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Sunday 6/14/26
Title: Breaking the Bread of Fellowship Pt. 2
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Breaking the Bread of Fellowship Pt. 2
Last week we turned to John 6 in our study about being purposeful in our life of faith in God. To continually come to Him and trust Him to continue His ongoing saving work within us and forming Christ’s image within us.
All the while we have been mindful of two examples we’ve placed in our crosshairs – that of the initial, weeks old early church and that of the Ephesian church at the close of the 1st century who had neglected the love they possessed at the first.
Go ahead and turn to John 6…
You will remember that we ended in verse 35 but we are backing back up to verse 28 for context before we press onward this morning.
As last week, I am reading from the ESV… beginning in verse 28
“(28) Then they said to Him,
“What must we do, to BE doing the works of God?”
(29) Jesus answered them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has sent.”
The fact that God has never required, of any person or people group, initial blind faith, should solidly place this statement of Jesus in a context which says, “come to know Me”. Or as Jesus often said it, “possess eyes to see in ears to hear”.
“(30) So they said to Him,
“Then what sign do You do, that we may see and believe You? What work do You perform? (31) Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
(32) Jesus then said to them,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but My Father GIVES you the true bread from heaven. (33) For the bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
You can see here that Jesus is trying to get them to know Him and therefore believe Him.
“(34) They said to Him,
“Sir, give us this bread always.”
(35) Jesus said to them,
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.”
This is a great example of what I pointed out to you last week that these statements were all focused upon an ongoing action and life.
The grammatical structure and the immediate narrative context of John 6:35 strongly imply an ongoing commitment to fellowship and dependence, rather than a one-time transaction.
The Greek present tense primarily communicates a continuous, ongoing, or habitual action.
While the substantive participle has Jesus describing a lifestyle or identity.
A literal translation would look like this – “the one who is continually coming” and “the one who is continually believing“.
The context supports this as well since the object lesson is centered around a daily need of nourishment – namely bread.
So the “work of God” they are to busy themselves with is a continual coming to the Father through Jesus in a long-term relationship of knowing and trusting (faith).
It is a commitment to ‘The Fellowship’s – ongoing fellowship or koinonia.
Remember 1st John tells us that the fellowship is not just horizontal among the brethren but it is first vertical between us and God. He also says that you cannot have one without having the other.
This backs our primary lesson which is that faith is NOT a once and done prospect but an ongoing relationship of continual growth in actively trusting Christ.
If Jesus had meant to communicate that a singular, isolated event of coming and trusting was all that was necessary, John in recording it, would likely have used an aorist participle (denoting a single, completed action).
The choice to use the present tense portrays a continuous and relational drawing near to God the Father through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And if the teaching is that we come to know the Father through the Son and as a result trust them both, then it stands to reason that the invitation is a continual one as well.
We are forever welcomed before the throne of God.
We read in Isaiah 55 “everyone who is thirsty come and have your thirst quenched without cost”.
I offered you several examples throughout scripture illustrating this extremely important point.
- Jesus said at the great feast, “whoever is weary and heavy latent come and learn of Me and you will find rest for your souls.”
- When God says to the church of Thessalonica to “pray without ceasing”.
- When the psalmist says, “pour out your heart before Him God is a refuge for us” and when he warms us to not “be like a horse or like the mule who have no understanding and will not come near unless they’re harnessed with bit and bridal”.
- When we are told by the writer of Hebrews to “…come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
- And by Paul to the Philippians that we are to “be anxious for nothing but in everything come before our God in prayer with a heart and attitude of worship and thanksgiving”.
Are we not being told by all of this, not only that God wants to be known and discovered but that He invites us to seek Him and find Him – that He is indeed not very far from every one of us for in Him we live and move and have a very being.
We can do that without being hungry and pursuing.
Get out of your tent, go and look for, gather and eat the manna God has provided and will provide!
So Jesus continues,
“(36) But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.
(37) All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. (…that is – whoever lives out a continual coming after Me, a pursuing of Me in relational trust I would never cast out).”
