The nature of this rebuke in 1 Cor 11:30 is that, while Communion is not the only source of blessing available, it is the bottom line of basic Christianity. And this is on two levels. First is the individual application for blessing, and second, it is a group or cultural benefit that transcends the individual, and impacts the community for good. But the first key is each individual’s response. There is a story about a village where an elephant moved into the chief’s hut. Because the elephant was so big, everyone had to move around it, and of course keep it fed so it would not get angry and hurt anyone. Years later business consultants used this to describe big problems or risks that were not being addressed, but just lived with. An obvious truth is being ignored or not addressed successfully. People pretend it is not there, so they do not have to deal with the issues it represents. In Christianity, failure in Holy Communion, so that many are weak, sickly, people are dying early and many retain hard hearts toward God, is the “elephant in the room.” We have excused poverty, sickness, death and lackluster Christians as somehow from the hand of God to teach us. Yet the rebuke of 1 Cor 11:30 is that these problems are not from God, but a failure on our part, and can be healed. The only lesson is - are you fed up enough to deal with God for His solutions? And the message here is that, in spite of all our current best efforts, things in Communion are not working like God desires, the elephant is eating our breakfast, lunch, dinner, savings, heritage and joy, and we are suffering for this lack. Not a lack on God’s part, but on ours. But there is good news. We have seen evidence that Communion can be taken and people can get healed on a regular basis. So this book deals with the critical issues, this elephant in the room, to restore the practice of Communion to God’s original intent and power, as a general method of divine healing and prosperity for the Christian. The message of 1 Cor 11:30 is a rebuke that we are doing it wrong, and a lament by God that in spite of His provision, by our failure to release Communion’s blessings, we are suffering against His will. God has sovereignly decreed the purpose of Communion, and we are not accessing His will. Jesus made known the will of God concerning sickness; Jesus sent 12 and then 70 because Jesus by Himself could not get to all the people. Jesus’ life is the living proof of the will of God. We will examine the Great Work of God revealed in Isaiah 53, and other relevant scriptures, to gain a better understanding for a more effective form of Communion. The work of Jesus is sufficient, so that is not the issue. God has done His part. Jesus has done His part. The rest is up to us. The secret of Christianity is the union of God into our spirit in a process called the new birth, and it happens when one believes that God raised Jesus from the dead. God in His gracious love has provided the Bible and in that, shows a set of actions that release the goodness of the Lord through us into the earth by Holy Spirit, who is the power and character of God. We do the right actions with tight intention, and Holy Spirit is able to bless you and yours. Since most of this has to do with thinking processes, one of these actions is taking Communion with the right understanding and intention. 1 Cor 11 lays the blame squarely on the failure of Christians to execute God’s requirements for blessing in or during Holy Communion. That is, we are doing something wrong, not God.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 06:15:01 +0000