Breaking of Bread - A Covenant — Zac Poonen

I'm happy to be back here and see you all again. We want to think today about what it means to partake of the Lord's Table. So let's begin with Matthew 26. We can become so familiar with something like this that we think we know it and we know its meaning.

The New Covenant Established by Christ's Blood

I tell you from my own experience that for many, many years I took part in the Lord's Table as a born-again believer, I never really understood what it meant and I never took part in it reverently with a commitment the way the Lord wanted it.

So my guess is that if it was like that with me for many years, it must be like that for many people too. Matthew 26, verse 26. While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, take, eat, this is my body.

Then he took the cup and gave it to them saying, drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. That's the first time that Jesus used the word covenant and I think it's in Luke's Gospel where he, the same similar passage in Luke 22, he uses the word new covenant, Luke 22, verse 20.

The cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Jesus came to establish the new covenant but he never spoke about it at any time, not in the Sermon on the Mount, in none of his messages.

The first time he used that expression is here at the breaking of bread and when we think, when we realize that the whole purpose of his coming to earth was to abolish the old covenant and to establish the new covenant and that is what I find the vast majority of Christians have not seen.

Even those who have understood it in their mind, maybe those who have heard a lot of my messages or come to our churches, they can understand it so well that they can explain it to others. But it's quite another thing to see it in our spirit.

What is the new covenant that Jesus came to establish? And it's significant that the first time he used that expression was when he spoke about this cup being the new covenant in his blood. In the Old Testament, there's a verse in Leviticus 17, verse 11, which says the life of the flesh is in the blood.

That's referring to physical life. You can cut off your hands, eyes, legs, ears, tongue and still live. Most parts of our body we can cut off, even some internal organs, you can remove them and you can still live for many, many years.

But if the blood is drained out of your body, you die. When people have road accidents, it's the loss of blood that takes away their life. The life of the flesh is in the blood, Leviticus 17, verse 11.

And so, when Jesus died on the cross, I mean some blood dripped from his hands and legs etc. and from the head, but when the soldier pierced his side and the blood flowed out, every drop of blood in Jesus' body came because the soldier pierced his heart, fell to the ground on Calvary's Hill.

And when he was raised from the dead, there was no blood in his body. Our bodies are made of flesh, bones and blood. When Jesus rose up from the dead and he appeared to his disciples, he said to them, just two chapters later, Luke 24 and verse 39, he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and said, See my hands and my feet, it is I myself.

Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones like you see me have. What about the blood? It wasn't there. He was flesh and bones and blood when he went to the cross, but after he died it was just flesh and bones.

That's how it will be for us in the resurrection too. So there's something very significant in the fact that Jesus came to earth with blood in his body and poured it all out on the cross. And he said that was to establish the new covenant and, as we read in Matthew 26, for the forgiveness of our sins.

The Cost of Sin and the Blood of Christ

And in the New Testament, many times the reference is made to the blood. It's not something to be superstitious about. I've seen Christians who are absolutely blind, who talk about sprinkling the blood over a building and protecting it.

Jesus didn't shed his blood to sprinkle the blood over a building. Like in the Old Testament tabernacle, the blood of lambs and others was sprinkled. The blood symbolizes his life poured out. And that was the price he paid for the forgiveness of our sins.

Sin was not an easy thing to be forgiven. And when I see Christians take sin so lightly, you can see that they don't have a clue about the actual price that Jesus paid. And I know for years and years, I took part in this cup, and I was not even serious about living an overcoming life.

I was born again. But I can't say I was hungering and thirsting for righteousness, that I was crying out day and night, Lord, please give me victory. No. I just accepted the fact, yeah, I sinned, the blood of Jesus is there to cleanse me.

And Hebrews chapter 10 warns us about that. In Hebrews 10, again we read the expression, the blood of the covenant. He's talking about the seriousness of sin. He says in Hebrews 10, 28, those who disregarded the law of Moses, disobeyed it, died without mercy.

If two or three witnesses testified to it, the guy was killed for disregarding some law of Moses, that's the old covenant. And now Jesus has come with a new covenant, does that mean you're going to escape punishment?

Quite the opposite. Verse 29, how much more severe than the old covenant punishment will be the punishment for someone who has regarded in the middle of that verse 29, the blood of the covenant as something common or unclean.

