FELLOWSHIP AND THE LORD’S SUPPER

1 Corinthians 1: 1–3, 9; 7: 39; 10: 16–22; 11: 23–32

JW I wondered if in this reading we could consider the fellowship and the Lord’s supper. In the beginning of the epistle Paul speaks of what is local in Corinth and also what is general, what is universal. The fellowship is both local and general, there is only one fellowship and we have been called into it, “God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”. That brings before us the dignity of the fellowship and “Jesus Christ our Lord” is the bond that we have with one another in the fellowship. I read the verse in chapter 7 because it brings out a principle that applies in the fellowship. In anything that is suggested for any partnership that we enter into, it must be “in the Lord”. That is in business or in the partnership of marriage it is “in the Lord”. We might enquire what is meant by that. I think it implies that both partners are in fellowship and both are governed by the Lord. And in chapter 10 we have the fellowship of the Lord’s death, Christ’s death, and that is the basis of our fellowship. The bearing of this chapter is not to give us the order of the Lord’s supper, which comes in chapter 11, but the bearing of the Lord’s supper on our everyday lives. The fellowship of Christ’s death, as we have been taught, is exclusive. The death of Christ has separated us from one order of things here, that our walk here should be consistent with that, and in fellowship we have the thought of a partnership, so that whatever we may do we involve those that we are in fellowship within it. The reference in this chapter to the Lord’s table is not exactly the Supper but it is the fellowship, it is the Lord’s table, it is His provision. So that it is a provision for us in the conditions in which we are and there is protection in it; we need it while we are here.

When we come to chapter 11 we have the order of the Lord’s supper, and the Lord’s supper is in an assembly setting. Really every week the only true assembly occasion is the Lord’s supper. The Lord’s supper is the rallying point for the assembly, so that we come together in the light of the assembly. It brings before us in a distinct way the greatness of Christ’s love, and it is really for a remembrance of Him; it is not exactly a remembrance of His death, but it is a remembrance of Him, and the emblems before us speak to us of the greatness of His love. The other side is as to the eating and drinking; it is an announcement, it is a public announcement as to the death of the Lord. It is a reminder to all that the Lord died here.

I think that first of all we would have to see that fellowship is both local and universal so that there is one standard. This epistle instructs as to order in the local assembly; that is to be the same universally.

SRP I think that it is a very encouraging thing. All the saints are in one body so all the saints must be governed by the Head of the one body, Christ Jesus.

JW What you say is right, and according to chapter 10 it states, “we being many, are one loaf, one body”.

IMS The apostle speaks of customs in chapter 11; it shows how far this idea of a standard goes. Mr. James Taylor used that scripture in relation to, for instance, care meeting procedures and administration. There is no allowance for local custom.

JW I think it is important to see that because otherwise it leads to independence. It brings you back to the thought of the one body that was referred to, it does not allow for any independence. And that reference “we have no such custom” (1 Corinthians 11: 16) follows the section dealing with headship in the public setting. What you say as to care meetings and such meetings is an important matter. That section also bears on the deportment of persons who belong to the assembly, bringing out the public position of headship and that brings out that Christ’s Head is God. There was a Man here who had God as His Head, and the Head of every man is Christ. It is the responsibility of every man to recognise Christ as his Head, and the woman’s head is the man. There are directions as to the woman, as to her hair, the long hair and the token. These are all customs and they are right customs. The thought of fellowship is universal and you come to this, that it is the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

DCB Could you explain to us as simply as you can just what you mean by fellowship?

JW Well, it is a partnership. And it is a sharing of things together in that way, that we share things with one another. We have a bond together. The fact that “Jesus Christ our Lord” is brought in here is that we have a bond together. He is your Lord and He is my Lord, we have a bond together.

DCB I was thinking of the way in which the translator (in English anyway) uses the word communion or fellowship. It means much the same thing. The communion brings in the affections and the way in which there is a bonding together, and the way in which the whole thought is in mind in the fellowship.

