Koinonia & Breaking Bread

Don Parmely

Koinonia • Sermon • Submitted 3 months ago • Presented 3 months ago

John 1:3

Acts 2:42–43

Church Fellowship and Unity

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PRAYER - for applying koinonia to the Lord’s Supper

Let me remind us of the scriptures we read last week:

Acts 2:42–43 (NLT) All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to [koinonia] fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.

1 John 1:3 (LSB) what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you may also have [koinonia] fellowship with us; and indeed our [koinonia] fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Again, the very first use of the Greek word, “Koinonia,” in the New Testament is here in Acts 2.

It is usually translated “fellowship, sharing together, or united together.

As we see in the second verse I read, 1 John 1:3, koinonia starts first of all with God and then this outflow of a spiritual, experiential union with God results in koinonia with other believers.

The sum total of koinonia with God and koinonia with others results in a powerful outflow of the Spirit of God into the environment around us.

According to what we see in Acts 2:43, God manifests Himself THROUGH believers who DEVOTE, who PRIORITIZE koinonia along with the Word, Breaking of Bread and prayer.

Almighty God’s Presence flows into a congregational setting where people are more than just a collection of individual strangers, but who are a community of believers knit together by koinonia — knit together by relationship and partnership.

God’s power and shekinah glory are so strong that the community responds in reverent and holy awe — they fall to their knees in worship and adoration.

Miracles begin to manifest in response to that community’s faith.

The lost repent of their sins and declare Jesus Lord in their lives.

The sick are healed.

The broken are mended.

The bound are set free.

The sorrowful are filled with joy

And these signs and wonders are broadcast throughout the broader population causing more and more people to run towards God.

Koinonia should MARK the followers of Jesus.

Koinonia With God

Like the Acts 2:42 believers may we DEVOTE ourselves, PRIORITIZE koinonia with God.

Because not only do we have 1 John 1:3, but in … we read:

1 Corinthians 1:9 (AMP) God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into [koinonia that is] companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

One aspect of koinonia with God, is that He has called us into an objective relationship with Him.

He calls us to recognize

Galatians 2:20 (LSB) “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

AND

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) … anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

The objective aspect of koinonia with God is that we are not the same people we were before we repent. turn from our sins and surrender our lives to Jesus. We are a “new craetion” in Christ.

Another aspect of koinonia with God is that He calls us into an experiential relationship with Him.

God calls us to live in a continual awareness and experience of His Presence.

Jesus calls us in John 15 to “abide in Him.”

A plant or tree branch doesn’t get a sip from the trunk in the morning and then run off and do its own thing the rest of the day — it can’t.

The moment it detaches from the trunk it is dead.

So too are we.

If we try to get a sip from Jesus through a quick morning devotional and prayer — all good, by the way — but if that’s all we do and then we detach from God and try to live the rest of our day apart from Jesus, we are doomed.

We are living WAY beneath our privilege as children of the King.

Jesus calls for us to CONTINUALLY abide in Him.

Brother Lawrence, the cook of a medieval monastery, wrote a book titled The Practice of the Presence of God.

In it, Brother Lawrence described how he enjoyed the presence of God as much amid the clatter of his pots and pans in the kitchen as he did in the chapel service each morning.

This is undoubtedly the ideal we should aim for: living continually in the presence of God, wherever we are.

King David, psalmist extraordinaire gives us some clues on how to do that:

Psalm 5:3 (NLT) Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

Psalm 25:5 (NLT) Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.

Psalm 63:1–6 (NLT) O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. 3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! 4 I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. 5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. 6 I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.

So first thing in the morning, all through the day and even in the night, David meditated on the Lord.

And he was a busy King.

Fighting battles.

Preparing for the building of the Temple.

Ordering his administration of the nation of Israel.

And STILL he so thirsted for God, so longed for Him, so sought for Him, that he spent time in the morning, all through the day and even into the waking hours of the night thinking of God, meditating, praying.

It IS doable.

We CAN have an experiential relationship with God.

Where we continually abide in Him ALL the time.

Koinonia With Other Believers

That kind of relation ship with God: objective and experiential.

Will knit us together with others who are DEVOTE TO and PRIORITIZING the same thing.

Those first Christians of Acts 2 were not devoting themselves to social activities but to a relationship with each other—a relationship that consisted of sharing together the very life of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

They understood that they had entered this relationship by faith in Jesus Christ, not by joining an organization.

The church was NEVER meant to be an organization — God intended it to be a living, breathing organism.

The Western church has turned it into an organization.

Let me repeat that I am in complete agreement with the Complete Biblical Library that says:

[In 1 John 1:3] John regarded koinōnia as an impossible relationship apart from its being experienced both vertically with God and horizontally with humanity. If one has koinōnia with God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ (1:3), then one will have koinōnia with other believers who have this same relationship to God (1:6, 7).

If fellowship does not exist between believers, then any claim to have fellowship with God is invalid.

The converse, though not stated, would also be true: True human koinōnia is impossible apart from koinōnia with God.

Like our koinonia with God, our koinonia with each other has a variety of facets.

Koinonia is used in the New Testament to express four different but related dimensions of fellowship:

• Community relationship

• Partnership

• Communion

• Sharing material possessions

The first two are dimensions of koinonia as sharing together, the second two as sharing with one another.

Sharing together speaks of a biblical community that goes much deeper than sharing common goals, though it ultimately involves that.

Biblical community is first of all the sharing of a common life in Christ.

