Communion Close to Home
“Communion Close to Home”
by Tiger Todd
(EDITED VERSION)
What is communion? Communion is similar to a memorial service; kind of like a birthday party, where you remember something once a year. You could choose to take communion more often than that, but in communion, you’re really reminding God of the fact that you are still His. Secondarily, you are reminding yourself that you are still His.
What are you supposed to think about when you are taking communion?
It’s a time to remember all the great things that God has done for you because of your pact, or your covenant with him. This should help us to understand that every time communion was taken in the Bible, it was done to remember a certain pact or agreement between God and His man.
Why does the Bible talk about bread and wine?
These are the symbols for the physical body, Jesus’ body, and for his blood that was shed to pay the price for Adam’s sin. It’s like a reminder: if you knew that your body was made out of the same stuff that Jesus’ body was made of, and that his very blood could course through your own veins, then you wouldn’t have any doubt that you could do all the greater works that he did with his body.
Name some of the things that Jesus did with his body. He walked on water, he healed the sick and raised the dead, he walked into mountains. He had thousands of people gathering around him to hear what he had to say. That has to be one of the greater miracles, because this church has been speaking the truth ever since we’ve started this thing, and we still haven’t gathered thousands of people around to hear what we have to say. There were many miracles. So when you are taking communion today, think about those things that Jesus did with his body. That’s very important.
Did you know that Jesus and his disciples took communion? Please open your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 26. Jesus and his disciples had gathered together for what we know as the Last Supper. But, was it Jesus’ last supper with the disciples? No, it was his last supper with the disciples prior to his death. In communion, there are pacts, or covenants, between God and each man. We’ll find that Abraham and Moses each had a covenant with God. Jesus apparently had a covenant with God, but he’s having communion with his disciples so that they can have a covenant with God. To be accurate, the communion that God had with his disciples here in Matthew was in order to begin a new covenant.
This is called the Last Supper because during the last dinner Jesus had with his disciples before he was crucified, he wanted to let them know, through the memorial of communion, that even though he wouldn’t be with them physically any more, he would never leave them nor forsake them. Begin reading in Matthew 26, verse 26, And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Remember that scripture in John Chapter 1, For as many as received him… the blood was shed for many. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. It looks like Jesus is setting up another covenant. He is establishing one, but he is setting up yet another one for beyond that time. And we’ll see that later.
Did you know that Moses took communion? We don’t need to turn there, but in Exodus Chapter 12, we have the story of the first Passover. The depiction of Moses observing Passover really becomes a better model of why we take communion today. There are many reasons to take communion, and we will learn how to take communion properly. The name of this message is “Communion Close To Home”, and in it, we will learn that communion can be done for a number of reasons, at a number of different times, without the fear of, Did I do it right?, Did I do it with the wrong people, or in the wrong place?, Did I drink or eat the right stuff? Is it really working?… without all those doubts. Communion is about dispelling doubt.
When Jesus took communion with his disciples, he was letting them know for a certainty, “I’m leaving, but you’re going to be OK”. The elements of communion, if for no other reason, are there to anchor your soul. If you truly believe that the bread is the symbol of his body, and the wine is the symbol of his blood shed for you, then each time you take communion, you will have something to anchor your soul.
Humans sometimes have a propensity to forget. Communion is there as a reminder, as a remembrance. It’s something you can take to renew what was fresh in your mind two weeks ago. It’s kind of like a refresher course of what you’ve learned in school for the past two weeks, prior to an exam. Wow, I forgot that! Well, why did you forget that? And sometimes we have these thoughts,… Well, God never forgets. True. God doesn’t forget, but the Bible says, to bring things to his remembrance.
There are some things we used to be able to do very well. I was changing the car battery yesterday. Now, if you’re used to doing that every day, you’ll have no trouble. But I hadn’t changed a battery in a long time. It’s not that changing one is a big deal, but the way I was carelessly maneuvering that battery in tight quarters, I realized I’d forgotten how careful I needed to be. It’s not like I didn’t know how to do it. It’s still in my memory, but I just needed to bring it back up to a certain level of my remembrance.
In Acts Chapter 10, we have the story of Cornelius, the Italian, who made it to the Kingdom of God. The Bible says he did it because his prayers and his giving came up “as a memorial before God”.
Do you know what a memorial is? Name some memorials. There is the Viet Nam memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Lincoln Memorial, there are lots of memorials in Washington D.C. There are memorials, meaning, constant reminders, of what was done. And you will speak of something you remember, won’t you? And you will not speak if you forget about it for awhile. Then someone will bring whatever it is to your remembrance, and you’ll talk about it for the next couple of days. Then you’ll forget again. We’ve talked about that when it comes to movies. “Oh, I forgot about that scene in Star Wars”. But then it’s brought to your remembrance again.
