Winterfest 2009 Post-Event Lesson-4

“Sleeping with Bread”

adapted from a lesson by Tim Conder

Before the lesson:

1. Say a prayer for your students and for your words.

2. Gather necessary supplies.You’ll need:

  • A personal story about a time your trust was misplaced
  • A large loaf of unsliced bread or several loaves of fresh, warm bread and nice display tables
  • TV / DVD player
  • The Matrix (movie)
  • A teddy bear or other object of childhood security
  • A personal story about a time you pursued a goal only to find it didn’t matter
  • Pencils/pens and paper for students

3. Go over these notes and make them your own. Use what works for you. You may not want to use all of this material. Adapt this plan (edit, add, subtract)to make it fit you and your students. Be reminded that the aim of this lesson is to follow up from the sessions at Winterfest 2009. We want to reinforce the truth that when life gets peeled back to its essential element, what remains for us is tosimply“Love God and Love Others.”

Scripture Basis: Matthew 22:37-40; John 6:35; 8:34, 31-32; Romans 6:17-18, 23

Introduction:

Illustration: Sleeping with Bread

We live in a country untouched by war for many, many years. It’s hard to imagine thedestruction and despair war causes. But ask your students to try to imagine andrecreate in their minds the horror and desperation Europe faced after the six years ofWorld War II. One of the great tragedies was the number of children who wereorphaned. These children were terrified by loss, hunger, and the constant fear ofdeath. In many orphanages, children were so terrified they were not able to sleep at night.

In one orphanage the staff began to brainstorm about what they could do to helpthe kids sleep more securely. A wonderful experiment was suggested. They would letthe children cradle a loaf of bread when they went to bed. It worked! The loaf ofbread symbolized stability, protection, and at least the surety of a meal the next day. Many of the children began to sleep more regularly and more peacefully.

Ask students to share what their peers and people in our society cling to for security. When you’ve got nothing else, where do you go? What does life boil down to?

Ask if the things we clutch and cradle actually provide security. What are some of the

consequences of seeking security and meaning in temporary measures? Help your students process the subtle effects of misplaced dependence. Show how God’s love is the most dependable force in the universe.

  • Tell a personal story of dependence. Describe a situation where you relied on something or someone other than Jesus for security and hope and ended up being disappointed.
  • Transition by saying something like—

Everyone—to differing degrees—depends on temporary, insufficient, or even dangerous measures for security and meaning. Many live comfortably in the belief they’re truly safe and secure. This is dangerous. Jesus said in John 6:35, "I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." Jesus is the only source of real sustenance. Jesus offers true meaning to life. Jesus is uniquely qualified to tell us what is most important in life; to show us what life’s most basic elements are.

Let’s consider what "bread" (purpose or meaning) Jesus offers us.

1. The Bread of Freedom

Object lesson: Loaf of Bread

Bring a large loaf of unsliced bread to hold and point to during various points of the talk. Especially with smaller groups and in smaller rooms, it can be effective to buy several warm loaves of bread from a local bakery and place them around the meeting room. The aroma of the bread will fill the room and will add a sensory affirmation to the points of the talk.

  • Jesus is the Bread of Life because Jesus offers us true freedom.
  • The freedom Jesus offers is often not appreciated because many of us don’t know what true freedom is.
  • Freedom isn’t doing whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it. Freedom isn’t a world without rules.

Illustration: Streets without Lanes and Traffic Laws

Most of us imagine a world without rules as a perfect place, a place of never-ending fun. In reality this would be like driving in a huge city without traffic laws. Can you imagine a metropolitan area with no traffic lanes, stop signals, right-of-way laws, or rules of driving? Total chaos! It would take longer to travel to wherever you’re going, and travel would be dangerous! In reality, good rules, laws, and boundaries create a platform in life for greater freedom. Our world is a lot like this traffic illustration. Because of the chaos our sin has created, we aren’t truly free. We live in bondage to sin and our sinful desires.

  • Scripture: John 8:34

“Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

Movie Clip:“The Matrix”

Start: 25:15 -- Neo is led into the room to meet Morpheus

Stop: 29:39 -- Neo selects a pill.

