Breaking of Bread.
The Jewish religion is full of feast days and traditional acts performed on certain days throughout the year. Jews are defined by their adherence to tradition and their feasts as much as to the Law, in comparison Christians can defined by the lack of tradition.
As Christians we are not asked to remember days or seasons, or events which may be annual, seasonal or in between the two. We do not live by natural events but by a Spiritual relationship with God. In John 4:21-24 Jesus demonstrates the difference between the old form of natural worship and the spiritual way, which He had come to fulfil.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
In Galatians Paul is warning the Jewish converts to Christ not to revert back to traditions but to leave them aside, they were part of the old ways, the adherence to the law, a law which leads to death. Galatians 5:1 reminds us that there is freedom in Christ; we aren’t governed by tradition or habit.
1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
With this in mind we get to the last supper, as it is called, where Jesus wanted to eat the Passover with His disciples (Luke 22:15), the last time He would do this. From here is instituted the breaking of bread, which most churches repeat in their weekly meeting.
Unfortunately many people use the ‘breaking of bread’ or ‘communion’ as a Christian tradition, a Christian Passover, religiously repeating it without understanding what Jesus was asking us to do.
The event
I am sure you know the story well from the accounts in the Gospels ( Matthew 26, Luke 22 and Mark 14) I would like to take you to the account in 1 Corinthians 11:23-28.
23 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:
24 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.
25 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.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
27 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.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
Jesus never intended the breaking of bread to be a habit or tradition, it was a ‘memorial’ to Him which summed up His whole purpose. Paul was talking to the Church at Corinth, who were already forgetting what was said on that day by Jesus, they were making more of the meal and less of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 11:17-22
17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
This is why in verse 29 it talks about eating and drinking unworthily, they were eating because they were hungry and drinking to get drunk, they didn’t discern that it was to represent Christ’s body or take seriously the blood which freed them from death. They were making a mockery of Christ’s death and as such brought judgement on themselves. The result of this was described in verse 30, they were ill and sickly and many were dead.
Paul is reminding them, teaching them how they should behave in readiness for his visit, verse 34.
34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
Even in Paul’s day people managed to forget a simple request of Jesus’, and this wasn’t hundreds of years later. While we may not eat unworthily in the sense that we still follow the Passover and turn it into an excuse to overindulge, we can turn it into a meaningless part of a meeting, or an excuse to argue over technicalities such as ‘should we use wine or juice’, ‘baked bread or sliced’. Just like the Corinthians we can be guilty, or liable, as the Greek says, for the body and blood of the Lord.
When we take part in communion it is a serious business, it is a time of reflection and of self examination (vs28), a reorganising of our minds where we should put Christ first. Jesus asked us to do a simple thing, remember Him, which has a profound effect on our Christian lives. The word ‘remembrance’ doesn’t really fully describe the original word used, it is a strengthened form of the usual term for remembrance, denoting a voluntary and sustainable effort.
The last supper that Jesus took part in was an act of:
1. REMEMBRANCE (Vs 11:24,25) – ITS OBJECT
The object we are remembering cannot be questioned; it is Jesus Himself. We are asked twice to remember Jesus and are told once for how long. Jesus reminds us that you can’t remember the body without the blood or the blood without the body; both secured our salvation and both will keep us ‘until He comes’.
God knows us too well, and unless we have a point of reference, a memory to cling to, we forget.
When we are driving we need reminders every so often to keep us to the correct speed, otherwise we just do what we want, needless of the consequences, faster and faster, until something happens. Then we remember!
2. TESTIMONY (Vs 11:26) – ITS MEANING
The reason we are asked to remember Jesus when breaking bread is that in doing so we ‘shew’ or from the Greek we ‘announce’ the Lord’s death. We are testifying about the life and death of Jesus in taking the bread and wine, and in testifying we give meaning to the event.
God wants us to tell others and show others that Christ is in our lives, thoughts and hearts. By actively following Jesus in breaking bread we testify as to the truth of who He is and what He did for us. For people who come to the church who may not be Christians, they hear about Jesus in the communion service, and in that small part of the service they get a whole picture of what He did for us.
Testimony is a powerful thing, speaking about Christ is a blessing to others, and yourself. When Jesus met the woman at the well in John 4:39, the simple act of her going back to her city and telling of what she had heard resulted in many getting saved.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
We can’t understand sometimes how a simple act can bless, but then we look at it with worldly eyes and understanding, we don’t see the Spirit of God in those words and how the Spirit affects the hearts of men and women. In the end times the testimony, peoples personal experience, will be a powerful thing. Revelation 12:11 tells us that people will be saved from eternal death through Jesus and their own testimony.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Through testimony we tell the truth and Isaiah 63:8 God honours those who tell the truth about Him.
8 For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.
3. THANKSGIVING (Vs 11:24) – ITS CHARACTER
In verse 24, Jesus knowing what was about to happen, ‘gave thanks’ before He explained to the twelve sitting with Him what was about to take place in the breaking of bread and drinking the wine. As horrible and terrifying as the days to come were to be, Jesus cold still give thanks because of the Salvation that was going to be opened up to all mankind.