Unclean, the word unclean is a word which means common, cheap. A legitimate paraphrase of this would be someone who treats the blood of Christ like tap water. Tap water is cheap. That's why we're not afraid to get our hands dirty.

Because to wash it off, it's open water, it's cheap. What does it cost you to wash your hands? And then you get it dirty five minutes later, fine, no problem, wash your hands. A couple of hours later, your hands are dirty again with work, wash your hands.

Water is cheap. And the meaning here is, when we sin and go to the blood of Christ, just like we wash our hands, and then a little later we sin again and say, oh confess and go to Christ for cleansing of his blood.

We are treating the blood of Christ as something cheap. Treating the blood of Christ like tap water. It's a good question to ask yourself. Do you treat the blood of Christ like tap water? Something which, oh, it doesn't matter if I get dirty, I can always go to the blood of Christ.

It is like that, I would say, for more than 90 of believers I've met. Once a person has seen the price that Christ has paid for his sin, he will take his sin very seriously. The new covenant is established to deliver us from sin, not just cover up our sin, forgive it.

And that's why it's a serious word here, to treat the blood of Christ like tap water. So, when we partake of this blood of the covenant, I'm symbolically saying, Lord, I want to partake in this spirit that you had when you poured out your blood.

Resisting Sin Unto Blood

Let me show you another verse related to the blood of Christ and relation to sin. Turn with me to Hebrews, in chapter 12. It's giving us the example of Jesus again. We have such a great cloud of witnesses, Hebrews 12.

Let us run, last part of verse 1, with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, which is even better than looking unto Jesus. That means I don't turn my eyes away from Christ throughout my life.

He's the author and finisher of my faith. I begin my life by faith, I end it by faith, and he's the author and finisher. And he's the one who is my forerunner, the one who's gone in front of me, running this race.

And he endured the cross because he knew that there'd be fellowship with the Father if he endured the cross. That was a joy set before him. In the Father's presence, there is fullness of joy. And Jesus wanted that joy, so he knew the only way to get there was by dying to self.

And that's the meaning of the veil being rent, and the Father was inside the most holy place, and Jesus continuously, symbolically rent the veil so that he could be in the Father's presence where there's fullness of joy.

Psalm 1611, in thy presence is fullness of joy. And for that joy set before him, Jesus went through the veil, he endured the cross, and whatever shame there was, he despised it. And now it says, consider him, verse three.

Verse four, you have not yet resisted in your striving against sin, you have not resisted to the point of shedding blood. Think of that verse. How far have you resisted in your striving against sin? In Jesus' case, he's talking about looking at Jesus and running the race.

In Jesus' case, he resisted sin to the point of shedding blood completely. In other words, dying completely till every drop of blood went out from his life. So the picture I get here is, you know, if I take a very pointed scissors or something sharp and press it against my skin, there's a certain elasticity in my skin that no blood will come.

And I can poke myself with something sharp and it just goes in. But after a while, it begins to pain. Then I know it'll penetrate, and if it penetrates, blood will come. Then I pull back. In other words, I allow the resistance up to the point of blood coming, then I pull back.

You have not yet resisted sin unto blood. In other words, you do resist sin to a point, like this pointed thing pressing against my palm. But when it comes to the point of blood, that when it comes to the point you have to die to yourself, there you say, no, I'm going to assert myself.

That's what happens in a lot of homes between husband and wife. There's a conflict and one will restrain themselves, restrain themselves, restrain themselves. But when it comes to the point where you have to totally die, they say, no, I'm not going to die.

I'm going to assert myself. I'm going to give you, I'm going to tell you what I think about the whole thing. You have not yet resisted to the point of blood in your striving against sin. Jesus resisted to the point of blood.

In other words, his attitude was, to resist unto blood means to die. I would rather die than sin. That is the meaning of that verse. You know, that's the meaning of taking part in the Lord's table. It's a covenant that broken bread symbolizes his body broken, not just his body broken.

He did not say, this is my body, which is going to be broken tomorrow morning for you because he broke bread, you remember, the night before he was crucified. But what did he say? He said, this is my body, which is broken for you, not which is going to be broken for you.

So I've thought about that. The Lord was very careful in his words. What did he mean by this is my body broken for you? When his body was not yet broken, as we understand it being broken. It's in one of the gospels, you know where it is.

