crackers and juice: helping children understand the lord's supper

7/22/2019 Crackers and Juice: Helping Children Understand the Lord's Supper

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Helping Children Understand The Lords SupperBy Dalton Vann


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For Brady and Kaylen


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Forward

At the age of three, my son began asking many questions about Communion and was very taken with the death of Jesus. We

had explained to him that we took communion to remember Jesus and His death. It became necessary for me to explain how

the bread and juice were connected with the body and blood of Christ as he listened to lessons on the subject.

My son was concerned that he would need to go through the same things that Jesus body did on the cross. So I also had to

explain the concept of substitution (propitiation) to a three-year-old. The words I used and the story I told were simple and

incomplete but enough to set things straight in his little mind for now. Knowing there was more explaining to be done and

questions to be answered as my children grow, I tried to plan out the lessons based upon their aptitude as they mature.

Accordingly, the text of this book is color-coded based on the maturity level of the child:

Un-highlighted text: ages 3-6Yellow highlight: ages 5-7

Orange highlight: ages 6-9

Children mature and are able to grasp these concepts at different rates, as their training and aptitude grants them. The ages

above are guidelines. Some children may be ready for the next level at a different age than others.

The lessons of this book assume the child has been in Sunday school and is familiar with God, Jesus and worship. Even if they do

not understand the meaning of worship or the spiritual aspects of deity, their familiarity with the terminology should be enough

at this stage.

Lastly, by its nature, the symbolism of the communion evokes images of blood and bodily harm. This is not a subject easily

broached with many adults in our culture, let alone children. Historically, death and butchering of animals for food and other

purposes has been the commonplace, and even children were familiar with the blood associated with bodies. This helped past

cultures understand the significance of blood to life and therefore, translate that to the sacrifice of Christ. Parents today must

help their children to become familiar with these things in a way that is appropriate for their maturity and experience. Images

within this book are purposefully vague but are illustrative enough for discussion of the blood and body of Christ.


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God is our maker and Father. Heloves us and all peopleeverywhere like our Mommy orDaddy love us.God is amazing and wonderful.He is perfect love and goodnessand justice all at the same time.Justice means standing for what isright and doing what is deserved1.

1Justice can be hard to explain so it may require a

bit more discussion. By definition: acting or being in

conformity with what is morally upright or good

(righteous); being what is merited (deserved);

legally correct (lawful). Provide examples ofpunishment for something bad, like stealing or not

sharing.


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In the beginning, God taught man to obey Him2.2. Gen 2:16-17 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of

the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt

surely die.


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But people did not want to obey God.Disobedience is when we do things that God does not like. These arebad things. Because God is good and holy3, He does not want us todo bad things. He hates the bad things but he loves us. The badthings we do are called sin. The consequence of sin is eternalseparation from God.5But God gave us a way to be forgiving for our sins.

3. You may need to discuss what holy

means. Dedicated to or completely good.

Set apart from everything else.

4. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;

but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus

Christ our Lord.


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God sent Jesus to forgive us from sin. Jesus is God. Jesus came toearth as a man and taught people how to love and obey God.


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Some people did not like the message that Jesus taught.Some people misunderstood what He said and otherswere bad people that wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus allowedHimself to be killed by those people.

The way they killed Jesus was by hanging His body on a cross. They did that by nailing Hishands and feet to the wooden cross and His blood came out. They put a crown made ofsharp thorns on His head and blood came out of His head. They pierced his side with aspear and blood poured out. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He was buried and cameback to life on His own three days later to show that He is God.


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Jesus never sinned so His blood isperfect and it washes away our sins.When Jesus gave Himself to die on thecross, he took our place. He bore thepunishment that we deserve becauseGod demands justice. But God sentJesus to take our place because He lovesus so much. He gave us a way out ofthe punishment for our sins5.When we believe in Jesus and obeyGod, He is very happy with us. Hissacrifice6 takes away our sins so we arejustified7.

5. See Romans 3:21-26

6. Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without shedding of blood there is no

remission." I John 1:7 tells us that "The blood of Jesus Christ

his Son cleanses us from all sin."

7. Just-as-if-Id never sinned - To be free of penalty or

blame.


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We remember the sacrifice8 thatJesus made for us every Sunday bytaking the Lords Supper. We alsocall it communion. It is flat breador a cracker and grape juice, alsocalled fruit of the vine.

Jesus gave His disciples theexample of what to do. Jesussaid, when you eat the bread anddrink the cup, you rememberHim9.

8. For more on helping children understand the

importance of sacrifice, see the Afterward.

9. 1 Corinthians 11:24-26 and when he had given

thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is

for you: this do in remembrance of me. (25) In like

manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is

the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye

drink it, in remembrance of me. (26) For as often as ye

eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's

death till he come.


