The Assembly: Communion - Headship and the Lord's Supper (Part 2)

So could you help the sisters with verse 10, that expression, power on her head? Authority. So help them with that. She is actually displaying that authority.

She's showing that I'm not the authority here, and my husband isn't the authority, or the man isn't the authority. Right, so the sign of being under authority. So when I look at a sister, and she takes that temporary covering out, and she puts it on top of her head, she is visually saying, I am submitting to authority.

If all of a sudden the sisters right now, in the middle of a congregational meeting, just took their hat off, veil off, I am not taking the place that God has given me. See, see how, you'd be like, why don't we get that upset when someone cuts their hair like a man? The other thing, people coming in, women coming in, and they sit down, and then the last thing that goes on is a veil, or a hat, or whatever. And it's almost like they're already in the congregation, they're already there.

It's a wonderful thing to recognize, what does this mean? What am I displaying? And to come in with that cognizance, that statement that, I love this truth. This is not something like, I gotta do this. Attitude.

Real quick story, don't take a second. I was in a place having meetings, and a small meeting, we were very close together, and this couple was visiting an older man and woman. They came in, sat in the back seat, and they were only about six feet away from me.

And I noticed the woman looking around like this. She had no head covering on. She realized, all these sisters have their heads covered.

She reached into her purse. Now, how many of you sisters would do this? She reached into her purse and took out a Kleenex. Not a cloth one, a Kleenex.

And she spread it on her head. She sat for an hour like that. Going better than that, brother.

What's that? I'll let you have your story. I went over to her after the meeting and said, I want to shake your hand. You displayed a wonderful attitude here.

That is, most of us would be told, I'd never put a Kleenex on my head. Wait. But we can get so official that we lose the significance.

And the angels were looking on. I take it this is a testimony to angels observing order in the assembly. Now, Paul has been dipping back into creation for creation's order.

What God did in creation. And he's arguing from that or presenting truth from that. But also, isn't there a sense in which there is coming a day when all things will be under the headship of Christ? That's right.

That's right. So it is actually pointing forward. Here is a sphere where Christ is being acknowledged as head.

Different out there in the world where it's denied. But God is still working in history. And he's moving toward that.

Would you also add to that, William, the angels? Back to creation. There was an angel that stepped out of his place. They saw a breakdown in their own order.

They saw that breakdown. Now they're seeing it restored in the human race. Like, it's wonderful what's happening here.

In the tabernacle, there were cherubim on the veil. Cherubim overhead. And they were looking on.

They themselves expressed perfect submission to God's authority. And they were observing the priests, which we, of course, are. They were observing priests as they served in the tabernacle.

What would they have thought when the two sons of Aaron came in? Yes. In the manner they did, defying the authority of God. There's one point.

There we have a picture, I think, of how serious these things are in God's sight. Amen. One point, brethren and sisters, it's this.

Your head covered. Acknowledging submission. Make sure that's what you're doing.

Right. That you are not attacking the oversight of that assembly. And talking to them in a way that you shouldn't be.

With your head covered. Okay. Just to show you the sensitivity of this.

We have a lady. Her son got saved. 12 years of age.

Clearly saved. And his brother, Lisa, came. And she's a hairdresser.

Okay. She's a hairdresser. Gets saved.

Clearly saved. Calls one of the sisters. She's been in the hall.

She says, this is just two weeks ago this happened. I have to have something on my head. I have a little white knit hat.

It's kind of like a winter thing. Would it be all right? Sure, she says. So God bless her.

She came in. There she is. A hairdresser.

You know, she's doing all the work. She's got hair. It's a gospel meeting.

But there was just something about that spirit that was very warm. Murray, do you want to comment for a moment on what you have here in the handout? How that verse 8 links in with verse 12. And then verse 9 links in with verse 11.

And so that's putting a focus on verse 10. Yes. I thought that primarily we're looking at the creatorial order that man was created first.

Then the woman came from the man. Yes. And that when we come into that order and they see now this order on display in the church.

The woman, of course, with the covered head, as we've been discussing, is saying, well, my head is the man. He certainly is not on display. He can't be.

The man with the uncovered head is saying Christ is on display. So there is something within creation that is being recovered, if you like, in the church. Just the wording alone is so helpful.

A verse 8, for the man is not of the woman, the woman of the man. Well, we know today that we are of the woman. Okay.

Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man, as the help me. Okay. Verse 10, for this cause ought the woman to have power, authority on her head, on head because of the angels.

Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. In other words, we've got to have both. So verse 12, as you pointed out, kind of bookends it.

