45 min

Breaking the Bread of Life Lake Merced Church of Christ

    • Christianity

Michael Rankins gave us a lesson on “Breaking the Bread of Life.” Taken from John 6:25-71, this occurred after Jesus had fed the five thousand with a few barley loaves and two fish. The crowd wrote off that miracle and asked what sign Jesus would give them, citing the manna from heaven that their ancestors had received. That manna did feed them, but only temporarily and, ultimately, those ancestors died. Jesus said (v 33) “For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… (v35) whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Jesus was telling them to stop focusing on food for their bellies and take in the bread that would feed their spirits - the Word of God. When he told them that (v 54) “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life”, many were confused, trying to understand the words literally, but the Bible uses many metaphors about God’s word as food. In Ezekiel 3:1-4, God tells Ezekiel to “eat this scroll”; he ate God’s word and “it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth”.

Michael listed some “food” from the book of John for us to take home and “chew on”:
1. Jesus is the Word of God (1.1)
2. That Word became flesh (1:14)
3. Jesus is the bread of life (6:35)
4. That bread came from heaven so that we might live forever (6:50-51)
5. If we consume the bread, it becomes part of us (6:56)
6. The Word contains Spirit and life (6:63)
7. The word of God and the bread of life are one and the same -- Jesus, the Christ!
Food sustains us for the day. Jesus, the bread of life, will carry us into eternal life. Let us eat eagerly and fill our hearts with the spirit of Jesus!

Michael Rankins gave us a lesson on “Breaking the Bread of Life.” Taken from John 6:25-71, this occurred after Jesus had fed the five thousand with a few barley loaves and two fish. The crowd wrote off that miracle and asked what sign Jesus would give them, citing the manna from heaven that their ancestors had received. That manna did feed them, but only temporarily and, ultimately, those ancestors died. Jesus said (v 33) “For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world… (v35) whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Jesus was telling them to stop focusing on food for their bellies and take in the bread that would feed their spirits - the Word of God. When he told them that (v 54) “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life”, many were confused, trying to understand the words literally, but the Bible uses many metaphors about God’s word as food. In Ezekiel 3:1-4, God tells Ezekiel to “eat this scroll”; he ate God’s word and “it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth”.

Michael listed some “food” from the book of John for us to take home and “chew on”:
1. Jesus is the Word of God (1.1)
2. That Word became flesh (1:14)
3. Jesus is the bread of life (6:35)
4. That bread came from heaven so that we might live forever (6:50-51)
5. If we consume the bread, it becomes part of us (6:56)
6. The Word contains Spirit and life (6:63)
7. The word of God and the bread of life are one and the same -- Jesus, the Christ!
Food sustains us for the day. Jesus, the bread of life, will carry us into eternal life. Let us eat eagerly and fill our hearts with the spirit of Jesus!

45 min