Being Broken and Poured Out

Let's turn to 1 Corinthians in chapter 10, verse 15. I speak, well maybe verse 14, therefore my beloved flee from idolatry. And the main idolatry that we are in danger of in the church is the worship of ourselves and our own desires and our own honor and everything else.

So I speak as to wise men, judge what I say. Isn't the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Isn't the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? So that's the first thing that Jesus when he broke the bread and poured out the wine it was symbolic of our having to be broken and poured out for others. And if all of us take that position, then we will be one body.

And that is a symbol of there is one bread, there is one body and we all partake of it. So that the breaking and the pouring out is not in the meeting, you know that. It's in our whole life since the last time we broke bread, which is in the last one month.

When it says later on in chapter 11, in relation to the breaking of bread, verse 11, 28. A man must, a man or a woman must examine himself or herself in doing this to eat the bread and drink the cup. So in connection with what we read in the previous chapter, what do I have to examine myself in? And that is, have I been broken? Have I been poured out in the last one week? Or have I been willing for that? Or do I resist when the Lord wants to pour me out? Pour me out means to empty, to be emptied of self.

That's what it means to be poured out. And broken means where I don't want to have my way, I'm willing to yield my will. So those who take their Christian life seriously, you know we break bread only once a month.

It's good to look back and see how the last one month was. It's good to pause always before we break bread and to think, how was it in the last 30 days or 31 days since we last broke bread? To the best of our knowledge, in different situations, are we willing to be poured out by the Lord? Are we willing to be broken? Or is there resistance? And you know what that means in your personal life. It's usually in the family life that we discover whether we are willing to be poured out or broken.

And if we were not, no need to condemn ourselves, but we need to pray and say, Lord, I've broken bread. In fact, the cup's so many years now. When are things going to change? We must have a passion that as soon as possible, the way of the cross becomes our way of life.

So that anytime, anywhere, we can break bread. In the early days, they broke bread once every week. We read in Acts 20, in the first day of the month they broke, first day of the week they broke bread.

And there are people who, I know we should be willing to break bread every day. I mean spiritually, we should be willing and we are ready. That means every day of our life, we are willing to be broken and poured out.

So that is the thing that we need to examine ourselves and then eat the bread and drink the cup. And if we have failed not to blame anybody else, very often when we have resisted something and refused to be broken or poured out, there's a spontaneous desire to blame someone else. That person did like this, the provocation was too much.

But we must believe what, you know, before it speaks about the breaking of bread, in 1 Corinthians 10, we were looking at 1 Corinthians 10, I speak as to verse 15, I speak as to wise men, judge what I say. What did he just say? What he said in verse 13, 1 Corinthians 10, 13 was, no temptation has taken you which is too much for you, God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability. So what excuse do you have for not being broken or poured out? So read that all together, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, no temptation has taken you in the last one month, in your home or anywhere else, that was beyond what you were able to conquer, not even one.

If you didn't conquer, it was not because it was beyond your ability, it was within your ability, but God doesn't force anyone to be broken, God doesn't force anyone to be poured out. You were not willing to be broken and you were not willing to be poured out and that's why there was some stiffness and there was some tension and there were some rude words and whatever else there was, and now we come to break bread, saying, yes, I'm being poured out, I'm being broken, it's a lie, but we can repent and say, Lord, it was a failure. All of my past months has been a failure, but it's going to be different from today.

I've understood something today and I want, when this situation happens next, I want to remember what I testified in the breaking of bread, I want to be poured out, I want to be broken. So let man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread. There's hope for everyone, because we all start in the same pit and we can all reach the same height, if we choose the way of the cross.

Amen.