Eat This Bread Drink This Cup
The purpose of this podcast is to help individuals, groups and churches observe the Lord's Supper. The podcast includes a relevant portion of Scripture, brief commentary, prayer, and participation in partaking of the bread and drinking from the cup.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Eat This Bread Drink This Cup
Ransomed
Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is, "Ransomed." The meditation is based on 1 Peter 1: 17-21, a passage of Scripture from the New Testament. All quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.
My hope 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!
Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "Ransomed." I read from 1 Peter 1: 17-21. All quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.
17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake. 21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
When a person first breaks the law of God, he or she sins and becomes a lawbreaker. This choice has major consequences, which are likely unknown to the person, but are true, nevertheless. Lawbreakers become subjects of the kingdom of this world and without a change of heart, they will share the same fate as the devil and his angels—death. This fate was never God's desire for humankind! He had something better in mind for His creation—a rescue plan.
Peter explains in his letter that a person can switch sides and become subjects of the kingdom of God. But in order for this to be possible, God, to satisfy His own code of justice, had to pay a ransom to liberate the lawbreaker. God chose Jesus as His ransom before the world began—the "precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God." This ransom is not automatically applied to humankind but is available to the one who puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
In meeting together today to partake of the bread and drink from the cup, we remember Jesus's death on the cross to ransom us from the kingdom of this world. Through faith in Jesus, we have forgiveness of our sins. These were the chains that bound us but now they are broken by the blood of Jesus. This is the good news that has been revealed in the last days! 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. Thank-you, Abba, Father, for choosing to ransom us from the kingdom of this world through faith in Your Son, Jesus. We know the price that was paid was the "precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God." We overwhelmed by how much You loved us! We long for the day when we can be with You in eternity. 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."