“For all the tables are full of vomit and filth …” (Is 28:8, NKJ)
The use of communion is strictly only for those who are part of the Body, those who are born from the same Womb. It is not for those who are merely religious, part of the church, who were baptised as babies, etc. Because believers often cannot discern who the Body is, they share the communion table with heathens (no matter how religious they may appear)! Get a big fright!
In 1 Cor 10:18-21 Paul uses strong words to address this naivety in the use of communion. He points out clearly that the communion table is a covenant table and thus an altar. If you use communion with those who aren’t born again, then you are part of the “body” that has fellowship with demons (verse 20)! Verse 21 says: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.”
Jude 1:12 calls these who are not born again “spots in your love feasts” (“warts” – Message) who “feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots.” Remember: these are good church people that are being referred to here, those who practice religion but do not have relationship with the Head – they are not the Body. The word “spot” in the above quotation is actually not a good translation. It literally means an unseen rock in the sea, “metaphorically of men who by their conduct damage others morally, wreck them as it were” (Thayer). If the sea in Scripture indicates “humanity”, then these rocks are a danger for any vessel of God – they cause you to become shipwrecked.
Paul thus warns urgently in 1 Cor 11:29 that we must discern “the Lord’s body”. Because we do not, he says that: “That’s why many of you are sick and weak and why a lot of others have died.” (verse 30, CEV). Much of the strength of believers is sapped without them noticing (Hos 7:9); many share in others’ sicknesses through using communion with them; there are even those who have died!
My family and I only use communion with those whom we know, without a shadow of a doubt, are born again. The use of communion in the mass church where people don’t even know each other is clearly a huge problem – never partake in communion if you are not sure about those who sit with you at the table. Too often this table is full of vomit and filth.
- Sela: Ask for forgiveness that you have not previously discerned the Body of Christ. Pray for deliverance from any consequence that has occurred as a result.
- Read: Judg 1; Ps 91; Acts 1
- Memorise: Acts 1:8
- Going deeper: Read chapter 11 in Charles Colson’s book The Body.
