Revisiting the Lord's Supper Part 10 Breaking (cont.)

[HKHaugan]

Revisiting the Lord’s Supper Part 10 Breaking (cont.) 

We’re revisiting the revisiting, the breaking occurring when Jesus broke the bread and said it was His body being broken.  His breaking contains eternal consequences that cover the breaking that must take place in our lives, our being a living sacrifice.  It is the breaking on our part that needs to be seen now.  The part that is a continual breaking experience leading to our growth as believers and our mission to bring others to know Him.  Jesus allowed Himself to be broken even when He didn’t need to be.  He was identifying with the scapegoat in Leviticus 16:21-22 annually required to carry the sins of the people into the wilderness.  But the most heart shaking declaration was Jesus’ words on the Cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me(Mt.27:46)?”  He allowed Himself to experience separation from His Father to let us know that we were born separated from Him.  “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2Cor.5:21).”  He took death, the devil’s bullet, for us.  He became the ultimate sacrifice in our place.  So, we need our sin tendency to be broken, crucified, so that we can allow ourselves to be broken in a sacrificial way for those with whom we come in contact.  That is, seeking the welfare of others before we consider ours.

 In old western movies, when cowboys would enter a town after a long trail ride and head for a saloon, the local sheriff would require them to leave their guns at the door.  Their idea of a good time would usually end up in a gunfight if they didn’t.  What happened on the trail ride and in their earlier lives would be carried in their pride so anything could trigger violence.  What disciples of Jesus have to do is check their pride, their heart’s imbalance and impatience, all flavored by sin, at the door of every next moment.  Disciples of Jesus stay open to the leading of the Spirit.  The old life pops up every day, the one where we want our own way.  It can be summed up in one word---attitude. 

 Attitudes are the heart’s unseen and provocative influences shaping our lifestyle. They are exactly why we need the spiritual feeding particularized in the Lord’s Supper---taking, thanking, breaking and sharing.  Attitudes like pessimism, optimism, passive-aggressiveness, me-first, over cautiousness, perfectionism, cynicism, skepticism, are just a few of the attitudes that people use to handle the pressures of their relational environment.  Past pain, emotional experiences and insecure perception enter the alone reasoning of an imperfect mind.  The heart’s reaction is to develop an attitude to handle further internal and external impressions.  Jesus approaches every emotional and physical encounter with one spiritual attitude, trust in His Father (John 14:1).  His Father’s Word, will and presence are perfectly known, felt, trusted and obeyed by Him. To underscore that reality all you have to do is read Philippians 2:5-12 for a clear description of this one attitude heart of Jesus.

Jesus is really presenting Himself as a one-attitude person in whose image we were created.  This challenges us to break our attitudes that we obey apart from God and adopt His one attitude approach to everything.  For instance, if we have an attitude that immediately reads the condition of another person by their appearance, emotional expression, accent, possessions, social standing, then we have a heart problem.  But that problem can be solved.  It can be transformed by the Holy Spirit the moment it surfaces.  That is, if we are willing to take His nudging to let Him change us.  And change doesn’t happen overnight. 

First, we have to acknowledge it is not right to judge by externals.  The Lord looks on the heart (1Sam.16:7).  Second, life is relational and we have to seek to be relational.  That takes as sacrificial attitude. 

We’ve mentioned before that attitudes developed apart from God are strongholds and those strongholds can be broken by replacing them with the one attitude of Jesus.  People have a tendency to develop an attitude for every occasion.  We read the atmosphere we’re in and adjust to it.  Jesus dresses us in the clothes of His righteousness, His attitude, so we can be comfortable in our skin which is His  new skin He gives us when we receive Him.  Wineskins (Mt.9:17)? 

Therefore, with the Spirit’s help, we break that chain of attitudes and their behavior and replace them with a new attitude, seeing everyone as an image of God, loved by God and offering them a Savior and a Lord.  This is how our vision of people changes and how we react to them by listening and perceiving spiritually, then relating spiritually.  What we are looking for is a heart to heart exchange.  Being sinners, we don’t always get it right but it’s practicing this spiritual attitude of Jesus that will help us move in the right direction, His.  This is the kind of breaking that frees us to share Him with others.  Untangle the backlash of attitudes and we are free.  Human attitudes developed apart from God are sin in control until we embrace the single attitude of Jesus.  John says it so clearly, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1John 3:8).” 

Are we broken enough to feel the freedom He is moving us through? 

Take, thank, break and now give, sharing is next.