One of the key elements to communion is remembering that it’s a memorial. You need to remember so you’ll still do it, even when you’ve forgotten, or when it’s not as strong in you. You might know in your head that there was a sacrifice for Adam’s sin, but you might also feel like you never got cleansed from sin because you had this or that problem in your past. You might still be judging and condemning yourself for those things in your heart. What you need to do is take out the bread and wine, and anchor your soul so that you are forgiven, cleansed, and free from the past. That’s what God has given us communion for.
Passover was so named because of the memorial of communion that took place that night. God was moving on behalf of the children of Israel to free them from being slaves to the Egyptians. I’ve taken communion when a debt came due: something I owed, or something someone said I owed. I took communion to remind myself that if I just stick with God, this thing will pass over.
Many things were happening on the Passover that night: the fear of death, the fear of loss. As you read in Exodus 12, you’ll see that the commandment of Moses was not just to put blood on the doorpost, not just to drink the wine, and eat the bread which is unleavened (no yeast). One of the principle things was, you had to be in your house. Now in the movie, The Ten Commandments, they were not completely accurate. It’s interesting that many of the movies done by Jewish producers are still getting it wrong. The Ten Commandments did get that wrong, because it depicted that anyone who was in the house would be safe from the Death Angel as He passed over. You couldn’t just paint blood on someone’s porch, and they would be saved. The Death Angel didn’t just pass over because of the blood. It passed over because the people had to consume the entire lamb with their family. The entire sacrifice had to be taken.
One of the requirements was that communion had to be done in your house. And we’re going to find out, concerning the apostle Paul, that he wasn’t quite so polite when he said you had to take communion at home, not in the church. We’ll see a little later where he was saying, What are you doing having communion in church? So it occured to me that the only reason, and the only way to properly have communion in church is if you teach people how to have communion. This message is called “Communion Close To Home”, so we’re going to try to teach you how to take what you’ve learned back to your house, and reestablish the covenant between your family and God. I want you to be able to reestablish it, just like Joshua said, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But Joshua couldn’t speak for your house, or mine. He could only speak for his own house.
That Passover night, Moses couldn’t save any of the first born of Israel unless they met the requirements within their house. So, here we go. Let’s meet those requirements within the house. Today we’re going to use these little mini matzos crackers. They’re perfect for communion. It looks like an amplified host. I decided to use matzos, because on that Passover with Moses, in that communion service that was life or death, the key was that the bread was unleavened. That means, there was no yeast in it. One of the key instructions in that communion service was to have your clothes on, your shoes on your feet, and ready to go, when you took the Passover. They didn’t have time for the bread to rise. So God said, Don’t put yeast in the bread. You are going to bake it and knead it immediately, so it’s quick-bread.
Why did God instruct the children of Israel to do it so quickly? Because God doesn’t take 40 years to do anything. The steward tip a couple of weeks ago spoke regarding, with how you measure, it will be measured back to you. If we think God will move in ten years, then it will take ten years. Maybe. It might even take longer. It might never happen, because you’ve missed that timing. God was ready to get them free from their bondage that night. So when you’re at home taking communion, or when you’re instructing other families, leading them through a communion service, you’ll want them to know that deliverance is nigh them. Deliverance is that close, as it was that night for the children of Israel. The Bible said they had their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and were ready to go. There was no time to wait for bread to rise. There was no time for, Oh I haven’t decorated the cupcakes yet. They were ready to go.
Abram took communion. Turn to Genesis Chapter 14. I wanted to talk about the covenant God cut with Abram. The first time what looks like a communion service began was in Genesis 14 after Abram had returned from what was called the “slaughter of the kings”. These were the kings that made war against Sodom and Gomorrah, and the battle had claimed one of Abram’s family members. Abram took 300+ of his trained servants, whipped all of the kings, and took all the spoil from at least five kingdoms, and immediately… well, let’s look at verse 17, And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. Abram took communion after God gave him the victory in battle. He took communion to let God know how thankful he was that the great God of heaven was on his side. Abram also gave him tithes, which was the tenth part of all of his riches. God returned Abram’s faithfulness to Him with this statement. in Genesis 15:1, after the covenant was reaffirmed. He was using communion, not as Moses or Jesus did to establish a covenant, or for protection. Abram used communion to go to God and tell him how grateful he was.
