Instruction
Scripture: John6:51-69
Jesus taught about Himself as the living bread in response
to the desire of the Jews for earthly bread and earthly blessings. He speaks of
eating His flesh and drinking His blood in a way that refers to the life of
faith in which we receive Him and He gives us eternal life. This language and
the idea that Jesus was the source of life was offensive to Jesus’ hearers, and
many who had been His followers left Him after this. The point we get from
this, though, is that God draws us to believe in Jesus and His words are life
for us, and they give us eternal life.
Teaching
We must feed on Christ if we are to have life within us. This
means that we must devour His words and imbibe the good news that He has come
from the Father to save us. His presence is our life, which means that apart
from Him we are dead.
Jesus does not want us to put our confidence in flesh, which
means the things of this world. The Father has drawn us so that we might
receive the words of eternal life and believe in the one who came from heaven
to speak them and to do what they say must be done for us.
Life
Jesus asked, “Do you take offense at this?” He is basically
saying that apart from faith in Him there is no life, no hope, no salvation. Is
that offensive to you? Yet He also says, “Whoever feeds on this bread will live
forever.” That means that this faith is available to anyone who will receive
the gift of faith the Father offers and the life the Spirit gives.
Prayer
This prayer is written
in the themes of Thanksgiving, Confession, and Petition.
Lord Jesus, we thank You for being the living bread. We know
that ancient Israel ate the manna in the wilderness, but You have given us
bread that gives eternal life. Thank You! We are so grateful that the Father
sent You and that You came so that we might hear the words of eternal life from
You and live forever! Thank You for ascending to where You were before and for
giving us Your Spirit who gives us life.
Forgive us for the times in which we live as though the
flesh was what matters. It is with shame that we must admit that although we
have eaten Your flesh and drunk Your blood we have behaved as though we did not
have life within us. There have been times that we too deserted You because
Your teaching was hard and made us uncomfortable. There have been times that we
didn’t listen to You because we didn’t like the Word You spoke to us and You
challenged our understanding of God and how we come to live in Him. Please
forgive us!
We pray that You and Your Spirit would help us to share the
good news of the bread that gives everlasting life, which is Your flesh which You
gave for the life of the world. Draw many more people to Yourself that they may
have everlasting life. And please keep us filled with Your body and blood, and
with the words of eternal life, so that we might know You are the Holy One and
that our lives would help others to know You are the Holy One so they may have
the life You have won for all people. Amen.
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