Can you see the connection between this and the branches that fail “to abide in the Vine” who are summarily “cast out”? (John 15:6)
“(38) For I have come down from heaven, not to do My Own will but the will of Him Who sent Me. (39) And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day.”
(40) For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
[“Looks on” means – To gaze, to look with interest and for a purpose, usually indicating the careful observation of details.]
If spoken within a relational context like this one, how could it fail to mean anything less than to pursue both physically and intellectually and with the whole heart someone who has captured your attention and in whom you are deeply interested.
“(41) So the Jews grumbled about Him, because He said,
“I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
(42) They said,
“Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, Whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
(43) Jesus answered them,
“Do not grumble among yourselves.
(44) No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
Now here would be easy for those who are already predisposed to believe in predestination to think that this whole conversation is a charade. Meaning – if only those who God draws CAN come, AND ALL THE ONES HE DOES DRAW WILL COME, then why are we having this conversation?
God drawing the human heart is an act of grace and grace is not arbitrary but is open and in fact promised to all who are humble. The Bible does not say God will humble your heart and then give it grace. But rather The God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble therefore humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand and he will exalt you in due time.
You cannot react in pride to a word from God you’ve never heard any more than you can act in humility to a God you’ve never heard. Given this Jesus says next…
“(45) It is written in the Prophets,
‘And they will all be taught by God.’
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me— (46) not that anyone has seen the Father except He Who is from God; He has seen the Father.”
There’s a distinct difference between being taught and learning as a result.
“Taught”, used with the gen. of the agent as in John 6:45, “taught of God,” meaning having the inherent possibility of being taught by God and therefore bearing personal responsibility.
In 1 Cor. 2:13 it refers to things or lessons taught or imparted or suggested by the Holy Spirit as contrasted to the things taught by words of human wisdom.
There are things that are not taught by human wisdom but by God’s Spirit, and the possibility of that learning is available to everybody as the word “all” makes clear in John 6:45.
“(47) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”
All this makes so much more sense than it ever used to before we really focused on Jesus’s definition of “eternal life” as it is stated by Him in John 17:3 and His definition of faith as investing relational trust in someone you’ve come to know.
With these facts in place though, these words practically preach themselves.
“(48) I am the bread of life.
(49) Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.”
Now remember that Deut. 8 tells us what God’s intended lesson of the manna was… what was it?
“Mankind cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that PROCEEDS out of the mouth of God.” – Deut. 8:3
Remember this when we get further in this passage because Jesus makes a direct connection between this bread of His flesh and the words He speaks.
“(50) This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
(51) I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
(52) The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
(53) So Jesus said to them,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
The participation in the bread and the wine make this koinonia and therefore a shared life, shared experience and shared resources.
We enter into and in fact possess eternal life because life eternal was in Christ.
“In Him was life and that life was the light of men.”
“(54) Whoever feeds on (a continual coming) My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (55) For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
(56) Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM.
(57) As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on Me, he also will live because of Me.
(58) This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
(59) Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as He taught at Capernaum.
(60) When many of His disciples heard it, they said,
“This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
Who can do what? Listen to it!
Jesus was teaching them and therefore these people were being taught by God even as that verse said earlier but just because they were being taught didn’t mean they were truly listening or learning.
“(61) But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, said to them,
“Do you take offense at this? (62) Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
(63) It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (64) But there are some of you who do not believe.”
That is where this trust relationship I spoke of earlier comes in. We are not the employee who is overly diligent but we have learned to trust in and rely upon our Partner, our Helper in the faith Who is the person of the Holy Spirit.
He has been given to us to lead us and guide us into all truth.
Therefore it is incumbent upon us to actively place our trust in his diligence and believe He is doing His job. But that also requires that our eyes remain on Jesus and not on just studying alone.
(For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.)
(65) And He said,
“This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
(66) After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.
(67) So Jesus said to the twelve,
“Do you want to go away as well?”
(68) Simon Peter answered Him,
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,”
The words of union with God.
“(69) and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.”
Of course we read from 1 Corinthians 10-11 in previous messages. The key points being:
Paul called the communion meal our participation in the body and the blood of Jesus.
