I will attend to the Breaking of the Bread
I will attend to the breaking of the bread
and to the prayers.
Yesterday I had the great pleasure of spending the day
with Rachel and Joe
in New York.
We mostly talked,
walked,
and ate.
Throughout the day
the conversation came back to two things:
That Belonging House
has worked hard to build a culture.
And how do we better communicate that culture
to the people we are called to Disciple:
Artists and creative people.
Often people come to Belonging House
because they like my books
but then leave
because I do not build or strive
like they think I should.
They leave because
they think we are building a "Christian Arts Ministry."
We are not.
We are an apostolic mission
to an unreached people group.
And that mission
doesn't change the core apostolic message or method.
We are called
to go into all the world
and preach the gospel,
discipling artists and creative people
and baptizing them in the name of the
Father,
Son,
and Holy Spirit.
Most of what we see in Christian arts ministry
assumes two things:
First, that artists are already disciples
and that they are the product of a Christian culture.
All you have to do is try to find artists
to meet in New York City.
You will find lots of communist activist groups,
and LBGTQ+++++fellowship groups,
but very few groups that really are about art.
They are being discipled,
just not by Christians.
Second,
the arts and creative professions
are the "frosting" on the cake of life.
They are extras that you get to do in your leisure time.
Actually, many Christians also believe that
Christianity is also a leisure activity,
and treat it as such.
And because of this,
everything is negotiable
and no one takes it seriously.
I have seen this in the recent church splits
in my own and other denominations.
If those who uphold orthodox Christianity
really believed what they say they believe
they would not have given up and rolled over
to the woke mob.
They would have fought to the death
like our mothers and fathers did
to preserve the faith once handed to the saints.
Instead,
they just formed other half hearted religious clubs
with people they agree with.
Not serious.
This is why
the culture we are forming in Belonging House International
is so important,
and why this fall we are going to emphasive
the Twelve I Wills.
Why making the Belonging House Commitment is critical.
And how being in a Fire Team will change your life.
We need to strengthen our culture
in this mission to the unreached
artists and creative people
who shape Western culture and civilization.
My mentor Kaye Gauder once said,
the culture is screaming.
Our civilization is in an existential crisis
and this is our only hope.
So why does this "I will"
take me into such heavy territory?
Because I will attend to the Breaking of Bread and of Prayer
is where the proverbial "rubber meets the road."
This "I will" comes from Acts 2:42.
And it uses a term that Luke uses twice directly,
and infers multiple times in his gospel and the book of Acts.
The breaking of the bread.
Luke first uses this term
in his resurrection account.
In Emmaus,
Jesus takes the bread,
gives thanks,
breaks it and gives it to the disciples.
In the moment Jesus broke the bread
the disciples recognize him
and they say
"didn't our hearts burn within us
as we talked with him along the road,
and then we knew him in the breaking of the bread."
In Acts 2:42,
we get the best description of the best of the
first few weeks of the church,
"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."
The New Living Translation mistranslates this to say
the had "meals (Lord's supper)."
This was not a meal.
This was the Eucharist.
And in Acts,
anytime you see the phrase
Broke bread
linked to "give thanks"
you are seeing a reference to Holy Communion.
The word
"give thanks"
is Eucharistia.
Eucharist.
So we have a couple things here.
We know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
The first Christians devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching,
to the breaking of the bread,
and the prayers.
And the Lord added to their number daily
those who were being saved.
People want revival,
and this is how you get it.
Let's look at the church
one hundred years later.
This is from the writings of Justin Martyr.
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.
There are several things
that I want to point out here.
First,
this is the earliest
description of what happens
on a Sunday
outside the Bible.
We can see the skeleton of
the liturgy
already in place.
The service is
Bible
preaching
prayer
and Eucharist.
It happens on Sunday.
And most interestingly,
Justin said
that Jesus taught his apostles
to do this
after he rose from the dead.
If you ever wondered what happened
in the forty days after the resurrection
this is it.
And the church did it for almost twenty years
before any of the New Testament was written.
Jesus taught them
to teach about him
from the scriptures
so that hearts would burn.
Then he told them to take bread,
give thanks,
break it,
and feed the multitudes.
And they did.
And they over time
would convert the largest and most powerful
empire the world had ever known.
Now it's our turn.
This "I will" is what makes Belonging House International
an apostolic movement.
We are not another religious club,
or prophetic arts ministry.
We are about making artists and creative people
into the disciples who can disciple nations.
And it begins with attending to the breaking of the bread
and to the prayers.
Attend
means three things.
The American Heritage dictionary says:
To be present at.
"attended the lecture."
To go regularly to.
"attended class every Tuesday and Thursday."
To accompany as a circumstance or follow as a result.
"The speech was attended by wild applause."
Webster's says
that it also means to consider or give attention to.
When I was a child, we were told
You are what you eat.
So this statement says three things about
who are becoming warrior artist disciples.
They will be present at the Eucharist.
They will regularly participate.
They will consider and ponder what this means.
In other words,
this is about showing up
and being part of the Body of Christ,
and letting the mystery of this act
become something that shapes you
and makes you into the Image of Jesus in the earth.
Although it is a nice slogan:
"that we make master copies of Jesus
the Icon of the Father"
it is a real thing.
That's the idea,
that you would be bread and wine for the life of the world.
And out of that comes the second part
I will pray.
Now this one does not require your presence,
but it assumes
that as you consume the life of Jesus
you take on the mission of Jesus.
You embrace the mission to pray for the world.
Jesus intercedes for us
and we participate in that work.
That we pray for all leaders,
and those in authority.
We pray for nations,
the world,
the church,
and those who need our prayers.
This is not about you.
So as you see,
becoming a believer
and experiencing the Spirit filled life
requires you
then make it real.
Attend the Breaking of the Bread
and the prayers.
And when you do this
you begin to really come into what it means
to be a disciple.
I received a testimony from a member of our community this week,
and it really touched me.
Since communion started recently in the weekday mornings my day is so much more happier and optimistic and I'm healthier. I must be, by faith l have more frequently taken communion than I ever have and I think Jesus is teaching me more so how to honor His blood and body and just seeing it as the Body of Life, Light and Love inside of me. Since communion started I noticed a positive impact in me and my interaction with coworkers.
That wasn't coincidence.
That's how it is supposed to work.
Thank you God.
Of course,
when you start doing this,
you see a pattern that is right there in the book of Acts.
You see sparks begin to fly
when people get put close together.
If you are in a fun religious club
that's when you run away and find another.
You find ones with better music
and people who agree with you
and who are nice.
Until they are not.
We are not a club.
So the next I will follows from this one:
I will stay in relationship with others.
For cats,
that might be the hardest one of all.
Member discussion