For as a woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman. But all things of God. I think you need to explain that better for younger people.

Clearly, the woman is of the man, or the man is of the woman. The man is, yeah. It's contrasting childbirth with procreation with creation.

The man here is Adam. I'm saying that so people understand that. Yeah.

Well, Eve was made out of Adam, and you have the man. Would you say, I know you've used the word recovered, but maybe in addition to that, in the mind of God and the purpose of God, it wasn't lost. When we re-hear about doesn't even nature itself, and he's appealing back to creation, this is nature as God intended it.

This is not the realm of nature. This, yes. So he's going back to really what was the original intent and plan of God.

So that what we're looking at really is called progressive teaching or progressive doctrine. So the doctrine of this chapter is actually, it's complimentary. It's not competing with.

It's complimentary to what God originally established and is now adding on to. Yeah. The truth is that this wasn't a last ditch effort of God because of what had happened.

This was always in the purposes of God. So now we have these statements about nature in these following verses, 13 onwards. For 15.

This is nature as God intended it. So in nature, it requires both the man and the woman. That's right.

But in the assembly also to express this picture. Yes. Of headship, it requires a man and a woman.

You can't have just one. The reason I... It's a double picture. Yes.

The reason I say that is because there are some that have taught from this that, well, you know, women naturally have longer hair than men. Doesn't nature itself teach you that it's men that are naturally have short hair. Women have long hair.

That's what God is saying here. What the spirit of God is saying is this is how God intended it. This is nature as God intended it.

And the balance, the balance is perfect. So we have been emphasizing the sister. Now for the males, don't get shaggy.

Keep it short. That seems to be a common thing today. It's easy for us to say.

I wish I could get shaggy. But I mean, men, why is it that Christian brothers can almost try to push the boundary? Let's see how long I can... No, the significance is there. So both are important as you've been trying to bring up.

Some of us are more uncovered than others. Earlier, the fact that this is going back to God being on display in all in all is where this is headed to in the end. That's right.

God was originally all in all. Very good. And then God is going to be on display in all in all.

Again, the question and the framework here is God is, has God ever not been all in all? It's really Christ, Josh. Right. It's not God.

Yeah, right. What I'm saying is, so it has never been that Christ and God is not all in all. It's just the question of the failure of man and the failure of sin is transforming through and then Christ is finishing it.

And it's going back to forever in eternity. Well, the point, no, the point really is that God is establishing a new head. That's the point.

Headship is here. It's that the failure of the first head is now it really exposes the need for a new head. And God will have that new head in Christ as a perfect man, as his man.

But God in the context of all in all has never changed. It's just the failure of sin has put a question. And when Christ hands it all back and God is on display for all eternity as all in all again, it'll be the perfection of the whole thing.

Oh, recovered, yeah. Brethren, should we take five more minutes on this? I think so. Five, okay.

That takes us to the core graphic. It gives us 30 minutes for the breaking of bread to take up that. So we will go.

I got to cut it off at 3.15. Not the hair. No, the clock. Okay.

So if a woman have long hair. Now, apparently, apparently that's a verb. Yes.

As opposed to a noun hair qualified by an adjective long. He could have written it that way, apparently in Greek. Right.

But it's a verb which is normally translated in our New Testament as received. What is received? So if we keep that in mind, this word received. If a woman has received hair, what she has received in nature.

Right. That's a glory to her. That's an honor to her.

We've been seeing how that long hair covering is an indication of submission, subjection. Right. If she has long hair, that's an indicator of her submission.

That's not a put down. Right, right. That's an honor for her.

That's God's order. Glorifies God. Right.

It glorifies God. So it's a glory to her in that sense. It's an honor to her.

So what the Spirit of God has done in verse number 14, he's introducing you to the action word, have long hair. Present tense, having long hair. Then he flips it over to the man.

It's a shame for a man to be having growing long hair. And then he introduces you to the noun. What is the noun long hair? What is growing? See? So the whole thing, I think it's marvelous how he just brings the whole thing together.

Yeah, and that's actually great because you take a sister who's newly saved and she's had her hair short, you know, for a long time. And now she learns the truth of this passage. That's it.

And she determines in her heart, I'm going to let it grow. From that moment on, she has received hair and she's long hair. See, coming back to what Murray opened up with, this is why natural length is favored in the passage.

If you don't take that route, then you're, how long is long? Oh, let's assume 24 inches. That means out of a typical sister, maybe sitting here with 12 inches of hair, she says, oh, I really should let it grow. She's got to wait now until it gets to 24 inches before it's officially long.

