Christ's Blood and Body

Q: What does the Bible say about communion?

Communion is a sacred act of participation in the body and blood of Christ, as stated in 1 Corinthians 10:16. The Bible presents communion as a significant and sacred ordinance established by Christ for believers. In 1 Corinthians 10:16, Paul refers to the elements of bread and wine as the communion of the body and blood of Christ. This implies participation in Christ’s sacrifice, signifying that we are spiritually united with Him. Communion should not be viewed as a mere ritual or sacrament but as a profound act of remembrance and a means to reflect on our relationship with Christ, who was broken for our sins and whose blood was shed for our redemption. The observance of communion serves to remind believers of both the suffering and the grace they have received through faith in Him.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of communion is true?

The truth of communion is affirmed through scripture, particularly in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 where Paul details its institution by Christ. The doctrine of communion as observed by the church is firmly grounded in the teachings of Scripture. Paul emphasizes this in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, where he recounts the Lord’s establishment of the practice during the Last Supper. This account indicates that communion is not simply a tradition but a direct command from Christ himself. The essence of communion rests on the reality of Christ's finished work—His body broken and blood shed for the eternal redemption of believers. By participating in communion, we affirm our faith in this work and our unity with Christ and fellow believers. Thus, the doctrine is validated through its clear Biblical foundation and the experiential testimony of the faithful.

Q: Why is the concept of communion important for Christians?

Communion is important as it symbolizes our union with Christ and our remembrance of His sacrifice for us. Communion holds immense significance for Christians as it encapsulates the essence of our relationship with Jesus Christ. It serves as a tangible reminder of the grace and salvation we receive through His sacrifice. In 1 Corinthians 10:16, communion is described as a participation in the body and blood of Christ, emphasizing the believer's unity with Him and fellow Christians. The act of communion allows believers to express faith, gratitude, and remembrance of Christ’s sufferings, promoting both personal reflection and corporate worship. Furthermore, it illustrates the theological principle of being partakers in Christ's redemptive work, reinforcing our identity in Him and our commitment to live out the implications of the Gospel.

