Matt Tompary runs a weekly fellowship in his home in Memphis, TN.
The Heart of Communion
I Cor 11:23-27
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: 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. 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. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
We partake in the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup in active remembrance of what the body and blood of the Lord Jesus accomplished for the believer. By his death, we have complete redemption from sin and all of sin’s consequences. As we partake in the bread and cup, we proclaim the accomplishments of the Lord’s death and manifest them forth in our lives.
Before the accomplishments of Jesus Christ, mankind lived in a state of separation from God. Sin separated us from God, and Genesis 3 speaks of this sin as man’s choosing to “be as God.” This resulted in the death of the spirit of God within man, and, as a result, man was left in a state of separation without peace or direct access to his creator. Physical corruption was a direct result of man’s sin. Sickness, disease and want were consequences of man’s choosing to be separated.
Throughout the Old Testament, God taught His people about the need for a coming savior to redeem mankind and restore what was lost in Adam. Man, by his own works, could never live up to God’s standard of justness in order to redeem himself.
In Exodus 12, God brings the children of Israel out of bondage, but not before they are given the instruction in verses 7-8.
Exodus 12:7-8
And they shall take of the blood [of the lamb], and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
The blood and the flesh of the lamb were equally significant. The blood covered their sins and protected them from the destroyer. The eating of the flesh was given for their physical wholeness. God brought approximately two and a half million people out of bondage that night. In Psalm 105:37, God declares “…there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” How big God is in comparison to our inability to save ourselves!
Exodus 15:13 declares, “Thou in thy mercy has led forth the people which thou has redeemed; thou has guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.”
God redeemed them. They could not bring themselves out. It was His mercy and His strength that brought them out. It is by God’s love and grace that He has bought us out of captivity and bondage to sin through His son Jesus Christ. The death of his son was the ultimate price that was paid to reconcile us back to God.
In the death of His son, we have complete redemption. We not only have freedom from sin, but we have freedom from all of sin’s consequences such as sickness, guilt, shame, weakness, and any inability. The life of righteousness that is available to every believer through the Lord’s death is incomparable to anything this world can offer. When we partake of the cup and the bread, we simply thank God and accept the deliverance from sin and its consequences, purchased for us through the death of God’s son.
Romans 5:6-10 speaks of us being without strength and Christ dying for the ungodly. The blood of Christ made available justification by believing, being yet sinners and enemies of God. We were reconciled to God through the death of His son. Sin had reigned unto death, but because of Jesus Christ our Lord, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Words cannot express the thankfulness we have as we partake in the cup, symbolizing the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. His blood was the payment for our sin. NOW, we are righteous in God’s sight with all peace and access to our Heavenly Father.
I Peter 2:24
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Just as his blood was the payment for our sin, his physical punishment bought us out of all of sin’s consequences. He suffered on our behalf so we are free to live unto righteousness. He took all guilt, shame, sickness and inability upon himself and fully redeemed us to LIVE as sons and daughters of God. He, without sin, took the punishment for everything we deserved as sinners and was made the sin offering on our behalf.
How we must declare that we are righteous! Our sins are past and we are never more to come into condemnation! Sin’s consequences have no power over us any longer. By his stripes, we have already been healed! We simply thank God for that which he has purchased for us and walk out upon those promises by believing. That is the heart of communion.
The weight of all deliverance rests upon him. It does not depend on our feelings, but on the finished accomplishments of Jesus Christ. Simply walk out upon God’s promises and take what is yours.