The Bread of Life

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #125e Written 20JUL08 http://groups.msn.com/AHealingShelter/welcome.msnw

Spiritual Survival: Part Five—The Bread of Life

by rev dave c

Just as we must breathe clean air, drink potable water, receive adequate rest, and eat wholesome food in order to sustain physical life—we must also pray without ceasing, search the Scripture daily, attend Church regularly, and maintain constant fellowship with other Believers in order to sustain our spiritual life. So far we have discussed the relationship between air and prayer, water and the Word, rest and the Sabbath—and so, now remains the metaphoric correlation between our requirement for food and our need for relationships with fellow Christians.

We need to eat on a daily basis, not just to remain healthy, but to maintain physical existence itself. This transliterates spiritually as fellowship among believers. This fellowshipping includes the scheduled meetings of a church during the week for services, prayer, and study, but more than that, it involves the daily interactions of Christians with one another as they work, play, suffer, and rejoice. In John 13:34, Jesus tells us, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." When we love someone, we naturally want to spend time in their company.

It is more than coincidence that throughout the Bible we find the sharing of food as a common element in the establishment and expression of friendly association. When Abraham encountered Melchizedek, a priestly type of Christ in the Old Testament (He 5:6), we are told in Genesis 14:18, Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. Abigail brought two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs (1Sa 25:18; NIV) out to King David to successfully assuage his anger against Nabal, her husband. Acts 2:46 tells us concerning the thousands who were being added to the Church, Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts (NIV). Appearing to his disciples for the third time after His resurrection, Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish (Jn 21:12&13; NIV).

In John 6:32 we read: Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." 34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. ...48 "I am the bread of life. 49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 "This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." 52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" 53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever" (NASV).

Jesus twice broke a few loaves of bread and fishes to feed thousands (Mk 8:1-10 & 9:12-17), but even more miraculously, Jesus intimated to his disciples in the upper room, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."...And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me" (Lu 22:15,16, & 19). Finally, in John 6:35, ... Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry…(NIV). Christ broke the bread of His body in order to provide sustenance for the Church; that is, the congregate gathering of all believers through-out time and space. While Jesus fed thousands with the miracles of loaves and fishes, He feeds millions, possibly billions, spiritually through the Holy Communion that is shared regularly by all Believers in fellowship throughout the geography and history of His Bride and Body, the Church.

I would not be very happy, nor healthy, if I ate once a week. Spiritually, I require daily “meals” with my brothers and sisters in the Lord, as well as regular Sabbath gatherings. Furthermore, in the same fashion that a balanced diet of the various food groups is best for the functioning of our bodies and for growth, I need to Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn (Ro 12:15; NIV). This requires working, playing, talking and praying with my brothers and sisters in Christ on a routine basis. If we claim the name of Jesus, yet find ourselves shunning fellow believers, whether specifically or generally, we are suffering from spiritual anorexia and we need the healing touch of the Great Physician. “The Lone Ranger” was for television, not for Christians.