JW I am sure what you say is right. It involves a bond together and that would be in affection. It involves too confidence in one another. If there is a lack of confidence then the practical effect of fellowship is reduced or nullified.

LM Eating together also signifies fellowship?

JW Is all eating together an expression of fellowship? I am asking the question. Certainly the Lord’s supper is an expression of fellowship. I think it is something we need to keep in our minds. I would like to enquire as to what the brethren feel about it; eating and fellowship.

ST (Reference to 2 Corinthians 6: 14–16)?

JW Well, it brings out the necessity for separation in our practical walk and ways here. So that separation is necessary to preserve the holy character of the fellowship. Without separation there can be no holiness; the fellowship is a holy fellowship.

IMS Holiness would help us define the thing in each instance. Paul speaks about “not altogether” in 1 Corinthians 5: 10 does he not? Not altogether to mix with them “since then ye should go out of the world”. So that priestliness in us will guide us as to the details.

JW Yes, I am sure of it. So that what you say as to what is priestly, how would that govern us in a practical way?

IMS Would the first thing be to think for God? And holiness would govern us in that.

JW I am sure that is right. It says in 1 Corinthians 10: 31, “whatever ye do, do all things to God’s glory” So that the question that was raised as to eating, it is a question of what I do and who I eat with, whether I can do it to God’s glory.

IMS And, would you say, whether we could take the saints with us in it; that is this question of fellowship is it not?

JW That is an important thing to keep in mind, because we have obligations in the fellowship, obligations to the Lord and obligations to one another, because I involve all the saints I am in fellowship with in what I do.

DCB We are to do things in the name of the Lord Jesus, it is this question of what the Lord is to us, even in such a simple thing as to who we eat with.

JW I think we apply this simple test to it. Can I do this in the name of the Lord Jesus? Can His name be attached to it and is it to God’s glory? We are not laying down rules, these are principles that govern the fellowship. If we lay down rules then it is going to prohibit priestly exercise in what we are doing.

SRP As being the temple we are a dwelling place for God and we must adore Him in holiness only; if we link ourselves with the world, how can we adore because the worldly things are attaching us to this scene and unholiness and corruption. Our priestly service is very, very essential. We must take care why we are linking with the world, we must be careful.

JW I think what has come up as to holiness is an essential thing. In this epistle we have the temple in a collective sense, and holiness is implied in that. Then he refers to the temple of our body being holy. So in what I do with my body, and where I take it, I have to remember that it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So this is underlying the thought of maintaining the fellowship in a holy way.

DCB 1 Corinthians 3: 17, “If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are ye”. It is a collective matter, whereas in 1 Corinthians 6: 19, “Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God; and ye are not your own?”, and that is each one of us individually.

JW That is right. Has anyone else got any questions to say on this before we move on?

IMS 2 Corinthians 6 has been already referred to, and following that it speaks of perfecting holiness, so that we would continually be exercised to be “perfecting holiness in God’s fear”, 2 Corinthians 7: 1.

JW I think that would mean practically that we would become more and more sensitive. The more we know the divine presence, the more sensitive we become.

PSA You mentioned the two tests in relation to matters which arise but there is also the other side of it. Perhaps if we have entered into something that is not according to the divine mind, what is pleasurable to God, then communion is interrupted. So that is the other aspect is to reflect back upon actions we may have done and then see how it has affected communion with God. Would that help us do you think?

JW So what do we do, when something comes in to interrupt communion?

PSA Well, we need to identify what has caused the interruption and then we need to judge it, and ask for forgiveness in relation to it in the presence of the Lord, and then seek help from the Holy Spirit that I might be protected from it in the future.

JW What you say is right, if communion is interrupted then we have been defiled in some way. Well we have to judge that and also have a wash. I do not know whether we understand sufficiently the bearing of the water in the death of Christ. The blood has to do with our guilt and that is covered, but the water has to do with our state. As to a certain action that we may have done that has interrupted communion, what lies behind that is our state. So that not only our guilt, but our whole state has been met in the death of Christ, so in the light of the death of Christ I have to judge my state, and review my actions and that will restore communion.

