HOLY COMMUNION

John 14:6

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

What a Holy God we serve! It’s a pleasure to be counted worthy of His Spirit. It is our faith that has given us total and complete access to the Holy Spirit, in whom we live. It is without controversy that God is wooing His Body to holiness. It is imperative that the saints of our Lord Jesus Christ discern the heart of God towards them. In addition, we should discern the Body of Christ period. There are certain insights God has revealed through the Lord’s Supper that I believe we as a Body have failed to realize. It is not commonly understood the great power and effect of Holy Communion. The communion is a physical representation of a spiritual operation. Before we go into that operation, let us walk the path that the scriptures will lead us in.

Matthew 26:20-23

20 Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.

21 And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

22 And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

23 And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.

I believe it is first necessary for us to understand that our God sees everything. He sees every disposition, every mindset, every plan, every thought and all intent. He is a discerner of soul and spirit. There is nothing we can hide from His sight. All sin is open before Him.

Consider the presumption of Judas on that fateful night of the Lord. Judas had earlier made a covenant with the chief priests concerning the price for Jesus’ life. He valued Him to be worth thirty (30) pieces of silver. It was already deep within the heart of Judas to betray Jesus, therefore, the deed was already done.

After all, Jesus was great and mighty. He had never seen Jesus harmed nor hurt. God had always protected Him from the will of the corrupted Pharisees. However, this time was different. It was the sure plan of God that Christ die, but woe unto he who betrays Him. I would like you to consider this operation.

Oftentimes, we bring our sin in the face of God. We do this when we ignore the fact that there is sin in our lives, and protect that sin while we are in His presence or gathered with His saints. However, Satan has blinded our eyes at this point into thinking that those around us cannot discern the darkness in us. There are even some who have no true sentiment for righteousness. Instead, they rely on the love and mercy of the Sons even though God is badgering their hearts for repentance. It is error on our part if we facilitate a sinful disposition in the church. We must confront in love and in meekness seek to preserve such a soul in the faith. After all, we are one.

Look at the boldness of Judas’ actions. God had already revealed what Judas had done, however in the face of God he denied it by saying, “Lord, is it I?” This is such a bold operation of the devil because it seeks to undermine the holiness of God. Judas already knew the provisions he had set in place to betray Christ, however he played ignorant when confronted by God. When confronted we may never say, ‘Lord is it I’, but we might just say, “You have missed me”, or “I’m not there” or the famous “You are judging me”. It goes without saying that the gifts of the Body were given for the unifying of the same in love and holiness.

Confrontation is a tool to ensure that the Body remains holy; however, in the blindness of our hearts sometimes we refuse to see that our responses are always to God and not to man. If there is any sin in us, we already know it because the Holy Ghost within will reveal it to us first.

To play the ‘ignorant card’, is an insult to the Holy Spirit within us. If we fail to identify the sin in our lives, then it follows that it is not our intent to be holy (as we present ourselves to be); but our heart is to keep our sin private for as long as possible.

However, if God sees a thing, it can also be seen by His sons if He chooses to reveal it unto them. It is a most detrimental reality that the sons of God often forget that God almighty dwells in the flesh of their brothers and sisters. The scripture instructs us to see no man after the flesh, because it is God through Jesus Christ who is the Lord of their flesh. Anything we say to a saint, we say it unto the Lord.

Matthew 26:24-25

24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.

25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.

If we reject Christ by sinning and die in that state, it would have been good for us to have never been born, because we betray the life of Christ within us. Once again we see Judas’ response in the face of God. God is faithful to expose any other mind that rejects Him. He will expose it to us first, but if we continue to reject Him, He will reveal it to another member in the faith. It is necessary for me to say that the revelation of the sinful disposition of another is for the purpose of saving that soul of whom the fault is revealed.

God did not reveal it so that we can spread the state of this loved one to others. It was given unto you because God has trusted you to do all that is within you to restore this one, while still fighting to preserve their reputation amongst others. There may be cases where it is necessary to tell someone else, but first examine your motive, is it to rescue such a one, or is it just to gossip? Saints, there is no law against love.

Matthew 26:26-28

26 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.

The Communion is something that must be taught throughout the churches. There are many who are sick, lost and dead because they have dishonored the Holy Communion. We dishonor it when we walk in and are non-repentant of sins that we commit. Then we go and partake of this holy sacrament.

