These are my notes in preparation for our 11/13/2011 church meeting.
Leader: Tim Harris
Assignment
Today's assembly will be focused on praying through our list of requests and aimed at growing in prayer.
Our Lord's Supper thoughts will be focused on Jesus as the bread of life.
Lord's Supper Notes
- Read Mark 8:1-21 and Matt. 16:1-12 (p.1409 in The Daily Bible) regarding Jesus' feeding of the 4,000 and the events that followed it. Jesus warns the apostles to beware the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
- Read John 6:25-59 (pp. 1405-1406 in The Daily Bible) regarding Jesus' teachings on Himself as the Bread of Life.
- Read John 14:4-7 (p. 1460 in The Daily Bible) regarding Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.
When Jesus provided physical food for the 5,000 and 4,000, He was offering a form of Himself in that He provided miraculously for their needs in that moment. But the point of Jesus' teachings in John 6 is that Jesus offers us something so much more valuable than our fill of bread and fish. He offers us Himself—His body and His blood, food indeed and drink indeed. Jesus promises us that the one who eats His body will live forever! Jesus' flesh is given for the life of the world.
Lest we forget that it isn't about the elements Jesus used (bread and wine), John 14 reminds us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Thomas didn't know where Jesus was going and Jesus pointed out that where He was going physically didn't matter, because they knew Him and were connected to (abiding in—John 15) Him spiritually. When we eat the bread and drink the cup in a fitting way (focused on Jesus), we are reconnecting and reaffirming our connection to Jesus—who is the Life! That's a lot more special than a piece of bread and a cup of juice.
