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Counsels for the Church
The Ordinance of Preparation
This ordinance is Christ’s appointed preparation for the sacra-
mental service. While pride, variance, and strife for supremacy are
cherished, the heart cannot enter into fellowship with Christ. We are
not prepared to receive the communion of His body and His blood.
Therefore it was that Jesus appointed the memorial of His humiliation
to be first observed.
As they come to this ordinance, the children of God should bring
to remembrance the words of the Lord of life and glory: “Know ye
what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say
well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your
feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you
an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is
sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are
ye if ye do them.”
John 13:12-17
.
There is in man a disposition to esteem himself more highly than
his brother, to work for self, to seek the highest place; and often this
results in evil surmisings and bitterness of spirit. The ordinance pre-
ceding the Lord’s Supper is to clear away these misunderstandings, to
bring man out of his selfishness, down from his stilts of self-exaltation,
to the humility of heart that will lead him to serve his brother.
The holy Watcher from heaven is present at this season to make it
one of soul searching, of conviction of sin, and of the blessed assur-
ance of sins forgiven. Christ in the fullness of His grace is there to
change the current of the thoughts that have been running in selfish
channels. The Holy Spirit quickens the sensibilities of those who
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follow the example of their Lord. As the Saviour’s humiliation for
us is remembered, thought links with thought; a chain of memories
is called up, memories of God’s great goodness and of the favor and
tenderness of earthly friends.
Whenever this ordinance is rightly celebrated, the children of God
are brought into a holy relationship, to help and bless each other. They
covenant that the life shall be given to unselfish ministry. And this, not
only for one another. Their field of labor is as wide as their Master’s
was. The world is full of those who need our ministry. The poor, the