Acts 27:35 shows how Jesus always thanked God for all that He did. In this verse it shows how openly He gave thanks. Everyone there would have been in no doubt to whom Jesus was attributing the blessings He had received.
35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
We have so much to give God thanks for, especially for giving us Jesus as we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:57.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The whole character of the last supper is one of thanks, thanks from Jesus Himself for His life, for what He is about to do and accomplish, for God’s promise to raise Him from the dead and His promise to save those who believe on Jesus forever more. Jesus was at the end of His commission on earth, He knew it and even though He knew what was about to happen, He could still give thanks. Colossians 3:17 just backs this up for us today, how many of us believe this and do it?
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
4. COMMUNION (Vs 10:16-17) – ITS HALLOWED EXPERIENCE
Here we jump back a chapter to 1 Corinthians 10:16-17.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
Through the body and blood of Jesus we become one in Him, one Church with Christ as the head. Galatians 3:28 says;
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Communion is the great bond of unity. It knits together not only God’s saints throughout the world, but the living and the dead; so that all His faithful, however separated by ethnicity, or country or time are one with Him and with each other, as partakers of that one bread.
This is not just something which happened as a side effect, this is part of the great plan and will of God, a supernatural bonding of all believers into one promise, the promise of eternal life.
When you become a Christian - a true believer - and take part in the communion, you actively take part in a Holy experience which took place 2000 years ago. When you take the bread and the wine you reaffirm your place in the body of Christ.
RESPONSIBILITY (Vs 11:28) – ITS NECESSARY EXERCISE
With the breaking of bread comes responsibility. We are asked to ‘examine’ ourselves, the Greek says ‘Now let a man test himself FIRST, and thus let him be eating..’
The emphasis here is to test yourself first; are you living by what you were taught, is your life a picture of the faith you believe in or a lie you portray.
Paul asked in 2 Corinthians 13:5 for them to examine themselves
5. Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
When I first read this I had to see if it was any clearer in the original Greek, and it was. A easier to understand rendition of the verse can be found in a few versions, one of which is the Amplified. 2 Corinthians 13:5.
5. Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?
We are told a bit more about self examination in Galatians 6:3-8.
3. For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
4. But let each man prove his own work, and then shall he have his glorying in regard of himself alone, and not of his neighbor.
5. For each man shall bear his own burden.
6. But let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8. For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.
We should always be aware that Christ is in us and gives us the power to Glorify Him, we do not do it under our own strength. If we boast about things we haven’t done then we start to bring judgement on ourselves because we are trying to deceive God as well as ourselves.
Here in verse 7 and 8 we have a stern warning that if we try to make ourselves look big or clever in the eyes of the world, if we go after self gratification with the ‘look at me’ attitude, then we will only win things that are of this world, things which will in time pass away.
If we put Christ first in our lives and give Him the glory and allow the spirit to ‘publicize’ Christ in our lives, because we love Him and He loves us, then we will be rewarded with eternal treasures. When Jesus went to the cross it was an unselfish act, borne out of love for us and obedience to his father.
We have been called out of the world and into the body of Christ the Church, His Spirit is in us and as such we have a responsibility to act in accordance with His Word, otherwise why are we bothering? He understands it’s hard but in remembering Him we can help ourselves.
Jesus went to the cross in weakness (2 Corinthians 13:4). Everyone seemed stronger than him at the time (John 19), but out of that weakness came the power that saved Him and triumphed over His enemies and that raised Him to the Highest of High on the right hand side of God’s throne. It is this same power that in our weakness can save us and bring us to a place closer to Christ, walking as He would have us walk, in the Spirit and not of this world.
6. ANTICIPATION (Vs 11:26) – ITS JOYOUS OUTLOOK
Finally a high note to end on. In verse 26, we read simply of a certain and sure hope, ‘till he comes’. The remembrance is not an eternal remembrance, it is not to be done with a sad heart for someone gone forever, but with an expectant heart because He is coming back, at which point we can stop remembering Him and start enjoying His presence.
The shedding of blood on the cross was a promise, a New Covenant to the house of Israel (Jer 31:31, Matt 26:28, Heb 8:10, 12:24), and so to the Church who are fellow heirs to the promises of God. God, as we know, always keeps His promises so we can say with certainty that Jesus Christ will return.
CONCLUSION
As we have finished off by saying the breaking of bread or communion should be a time of rejoicing for us, it is a remembrance which is not finished it is a temporary state of affairs and is used to keep us going until He returns, rather than remind us of what was.
But we also must remember that it is a serious time, there are responsibilities which we must act on. The remembrance of Him is also a reminder to us to keep looking inward, to examine ourselves to make sure we are still worthy to be called sons and daughters of God.
Communion it is not a ceremony or tradition, it is not a habit or a part of Church history we are trying to keep alive, it is a life-line to God, a guide rope we can cling to and keep pulling on when we feel lost or under pressure from the enemy. Through it our Spirit can be renewed and we can be refreshed in the Hope of His returning.
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