The Church Should Be a Happy Family

Breaking of bread together is really like a family meal. That's how it was the first time Jesus, you know, broke bread and they had a meal together. It was a supper and along with that there was a breaking of bread.

And in the early church I think they used to eat their meal after the breaking of bread as well. So when we think of our relationship as a family and you've got to think of how it is between you and every single person sitting here with whom you are breaking a bread. And if you're not sure you can look around and see who are the people sitting here.

Part of this church, you know who are a part of this church. How is your relationship with every single one of them? How's your relationship first of all with your wife and your husband and your children at home? And then with every single person sitting here, you don't have to worry about their attitude. You only have to worry about your attitude.

That guy decides to break bread without judging himself. That's between him and the Lord. It's none of your business.

But if you have something coming short in your relationship with that person and you're breaking your bread, it's pretty serious. I was reading in 1 Peter chapter 3 and you know it speaks there about first of all about husbands and wives and then there's this lovely verse in verse 8 on Peter 3 and after speaking about the way wives and husbands should be related to each other. He says in verse 8 to sum up, all of you that is in the family should be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted and humble in spirit.

What a lot of things that are there. All of you harmonious. You know what harmonious means? Harmonious is like different musical instruments playing together and if one musical instrument is playing on a different scale or out of tune, everybody even a person without a musical ear can pick it up.

Something's wrong there. You don't know who it is but something's wrong. That's the meaning of harmonious.

Sympathetic. Sympathetic means to be compassionate towards other people. They may not be able to live up to your standard.

Then bear with them. Don't judge them. Judge yourself and it says brotherly, kindness, kind-hearted and humble in spirit.

I want to read that in the Living Bible. 1 Peter 3 verse 8 and now this word to all of you. You should be like one big happy family.

Is that true? As you look around and you say we are trying at least to be like one big happy family. Don't worry about the other person always. Yourself from your side.

Are you trying to be one big happy family? That's all. God will never ask you about another person. He won't even ask you about your wife or husband.

So just worry about yourself. You must be full of sympathy towards each other. The natural man is very quick to be hard on somebody to measure that person by my standard.

Well he may not have come up to your spiritual level yet. So full of sympathy. It's one thing to be sympathetic.

It's another thing to be full of sympathy towards one another and not just loving one another. I'm reading the Living Bible verse 9 verse 8. Loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. I like that paraphrase.

Tender heart and a humble mind. Tender heart is something that's very easily pricked, easily convicted about. Any small little thing pricks you.

That's a tender heart and a humble mind. Humility is in relation first of all to God and then in relation to each other. And it's an attitude of mind.

So let me read that again. And now this word to all of you. You should be like one big happy family full of sympathy toward each other.

Loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. That is a very good way by which to come to the breaking of bread and say Lord do I have that to examine myself on each of those qualities. And like we've often said in 1 Corinthians 11, when you come to the breaking of bread there's only one person we have to judge and that is ourselves.

It says in 1 Corinthians in chapter 11, a man must, man or woman, they must examine himself, herself and then eat of the bread and drink of that cup. I don't have to judge a single other person here. It's none of my business.

God is their judge. I have to examine myself. Now why do I say that? Because our natural tendency as the race of Adam, you know the first word that Adam spoke to God after he had sinned in eating the tree of knowledge of good and evil? God asked him a simple question.

Did you eat of that tree I told you not to eat? There are only two answers like these multiple choice questions. Yes or no? You know what Adam said? This woman gave me. Immediately there you see the very first words that Adam spoke to God after he sinned was to judge somebody else.

Why did the world did she give me this? Instead of humbly saying I'm sorry Lord I ate it. We have that tendency. It has come down from Adam to every one of us.

You see that little children. He did it. She did it.

It came down from Adam and if we don't overcome it when we are grown up we will still be doing the same thing just like Adam. God is asking a question yes or no? I won't say yes or no. I'll say she did it or he did it.

Let a man now that's got to be reversed at the breaking of bread. Let a man examine himself and then eat the drink but if you don't do that he's drinking. If you don't judge yourself you are drinking judgment.

You're not taking part in a bread and cup. You're drinking and eating judgment to yourself. Please remember that.

That bread will be judgment to yourself and that cup will be judgment to yourself if we take part without judging ourselves. It's a wonderful thing to judge ourselves. That's been a tremendous blessing for me for many many years.

It's helped me to purify myself through the years little by little by little and I discover things when you judge yourself. God shows you even more things that you never knew existed there within. So the breaking of bread is a great opportunity to pursue that path.