We have been talking about provision—here in this Supper God provides for His people. But God provides for us in His way, and not in the way that we might anticipate.
When God gives, He gives gifts that continue to give themselves. He doesn’t give the kind of gift that makes its way to a closet in a back room somewhere. God’s gifts, being what they are, are living and active, and they continue to give, continue to multiply.
We see that here in this Supper. God is the one who provides the wine and bread. But in giving us the bread, for example, He is giving us ourselves because we are the bread. And when He has given us ourselves in the bread, He expects us to imitate, which means to break the bread and give it to another.
This meal is God’s provision for us, certainly, but it is also God’s provision for the saints in the saints, and through the saints. This is the pattern—God became a man who was the bread from heaven. He took the bread, which was Himself, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it away. When we receive this gift, we are receiving the enormous privilege of doing exactly the same thing.
When you look at the bread in your hand, you need to think on these things. You consume because someone else was consume. You consume, and so you recognize the honor you have in giving yourself away to be consumed. There is no way to really receive from God without giving.