Now the religious world, and it is a religious world in
which we live, has many thoughts and opinions
about this ordinance that we gather to observe tonight. But opinion is not hard to come
by. almost everyone has an opinion. Understanding is another matter. And the Spirit of God must give
understanding. Don't turn to this scripture,
let me just read it to you, you're familiar with it. But John said And someone may say, well, what
makes you different? You say the religious world has
many opinions about this table. What makes yours different? Well,
John expresses it here when he says, we know that the Son of
God is come and hath given us an understanding. It's not by
nature that we grasp these mysteries at all. It's not because of our
own natural wisdom or ability at all, not at all. But he has
come and given us an understanding by his sovereign mercy that we
may know him that is true, and that we're in him that is true,
Even in his Son, Jesus Christ, and this is the true God, and
this is eternal life. Now to some, this table is a
sacrament. The word sacrament means a means
of grace. They say that to receive the
wafer or the bread dipped in wine is to actually receive the
body and blood of Christ, and this can't be. It just cannot
be. This is not the actual body and
blood of Christ. Our Lord has not been crucified
again here tonight. These elements represent his
broken body and shed blood. This is not a sacrament. It is
not a means of grace. It does not convey salvation
at all. This is for those who are saved,
not in order to be saved. Now that's just so. Secondly,
to some people, and I hope not to us, I pray it's not so, but
to some people this table is a mere ritual. They take what
they call communion. Are you going to communion? Yes,
I'm going to communion. Did you take communion? Yes,
I took communion. And they take communion as a
matter of form and a matter of tradition. God deliver us from
ever assembling about this most important table of our Lord without
due consideration of his sufferings and the shedding of his blood,
and properly discerning the Lord's body, at least the best we can. It's not a ritual. It's not a
ceremony. And to sum this table is a local
church ordinance, and it's tied in some way to doctrine. If you
believe like we believe on all matters, then you can come about
our table. God deliver me from that. It's
tied in some measure to church discipline. If you don't come,
we'll exclude you. I don't want to play that game.
It's tied in some manner to the unity of spirit in the local
congregation. But this table, my dear friend,
there ought to be a unity of spirit. We ought to endeavor
to strengthen the unity of spirit. And there is a communion between
believers, but this is between me and my Lord tonight. You understand
what I'm saying? I don't want to be harsh, but
I want to be plain. This has nothing to do with our
status at the present time. Our fellowship ought to be good,
and if it's broken in any way, let it be mended. But my fellowship
with him is never broken from his standpoint. He loves me still. You understand what I'm saying?
It's not a church fellowship supper at all. In fact, Paul
uses more meaningful language than sacramony, ceremony, sacrament,
ceremony, ordinance, ritual, whatever. I would like you to
turn to 1 Corinthians 10. Paul uses much more meaningful
language here, and I want us to look at it for the moment.
1 Corinthians 10, verse 16. The cup of blessing which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread
which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
This is what this is. The communion of the blood of
Christ. The communion of the body of
Christ. Now, I want us to look at these
words individually. in this 16th verse, see if we
can get some help. Now, cup, the cup of blessing. The Word of God uses the word
cup often. Don't you turn. Let me just find
this quickly and read it to you. First of all, I read in the book
of, you're taking notes, it's Matthew 20, 22, but I read about
the cup of suffering, the cup of suffering. Our Lord said to
his disciples in Matthew 20, 22, one of them had just asked
about sitting on his right hand and his left hand, and he said,
You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink of the
cup that I shall drink of, or to be baptized with the baptism
that I'm baptized with? They said, We're able. And he
said to them, you shall indeed drink of my cup, and you shall
indeed be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with, the cup of
suffering. Our Lord is speaking of his own
sufferings in our stead, but also they that would live godly
in Christ Jesus shall also suffer. And it's given unto us not only
to believe on him, but to suffer. And so patiently he did. He talked
of his cup of suffering, and they said, we're able. Well,
no, not this time. He walked the winepress alone,
but you shall suffer. And they did. Cup of suffering
had to be put to each lip. But also another cup that's talked
about in the scriptures, again, if you're taking notes, Mark
9, but let me read it to you, Mark 9, 41. It's the cup of service
in which we all participate, the cup of suffering, the cup
of service. In Mark 9.41, for whosoever shall
give you a cup of water, just a cup of water to drink in my
name because you belong to me, verily I say unto you, he'll
never lose his reward. That's the cup of service. A
man shall give even the simplest thing, a cup of cold water to
you in my name because you belong to me. I bless him. There's a cup of wrath. I tremble
to read about that, but let me just read it to you. It's found
over here in the book of Revelation, chapter 14. Listen to it. Verse
10. The same shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into
the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb, the cup of indignation. So cup is referred
to frequently, our Lord's cup of suffering. the believer's
cup of suffering, the cup of kindness and service, and the
cup of wrath. But herein, look back at the
text, he says this is a cup of blessing. A cup of blessing. Not talking about suffering now,
not just talking about giving out, but taking in. Not service,
but being served. Not talking about wrath, thank
God, but blessing. Blessing. What did David say? My cup runneth over. My cup runneth
over. I wish we could have more discussions
like Doris and I had at the table tonight about our blessings.
We just need to review our blessings, don't we? We need to sit with
one another, and we were just sitting talking about some of
your trials that we bear with you and are concerned for you
and pray for you, but we then got to talking about, you know,
with all of the difficulties, we are blessed, blessed, blessed,
blessed, blessed, aren't we? Let's talk about it more. My
