The Lords Supper is not designed for the satisfaction of physical hunger and thirst, or for the nour

1

• The Lords Supper is not designed for the
  satisfaction of physical hunger and thirst, or
  for the nourishment of the physical body.
• It is designed to meet spiritual, rather than
  physical needs.
• As a spiritual meal, it has many aspects, or
  facets.

2
The Lord's Supper

• A Memorial Meal

3
The Lord's Supper

• A Proclamation Meal

4
The Lord's Supper

• A Covenant Meal

5
The Lord's Supper

• It Is Also A Fellowship Meal

6
1 Corinthians 1016

• The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the
  communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which
  we break, is it not the communion of the body of
  Christ?

fellowship
7
A Fellowship Meal

• The word rendered communion in this passage is
  from the same word translated fellowship.
• It means participation, association, intimacy.
• When Christians eat the bread and drink the cup
  in the Lords Supper they participate in and have
  fellowship with the blessings and privileges of
  His body and His blood.

8
A Fellowship Meal

• Of course, our fellowship or communion with
  Christ is much broader than partaking of the
  Lords Supper.

9
1 Corinthians 19

• God is faithful, by whom you were called into the
  fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10
1 John 11-3

• That which was from the beginning, which we have
  heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
  have looked upon, and our hands have handled,
  concerning the Word of life-- the life was
  manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness,
  and declare to you that eternal life which was
  with the Father and was manifested to us-- that
  which we have seen and heard we declare to you,
  that you also may have fellowship with us and
  truly our fellowship is with the Father and with
  His Son Jesus Christ.

11
A Fellowship Meal

• Of course, our fellowship or communion with
  Christ is much broader than partaking of the
  Lords Supper.
• Paul says that, in everything he did to serve the
  Lord, foregoing anything and everything that
  would keep him from being loyal to his divine
  Master, he had fellowship or communion with the
  sufferings of Christ.

12
Philippians 38, 10-11

• Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the
  excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
  Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all
  things, and count them as rubbish, that I may
  gain Christ ... that I may know Him and the power
  of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
  sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by
  any means, I may attain to the resurrection from
  the dead.

13
A Fellowship Meal

• The apostle John affirms that this fellowship
  includes the blessing of cleansing from sin by
  the Saviors blood, which is one way of having
  communion with the sacrifice of Christ on the
  cross.

14
1 John 17

• But if we walk in the light as He is in the
  light, we have fellowship with one another, and
  the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us
  from all sin.

15
A Fellowship Meal

• The apostle John affirms that this fellowship or
  communion includes the blessing of cleansing from
  sin by the Saviors blood, which is one way of
  having communion with the sacrifice of Christ on
  the cross.
• But to enjoy this blessing, the apostle insists
  that we must not walk in the darkness but in the
  light, which means that we are to follow the
  Lords will in all things, not only participating
  in the fellowship meal but keeping all the divine
  commandments and ordinances.

16
1 John 15-6

• This is the message which we have heard from Him
  and declare to you, that God is light and in Him
  is no darkness at all. If we say that we have
  fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie
  and do not practice the truth.

17
A Fellowship Meal

• This does not mean, however, that the Christian
  must be perfectly sinless in order to have
  fellowship with the body and blood of Christ.
• If walking in the light meant never sinning, the
  Christian who was walking in the light would have
  no sin and would not need cleansing by the blood.
  
• But it does mean that he is putting forth a
  determined effort to do the Lords will, not
  picking and choosing which commandments he will
  obey.

18
A Fellowship Meal

• These truths do not, in any way, minimize the
  importance of the fellowship of the body and
  blood of Christ, which Christians enjoy in the
  partaking of the Lords Supper.
• There is no more intimate, immediate and direct
  fellowship possible for men and women to have
  with the sacrifice of Christ, than that which is
  available in the fellowship meal.

19
A Fellowship Meal

• When partaking worthily, their minds and hearts
  are consciously centered upon the suffering,
  crucified Savior and the blessings involved in
  that loving, merciful, meritorious sacrifice.
• Hence, it seems impossible that a child of God
  could be walking in the light, while neglecting
  the gathering of the saints around the Lords
  Table to commemorate the Lord's death.

20
A Fellowship Meal

• Such a persons irreverence in failing to partake
  of the Lords Supper is indicative of his
  unconcern for his sins and for his need of the
  Saviors sacrifice, which the fellowship meal
  represents.
• He has turned away from Christ, rejecting a means
  of access to the mercy and grace of God.
• In rejecting the fellowship meal, he has rejected
  fellowship with the body and blood of Christ.

21
A Fellowship Meal

• Jesus gave the last measure of devotion in the
  service of mankind when He tasted of death for
  every man.

22
Hebrews 21-4

• Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to
  the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For
  if the word spoken through angels proved
  steadfast, and every transgression and
  disobedience received a just reward, how shall we
  escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which
  at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and
  was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God
  also bearing witness both with signs and wonders,
  with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy
  Spirit, according to His own will?

23
Hebrews 25-8

• For He has not put the world to come, of which we
  speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified
  in a certain place, saying "What is man that You
  are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You
  take care of him? You have made him a little
  lower than the angels You have crowned him with
  glory and honor, And set him over the works of
  Your hands. You have put all things in subjection
  under his feet." For in that He put all in
  subjection under him, He left nothing that is not
  put under him. But now we do not yet see all
  things put under him.

24
Hebrews 29

• But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower
  than the angels, for the suffering of death
  crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the
  grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

25
A Fellowship Meal

• Jesus gave the last measure of devotion in the
  service of mankind when He tasted of death for
  every man.
• And those who truly see in the fellowship meal
  His perfectly unselfish devotion cannot keep from
  dedicating their lives to the Lord
• by unselfishly serving their fellowmen,
• by worshipping God,
• and by keeping themselves unspotted from the
  world.

26
A Fellowship Meal

• Also, the fellowship we have of the body and
  blood of Jesus Christ through the Lords Supper
  is but a foretaste of heavenly glory when our
  fellowship with Christ shall be full and
  unending.
• The union between Christ and the Christian will
  never be dissolved in heaven, and thus the
  fellowship between them will never end.
• Delightful is the unity and fellowship of
  believers on earth.

27
Psalm 133

• Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
• For brethren to dwell together in unity!
• It is like the precious oil upon the head,
• Running down on the beard,
• The beard of Aaron,
• Running down on the edge of his garments.

28
Psalm 133

• It is like the dew of Hermon,
• Descending upon the mountains of Zion
• For there the Lord commanded the blessing--
• Life forevermore.

29
A Fellowship Meal

• But this delight will be immeasurably heightened
  in heaven, when we will need no meal to commune
  with Him.