THE KING’S BUSINESS
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of the Lord’s Supper, that it brings to us the body of Christ, if we observe it is a mere matter of form, then instead of get ting a blessing, we get judgement. “If we would judge ourselves,” examining prayer fully into our moral and spiritual state before God, and confessing and putting away our sins, it would not be necessary for the Lord to judge us and send sickness and death. There can be no doubt but much sickness and death among believers comes from neglect of self-examination and self judgment. But even “when we are judged,” (judged even to the point of removing us from this world) we are “chastened of the Lord” (who loves us and would save us, cf. Rev. 3:19; Heb. 12:6-8, 11) in order “that we may not be condemned with the world.” A believer may die as a result of sin; but after all, if he is really a child of God, he will not be lost forever. He will not be “condemned with the world.” This makes it very plain that we should not read “damnation” in verse 29, but “judgment’* as in the R. V. God judges believers for their sins with sickness and even death, but He does not damn them. It is unbe lievers who are “damned” (cf. 1 Cor. 5:5; Mark 16:16). Sunday, Nov, 23 . I Cor. 12 : 1 - 3 . In chapters 12, 13 and 14 Paul takes up the second matter that needed correction in the Corinthian Church, viz., the estimation of the value of, and the use of, the various gifts imparted by the Holy Spirit. The thir teenth chapter is a wonderful parenthesis thrown in to show that there is something better than any gift, viz., the grace of love. Paul was vgry desirous that they know the truth about spiritual gifs (v. 1). There was great need of instruction upon this point for they had been Gentiles (i.e., heathen, in Gentile ignorance) led away to dumb idols, “howsoever they might be led,” and now they were to come into personal con tact with a living God, a God who spoke directly to those who worshipped Him and operated directly upon them. This was a change so radical and vast that it would
Second Coming, so it is not only a memor ial and a proclamation, but it is also a prophecy. But it is something further still, it is the medium through which we actually feed on our Lord, the vehicle through which the Lord is brought to us and formed within us. It is a very solemn feast and it is a grievous sin to partake of it thought lessly, losing sight of its deep significance and making it a mere form. Whoever does thus partake of it “unworthily,” that is, in an unworthy manner (the “unworthily,” does not refer to our personal unworthi ness, we are none of us worthy to partake of the Lord’s supper; it means in an unworthy manner, thoughtlessly, “not dis cerning the Lord’s body” that is therein set forth—v. 29) is “guilty of the body and blood of the Lord,” that is to say, we share in the guilt of 'His death, for we have made a mockery of that solemn cere mony that- sets it forth (cf. Heb. 6 : 6 ; 10:29). How awful is the thoughtlessness with which many professed Christians approach the Lord’s Supper. Before par taking of the Lord’s Supper always exam ine yourself, ask yourself, “Do I realize that this sets forth the Lord’s death in my place?” and so partake, that is, eat of the bread and drink of the cup. To hear peo ple in these days discuss the question of “individual communion cups,” one would think that the mind was taken up, not with the blood of Christ thus set forth, but, 'with the cleanliness or uncleanliness of the other participants. Saturday, Nov, 24 . 1 Cor. 11 : 29 - 34 . The heedless partaking of the commun ion in Corinth, not being occupied with the Lord and His body, but with their own tastes and appetite, had wrought terrible effects. Some were sick and some were dead. Why should we not believe that sim ilar effects of thoughtless partaking of the communion follow in our churches today? “He that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he dis cern not the Lord’s body." That is to say, if we do not bear in mind the true thought
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