My message is Communion. . Here beginneth the reading of Gods holy word. 1st Corinthians 11 17 to 27. 17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that yee come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when yee come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20 When yee come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 21 For in eating every one take-eth before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have yee not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise yee the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. 23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do yee, as oft as yee drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as yee eat this bread, and drink this cup, yee do shew the Lord's death till he come. *27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. *29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. *30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. *31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when yee come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that yee come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. 2nd Timothy 3 5. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Matthew 5 23 to 26. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. Luke 22 19 to 20. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake [it], and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. John 6 53 to 58. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except yee eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, yee have no life in you. 1st Corinthians 11 21 to 22. 21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have yee not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise yee the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. . Here Endeth the reading of Gods holy word. The early church had what were called “love feasts”, (Jude 12, New King James Version). They met together daily from house to house and broke bread together, (Acts 2 46). ......... Some people have misinterpreted this verse, "For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken", just as 1st Corinthians 11 20 which says "When yee come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper" , to say that it is wrong to eat or drink in the church assemblies. Paul was not forbidding that, but was putting forth a proper method of conduct for the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthians had turned communion into a feast where those who were well-off gorged themselves while those who were without went hungry. This obviously was not the type of unity that was evident in the first Lord’s Supper, and that the Lord intended His followers to observe in communion. When Paul said they came together in the church, he was not speaking of a building. The New Testament church didn’t start having buildings they called “church” until the fourth century A.D. In the beginning, they met in homes. So, Paul was referring to the body of believers as the church. That is the proper use of the word. The observance of communion should focus on the sacrificial offering of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus for us, not on food. This is why churches usually take just a symbolic amount of wine or juice and bread instead of a meal. Meals in the church building are not wrong as long as there is ample provision to supply those who may not be able to provide food for themselves. . Here Beginneth the reading of Gods holy word. Corinthians 11 27 to 31. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. *29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. *30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. . Here Endeth the reading of Gods holy word. The Lord’s Supper is symbolic, and its real power is in the fact that it keeps us in remembrance of the most basic truths of our salvation. However, just because it is symbolic doesn't mean it is unimportant. Here, Paul described the severe effects of partaking of communion unworthily. There have been many interpretations of just what qualifies as "unworthily." A severe interpretation would suggest that any deed or thought in a person's life that has not been confessed and repented of would make that individual unworthy. Since the Scripture says "whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14 23), very few people would ever qualify as worthy to partake of communion. Plus, this would make our relationship with the Lord in communion, dependent on our performance, and this is contrary to the very act of atonement that the Lord's Supper reminds us of. 1st of all. A powerful interpretation of unworthy is: what makes people worthy or unworthy is whether or not they have been born again, for except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom Of God. This would also be totally consistent with the doctrine of grace that Paul constantly preached, "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:" ; "for all have sinned; and come short of the glory of God" and "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." There were unbelievers among the true Christians, for there must be also heresies among you, verse 18, and this still exists today. It is a dangerous offense for an unbeliever to take the Lord's Supper. People who profess salvation through partaking of communion yet do not possess it, because true faith is not present, become guilty of the blood of the Lord. Those people will not be able to claim ignorance when they stand before God. The Lord's Supper clearly preaches the Gospel. Therefore, when taking communion, the people should examine themselves to see whether or not they are in the faith. It is an individual evaluation that ministers are not authorized to make for others, but ministers should make Paul's warnings here in 1 Corinthians 11 known to others when administering communion. This warning about being "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord" has caused fear in the hearts of many believers. They fear that if they aren't just right when they partake of communion, they may be damned. This is inconsistent with all of Paul's other teachings about relationship with the Lord through grace. It would be inconsistent with Romans 5 1 which says; Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: Finally, it would be inconsistent with Romans 5 8 to 9 which says; But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him We Christians do not partake of the Lord's Supper unworthily as yee suppose, even if we have sin in our lives. If we truly worship the Lord through communion, we have to do that in spirit and in truth, and our born-again spirits are perfect, regardless of how our flesh is. The apparent problems with this verse are removed when "unworthily" is interpreted as referring to those who are not born again. