Broken Bread Not Broken Relationships

As you can see, I wanted to change things up and do the service a bit differently today. Yes I know, for some that goes against your Baptist grain, but hey we haven’t had communion yet so you’re obligated to forgive me right?

Gaining a deeper sense of the true sweetness of God’s grace and love before communion will give us the opportunity to sing and celebrate in an even sweeter spirit than we already do after it.

STAND IN HONOR OF GOD AND HIS INSPIRED WORD - let’s read from Paul’s account of the Last Supper he received from Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NKJV

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

PRAYER

Jesus gives His followers only one requirement during the observance of communion - Remember Him.

Remember

What is it though that we are to recollect?

Look again in v.26 - The Lord’s Table is not a visible proclamation of His birth, not a retelling of His life and teachings, no communion is the proclamation the intended purpose of His death.

In the last chapter of Luke’s gospel, Luke 24, we find 2 of Jesus’s followers on the road to the town of Emmaus. Christ’s death left them distraught and in hopeless despair.

Here Jesus, not yet known to them, joins them in their journey and begins to ask “why ya’ll so sad.”

They’re like, “Dude you been hiding behind a rock lately?

Jesus begins to expound and explain to them that the OT scriptures were all about Him. Jesus reclines at the table for supper, takes bread gives thanks, breaks it and gives it to them. Immediately they recognized him. After Jesus suddenly disappears they hurry into Jerusalem and:

Luke 24:35 CSB

35 Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Do you think that was a coincident? Yes, God was the one who opened their eyes, but He used the breaking of the bread to do it.

This was probably a deliberate telling on Luke’s part to connect it with their encounter with Jesus at the Last Supper.

This encourages us that we too encounter Jesus, mentally and spiritually each time we celebrate Communion together.

As all the disciples are listening to the others tell the story Jesus appears out of no where. Notice what He says, I believe as a commentary on what the others had just mentioned about the bread:

Luke 24:44–47 NKJV

44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Jesus is essentially saying - “you want to understand what this broken bread and cup of wine is about, I already told you in my teachings to you but even before that in the Scriptures.”

What we find in the Law of Moses, Leviticus 16 and 23 to be specific, is God’s command in ch. 23 to observe each year the Lord’s Passover - first done in Egypt by killing of a lamb and spreading the blood over the doorposts to be spared from the angel of death. So the last supper was eaten together during this annual observance in Jerusalem.

In ch. 16 we find God giving the command to have a yearly Day of Atonement. This was done by the High Priest taking two goats, casting lots on each, one for the Lord and one for the people. The goat that got the Lord’s lot was to be the sin offering to atone for the people. The goat gave his life to compensate and make amends for the offense against God. The 2nd goat for the people would have the blood applied to it and sent away into the desert symbolizing the sins being placed on it and sent away from the people.

Isaiah, the prophet, in ch. 53 gives God’s prophecy of the Messiah known as the Suffering or Sin-bearing Servant.

Turn to Isaiah 53

If you want to turn there notice in Isaiah 53:5 talks about the Suffering Servant/Messiah being wounded for OUR “transgressions” - that revolt, that rebellious protest each human makes against God’s laws - our sins. The Messiah was beaten, bruised and killed for OUR “iniquities” - that intentional, conscious perversion of morality, and evil that is done by humanity, our sins and the punishment that comes with them

Isaiah 53:5 NKJV

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:6 tells how everyone is far from God in their own state of humanity being mislead by our desires going astray from righteousness.

Isaiah 53:6 NKJV

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Ah but the great news is back in Isaiah 53:4 - the word “has borne” - this is a translation of the Hebrew verb that describes how someone lifts something; it is used in reference to how someone bears the guilt and punishment of sin, even the substitutionary or representative bearing of guilt for another person’s sins; and the verb shows how someone is taking away something to destroy it. (like the scapegoat) - this is what is wrapped up in the NT word “Remission” - the word used for the cancellation of a debt - Spiritually speaking the debt to God that is cancelled through His forgiveness of sins.

Isaiah 53:4 NKJV

4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.

John 1 records John the Baptist seeing Jesus coming toward him to be baptized and John declares:

John 1:29 The Message

29 The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world!

Luke 24 records Jesus declaring the mission of His death was told in the scriptures, and now the message continues on by the preaching and proclaiming what He made possible through his death.

