God and Man at table are set down – Open Door Christian Fellowship’s Men’s Meeting - Saturday May 8, 2010

Communion and the Body of Christ

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:26-28 

Symbol, Substance and Covenant 

The Orthodox/Catholics believe that Jesus is physically present in the bread and wine. They take the words of Jesus literally. They believe they are eating the actual flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood.
The Protestants usually either believe that there is a spiritual "real presence" or the bread and wine are only symbolic.

Jesus is with us in communion.

I believe any understanding of communion based only on what is seen can miss a critical point. Jesus intended this act to be covenantal.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:31-33

God calls us in the act of communion to a covenant relationship with Him.

Everyone who first partook of this meal knew exactly what it was for.

They knew it from the communion offering of Israel.

It was a covenant meal in which God, the priest and those who brought the offering ate together.

In doing so they were committed to a covenant of protection, provision and presence.

The Semitic world understood this.

Even today among the Bedouins if you are invited to eat with them they consider it to be an act of covenant.

There are other examples of God calling humans into covenant through a shared meal.

Abraham ate with God and two angels. The end result was the covenant promise of God of a child was fulfilled.

The Passover was a covenant meal that God attended. In doing so His divine protection came to the house.

Jesus made a covenant with his disciples in the Last Supper with them.

This covenant is the New Covenant Jeremiah spoke of.

Jesus himself attends this covenant meal every time it is shared with his disciples.

He is the one who calls us to the table.

He is the one who offers His Body and Blood to us as the tokens of the promise he made to us.

We have so lost the concept of keeping promises that the solemnity of entering into a covenant is almost foreign.

Perhaps the promises made in the marriage vows are the only picture we have left but even this is fading in our culture.

Blood covenants were the strongest of all.

This is the covenant Jesus makes with his people every time they sit down at table with him.

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; 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." 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." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

The emphasis on the bread and wine is important but the true focus of communion is that it is Jesus restating his covenant commitment to us each time we partake of them.

The next aspect of communion we need to let go deep into our hearts is that it is more than a physical, spiritual or symbolic presence in the bread and wine that makes it what it is.

Communion is the story of Jesus remembered every time we share it.

We remember him not just from long ago, but today, in his body and what his body is doing today and what we as part of that body are to be doing today.

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? 1 Corinthians 10:16

This story tells us because of his giving his body and shedding his blood we belong to Him.

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Revelation 5:9 

This story tells us that we belong to each other.

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 1 Corinthians 12:27

It is for this reason that I believe we should stay with the biblical description of one loaf of bread and one cup of wine. The body is one. The blood is one. We all share it.

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12

It gives us the opportunity to see if we are getting the message.

But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 1 Corinthians 11:28 

Are we being broken for him and each other? Or are we breaking the Body of Jesus for ourselves?

The way we treat the least in Jesus' body is the way we treat Him.

" The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Matthew 25:40

We might say, "But they deserve it!" We are told to even love our enemies, how much more those we are genetically connected to. But here before us is the picture – we either let ourselves be broken or we will break others.

" Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust." Luke 20:18

The way we treat our spouses, our employees, our children and our fellow believers is the way we treat Jesus. The way we treat our servants – those who serve us for no reward – is the way we treat Jesus. And this is the deep meaning of communion.

At the cross who stood with him when nothing was to be gained? His mother, A few women and John.

The women with Joseph of Arimethia and Nicodemus took his body - offered once again to us here – off the cross and buried it.

They cared for his body though they had nothing to gain and much to loose for doing so.

They disappeared again when the "important ones" who were not there to care for his body showed up again. But they did not disappear from God's heart.

We are to treasure his body both in memory and in his people today.

Before us we have the Life giving essence of Jesus.

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. John 6:53

What a beautiful reality is found in the story that is here. We bring our common life – the very natural elements of food and drink and he by his presence transforms them into life giving substance.

The story finally tells us we must suffer with him. His life comes through what we do here to strengthen us in our shared suffering.

At this table Jesus not only calls us to receive his life. He calls us to give ours to him. This is what a covenant means. It is two people giving their lives without reserve to each other.

He gave his life for us.
We give our lives for him.

He gave his life for our brothers and sisters.
We give our lives for our brothers and sisters.

He gave his life for the world.
We give our lives for the world.

In taking this bread we declare that we are willing to be broken for his body.

In taking this cup we declare that we are willing to have our blood poured out for him, for our brothers and sisters and for the world.

A song written by my chaplin at Oral Roberts University - Bob Stamps

O, welcome all ye noble saints of old,
As now before your very eyes unfold
The wonders all so long ago foretold,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Elders, martyrs, all are falling down,
Prophets, patriarchs are gathering 'round
What angels longed to see now man has found,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Who is this who spreads the victory feast?
Who is this who makes our warring cease?
Jesus, risen savior, prince of peace,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down

Beggars, lame, and harlots also here,
Repentant publicans are drawing near,
Wayward sons come home without a fear,
God and man at table are sat down,
God and man at table are sat down