五：为了与别的基督徒一块儿领用主餐
基督徒主日敬拜聚会时常包括五样事情：1）祷告、2）唱诗歌、3）读经（研读聆听圣经，加上解释）、4）奉献钱以及5）领用主餐。主餐也有人称呼为主的晚餐，或圣餐。主餐是耶稣基督自己设立的，目的是给他的门徒既简单又深奥的机会纪念和怀念耶稣在十字架上所作的。
基督徒吃主餐，在心理比较不把它看为一个责任；我们强调吃主餐是我们的特权。主餐不算仪式，乃是一个交往。领用主餐不赦免基督徒的罪孽。相反，基督徒吃主餐以前要先认罪悔改，要先向弟兄道歉，向姐妹改变态度，要懊悔所有的罪孽。
我不敢说一个基督徒不能在家里独身吃主餐纪念主，但我敢说如果一个基督徒有机会与别的基督徒一块儿聚会，一块儿敬拜天上的神，一块儿领用主餐，而故意的留在家不出门，不聚会，他就因此而失去了主餐很重要的意义和象征。
领用主餐时，我们心里应该往五个不同的“方向”想：后面，里面，前面，上面以及左右。
第一，“后面”：要回想耶稣基督曾经被钉十字架，为我们流出他的圣血，赦免世人的罪孽。耶稣设立主餐时，他说，“这是我的身体，为你们擘开的；你们应当这样行，为的是记念我”（哥林多前书11:24）。
第二，“里面”：在内心考虑自己的罪孽（上面已经讲过）。使徒保罗说，“所以人应当省察自己，然后才吃这饼，喝这杯” （哥林多前书11:28）。
第三，“前面”就是未来：要思考，要仰望，耶稣的再来。保罗说:“你们每逢吃这饼，喝这杯，就是宣扬主的死，直等到他来” （哥林多前书11:26）。
第四，“上面”：要抬头，打开属灵的眼睛，遇见而感谢天上的天父和耶稣基督。耶稣应许门徒说，聚会吃主餐时，他也会跟基督徒在一块儿，“在父的天国里与你们同饮新酒”（就是主餐的杯）（马太福音26:29普通话本）。
第五（也是我在此要强调的一点），“周围”：要考虑在周围的其他的基督徒。这些人是我的弟兄姐妹；在耶稣基督里我们是一家的人；我们都是一个身体，就是基督的教会。保罗提醒最早住在哥林多的基督徒，他们在星期天所吃的那块饼象征着教会的合一，就是弟兄姐妹的团结；他们是一体（哥林多前书10:17）。如果基督徒不参加聚会，他因此就失去这种象征；他的缺席也阻碍全教会吃主餐所象征着教会的合一。保罗说我们借着杯和饼“同领”主的血和身体（哥林多前书10:16）。缺席的基督徒不能与弟兄姐妹“同领”饼和杯。出席的基督徒，领用饼和杯的弟兄姐妹才象征着教会的合一。
此短文的题目是，基督徒为什么要参加每周日的敬拜聚会？从此可知部分的答案是,“因为基督徒要与别的基督徒一块领用主餐”。当吃主餐的同时，基督徒就象征着教会的合一与团结，好让这属灵的身体（教会）健全、强壮、和谐。
Why Christians Attend Worship Every Sunday
05: To Partake of the Lord’s Supper with Other Christians
By Edward Short
Sunday Christian worship services normally include the five activities of prayer, singing, Bible reading and exposition, contribution and the Lord’s supper. The Lord’s supper is also called Holy Communion by some people. The Lord’s supper was instituted by Jesus Christ himself, for the purpose of giving his followers a simple yet profound opportunity to remember and contemplate everything that he did on the cross.
Participation in the Lord’s supper is seen less as an obligation and more as a privilege. The Lord’s supper isn’t a ritual, but rather is a time of communion. Participation in the Lord’s supper does not forgive one’s sins; rather a Christian should confess his sins and repent prior to his eating the Lord’s supper. He should apologize and change his attitude toward his Christian brothers and sisters, and repent of any and all sin before he comes to the Lord’s table.
I dare not say that a Christian can’t remember the Lord as he eats the Lord’s supper at home by himself, but I dare say that if a Christian has the opportunity to assemble with other Christians and worship together as a group and partake of the Lord’s supper, but he purposefully stays at home and doesn’t meet with other Christians, he thereby looses some important symbolism of the Lord’s supper.
When we partake of the Lord’s supper, our minds should consider five “directions”: We should look behind, within, forward, above and around.
First, look behind: Our minds should go back to the cross and see Jesus shedding his holy blood in order to forgive the sins of mankind. When he instituted the Lord’s supper, Jesus said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24 NRSV).
Second, look within: We should think about our own sins. The apostle Paul said, “Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28 NRSV).
Third, look forward: Anticipate the return of Jesus. Paul said, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
Fourth, look above: Let us open our spiritual eyes as we lift our heads in thanksgiving, and visualize our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Jesus promised his disciples that he’d be with Christians as they ate the Lord’s supper: “…when we are together in my Father’s kingdom… Then I will drink it again with you” (Matthew 26:29 Easy-to-Read Version).
Fifth (what is being emphasized here), look around: Think about the other Christians in the assembly. These people are my brothers and my sisters! In Christ Jesus we’re all one family; we’re one body, the church of Christ. Paul reminded the earliest Christians in Corinth that the loaf they ate on Sundays symbolized the unity of the church, the fact that they were a single body (1 Corinthians 10:17). If Christians skip the Sunday assembly, they thereby loose this symbol; their absence prevents the church from expressing the very symbol of unity that the Lord’s supper presupposes. Paul said that through the bread and the cup we “share” in the body and blood of Christ. Christians who fail to assemble cannot “share” the bread and cup with other Christians. It is the Christians who assemble and partake of the Lord’s supper that symbolize the unity of the church.
The purpose of this brief article is to explain why Christians should assemble for worship each Sunday. Part of the answer is because Christians should partake of the Lord’s supper with other Christians. By doing so, they symbolize the unity of the church, and that, in turn, enables the spiritual body (the church) to be healthy, strong and harmonious.