Footsteps #127

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” NLT (1Cor.10:13)

In 1Cor.10:13 Paul reveals the true source of Christian confidence.  It is not participation in baptism and the Lord’s Supper, but God’s faithfulness and the divine provision of refuge.  True Christian confidence, while keeping us fully aware of our susceptibility to temptation, assures us that God is faithful and eager to help us in our weakness. In saying this Paul is not demeaning the ceremonies. He often calls Christians back to their baptism as the pivotal event in their experience and his respect for the Lord’s supper is evident in 1Cor.10&11. The Lord’s Supper is the means by which Christs great work for us is kept fresh in our minds. The situation at Corinth is so serious that their ceremony no longer deserves the title “the Lord’s Supper” (11:20). Paul obviously hopes that they will once again gather for a true Lord’s Supper.  To that end, he ushers them into the upper room, inviting them to recline around the table and watch Jesus host that first Christian supper.  In its true form this event is to be repeated again and again until that day when God’s people join in the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev.19:7-9). Imagine you are there for a moment, participating in that first supper. When Jesus offered the Supper to his disciples in the upper room, He was physically present with them.  They could not have mistaken the emblems for Him!  However, the elements are significant, for they represent the body and blood of our risen Lord. Christ invites us to His table and offers us in the celebration His own presence, forgiveness, power, and life.

The last supper began with a re-enactment of Jesus incarnation, He laid aside his outer garment and wrapped a towel about himself and proceeded to wash the disciple’s feet (John.13). Paul says “he humbled Himself and took the form a servant.”(Phil.2:5-8). Jesus had laid aside His royal robes of divinity and the one who should have been served stoops to serve – doing the work that not even a Jewish slave was expected to do – he washed their feet! How have so many forgotten this important part of the Lord’s supper? NB v:14-15.