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Spiritual Participation
(11th in the series of expositions on Communion delivered on Nov 26, 1978)
We read in 1 Cor 10:1-5:
(Therefore) I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural (spiritual) food and all drank the same supernatural (spiritual) drink. For they drank from the supernatural (spiritual) Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
They shared the same spiritual food, drank the same spiritual drink from the same spiritual Rock which is Christ, but they perished in the wilderness. This is why Paul was afraid that lest after preaching to others he himself should be disqualified (1 Cor 9:27.) Israel was disqualified because the people partook without faith.
Paul drew a parallel between, in v2, the baptism (all were baptized into Moses), and in v3, the Communion into which they entered, i.e., they drank of the spiritual drink and ate the spiritual food from the spiritual Rock which is Christ, yet these did not save them. When we come to the table of the Lord, we are not just partaking a piece of bread but we are partaking spiritual food and drink.
How do you eat spiritual food? Most Christians do not know how to function spiritually. We know physical food, which is for the physical body, so spiritual food is for the spirit. The spirit does not feed on physical food but on spiritual food. The Israelites knew how to eat manna which Paul considered as spiritual food. The piece of manna is physical food yet it is loaded with spiritual meaning; they knew how to eat manna and drink the water from the rock, but they did not know how to feed on spiritual food. Perhaps we should first try to function mentally by thinking of Christ dying for us so that the mind is occupied with the thought. However, do not confuse spiritual activity with mental activity or with intellect. Spiritual activity and mental activity are entirely two different things, so we must learn to think of spiritual activity.
From the Scriptures, we are often spoken of as with body and spirit (only once is there a reference to the body, soul and spirit, 1 Thess 5:23). Man basically is seen as physical element and spiritual element; he is a unity of these two elements. Christ gives us spiritual life. We see this in Rom 8:10:
But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness.
and in 1 Pet 3:18:
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.
He was raised in the spirit. It does not mean that His body is not risen, but to show the distinction between the body and the spirit.
In Jam 2:26a, we see that the spirit is where the life is: "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead...".
Heb 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active... piercing to the division as soul and spirit...". The soul and the spirit is closely related but is not the same thing, the spirit is in the body and yet is not confined by the body. For example, in 1 Cor 5:3; Col 2:5; 2 Cor 12:2 and in Revelation, the apostle often spoke of being carried away by the spirit (or Spirit).
God communicates with our spirits; "It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom 8:16). This is why Paul is constantly saying 'The Lord be with your spirit'. You can't enjoy the fellowship of the Holy Spirit when you are spiritually dead. That is also why so many prayers are barren. Meditation is good but it is not communicating with God. The only way to receive grace is by the spirit. His grace is of course His life, His salvation. Paul often said, 'May His grace be with your spirit.' (Gal 6:18; Ph 4:23; Philem 25).
The body is also important as it is the temple of the Spirit (1 Cor 3:16). It is where God lives within us. However, He has fellowship not with the temple but with us, just as when we go to the church, we do not fellowship with the stones of the building but fellowship with the people. It does not mean that the body is spiritually unimportant - we are to be holy in body and in spirit (1 Cor 7:34; 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Thess 5:23).
A spiritual man is somebody that the spirit has made alive by Jesus, quickened by the resurrecting power of God. He is raised up from the dead in baptism through faith, and is now communicating with God. His interest is centered on the Spirit whereas the carnal man's interest is still on the flesh (Rom 8:5). So if the things of this earth interests you more, then you are still very much of the flesh. It does not mean you are not spiritually alive, but that you are still in a very elementary stage.
Be careful to distinguish between mental activity and spiritual activity: "I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also..." (1 Cor 14:15a). Then both the mind and the spirit are active. This is referring to the speaking of tongues, which is good, but we must never go back to seek outward phenomena. On the other hand, it is more important to prophesy, to generate a message with the mind and let God speak through you that you become His mouth piece.
Learn that God enables you to function spiritually, deeper than just an exercise with the mind. You can pray with the spirit and also with the mind - let both be active. Go right into the spirit and let the Spirit so work in you that you can worship God from the depth of your being.
The ear is to the spirit and the mouth is to the body. Faith comes from hearing the word of God. The word of God enters through the ear. The ear and the eye is much the same thing. The mouth is the spirit and the heart is the stomach of the spirit where it digests spiritual food (not with the brain which is the intellect).
We have to feed continuously on that feast, "He who eats (Gk: 'trogon'- present active indicative, denotes a continuous action) me will live because of me." John 6:57b. Salvation is not just a past action, but we have to continue in it. The same with the picture for the vine, that is, the branch has to keep on depending on the stem in order to draw life from it.
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Communion Series:
- Worship
- A Sharing in the Body of Christ
- God's Expression of Love to Us
- Pressing toward the Mark of the High Calling
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