Listen, if it's natural length and a sister through aging loses her hair, she still has long hair. The action is striking at the attitude of the heart. So I have had sisters talk to me who had to go through chemo treatment.

Their hair fell off and they were crying. I said, sister, it's not something you wanted. Don't let the flesh inside overcome you with.

I'm a terrible Christian. God sees the attitude of your heart. And if you could have that without the chemo, you would have had it.

So God honors the attitude. So it's not a question of length. No, it's a question of action.

Exactly. If you go to Africa, those people don't, women don't grow hair as soon as women here. And you know what happened? They would disqualify them.

The fact that it's, it's a glory. That's it. You don't want to cut your glory.

So this is, so long hair that has been given to the sister is her own personal glory. It is her glory, right? So an honor to her. Yes.

Yeah. It's been given to her by God, right? Okay. So now in contrast to that, what we are talking, what the spirit of God is giving us here is the head covering to be covered.

So why I'm bringing this out in this order is this. There are some sisters that think that they have to push all their hair up under their hat. No.

Okay. Because they can't expose their glory. They can't do that.

That's not what this passage is teaching. It's a head covering, not a hair covering. Amen.

Right. So why would you hide something dear sister that speaks of submission, the physical hair, but on the same flip side, don't turn a temporary covering into such a fashion statement that it overshadows the purpose of the head covering. It's to show quietness instead of look at me.

So it's flowers and fruit bouncing around. It's part of your worship rather than your wardrobe. Exactly.

So these things, I think if you spiritually understand the theology, it practically makes it, wow, the importance of doing it. Yeah. I think that the underlying, not that I should use that term, but the real truth of it is this, what an honor, what a privilege for a sister to do something that a brother can.

That's it. Okay. And that's been given to her because you know, a woman's hair is very important to her.

I know some that have a really, my wife cut her hair for years before she was saved and then she had, but it's come along fine. She does not cut her hair, but it's important to her. You know what I mean? We brush it up on it.

Yeah. It's good. Yeah.

Your head covers it up. I mean, we got to be considerate of that. Now, one other thing, I'm going to go into the breaking of bread.

We got the brethren. Sorry. But one other thing that was mentioned lightly, and I agree, I think maybe brother Frank or somebody brought up, I like to see the sister walk in to the gathered company with the head covering on.

I know, and I'm not trying to be argumentative on this, to sit down and then talk and chat what happens and then reach into my person, put it on. I think there's more honoring. That's why I use that expression.

It is really part of their worship rather than their wardrobe. Especially if they come in late. You know, I mean that because if they're coming in late, the meeting's already on.

They walk in, sit down, take care of the baby and all that. Then to put the head covering. I don't like that personally.

I don't think that's right. Does that happen in Spanish speaking meetings? Never. I like it when they wear it on the way in.

Yeah. They're not only teaching angel, but they're teaching people around us that we still believe in head covering. Some can't wait to get the head covering off and get the slacks on.

You wouldn't mind if I said that this conversation was indeed very practical, but these are preferences that we have. We need to be careful because we don't want to offend the tender conscience of some. And there's where the oversight comes into play.

Absolutely. Where they can encourage in these gray areas. Two, something that hasn't been mentioned is the value of older sisters that have honored this truth for years to be able to go to the younger sister and encourage her and just give her.

She's already displayed the example, but could explain to her in a much better way than I could, at least the importance of it. Now, having said that. You can't have an assembly without a sister.

I know that brother. If they're teaching the angels, they wouldn't be able to. I understand that.

Thanks. We're going to go on, brethren, in the chapter. We're going to start in at verse 17.

Now we're going to take up the Lord's supper. And it's, we're brief in our time. A verse 17.

Now, this that I declare unto you, I praise you not that you come together, not for the better, but for the worse. First of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there'd be divisions among you. I partly believe it.

For there must be also heresies. And that was the word for divisions among you that they, which are approved, may be made manifest among you when you come together. Therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.

Now that's what they were not doing. Okay. For in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken.

What have you not houses to eat and to drink in or despise you the church of God? Shame them that have not. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus.

Now, I have just gone through and circled that, you know, the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the Lord's death. Verse 27, the Lord. It's very important to notice that, um, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.

When he had given thanks, he breaketh and said, take eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me after the same manner.

Also, he took the cup when he had sup saying, this cup is the new Testament in my blood. This do you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come.

Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily or an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself. So let him eat that bread and drink of that cup for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

For this cause, many are weak, sickly among you, many sleep. And if you would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that should not be condemned with the world.