cup runs over, David says. My cup runneth over. And then
he wrote again in Psalm 116, he said, I'll take the cup of
salvation. Let me read that to you. I can't
quote it. It's Psalm 116, verse 12 and
13. Listen. What shall I render to
the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I'll tell you what
I'll do. I'll take the cup of salvation
by faith, with thanksgiving, and I'll call upon the name of
the Lord. And I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the presence
of all his people. I'll give him the glory. And then Psalm 103 certainly
talks about the cup of blessings, doesn't it? Bless the Lord, O
my soul, and all that's within me. Bless his holy name, who
forgiveth all thy sins, who healeth all thy diseases, who satisfies
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord,
O my soul." A cup of blessing. All right, read on verse 16,
1 Corinthians 10, this cup of blessings which we bless. And
this is the source of all of it, our Lord's blood and death. All I have is by God's grace
in Christ. All I have, all I am, all I ever
hope to be, all of these mercies and blessings in every are because
of Christ. This cup of blessing, which we
bless. Well, how do we bless it? How
do we bless it? Well, we bless it, first of all,
by setting it apart. This is no ordinary cup, and
it's not to be treated as such. It's not to be treated with contempt
or indifference. This is no ordinary cup. As you
hold the wine tonight and the broken bread I tell you, it's
no common meal. It's special. It's been blessed. I don't mean that in the sense
that some of you may regard it, but it has been blessed. It's
special. It is. It's a couple blessings
which we bless by setting it apart, by making it different,
by the position that it occupies right here in the center. before
all of us. Secondly, we bless it, Tom, by
faith. Let none but believers who discern
his broken body and shed blood participate. That's how we bless
it. This cup of blessing which we
bless, in that we believe, it is not for all, not in any, it's
not for all church members, it's not for all professing Christians,
it's for all believers. That's what it's for. That's
right. It's for believers. That's what
Paul told us. He said, let a man examine himself
and so let him eat. Examine himself for what? To
see that he discerns the Lord's broken body and shed blood. I
can, and you can, I can take this bread and I can eat it because
I do believe his body was broken for my sins. I believe that.
Do you? You say, yes, I do. Then you discern his broken body.
I can take this wine because I believe it was shed for the
remission of my sins, and it's the only thing that can put away
my sins. You believe that? Then take it.
If you don't, leave it alone. You have no reason to take it.
We bless it by faith. We bless it by setting it apart.
We bless it by faith. We bless it by prayer. In a few
moments, I'll call on two of these men to pray. We'll break
the bread and we'll pray. We'll pour the wine and we'll
pray, because we're calling upon God for His favor and His acceptance. What we're doing here, I pray
by the grace of God that He'll own and honor. Without Him, we can do nothing.
I certainly don't want to play religious ceremony without God. I do not. Then we bless it by
meditation, contemplation, devotion. Meditation, rather than noise,
has always been the evidence of God's presence. Let me say
that again. Meditation, not noise, has always
been the evidence of God's presence. When men think upon God, when
they consider the Lord God. when they in sincerity fall down
in silence before God. That's evidence of His presence.
That's so. We're going the other way today,
but don't go with them. Noise is never the evidence of
God's presence. God is in those holy temple,
let all the earth keep silence. God is in heaven, thou upon the
earth, therefore let thy words be few. That's right. All who saw the Lord fell at
his feet in worship. And listen, as we read on here,
this cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? This bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? What does the word
communion mean? What do we mean, this cup of
blessing which we bless? Is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ and the communion of the body of Christ? Well,
communion means several things. First, communion. Communion means
participation. It means participation. This
cup of blessings is participation in the blood of Christ. I participate
in the blood of Christ. I'm united to Christ by his sacrifice,
and by the shedding of his blood, and by the grace of God, and
I participate in all that he accomplished, in all that he
purchased, in all that he bought with his blood. I participate
in it. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. All that he purchased is mine. I participate in it because of
my union with him. That's right. Secondly, the word
means partnership. A husband and a wife, that joint
heirs, and as believers, and as the bride of Christ, as the
wife of the Lamb, then we participate in his inheritance, which was
given him by the Father. He's the heir, but I'm married
to him. When two people are married,
God said they become one flesh. And by all, by God's divine rule
and way, what's mine is hers, what's hers is mine. That's just
it. That's soul. We carry the same
name. I'm Henry Mann, she's Mrs. Henry
Mann. You follow what I'm saying? Communion. That's not only participation,
it's a partnership. And I know it's unbelievable,
I know it's hard for us to lay hold of, but the eternal son
of God is my husband. We have the same name. I belong
to him. I'm his. And what here is his
is mine. That's communion. And this is
the communion of the blood of Christ. This is the communion
of the body of Christ. I'm in his body, washed in his
blood. See that? Here's the third word,
fellowship. Reconciled, accepted. I'm not
outside, I'm inside. I'm within the veil. Even at my weakest moment, this
cup here that I take is a testimony, it is a witness to the fact that
I am in fellowship with God because of Christ. He brought me into
fellowship. You understand what I'm saying?
That's what John said. I'd like you to turn there to
1 John chapter 1. Listen. 1 John chapter 1. Listen to this. And John says,
1 John 1 verse 3, Listen, that which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with
us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son Jesus Christ. You out there and I, we are in
a fellowship. We are fellows in the same ship.
We are one. Believe it or not, We have the
same relationship with the Heavenly Father and with His Son. Fellowship. Fellowship. All right, look back
at the text again. Now, this cup of blessing and
this blessing, this all-blessing, this cup of blessing which we
