Your Personal Grow-Pray-Study (GPS) Guide

Monday – Read Exodus 12:3-6. What does the word “sacrifice” mean to you? Where have you seen “sacrifice” in your life or in the lives of others?

Tuesday – Read Exodus 12:7-11. After the blood of the lamb was spread over the doorway of the houses, the Israelites were commanded to cook and eat the meat. In doing this, they remembered that this animal took the brunt of their problems. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther called communion “food for the soul.” How have you seen the body and blood of Jesus be that for you?

Wednesday – Read John 6:51-59. Jesus had just fed over 5,000 people (not including women and children) using five loaves of bread and two fish. After He fed them, He went to the other side of the sea. The crowd followed Him. He knew they were after more food. He said to them: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27). He goes on to talk about eating His body and drinking His blood. If Jesus was talking metaphorically, why would people get so mad about His words? How do these verses point towards the cross? How do these verses point towards the sacrifice that Jesus makes?

Thursday – Read Mark 14:22-25. On the night that Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, He turns the tables. St. John says that Jesus washes their feet. Matthew, Mark, & Luke all record Jesus instituting Holy Communion. He points out, in a very real way, that He is becoming the Passover Lamb – the perfect sacrifice without blemish. Notice that Jesus does not give any additional explanation on His use of the word “is.” Neither does He say that what’s before Him is no longer bread. How can we believe that what we eat and drink in Communion is His body and blood while simultaneously being bread and wine? Do you ever struggle in this belief?

Friday – Read Isaiah 53:5. In what areas of your life do you struggle to believe that Jesus died, and therefore forgave, all that you have done? Where are you experiencing a problem in embracing the forgiveness that comes through Jesus?

Saturday – Read John 6:33. Jesus, the Bread that comes down from heaven, gives life to the world. Pray to God about those areas of life where you need Him most right now.

You can read more about Communion here!

Don't forget you can watch this week's sermon message or read the full PDF of the sermon message & GPS.

CREATE FOR COMMUNITY PRAYER REQUESTS: For patience with parking challenges during construction (currently estimating completion by the end of October 2019). For safety and efficiency of our construction crews. For those who have given generously for these improvements.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther said: “The bread and wine in the Supper are the true body and blood of Christ.”  He went onto say: “Such a mystery cannot be grasped except by faith and is revealed alone in the Word.”¹ To say more than the Word indicates is to step out-of-bounds. We embrace the mystery every time we take Communion. 

Some other helpful points as we think about this:

• We take Jesus at His word.  “This is my body.” “This is my blood.”  The context in which Jesus spoke these words and ate this meal was His last meal with His disciples before He would be crucified.  The mood is somber and serious, with little room for jokes or riddles. Here we take Jesus literally.  
• God uses created elements to convey His mercy.  God is in the business of creating and re-creating.  Jesus is God “incarnate,” in the flesh. In the same way, He likes to convey Himself in real things.
• As God and man, Jesus’ divine nature is shared with His human nature, allowing a supernatural presence whenever and wherever He wills.

In Christianity, there are typically three prevalent views of the Lord’s Supper: 

• Transubstantiation/Consubstantiation: The bread and wine become the body and blood, leaving no trace of bread and wine. This understanding is held by the Roman Catholic Church. 
• Remembrance Meal: The bread and wine stay the way they are, and the meal is simply remembering the Last Supper. This understanding is held by many Reformed Churches, including Baptist and Non-Denominational Traditions. 
• Real Presence: The bread and wine, after the Words of Institution have been said, become the body and blood of Christ while still being bread and wine. Jesus is truly in the Sacrament, just as He said, but wine and bread are still there as well. 

As Lutheran-Christians, we believe in the “Real Presence.” One Lutheran theologian said: “The Lutheran teaching does not make the bread imaginary bread, nor does it make the body of Christ an imaginary body. It teaches a true, essential bread and the true, essential body of Christ in the Sacrament because the Words of Institution state both.”² He went onto say: “As water and the application of water are a part of Baptism, so bread and wine and their reception are the earthly element of the Lord’s Supper. As we do not venture to substitute some other fluid for water in Baptism, so neither in the Lord’s Supper do we dare to substitute for bread and wine.”³

SOURCES:

1. Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 508.
2.  Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, electronic ed., vol. 3 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 298.
3.  Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, electronic ed., vol. 3 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953), 353-354.