COMMUNION MEANS MUTUAL PARTICIPATION

Scripture Text:

Matthew 26:26-29 KJV  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.  (27)  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;  (28)  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.  (29)  But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

1 Corinthians 11:20-31   (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.  (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.  (29)  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.  (30)  For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.  (31)  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

Message:

“UNWORTHILY” means IRREVERENTLY.
“UNWORTHY” means UNFIT

Irreverence deals with ATTITUDE and does not deal with personally being fit or not.

• The only way UNFIT can come into this picture is when we consider the bread and wine as something we get a chance to munch upon, and act unchristlike with each other when we do it.
• But then it is being UNFIT because of DISRESPECT for the meaning behind it.
• Not because we are people who are not good enough.

Paul was not speaking about people who were not good enough when he rebuked the Corinthians for receiving the communion UNWORTHILY.

• Look what he spoke about:
• “(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.  “

It is interesting that people get the idea that we are personally UNFIT due to not being good enough when they witness communion supper in many church circles.

• Where is the idea present that said the people were not good enough in and of themselves?
• If that WAS the case, Paul would have said things such as, “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.  For in eating everyone of you are losers and make mistakes in your life now and then.  You commit sins occasionally, and though you repent, you commit them again.  You think bad thoughts throughout the day and lose your temper.  You cannot make yourself perfect, and your flesh does not empower you to do enough good things in your lives.  You commit more bad things than good things.”
• Does the word IRREVERENTLY have anything to do with the above example of the way most people think of whether or not they should take part in communion?
• IRREVERENTLY describes a bad ATTITUDE when doing something.
• DISRESPECT.

Most people have utmost reverence for communion.

• They would never dare disrespect the whole occasion.
• They do not act irreverently about it at all, while irreverence is the only issue Paul had about this.
• They only feel they personally and unfit and UNWORTHY to take part because they are not perfect people.
• So they do not violate anything Paul said about this at all!

When a person CARES about their attitude and reverence and respect, and truly CARES whether or not they are good enough, they have perfect reverence for the occasion!

• If you are so concerned about yourself that you very carefully approach the issue and analyze your life, then you have the utmost reverence for it all.
• It’s only when someone laughs and jokes about it, and simply thinks of it as getting a bit of food, because they’re hungry, and felt they were better than others in the church, so they ate in cliques and little divisions and groups.

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.

COMMUNION means MUTUAL PARTICIPATION.

Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

His death becomes our deaths when we are baptized.

Romans 6:3 KJV  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:4 KJV  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

We mutually, as a group of people, participated in the breaking of Jesus in His death, and we SHOW THAT by eating bread which represents his body.

• THIS happened to ME.
• I am putting HIS EXPERIENCE into my body to show that I PARTICIPATED in his death.
• As we put the broken bread into our mouths to eat it, we are looking at a physical lesson.
• A living parable.
• The broken bread is a symbol of how Jesus’ died.
• And what did he die for?
• Not for himself.
• He died because our sins threw us into the death penalty.
• And his death was going to pay for it so that we could say we paid the price since we already died THROUGH Jesus.
• So eating that bread is BELIEVING this truth!
• It is like the bread is a message and your body is your belief ability.
• You put this truth into your faith and believe it with all your heart.
• You are “parabling” this awesome truth.

The problem is that the Corinthians looked at it as mere food, when in reality it is SYMBOLIC of the death of Jesus that occurred for YOU.

• When you realize what this enacts, then you could not be more serious about anything in your life, because nothing is more important than what Jesus did to save you from sin.

And it perfectly shows we are ONE BREAD.

• Take one loaf and break it into pieces and put each piece in several people so that later when you bring the people together, they cause the one loaf to again be present — just by them all being together!
• IF each piece is in one of them, and all the people into which the pieces are present are together, then the one bread is again present.

Now, these people were dividing and forming divisions.

• They were supposed to drink at the same moment and eat at the same moment, to represent that every single one of us went to the same death of Jesus and received from it.
• So they were violating the idea of the UNITY and MUTUAL participation.
• They were destroying the entire meaning behind the communion.

Instead of seeing it emphasize they were all saved FROM THE SAME death of Jesus, making them ONE BODY and ONE BREAD, they were separating themselves into groups of who was better than who.

THAT WAS IRREVERENCE for the MEANING of the occasion.

• They disrespected the MESSAGE.
• They disrespected the CROSS!

Two things are involved in communion.

• BREAD AND WINE.
• Just to show you that eating bread and drinking wine is a living parable of believing truth, let’s go to another scripture that involved BOLDY AND BLOOD of Jesus.
• Notice Jesus called himself BREAD OF LIFE.

John 6:35-36   And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.  (36)  But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

He said He is bread and you must BELIEVE on him to never hunger or thirst.

John 6:40   And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Then he says BELIEF on him gives everlasting life.

John 6:51   I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

John 6:53-56   Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.  (54)  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.  (55)  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.  (56)  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

There it is.

