by
Brett Jacobsen

Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:19-20 NRSV)

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor 11:24-25 NRSV)

Much of the first fruits church in the first century understood Jesus’ words when He said “do this”. They proceeded to follow His example by “breaking bread from house to house” (Acts 2:46).

Upon Jesus’ last incarnate opportunity to instruct His closest disciples (the last supper) He surely would have imparted a major truth about His church and His Kingdom. If He wanted us to build church buildings, congregations and religious factions (denominations), He would have said so. If the aim was to focus on perfecting meetings He would have taken that opportunity to make it clear. He did not.

Instead He took the most basic everyday activity- eating and drinking a meal, and He set it as the rallying point of Christian community. He didn’t even provide a run sheet to go with it; He just said “do this”.

The modern church spends many hours and many dollars in trying to perfect meetings and build “churches”- organisations. We’ve got everything from church growth seminars to methods of how to have the best church service or outreach event. All of this is light years away from what Jesus prescribed, or rather commanded. The simplicity of breaking bread in the midst of a time of loving God and each other can be done by all believers, in all locations, all the time. This is unlike the professional stage shows that have become centre stage in Christianity.

These errant church paradigms have led to the production of generations of believers who do spectator Christianity. It has produced a large degree of spiritual retardation in holding Christians back from spirituality in every day life- the place where the lost linger.

There is much we could teach and discuss here about the orthopraxical out-workings of church life. Truth is though, even if we do not yet have a solid grasp on the ins and outs of church function, we can all find a handful of brothers and sisters in Him and begin to break bread regularly together. Yes teaching, equipping and oversight have an integral place, but until we have that flowing let’s get the heart of the issue right- let’s begin to daily break bread in remembrance of Christ. If we do that and remain open, the rest will follow.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Brett Jacobsen's teaching, Church Structure, House to house community, Living Christianity, Reformation/ Revival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.