THE MEANING OF THE LORDS TABLE
Oneness The second meaning of the Lord’s table is oneness. “The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ? Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body” (1 Cor. 10:16-17). Here we see that God’s children are one. The bread spoken of in chapter eleven has a different meaning than the bread spoken of in chapter ten. In chapter eleven the Lord said, “This is My body, which is given for you” (v. 24); this refers to the Lord’s physical body. The bread in chapter ten refers to the church. “We who are many are one Body” (v. 17). We are the bread and this bread is the church.
We need to see the remembrance aspect, the declaration aspect, and the fellowship aspect of the Lord’s table; we also need to see the oneness. All of God’s children are one in the same way that the bread is one. We have only one bread. One person breaks off a piece of this bread and takes it. Another breaks off another piece and takes it. If all the little pieces that we break off and swallow are gathered together, do we not still have one bread? Though this bread is broken up and is inside every one of us, it is still one bread in the Spirit. Once the physical bread is consumed, it is gone, and we cannot gather the pieces back. But spiritually speaking, the bread is still one and it is one in the Spirit. Christ, like the bread, is originally one. God dispenses a little Christ into you and a little into me. The one Christ is now scattered and is dwelling in the many members. Christ is spiritual. Though He is scattered, He is not divided; He is still one. God gives Christ to you and to me, but in the Spirit Christ is still one. The scattered bread is still one in the Spirit; it is not divided. When God’s children break bread, they not only remember the Lord, declare His death, and fellowship with one another, but they also acknowledge the oneness among themselves. This bread represents the oneness of God’s church.
The basic element of the Lord’s table is the bread. This bread is very crucial. In a general sense, this bread represents all God’s children. In a particular sense, it represents God’s children in a particular locality. If some of God’s children gather together and see only themselves and if their bread only includes the few of them, that bread is too small. It is not inclusive enough. The bread must include all of God’s children in a locality; it must represent the church in that locality. This is not all. The bread must also include all of God’s children on earth. We must see that this bread declares the oneness among God’s children. If we want to establish a church that is our own, our bread is too small and cannot represent the whole church. If there is a table in a place and those attending that table cannot say, “We who are many are one Body,” we cannot partake of that bread because that is not the Lord’s table.
We must remember the Lord, and our hearts must be open to the brothers and sisters each time we break bread. All God’s children, as long as they are redeemed by the precious blood, are included in this one bread. Our hearts need to be enlarged by the Lord; they need to be as large as the bread. Though we are many, we are one bread. Even those brothers and sisters who are not breaking bread with us are also included in this bread. If we put them aside completely when we break our bread, our bread is not big enough, and our heart is not big enough. This is not right. We cannot have the thought of excluding certain brothers and sisters or sending them away. This bread does not allow us to be narrow people.
If a brother who has never shared the bread with us comes to the Lord’s table and if he is one who is joined to the Lord, he is also in this bread. Do we receive him or not? Please remember that we are not the host of this feast. At most we are the ushers. The table is the Lord’s, not ours. The Lord sets up His table in a locality in the same principle that He first set it up in that large upper room; that room was borrowed. Today the Lord is merely using this place to set up His table. We cannot forbid others from breaking bread. This table is the Lord’s. The authority to receive or not to receive is the Lord’s. We do not have such authority. We cannot reject the ones whom the Lord receives, and we cannot reject anyone who belongs to the Lord. We can reject only those who are rejected by the Lord and those who do not belong to Him. We can reject only those who remain in sin and will not come out. We discontinue fellowship with them because they have discontinued their fellowship with the Lord. We cannot reject anyone who is received by the Lord. Likewise, we cannot receive those whom the Lord does not receive, those who have lost their fellowship with the Lord. Therefore, we must know a person very well before we can decide whether or not he should be received at the Lord’s table. We should be very careful in receiving people for the bread-breaking meeting. We cannot be careless. It must be done according to the Lord’s desire.
VARIOUS PERTINENT MATTERS CONCERNING THE BREAD-BREAKING MEETING
Finally, we have to mention two or three things. In particular, we have to take care of one matter in the bread-breaking meeting: As those who are cleansed by the Lord’s blood, we do not come to ask for the cleansing of His blood. As those who have received the Lord’s life, we do not come to ask for His life. Therefore, we should have only words of blessing in this meeting. “The cup of blessing which we bless.” Actually, we bless what the Lord has already blessed. On the night that He was betrayed, the Lord “took bread and blessed it, and He took a cup and gave thanks” (Matt. 26:26-27). There the Lord only blessed and gave thanks. After the Lord broke the bread, He and the disciples came out singing (v. 30). The proper tone for this meeting is blessing and praise. In this meeting, we do not plead or preach. It may be all right to speak something directly related to the Lord. It may not even be necessary to do this. But definitely any other kind of preaching is unsuitable. (Paul’s word in a bread-breaking meeting in Troas in Acts 20 was an exception.) We should restrict ourselves to only thanksgiving and praise in this meeting.
We break bread once a week. When the Lord instituted the supper, He said, “This do, as often as...” (1 Cor. 11:25). The early church broke bread on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Our Lord not only died but also resurrected. We remember the Lord in resurrection. The first day of the week is the day of the Lord’s resurrection. The most important thing on the first day of the week is to remember the Lord. I hope that all the brothers and sisters would not forget this.
We must also be counted “worthy” when we remember the Lord. First Corinthians 11:27-29 says, “So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. But let a man prove himself, and in this way let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not discern the body.” The most important thing to remember when we come to the table is to be counted worthy. This does not refer to whether or not the person is worthy but whether or not his attitude is worthy. If a person belongs to the Lord, he can partake of the bread. If he does not belong to the Lord, he cannot partake of the bread. Thus, it is not a question of whether the person is worthy. It is a question of the attitude. It is wrong for us to be careless and not discern the body when we partake of it. This is why the Lord wants us to discern. Although there is no problem with our person, we must realize that we are partaking of the Lord’s body while we are eating. We should not be careless, sloppy, despising, or loose in attitude. We must take it in a manner worthy of the Lord’s body. The Lord has given us His blood and His flesh. We should receive them and remember the Lord in a godly way.
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