Breaking Of Bread - Being Detached From The World — Zac Poonen

Recognizing Jesus in the Breaking of Bread

We are familiar with the place where Jesus was walking with the disciples to Emmaus. When he reached their house, they didn't know he was. But it says here that when they entered the house, he took bread and blessed it and broke it.

And then their eyes were opened. They had a breaking of bread there. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him or they knew him. That passage has come to my mind many, many times through the past years when I come to breaking of bread.

And I say, Lord, I want a repetition of that now. I often pray when breaking bread, I say, Lord Jesus, in spirit, you're here. And I want you to break the bread and give it to me, just like you gave it to those disciples.

I want to receive it from your hand. I want in spirit to see your nail pierced hand giving it to me. And I think that's how they recognized him. That when he broke it, they saw the nail prints in his hand and said, wow, this is Jesus.

They were reminded of his love. And so I say, Lord, I want you to give it to me so that I come to know you. Like it says here, their eyes were opened. They come to know him. And that's been my prayer many times, breaking of bread.

Knowing God Beyond Facts and Theories

I say, Lord, help me to know you a little better. Then there's a knowing God is an endless thing. God is eternal, infinite. So I want to know you a little more. I can keep knowing God more and more all through eternity.

But I want to begin now to know him more. A lot of us know theories about God is love and God is holy and God is humble, all these things. I don't mean these facts about God. You can know facts about a person and not know the person.

You can know all the statistics of your wife's birthday and height and weight and everything else, but you don't know her. You can know so many facts about God and his nature as revealed in Christ. And yet you do not know him.

The word know is a very intimate word. In the physical realm, it's referring to a husband-wife relationship in the Old Testament. And in the new covenant, it's referring to that intimate knowledge in our spirit, which cannot be explained in words.

Knowing God is something which has got nothing to do with the mind, but with the heart. Very often, our knowledge of God is what we have studied about him or heard about him. And it's in our mind, which is good.

I believe God gives us his word. It comes through the ears or through the eyes, body. And then it goes to the soul. Man is body, soul, and spirit. So it comes through the body first. Either by our reading through the eyes or by our listening like right now through the ears.

Through the body, then it enters our mind. That's the soul. And there I grasp something. But if it stops there, I do not know God. I've known some facts about God. It's like studying arithmetic or mathematics.

I have facts about God. But to know him is when it goes down into my spirit. And I know him intimately. It's impossible to describe in words. But if I understand what that bread and cup symbolize, that Jesus died, you know, in order to, it says in Galatians 1.

Christ's Death and Deliverance from the World

Why did he die? Turn with me to Galatians chapter 1. He gave himself not only for our sins, Galatians 1 .4, but to rescue us from this present evil world. He not only came to rescue us from our sins, but to rescue us from this present evil world.

He died that I might be saved from this evil world and be attached to him. Because the Bible describes the world as an alternate person who seeks for our affection. It's like, you know, I'm engaged to Jesus, my bridegroom.

I'm waiting for him to come so that I can get married to him. This is described in Revelation 19. But while I'm waiting, you know, a bride waiting for her bridegroom to come. There's this other person, very attractive person, very handsome, good looking, rich, well behaved, nice person called the world.

That is attracting us. And none of us can say that the world does not attract. The world is a very, very good looking man. Very handsome, rich, kind, helpful, everything. And the whole purpose is to draw me away from my bridegroom.

And I'm seeing here in the breaking of bread that Jesus died to rescue me from this. The fact that I'm tempted doesn't mean anything. Jesus was tempted. So if you're attracted to something, there's nothing wrong in it.

The question is, what do you do with that attraction? You put it to death. And that's what we testify to in the breaking of bread. In the breaking of bread, I'm not saying the world is not attractive to me.

Then there's no temptation. I mean, if the tree of knowledge of good and evil was an ugly, smelly tree full of thorns. And the Lord said to Adam, don't go near that. Don't eat that tree. Adam said, I don't want to go near it in any case.

It's so filthy and stinking and smelly. But the tree of knowledge of good and evil was one of the most attractive trees in the whole garden of Eden. And what the Lord was testing there was, will you love me, the creator, more than what I've created?

Everything in the world is what God has created. And when I break bread, I'm saying that I've broken with this world. See, Galatians 6 .14. What does the cross mean? It says we show forth the Lord's death.

That's what it says in 1 Corinthians 11. As often as you break bread, you're showing forth the Lord's death. Death to what? To the world. Galatians 6 .14 says, God forbid, may it never be that I should boast in anything except the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Glorying Only in the Cross

It's a very searching question. My dear brothers and sisters, I've examined myself numerous times and I believe I'd have to continue. It's an onion that has to be peeled off endlessly in all of us. I've been convicted many times in my life that I'm glorying in something other than the cross where Jesus died as a criminal for me.

Is that the thing that grips me? That my savior died like a criminal for me and I'm glorying in something else outside of that? Search your heart. You may discover at different times. And I'll tell you, you peel off one onion today, one layer of the onion, you have not finished with it.

If you're faithful with it, God will show you another layer. And I'm very thankful that God has shown me through the years, layers and layers of this glorying in something other than my savior died like a criminal on the cross for me.

