Power of The Holy Communion (English)

1 Corinthians 11:23-29

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. 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

Many times I have eaten the Lord’s Supper at different Churches and the highlighted verses are always mentioned to the congregation as a warning concerning unconfessed sins. What is usually said is that if you eat the bread and drink the blood before you are sure that all your sins are forgiven, God will judge you. As a result you can become weak, sick and even die (sleep).

This belief has been among Christians for so long and many have not participated of the Lord’s Supper because they feel “unworthy” and fearful due to something they have done. My question is “was that what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote this to the Corinthians?”

The best way to start studying a subject in the Bible is to read it in its context. That alone can help you to understand what the author was talking about. Paul starts in verse 18 addressing the divisions that were happening among the church. He touches on the subject of the Lord’s Supper, because some were coming to the church hungry and for that reason were eating the Lord’s body and others were getting drunk with the wine which represents the Lord’s blood. They were also not doing it as a body of believers, but each one was eating and drinking as they pleased (v.21, 22). From verses 23 to 26 Paul explains the real meaning of the Holy Communion to the Church. Verses 27 to 30 Paul reminds them of the importance of DISCERNING the Lord’s Supper lest anyone become weak, sick and even dies. Verses 33 and 34 Paul endorses his earlier admonition: “when you come together to eat, wait for one another.  But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home (…)”.

In this brief Bible interpretation, we see that confession of sins was never mentioned by the Apostle Paul as a qualification to partake of the Lord’s Supper. The only restrictions cited by Paul are not to partake in unworthy manner (v.27, 29) and also eating not discerning the Lord’s Body (v.29), which were the very things the Church was doing! They had no clue what the bread and the wine represented and were just participating to satisfy their hunger or to get drunk.

The questions that comes to mind are “how do I partake of the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner?” and “what does it mean ‘to discern the Lord’s body’”? This is the key to unleash the power of Jesus finished work at the cross! For not knowing this truth many in the church are weak, sick and even dying young (sleep). Therefore, the opposite will be true, we will be strong, healthy and live long (Psalm 91:16).

We need to understand the depth of the redemptive act of Jesus Christ, from his intercession at the garden of Gethsemane to his death at the cross. Only when we are fully aware of the benefits we received through Jesus’ body broken and his shed blood are we able to partake of the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner, giving full honor to Jesus and totally receiving all the benefits He suffered to give to us.

I have highlighted 8 aspects of the redemptive finished work of Jesus:

1.    Jesus sweated blood: The entryway of sin in the world was through the act of disobedience of the First Adam in the Garden of Eden. God cursed Adam saying: "Cursed is the ground for your sake” and “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Gen 3:17,19). It is amazing that the Last Adam, Jesus, started his redemptive act also in a Garden redeeming us from the curse of having to sweat, work very hard to get our “bread” and also redeeming the ground from the curse through His blood as we read in Luke 22:44:

“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground”.

Romans 5:18,19

“Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous”.

Hebrews 5:7

7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear".

2.    Jesus was Chastised  for our Peace; His Body was broken for our healing:  

Peace and Healing is ours by right! Jesus took on his body the affliction of sicknesses and diseases, so that today we can stand healthy and whole.

Isaiah 53:4-5

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

1 Peter 2:24

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed”. 

Ephesians 2:13,14

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation”.

  Jesus wore a crown of thorns so that we can have a sound mind:

“When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head (…)” Mat 27:29

Jesus suffered tremendous distress on his head and mind because of those terrible thorns piercing his scalp, so that we could receive a crown of loving kindness and tender mercies (Psalm 103:4). He took up on His head our oppressions so that we could receive a sound mind, the mind of Christ (2 Timothy 1:7, 1 Corinthians 2:16)

 Jesus Redeemed us from the curse of the Law:

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith". Galatians 3:13,14

We are no longer under the law! The law was a curse because the more we tried to obey it the more we failed. God knew we would not be able to fulfil the law, because the requirements of the law are impossible to any human being to keep (Matthew 5:19-48). That is the reason why Jesus came to fulfil the law (Matthew 5:18), and by faith in Him, we all get the approval of God.

Galatians 4:4,5

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons”.

Ephesians 2:14-16

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity”.

Romans 10:4

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”.

Galatians 3:23-26

“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Romans 4:13-15

“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression”.

  Jesus freed us from Sin:

At the Cross Jesus was made sin in our place. It means that He bore in his body the sin of the entire world, past, present and future! He assumed the position as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). As the last sacrifice, Jesus absorbed in his Body the fullness of God’s wrath and anger against all human transgressions. When God was fully satisfied, Jesus cried “It is Finished!” and then died as us, so that we could live as He is (1John 4:17).

2 Corinthians 5:21

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”.

Romans 5:17

“For if by the one man's offense death reined through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)”

Romans 6:14

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace”.

Romans 8:1-4

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit”.

     

            Jesus delivered us from poverty:

At the cross Jesus was deprived of everything. He was completely naked having absolutely nothing, so that we could be blessed with absolutely EVERYTHING. It is not God’s will for you to be lacking. He is a rich Father that has blessed His children with everything He has.

2 Corinthians 8:9

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich”.

Romans 8:32

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

3 John 2

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Accepted through Jesus’ rejection:

At the Cross Jesus cried out “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus always called God as “My Father”. That was the first time Jesus referred to God as “my God”, because at the cross He took our place of rejection and distance from God. Today we can cry out “My Father why have you so blessed me!”

Ephesians 1:6, 7

“To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”.

Ephesians 2:4-6

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”.

2 Thessalonians 2:16,17

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work”.

All the above mentioned aspects are the ways in which Jesus’ body was broken for our benefit which we lay hold of by faith when we eat the bread. Next, we’ll look at the meaning of the Blood of Jesus as we drink the cup.

Heirs through Jesus Blood:

Jesus taught that the cup is the new covenant in His blood, shed for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:26-28). His blood paid once our whole life of sin (Hebrews 9:36, 28). The Greek word for "covenant" and diatheke, which means " a disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will"(Thayer's Greek Definitions).

The fact that Jesus called his blood the “testament” means that, knowing He would die the following day, Jesus established a legal testament, ensuring that all His belongings would legally be bequeathed to His church after His death. By drinking the cup of the Holy Communion, we not only proclaim the Lord’s death but we also lay claim on our wonderful inheritance as believers in Christ, giving thanks because ALL our sins HAVE BEEN TOTALLY forgiven.

1 Corinthians 11:25

“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."

HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THERE IS NO RESTRICTION IN THE BIBLE CONCERNING WHO CAN GIVE THE HOLY COMMUNION OR HOW MANY TIMES IT CAN BE DONE OR EVEN WHERE IT SHOULD TAKE PLACE? It means that we can participate of the Lord’s Supper any time, as often as we want and where ever we are. In my family we do it every day because the Holy Communion is a constant reminder of our eternal redemption, total forgiveness, full acceptance, granted healing, life of peace, prosperous living.