This scene describes the premise of this thoughtful sci-fi movie—and the very point we’re making about our illusion of freedom. The scene begins with the lead character Neo (Keanu Reeves) being brought before a strange man called Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). Morpheus explains the world isn’t as it appears. The lives humans are living are all illusions. The reality is a state of horrible bondage. The scene ends with Neo being given a choice. He can take one pill and return to his life of illusion—with no memory of their conversation—or he can take another pill and learn the truth. He takes the pill that will bring the truth.

  • Jesus offers us freedom from the bondage, guilt, and shame of sin.
  • ScriptureJohn 8:31-32

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

  • Scripture:Romans 6:17-18

“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

  • True freedom is the freedom to do what we were created to do. We were created to know, love, worship, and be in relationship with God.

2. The Bread of Hope

  • Jesus also offers us the bread of true hope.
  • Hope is life’s greatest motivator. Without hope we only have despair.
  • As we said earlier, many of us cling to false hopes for security—things that are temporary, unlikely, or even dangerous. These false hopes ultimately lead to despair.

Object Lesson: A Teddy Bear

Bring out a teddy bear—or another childhood security item like a blanket or pacifier—to illustrate the point of false hope, comfort, and security. This illustration can be done effectively in a serious manner. Describe how important this item was to you—or whomever it belonged to—and the harsh process of realization that the item offered no real protection from the fears and dangers of our world.

This illustration can also be done in a creative, humorous manner. Have the teddy bear or stuffed animal fight and lose in battle with imagined monsters. Add lots of silly sound effects or real monsters—in the shape of volunteers who know some great professional wrestling moves! The teddy bear could even be put on trial for failure to keep you safe and secure all at times. The possibilities are endless.

  • True hope is sufficient for our needs. This is the bread of hope Jesus offers us. True hope is knowing we’ll spend an eternity in God’s presence and protection.
  • Scripture: Romans 6:23

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

3. The Bread of Mission

  • Jesus is the Bread of Life because Jesus also offers us true purpose—a mission that matters. Very simply, our mission is to love God and love others.
  • Sometimes our lives seem like a cruel joke. We can work very hard on tasks and for goals we find out ultimately don’t matter at all.

Personal Illustration: If I Knew Then What I Know Now

Tell a personal if-I-knew-then-what-I-know-now story. Describe some goal yourelentlessly pursued or some task you sacrificed greatly to accomplish—only to find out later the goal or task didn’t matter in the grand scheme of life.

Illustration: The Wizard of Oz

No one has escaped childhood without seeing this movie, so you don’t have to show aclip. Remind your kids about the story and how it offers a great metaphor. Weperceive life as a grand and sometimes dangerous journey with a dramatic experienceand end in mind. But so often the great wizards we pursue end up being short, fat,balding imposters. Our true mission often lies much closer to the heart.

Discussion: Lousy Goals

If you haven’t used a discussion option yet or if you’re in a setting where you preferto use more dialogue, ask a few students to share some illustrations of goals andpurposes they have pursued, only to be later disappointed by the insignificance ofthese goals.

  • Jesus offers a mission that matters. That mission is simply to glorify God who’s all-powerful, all-loving, totally perfect, and completely faithful. And the mission is to proclaim this God to a lost world with all our words and actions.
  • Scripture:Matthew 22:37-40

“Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Our mission is to Love God and Love Others.

Closing

  • Remind students of the opening illustration, “Sleeping with Bread,” since the whole bread idea is built on it.
  • Summarize how Jesus is the Bread of Life. He offers the breads of true freedom, true hope, and true mission.
  • Because Jesus is the Bread of Life, we can live in total dependence on Christ. Jesus is the only one who can give us understanding and purpose!
  • Remind students to go to the Winterfest web site each day for forty days to do the brief Bible reading and prayer.
  • Reflection:

Pass out paper and pens have the students write down confessions about the things they’ve held onto in the pursuit of freedom, hope, and security. This may be tough for younger teens, so you may have to help them with suggestions. Or you can continue on in the Loaf of Bread object lesson from the first point, by having students take their sheet of confessions to one of the loaves and exchange their confessions for a piece of bread.