I will not glory in anything except the cross. Whereby this whole world is crucified to me. I'm saying what we are testifying to in the breaking of bread. That's what I'm talking about. You take that bread and that cup and this is what you're saying.

I have been crucified to this world. I have as little interest in this world as a dead man has. Just meditate on that one statement for one week. It'll change your life. I have as little interest in this world as a dead man has.

I use it. Jesus used it. He worked as a carpenter, earned money in order to live. Of course, he had to make a profit in the tables and chairs he made. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to take care of his younger brothers and sisters and his widowed mother.

There's nothing wrong in that. There's nothing wrong in making profit in your business. That's okay. We have to go to the market to buy groceries and things. We need to buy a house, perhaps. There are so many things in the world we need to buy and use.

But to be interested in that, to be occupied with that. No. To use the world, but not to be occupied with it. That's what I'm testifying to. I say that's not something that we can just detach like that completely, that it's gone.

I want to get to this place that Jesus had, where he lived in this world. But there was nothing in the world that sort of kept in his mind that disturbed his sleep at night. Even something that people gave me money as a gift, and Judas Iscariot is swiping it.

You think Jesus lay awake one night thinking of that? No. I don't believe he spent five seconds thinking of that. That the money was given for him and Judas Iscariot is swiping it and using it for himself.

Okay, do it. It did not disturb him one bit. I say this is one example, practical example of I have as little interest in this world as a dead man has. Did Jesus use money? Sure. He needed money. He earned it when he was a carpenter.

To understand this, we're not asking people to be monks. I don't believe all these monks and nuns who lock themselves up in some monastery are free from the world. The world is right in their minds. That's why in their midst there's so much of sexual sin and evil.

The world is right there. You don't get detached by just giving up something externally. It's inside. It's inside. You can be doing a job. You can be doing such an important job that you work 10 hours a day either at home or in some place of work.

And you're steeped in that work and your heart is not attached to that. You can probably be a businessman dealing with money every single day. And you have to make profit in your business. And yet your heart is not attached to it.

A true Christian can be like that. That's what I mean by I have as little interest in this world as a dead man has. I'm detached. The world has got no... And over a period of time, you'll find the world doesn't have much interest in you either.

Because you're not interested in the things they are interested in. If a worldly person can find me good company, something's wrong with me. If a worldly person at the place of work finds me a very interesting person to talk to, I think there's something wrong with me.

I have to be a representative of Christ wherever I am. And there are things in this world, the language of this world and the goals this world has. The cross is seeking to cut me off from that more and more and more and more.

Radical Christianity, the Holy Spirit, and Money

This is radical Christianity. And the reason why so many people don't want to join the CFC churches is you guys, you speak impossible things. Yeah, it is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit.

But we are not to just preach this as theory. Our life must be a living demonstration of these truths. That's one of the reasons why right from the beginning, we decided we never take an offering. Because money is the big thing in the world.

Just like grace is the big thing in the kingdom of God, money is the equivalent of grace in this world. And God, Jesus put God and money as opposites. You get pulled away from God when you're pulled towards money.

And if you get detached from me, you'll be automatically pulled towards God. These are two things pulling in opposite directions. And that's one major part of the world to which I have to die. And I have to use it.

This is the delicate thing. I'm not going to be a monk to say, well, I've detached myself from all that and get some church to provide my food and clothing and room and all that. No, that's a deception.

To live in the midst of the world, and perhaps many of you earn a very, very good salary. That's perfectly okay. But is your heart in it? Where's your heart? Our heart must be towards the Lord always.

And the more we are surrounded by the world, we have to be careful that the word of the cross breaks us from it, heals us off little by little by little. And that is what we testify to in the breaking of bread.

Remembering Christ and Belonging to His Body

Jesus said, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me, remembrance that I am your bridegroom. And don't let that other man, the world, draw you in any way. He's attractive. Yes, he's very attractive.

God has made the world attractive, just like he made the tree of knowledge of good and evil attractive. And the test for Adam was, do you love what I have created more than me, the creator? And Adam and Eve said, yes, we love this created thing more than the creator.

That's how sin came. And that's the sort of thing that comes to us today also. Everything in this world is created by God. All the pretty women, all the gold and diamonds and everything that's so attractive, all the high position and honor that we can get in the world or in the church, position and honor in the church.

That's also a worldly thing. To seek for honor in the church is as worldly as running after money. Yeah, sure. It's of the world. And if people give you honor and it means something to you and you keep meditating on it, you're not dead.

You got to throw it off. You got to throw it off like some mud that came onto your body and throw it off. I don't want it. It's a serious thing, brothers. And I pray that our eyes will be open to see what the breaking of bread is, that we don't take it as a ritual.

That even though we are doing it in our own homes, in a sense, we are doing it in fellowship with others. And that's one aspect of it. The other is we are in a body. We are attached to one another. Together, we are the bride of Christ.

I'm not alone. The bride of Christ is me plus you and others around. And I'm attached to you. And anything that is going to hinder and break that attachment to you also is something I have to be careful about.

That I don't allow some thought to come into my heart which will bring a distance between me and a brother or sister in the body of Christ. I pray that God will help us as we break bread today to know the Lord in a deeper way.

Amen.