Introduction:
Bread was the most common food in the Middle East in Bible times just as it is in the world today. A major problem facing many people in the world today is malnutrition, starvation, and death. Many experts attribute the problem to global warming and the change in the rainfall pattern. This, they claim, is the reason for the increasing wild fires, floods and drought affecting many areas around the world. The situation is made worse through conflicts and war, through bad economic management, through bribery and corruption, and through greed and wastage. A recent survey has established that all the left-over food that is being thrown away by restaurants, hotels and shops alone can feed all the malnourished, starving and dying people in the world. A concerned world, a world where love is not just a word but a way of life, has the resources to feed all malnourished and starving people in the world. The world, however, does not only need physical nourishment, it also needs spiritual nourishment. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16) Christ is our Living Bread and offers eternal life to every spiritual malnourished and starving person who comes to Him.
Step One: Give us our daily bread
a) Bread to feed the body
Bread is an essential need. We need bread to feed the physical body. The Lord is the source of all are needs and Jesus taught us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread”. When one is hungry enough he will go to great lengths and do all that it takes to find food.
b) The Living Bread to give life
There is also a spiritual hunger that craves to be met that is different from physical hunger. We are spirit, we possess a soul and we live in a body. All of us are born spiritually dead for in Adam “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. (Rom 3:23) This spiritual hunger craves for the life that only Jesus Christ, the Living Bread and the source of eternal life, can give.
c) The Bread of life to sustain life
Man’s spirit that is spiritually alive is holy and perfect. His soul, his thinking, will and emotions however, need to be renewed and sustained. “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Mat. 4:4) We need the Word of God to renew the mind and sustain spiritual growth and wellbeing.
Illustration:
God has made provision to sustain the whole man. He has made provision to sustain the body since man needs it to live on earth. God provides what man needs but man, created in God’s image with the power of choice, decides what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat. He must make wise choices that will take care of his body. A healthy body is important if man is to enjoy the quality of life that glorifies God. Most people, however, have developed appetites for the wrong food. They prefer the sugary delicacies of cakes, sweets and deserts. They prefer hormone and antibiotic reared animals fed on special processed foods laced with chemical ingredients to animals fed on grass. They prefer genetic modified grains, fruits, and vegetables to genetic pure varieties. This eating disorder affects our health and leads to a myriad of sicknesses, diseases and cancers. There is a wise saying that we eat to live and not live to eat. Many people live to eat and end up being overweight and obese. Overweight and obesity accounts for most Cardio-vascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and various cancers. There are also eating disorders that leads to severe weight loss known as anorexia and bulimia. Those suffering from these diseases, mainly women, feel rejected by the way they look and believe that weight loss is the solution. These eating disorders are the result of wrong thinking and wrong believing.
Application:
Wrong thinking and wrong believing have also led to a spiritual eating disorder that prefers food that leads to death to food that leads to life. What appears to satisfy only to lead to death cannot be compared in any way to the Living bread that truly satisfies and leads to life.
Step Two: The Living Bread
a) Christ is the living bread
Christ is the Living Bread and declares, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus Christ, by using the revealed name of God “Yahweh” “I Am Who I Am”, to describe who He is, was declaring He is God and the source of life.
b) Christ died to give life
Christ, the Son of God and the source of life, died to give us life. He who was without sin, took our sin and was made sin and judged for our sin. On the Cross He bore the judgement of God on sin through His suffering and death to pay the penalty for sin “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. (Rom 6:23)
c) Eternal life is received through faith
Christ died to give us eternal life, and this life is received through faith. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive”. (1Co 15:22) Christ paid the penalty for sin for our forgiveness and justification. Our salvation does not depend on anything we have done but on what Christ has done. He has reconciled us to the Father and we are saved “By grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God”. (Eph. 2:8)
Illustration:
The Bible begins with the words “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. Everything begins with Him. He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end”. (Rev 22:13) When God begins something He has already made provision for the end. He created all that man would need to live on earth before He created man. God also made available all that man would need for his new life before He saved man. God has already made provision to deal with every situation we face in life. God’s provisions are available to all people. When Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah, he was filled with fear and fled for his life. How could this happen to a man like Elijah? How could a man who had performed many miracles and won great victories suddenly become depressed, discouraged, and even wish to die? If it could happen to Elijah, it could also happen to us. Just as God made provision to meet Elijah’s need so also, He makes provision to meet our needs. He made provision for Elijah to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. His provision was baked cake and water. God has also made provision to meet our needs when we face times of depression and discouragement. God’s provision for believers is the Body and Blood of Christ, bread and wine.
Application:
As believers, God has made provision to strengthen, protect and sustain us as we journey through life. He has given us the sacrament of the Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Christ. We must discern what the body and blood of Christ has done for us.
Step Three: The Christ centred life
a) Believe that Jesus Christ is Lord
The body of Christ was broken for our healing and His blood shed for our forgiveness so that we can live His life. This is made possible when we “confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead”. (Romans 10:9) Christ comes to live in us to enable us live a Christ centred life.
b) Believe that you are the righteousness of God
The Christ centred life believes that “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. (Rom 8:1) As believers, we are the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ”. (Rom. 3:22) This is the only way we can deal with sin in our lives. Sin consciousness will only lead to guilt, shame and fear. It will make us hide from God as Adam and Eve did after they had disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.
c) Believe that you are a child of God
When we believe that we are righteous then we must also believe that God sees Christ in us. Then we must also believe we are His children. As a child of God, we can come to Him and call Him Father and our heavenly Father will not withhold any good thing from His children.
Illustration:
Every good gift comes from God. He fed the Israelites with manna in the wilderness and today feeds the world with the Living Bread. Jesus Christ is the Living Bread from heaven and gives eternal life to all who believe. We cannot receive the Living Bread and continue to betray Christ by the way we live. Unbelievers have a difficulty believing what believers say about Christ because their lifestyles contradict their words. A positive transformation of a Christ centred life will not only impact the world but make them more readily accept the good news of the grace of Christ. How can one talk about Christ and continue to steal and lie? How can others believe what we have to say about Christ when, instead of seeing us demonstrate His love, compassion, kindness and forgiveness they only see anger, bitterness and unforgiveness?
Application:
Let our lives make an impact on the world as they see Christ in us. Let us be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven us. (Eph. 4:32)
Conclusion:
Every person who believes in Christ receives the gift of eternal life. God gives us a new nature, a new status and a new direction in life. Believers are to share this good news to meet the needs of the hungry multitudes. As disciples of Jesus Christ we are to follow His example. Jesus looked at five thousand hungry men, excluding women and children, and fed them all with five loaves and two fish. Jesus blessed the bread and fish before He gave them to His disciples to share among the multitude and everyone ate and was satisfied. After His death, Jesus Christ has given His disciples the true bread of life that is able to meet the need of the many spiritual malnourished and starving people in the world today and save them from eternal separation from God.
Personal Response:
Are we being Christlike as we share the gospel of grace with others. Christ lives in us and “As Christ is so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Let us present the malnourished, starving and dying in the world today with the Living Bread to the praise and glory of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
