"WHAT IS THE BODY OF CHRIST?"
NOVEMBER 22, 1998 AM
MICHAEL F BLUME
1Cor 10:16-17 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? For we [being]
many are one bread, [and] one body: for we are all partakers of that one
bread.
1Cor 11:23-31 For I 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. 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 ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew 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 blood of the
Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread,
and drink of [that] cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself, 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.
Jesus' body died on the cross.
And we are dead by the Body of Christ.
Roma 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;
Jesus prayed and requested that we be not removed from the world but kept
from the evil in the world.
John 17:15 I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil.
We are in the world, but we are safe in this world.
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HOW IS THAT SO?
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HOW DOD THE FATHER ANSWER JESUS' PRAYER THAT WE BE SAFE IN THIS WORLD OF
EVIL?
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The cross.
Gala 6:14-16 But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace [be] on them,
and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
We are crucified to the world and the world is crucified to us.
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Therefore, we are safe from the evil in the world.
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It can have nothing to do with us since we are crucified to it.
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But we must believe this and understand it and claim it in order for us
to enjoy it.
Paul referred to communion supper immediately after speaking about the
Body of Christ being the Church -- one bread.
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He said that Jesus told us to eat bread realizing it is the Body of Christ
in symbolic form
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Jesus broke it and said He was to be broken for the disciples.
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They were to do that in remembrance of His death until He comes again.
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We must recall every now and then, until He comes, what this death was
all about.
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We must remember Him.
The great truth to remember is that His body was broken in death as us,
because sin demanded our deaths.
If we do not recognize that the Body of Christ was broken as us, then
we do not discern the Lord's body.
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We are the Body of Christ.
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We died with Him.
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We must discern His body, or we drink and eat damnation to ourselves.
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If we do not appropriate Christ's death as our own deaths then we are lost.
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We will lose out in every trial that comes our way because we will
not know we have power over everything since we died with Christ and are
risen with Him.
Until He comes, there are trials in this world.
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And we will have to remember what the cross was all about until He comes.
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We will have to remind ourselves that we died with Him.
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That Body is us, the Church.
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We died to sin.
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We are crucified to the world and the world is crucified to us.
What would we rather do?
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Battle and fight in every trial in our own weak strength, or stand on the
fact that Jesus won the Battle over it all a long time ago, and know that
we are seated far above every power in this world that would seek to fall
us, and not lift a finger of self effort but simply command the enemy to
flee?
Many wonder how they could be over all power and enemies if they fail now
and then.
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The fact is they forgot about their union with Christ and their victory
through their deaths with Christ, and they go about the battle in their
own strength.
Israel forgot that God was with them when they were to enter Canaan and
conquer the land.
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They thought about how weak they were and how strong the enemies were.
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They forgot all about their union with God.
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When you look at your own strength, you will see the greater strength of
the enemy.
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But you are not alone!
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Remember, until He comes, in a world of trials and enemies, that you are
united with God, and you and God are a majority.
You must know that Christ died as you.
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You must discern the Lord's body.
The reason so many are weak and sickly is because they do not discern the
Lord's Body.
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They do not see the union of themselves and Christ.
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And therefore they cannot defeat the enemies of sickness and stress, etc.
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They don't know how to defeat these things.
Jesus resurrected from the dead and declared that all power in heaven and
earth is his.
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Then he said that the disciples must teach all nations, baptizing them
into His NAME.
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In other words, we must get into Him and enjoy all power in heaven and
in earth.
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He has all that power and we are baptized into Him and can then enjoy that
power for our battles in life.
We need to feast on the bread and the wine. if we eat Him, he said
we will live by Him.
John 6:57 As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall
live by me.
He is the bread of Heaven.
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We eat the bread and think of this representing Jesus' flesh.
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And we see that whatever He has within Himself by the way of victory, is
what we have in ourselves, since we are united with Him,.
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And putting the bread into ourselves is indicating that whatever is in
Him is in us.
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We are reminding ourselves of that until He comes.
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We are reminding ourselves of that while in a world of enemies against
us.
That is why it is so important to come to the gathering of the saints,
and hear a man of God teach the word.
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Those who do not gather together do not learn what they have going for
them.
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The Bible is a manual showing us what we have going for us since we are
saved.
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It shows us the power that is in Christ and how it is therefore in
us, since we are in Christ.
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This needs to be taught to believers.
There are people after the secular jobs who get tired and cannot come to
church.
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Who ever heard of people getting so tired at church that they have to phone
their boss up at work and say that they cannot make it to work?
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We put more effort into working in the secular world than we do in the
things of God.
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If one has a job that takes them away from the gathering together for church
service on service nights now and then, then that is understandable.
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But there are those who will sit home and do nothing on a church night
because they are too tired from working.
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Will they stay away from work the next morning?
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No.
The Bible said we must make our calling and election sure.
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We need to feed our families and so forth, or else we are infidels.
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But we ought not leave our need to gather together for Church service unattended
either.
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Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these other necessities of life
will be added to us.
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God will see to that!
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"These things" that are spoken about in Matt 6:33 refer to the clothing
and food we need - daily necessities of life.
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But God said He would take care of that if we would make the gathering
together and the other things of God the first on our lists in life.
That is why we must come together, and learn the word of God so that we
can discern the Lord's body when sickness and other enemies attack.
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Many are sick and weak because they cannot discern the Lord's body.
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And many cannot discern the Lord's body because they do not learn about
it.
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And they do not learn about it since they stay away from the worship and
Bible teaching services too much.
We are feasting today on the bread and the wine.
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We are learning what is in us.
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We are learning about our unions with Christ.
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We are discerning the Lord's Body here today.
Take home with you what you learn here.
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Live by it.
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In the week, when battles occur, do not forget your unions with Christ.
You are in the name of Jesus since you were baptized into Him (Ro. 6:3).
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And if He has all power in heaven and in earth, and you are baptized into
Him, the next time you face a battle do not forget you are in Him.
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Discern the Lord's Body -- the church.
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Discern yourself!
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The Church is not a building but is the people united with Christ in His
victory over all enemies.
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So when you face an enemy, face it in the name of Jesus Christ.
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Remember you have all power in heaven and earth since you are in Him who
has all power in heaven and in earth.
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And rebuke the enemy in Jesus' name.
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And nothing by any means shall harm thee.
To understand what it means to be in Jesus' name is to understand
you are united with Him in His death, burial and resurrection.
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And that means you are also ascended with Him above all principalities
and powers.
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He is seated above all power (Eph. 1:20-23).
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And we are risen and seated together with Him (Eph. 2:5-6).
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We have God's power towards us according to the power with which He raised
up Christ.
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According to that same power.
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The degree of power we have is according to the degree of power with which
God raised Christ above all powers!
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We are above all powers!
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Do you get this?
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Are the eyes of your understanding opened to see this?
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Can you discern the Lord's Body?
When the Lord says he has all power over heaven and earth, say, "Yes, I
do!"
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When the Lord says He can defeat anyyhing , say, "Yes, I can!"
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YOU ARE UNITED WITH HIM.