Paul’s word in chapter eleven is related to what the Lord says in Matthew 26:29: “And I say to you, I will by no means drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of My Father.” This word is found in Matthew, the gospel concerned with the kingdom. The kingdom is a matter of God’s administration. Our eating of the Lord’s supper must result in a remembrance that is closely related to God’s administration.
Does your eating of the Lord’s supper result in God’s administration? If not, your partaking of the Lord’s supper is too superficial. While a believer is at the Lord’s supper, he may say to himself, “Oh, I realize that the Lord died for me. Now His love constrains me in the evening of the Lord’s Day to remember Him by eating His supper. As I partake of the supper, I remember Him. I remember His incarnation and how he was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. I remember how He grew up in the city of Nazareth, how He suffered and was persecuted, how He was betrayed, judged, condemned, and sentenced to die on the cross. I especially remember that on the cross He died for my sins.” To remember the Lord in this way is good, but it does not have anything to do with the kingdom, with God’s administration. After the Lord’s supper, there is no lasting result with respect to the remembrance of the Lord. If our eating of the Lord’s supper stops with this kind of remembrance, our partaking of the Lord’s supper is too superficial. The genuine eating of the Lord’s supper must result in the administration of God; it must result in the kingdom.
Our eating of the Lord’s supper must be related to the kingdom. It should not be without a continuing result after each partaking of the Lord’s supper is over. On the contrary, it must result in the kingdom, the administration of God. In other words, our eating of the Lord’s supper must result in satisfying Him by bringing in the kingdom, by having ourselves and everything related to us brought into a proper relationship with God’s administration. This is not a matter that can take place in an hour’s time. It can be accomplished only by a process which is yet to come. This coming process is actually the kingdom of God, God’s administration, being worked out on earth.
Because the relation between the Lord’s supper and God’s administration is a very serious matter, Paul charges the Corinthians to prove themselves and discern the body (vv. 28-29). If we do not prove ourselves and if we do not discern the body, we may eat the Lord’s supper without having the result of the remembrance of the Lord. We need to prove ourselves that our standing is proper, and we must also discern the body. Then our eating of the Lord’s supper will result in a full satisfaction to the Lord and also in the carrying out of the administration of God. This is the proper eating of the Lord’s supper.
Perhaps you are wondering how the eating of the Lord’s supper can result in the carrying out of God’s administration. As Christians, we have been saved, we have been born of God to be the children of God, and we have been brought into the kingdom of God. According to John 3:3 and 5, regeneration brings us into the kingdom of God. If we had not been born of the Spirit, we could not enter into the kingdom of God. But through regeneration we have been brought into God’s kingdom and have also become members of the Body of Christ. We need to realize that we have been regenerated to become the children of God, to be brought into the kingdom, and to become the members of the Body of Christ. Once we have this realization, we need to consider the purpose of all this. Why have we been regenerated to be brought into the kingdom and to become the members of the Body? The answer is that we have been regenerated so that we may live a life for the kingdom of God and the Body of Christ. The kingdom and the Body should be the goal of our living.
As Christians, we are not here simply to have a good life. Many Christians love the Lord, but they do not realize that their life on earth is for God’s kingdom and Christ’s Body. To be for the kingdom of God and the Body of Christ is to be for God’s administration. Today God’s administration is carried out by the kingdom and the Body. This should be our daily living. Then on the first day of the week we come together purposely to eat the Lord’s supper with the expectation that our life will be a life for the kingdom of God and the Body of Christ. If you understand this, you will know how eating of the Lord’s supper may result in such a satisfaction to the Lord.
Concerning the Lord’s table and the Lord’s supper, our understanding may still be under the influence of our religious background. Our mind may be so saturated with traditional thoughts and concepts that we have no capacity to take in anything new. This is to be like a glass that has been filled to the brim: there is no room in the glass for anything more or anything else. To use a different illustration, our mind may be like an apartment building with a “No vacancy” sign posted in front of it. Unconsciously we may have put up a sign saying, “No vacancy: I am not able to understand anything more concerning the Lord’s supper.” I am concerned that this may be the situation of nearly all the saints.