So, that leads us back to Paul’s chastisement of the Corinthian Christians regarding The Lord’s Table:

Think of the observance of Communion as the celebration of the Church’s Common Union based on what Paul says in the previous chapter of his letter to them. Listen to how the Message paraphrases it - beautifully:

1 Corinthians 10:16–17 The Message

16 When we drink the cup of blessing, aren’t we taking into ourselves the blood, the very life, of Christ? And isn’t it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat? Don’t we take into ourselves the body, the very life, of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, our many-ness becomes one-ness—Christ doesn’t become fragmented in us. Rather, we become unified in him. We don’t reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is.

The significance Paul points out in ch.10 and 11 is we do not Come To The Lord’s Table alone our observance of this (point to the table) is a communal act - done together as one.

This was the problem with the Corinthian believers - they had failed to live up to this fact, to the symbolism of the Lord’s Table - b/c the divisions pointed out in ch. 1&3, b/c the immorality of ch. 5, b/c the lawsuits against other believers in ch. 6, b/c the wrongful breaking of marriage vows in ch. 7, b/c the insensitivity shown to other believers in ch. 8&9, b/c the rich members showing off by eating all the food and shaming the poorer members in ch.11.

The ground of unity in the church is Christ, made possible by His work of salvation in us.

Paul, through he writings about communion, teaches us that our vertical relationship, made possible by what the Table represents - Jesus’s death - should spill over into our horizontal lifestyle.

Because of the Broken Bread we should have no Broken Relationships

Conclusion: Most every problem found in a local church stems from a problem in a relationship: either between you and God or you and another person.

The Lord’s Table Represents 2 Things to the Lost - Unbelievers around us.

The Preaching of our need for Repentance of Sin - shown through our repentance of sin either offense against God or an offense against other people.

The Promise of God’s Forgiveness of Sin - shown through God’s forgiveness of our offense against Him and our forgiveness of those who offend us. (Will go deeper in the subject next Sunday)

Illustration: How many of you know who Vivian Malone is?

Vivian was the young black woman, who enrolled as a student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 1963, after the court ruling on desegregation. Federal troops were there to ensure her entrance into the school, but Governor George Wallace was there to stop her.

Remember his famous words, “I draw the line in the dust…and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” Well we know he failed, and Malone became the first African-American student ever to graduate from the University of Alabama.

Years later, Governor Wallace was taken in his wheelchair to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, where he asked African-Americans to forgive him for his racism, bigotry, and specifically his ill-treatment of Vivian Malone. He asked Malone for forgiveness. Malone said she had forgiven the governor years before.

When asked why she had done that, Malone said, “I’m a Christian, and I grew up in the church. I was taught that we are all equal in the eyes of God. I was also taught that you forgive people, no matter what. And that was why I had to do it. I didn’t feel as if I had a choice.”

—“Transition—Vivian Malone Jones,” Newsweek (October 24, 2005)[1]

[1] Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (p. 91). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Anyone never having been given forgiveness does not understand forgiveness.

Anyone given forgiveness should forgive everyone for everything done against him/her because their is no sin God was unwilling to forgive

Invitation: The choir is about to sing a song titled “Remembrance,” while they are doing so allow the Holy Spirit to cause you to:

Remember the un-payable debt your sin owes to God (now is still time for you who needs God’s salvation to agree with God about your sin and turn to him in repentance)

Remember by His blood: 1) Jesus paid the price for the church, 2) declares us right with God, 3) brings us close to God, 4) makes peace with God for us, 5) cleanses our consciences of sin, 6)set us free from sin, 7) removes the stain of sin so we can have fellowship with each other

Remember Jesus took the guilt of your sin and the wrath of God. (Paul says in Colossians 2 - Jesus took it away from us and nailed it to the cross)

Remember Jesus made you alive and has forgiven all your sins.

Remember Jesus wants us to do the same for those who have offended us.

Last week we dealt much with sin and repentance, but you may still be struggling to let go of some things but you want to - Come to the Table - Remember that’s where you find victory.

You may be holding on to an offense but feel convicted you to let go. You are thinking though you don’t have time to go to the person and forgive. Remember forgiveness is not for them. Come to the Table - that is where Forgiveness will free you from your bondage to bitterness.