John 6:48 Jesus said: I am that bread of life.
Jesus, THE WORD, is that bread of life.
John 6:51-53 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.
Jesus is speaking of eating and drinking the Word of God which is scripture but can also be a word spoken by the Holy Spirit directly to the believer in the form of a thought.
Regardless, we must take that Word from God and examine ourselves by that Word and make appropriate corrections to ourselves by that word, thus eating and drinking Jesus (the Word) correctly. This is what Paul is talking about in I Corinthians 11.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
Here is an example of eating the Word of God in a worthy manner:
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
As we read this scripture, we are examining ourselves. Is there anything here telling us something we need to do?
Jesus made HIMSELF of "no reputation."
Is this what we are doing? Or are we seeking to be something special among humans? Are we competing in various ways to outdo other people. Are we delighting in being "better" than other people. Do we desire a reputation among others.
When we read this scripture, we also must properly apply it to our lives, giving up that which exalts ourselves.
If we read this scripture and fail to heed what it says, then we eat and drink to our own damnation.
I Corinthians 11: 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
Another example:
We are reading Ephesians 4, and come across this scripture.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Edify: to build the other person in spiritual ways bringing grace of God to the hearer
So are we going to tell that secular story? Will it be edifying in showing the other person the way of God?
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If we read the Bible unworthily, failing to do what it says, we eat and drink damnation unto ourselves ...
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die).31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
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I know a woman who was taken to church by her mother and attended church and read Bible from earliest childhood.
This woman should be very strong in the Lord by doing this.
She is now 69-years-old and is one of the weakest and most confused persons I've ever met.
There was a time I thought she was mentally retarded. God showed me she was not mentally retarded nor was she crazy.
She ate and drank the Word of God to her own damnation and therefore grew weak and sickly and got worse and worse through the years.
She ate and drank but she failed to do the Word of God.
As a young woman, she married, committed adultery against her first husband. Became pregnant and murdered her own child by abortion. Divorced her first husband. Married a second man, committing adultery against the first husband. Then divorced second husband.
How can a person be in church from childhood and read Bible and do such things?
She continues to exhibit craziness. Recently I told her to stop reading scripture for a season for she was doing this reading in a wrong manner and was eating and drinking the word of God to her own damnation.
I don't know what the end result will be but I am persuaded we cannot allow her to participate in our group for the time being. She even began to attack the ministry when corrected. It was the worst attack I've ever seen.
All this is a warning: We must not speed read through the Bible. We must eat and drink the Word of God properly, digesting the scripture by using the instruction in a proper way, changing our own way of life according to the scripture, recreating ourselves in the image of Christ by the Word of God.
If we fail to do this, we damn ourselves.
* For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
* For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die).
* For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
(We judge ourselves by that which we read in the Bible and by that which God speaks to us by HIS Spirit applying that word to our lives in correct manner.)
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