My Life for Yours

Following this morning’s service we will be enjoying monthly church feast. In the early church this Table was actually celebrated in the context of feast like that, called the Love Feast. In 1 Corinthians 11 we read of one of these feasts and how the Corinthians conduct in that feast called into question whether or not they had properly discerned the unity of the Body of Christ. It seems that some, likely the rich, were hording the food and the wine leaving the poor to go hungry. Paul’s point in bringing this up was to point out that the factions that existed among them rendered their observance of the Lord’s Supper a detriment to their Body, rather than a benefit. Eventually the early church actually had to suspend the practice of serving communion in the context of the Love Feast. But just because we no longer celebrate the Eucharist in the context of the feast doesn’t mean that we are free from the danger that Paul notes. It just means that our discernment of the unity of Christ’s Body is a few steps removed from the Table. The way that we treat one another in our feast, or in our homes can still render our eating and drinking “unworthy.” So consider and take to heart the implications of this Table for our life together. As we partake of the one loaf we are being formed as one body, united to Christ and one another by one Spirit. Allow this Table to define your relationships to one another. You are members of one another. Let the words that you speak to one another as you pass the bread shape your actions toward one another. What would it look like if, “My life for yours,” governed all of our thoughts, words, and deeds concerning one another? That is what God intends to do in us by the power of his Spirit as we feed upon His Son. Here he is transforming us into the likeness of His Son such that we follow in his steps and lay down our lives for our friends.