WHY ARE MANY SICK IN THE CHURCH TODAY? (PART 4, FINAL PART)
TEXT:
"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." (1st Corinthians 11 verses 29 to 30, King James Version)
The Holy Communion is one of the ordinances given by the Lord, the observance of which has brought tremendous blessings to the Church. One of such blessings is the healing of our mortal bodies. All along in this series, I have endeavored to show that because the Church has forgotten the significance of the Lord's broken body to the health of our mortal bodies, many are weak, sickly and sometimes, die prematurely. In relation to the Church at Corinth, Apostle Paul attributed this to their "not discerning the Lord's body".
Regarding the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, otherwise known as the Holy Communion, two emblems are used by which we remember the suffering of the Lord Jesus, our Passover Lamb: the bread and the wine. These are types of His body being stripped and lacerated for our physical healing, and of His blood being shed for the forgiveness of our sins.
In 1st Corinthians 10 verse 16, Apostle Paul interpretes these two emblems as follows:
"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 convenience sake and for lack of space and time, I'm going to dwell more on the broken Communion bread that represents the Lord's body which was stripped when He bore our sicknesses, so that we would no longer have to bear them, but could be healed of them.
Just as the Israelites partook of the body of the lamb that was slain in Egypt on the Passover night, the bread we eat at the Communion table is a token of the body of Jesus our Passover Lamb which was broken for our healing.
Indeed, we have been taught that the body of Jesus was pierced for us, but we have not been taught the benefits we could receive because His body was also torn for us and why the stripes were laid on Him. In other words, this beneficial aspect of the Lord's broken body has been overlooked by the Church and hasn't been properly discerned hence, according to Apostle Paul, many were weak and sickly in the Church at Corinth and by extension, among us today.
Just two weeks ago, I had the privilege to serve the Sacrament of the Holy Communion in my Church. In a short message before serving the bread and wine, I spoke along these lines that I have been sharing in this series. Soon after I had served the Communion, a man observed that as he ate the bread, he felt some chilling sensation through his throat down to his belly and that before he knew it, he had been healed of angina. Angina is the medical terminology used to describe the pains often felt on the jaw down to the neck, shoulder, chest, arm and the back because the Coronary vein that supplies blood to the heart is blocked. It's a situation that easily results in stroke. This brother rose up from the Communion table and went home completely healed because he had discerned the Lord's body.
Unless and until the Church is made to understand that the Communion bread we eat is the Body of the Lord broken for our healing, the good health that has been secured for us through Jesus' broken body will continue to elude us.
Just as the flesh of the slain lamb that was eaten by the Israelites in Egypt on the Passover night became part of their individual bodies, ministering life and strength unto them, the Communion bread we eat being the type of the Lord's broken body becomes flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones. Indeed, the bread we eat at the Communion table proves that "we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Ephesians chapter 5 verse 30).
So therefore, the next time you eat the bread, do rejoice and accept the fact that your sick and weak body has been supplanted; that it has become bone of Jesus' Bone, flesh of His Flesh, and body of His Body; that the Life of Christ has been made manifest in your mortal flesh; which means that sickness no longer has power over you; that you are healed!
In this way, you discern the Lord's body.
Until we are taught to believe and to act on this by faith, many in the Church will continue to remain weak, sickly and sometimes, die prematurely because they do not discern the Lord's Body.
PRAYER:
Lord, the next time I come to the Communion table, I come with the understanding that the bread I eat is Your broken body for me, that results in my healing because through it, Your Life is made manifest in my mortal body.