Today we will observe the Lord's Table or Eucharist where we remember our Lord Jesus Christ in the only remaining ritual for the Church.
Jesus Christ entered the human race so that He could fulfill the Father's plan as savior of the world through His substitutionary spiritual death and spiritual victory on the cross through the baptism of the cup that occurred on the cross.
Our celebration of the Lord's Table recalls our Lord's spiritual victory that was God's strategic victory over satan that was accomplished while He was on the earth in unglorified humanity.
Jesus Christ is the pattern for humility and obedience He became the channel for the fulfillment of God the Father's plan by complying with the grace principle of pivot power where the power of God's word is deployed through positive volition. Luke 22:42;
In sending Jesus Christ to die as our substitute, God initiated and demonstrated His love for us Rom 5:8; 1John 4:19; we reciprocate love by complying with His mandates. 1John 5:2-3;
Our celebration of the Lord's Table is therefore an expression of our reciprocal love for our Lord who is the strategic victor of time and eternity. We concentrate on him through the elements of the only ritual for the post-canon period of the Church Age Luke 22:19-20;
Jesus Christ was obedient to the Father's unique plan for His life by enduring the suffering and death on the cross Phil 2:8; that resulted in his humanity being exalted above every created being, such that, every created being will ultimately bow down to him. Phil 2:9-10;
He completely and perfectly fulfilled the directive will of the Father by unilaterally providing a way of salvation for everyone. Rom 5:8; as the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world" Rev 13:8; KJV John 1:29;
While we were enemies of God, God demonstrated his love for us by giving his uniquely born Son "monogenes" who entered the world through the virgin birth. John 3:16;
While we were his enemies He took our sins. He became sin in our place and was He rejected by God the Father so we would never be rejected by God. 2Cor 5:21;
As a result of Jesus' substitutionary spiritual death on the cross God is propitiated so He is free to reconcile mankind from their fallen state of depravity without compromising his perfect righteousness and justice because TLJC willingly laid down his life for us as our substitute. John 15:13; 1John 3:16
This is why believing in TLJC is the only way to a relationship with God John 14:6, salvation Acts 4:12 and eternal life John 3:16;
Anyone can appropriate this Grace gift of salvation which is secured by the Power of God John 10:26-29; simply by believing in TLJC 1Cor 15:3-4 in the same way that Paul and Silas instructed the Philippian Jailer who asked "what Must I do to be saved?"
Their response recorded In Acts 16:31
Anyone, any time, anywhere can become saved in a moment in time simply by believing in TLJC privately in their thoughts only.
TLJC left his friends, the members of The Royal Family of God, this one and only ritual in the church age The Lord's table which we are mandated to observe in remembrance of Him.
The mandate is found in 1Cor 11:24; in the second person plural present active imperative of the Greek word " poieo" that where Paul references TLJC's own instruction found in Luke 22:19-20;
An expanded translation of 1Cor 11:24 taking into consideration the tense mood and voice of "poieo" would be " Keep on doing this in remembrance of me"
Because these verbs are only imperatives regarding ritual in the New Testament the Lord's Table is one and only ritual of the Church Age and it is a test of our capacity to concentrate on our Lord Jesus Christ through the Bible Doctrine that is resident in our soul as we partake of the elements that represent his work on our behalf.
We have these instructions for partaking of the Lord's table from the Apostle Paul starting in verse 26 of 1Cor 11.
1Cor 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
We understand from this that we are to examine ourselves (imperative mood is a mandate to start doing something and stop doing another privately in our thinking.
In the privacy of our priesthood, and when we find we are outside of the word, we apply the first problem solving device, and simply acknowledge the sin as described in 1 John 1:9;
If/when (third class condition) we acknowledge any known sin he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. This is the believer's experiential forgiveness during their post salvation life in time.
Having examined ourselves, and acknowledging any known sin we may have discovered, we are then instructed to partake of the elements, the bread and the cup.
The bread which represents his body in which he bore the sins and the judgment for our sins and the sins of the whole world, past present and future.
1Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1Cor 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
eat the bread
The cup which represents his substitutionary spiritual death on the cross which purchased the freedom from spiritual death and eternal condemnation of everyone who believes in him.
1Cor 11:25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my Blood do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
drink cup
In our study of Mark we are taking a side trip into the doctrine of rejection because Jesus suffered rejection from mankind along with the unique rejection from God the Father while He was being judged for the sins of mankind Mark 15:34;
Last time we noted that one of the greatest of all problems related to rejection is guilt.
Guilt can be a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some real or imaged offense that is not sinful. But guilt is one of the sins of the emotional complex and when it not dealt with properly it can cause self-reproach and emotional feelings of culpability for imaged offenses.
It brings out a sense of inadequacy that can be very dangerous, because it leads to arrogant pre- occupation with the correctness of one's behavior from self-righteous arrogance.
Evil people with nefarious agendas manipulate the arrogance skills of repression, denial, and projection to create guilt. The weak attempt to control and manipulate the strong through guilt.
An evil arrogant self-righteous person or group will attempt to use repressed failures to create guilt where it really shouldn't exist. This occurs and becomes a sin when believer does not understand and use rebound or rebounds but fails to forget those things which are behind and reaching forth toward those things which are before, Phil 3:13-14.
This is what the leftist fascists are doing today in an attempt to destroy the nation and turn it into satan's idea of utopia. They are using failures the population has repressed to create guilt and thereby control them and it is working because the population is riddled with guilt because they have repressed their failures rather than dealing with them properly.
Every one of the left's agendas is being advanced in this manner. Create guilt where there should be no guilt and under the barrage of innuendo and accusation the opposition that should hold it's ground caves to their demands.
This is why the Divine establishment principles that our founded upon are being abandoned so rapidly. The people are running instead of standing their ground when no one is chasing them because they are being manipulated into feeling guilty because they haven't dealt with their failures with God's Word. Prov 28:1;
Keeping a clean conscious and not accepting the false accusations as valid because they have already been dealt with before God under the principle of "rebound and keep moving." is the only way to repel this attack. Psa 51:4; Phil 3:13-14; 1Tim 1:19-20;