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Oasis Higher Ground Trainings Draw Near Others - Chinese - English Languages
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Partnership
(19th and last in the series of expositions on Communion delivered on April 15, 1979)
Today as we come to the Communion, we can get a clearer picture of a kind of spiritual community which Christ has brought into existence through His death and through His resurrection.
1 Cor 10:16 reads:
The cup of blessing which we bless is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Faith must find expression in an act of faith, in a definite kind of spiritual action. The body of Christ means the Church; the blood of Christ means His salvation, the saving work that He imparted for us. The only way to have salvation is to be in the church, that is, we do not have the blood of Christ unless we are in the body of Christ.
The word translated as 'participation' ("koinonia") is used 19 times in the NT which has a meaning of communion, fellowship, partnership, participation; having an idea of sharing in one particular thing, in this case it is the body and the blood of Christ. Besides this 19 times there are another 49 words related to Communion, fellowship. (49 is 7x7, whereas 7 is a very significant number in the Bible, it is the number of perfection. The perfection of God is realized in the new community of God's people). In v16, there is no such word as participation in the blood of Christ, the English word participation requires the 'in', but in Greek, the word "koinonia" is followed with the genitive of the word 'of the body of Christ'. It can be translated as participation of the body and blood of Christ. The Greek genitive can mean the genitive of origin, i.e., a participation of communion (fellowship) which comes from the body and blood of Christ. (This is very close in meaning as RSV).
We participate in the body and blood of Christ, and because of this participation, we are in partnership with one another. The body and blood of Christ has brought into existence a new community of partnership. (A community is what Communion is about; 'community' and 'communion' is from the same word in their root). This participation is what Paul wants to say; otherwise, we have lost connection of thought, i.e., when we come to v17, we might not see how does v17 connect to v16. Verse 17 reads [cf v16 above]:
Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.
It has no real connection at all unless what we have just expounded is correct. A new community, a new partnership of people, come into existence because of the body and blood of Christ, then the connection to v17 is smooth, i.e., we are one body because we share one bread, and this one body came into existence through the blood and the broken body of Christ.
What is the value of speaking about this partnership? In contrast, what does sin do? Sin separates people, sin destroys the possibility of partnership, where there is sin there will not be communion or fellowship in spiritual sense. This is what Paul says in Titus that when we sin, we are hateful and hating, our relationship with people is constantly polluted with hatred, not just actively hate them but also not care for them, having no particular concern for them. There is no neutral ground between love and hatred in the Bible, you either love or hate. This is one of the fundamental problems of Christians - that we don't care much for others. This is the consequence of sin; sin causes our relationship with one another to be very distanced, very unconcerned. Hatred raised this wall of partition between us. We are separated from one another, we do not really communicate. For example, when we speak to someone we do not know very well, there is a barrier in Christ. According to the Scriptures, there should be no barrier if that person is a brother in Christ and you are in Christ, because we are one in Christ. The barrier exists because we have not yet let the redeeming work of Christ break down this wall. Paul in Eph 2:14 says [paraphrased], "Christ has made us one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility". Why is it that this wall is broken down? This wall must not prevent the flow of the life of Christ from one to the other. Paul says we are one body. Can we imagine the life of a body that cannot reach the hand? What will happen to the hand? Or that the message of the hand can't reach the body? The body cannot function anymore because of miscommunication. Only when there is full communication between the members does the body become alive. Only when Christ's life in you is flowing to one another in the church, then the church will begin to function as a church. In other words, you will be a paralyzed Christian so long as a barrier exists between you and the other.
In 1 John 1:3,6&7, the same Greek word is used:
That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (v3)
If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from sin.' (vv6&7)
This partnership is with one another and is with God. It is established through the proclamation of the Gospel. This partnership has to do with our daily life, with the quality of life that we live. We do not just stick to words; we have to catch a vision. A community of people in which there is partnership - think how different this church will be if every barrier between us could be removed. How is the life of Christ to flow around the body that is full of barriers? Christ died and rose again to break down these walls, and we have got to let Him do it. We need to catch the vision of what Christ's death has to accomplish.
Let us look into a few more things of this word as it is in the NT. This partnership is brought about not because we decided to pull down the barriers, but because Christ has broken these barriers. If any barrier stay up, it is because we put them up.
This fellowship is brought in by the Holy Spirit: if the Holy Spirit is in you and in them, what is there to stand in between? In 2 Cor 13:13, it talks about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (the sentence structure is the same as in 1 Cor 10:16). The fellowship comes into existence through the Holy Spirit, so it is the Holy Spirit that makes partnership a reality. Our fellowship with the Spirit, our fellowship with one another is on the basis of that fellowship with the Spirit.
Finally think of this: what happened in Acts? Can you catch the picture there? Soon after Jesus died and resurrected, He sent the Holy Spirit; all the barriers between people have been broken down (Acts 2-4), so completely were the barriers broke down that they even shared their materials together. This new community spontaneously came into being as a result of His broken body and His shed blood; the Spirit of God came and immediately they wanted to share everything. We have not reached this age yet. This is our problem, we still have so many barriers between us. When we have so many barriers, we can only say to the Lord that we are sorry for our failure.
This partnership is also used of the relationship between husband and wife in the Bible. Can you imagine what kind of married life it would be without partnership?
In Acts 2:42-44. the same word is translated as 'common'. In the Early Church there is no barrier in material things. Not only in Acts, for later on Paul constantly insisted that there must be partnership in material things in the church between one another. The word 'partnership' is used most frequently concerning material things in the NT. For example, Rom 12:13, 15:26,27; Gal 6:6; Heb 13:16 etc. - all these refer to material things in which the churches and Christians communicate with each other. Sometimes it is translated as 'contribution', but it is the same Greek word. We share with one another on the spiritual level, too. For example, we share the same divine nature (1 Pet 1:4). We also share the same future hope and glory in eternal life (1 Pet 5:1). We also share salvation (Jude 3). Like a married couple, we share for better and for worse; we have to share the sufferings with one another (Phil 4:14, 2 Cor 1:1, Rev 1: ).
In closing, as we partake the body and blood of Christ, we should realize that it is a participation in Him and in one another. We have this partnership as a result of the broken body and the shed blood of Christ. We as a church must press forward. This partnership must not be brought in by rules and regulations. It can't be worked out through human rules; it has to be a spirit of God bringing us into true partnership with one another. One thing required from our part is our willingness to let God accomplish His purpose, so that we as a church may shine in this new generation as light in the midst of this hateful and hating world, so that they may look at us and say 'those are disciples of Christ because they love one another' (like the Early Church).
The Lord Jesus said, 'For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother' (Mt 12:50).
- End of the series of expositions on Communion -
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Communion Series:
- Worship
- A Sharing in the Body of Christ
- God's Expression of Love to Us
- Pressing toward the Mark of the High Calling
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