It is when we grasp this truth that we are in a position to begin to understand true community.

Koinonia also means sharing together in the sense of partnership.

Whereas relationship describes believers as a community, partnership describes them as a community in action.

A business partnership is always formed in order to attain an objective, such as providing a service to the public at a profit for the partners.

In the same way, the concept of a spiritual partnership implies that it is created with the objective of glorifying God.

Just as all believers are united together in a community relationship, so we are all united together in a partnership formed to glorify God.

God is glorified when Christians grow in Christlikeness and when unbelievers are brought into His Kingdom.

Biblical community, then, incorporates this idea of an active partnership in the promotion of the gospel and the building up of believers.

The second 2 aspects, communion and sharing material possessions involve sharing with one another.

It is because we share together a common life in Christ that we are called on to share with one another whatever we have, both spiritual and material resources.

Koinonia used in this way first of all means communicating intimately, or sharing with one another on a close personal and spiritual level.

It may be the mutual sharing among believers of what God has taught them from the Scriptures, or it may be a word of encouragement from one believer to another.

The key element is that the subject matter is focused on God as well as on His Word and His works

Secondly, as we see in Acts 2:44-46 koinonia involves sharing material possessions.

That is what we do as a church.

As we share our finances, our time our energy, AND we also share in the harvest.

Souls saved

Worship

Children and adults discipled in the Word of God.

Effective outreach into the community.

And so much more.

The Lord’s Supper

Let’s celebrate koinonia this morning

When you came in, many of you shared life together, encouraged one another, etc.

I have shared the Word of God with you.

We have prayed together.

Now, let’s break bread together.

Last week we shared a meal.

Different people brought different things and we shared them with each other as we shared life at tables.

This morning we will break bread together in a different way.

We will break bread to remember HOW we have koinonia, with God and otherss:

Through Jesus’ Body beaten for us.

Through Jesus’ Blood, shed for us.

Preparation

1. Before Jesus instituted this New Covenant at The Lord’s Supper, He sent His disciples to prepare.

2. Matthew 26:17–19 (NASB95) Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” 18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.” ’ ” 19 The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.

3. More accurately they prepared for the Passover meal that would become The Lord’s Supper.

E. Preparation was part of the Lord’s Supper then and it is STILL part of this meal.

1. 1 Corinthians 11:27–28 (NLT) … anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.

2. 1 Corinthians 10:15–17 (NLT) You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true. 16 When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.

3. 1 Corinthians 10:21 (NLT) You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.

4. Prayer of self-examination.

F. Invitation and Distribution

Sister Becky would you come?

As the worship team comes.

1. You don’t have to be a member.

2. Come, break off a piece of the bread, receive a cup and hold till ALL can partake at once.

3. Stand here at the front together.

G. Bread:

1. Matthew 26:26–30 (NASB95) While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

i. This bread stands for the Body of Jesus:

a. No leaven- Sinless

b. Stripes – He was beaten for our healing

c. Pierced – He was pierced for our transgressions

ii. Prayer before we partake of the Bread:

a. Prayer over bread.

iii. End prayer with prayer from Seder: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.

H. The Cup

1. Matthew 26:27–30 (NASB95) And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. 29“But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

2. This cup stands for the Blood of Jesus.

i. The blood that cleanses us from sin.

ii. The blood that, According to Revelation 12:11, gives us victory over the accuser of the brethren [satan].

3. Prayer before we partake of the Cup:

i. Prayer over the cup.

ii. End prayer with prayer from Seder: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

I. Matthew 26:26–30 (NASB95) After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

1. Before we sing a hymn of anticipation for the return of Jesus let me read something the oldest of my 3 younger sisters wrote for Tuesday funeral for my mother (pray between 3 and 4 pm our time):

From Mary Ann: (Don will read)

I've been thinking about you, Mom,

I was thinking it would be nice if parents and children always agreed and were happy with each other. It's not realistic, but it would be nice. But whatever our status with each other over the years, there's one word that I have always associated with you and so many other women in our family tree — survivor.

No matter what difficulties came your way, and you had plenty of them, you never gave up. You always shouldered on, believing all would come right eventually. The last few years were especially trying. Many would have caved in long ago. But you kept holding on. I could see in the depths of you that same faith and grit as you faced the pain and restrictions of a disabled body, holding on to hope for the future.

I can't help but think it must have been at least a momentary shock to find yourself standing---yes! standing up straight and strong in glorious light. I wasn't there, so I can only imagine your joy. Then you saw your Savior, the Jesus you called to so many times, striding towards you, laughing, with arms thrown wide.

"There you are! I've been waiting for you!"

"I know You have been! Oh, thank You, thank You, thank You..." Over and over, you thanked Him as you clung to Him with joy. "I made it! I made it! You were here waiting for me, and here I am!" Laughing out loud, you looked up into the most Precious Face in the universe.

"I'm not the only one," the Lord said, swinging His arm towards a crowd that was running to greet you.

"Oh!" you cried, as you recognized loved ones gone before. Their loss had left holes in your heart that could not be filled until this moment. There were so many. "Momma, how I've missed you! Ruby, how beautiful you are. Gaston, I'm so glad to see you here in glory. Harold, you're so tall and strong..." On and on the celebration and reunion continued.

There's no hurry. No pressing task to be done, no setting sun to end the fellowship with one another or the worship of the King in your midst. You made it. With a great supply of Grace and heaven's gift of grit and determination, you're here at last. You made it, Mom. Standing tall and shining gloriously — you survived!