Wherefore, my brother, when you come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home that you come not together into condemnation. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

Now, I'm not going to take a long time to go on the opening of that because we just don't have the time. We're going to start right in at verse number 17. If you don't mind here, this is something obviously that is very confused, at least in their thinking, but in their practice of putting the two together, their own common meal and the Lord's supper.

And he's showing the distinction of that. However, you've got to remember the culture of that day. Often transactions of businesses and certain things that were very important were done over a meal.

So he is just separating the two. So that's why he says, now on this, I declare unto you verse 17, I praise you not that you come together, not for the better, but for the worse. So just come in, brethren, and we'll proceed as far as we can.

There's a beautiful picture just to link the two sections together. In the first section that we did on headship, that really begins with the thought of the incarnation of Christ. The head of Christ is God.

And how did that happen? Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Incarnation. Christ coming into the world in incarnation.

The second half, what is the truth that's stressed here? You do show the Lord's death till he come. So the first half, you have the Lord Jesus coming into the world, that place. The second half, you have going out in death, dying for us.

So it's a wonderful bookend picture of representational truth. Do you have like headship in the first part and lordship now? Yes. Where we come to that.

And there is a difference between the two. But anyway. And I was wondering, brother, the eating here.

Do you not think it's being done at the assembly? Or, you know, like after a meal, like a potluck or something like that? No, I thought it was like kind of mixed right in together. I don't think it's separate. I think they're bringing them both together.

It's a generation of the. And then it shows you why it's degenerating. There's divisions among them.

And there's a lack of reverence among them. But how could they do that if they're one into McDonald's and the others that. What do you have over here? I don't know.

Because it shows the difference that some comes in and they are drunken. And some come to take the best food and some leave the rest. To me, it's like it's happening, happening in the precincts of the assembly.

Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. Five times over in this in these verses. You have you come together when you come together.

Yeah, exactly. So it's definitely the collective gathering. But did you notice the five times? So verse number 17, you come together.

Verse 18, you come together. Verse 20, you come together. Verse 33, you come together.

And the very last one, you come together. It's it's not in the passive. Something hasn't brought them together.

It's in the active. They have brought themselves together. If you go through the New Testament and look at other Greek words coming together, it's in the passive describing an assembly meeting.

What does he clearly teach here? This is not for the Lord's Supper. Because of the divisions, because of the unworthiness. You people have degraded this thing down to what you're doing.

And the Spirit of God is saying, I have no part of it. So he's he's heavily condemning. They had really turned what was a weakly functional thing into a. God says, I don't want no part of it.

It became all about us. There. And remember what the first section started with the truth of headship.

Showing us function brought into the passage. What are we leading up to here? Many are weak. Many are sick.

Many have died. Do you not think it's very solemn? Do you not think it's interesting then when we went in first Corinthians five that you had not rather mourned that he which hath done such a deed might be taken away from you. But here this is the only assembly meeting that I know of that is given to us in the New Testament that had that has a punitive aspect with it.

And because they were not discerning the Lord's body, which would help us think of the sacredness, the solemnity that God had actually acted and taken away. And they were eating damnation. So you think what we did? Sorry, just let me finish.

If you think of what we did this morning, dear brother and sister, we took that portion of that bread and of that cup and it was a blessing. Because of the disharmony and the divisions and the animosity, every time they took that piece of bread, I'm eating judgment to myself, not discerning the importance, what I'm a part of. So I think it's a very, very solemn.

But isn't it likely that at Corinth there was one meeting, one coming together. And you'll read about ministry, you'll read about them praying and the collection for the saints in chapter 16. And it begins here.

So this is giving character to what follows. I don't think the divisions are the divisions among those that were wrong. But I think there were those that sincerely understood what the Lord's supper was.

But because of others that didn't, it had caused the division. That's why he says later, there must be divisions among you. Okay.

You've not come together, he said, to eat the Lord's supper. But they're eating their own supper. So I think I, at least now brethren may see it differently.

I thought the division was between those that saw it right and those that didn't understand it. And he's clearing that for them. He says here in verse number 19, for there must be also the heresies among you that they which are approved maybe may manifest among you.

In other words, there were those who were doing what was right. Yeah, right. And that will be manifested with time.

God was getting pleasure from that. Just going to say my final words here. That is that the Lord's supper also has the purpose of expressing the unity of the assembly.

But what they were doing was expressing disunity. Exactly. So one was contradicting the other.

And it was really a shame because they were pretending to do something that was expressing unity when they were not united whatsoever. Isn't that why he brings in the night the Lord Jesus was being betrayed? Like it's a historical fact, but why? Why does he say that? Because this is how the world acts. It's a betrayal of the very truth of God.