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Paul was saying that those who are not saved, yet partake of communion, are professing a lie. As Jesus said, "If yee were blind, yee should have no sin: but now yee say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth". Judgment is easier on those who are ignorant, but those who take communion cannot claim ignorance. If they partake of the Lord's Supper "unworthily", that is not born again, those people become without excuse. They are guilty of the blood of the Lord. 2nd ly. Another Interpretation Of Unworthy which I really want to lift up is. Verses 27 and 29 tells us what unworthily means. Intentionally or un-intentionally, not placing the correct value on the elements of the communion. That is not placing the correct value on the wine or the bread. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. The blood, or the wine is for the forgiveness of sin, but the bread, or the body is for the healing of the saints. Frequently, we do not differentiate the two. We understand that the wine is for the forgiveness of sins. If we drink the wine and do not profess that we are saved, then we are guilty of the wine. Nevertheless, if we eat the bread, but do not believe that we are healed, then we are guilty of the body. When we fail to understand, that the significance, of the element, of the bread, is the healing of the body, and we come together to shame those who don't have food at home or simply eating out of ignorance, then we miss our healing. The healing is not a temporary healing for today. Everybody gets a temporary healing until age 70 or 80. The sun rises on the righteous and the unrighteous. The healing is a permanent healing, until age 120. That is by strength you live to be 120. Without strength you live until the minimum of 70 or 80. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. Then verse 30 goes on to say: "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." In other words, because people fail to understand that the bread is for the long term healing of the body, that is the blessing of long life, they are missing their healing, there are sickly among you. That is, they die of natural causes or old age. That is they die at the minimum age of 60 or seventy as the unbelievers of the curse of Exodus. That is the judgment that eating unwortily brings on us, because we do not believe God's word. Examine yourself and seee if you believe, for you will have what you say, when you say what God has already said. For the bible says that my people perish for a lack of knowledge. See my teaching on "How Old Can A Christian Expect To Liv To Be". Do you know that when the children came out of Egypt there were thousands upon thousands among them, and they all ate the lamb, or the body of Jesus, and there was not 1 sick among them. That is the dictionary definition of impossible. Yet, that is the way that the church is supposed to be. The expectation of the church as a whole, as a result of eating the lamb or the body of Jesus, should be that there is no sick among you. When we ask "are there any sick among you", the expectation should be no! Instead, we would really be surprised at a no response from the church as a whole. Once a saint made a statement saying, I'm sick, and a little child responded, I thought you were a Christian. He got it right. He was surprised that there were any sick among you. Let me give you an alternative and probably a better point of view of the tree of eternal life. Some believe that when we eat from the tree of eternal life we automatically live forever, even if we discontinue eating. We know that the tree was in the middle or mist of the garden. Adam and Eve probably past that tree more than any other tree in the garden. There was no prohibition against eating from the tree of eternal life. There is not a good reason to believe that Adam nor Eve had not already eaten from that tree before their fall. Nevertheless, when they did eat, the bible says that, God shut off their access to the tree of eternal life, so that they could not continue to eat from the tree. That is when they stopped eating from the tree of eternal life, or the body of Jesus, then they began to die, and it took a thousand years for death to fully manifest. Thus the tree of eternal life would be more like a fountain of youth, which would cause them to sore like an eagle. For the bible says: But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Revelation goes on to say: . Here beginneth the reading of Gods holy word. Revelation 21. 1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. Revelation 22 1 to 5. 1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. *2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: . . 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. *14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. . Here Endeth the reading of Gods holy word. In the future, New Jerusalem will descend from heaven to earth. The tree of life will be located in the mist of the garden on earth and God will be on earth with men (Revelation 21 1 to 3). God may very well move back and forth between heaven and earth as he did in the earlier days of Adam, or Jesus may be the one dwelling with men. Nevertheless, the tree of life will yield its fruit monthly to all the nations on the earth. Its leaves will be for the healing of the people of the nations on the earth (Revelation 22 1 to 3). Here we get a picture of people continuously coming into the city of New Jerusalem and eating from the tree of life to be healed. This is parallel to people continuously eating the bread of the communion to be healed. You don't just eat once and are healed forever, but you eat continuously and are continuously rejuvenated because the tree of life is for the healing of the nations. That will be its purpose in the end and that was its function in the beginning. When they stopped eating, they stopped getting healed. When they were cut off from the tree it took 1,000 years for them to learn how to die, and for death to fully take effect. Again see my teaching on "How Old Can A Christian Expect To Liv To Be". Furthermore, Jesus is like a Tree of Life in the sense that in Him we have life and that life lasts forever. Jesus is like a Tree of Life in the sense that those who believe in Him have eternal life through Him. Jesus is life. Nevertheless, you must continuously eat from Jesus. Grace and peace be unto you, from God our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the hearing and the reading of your word. For he that has an ear, let him hear. Amen!