I believe the meaning is that in that body for 33 years, his will was constantly broken. In his body, he never did his own will for 33 years. If he did his own well, he would have been sinning. At every point of conflict, where there was the father's will and his will, he died.

No, this is what the father wants, I choose it. If I have to suffer because of that, that's fine. That's why he had no problem forgiving people who hurt him, not only when he was on the cross. But even when people called him the devil, or you know what all names they called him?

They said he's Beelzebub, Prince of Demons. Another time they said to him, you got a devil, you got a demon. Jesus had to say to them, I don't have a demon. He didn't get upset with them. They called him a blasphemer.

But he resisted to the point of shedding blood. I will not speak back to them the way they speak to me. Where do you find Christians like that, who say, I'm going to resist to the point of shedding blood.

I'm going to lay down my life. I want the joy of fellowship with the father, which I will lose if I don't die and I speak back or retaliate or don't give up my own life. At that moment, I lose fellowship with the father.

Dying to Self and Living in the Father's Joy

And that is the main reason why most Christians do not live a life of perpetual joy, rejoicing in the Lord always. People think it's an impossible command. It is impossible if you're not willing to die to yourself.

But the person who dies to himself rejoices in the Lord always. It is impossible to take away joy from his life because he's living in the father's presence. I never understood for many, many, many years of my Christian life.

But it has become more and more clear to me. If in the father's presence is fullness of joy, then I say to myself now, any time there is not fullness of joy in my life, I'm not in the father's presence.

I may be somewhere, I may be a good Christian in the eyes of others, but I'm not in the father's presence because in the father's presence is fullness of joy. That has been the guideline for me. So joy does not mean smiling or external happiness, no.

It's an inner joy in the Lord. Not in my circumstances, not in a promotion, not in getting money, not in buying a house or building a house. No, no, none of these things. It's a joy in the father which is inward and that we can have all the time.

It doesn't say rejoice in your circumstances always, rejoice in the Lord always. It's possible for a child of God to rejoice 24 -7 in the Lord and you must make that your goal and that is possible only if you are willing to be broken.

You resist unto blood to the striving against sin. So when we, all of us from childhood heard about Jesus dying for us and I know many times I used to weep whenever I saw a movie about Jesus being crucified, it was very moving being whipped and beaten and all that.

But I would still continue sinning like before, even after all that, it was only a temporary emotion and we can hear a stirring message and be temporarily moved and it doesn't change our life the next week, it's just about the same.

We can break bread and it doesn't make much of a difference. If I break bread and that has not made any difference in my life in relation to my attitude to sin, I have not understood the breaking of bread at all.

So we admire Christ being crucified for us, but the broken bread, when Jesus broke it and he passed it around, it says they broke and ate it themselves. So if I'm not willing to share in that brokenness of Christ, when the bread comes to me, I should admire it.

Oh, wonderful. Lord, you died on the cross. So good. I really weep when I think of you were broken for me. Don't touch the bread, pass it on, admiring, I'm not partaking, I have no interest in partaking.

That's where I say many Christians have been liars and liars for years, they partake. I want to be broken like Jesus. Really? Is there a change in their life the next one week after they broke bread? Not at all.

They should admire the bread. Oh, Lord, it's wonderful how you died. Don't touch it. That's what I mean. I'm talking about myself. For years, it was like that with me till God opened my blind eyes and it made a difference.

Proclaiming the Lord's Death in the Lord's Table

The same way with the cup, Lord, you poured out your life so that you might do the will of the Father. I want that same spirit, I'm partaking with you in it. It's a covenant between me and the Lord. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 1 Corinthians 11, it says here, verse 26, here again it speaks about my body, verse 24, my new covenant in my blood, verse 25, 1 Corinthians 11, 26.

As often as you eat this bread, you break it and eat it. See when Jesus passed the bread around, he broke it and then each person broke off a piece and ate it. They were testifying that I want to be broken like my Savior.

They didn't understand it then, but we know it now because we have the written scriptures. As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you're proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. There are two events mentioned in verse 26.

One is the past, the Lord's death, and one is the future, his second coming. The past is the Lord's death, the second coming, until he comes. In between we are here today. And here we are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes, how?

Through the breaking of bread. So in the breaking of bread, I'm proclaiming the Lord's death. And when I partake of it, not just admire it, I'm saying, Lord, I died with you. I am crucified with Christ too.