You're doing that. You're doing it. And in the night that he was betrayed, he was showing his love for you, his to make you one.

At the initiation, at the Passover, there was disunity. There was dissension among them. They were disputing who was the greater.

That's right. So that's a natural tendency. And they were only continuing that.

He says that's not right. Now, Brother Joel has to be excused. He's going for a meeting in Postville.

And I see he's going to leave the headgear with us, which is good. The sound system. We appreciate that.

We'd want it down in Postville. He's leaving with us. Thanks for your help and your contributions this weekend, brothers.

You're still tethered. Murray, isn't it good to get back to this? Isn't it good? It's instructive to show they went back to the original. Yes.

They didn't go back. Like for us, we don't go back 100 years. No.

Or 150. But go back to the institution of the supper. Yes.

I wanted to ask a question there in verse 22. What have you not houses to eat and to drink in? A couple of things. First of all, when they were coming together as an assembly, it's evident that they had a place to meet.

A meeting place. As distinct from their houses. That's right.

That's right. So there's just an observation. But then what's your thoughts, Murray, on the idea of the assembly being linked with eating and drinking, coming together for a social meal? I would have no difficulty with that.

I would go back to Acts chapter 2 at the end of Acts chapter 2. Just let me read that to you. You don't have to turn to it. I think I just enjoyed it the other day.

And it's nice to notice the accord, the oneness, and all that through the Acts. We're not going there. But it says, they all believe we're together, had all things in common, sold their possessions, that's fine, goods parted.

So they continued daily with one accord in the temple. Good. But breaking bread from house to house, I do not take that was the Lord's supper.

That's a meal, yeah. No, right. But the place of eating then was the house.

Yes. Which is what he's saying here. Exactly.

You're saying combining a meal with assembly gatherings. Yeah. Or food, snacks.

Yeah. I mean, there was a danger here. So are you against it or for it? I'm asking the question.

I have no difficulty with it. But they had turned it into a banqueting, where it was overshadowing the very reason why they were coming together. And one was drinking in the excess.

And all of this disarray that was going on was just a mockery to the whole thing. So coffee and cookies are okay, but not a banquet. Well, if we're going to be against it, we're all going to have to be sick very shortly.

But this is different. They were going to extremes. That's right.

And the rich had lots of food and the poor didn't. That's right. They weren't sharing.

I think he's telling them, you should have ate before you came. I think we're missing the whole point, really. The point is that this was preeminently for the Lord.

Right. And they were using it for themselves. That's right.

So the one place, Murray, help us in verse number 20. You get this a number of times in Corinthians. Verse number 20, therefore into one place.

Chapter 14, verse number 23. If therefore the whole church become together into one place. The reason I say this, Book of Revelation, Ephesians, the lampstand is in its place.

There is a physical location with an assembly. Why is that important? Over Zoom back in Canada on the island where I come from. I'll just say a religious system congregation of maybe 150 people.

Do you know how they handle the breaking of bread? What they call the breaking of bread? Every little home sat at a table with their children with a cup of wine and a biscuit. All connected by Zoom. The church was spread out over 70 homes.

Mm-hmm. All tied together by Zoom. And they actually thought at the right moment, they all drank it and took a little bite of the bread.

They thought they were breaking bread. That is a mockery, dear child of God. Amen.

The one place. We have to be careful. No.

The one place means just one place. In other words, half weren't back in the gospel hall in Mount Sterling and other half of the church here. One place.

See, I've had some, and you know as well as I do, even some full-time servants will not go to certain conferences because they have decided that that school is too far from their gospel hall. They won't go. That's fine.

But it's one place. The one company in one place. If the hall burned down, what are you going to do? Definitely, you can move to where that testimony is.

The thought is of the oneness of the company here. That's it. I'm just coming back to the point, Murray, where of late before COVID, people were trying to divide up the company.

That's right. We're going to have just a women's meeting. We're going to have just a men's meeting.

No, the assembly is always seen in the Word of God as being together and fed together. I think we touched on that even in the first one. If the whole church becomes together.

Right, right. There's another thing. What about the Lord's Supper? We're going to say something about... Tom just had a question there.

I just want to make a comment. Yes. We have to remember this happened in Corinth.

Yes. Okay. And the women's head covering... The women in the temples, they were the predominant ones.

That's right. They're the ones that control what's going on in the temple. Now, he's taking people that once were in that temple, bringing them, seeing them saved, and teaching them assembly truths.

