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

CO2 - Church of Two

Since June, several dozen people have been field testing a simple but powerful tool for spiritual growth and discipleship. At this point, our sense is that the Lord wants us to invite a larger group of people to engage in spiritual research around this tool through a 31 day experiment (The October Experiment). The tool or practice I'm referring to is called "CO2" or "Church of Two".

Please ask the Lord if He would have you join us in the Experiment.

The CO2 "tool" is revolutionary for at least two reasons. First, it establishes "rhythms of attention" instead of traditional discipleship programs. These "rhythms" are simple tools for paying attention to the heart - my own heart, the heart of one other person and God's heart. The initial results for people practicing CO2s have been very encouraging as we have seen significant personal transformation.

CO2s are also revolutionary because they form the basic building blocks for every larger expression of church. A house church made up of several of these daily pairs is immensely stronger than a group that meets just once a week. In addition, as CO2s multiply, starting new house churches can occur quite easily.


In order to facilitate a "community of practice" based around the CO2 concept, I'm starting a new blog called STORIES FROM THE REVOLUTION: Practicing CO2 for 31 Days. This is where you and I can reflect on what we are learning. (Have you seen the movie Julie/Julia?). The way you join The October Experiment is by signing up for this blog. See below for directions.

Interested in finding out more about The October Experiment?

Go to STORIES FROM THE REVOLUTION: Practicing CO2 for 31 Days: http://storiesfromtherevolution.blogspot.com/ On this site, I would encourage you to take the following steps...

Step One. Watch "An Overview of CO2 - Video"

Step Two. Read "The CO2 Flyer" (scroll down on right column). Feel free to make copies.

Step Three. Ask the Lord who he wants you to partner with for a CO2. Then, sign up in the box that says: "Your email address". (See the red letters in the right column EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS POWERED BY FEEDBLITZ.)

That's it! You can begin your CO2 at any time. On October 1st, I will begin sending a short daily report on what we are learning. You will be able to add your comments about the things you are learning.

The October Experiment is open to anyone who is interested. Consider inviting the people in your house church to join us.

Questions? Hit "reply" and I'll try to help.


Your brother,

John

John White
Team Leader
LK10: A Community of Practice for Church Planters
http://lk10.com

Why Denominations Cannot Complete the Great Commission

Hello Friends
I would encourage you to click on this article from David Watson,http://www.davidlwatson.org/2009/09/10/why-denominations-cannot-complete-the-great-commission/ He begins the article by listing his denominational credentials but as a simple church planter/trainer in the Muslim world he has a very practical, biblical perspective. Be challenged!

Since mid July we have enjoyed Canada but it will soon be time to get back to Central Asia and Europe. This will be our first trip to Tajikistan so that is more visas, more flights, more cost and more challenge. Would you pray about helping us with the finances for this trip?

Your partnership in prayer and finances is deeply appreciated.
Every blessing in this new fall season
Steve & Marilyn

Why Denominations Cannot Complete the Great Commission
First of all, I am not anti-denominational. I spent more than 15 years as a denominational employee and 10 years in various denominational church staff roles, and have been a member of the same denomination’s churches for 50 years. So, please reserve your judgments until you finish reading this article.
What distinguishes a denomination or denomination-like church is the insistence that all related churches and any churches they start adhere to a particular and peculiar perspective and associated practices related to the Bible, as well as their particular church history. All denominational churches are Bible-based and history-based. They may require a strict or loose adherence to their doctrine and/or practices. Their doctrine, however, is at best a subset of what Scripture has to say, and at worst contain extra-Biblical teachings and practices based on their church history. All worship styles, leadership styles, and governance styles are mostly extra-Biblical, even though all denominations will claim a Biblical background for their practices.
All denominations and denomination-like churches exclude or minimize certain passages in the Bible and highlight other passages that support their views. They will often play the “interpretation” game when challenged with passages from the Bible that do not support their doctrine, or they may even redefine those passages as “spurious” or not really Scripture, or not relevant today.
In almost all cases denominations and denominational-like churches will raise their historical extra-Biblical beliefs and church practices to the level of Scripture. Some denominations openly embrace this practice. Others deny it, but in practice affirm it. I’ll let you look at your own denomination and determine where your beliefs and practices are in light of the whole counsel of Scripture. (Hint: Look at the doctrines and/or practices on which you are unwilling to compromise or look at the doctrines and/or practices for which you criticize others.)
And herein lays the problem. When we look at the attendance records of any given denomination, even in state church countries, we find that a small percentage of the population even attend any particular church. In most cases this number is only 2 to 5 percent, even in countries with state churches. Everyone who wants to go to a particular church is already attending. Everyone else knows something about that church and chooses not to attend and not to be a part of organized and religious Christianity.
So, no matter what denominational stance is comfortable to you, it will only appeal to about 5% of the population, at most. And everyone who is interested is already a member, most of whom only attend on special occasions.
So, what makes us think that any one denomination or even all denominations working for the Great Commission can succeed in reaching the world for Christ? We have had 1600 years of denominational Christianity, and best case numbers of those who call themselves Christian put us roughly at 1/6th of the world’s population. And we know that only about 20% of so-called Christians ever participate in any kind of church on a regular basis.
If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting the same results. Denominational approaches to the Great Commission have not succeeded in 1600 years or the 492 years since the Protestant Reformation that began in 1517. The reality is that Christianity does not have a good name in most of the world. We have made Christ like us, which are the vilest form of idolatry, instead of becoming like Christ. What makes us think that anyone wants our religion? They have seen it at work, and have rejected it. And the heart of Christian religion is denominationalism.
Another barrier that results from denominationalism is that leaders must go through extensive educational and indoctrinational processes before they are qualified to lead. This bottleneck precludes any hope of completing the Great Commission before another generation dies. All the seminaries, theological schools and Bible schools combined cannot produce enough leaders to finish the task. The denominational education and indoctrination processes make it impossible to fulfill the Great Commission. We have come a long way from First Century illiterate fishermen entering new people groups, nations, and cities and starting a church within months and then moving on. With the loss of simplicity we lost the ability to replicate leaders quickly and move through people groups efficiently. By over training and over managing new believers we stop the process of replication that could reach a nation and a world.
Jesus left eleven men, some of whom doubted, standing on a hilltop. Some were illiterate. Others were rebels. All would be considered ill prepared to fulfill the task Christ gave to them and the Church. If Christ deemed these eleven-very-marginal-leaders fit enough to carry forward the Great Commission, perhaps we need to rethink what we are doing.
CPM is about doing what was done in the First Century. Give the Gospel to a people and teach them to obey it. See them become faithful Disciples of Christ. Leave them to struggle in obeying the Word of God in their own context and history, developing their own unique practices for worship, leadership, and governance within the confines of Biblical obedience.
When denominations forget their differences and get back to planting the Gospel instead of their doctrines, we may have a chance to complete the Great Commission. When we turn to making Disciples of Christ instead of converts for our denominations, we may have a chance to complete the Great Commission. Until then we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of our forefathers. I prefer to learn from mistakes, not repeat them.
When denominations and denominational-like churches begin to plant the Gospel, make obedient Disciples of Christ, and forget their own pet doctrines and practices, we will see the Great Commission fulfilled in a generation. When denominations and denomination-like churches do this, they will see their own denominations grow as never before, because they will become relevant to the people as they serve them in obedience to the Word of God.
In the mean time, I will keep working with lost who want to know the Creator, and help them to become obedient Disciples of Christ who will take seriously the planting of the Gospel, the making of Disciples, and the salvation of a generation.
Blessings!
David Watson
Irving, Texas