“Lord Jesus, please have mercy on us, for we have partaken of the breaking of bread, without giving serious thought to all that it indicates. Please forgive us and may we come to Your table with total surrender and submission to You. In Your name, we pray. Amen.”
Act 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Let us go back to the institution of the Lord’s supper. Matthew 26:26-28 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” (27) Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. (28) For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
The communion of our Lord is to be had by all of us in His church. We are to submit and become a part of one another as His church.
I Corinthians 11:23-30 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.
The breaking of bread symbolises the death of Jesus on the cross, where His body was broken for the world. I 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.
The brokenness of our world, which is the consequence of man’s sin and rebellion against God, was taken on His body and His body was broken. Therefore, it is by believing in Him that we experience wholeness and restoration.
His blood that He shed for us is the new covenant. How does the new covenant operate and why is it related to the blood of Jesus?
Hebrews 9:13-15 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, (14) how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (15) And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
It is by the shedding of His blood that He sets us in the place where our conscience is cleansed from sin so that we can serve the living God. This is the new covenant by means of His death. Life is in the blood. As we partake of the cup, we appropriate the new covenant of His blood.
The new covenant is of His Spirit. II Corinthians 3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The new covenant that the Lord set up for us is not only of the cleansing of our sins but He enables us by His Holy Spirit to walk in His statutes and judgements.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. (26) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (27) I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
As His church, we must come to His table with a full understanding of the communion of our Lord. We ought not to come to His table, unwisely and rashly but with great submission, awareness, and discernment. God’s word warns us that he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself.
Every time we participate in the breaking of bread, may it cause a revival to break out in His church.