Most people don’t have to come to God when they’re at death’s door, or when they have minus $500 in the bank. They could come to Him when they’ve taken all of the riches of all things because God has blessed them. In this example, Abram did just that. He had communion just to say, God, I know you remember me, but I want to let you know that I know it was YOU that kept your word. There is a time where we can take communion at home just to reestablish the great things that God has done for us.
When you do that, look at what God says. Chapter 15, verse 1 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: You do not have to be afraid one iota. I’ve got you covered because I like the way you take communion. God says, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. It’s one thing when you have authority over angels, as in Psalm 91. A thousand might fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, it won’t come near you. But when you’ve got the great God of heaven saying, I’ll be your shield, personally, and I will bless you, personally…you won’t have to wait for a man to give it to you. I am thy exceeding great reward. You just have to go out and collect it. See, that’s a good deal. And I’m not sure that the church has pushed the envelope of gratitude toward God through communion like Abram did. And we should. I know, in the past, that I have. We’ve been trying to save our fat from the fire for so many years that we were using communion as a way of escape every chance we got, every time we needed to escape. But what about having communion when everything is going well, when everything is perfect? What about just getting some time with God, alone, with you and the elements, and saying, God, I am so grateful that my life is perfect, and that you are so good to me. That’s what Abram did here.
Are you ready for some more questions?
Can I receive communion like Jesus, Moses, and Abraham?
Turn to First Corinthians, Chapter 11. Verse 23, For I (the apostle Paul) have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. My cross reference says it is for a remembrance, or for a memorial. This do as a memorial to me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.
In the Christian church, we have this “Easter business”. Easter is celebrated on Sunday as the resurrection. I believe the resurrection needs to be celebrated, but the only time Easter is mentioned in the Bible, it is the word “pasche” which is really the word for Passover.
Notice, here, that communion is not about showing the Lord’s resurrection until he comes; it’s about showing his death. Can anyone tell me why we would celebrate his death in this case, in communion? Well, I can! It’s celebrated because it was his death that answered the sin of Adam. It was his death that made us free. Remember, that by one man’s offence, all became sinners, so also by one man’s obedience unto death, many could become righteous? It was celebrated because of that death., not because he got back up. That was bonus time, OK? It was because he satisfied that sin that went into every single man because of Adam. That’s why, when you take communion for his blood shed, you can have a memorial to the fact that it’s been done, I don’t have to sin, I don’t have to be a slave to sin, I don’t have to bear the effect in my body, or my family’s, for the sin of Adam. What greater thing is there to memorialize? Most people think they are free, and they’re not; but when the son sets you free, you are free, indeed. That’s why it says, you do show the Lord’s death till he comes.
Till he comes. That’s the new covenant mentioned in Matthew 26. When I drinketh this cup new with you in my Father’s Kingdom. Now it’s yet another covenant. We’ve read about that in Isaiah Chapters 59 and 60.. those that have his words coming forth. Those that have God’s words coming out of their mouth. And to their seed. And to their seed’s seed from henceforth, arise, shine, thy light is come. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
Now, regarding “unworthy”: I’ve heard that unless you are born again, you cannot take communion. Well, none of the disciples, nor Jesus, was born again. And they took communion. Abraham was not born again, and he took communion. Moses was not born again, and he took communion. So let’s just eliminate the “born again” business. I believe that if you want to receive communion, you can receive communion. If I show you how to do it correctly, we’ll find out what this means.
What does, “you’ll be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” mean? What does it mean to take it “unworthily”?
You don’t want to drink the wine wrong. Maybe you’re supposed to use a straw, and maybe you’re not supposed to swish it through your teeth. Maybe chewing the bread is a problem. We really want to know what is correct. The Bible defines it this way… But let a man examine himself. Here’s how you take it worthily. You examine yourself so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation (a better word might be judgment) to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. What is judgment to yourself? This scripture will tell you what that is, too. …not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
Eating and drinking unworthily is not considering your ways to find out if you’ve missed the mark in terms of, what are your requirements to God. God has some requirements you expect of Him, right? You expect Him to heal your body, to pay your bills, to put you the head, and not the tail, to be above only and not beneath, for all the things you believe for, and all the dear and precious promises. You expect him to provide all of those things. Well, what things are you supposed to provide Him? You are supposed to watch your words, use your faith, give to the poor. You are supposed to bless people, you are supposed to tithe, you are supposed to live a life of faith. You are supposed to do all those things. Therefore, when you are properly taking communion, you are to judge yourself. If you have sinned, or not obeyed, or have been lax in certain areas, that’s the time to get rid of it, because that’s what communion is for. That’s how you can be cleansed with the precious blood of Christ.
