30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 22 7-13 PREPARING FOR THE PASSOVER MEAL 04 Luke 22 8 Dealing with our carnality
📖 Luke 22:7-13
*FRIEND OF GOD*
Sat10Jul2021 - *Dealing with our carnality* - _Luke 22:7-13_ - PREPARING FOR THE PASSOVER MEAL (04) - _Philippians 2:1-2_
We will now consider the matter of preparing for the Lord’s supper.
We realise that as we prepare for the Lord’s supper, that this is not any ordinary meal. This is our fellowship with the Lord. There can be nothing in us that is displeasing before Him as we partake of the supper with Him.
We look to the Lord to alert us and make us aware if there are issues in our life that are not right before Him. We seek His help to make us sensitive and willing to be corrected by Him for our preparation for the Lord’s supper.
_Luke 22:8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and *prepare the Passover for us*, that we may eat."_
Jesus was the Passover Lamb and He was also the unleavened bread. This is what we have understood as we partake of the Lord's supper, in which we as the church, are to partake, often.
It seems like the task that Peter and John were asked to do, was just a matter of logistics, which they did. Yet, the matter of preparing for the Lord’s supper has greater significance.
Apostle Paul expresses His concerns with the church and he seeks to bring correction in them. He is ensuring that the church would truly be prepared to partake of the Lord’s supper.
_I Corinthians 11:18-22 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. (19) For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. (20) Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. (21) For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk. (22) What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you._
Paul is giving stern and strong teaching to the church regarding preparation to participate in the Lord’s supper.
The preparation for us as we come to participate in the Lord’s supper is to deal with matters of our personal life as well as to deal with matters of our relationship with one another, in the body of Christ.
We cannot partake of the Lord's supper when we have divisions, factions and selfishness amongst us, in the body of Christ.
These are the three items that Paul is addressing in the church, for our preparation to participate in the Lord’s supper.
*Divisions*
_I Corinthians 1:9-10 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (10) Now I plead with you, brethren, *by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment*._
We are in and under the fellowship of Jesus Christ. We belong to one another under the canopy of Jesus. We need to be joined to one another just as there are no divisions in our physical bodies.
Imagine if each part of our body were to be in a confrontation with another part of the body. What would be our state? We will be monsters.
This is what happens to the body of Christ when we allow divisions to simmer amongst us.
This is the Lord’s concern. The Lord’s supper is not just a personal time of fellowship with God but it is our corporate fellowship with our God. We must put aside our divisions in preparation to share in the Lord’s supper.
_Philippians 2:1-2 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, *if any fellowship of the Spirit*, if any affection and mercy, (2) fulfill my joy *by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind*_
The necessary resources to be like-minded has already been made available to us. We cannot give excuses and blame the other for the divisions amongst us. Under His enablement, we must take action to correct the divisions.
What causes divisions in the body of Christ? We have given room to our carnal nature.
_I Corinthians 3:3 for *you are still carnal*. For where there are envy, strife, *and divisions among you, are you not carnal* and behaving like mere men?_
We are people who have been raised to life by the Holy Spirit. The church is not a social club, we are not a gathering of people. We symbiotically mesh with each other. The life of the body of Christ is harmony and not a cacophony. The Lord’s supper is a celebration of our togetherness and oneness in Christ.
_Romans 8:5-9 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For *to be carnally minded is death*, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because *the carnal mind is enmity against God*; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (8) So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (9) *But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit* if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. *Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His*._
If we give room to carnality, we do not belong to Christ. We cannot participate in the Lord’s supper, ritualistically. The Lord’s supper is not a ceremonial formality. The Lord’s supper represents our union with Christ and our union with each other in the body of Christ.
*Thought to ponder*
```The Lord’s supper is an opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to bring healing in our relationships, in the body of Christ.```