They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with his affections and lusts. That is how I proclaim the Lord's death. Otherwise, how do I proclaim the Lord's death? I mean to proclaim the Lord's death by preaching from the pulpit, that's one thing, understandable.

But how do I proclaim the Lord's death by eating this bread and drinking this cup? Have you thought of it? That when you eat this bread today and drink this cup today, or whenever you're going to have the breaking of bread, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord.

How? That Jesus died for you, something to admire? Or that you're taking part in it, saying, I want to participate in that. I want that same spirit because I've entered into the new covenant through his body and blood.

But, on the other hand, verse 27, if you eat this bread and drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, that means you couldn't care less for what it means. It's just a ritual. Just like they do in so many churches, just a ritual once a month, you're to go and take part in it.

A superstition perhaps for some people. You are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. That's a serious thing. I don't believe many Christians have taken verse 27 seriously, that if I take part in an unworthy manner, it's not of being unworthy.

Being unworthy, none of us are. It's an unworthy manner. It's an unworthy manner, not unworthy people. Unworthy people we will be till the end of our life. But an unworthy manner, unworthy way in which we are participating.

He's not talking about our unworthiness, but the unworthy way in which we participate in the Lord's table, which is the way a lot of people have broken bread in all their life. I did not know this, that in all those years when I did that, I was guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

It's almost as if I was the Roman soldier hammering the nail into his hand. That's what it means to be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. That means I'm the one who crucified him. Serious. And that's why it says in verse 28, therefore a man must examine himself and then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

He's not saying you must understand what it means. He's saying you've got to examine yourself. Maybe you understand what it means, but where is the question of examining yourself when you eat the bread?

What do I have to examine myself? What do I have to ask myself? Why did Jesus shed his blood? He said it's for the removal of sin. What is my attitude to sin? That is the one thing I have to examine myself.

It's the only thing as far as me and the Lord is concerned. But he who eats and drinks without examining himself, eats and drinks judgment to himself because he's not judging the body rightly. And when it says speaks about the body, the body of Christ is twofold.

Judging the Body of Christ

One is his physical body that died on the cross, and the other is his spiritual body. Jesus has two bodies today. One is the physical body with which he rose up from the dead that is in heaven. But from the day of Pentecost onwards, he has another body, the body of Christ on earth.

That's the revelation Paul got on the Damascus road. Paul is the one who speaks about the body of Christ more than any of the other apostles. Peter, John, James, they never speak about it. Paul speaks about it.

The body of Christ, the body of Christ. Where did he see it? On the Damascus road when he heard a voice from heaven saying, why are you persecuting me? And he thought, wow, his people. And then he expanded on it.

And once he saw that, you know, it's something you have to see, not just understand. Like the Lord told Peter, blessed are you because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven, that I am the Christ, I am the Messiah.

In the same way here, I need to see the body, to judge the body rightly. First of all, the body of Christ on the cross. And secondly, the body of Christ here on earth with whom I'm breaking bread. And if I don't take this seriously, it says in verse 30, this is the reason why many of you, not one or two, are weak and sick and some die.

That weakness and that sickness and death was a judgment by God for these people who took part in the Lord's table unworthily. Because if we judge ourselves rightly at the Lord's table, verse 31, we would not be judged like that.

I'm not saying that all weakness and sickness and death is due to this, but certainly I don't want ever in my life to be weak or sick or die because I took part in the Lord's table unworthily. If I'm weak and sick and die due to other causes, it's okay.

But I never want to be even weak or sick because I took the Lord's table. I often say in our home church in Bangalore, now this is also my home church, I can say that. If you come here and you're not serious about obeying God's word, I say, brother, sister, you're in a very dangerous place.

I would recommend that you don't come to this church because your judgment will be very much more to whom more is given, more is required. And this is what I say, the more you hear of the truth of God, the more you have responsibility.

I mean, if you're working in an office and they gave you $100 to go and buy something from the market for the office, and they gave another guy $100 ,000 to go and buy something for the office, and that's exactly what it means.

The more truth we receive, it's a wonderful thing, I think of a lot of people who listen to me on the internet and say, oh, wow, wonderful message, I am so appreciative. They don't realize that the more they hear, the more they are increasing judgment to themselves if they don't obey.

