Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life from Heaven
July 6, 2025 · 40:04 · Watch on YouTube ↗
Summary
This is a communion service. After worship and a prayer remembering Christ's agony in Gethsemane and his death at Golgotha, and a blessing over the youngest children, the preacher opens John 6 to show who Jesus really is - the true bread that comes down from heaven. The crowd followed Jesus not because they grasped the miracle but because they had eaten and were filled, so he urges them, and us, to seek not perishable food but the food that endures to eternal life.
He contrasts the manna in the wilderness, a daily wonder from God's hand for forty years, with Jesus himself. The fathers ate manna and still died, but Jesus is the living bread: whoever comes to him will never hunger and whoever believes will never thirst. The Jews grumbled because they knew his earthly family and would not receive him as the Messiah from heaven. Only those born again and taught by the Spirit grasp the meaning of the cross, for the natural mind calls it foolishness.
The Lord's Supper is not meant to satisfy physical hunger but is real participation in the body and blood of Christ. Before partaking we must examine ourselves: are we at peace with God and with one another, and have we forgiven as Christ and Stephen forgave their killers? Remembering God's eternal love and the covenant sealed in his blood, the church proclaims his death until he comes, and he will surely come, so we must be ready.
Key Points
- Seek the food that lasts: follow Jesus not for passing benefits but for the eternal life only he gives.
- Jesus is the living Bread from heaven; manna fed the body for a time, but he is a Person who satisfies the soul forever.
- Coming to Christ and believing in him is the true work of God that ends spiritual hunger and thirst.
- To the natural mind the cross looks like foolishness; its meaning opens only to those born of the Spirit, so we must be born again.
- Communion is genuine sharing in Christ's body and blood, not a meal for the stomach; take it with reverence and self-examination.
- Forgive as Christ and Stephen forgave their killers; let go of bitterness so your heart is free at the Lord's table.
- Every Supper proclaims his death until he comes, so live ready for that meeting.
Devotional
Jesus offers me not passing comforts but his very self, the living Bread from heaven. When I come to him and truly believe, the deepest hunger of my soul is met and never returns. Before I approach his table, let me search my heart: am I at peace with God and with the people around me, and have I forgiven as freely as I have been forgiven? Where the Spirit of God is, there is freedom, so I ask him to lift every bitterness and make me clean. Then I can take the bread and the cup with reverence, proclaiming his death until he comes.
“Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.”
“The fathers ate manna and died; whoever feeds on the living Bread will live forever.”
“Forgive as Christ forgave from the cross, and come to his table with a free heart.”