And all that is put in reverse. And the same thing here. When they came together in these union meetings, we can call them, they came together and there was this big feast.

That's right. And everybody was gathering what they had. Now, he's telling you that's not how the assembly is run.

Amen. And if you go back to what you used to be, you've lost the whole sense of what we're doing. Because this is the Lord's Supper.

Amen. And this is Lordship being understood and recognized. So, I don't know.

I just wanted to say that. So, you've led us into just exactly what I was going to take it up. And that is the nature and the meaning of the Lord's Supper.

First of all, not that the two, one is the... This is not... The Lord's Supper was never the replacement of the Passover, okay? But it had characteristics of the Passover. And this was the Lord's Passover. It's the Lord's Supper.

It's not mine. That's where he's distinguishing already when he brings us up to that. So, the Lord's Supper is more than a memorial.

It's a message. It's declaring something. I take it rather not to get us confused here.

But in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we being many are one bread, the fellowship is more horizontal. When I get to chapter 11, it's vertical, okay? So, that's the difference that I see there. But again, verse 24, this do in remembrance of me.

Verse 25, in remembrance of me. Luke 22, he took bread, gave thanks, break it, gave it to them in remembrance of me. So, the thrust of it is in the remembrance of him.

This is my body. Explain that to us. That loaf that's on the table and it was said, this is my body.

Some people will say, I think we need some explanation on that. Well, we don't believe in transubstantiation. No, that's right.

That's right. So... But what did he mean? Symbolic. It represents the body, you know, the different ways in which the loaf came about.

You've heard it in worship and that, which is true. They also said I am the door and so on, but it wasn't a natural door. Did you have something that... Well, I use that when I'm teaching young people is in my wallet, I have a picture of my family.

And if I talk to you, I say, hey, this is my family. Well, you know, it's not my family, right? It's a picture. It's a symbol of my family.

Well, my family, some of them are here and some of them are elsewhere. So what he's saying is that this bread that's on the table is a symbol of my body. And as we take our part of it, we are taking that which is honor, honoring, glorifying God for the sacrifice that he has made in his body.

Right. So could I ask you, Brother Tom, is there any significance in the scripture as to the production of that bread, how that bread came about to be upon the table? Or is the lesson simply it's bread? Yes. And you take from it.

That's it. That's it. Yes.

There's no process needed. There's no significance of... The heat and the... Yeah, how it was ground down and... It's not a type. Right.

So just to help the young people with this big word that was mentioned, transubstantiation. That's all around us. Roman Catholic system, when that priest holds up that wafer, he is actually claiming that that is turning into the literal body of the Lord Jesus.

And when he goes like this at mass, he believes he's freshly crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ. That is all around us and it's diabolical. Absolutely.

And I'm sorry, I'm on my soapbox. I'm a little annoyed at Christians today. Oh, don't say anything wrong against the Roman Catholics.

It's a wicked system and it shames the Lord Jesus. So keep this thing as simple as you can because the distraction away from it, the devil loves it, right? I'm sorry. It's come out.

It's actually come out. I've heard it from even like 83. Yeah.

They believe it's kind of... Oh, it's just crazy. What about the cup? You're talking about the Roman Catholics and the wafer. Well, they believe that turns into the blood.

And the priest drinks it, not the people. Yeah. So like it's just... It's all together.

It's just terrible. To stick with the simplicity of it, like you say, there's a reason that the article is used for the remembrance, right? Because we're talking about... And your reference was to the words that Brethren use in giving thanks for the bread, you know, and some thoughts that they've enjoyed. If we got together and just gave thanks for the bread, and thanks for the cup and partook in the order that the scriptures say, we are doing this in the remembrance of him.

If we got together and prayed and gave thanks and worshiped, that's not this. This is essential in the remembrance of him. That's why we can't do it on Zoom.

That's right. Amen. If we went back to chapter 10, we get words like these, the bread which we break.

Now, just to be clear, when the brother goes forward to the table and takes that loaf and divides it, that is simply a convenience. That's right. That is not the breaking of bread.

That's right. We each one break the bread in common with one another. Very good.

And we express a communion that we share in common with the value of the body of Christ. That was important to say because... Can I just make one point here? I haven't said much. Love is one.

Yeah, love is one. It won't take as long as his or something. So earlier in the headship, there is a distinction between the male and the female.

There's a distinction in what God has created in order. But at the Lord's Supper, there are no distinctions. There are no elders that are functioning.

There is no specific one designated to break. He's the breadbreaker. We're all one.

We're all proactively expressing this fellowship as we pass the emblems from hand to hand. That's important to see in this. It is, but I would caution on this note.