That doesn’t mean you had to be born again, or you had to go to First Church, or even Second Church. It doesn’t mean you had to be Abraham, or Moses, or Jesus. All you have to do is judge yourself, for if you judge yourself, you won’t be judged. And I think it’s a whole lot better to judge yourself, than to let the judgment of God, or the judgment of sin, come down on you. Those are the two choices. Now let me go down the rest of the list here.
So, can I receive communion like Jesus, Moses, and Abraham? Of course you can. When the apostle Paul said, “As often as you do this”, I believe he meant as often as you eat and drink. How often can you take communion? As often as you eat and drink. The Bible said, Jesus, when he was giving communion, blessed it, and gave thanks. That’s a meal they’re talking about, right? You’d think the cup of Christ would already be blessed. No, it was food. They were eating and drinking. So, take some bread, and some wine. As often as you do this, do so in remembrance of me. If you decide to take communion today, then you are taking it as a memorial to what Jesus paid for, for you. And, especially in this church, you take it as an expectancy of that new covenant. I can’t wait to do it when Jesus is in the house.
As often as you eat or drink. Now, that doesn’t mean every night. If you had macaroni and cheese every night, you’d probably get tired of it. Remember, communion needs to be special. It’s done when you have great thanks and appreciation for God, or when you don’t feel well, and you need to let your body AND the devil know that Jesus was bruised and shed his blood so you would never have to be sick again. You should receive communion when someone you know has a need, because you can stand in the gap for them. You have a covenant. They don’t. You can utilize your covenant with God. If Laban, the dishonest father-in-law, can be blessed because of faithful Jacob, then anyone you know who has a need can get help through your covenant. You should receive communion when someone you know has a need. You can bring your need to God, because you have a covenant with Him, so that He can help them like He helps you.
Aren’t we only supposed to receive communion in church?
Look at verse 20. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. It’s talking about the congregating of the saints. For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame then that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. The only time this church was having communion was when they were all together in church. Well, how often do you have lunch in church? How often do you have dinner in church? Then how could you, as often as you do these things for remembrance, do it in church? So apparently, the service of receiving communion was not done nearly as often as God expected it to be.
The Book of Hebrews comments on Abram. The covenant was cut to anchor Abram’s soul. Well, how are you going to get your soul anchored if you don’t keep remembering that you have an anchor? My soul is pretty well anchored because I know I have an anchor, and I use it. I know where to go when I need my soul anchored. I go back and bolt myself right back down to that covenant.
I want to open this up for more questions prior to us actually receiving communion.
Do we actually have to use wine?
No, I don’t believe it actually has to be wine, it’s just my recommendation. Here’s where I’m at on this: First, I’ll give you this story. There was a major world-wide communion service going on for some people in an African country. The people said, We don’t have anything to drink except Pepsi Cola. They received communion with Pepsi, and apparently, what they were thinking of, and how they were judging themselves, was cool.
I was at a Believers Convention, and Jerry Savelle and Jesse du Plantis were sitting next to each other. As they were listening to this story, Jesse leaned over to Jerry and said, “Well, Pepsi’s cool, it’s a new generation.” Then Jerry leaned over to Jesse and said, “They should have used Coke, ‘cause it’s the real thing.” Anyway, I don’t believe the elements have anything to do with it. Still, in this church, Bible words are critical to me, so I won’t say, Thank you God for this cracker and this juice. I will say, “bread and wine”. I won’t change our worship service to say, There is oil and juice in Zion. I’ll be saying “bread and wine”. Are we clear? It might actually be Pepsi and a bagel, but it’s gonna be spoken of as bread and wine.
How old or how young do you have to be to first start having communion?
I believe if you are celebrating what Jesus did, it’s probably as often as you can eat bread and drink wine. If your child can eat a real meal, and is not on formula, I say, it can be as early as you want. The child will not have to judge himself where sin is concerned, will he? That’s just if you have something to judge yourself for. Now, most adults do. Little children do not, according to First John Chapter 2, verses 2 and 12. I don’t believe there is any actual age that they should start. It’s at the point where they can deal with a cracker, a piece of bread, or bread and wine.
Communion should be done in your house. I would encourage all of you to have communion services in other people’s houses, to get them familiar with taking it with their own family. If you read Exodus Chapter 12 where the Passover is described, you’ll see how that was handed down. The scripture calls it the “Lord’s Passover” because it was the Passover night that he was betrayed. The Last Supper was a Passover. Jesus was the Passover lamb. And the ones he called friends, in John 15, were in the house. It was a serious thing with Jesus and his household, and it was a serious thing on that first Passover. Jews today still celebrate the Passover, don’t they? So apparently, the instructions in those Jewish families those many years ago were passed down.
