...answer
continued from...
...Christians today should
concentrate instead on a relationship with God based on the righteousness
of Emmanuel the Christ and on loving and caring for others.(see
'Compassion').
Christ made us free from
all do's
and don'ts, free
to love out of a heart filled with compassion according to our individual
level of concern. It is love that fulfils the law, the Creator's love in
us:.John
17:26;
Romans 13:10. In modern
common law.(common
law applies to man or woman, not the legal term of 'person'; search on
the Internet for more). The only basic
principles a man or woman.(a
living soul).need
adhere
to is to not cause harm or loss.
Anything less is simply some
form of "getting and keeping ourselves 'right' with God, with others,
with the corporations acting as governments.(most
governments are now corporations),
etc., by means of rules & regulations.
Trusting in the righteousness
of Christ, which righteousness He completed:.John
3:15. is all that really matters. If not that, then we are, in effect,
saying to God: "look at my actions; I'm doing what You commanded", instead
of "I'm thankful I've been made holy, righteous and perfect because of
what Christ has already done and
want from my heart to go out and
do works of love moving away from the works that hold one to a religion".
We ought to be showing forth
good works, thereby adorning the doctrine of God instead of selfishly clinging
to practices which define our particular clique
as exclusive of others:.Titus
2:7,10,11.
The word 'communion' means
'fellowship' and other
things. We already have communion with the
Holy Spirit:.2Corinthians
13:14....
In
1Corinthians
10:16,17, Paul is talking about whatever the
Christians.(his
brethren:.verse
1).may
eat; not to worry if the food had first been dedicated to a
pagan
idol, knowing full well that such idols are nothing but nonsense
and pure idiocy.(verse
26), however
if a new Christian 'babe'.thought.the
idol to indeed still be 'something'.(not
having yet grown in understanding to the extent of others).then
one should refrain
from doing anything that may offend him:.verses
23,28,29,32,33.
Another
example. And another.
Paul says that our communion
is with others of spiritual likemindedness, others who know what it means
to, as they say, 'be
in Christ'. All such are one body or one fellowship, one communion.
In 1Corinthians
11:23-30 Paul again talks of this, as the Corinthian Christians were
babes.(1Corinthians
3:1), not having yet matured and
thus
had many problems as well as questions about how various concerns should
be handled. They were frequently offending others and needed some guidance
in interrelating
with others:.Acts
24:16.
When they got together in
fellowship.(communion
with one another).to
celebrate the Lord's supper.(a
noble
reason to get together with others).they
were getting drunk and didn't care if others in the body of Christ.(1Corinthians
10:16,17 and 1Corinthians
12:25-27).had
anything to eat:.1Corinthians
11:20-22.
Some were cliquish.(1Corinthians
11:18).and
by their actions, rejected others who were also part of the family of God.
In 1Corinthians
11:19, Paul sarcastically
says "you have to have divisions among you to show who is the greatest
among you and the better group". Then in verse 20 Paul says "when you people
get together it doesn't look to me like you came to celebrate anything
regarding the Lord". And why?.verse
21.
In 1Corinthians 11:22 Paul
says that if you want this, then do it in your own home. In 1Corinthians
11:23-26 he reminds them of the original Lord's supper as an example
for comparison. And in 1Corinthians
11:27-30 tells them that they are having this meal in an unworthy manner.(their
manner
being unworthy of the reason for which they agreed to come together in
the first place).
In 1Corinthians 11:30 he
tells them that this hypocritical
approach to it all, is a cause of double mindedness.(James
1:8; 4:8) through which the healing
and cleansing power of the Holy Spirit is
hindered:.Ephesians
4:30).serious
enough to make some of them, whose faith may become weakened, sick to death.
In 1Corinthians
11:31,32 Paul tells them to think about what they are doing and if
they can regulate themselves then God won't have to take a hand in circumstances
to get them on
track.
1Corinthians
11:33 finishes off with Paul saying that they should tarry.(original
is 'accept, receive').one
another, again, as some were being left out.(1Corinthians
11:21,22).and
this was not portraying the spirit or attitude which existed among the
original disciples around Emmanuel at His last supper:.Matthew
26:17-30. Paul wanted them back on track by reminding them of the true
purpose of such fellowship.
Emmanuel rose from supper
and showed an example of service and humility by washing the disciples'
feet.(John
13:5,12-15), an act that only low
ranking servants would have done when someone came to visit, in order to
remove grains of sand from the feet because of the open sandals commonly
worn in hot countries then. This expressed a depth of desire to serve others
in humility.(with
no selfish motives attached).and
to be at one with the person.
Emmanuel shows in the above
scriptures that actions are
important in expressing love. What good is feeling it and not showing
it? We should have the same attitude one toward another. Some denominations
and small groups do this today as a reminder of the higher meaning involved.
I can see where it would be a humbling experience, as well as a reminder
of the attitude of service Emmanuel here exemplified.