At the same time, if they obey, they've got the tremendous opportunity to rise great heights in knowing God. And if you break bread and we don't judge ourselves, then the Lord has to discipline us. So one more verse, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 16.

The Horizontal Covenant Among Believers

It's not just a covenant with the Lord, like the two arms of the cross. There's a vertical covenant with God and a horizontal covenant with one another, also in the breaking of bread. It says in 1 Corinthians 10, the cup of blessing, verse 16, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 15.

I'm speaking to wise men. Judge what I'm saying. Take that seriously. Please judge what I'm saying, Paul says. The cup of blessing which we bless, isn't it a fellowship in the blood of Christ? See, the Roman Catholics say that it is the blood of Christ.

No, very clear here. It is a fellowship in the blood of Christ, not the blood of Christ. The cup of blessing which we bless is a fellowship, a sharing in the blood of Christ and the way he shed his blood resisting sin.

I'm sharing in that and I'm testifying to that. And what about the bread? The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ. Which body? For we who are many in this church are one. So just like the blood is relates to my sharing in the blood of Christ, my resisting sin unto blood.

The bread which he break is a fellowship with one another. It's a covenant that I'm making with all of you. Brothers, sisters, you are one body with me. Since there is one bread, we who are many, verse 17, are one body.

All partaking of that one bread. So it's not just vertical with the Lord. I can't come here and say, my relationship with the Lord is okay, so I break bread. Hang on, you're breaking bread with a whole lot of other people here.

It says you're partaking, we who are many are one body. Do you really recognize the people around you as one body with you? I mean, don't worry if they don't recognize you. What about you? You don't have to judge other people whether they are breaking bread meaningfully.

I only need to ask myself, am I breaking bread meaningfully and saying, I want to be one body with these dear saints of God who are here. Whether they mean it or not is not my business. I'm not a busybody in other people's matters.

But I want to be faithful in breaking bread. I'm breaking bread. It's not just me. It's not just me and the Lord here. There are many other people here also breaking the same bread. We being many are one body because we're all partaking from that one bread.

So it's a covenant, a vertical covenant and a horizontal covenant. That's what makes the cross on which Christ died with God and with one another. So covenant is a very serious thing. The new word we use today is agreement.

New covenant means new agreement. Now, if you had to go and sign an agreement in a court, I don't think any of you would sign it without reading carefully a number of times. What are the terms of this covenant?

Am I making myself responsible for paying $20 ,000 to somebody? What's written here? I'm not just going to sign it just because somebody asked me to sign it. I want to know what I'm signing for. I may get a lawyer, an attorney to please read this and tell.

The signing of the agreement here also in the same way. Breaking of bread is like signing an agreement in a court with the Lord and with one another. It's not something to be taken lightly. The Lord's terms are all full of blessing.

And I know that if I take part in this in a way God wants me to, the blessing of the Lord will be upon my life. And I can certainly testify to that in my life over a number of years since these things became living to me that the blessing of the Lord has been upon my life in every way that I can think of my life, my ministry, my family.

It's a blessing of the Lord. I can't take credit for a single thing. It's the blessing of the Lord because I make an agreement with him. I sign and he has signed and he keeps to the terms of his agreement perfectly.

And I say, Lord, I can't keep it as perfectly as you, but I want to. It's the want to that the Lord is looking for. Not whether you do it, but do you want to?

If you say you want to, it's only for the purpose of gossip.

Where is the want to? Where's the want to to be free from these things? The fellowship of the Lord. I want to ask you, my brother, sister, do you want to share in the blood of Christ? Which they resisted sin unto blood.

I'm not saying whether you'll do it from tomorrow. I'm asking whether you want to for the rest of your life. Do you want to share in this fellowship in the body of Christ? That body that was broken, that resisted sin unto a revolution, a spiritual revolution in your life, in your home and in the church.

Prayer for Faithful Participation in Christ's Covenant

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we remember the words of Jesus when he said to his disciples, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. These are things which the angels want to look into.

It was not given to folks in the old covenant. Thank you for opening our eyes to see some of these things, Lord. We are so the more blessed, the most blessed of all the people on the face of the earth.

Thank you for what you've done for us. Thank you for my brothers and sisters here. Thank you for this church. Make it an expression of your body better and better and better as each year goes by. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.