Devoted to Breaking Bread

Intro

Good morning church fam! We are in week three of our four week series called Devoted. We have been looking at the first church and the model in which they used and how it impacted not just the church, but also the communities around them to the point where daily people were being saved.

Acts 2:42 NASB95

42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

There are four things that the early church devoted themselves to:

Teaching

Fellowship

Breaking of Bread

Prayer

I fully believe that if we as the church of today would be fully devoted to these four practices, we too will see a change in our community.

As we have learned last week, these things do not come naturally and it truly takes devotion on our part. Nature can teach us a few things. Growing up I was deathly afraid of bees. I had a good reason too.

I used to go camping at Clear Lake in Buchanan Michigan every summer. My grandmother had a small camper there. As a kids I would wonder around the woods with my friends and catch salamanders, turtles, and frogs. One particular summer we were walking through the woods turning over logs and I ended up turning over a hive of bees.

I was stung hundreds of times. I come running out of the woods covered in bees and my grandmother was visiting a near by camp site. In order to get them off of me they had to hose me down. From then on, if anything buzzed, the hairs on my arm would stand up. This led into my adult hood and I was scared to death of bees.

In the past few years I have overcome that fear. When I look at bees now, they are very fascinating.

And when I consider a busy bee that diligently collects nectar. They are just one part of the colony. Each little bee contributes a tiny amount, yet together they create sweet honey that nourishes whole communities. Similarly, when we devote ourselves to these disciplined practices, even in small ways, the cumulative impact can be powerful. It's a reminder that small, daily choices can lead to enriching results that bless those around us!

So let’s dive into the next practice that the early church devoted themselves to breaking of bread or communion.

Breaking of Bread

The Breaking of Bread/communion was an important part of the believer’s life in the early church. Breaking of Bread goes hand in hand with fellowship.

When we look at the early church in Acts 2:42, they were devoted to 'the breaking of bread.' This wasn’t merely about eating; it was a sacred act of remembering Jesus’ sacrifice. Each time they gathered, they reaffirmed their faith and unity.

“When Jesus wanted to explain to His disciples what His death was all about, He didn’t give them a theory, He gave them a meal.” - N.T. Wright

For today's church, breaking bread offers a chance to reflect on Jesus’ love and reconvene as one body. In breaking bread, we acknowledge our individual struggles, but also our communal strength, reminding us we’re never alone in our journey.

Communion helps us realign our focus of why we are here to begin with. We as the church must never forget where we came from and what Jesus did for us.

Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians what communion is all about.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NASB95

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

Communion simply put is remembering Jesus.

His life

His sacrifice on the cross

His body, broken for you and for me

His blood that was shed to cover a multitude of sin - past, present, and future!

His blood that heals

His blood that is the marker of the New Covenant between God and man

His death

His resurrection

His promise to return once again for His bride the church!

All of these things and more, the believer should never forget!

Even in the midst of the culture, race, and political wars that we are in the middle of. We CANNOT forget what Jesus did for mankind.

Communion, a word made from two words - common and union - our common union as believers, as it has been for over two thousand years is Jesus Christ.

Churches that divide, churches that have internal problems that never get resolved, churches that never practice reconciliation, are the churches that have forgotten who Jesus is and what He has done for them.

New Life, may we never get to that point.

There is Power in Remembrance

Unfortunately it does happen from time to time. We as humans just simply forget.

I can’t tell you how many times I forgot to take out the trash or where I put my belt. Don’t even get me started on keys. And it is not little stuff either. The other day Carly forgot where she put her laptop. We checked the house, we checked the car. We traced our steps back and had to list out the places we had gone. We finally found it. It was in her office.

We as humans just simply forget at times. We try to combat our forgetfulness using notepads. How many of you got sticky notes on your fridge or office?

If I have a meeting with someone or a function to go to, I have to immediately put it in my calendar. Why? Because I will forget. We even set reminders on our phones and Google calendars to help trigger our memories and not forget the important things in life.

This has been the practice of humans long before Google Calendar was invented.

God spoke to Abram (Abraham) about what He was going to do through him.

Genesis 12:1–8 NASB95

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” 4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Notice what he did in the last two verses. Abram built altars. He built these altars to remember what God had told him and what He had done and what God was going to do.

If you read through the Scriptures you find this was a common practice amongst the children of God. Why? So they can remember what God had said or did. In fact many are referred to as altars of remembrance.

One biblical commentator said it this way:

“Our altars of remembrance are a symbol of God’s faithfulness in the midst of wilderness, change, and transition. It’s important to remember those times of God’s faithfulness for our future self when doubt and difficulty arise in new ways, but they are also a reminder to future generations. These are the defining seasons of our life story that need to be remembered and shared with our children and grandchildren as a means to point them to God.[1]”

Remembering what God has done for us and all humanity is not only important for us as individuals, but also for the next generation.

What we model today, right now, will affect the next generation. This is why we include our kids in things like worship, communion, offering, prayer, and other things in the church.