The truth is many saints fail to connect the dots when they are stricken with sickness. They forget that at one time or another, they have taken the Communion unworthily. Consider the ministry of Paul concerning this feast.

1 Corinthians 11:17-19

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

19 For there must be also heresies (sects, or disunion), among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Many churches make the Lord’s Supper a scheduled event. They pencil it in on their calendar; whether weekly, monthly or annually. This may not be the best thing for a church to do. Instead they must first ensure that their joining together is not for the worse. A pastor is sent to develop and groom the flock in holiness and in the calling of their lives. The pastor is gifted to discern the operations within the flock. If there is strife, heresy and contention in a church, that church is not fit for Communion, because their joining together is for the worse.

Pastors must first discern if the flock is fit for the Lord ’s Supper, because they may cause damnation to fall upon the people of God. There may be an overall negative disposition that the pastor discerns in the church from which they have not acknowledged or loosed themselves.

At this point, the pastor must protect the flock and minister until the church is purged from their error. There are many who walk in holiness and there is nothing wrong in inviting those who are holy to partake. However, sometimes it is good for the leaders to prevent the ones we know are non-repentant from taking the communion.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

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.

Listen to the choice of words by Jesus concerning His body. It was "broken". It is typical for us only to see this scripture in light of the death of Jesus Christ. He was crucified on the cross and died the death of a sinner. Indeed, His body was broken for us through death. But consider the Greek interpretation of the word broken in this scripture.

BROKEN - to break and distribute among

It is good for us to see the word ‘broken’ in light of His death, but it also means divided.

1 Corinthians 10:17

17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, He gained power over all flesh. This simply means He is able to resurrect the circumcised body of the old man in righteousness by the presence of His Spirit within it. When He testified of His power over all flesh, His Spirit was only in one body. However, today His Spirit is within each and every one of His saints. By sending the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, Jesus was able to divide, break or multiply His body. Not only is He within more than one flesh, He is in each and every one of us.

Even though we are many members, we are still one Body because we have been baptized into the same Spirit. This reveals that we are all one with each other, and ought to feel the infirmities of one another. His body was broken for us, it was divided. We each have a new man even though we are each members (parts) of the Body of Christ. We together make up one body.

Jesus took the bread of His body and divided it amongst us, giving us each a measure of faith, and a gift of Christ. Therefore, when we take the communion, the broken piece of bread that we receive, is symbolic of the new man we have put on.

REMEMBRANCE

Yes, we also should take the communion to remember the great sacrifice Jesus allowed Himself to face for our sakes. However, communion also is a remembering of the Body of Christ. Even though we are many we are still one body. We each have on the new man. However, Jesus instructs us to take this communion as a symbol of the unified “remembered’ Body of Christ. The communion identifies the real Body of Christ. When we partake we say unto the Father, “this is your true Body. These who partake are one with your Son by a holy life in the Spirit.” However, what if in our rejoining in the Body we allow the sinful to partake? We are therefore including sin as we rejoin the Body, thus defiling the Body of Christ.

Galatians 5:7-9

7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

It is also noteworthy that the bread of the Communion is unleavened bread. The leaven or yeast is symbolic of sin. A little sin will affect the whole Body. Therefore, by eating the bread that you have received in Communion you are making a declaration unto God that you are without sin. This is such a serious matter.

Many do not realize that the Communion is a method through which God preserves the Body of Christ in righteousness. He does not want us to bring a little leaven (the sin of one member) and join it to the Body. That leaven will affect the entire Body of Christ. If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! Sin affects the entire body.

If that which we present to God as righteous is sinful, then this is a great offense to the Father! I said earlier that by partaking in the communion we are making a declaration to the Father, that we are holy and obedient to the new man. However, many do not realize that we become as Ananias and Sapphira when we walk in sin but still partake at the communion table.

This is why many get sick, and/or die because we lie in the face of God. Even though we declare before the Father we are unleavened, we actually have leaven in our heart. The Body ought to be joined together in love, a great love for one another and for the Father. Anything that hinders love is iniquity. Let us not allow iniquity in our lives. Let us love one another, and be watchful and seek to save as many as we can.

Let us contend for the faith and preserve the Body of Christ holy and perfected in love! May God continue to lead and guide us into all truths.