Pillar #3: Breaking Bread Together

Intro.

We are not over half way through with our Four Pillars of a Healthy Church series!

Acts 2:42–47 LSB

42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 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 dividing them up with all, as anyone might have need. 46 And daily devoting themselves with one accord 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 daily those who were being saved.

Apostles’ Doctrine

We talked about how important the Doctrine of the Apostles is for us as Christians, and that we should cling closely to their instruction, which comes from the Lord Himself.

Fellowship

We saw that we have two layers of fellowship: Spiritual and External. The Spiritual fellowship must be there for the External fellowship to be truly meaningful in the Body.

We are, as the Church, the Body of Christ our Lord and the Temple for His dwelling — both representing that we are many parts which are brought together by God into one organism, together.

Breaking of Bread

This morning, we are going to consider what “breaking bread” means in are passage, and why this is important to our faith as Christians. My prayer is that we see why these things are important, and why we along with our spiritual predecessors must be devoted to such things!

Communion and Common Meals

To begin, we have to come to understand our terms, per usual. Remember, devoted means to persist in something or to be faithful to something/someone.

As for breaking bread, Luke presents two different definitions for it in Acts:

The Lord’s Supper

Daily eating of meals together.

Which one we are dealing with in a particular text is determined by the context of the passage itself. In our text from Acts, we are able to actually see both instances used! Acts 2.42

Acts 2:42 LSB

42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

Acts 2:46 LSB

46 And daily devoting themselves with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

The Lord’s Supper

We find, firstly, that the disciples were devoted to the taking of the Lord’s Supper!

What does this mean?

Firstly, I believe it means they did in fact take it at regular intervals just as the Scriptures affirm. They took of this feast together as they met together with singing and prayer and Scripture! The Lord’s Supper is the most sacred thing about our assemblies together, and in many ways it is the central aspect of our gathering, at least per the view of many early Christian leaders.

However, I believe that devotion to the Lord’s Supper also means being faithful to the purpose of the meal, as well as doing it worthily.

1 Corinthians 11:17–30 LSB

17 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it. 19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. 20 Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 For do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you. 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 being 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 death of the Lord until He comes. 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. 28 But a man must test himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.

What we find going on in Corinth is, to put it simply, that they were partaking of the Lord’s Supper in a way that was borne out of their divisions and still promoting even further divisions amongst each other. They were despising the poor among them, leaving them hungry whilst others were getting drunk from the cup of the blood of the covenant; not only this but they were in effect casting shame on the very Church of God by partaking in this manner (v. 22).

Paul even says that when they come together it is, “not to eat the Lord’s Supper,” meaning that as they took of this feast to the remembrance of Christ, it wasn’t even the same thing! They believed that they were taking Communion but we so wicked in their taking that it wasn’t even the Lord’s Table anymore because of their despising it.

You see, the Lord’s Supper is supposed to be a communal feast among the Body of Christ! That’s why we take it together at one time! Yet, many people think that it is to be taken with only your relationship with God in view, but this is not so! Your relationship with the Church is also in view in a rightful taking of the Supper, because it was His physical Body which He gave in order that you might be made one with His spiritual Body, the Church!

One cannot come alongside the Body of Christ and partake of the Body of Christ in Communion whilst living in division from that very Body with which he sits at the Table! This is dishonoring to the very sacrifice He made for us that we might be made one in Christ our Master! Chrysostom makes mention that Christ has welcomed all to the holy Table for Communion who belong to Him and are reckoned as worthy, yet the Corinthian Christians were treating certain persons as unworthy based on status!

Some took sinful excess, others were left unfed — and this was an evil among them! Why? Because in treating the Church this way, they were treating the very sacrifice of Christ with contempt, and despising His table, as Chrysostom spoke at length upon. Therefore, Paul speaks of taking of Communion in an unworthy manner making one guilty of the body and blood of Christ! Why would this be so? Because in despising His Table we also despise His sacrifice on the Cross, profaning it. I am reminded of Malachi speaking to the Israelites about their profane sacrifices on their alters to God, and how He felt about it...

There is more to say on the matter of the Lord’s Supper, but for time we must keep it brief and to the point. So I will sum up this portion by asking us all: Where are our minds and hearts as we partake of the Supper? Are we honoring the sacrifice of Christ? are we at odds one with another in the Body? are we living lives outside of here that throw the sacrifice of the Christ on Calvary into derision? We need to be sure we can answer these things well, because they are all related to the purpose and the holiness of the Lord’s Supper. We cannot take of the Lord’s Table and then turn right around and treat His Church whom He died for with contempt; nor can we approach the Table on Sunday morning and the live Monday - Saturday as if the Sacrifice of Jesus held no affect on our lives!

Daily Meals of the Saints

Now, in v. 46, back in Acts, we find that they were devoted to being in one accord in the temple, and they also broke bread from house to house taking meals with “gladness and sincerity of heart.”

This brings us back to fellowship in many ways, so we will not spend much time here. But it is important how it is noted again that the Christians were so devoted to doing menial, daily things with one another! There is nothing particularly special about any average lunch or supper, but it is always made special when taken with gladness in the presence of people you love! This is why I love our men’s breakfasts every Saturday — it’s a great opportunity to live in fellowship and just enjoy each other’s company in something meaningful but totally common!

Our lives together in the daily aspects have to be just as tight as our religious offerings as the assembly! If we are close here at church and we hug and love one another, there is no excuse for anyone to not be loving and zealously embracing the Church of God in the common, non-religious aspects of life as well! Our fellowship is worth being devoted to!

Conclusion

Brethren, there is much more that could be said about this this morning, but suffice it to say for now, that we ought to take great care of our relationships in the Church and to how we treat one another. Holy Communion is for all, and you are part of that all proclaiming the death of Jesus until He comes again!

Our unity and maintenance of that unity matters to God, because Christ died for His Church to be one together — not divided into parties and over opinionated squabbles.

So let’s be sure that the way we love and treat one another is worthy of the sacrifice of Christ, and that we live out our love in the mundane just as much as in the Holy.