Take it!
I worked out that I have probably taken communion around 500 times in my life… Maybe more depending how frequently the churches we were in took it, and then add in the times John and I have take it together or in a small group, but both Jesus and Paul mention it as something we should do, so it's got to be important.
I wanted to share some of the things I was thinking about (if you want to hear the whole preach you can listen here) but it's good reminder of how to posture ourselves when we take communion and we should take it!
Luke 22:19-20 (KJV)
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
1 Corinthians 11:23-31 (KJV)
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, 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 supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
REVELATION
In my experience as Christians we can only walk in God’s truth to the degree that we have a revelation of that truth. For example there are church goers who believe the gifts passed away with the apostles. Those people will not experience those gifts because they do not have faith for them - they don’t expect them and they don’t have a revelation of them in their lives.
This is true in all areas of spiritual life. Romans 10:17 tells us that
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
If we don’t know the word concerning something, the Holy Spirit cannot fully illuminate it in our hearts.
REMEMBERING
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 (NLT)
For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
To remember something, we have to have seen or heard it before. I love the fact that the OT shows us types and shadows of things to come that help us to learn so let’s look back a the first mentions of 'communion' in the Bible to see what we need to 'remember'.
Genesis 14:18 (KJV)
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.and he blessed him
The bread and the wine came with a blessing from the Priest.
Remember:
Communion is a blessing, never a ritual or insignificant.
Exodus 12:1-14 (KJV)
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
We see them eating unleavened bread and the blood of the lamb applied to the door posts.
Remember: This is a powerful picture of what Communion celebrates - salvation, deliverance, healing, prosperity and unity.
Look at what the bible says about the way the Israelites left Egypt (a symbol of the kingdom of darkness) Their bodies would have been broken from years of slavery, hard work, poor conditions and abuse, and they should have been poor, but after the celebration of passover, they were miraculously made strong and they left with the spoils of Egypt without having to fight for any of it.
Psalms 105:37 (KJV)
He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
Exodus 12:35-36 (KJV)
And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.
REMEMBER: This is a picture of communion for us today. The unleavened bread representing a sinless one who’s body was broken for our wholeness and the blood representing the forgiveness of sins. (In scripture these two things almost always go hand in hand by the way)
In the New Testament we are told there can be no remission of sins without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22)
That word remission in the dictionary means: the cancellation of a debt, charge, or penalty.
Remember: Our debt has been fully paid
Romans 5:9 (KJV)
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Remember: We have been justified - Just as if I’d never sinned
John 6:58 (KJV)
This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
In the wilderness, God provided the Israelites with manna - bread from heaven (see exodus 16) and it kept them alive.
Jesus told us in John 6:35 that he was the bread of life and it goes on to say that whoever eats of that bread has eternal life.
Remember: We are full of the life of God
RECEIVING
So then, when we remember these things, what does that mean when we take communion today.
Firstly, if we are to receive anything from communion, we really have to grasp that it’s not going to be about ME! I need to get my eyes off myself - as nothing I have done is worth remembering!
I used to fear taking communion because I might get struck down if there was sin in my life, or if I hadn’t read my bible enough or just wasn’t generally holy enough that day, but that is terrible.. How often have people let it pass them by when they really need it! The time we need to most remember what it means may be during the most challenging times of our lives.
Hebrews 4:16 (KJV) tells us
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 (MEV)
Let us then come with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 (AMP)
Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favour] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].
I was lead to believe that communion was a fearful thing because if you didn't take it right you'd be in trouble.
But let’s read it again and look at the words used:
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
(From the initial reading from 1 Corinthians 11)
UNWORTHILY
At first glance you might say “see Abi! if you take it in an unworthy manner you’re gonna get sick and even die!: That’s what I grew up thinking, but that’s not the Gospel!
In myself I am NEVER going to be worthy enough! It doesn't matter how many sins I confess or how I feel. In myself I am not enough. But I’m no longer just MYSELF! I am now IN CHRIST and that means I am worthy by his blood. - We read earlier - I have been justified! The bible says that in Christ, I am now pure, holy, blameless!
So this verse cannot not speak of the character of the recipient. It must be speaking of the way we are taking communion.
Even that I’ve heard twisted to say that if we take it with sin in our lives we’re in trouble, but the problem with that is according to scripture, sin isn’t just the bad stuff we do, it’s also the good stuff we don’t do and anything that’s not of faith (Romans 14:23)
Taking communion in an unworthy manner isn’t speaking about me and what kind of person I am, but it is talking about the way I approach the sacrifice of Jesus.
I like what the JB Phillips translation says,
I Cor 11: 26-27
This can only mean that whenever you eat this bread or drink of this cup, you are proclaiming that the Lord has died for you, and you will do that until he comes again. So that, whoever eats the bread or drinks the wine without due thought is making himself like one of those who allowed the Lord to be put to death without discerning who he was.
Without due thought; without knowing what what it means, we will simply not tap into all it's benefits and as a result miss out on his blessing of healing, health, provision, forgiveness and love. That’s what this is all about.
It’s easy to say yeah yeah
sins forgiven ✔
body broken check ✔
but if we never give it due thought, we will walk without appropriating that into our lives.
If we don’t recognise that he purchased our utter forgiveness we will live under guilt, condemnation, works-mentality, inferiority, insecurity and all the stress those things bring - We will be anxious, fearful, and miserable.
If we don’t recognised that by his stripes (his broken body) we are healed (1 Peter 2:24) then we will stay sick, depressed or or even die prematurely, all because we don’t recognise the full and finished work of the cross.
EXAMINE OURSELVES
But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup...
Again, i've heard it said that we need to look at ourselves to see what sins we need to confess, but that's not what Jesus said. He said the right way is to 'do this in remembrance of me' (Jesus). The wrong way is looking at whether I am good enough!!
Even under the old covenant, they did not examine the person who brought a lamb to sacrifice - they looked at the condition of the lamb!
I don’t need to look very hard at my flesh to understand that in it dwells nothing good!
Instead if we look at 2 Corinthians 13:5 - this is how we are to examine ourselves.
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;
We are to look only at ourselves only long enough to say “Am I believing in Jesus? Am I trusting in him?’
Have you fully considered the ongoing effects of Jesus’ death burial and resurrection your life? It wasn't just a one time deal that happened 2000 years ago. The effects of this will carry through all eternity!
So next time you are taking communion, consider this:
If you are sick, think about the body broken so you could be made totally and utterly whole.
No exceptions!
If you are struggling financially, remember how God bought his people from slavery, into prosperity and continues to be our provider today
If you are feel like a failure, or like God can’t love you, or that you aren’t worthy - then look to the blood of Jesus which is what has washed you white as snow and made you just like Jesus is right now!! If he is righteous before the Father, so are you!
If you just feel like your time is past and you’re just ticking over until his return, then remember his promise to renew your youth like the Eagles and to strengthen you from the inside out.
If you’re anxious he became peace for us…
If you’re not smart, he came to be wisdom for us
Everything we lack in the human condition Jesus took care of!
We can sum it up a bit like this:
Isaiah 53:4-5 (KJV)
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.
Whatever it is that you need, his broken body and his precious blood completed a covenant in which all God’s promises in Christ are YES and AMEN… I like to think of that as God say YES and we say AMEN LORD.
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