Eating and Drinking Judgment on Yourself - When Do You Do That?
Eating and Drinking Judgment on Yourself - When Do You Do That?
That is a scary question. People have stayed at home because of this, they did not dare to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Just imagine that you do not discern the body, or not enough. That is what it says, right? Then you eat and drink judgment on yourself.
But how do you do that: “discerning the body”? What does Paul mean with that in 1 Corinthians 11:29? Or rather, what does the Spirit of Jesus mean to say here, for he is the one speaking here.
Abuses⤒🔗
When you just read that passage, you see that in Corinth there were abuses. The so-called love meals had little to do with love. The intention was that everyone would bring food and drink, and so together arrange a table of plenty. Everyone was welcome, also those who were too poor to bring something for the meal. Quite the care for the poor it was! The needy got to eat, but not only that, you also ate with them at the table, poor and rich brotherly mixed together. Rank and standing became invisible. And in the end as highlight: “the breaking of the bread”, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
Yes, that would be beautiful indeed.
But in reality, it was different. We read that everyone kept a good eye on the food they had brought along, to eat that themselves. And the same happened with the drinks. It resulted in the one person becoming drunk, while someone else was still hungry. Every person was in it for himself, they did not see each other, even while sitting at the same table.
This is not what happens currently. The love meal has been substituted with a Lord’s Supper collection for the deaconry. But the mentality still exists. People who are disappointed in others can say, fully convinced: “when I come to church, I do it for God, for if I had to do for men…”
Subsequently, they partake of the Lord’s Supper for their own portion.
To Eat the Body of Christ←⤒🔗
Then you must well realize what you are eating and drinking. Jesus broke the bread and said: “This is my body, for you”.
My body! A higher cost does not exist, that is what he paid for you. And also: whoever eats of this bread, receives Jesus himself. In this bread he gives himself personally to you, with his whole life, everything that it contains.
For you! This bread is with full commitment. Whoever eats of this, will also become like this: with full commitment, to be there for God and for your neighbour.
Realize this, in faith. And choose it.
When you do not do that, or you do not want that, then do not eat it. For then you can chew with your mouth and swallow it, but your heart is closed for the content of this sign and seal.
This is my body! Sacrificed on the cross, tortured, bled empty and buried. Also raised, with the scars in the body.
This is for you! This opens your eyes and your heart for Jesus and for all those people he places at the table with you.
For all those people who often disappoint him, and still are welcome. They may eat the same as you. Now you give yourself also to them; this bread lifts you up and over your disappointments. You get a new disposition, suddenly you see the other person, and realize that it is also about his salvation. That is why he sits with you.
This is how you discern the body: know what you eat!
You not only receive forgiveness as a tremendous gift, you share in Christ himself, in a personal and deep unity. You share in his love, in his way of thinking, in how he deals with people. You share in his drive and motivation, to bring many to the Father. He searched for them, everywhere. He saw them, with great interest. And he still sees us this way. That is why he gives us to each other, a piece of personal care from heaven.
Becoming the Body of Christ←⤒🔗
Completely in line with this, we may notice that the “body of Jesus” is at the same time also being used to indicate the congregation.
You eat of His body, together, and so you become his body, together. The body, in which there are many members, eyes, ears, hands, and feet.
As the Spirit speaks about it, in 1 Corinthians 11 and 12, the one meaning is woven together with the other meaning; you cannot separate them. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…, and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). Without any doubt, this points to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In these the Spirit unites us, which we may accept very concretely. As the members of the body of Christ we belong to one another, we serve one another, we complement one another, no matter how different we may be. What we receive from heaven, we can only receive together. For you cannot just separate yourself from the whole.
That is without any doubt also the meaning of “discerning the body”, when you eat and drink.
That you see the congregation and appreciate her. That you not only come for your own portion. That you realize and confess before God, how you will be as his family before him. And that you will not only love one another, but that you also need the others (1 Cor. 12:21).
No one can say to the other: “I do not need you”. For the other is God’s gift to you, they become your brother and your sister. Therein lies the answer to the me-orientation of this time, to the smugness and egotism which paralyze society nowadays.
You look at one another and say: “I need you; will you please help me?”
God’s Judgment←⤒🔗
Whoever does not discern the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. The connection in which Paul writes this, the egotistical malpractice in Corinth, makes us think especially of “the body” in that second meaning (without separating the first meaning from it). While they were eating and drinking, they were not allowing (or not enough) the thought to sink in how they were brought together into the one body of Christ. This is how their eating and drinking became “a judgment” of God. Not the judgment, the last judgment, it does not say that.
No, a judgment still focused on repentance and salvation. A judgment, well described, such as: “for there must be factions among you” (1 Cor. 11:19) and “that is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:30).
In those days it more often happened that God had his people feel the punishment right away; think also of what happened with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). God let them experience right away what his punishment was when they did not appreciate the body of Christ. Then in that same body you get misery poured out over you, points of contention and discussions are getting the upper hand, they turn into factions, cliques, and ruptures. It must be like that, it says, you cannot stop it, when you do not have one another in your heart. It is as if the body then turns against you.
It could be clearly seen from what was happening. Paul points to it, even the illnesses and people dying. That is how serious God is about this! Now we must surely exercise some restraint in pointing to cause and result. While God can indeed make us to ponder this. Definitely, when we in our days are also being confronted with a group mentality, open discontent and even the departure of members of the congregation. Why is it not working to hold on to one another? What is the cause here, and what is the result?
And just think it over for yourself: when you in your heart experience that the congregation does not mean that much to you, what is then the cause, and what is the result? Is it truly so, that this congregation is so disappointing, or do you receive in your heart the result of your own detachment, your lack of love, that you did not discern the body not enough while you ate and drank? It can be so, that God’s hand turns against you, while you are blaming the congregation. If you do not want to appreciate the body, then that can become in God’s hand your own judgment.
No, not right away the final judgment. But indeed, to be taken seriously, to notice it, and to repent from your ways.
Congregation of Jesus←⤒🔗
In Corinth, there were terrible situations, when you read it. This disorderliness at the loveless meals was not the only thing. There was also a party-spirit, quarrels, a lack of discipline, looking down on each other, unholiness in marriages, just to name a few.
Reasons aplenty therefore to have fierce criticism and keep a distance.
Well, Paul certainly criticizes them, but he does not keep a distance. It is especially remarkable, how at the beginning of his letter he is praising this congregation!
‘I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge…so that you are not lacking in any gift…He will sustain you to the end.” (1 Cor. 1:4-8).
That is quite a preamble for what is to follow. Extremely educational! For here starts already the “discerning of the body”: however much criticism will be necessary, this congregation is the body of Christ, and as such clearly recognizable.
This is how Paul begins, he safeguards this truth. And it seems to be for him the driving force to pay this congregation much attention, in his letters and in his visits.
The “discerning of the body” is therefore not limited to the Lord’s Supper.
It is continually determinative for the angle of approach from which you view the congregation and how you think about her.
Do you let yourself be led by what you see and by the things that bother you, to enlarge all her defects, or do you let yourself be led by the Spirit, who shows her to you as the bride of Christ?
This will be decisive for your manner of eating and drinking, and for your whole character, your effort, and your faithfulness.
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