I was in an assembly one time, and the brother who broke the bread had been under discipline. He'd only been back in two weeks, and he ended up breaking the bread. You mean he divided the loaf.

Divided the... Well, yeah, broke... For the convenience of the saints, he broke the bread. That's right, though. I wanted that caveat.

Yeah, yeah. I want to pick up... I think I could read Brody. I appreciate what he said.

And for younger... Sorry, smaller companies, it doesn't have to be an hour. That's right. You're coming together to break bread.

And if it... So a brother doesn't have to get up and stand and pray for 15 minutes, and a second brother, maybe a third, and stretch it out to the hour. That's agony. Come together for what the purpose is to break bread.

It's just to remember him. That's right. Can I ask you, why didn't we come in here this morning, sang one hymn, and then give thanks for the bread, and then give thanks for the cup, and then stop? What is it that... Why do we have... Because there's a practical thing that happens to my heart when I hear you worship.

It warms me. It's the remembrance. Remembering him in his death until he come.

Mr. Darby said one time, it is Christ as dead that we remember. What he had in mind was, the resurrection isn't emphasized here. It's implied by until he come.

That's the only implication. But it is while Christ was down here that we are remembering. We're looking back primarily.

To what happened down here. Remembering him. Just so people know that Tom and I are on the same page.

We both see the benefit of calling to mind the Lord Jesus and remembering him. But calling to mind the things of the Lord Jesus is not equivalent to the great... No, this is different. It's part of the same, but the remembrance is important.

I think you said it. I don't know if that's the right way to say it. But you get into what's being done.

You're calling to mind the person of Christ in his death. So, Murray, could you help us generally speaking? So what happens? Is it right a person has a cold? Well, I'm going to sit here in the circle. I'm not going to partake.

I don't believe it's right. Do you believe it's right? They've come, but they're really not breaking bread. I know that some assemblies, including my home assembly, there would be a couple that would let the cup pass.

All right. I'm not going to go into judgment on, but they really haven't broken bread. It's complete.

But I want to get to the cup. We've only got five minutes. But I guess I guess bring it around at the end back.

That's right. But I'm just saying what that person is doing. They might not realize it.

That's right. You are basically saying I'm not part of this body. Now, listen, I believe the Bible.

I will gladly take it after you. I don't care if you got AIDS. I don't care.

I believe God will protect me in following the word of God. So we have to. I'm cool with saying what happened cases.

Bring a little bit. We want to hear about the cup brother. Go ahead.

No, I appreciate the way our brother did it this morning. You know, they wiped around the corner. They did the best they could.

And our brethren do. Please don't be hard on overseers. They're doing what they can for the good of the company.

You're good and before the Lord. So support them. Some have been so critical of them.

And I know I've heard the arguments from one nation to another. But now the cup. I've had more bantering back and forth with brethren over this.

You know, you're not doing it right. I can't believe you. McCandless after all these years.

Now you believe in more than one cup. And I've been through the ringer. Okay.

But what they're missing is this. Emphasis there probably is the container. Okay.

When he gave thanks for the cup, he didn't give thanks for the silver. The wood or the contents. The contents.

Okay. I'm glad to be back to one cup like we are at home as of last week. Okay.

Till then we had individual paper cups. Our brethren did what they could. I was last to sit in judgment on that.

Now others that would. And you know, one of the brethren contending. There's seven in the assembly.

Basically one family and one other couple. Well, that's fine. But you got assembly of 55, 57.

And you've got that. That's a different consideration. So, you know, others would say, no, they take the Scots route.

And say, no matter, you know, that's fine. Wait, wait, let me just clarify my road for a second. The symbolism has not been broken by the way we are adapting to COVID.

Yes. We come in this morning. There's one vessel.

The cup which we bless. There's first Corinthians chapter 10. How it's distributed after is no different than the one loaf we give thanks for.

And I saw the brethren this morning break it into four pieces. Distribution. So the symbolism is important.

If I was to sit down here with already pre-poured 50 cups. Which cup are you giving thanks for? That's the thing. So I still say during COVID, we did follow the word of God.

And that was my argument to try to help these people see it. Are we not though ascribing a theological significance to the cup that is not there in the Bible? Yeah. All right.

That's the other thing. So the cup, the emphasis theologically of the cup is not unity of the assembly. No.

That's in the bread. It's a community with grace. So the cup is the blood, right? And it's the new covenant.

This is my blood, which is new covenant. So in a sense, the cup significantly actually goes beyond the truth of the assembly. Which is limited in duration to this dispensation singularly.