PSA Is it important to see that what is individual underlies what is collective?

JW Well I think that is vital. So that what I am and where I am individually affects the state of the whole company.

SaRP Could you please explain 1 Corinthians 11: 27?

JW Well if we take that verse as a whole we have to take account of what the loaf and the cup represent. Those emblems bring before us the death of Christ so we have to recognise that what is on the table in that sense represents the body and the blood of Christ. So what we are partaking of is a very holy matter. That would raise the exercise with us as to whether I am really in a suited state to partake of such a holy occasion. The matter of proving ourselves comes into this chapter, does it not, before we eat? So the proving ourselves, I think, is that we conduct a review, we are before the Lord, before we partake of the Supper. We are really free with the Lord, that there is nothing hindering us in our relations with the Lord.

SaRP With reference to Titus 1: 12–16; 2: 1–5 we must be like that, practically.

JW You mean we come to a judgment of those things. Well, we really come to the Supper as self-judged persons. Mr. Raven said that he found it a full-time job judging himself, and enjoying God’s love. There is a positive side to it, that we are really enjoying our relationships with divine Persons, and then we can enjoy our relations together with our brethren in fellowship.

PM We see that divine Persons are jealous that we should enjoy the love, and be free to do so by judging ourselves.

JW Certainly they are and that would work out in love for divine Persons and love for one another.

DCB I was thinking back to have another look at the thought of eating. It does actually give us a very good

symbol of the formal side of fellowship. We are called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, we are really feasting upon Him together, and then each of these references to fellowship would give something for us to feast upon.

JW I am sure that is right. It would be necessary for us to look at the side of what is negative and what it excludes, but we also want to keep before us what it includes and what we enjoy together in a positive way. We need both sides otherwise we get unbalanced. There are a lot of positive things to be enjoyed in the fellowship. We could not have a greater privilege together than to partake of the Lord’s supper. That is the greatest privilege we have and then what follows that in the service of God.

PSA That balance that you refer to is brought out in Revelation 22: 14, “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city”.

JW It is “they that wash their robes”, not ‘have washed them.’ I mean, it is an important thing when a person asks to break bread. Are they washing their robes? But it applies to each one of us. Are we washing our robes? What a great privilege it is to have a right to the tree of life. The right is based on washing our robes. What a blessed right to take up, to partake of the tree of life; it is Christ in His own setting, the Tree of Life.

DCB Perhaps you could explain what you mean by ‘washing their robes’?

JW I believe it involves that we keep our associations pure and right. Associations must involve, of course, the kind of persons we associate with. I think our robes involve what characterises us. What characterises me are not the features of the world. This is the bearing of the application of the water upon me so that nothing of the world marks me.

DCB I think what you are saying helps greatly. Thinking of the water aspect of the death of Christ, we could say that it is a test as well of what we do, as in Galatians 6: 14 where Paul says, “But far be it from me to boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world”. The death of Christ is what makes the difference, the distinction between the believer and the world, but we need to keep to that.

JW What you say is important. It is not only that it separates me positionally from the world; it does do that, but it separates me morally from it. There was no feature of the world marking Paul was there? In his ways and habits, he was crucified to the world and the world to him. I think sometimes we may rest in an outward position which is, of course, right but we need to be separate from the world in that way. That needs to be carefully watched and maintained. When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan and they faced the exercises as to Gilgal, the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. It was one thing to get the children of Israel out of Egypt but it was another thing to get Egypt out of them!

SaRP (a reference to Revelation 22: 14 and Psalm 51: 7)

JW David goes deep in his exercises in this psalm does he not? “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow”. Well, these are important exercises to go through if sin comes in. I just wondered if we could say something about “in the Lord”. What do we understand by it?