So you can see why it is important that we remember certain points of our faith. We can see why it is important that a practice such as communion is important.

Next week is communion Sunday and together we will refocus and remember why we are gathered to begin with.

Seek Reconciliation

I had contemplated whether or not to do communion today because we are talking about it. But we are going to hold off until next week. I am doing that for a reason. I will share that in a moment.

Because we are human, we do tend to forget. Partaking in communion needs to be done in an unpolluted way. Communion is a sacrament, it is holy and to be revered as such. Sometimes, we pollute it by division, anger, and sin.

When it comes to communion, there is something that Jesus taught and worth mentioning. The Sermon on the Mount was a message that was for the disciples.

Listen to what he says.

Matthew 5:22–24 NASB95

22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. 23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

The take away here is that when it comes to our anger, we need to be careful where we take it. In this example the altar was still a place where sacrifices are made. Jesus says that if you are angry at or at odds with another believer, you need to go and be reconciled with them before bringing your sacrifice to the altar.

Seek Reconciliation

That word reconcile means to change or change the mind of someone. Jesus is saying before you come to the altar, you need to make it right with that person.

But pastor, what if they choose not to accept my apology or offer forgiveness? You still have to try. If they don’t, that is on them.

Sometimes you can’t change the other persons mind, I get that. But you can change yours. You can change how you see them.

Hebrews 12:24 NASB95

24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

His blood speaks better things. You can go before God and see it from His perspective and see how He sees them.

I had to do this not too long ago. I had a situation where there was an issue with another believer. I went to God and ask God His thoughts and His opinions. God told me to shake the dust off my feet as in Matthew 10:14. I still love them. I don’t ignore them. I still believe the blood speaks better things over them. My own mind was reconciled. My own mind was changed.

Why is this so important? Well, Paul actually speaks about this.

1 Corinthians 11:27 NASB95

27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

You see, this church in Corinth forgot, as people do, the why. They forgot why they were gathering. The results was basically selfishness. They were looking out for numero uno and nobody else. Because of this, the body suffered.

When we partake of communion in an unworthy manner, we cannot even make proper judgements about others.

1 Corinthians 11:29 NASB95

29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

We no longer see people through the blood of Christ. We speak over people rather than the blood of Christ speaking over people.

We should do all that we can to reconcile with others, especially with other believers before we partake in communion.

I preached on this one time at a church we pastored in Indiana. I felt led by God to share this whole passage pertaining to taking communion in an unholy manner. God told me there were some who had issues with others in the church. So before we took communion I gave them an opportunity right there to reconcile.

After service a lady came up to me and told me that she and another lady were reconciled that day. One lady was offended by the other lady and the one who did the offending didn’t even know! It was POWERFUL!

If people in church cannot reconcile to one another, we got some serious issues.

1 Peter 4:18 NLT

18 And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”

We should deal with our anger and sin before coming to the table to partake. Not because of some rule we need to follow or to try and exclude people from partaking, but because we belong to Christ and so does my brother and sister in Christ. We should seek unity as much as possible within the body of Christ because we are united with the common bond of Christ.

Imagine for a moment, an entire church completely devoted to unity, forgiving one another, generous with one another, loving one another, seeing others through the blood of Christ.

Sounds like something that only happens in the movies. It may sound crazy. It may sound unattainable!

But just imagine for a moment how it would impact not only the church, but the community that church was in.

I believe we would see what took place in the early church take place here in Corning.

Acts 2:44–47 NASB95

44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Closing

Stand with me.

It takes a lot of effort to be in “one accord”. It takes a lot of humility to help provide for others. It takes Jesus. It takes keeping our focus on Jesus.

Communion helps us do that. It helps us to focus on what we have in common, our faith in Christ, and not what makes us different. In communion we set aside our differences, our anger, and even our frustrations so we can gaze upon Christ together and remember what He has done for us.

In communion not only do we look back at what He has done for us, but we also look ahead and celebrate our future hope as one church under Christ.

So, back to why we are not partaking in communion today, but next week.

Here is where God is leading us today. We do not want to partake in communion in an unholy manner.

You see somethings took place because the church in Corinth lost their focus when it came to communion.

1 Corinthians 11:30 NASB95

30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

The church at Corinth was weak, sick, and dying. All because they lost focus.

So, I want to give an opportunity today to practice what the Word says. If you have something against another believer, whether here at New Life or maybe someone at another church, now is the time to reconcile. Maybe that person doesn’t even know. Let’s get Jesus in the middle of it. If it is someone not here, this week try to do what you can to reconcile.

If the other party does not want to reconcile, then ask God to change your mind, to give you a new perspective on them. To see them through the blood of Christ because His blood speaks better things!

If you need prayer this morning for healing, provision, or anything else, the altars are open.

Let’s pray.

[1] Accessed here: https://danielpassini.org/why-you-need-altars-of-remembrance/