• Eat his flesh and drink his blood and receive eternal life.
• All said AFTER he spoke of BELIEVING ON HIM TO GET ETERNAL LIFE.
• He said BELIEVE to get eternal life and then EAT AND DRINK to get eternal life.
• He is saying it plainly in one instance and then SYMBOLIZING it next.

You are said to BELIEVE something if you figuratively EAT IT.

John 6:63   It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

He plainly explained himself here:  eating literal flesh was not His point, but it was THE WORDS the flesh represented that was the point.
Actual flesh does not give eternal life.
THE WORDS HE SPEAKS PROVIDE THE LIFE.

John 6:66-69   From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  (67)  Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?  (68)  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  (69)  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

If you truly believe the only eternal life is in Jesus Christ, then you will respect the communion supper and eat and drink it to proudly proclaim to God, the world and angels and demons alike, that you BELIEVE JESUS SAVES!

• You BELIEVE HE HAD TO DIE ON THE CROSS OR YOU WOULD NEVER GET TO HEAVEN NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE!

Who is worthy?

• NO ONE.

Romans 3:10-24   As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:  (11)  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.  (12)  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.  (13)  Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:  (14)  Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:  (15)  Their feet are swift to shed blood:  (16)  Destruction and misery are in their ways:  (17)  And the way of peace have they not known:  (18)  There is no fear of God before their eyes.  (19)  Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  (20)  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.  (21)  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;  (22)  Even the [SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS WE GAIN THROUGH LIVING PERFECT LIVES AND MAKING OURSELVES GOOD?  — No…] righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that [DO GOOD DEEDS AND NEVER MAKE MISTAKES? – No…] believe: for there is no difference:  (23)  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  (24)  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

The whole point of the cross is that NO ONE IS WORTHY.

• It is free.
• Not paid by GOOD WORKS.
• And that is BECAUSE everyone is gone out of the way and no one is worthy.

And by showing us what all of this means — YOU CAN SEE A PICTURE ONCE AGAIN IN OUR BIBLES ABOUT THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF LIFE THAT WE EAT AND LIVE FOREVER.

And the truth of the matter is that when people made you focus upon whether or not YOU are WORTHY, instead of showing us that none of are worthy anyway, because that is the whole point of HIM doing the work to save us and not ourselves, YOU WERE HANDED FRUIT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

Its not a matter of OUR good or evil and our works.

• It’s a matter of HIM GIVING US LIFE BY HIS WORK!

See how people have been handing out FORBIDDEN FRUIT even in the most precious time of celebration of the work of the cross?

• Counterfeiting the fruit of Life.
• Leaving people feeling unworthy instead of focusing their attention on doing it WORTHILY.

And if the truth be known,

• …taking something that stands for our uselessness in working our way to heaven,
• …and the absolute necessity of HIM DOING THE WORK FOR US
• …and giving us the free gift without working to get righteousness and eternal life,
• …and twisting it into WHETHER OR NOT WE ARE WORTHY IN OURSELVES
• …is WHAT IS ACTUALLY DISRESPECT AND IRREVERENCE for the need of GRACE!

When you don’t discern the Lord’s BODY, you do not respect the fact that WE NEEDED HIS GOODNESS because OUR GOODNESS could never cut it.

• Not discerning the Lord’s body includes not seeing the NEED for Him to give us life FREELY, because one does not see that IT’S NOT A MATTER OF WORTH, BUT BIRTH!
• You need to DIE AND BE BORN AGAIN to get to Heaven… not be perfect in all your deeds and actions.

Fruit of knowledge of good and evil removes the need for NEW BIRTH.

• We need to be born again because WE ARE UNWORTHY.
• And new birth GIVES US WORTH!
• Not good deeds.
• If it was a matter of good deeds, we would not be born again but TRY HARDER.
• But when it is NEW BIRTH, our old lives DIED and all their unworthiness was buried.
• And WE WERE MADE NEW CREATURES.
• JUST BY BEING HIS KIDS we are now MADE worthy by HIS GOOD DEEDS.

Do not disrespect His body and blood.

• Do not disrespect his NEED TO DIE.

Law is getting righteousness by doing good deeds.

Galatians 2:21   I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Do not disrespect the death of Jesus by thinking salvation is a matter of HOW GOOD AND HOW WORTHY WE ARE in and of ourselves!

• Don’t make HIS DEATH IN VAIN by stressing what good works WE need to do.
• Yes, we need to live right, but HEAVEN can never be bought by your good deeds if you reject Jesus and His death on the cross.

WATCH THIS:

(John 6:54) Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

(1Co 11:29-31)  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

1 Corinthians 11:30 CEV  (30)  That’s why many of you are sick and weak and why a lot of others have died.

WHEN LIFE-GIVING FOOD KILLS.

• What is given to you is not life but knowledge of good and evil.

The only thing that gives DEATH and not LIFE is fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

• Imagine religion replacing fruit of life with fruit of DEATH at the most precious living parable occasion we have in symbol… communion.

Taking the cross and twisting it to promote YOUR GOOD DEEDS that take you to heaven rather than HIS GOOD DEEDS YOU COULD NEVER DO to go to Heaven is exchanging fruit of Life for FRUIT OF DEATH.