SRP The Lord must be my Head. I must be governed by the Lord. It means we are in the thing but we are in the body and the body is governed by the Head.

RRP We are like the different organs of the body but we are governed by the Head, and so we must all be governed by the Head, Jesus Christ, so we must be maintained in what we are doing by the Head

JW I think what is emphasised here is “the Lord”.

LM Is it what Paul says, ‘it is not I, but Christ’? Is that “in the Lord”?

SRP The Head of the body governs us. I want to do something that I am thinking in my mind, and there are many controlling centres in the brain controlling different activities, so if my Head is the Lord Jesus Christ then He controls me in all the things in life and that means that I am “in the Lord”.

JW You are taking us on to Colossians but we are in Corinthians.

SaRP What I am understanding of “in the Lord” is that my vessel must be very clean and very holy and in that state only I can break bread. ST Reference to Ephesians 2: 10.

JW I think what we are saying is what God has in mind for us to reach but I think this basic matter is “in the Lord”, it is something that governs us while we are here. It does not exactly bear on our heavenly relationships, although the more we are in the gain and joy of our heavenly relationships the more we will fill out our place here. But to have a partnership “in the Lord” means first of all that both partners are in fellowship, whether it is a business partnership or a marriage partnership and more than that, that both partners are governed by the Lord. In considering marriage, which is one of the most important partnerships that anyone can take up here, that we are governed by the Lord in what we are doing. Now, what would the brethren say about that?

MSP 1 Corinthians 7: 39 does that say that the brother or sister must be in fellowship?

JW Yes it does, that is the point of it.

DCB Could you say that every believer is “in Christ” but that does not mean that they are “in the Lord”; they are only “in the Lord” if they are subject to the Lord?

JW Yes, that is right. I think it is important to see that, it is “in the Lord”, that is what governs it in our relationships here. It means that we are really having fellowship together as “in the Lord”. I mean, we cannot practically have fellowship with every believer, and this is a current matter because it is quite clear from scripture that a believer cannot, should not, marry an unbeliever; but sometimes we say ‘they are Christians’. The exercise that is raised is, can I have a partnership with them “in the Lord”? That is we are governed by the same Lord, and if we are, then we would be in fellowship together.

PSA Does it help us to see that the fellowship is living, it is a living organism, it is in life? So anyone who is not in that fellowship is not in that life. So that something that is in life is not attractive to something that is dead. So we would be looking for something of the same order or character of life.

LM If there is life there is increase also.

JW Life and spirituality go together and Paul says elsewhere, “have we not a right to take around a sister as wife ...?”, 1 Corinthians 9: 5. That would mean that you have a spiritual link with that person as a sister. Marriage is a most intimate relationship and you want to share the most precious things together in that relationship.

SaRP (Question regarding Indian localities—if our children have not another spiritual partner in that case what we have to do?)

JW Well, the Lord takes account of us in our circumstances and conditions in which we are. It may be that it were better for them not to marry, but then the Lord takes account of us and the Lord can provide if we take it up in exercise before the Lord. When Abraham selected a wife for Isaac in Genesis 24, she had already been provided in Genesis 22: 23.

IMS The daughters of Zelophehad claimed their part of the inheritance but they all married. God came in for them. The daughters of Zelophehad claimed their inheritance but the Lord also provided them with husbands.

PSA There is also one aspect that we should mention as being part of the fellowship, that we are not unaware of these issues and we do pray for you in relation to it.

Reading at Anand, India
13 December 2008

KEY TO INITIALS

PSA	Peter S. Alexander	Twickenham
DCB	David C. Brown	Edinburgh
LM	Leonard Meagher	Secunderabad
PM	Peter Metcalfe	Glasgow
MSP	Mizar Parmar	Anand
SaRP	Satish R. Parmar	Anand
SRP	Simon R. Parmar	Anand
RRP	Rajesh R. Parmar	Anand
IMS	I. Mark Shearer	Adelaide
ST	Santosh Thakor	Mumbai
JW	John Wright	Havering