WHY COMMUNION SHOULD BE 3-FOLD

3 FOLD COMMUNION

           

            How Christ has met my need, is currently meeting my need, and will continue to meet my future need is pictured in this threefold service.

            I was troubled with my past and that brought me to Christ and to Church. There was sins that were haunting me and someone told me that what was troubling and plaguing me could be blotted out. Someone Who cares for me could blot out the sins of my past and put them all away never to be remembered. The Man of sorrows and of tears, the Man of suffering and of triumph could put all that I had on my list unto His nail pierced hands, and with His own precious blood cleanse the pages of all my sins.

             My need was more than my past, for now I needed something for the present moment, for I still had in my nature that which would propel me towards wrong and sin, and therefore I need forgiveness for His acceptance into His very presence and that help I need today.

            And then, when I have faced those two needs, I look to the future and I have the need for tomorrow. I need pardon for the past, purity for the present, and also power for the future. All this is met in Christ, the Son of Man. In the past, I have sinned and I needed pardon. In the present I am impure, and I need purity. And tomorrow, because of my own weakness, I need power to energize me in the future.

            Christ's threefold sufficiency is symbolized in a piece of bread and a cup; a basin of water with the washing of my feet by a brother; and a meal that awaits my appearance before the Father without blemish, blameless, with no wrinkles, in the display of the glory of the Lord.

            The past, present, as well as the future work of Christ; all are pictured in this service. The threefold work of the Son of Man is symbolized in the threefold communion service, my entire need met in Christ.

            This commandment was so important for our maturing to Christ's image that He repeated it exactly as He heard it from the Father (John 12:50), then telling us that we ought to do as He did (John 13:14), all things having been handed to Him by the Father (John 13:3). The first of the Son of Man's work on earth soon coming to a close. (Atonement-Justification)

John 12:50 "I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me."  

John 13:14 "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.  

John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, 

Past Sanctification - Bread and Cup (Body and Blood) Heb 13:12; Heb 10:10; 1 Cor 11:24-25

Present Sanctification - Foot Washing John 13:10-12 w/ 15:3

Future Sanctification - Love Feast 1 Cor 11:20, 23 w Rev 19:6-9