The bread is singularly associated with the assembly truth of today. And so I think if we remember the significance of the two, that might help us in how we handle them. And how the word divide is used.

Divided among yourselves is the same word as for the parting of the garments. That's right. Okay.

But you don't have the dividing when it comes to the bread. So I don't think the cup, correct me if you like, was passed from hand to hand when he instituted the supper. I think he gave it to them and they partook of it.

Okay. The way we do it, that's fine. That's okay.

But if you want to take it down to the letter of the law, that's what I believe. So just help me clarify. So you don't think when the Lord gave the cup to the disciples, they didn't pass it one? No, I think he gave it to each.

So he gave to him first, back to Christ, gave to him. I think so. Because of the word that's used.

Okay. And the handbook says from thine own hand the cup. No, but I'm just, you know how they sat at a Passover, right? Yeah.

In a U-shape, right? Yeah. So Murray, you believe that it's just the contents of the cup and not the covenant and the ratification of the covenant? Oh, I believe that too, brother. But what I'm saying is some brethren have put the emphasis so much on that, on the container.

Yeah. This morning, we didn't have a cup of that crap. Yeah.

Okay. But it would take both, right? Because without the covenant, the blood was spilled. Oh, exactly.

But you can't put wine on the table without a cup. This is what I mean. They seem to emphasize one over the other.

But you could, you could, you could put wine on the table without a cup. You could put many cups. That's, I think that's the point.

I'd like to see you do that now, brother. A pancake. No, no, no, no.

I'm saying you can do it. Sure. Sure.

So the new covenant that Israel will yet come into the benefit of in the coming day, that's spoken of in Jeremiah chapter 31, that has already been ratified by the blood of Christ. And we are expressing that we benefit from that. I think we're in it.

But anyways, that's the difference. When we are participating together, drinking from the cup. Yeah, you could, you literally, I mean, hypothetically, you can pass that bread without that plate, but you can't pass that contents of that cup without the cup.

That's right. Okay. So I think something to keep in mind, there's biblical tradition, but there's also beneficial tradition.

Okay. And I'm thinking of different countries and different things that they have to do that we don't have to do here. Fortunately.

We should be occupied more with the significance of it. That's right. That's right.

I think, again, I know we can talk hypothetically, but going right to the scriptures, and I'll read from first Corinthians 10, it's clear of the significance of the bread as distinctive and emphasizing the unity of the company as well as the body of the Lord. And it says in chapter 10, verse 17 or 16, the bread, which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being the many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. The significance of the unity of that company is seen in that bread.

That is not what is indicative in the cup. And I think that's important. It's the word we, it's not I. That's why I mentioned earlier.

And it's one bread, one body, yeah. That the bread, which we break, that's more of a horizontal. Yes.

Fellowship, whereas you come to chapter 11 with the cup, it's vertical. Yeah. So then just help them.

Help them. Why in chapter 10 is the wine first, the cup followed by the bread first cup first wine. Then you come to chapter 11, you get the orders.

Now back to the historical order. Yes. Right.

First, you followed by the cup. You look pretty well. Sorry.

Well, the cup, the cup is the basis of our fellowship, the blood, the blood so that we have that. And that's why I emphasized in the first first Bible reading, it is a fellowship of life and so that the cup is, is the blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. Who's has that? Everyone who's saved, but not everyone who's saved partakes of that bread.

Yes. The cup is linked with a new covenant and the blessings that come from it, which we have benefited from his brother William has said, but the bread, which we break is assembly. That's different.

Right. Right. So there's a pass over the first passover.

I think I mentioned this before. It was a blood of the lamb was shed and then they ate the lamb. That's right.

Very good. Well, thank you, brethren. We violated time so badly here, but thanks for all your help and your contributions.

We appreciate that. Is there an announcement you want to make before I close in prayer? Go ahead. No, we're just going to have to rearrange these, these chairs to face the podium and then get into the chairs as quickly, quickly as possible for the gospel that will follow.

Our brother Frank will be speaking in the gospel. After that, there will be the meal being served. Thanks.

We'll pray. Our father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus today and for the remembrance of him. It's so delightful to discuss this, having carried out his commandment and to think of all these centuries later that we could still gather in accordance with his word, this doing remembrance of me.

And we thank you for the honored privilege of remembering him this morning. And now as the gospel is preached this afternoon, afford help to our brother. As he would preach it, nothing would cheer our hearts even greater, Lord, to top it off and to leave our gathering with someone singing the praises of the great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus.

So look upon us. Bless as we give thanks in his name. Amen.