It too was and is a living memorial or parable of continually pursuing and partaking of Jesus by faith and so entering into His death with Him as well as pressing through the grave into new life with Him.
In chapter 11 Paul links our love for the body of Christ, as in other Christians, with respect for His actual body which was sacrificed for us.
If we fail to show love and respect for each other, we fail to show it to Him.
If this is allowed and continual, then our external participation in the Communion meal is a lie and one that WILL BE judged – either by ourselves, which Paul encourages, or by God so that we will not be condemned with the world.
Now let’s read Jesus’ words
Matthew 26:26-29,
“(26) Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said,
“Take, eat; this is My body.”
(27) And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of it, all of you, (28) for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (29) I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
Next week:
These highlight
the early church’s devotion to the “breaking of bread,” which included both shared meals and the Lord’s Supper.
Regular meals
The Sabbath (Shabbat) Meal: The Friday night family and community meal transforms a regular dinner into a sanctified boundary of time. Characterized by the blessings over the wine (Kiddush) and the bread (Hamotzi), this communal gathering creates sacred space, emphasizing peace (Shalom Bayit), rest, and family unity.
Acts 20:7: Demonstrates the early church gathering on the first day of the week specifically to break bread. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
You said: early church historical writings which show how the early church viewed communal meals (not the Lord’s supper)early church historical writings which show how the early church viewed communal meals (not the Lord’s supper)
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Early Christians viewed communal meals, known as the Agape meal or love feast, as vital expressions of charity, unity, and radical equality. Far from being simple potlucks, they were ritualized religious banquets designed to feed the poor, foster community, and reflect the kingdom of God. [1, 2, 3]
Key historical writings provide a window into how the early church viewed and regulated these feasts:
- The Didache (c. late 1st to early 2nd century)
This ancient church manual outlines the structural separation of the common meal from the Eucharist. [1]
- The View: The Didache instructs the community to offer thanks (Eucharist) over the cup and the broken bread, but specifies that “after you are filled [i.e., finished the communal meal], give thanks”. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
- The Emphasis: The communal meal was viewed as a time for sharing the actual fruits of the earth, explicitly tying the banquet to the charitable gathering of the local church. You can read the full text via the Early Christian Writings archive. [1]
- Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 AD)
In his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Ignatius highlights the ecclesial importance and the bishop’s oversight of communal gatherings. [1]
- The View: He writes, “It is not lawful either to baptize or to hold a love feast without the bishop”.
- The Emphasis: This shows that the early church viewed communal meals as sacred, official gatherings of the church, requiring proper leadership and unity rather than unstructured, rogue gatherings. Read the complete letter on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. [1]
- Tertullian of Carthage (c. 197 AD)
In his Apology (Chapter 39), Tertullian provides the most vivid, detailed description of how the early church viewed these love feasts. [1]
- The View: Tertullian defended the meals against pagan accusations of gluttony and debauchery. He noted that participants prayed before reclining, ate only enough to satisfy hunger, and drank modestly. [1, 2, 3]
- The Emphasis: He emphasized that the meal was an act of charity, chaste behavior, and spiritual discipline. The feast began and ended with prayer, featured hymns and scriptures, and all funds raised were used to feed the poor, bury the dead, and support orphans. Explore his full defense on New Advent. [1, 2]
- Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–215 AD)
In his work The Instructor (Paedagogus), Clement heavily moralized the Christian view of banquets. [1, 2]
- The View: He argued that the purpose of eating together was not for luxury or indulgence, but for the cultivation of genuine friendship and the relief of the needy. [1, 2, 3]
- The Emphasis: Clement viewed the Agape as an earthly image of the heavenly banquet, stating that a true “love feast” must be focused on love and generosity rather than the food itself. [1]
Historical Trajectory: While these meals originally occurred in conjunction with the Lord’s Supper, the rapid growth of the church led to logistical challenges. By the 3rd and 4th centuries, church councils began separating the ritualized Eucharist from the communal Agape meal to prevent abuses and accommodate larger congregations. [1, 2, 3, 4]
eat!
Blessings!
Blessings!
