually, I'm much better now than a year ago! :)

I remember when one of our sons first got his driver's license and the Lord was dealing with him about speeding. I wanted the Lord to deal with him on it because he wasn't dealing with it. First came my warnings and his acknowledgement the Lord was dealing with him. Then came a ticket in our little town, but still he didn't judge himself. Then he rear ended a truck on an icy patch of road - he judged himself after that. (It totaled his car, but no one was injured and the big truck he hit didn't have much damage)

The reason I added these examples is that some people will read what Paul said and stop receiving the Lord's Supper because they'll be afraid - which is not good, for its a perfect time to gauge how we are doing, progress made, and truly commune with our hearts and the Lord on the subject of our lives. Paul didn't say wait until you are perfect, he said just judge yourself so that you are partaking in the right heart - imperfect though our lives may be!

Back to weak and sickly
As it pertains to the subject of being weak, sickly, frail and dying early, Paul explained some of this earlier in his letter. In chapter 6:18 Paul said that there are sins outside of the body, but sexual sins (among others) are sins against the body, and as such are manifest in the body.

Because the body is of this earth, sins against the body are manifest here on this earth and in this body. Paul said sexual sins fall in this category of sinning against the body, and of course we know of all sorts of ramifications for such sin, including disease, emotional turmoil, etc.

But the category is broader: When a person knows something is bad for the body, but does it anyway, the ramifications stay in the body. Sins against the Lord can be wiped away with repentance, but things of this earth stay on the earth. The more we know, the more we are accountable for.

If I pig out continually and gain all sorts of weight, I can ask the Lord for forgiveness and he will, yet the effect of that sin, being made against this earthly body, will reveal itself in the body at some point - maybe heart disease, maybe diabetes, maybe something else. As such, the Lord may not extend divine healing to us, but be gracious with doctors and such rather than divine healing.

I can think of case after case of people who've requested healing that in fact are merely reaping the sins against the body they've practiced for years. In those cases, the grace is usually on medical help here on the earth, rather than outright healing from heaven. And that's just 1 small reason people don't receive divine healing, so don't wrap up everyone who isn't healed in this subject please.

Closing, and prayer request
The time before receiving the Lord's supper can be a wonderful time of reflection, taking stock of things, and receiving healing or peace of mind, if we judge ourselves and rightly discern the Lord's sacrifice for us.

Those are some thoughts on the Lord's Supper; new thoughts next week.
Prayer request for me:

Some of you will know of Sid Roth. I fly out Wednesday to tape 2 TV shows of his "It's Supernatural" show seen on all the Christian TV stations (taping Thursday). We've already taped 2 weeks of radio shows which will be aired later this fall (I don't know the dates yet on any of the 4 interviews).

At times like these I pray for the listeners who will hear the shows that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation will be given them, and for myself and Sid that the Father will have us share what He wants. Thanks.

Also - we've had some computer server problems this week, and about 15 people who signed up for these Weekly Thoughts never made it into the data base - their info is lost in cyber space. If you know of someone who said they signed up this past week, please have them do so again - they will know it didn't work as they aren't receiving this email - so if you have a friend you forwarded it to last week, check with them please.

Blessings,
John Fenn
www.iFaithhome.org