I was reading about King Josiah, the one that reinstituted Passover. King Josiah dug around and found scrolls that certain prophets had hidden away. He investigated, and started to reinstitute some of the things that had been lost. The first thing was the Passover, because Israel kept getting into bondage to another nation. Since they were slaves to that nation, they weren’t allowed to practice all the things that had been practiced in past ages. But apparently, the old ways were written down in scrolls, and handed down for future generations…like God chose Abraham, because He said, This is a man that will teach and train his children, not his church, in righteousness. So we need to institute communion in our family. We need to let our children know that when they hear that someone down the street has an illness, they can say, Mommy, let’s have communion so that we can get this thing fixed for her. We want families to know that they have this tool to remind them of God.
Galatians 6 says to do good to all men, especially those who are of the household of faith. And if you have a faith household, you’ve got all this power in reserve that you should be able to use. If it’s Christ in you, the hope of glory, well, the only hope your neighborhood’s got is Christ in you. Right?
Is it essential to use both elements, the bread and the wine?
Yes, you should always have both elements, plus instruction on the use and meaning of the elements. There are two facets to the elements. When I take communion because of something physical, I remember that his body was bruised. He took the stripes to pay the price for physical damage coming on the body. That’s one of the sacrifices of Jesus. The blood is for the remission of sin. So don’t use just half the elements, because you want both your body well, AND you want to be free of sin.
When I am taking communion regarding my body, and reminding God of my covenant, the bread is more valuable than the blood at that point. While eating the bread, I am judging myself: Am I using my body for the glory of God? Am I being a good steward over this body? God, I expect this body to to be well, because I’ve got a covenant. All those kind of things are being judged when I’m eating the bread.
When I’m drinking the cup, I am judging myself where sin is concerned. Have I sinned? Do I need cleansing from sin? Do I have the hatred for sin that I should have? Am I interested in freeing other people from sin? That’s what that wine represents. I’ll tell you what: if you are free from sin and from any problem in your body, you’re in great shape.
If you’ll all come up here and take your bread and wine, I’ll show you how to receive it.
Are your shoes on your feet? Let’s all stand for this service
The first thing we do is pray over the food. We’ll pray just like Jesus did, as if we are eating it. You bless the food, and call it good for you. The Bible says anything you sanctify in his name is sanctified. So, let’s pray over the food now.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this food. We call it blessed to our bodies, and blessed for proper nutrition. We call it safe and not harmful. We thank you for it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
As we do that, get ready with the bread. Close your eyes and think about your body being well, that it’s getting stronger every minute, because that’s what Jesus’ body was bruised for. Be thinking about being able to do the superhuman things in your body, because you are partaking of that body. I’ll read the verse, and we’ll break the bread, and we’ll close our eyes.
In verse 24, he said, Take, eat, this is my body, broken for you. This do for a memorial to me. Now break the bread and close your eyes. Go ahead and eat it.
Now the cup: the cup is to wash us clean on the inside. You’ve been places where you can’t wait to wash something off, like after 2-hours of football, a homeless outreach, a trip to the hospital, or even day care…but sadly, sin doesn’t come off like dirt unless you get washed with the right water. In this case, the Bible says the blood of Christ will cleanse us from all sin. So this will cleanse us from all sin, our bad decisions, and our pains in our soul. When you drink it, with your eyes closed, it’s time to talk to God, and to get rid of any hatred, unforgiveness, cares, or sins we might have. He said if we would judge ourselves, then we would not be judged. When you are done drinking, you will know that God loves you, and that He will do anything for you.
As the scripture reads, This cup is the new covenant, the new testament in my blood. Do this as often as you drink as a memorial to me. So close your eyes, and drink it now.
Is everyone feeling cleaner and stronger? By doing this, you have just reminded God, and more importantly, reminded yourself, that you have a covenant with Him: just like Jesus, just like Moses, and just like Abraham. God is saying right now, I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.
I have written down a few of the covenant promises that we have a right to say, in this position, right now. Repeat this after me: I am the head, and not the tail. I am above only, and not beneath. I am blessed going in, and blessed going out. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before me into singing. My barns are filled with plenty. And my presses burst forth with new wine. No sickness or disease will come near my dwelling. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. By his stripes I am healed. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. It is Christ in me, the hope of glory.
Now put down your cups, and give some applause.
This message was transcribed and edited from the original audio tape message.
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