Free

Welcome to the Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast. The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the New Testament, John 8: 31-38. All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission

As you listen to the episode today, my hope is that you will be encouraged from the time spent meditating on what Jesus has done for you. You are a special person; the one Jesus died to save!

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "Free." I read from John 8: 31-38. All quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”

34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. 37 Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”

On the last day of the Jewish Festival of Shelters in Jerusalem, Jesus surprised His followers by His teaching. He offered freedom to a group of people who did not know they were slaves! The group, thinking that Jesus was unaware of the real truth, protested to Jesus that they had never been slaves and did not need His offer of freedom. This is an example of how the authors of the Scriptures correctly quoted the incorrect statements of the people. The people had conveniently forgotten or were ignorant of their history of physical enslavement to the Egyptians and the Babylonians. Likewise, the people were ignorant of their spiritual slavery to sin and their slave master, the devil. These were stunning revelations, and the end of His discourse, the people did not rejoice, they picked up stones to throw at Him, rejecting both His teaching and claim to be God. Today, we might be inclined to judge these followers harshly if we conveniently forget that we were in their shoes not that long ago. Instead, let's focus on what we have gained by being faithful to His teachings. Jesus reminds us that a slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever! Jesus frees us from our slavery to sin and the devil and adopts us as sons—forever! When we partake of the bread and drink from the cup, we remember Jesus, and the cost He paid to redeem us from slavery. This was the only way Jesus could guarantee our freedom forever. Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Abba, Father, it is so easy to believe what we want to believe. Our culture encourages us to define truth as whatever seems right in our own eyes, and so many have followed in this groupthink. Thank-you, Abba, Father, that we have the truth preserved in the Scriptures, and it is they that testify to the truths that Jesus is Your Son, and His words are Your words, the truth. As we partake of the bread and drink from the cup, we remember Your Son, Jesus, the cost He paid to set us free from sin and death and adopt us as His sons. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26: 26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6: 24-26, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!