Fellowship in Jesus' Body and Blood — Zac Poonen

Breaking Bread as Fellowship in Christ's Body and Blood

Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians and chapter 10 and verse 16 and 17. 1 Corinthians and chapter 10 and verse 16 and 17. The cup of blessing which we bless, isn't it a sharing or a fellowship in the blood of Christ?

The Bread and Cup Are Testimonies, Not Literal Transformations

And the bread we break, a fellowship in the body of Christ. There's one bread, we who are many are one body, we partake of that one bread. So this makes it clear that what the Roman Catholics teach about the bread being the body of Christ is 100 wrong.

Or the cup being the blood of Christ, because it says here, it is a fellowship, it's a testimony of a fellowship. It is not the actual body and blood of Christ. I don't know how even many Lutherans sort of half believe that.

Christ's Brokenness Throughout His Earthly Life

Okay, we don't believe that heresy, but we need to ask ourselves whether this is true in our life, that when I break bread, am I fellowshipping in the broken body of Christ? It's more than just a ritual.

It's a testimony that Jesus allowed self to be broken in that body. Now, the reason I say that is, when Jesus was breaking the bread with the people, you know what he said, this is my body broken for you.

I don't have time to refer to it, you know, it's in the gospel. He never said, this is my body, which is going to be broken for you tomorrow morning. Jesus was very exact. What did that, my body broken for you mean?

Was it referring to his hanging on the cross the next morning at nine o 'clock? Then he should say exactly, this is my body, which tomorrow morning will be broken for you. No, I personally believe, this is how I've accepted it, that there was a brokenness in his body for 33 and a half years.

In that body, there was something broken. And so that's what he said. And finally, on the cross, he could say it's finished. All of that brokenness that had to be accomplished in that one body is finished.

Finally, he gave up his breath on the cross. And for us, in our body, we read in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 10. This is the reality of it. You only testify to it in the breaking of the bread. It's only an external testimony, but here's the reality of it.

Carrying the Dying of Jesus and Manifesting His Life

It's like Jesus had something in his body, 2 Corinthians 4, 10, always means 24 seven, carrying about in our body, the dying of Jesus. It's called the dying of Jesus because he was the first person who carried it about in a human body.

Nobody ever did it before him. It's just like great inventions are sometimes named after a man. This person invented this, or this person discovered this medicine, or this person discovered this disease, whatever it is.

In the same way, the dying of Jesus, because he's the first person that did it. What is that dying of Jesus? It says you have to carry 24 seven. And the proof that you are carrying it 24 seven will be that 24 seven, verse 10, the life of Jesus will be manifested in this body.

The humility, the tenderness, the graciousness, the mercy, the everything. And if that life is not being manifested, I can go through self-improvement programs where I hear so many things and I say, well, that was a good thought I heard from my brother the other day.

I think I also better practice that and I become a better human being with a better reputation. Not the life of Jesus, it's just a self-improvement. The life of Jesus comes when I have died inwardly, when I hate my own self-life and crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts.

That's when the life of Jesus, you know, because a lot of good things that we hear and read off from godly people, even an unbeliever can practice it. To be a better human being, to be a better husband, to be a better father and to be more gracious and merciful, unbelievers can do it.

But it's all for personal honor. The dying of Jesus is never for personal honor at all. It's 100 for the glory of God. In the secret places, I die. My thoughts and my attitudes in the areas of my life, nobody can ever see.

And I carry that in my body. And over a period of time, unconsciously, the life of Jesus will be manifested. It's like the light that God has put into a flower. It's a rose that will come out as a rose, even though in the beginning, it doesn't look like one and come out finally.

And the light that God has put in a dove or in a snake, whatever is inside finally comes out. And the life of Jesus will come forth for the glory of God. That is what we testify to in the breaking of bread.

The Meaning of Fellowship in the Breaking of Bread

It's a very powerful testimony. It's been so abused, misunderstood, false teaching among the Roman Catholics and Protestants. I haven't understood it fully. I have to say that I never understood this.

I broke bread for 16 years before I even understood what it all meant. I wasn't living in sin, but I never saw that this is what it means, a fellowship in the body of Christ, a fellowship in the blood of Christ.

How do I fellowship in the blood of Christ? Like it says, 1 Corinthians 10 16. Okay, that and then the other thing I testify to is my fellowship with others in one body. First my body, and then the body of Christ, in which also I'm a part.

So we being many break one bread, even though we are breaking bread virtually. Spiritually speaking, we are one body and we are breaking one bread. And thereby testifying that we are members of one body and that I am in fellowship with the members of this body.

Walking in the Light Without Judging Others

And for that, the condition given us in 1 John 1 is we walk in the light. That means the light that God gives me. I walk in that light. I do not have to judge another person whether he's living according to my life.

That's none of my business. He is living according to his life. It's very easy for a husband, even if he doesn't say it, to inwardly think, why doesn't my wife behave like me in this area? I'll tell you why, because she hasn't yet got light on it.

And she's walking in perfect fellowship with God, even though she's doing something you don't like. Can you believe that? Can you believe that your wife is walking in perfect fellowship with God, even though she's doing something which you just don't like, which you'll never do?

Because God does not judge her according to your life and vice versa. If your husband could be walking in perfect light with God, even though, sister, he may be doing something that really irritates you.

Yeah, we walk in the light and God is in the light. And each of us has got a different degree of understanding of what that light is. If we walk in that light, we have fellowship not only with God, but fellowship with one another.

Dying to Inward Demands in Marriage and Fellowship

And it becomes very easy to bear with one another. Because I don't have an inward demand. I tell you, a lot of Christians have an inward demand on other believers, an inward demand on their marriage partners.

It's not spoken, because we are taught to keep quiet and to deny ourselves. But that inward demand remains. You've got to die to that inward demand, first of all. Then you don't have to keep suppressing it.

If you have to keep on suppressing that inward demand, then you know somebody's got to die. It's good that you're suppressing that inward demand on the other person. But let's go beyond that to death.

Let that patient die. Carrying in our body the dying of Jesus, our fellowship with each other becomes wonderful because I have no demands on anyone. I'm living before God's face and I have a demand on myself.

And I regret that I am going to bear the dying of Jesus in my body every day of my life. And I don't have to produce the life of Jesus. I cannot. My years of effort will not produce one bit of the life of Jesus in me.

Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. It has to be the sap from the tree that flows into the branch that produces the life. It has to be the Holy Spirit, not my own self-improvement program. That will bring me honor for men.

But the real genuine life of God, the life of Jesus in our body comes through the Holy Spirit. And he bears witness to our dying itself inwardly by giving us the life of Jesus. So even though we may not understand all this, if you have a longing, if you have a tremendous longing, and like they say, an insatiable, insatiable means never satisfied longing to have the life of Jesus manifested in your body and not some behavior, change of behavior or pattern of behavior.

Longing for the Divine Life Within

No, no, no, no. The real life of Jesus from within, divine partake of the divine nature, then I believe God will give it to us. And we change from within, whatever people may think about us. That is what we are testifying to.

It's a tremendous testimony. Break bread together if you understand it. God bless you all.