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By eating and drinking the breadand the juice every Sunday10 ithelps us to think about what Jesusdid for us and the love God has.Because God is love, He wants usto live with Him and gave us away to be forgiven of our sins.Because he is just, the body andblood of Jesus took our place andsatisfied Gods justice.That is why the Lords Supper is sospecial and such an important partof worship.

10. Came together on the first day of the week to break

bread. Act 20:7 EMTV Now on the first day of the

week, the disciples being assembled to break bread,

Paul was discussing with them, being about to leave on

the next day, and extended his message until midnight.

Breaking of bread is communion: 1Co 10:16 EMTV The

cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion

of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is itnot the communion of the body of Christ?

Communion Helps Us Worship


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The bread and the juice are notthe actual body and blood ofJesus. They are symbols. Asymbol often represents somethingwe cant see. Like in a traffic light,red is the symbol for stop andgreen is the symbol for go.


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After we are baptized, then we can take the Lords Supper too and be thankful forGods love for us. The bread and the juice bring back the memory of Christs bodyand blood when He died on the cross. It is a time for us to pray to God andworship Him in a very special way that He asked us to do.


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If you are not a Christian and you eat the bread and drink the juice, it will not mean muchto you. So it is best not to take the bread or juice until you become a Christian11. Thepurpose of the Lords Supper is to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and what that means foryou. So if you cant do that, you should not take communion12. But when you are oldenough, it will be a special time!

11. 1Corinthians 11:27 MKJV So that whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be guilty of the body and

blood of the Lord.

12. 1Corinthians 11:28-29 MKJV But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. (29) For he who eats and

drinks unworthily eats and drinks condemnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.


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Afterward


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Sacrifice (Why did Jesus die?)

God explained to His people how to worship Him. People

offered sacrifices to God and many of those sacrifices wereanimals. The animals died and their blood poured out to teach

the people. They were a reminder that that when we disobey

God, the punishment we deserve is death.

This is because God is just and cannot be around sin. God said

without the pouring out of blood, there is no forgiveness for our

sins(Hebrews 9:22). The thought of blood may be difficult but itis important. You see, life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).

Jesus came to earth to give people a perfect sacrifice in the place of animalsHimself. His

sacrifice was perfect because even though He experienced life like we do, He did not sin.

Because He was the perfect sacrifice, His blood gives us the opportunity for eternal life. (See

John 6:32-68) Eternal life is in His blood and the sacrifice of His body removed the

separation between us and God (Heb 10:20).

His body and His blood did something that the sacrifices of animals could not do. The animal

sacrifices reminded us of the consequences of sin but when Jesus sacrificed Himself, He took

our place (I John 2:2). We dont have animal sacrifices any more. Now we live our lives as

sacrifices to God by trying to please Him through obedience and by showing others love (2

Samuel 15:22). Read Hebrews 9 and 10 and Romans 3 through 6 for more on this topic.


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Baptism and Repentance (Before Communion)

When we are old enough to

understand all of these things thenwe can believe and be baptized

(Mark 16:16). Before we are

baptized, we must repent for our sins

(Acts 2:38). To repent is to be sorry

for the bad things we have done and

to turn away from them.1

Baptism means to be lowered into

the water and pulled out again. This

is a symbol, like Jesus being buried

after He died and then arose2

because He came back to life. Only

God can do that.

We go through these steps as God have given us command and example in order to become a

Christian before we partake of the Lords Supper.

1To become a Christian means that you have heard Gods Word (Romans 10:17), believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 8:24), repented

for your sins (Luke 13:3), confessed that you have sinned (Matthew 10:32), and have been baptized for the forgiveness of sins (I Peter 3:21).2

Make hand motion of laying flat (burial) and standing up (rising from the dead).


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Shiny Trays

Today, the church often uses trays of some kind to carry the fruit of the vine and the bread.

These trays make it easy to distribute among the members of the church. This is in keepingwith a concept known as expediency. (1Co 6:12 KJV All things are lawful unto me, but all

things are not expedient). Although trays are not specifically commanded, they enable us

to carry out the command to partake of the Communion. Many times, these trays are gold

or brass-colored or other polished metal. People often use these special trays as a way to

show reverence for the Lords Supper. It is a sacred time for those who partake.

Sometimes, people chose to utilize one cup for the juice. Sometimes people chose to maketheir own bread instead of using commercially prepared flat bread. Other people may spread

a white sheet over the table with the trays. These differences exist because either of tradition

or out of respect and reverence for such a meaningful part of worship. Some people also try

to utilize more closely the food items that would have been available at the first Lords Supper

that Jesus instituted. We should always be respectful toward God in our worship and one

another and not force others to do it in the way we prefer (Romans 12:3-10, Philippians 2:3-

8, I Peter 5:5).

crackers and juice: helping children understand the lord's supper

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