set apart over which we pray, which we receive by faith, 1
Corinthians 10, 16, What is it? It's our participation in the
blood of Christ, the body of Christ, our partnership with
the living God as one. He's the head, we're the body.
And our blessed fellowship, sins forgiven, put away, accepted
in the Beloved. Look at verse seventeen. For
we being many, from all walks of life, different ages, Even
nationalities, personalities, whatever, we being many are one
bread. One bread. This is my body, and
this is my body. Think about it. You understand
what he's... This is my body, and this is my body. This is
my body broken for you, and this is my body purchased by this
bread. This body of broken flesh. One
body. Watch it. Read on. For we are
all partakers of that one bread. I am the bread of life. He that
eateth of me shall never hunger. Oh, awesome, isn't it? Well,
one other thing, and I will have the men serve us. Turn now to
1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. Now this, this
is what we're talking about. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23. Listen to me for a moment. For
I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you. 1
Corinthians 11 verse 23. I received it of the Lord, Paul
said. Look up here a minute. How did
he receive it? First in promise. That's right,
in promise. The seed of woman. God himself
will provide a lamb. a virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son. I received it secondly in picture,
the Passover lamb, the atoning lamb, the atonement,
and then I received it thirdly in person. Our Lord, the same
night in which he was betrayed, took bread and break it and said,
take it, this is my body. And then he went to the cross.
And there his body was broken, his blood was shed. I received
it of the Lord. I didn't receive it from denominational
headquarters. I didn't receive it from the
old Philadelphia Confession of Faith. I received it of the Lord. In promise, in picture, in person. Now watch it. And I deliver it
to you that the same night The Lord Jesus, the same night in
which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given vice, he
broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body broken for you.
What is bread? Just common, ordinary bread.
Just common, ordinary bread. The corn is raised and then it's
brought to the threshing floor. And under that heavy stone wheel,
it's ground to powder. And then it's put in a hot oven
and it's baked. And then it's brought out and
it's broken. And our Lord was ground under
the wrath and heavy weight, where wrath of God and the weight of
our sins, He went into the oven of God's fiery wrath And on that
cross he was bruised and broken for us. That bread represents
in all of its preparation the suffering of Christ. That's what
he said, broken for you. This doing remembrance of me.
And then after the same manner he took the cup of wine when
he himself saying this cup is a new testament in my blood. Did you notice the wine which
is the blood and the bread? are separate. My blood and my body are together. And when they're separated, I'm
dead. I'm dead. And so our Lord's blood
was separated from me. He poured out his blood and died. And then you see the grave as
it's taken off the vine and it's put under the trampling, crushing,
squeezing out the life of it. You see that? That's our Lord's
suffering. His blood was literally pressed
out of Him, one time through the pores of His skin, under
the heavy weight of our sin. And then He said, This do in
remembrance of Me. He said that twice, verse 24,
the last line. This do, this do, not something
else. There's nothing here about Me
putting on a robe and a hat and walking up and down these aisles
here and tossing incense. There's nothing in here about
that. Why do we do it? He said, this do. Not something
else. This do. It's not on some special occasion
where you have everybody comes together and some preachers preach.
He didn't say to preach. He said, this do. This, it's
very simple. I don't want to complicate it.
This do. The bread, common element, the
wine, you. This do. Now watch this. Not in order to be saved. This
do not in order to crucify Christ again. This do not in order to
impress somebody or teach anybody. It's a memorial. This do in remembrance. We can't remember something you
never knew. So that rules out everybody but
believers. I can't remember something I
never knew. So I know Christ died and so
I remember He died. This doing remembers. Remember
His covenant, remember His life, remember His death, remember
His resurrection. And I'll tell you this, I thought
about this today. I see this table often served
amid all kind of ceremony and processionals and marching and
uniforms and special music and all these things added to it
to impress someone. I thought about this. True love
and true devotion does not need complicated ceremony and gaudy
ritual. True love can remember with the
simple things. Isn't that right? You take out
a picture of your husband when y'all first met years ago. When
he was young and skinny and hair parted in the middle. Had hair. And you can take out an old simple
faded picture. and remember. Isn't that right? Take out the little babies. You
folks have grown children now and take out that first picture,
you know, that little ugly thing. I mean now they can dress them
up and all that. I'm talking about that first
day and you can remember. Love, true love doesn't need
gaudiness. It just needs a simple thing.
That's when That's when true love is revealed, when the simple
things, the little simple everyday things come to mean something. And that's what our Lord said,
don't put on a show, we don't need it. We don't need it. All I need is take this simple
piece of unleavened bread and this simple little glass of wine,
and I remember the greatest love of the century and the universe. He died for me. That's all. This do in remembrance of me. How often? Well, verse 26, as
often as you eat it. As often as you eat it. It doesn't
say how often. It doesn't say when. It just
says as often as you do. As often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you show my death till I come. And you
show that participation and that partnership and that fellowship in the simplest of fashion. All right, Bob, serve us, if
you would.

Christ's Blood and Body

What does the Bible say about communion?

How do we know the doctrine of communion is true?

Why is the concept of communion important for Christians?

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Christ's Blood and Body

What does the Bible say about communion?

How do we know the doctrine of communion is true?

Why is the concept of communion important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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