By TAC Team (based on teaching from Miss Shirley Crowder and Dr. Mark Shaw’s Podcast Conversation)-March 2022 –  Podcast #153 “Easter week 3”

What Does “The Lord’s Supper” Mean? – Part 2 of 2

Missed Part 1? Click here to read now

The Passover celebration of the Jewish people was commanded by God to be done every year after coming out of Egypt to remind them of the shed blood on the doorposts which kept them from death in Egypt as God killed every first-born male.

Giving Thanks

The children of Israel ate unleavened bread at the Passover feast according to God’s instructions—so “Passover Feast” and “The Feast of Unleavened Bread” are really one celebration that commemorates the giving of thanks to God for Him sparing the children of Israel’s first-born sons that night.

Remembering

The Israelites were celebrating and remembering the past historical event of what happened when God saved them from death in Egypt and redeemed them from slavery. Today, Christ followers are remembering a similar freedom from spiritual slavery and eternal death.

Walking by Faith

As the Israelites were trying to exit from under Pharoah’s rule, over and over, avoiding the plagues that God sent was about walking by faith. Those who believed what God said were protected from the plagues, and those who didn’t suffered. Likewise, over and over, the only way the generations of the children of Israel could avoid the judgment of God was by celebrating the appropriate feasts in the appropriate ways and by offering blood sacrifices to God for their sins through the Levitical priests.

Trusting God is the theme here that we are driving home.

So what does this have to do with addiction?

Dr. Shaw teaches: [summarizing from TAC Podcast #153]

If you’ve lived a life of addiction that’s overtaken you—that’s overpowered you—you’ve tried to be self-sufficient, you’ve tried to do it on your own, but you remain ensnared or enslaved to your own sin choices. This is true for all of us!

We are all born sinners—enslaved, overpowered by sin that begins to master us. But God wants to show you how you have been overpowered! He wants you to see that everything you’ve trusted in only made things worse.

He’s the One True God! When you trust in yourself, or you trust in false gods, or you trust in pleasures or comfort, that will always fail you. If you’re living for an addiction, God wants you to see that those things are empty and trusting completely in Him is the way out. It’s about a relationship with Him.

He wants you to seek Him, to obey Him, to trust Him.

And that’s what the last supper was—an example of Jesus’s obedience to the Father, a demonstration of faith, and putting on display that God was doing something bigger here in history.– Dr. Mark E. Shaw, paraphrased summary from TAC podcast #153

Dr. Shaw concludes:

“I think that’s what walking by faith is. If you struggled with an addiction, and now you’re clean, you’re living in a way where you are walking [by faith] … down the path God’s given you. You’re looking at that path, but you don’t know what is ahead of you! God’s doing so much more… When you read this [scriptural account of the Passover and the Last Supper] it should strengthen your faith…[and you begin] saying, “My God is humongous! My God is capable! He’s powerful!  He’s sovereign!”

When you are reading the Bible, if you’re not thinking those thoughts about God, then you’re really missing out on the whole point of all of this… Jesus was demonstrating to us obedience to God, faith in God, and what that should look like for all of us!

He was and IS our only Hope!

His death brought us our life.

That’s good news for the addicted and for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord to be saved.

(Listen to the entire podcast here or find it on YouTube.)

Missed Part 1? Click here to read now

EASTER: Meditations for Addicts was written by Dr. Mark E. Shaw and Shirley Crowder and is part of a series along with the book ADVENT: Meditations for Addicts. Shirley is a co-founder of this ministry with Dr. Shaw and serves as The Addiction Connection’s Vice President. She is a gifted writer and speaker and teaches women all over the country.

 

 

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Quick Links

• Looking for biblical addiction training? Find out about our 4-6 month Commissioning Program HERE.
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[1] Scripture quotations marked ESV are 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. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.