Breaking of bread

1. Be Doers: Memory, Readiness and Christ’s ReturnNo. 2 · 1 January 1868 · 16 min read aloud · Read: James 1

   Observes that the breaking of bread directs thought to Christ, and that the Roman Question and the expected end of the Papacy’s 1260 years point to his return, as in Daniel 7.

2. The Bible’s Influence and Forbearance Among BrethrenNo. 3 · 1 February 1868 · 21 min read aloud · Read: 1 Peter 2

   Observes that the Bible has raised the character of the nation and of individuals, and that progress toward the hope depends on continual submission to the Word and on meeting with the brethren, not retiring from society.

3. Why Assemble: Fellowship, Submission, and SacrificeNo. 10 · 1 November 1868 · 35 min read aloud · Read: Romans 13

   The speaker thanks God for Christ’s command to assemble and break bread, arguing that believers are to be in the world but not of it, and that regular meeting and daily reading of the scriptures are needed to keep faith and the memory of Christ alive against the pull of worldly things.

4. Christ’s Humiliation, and Salt and LightNo. 18 · 1 March 1870 · 20 min read aloud

   The speaker says the breaking of bread directs the brethren to the sorrowful side of Christ’s life, which brings comfort and courage because he was tempted and suffered as they do, and which gives an example of doing good.

5. Past, Present and Future in Spiritual LifeNo. 20 · 1 May 1870 · 23 min read aloud

   The speaker says three truths, the past, the present and the future, must be realised for an active spiritual life, and that in each the appearance is contrary to the truth.

6. Watching for God’s three great interventionsNo. 27 · 1 May 1871 · 21 min read aloud

   The speaker reviews three occasions when God intervened in human affairs while most people noticed nothing: the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the coming of Christ, and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

7. Christ’s sorrow, the Supper, and daily ScriptureNo. 28 · 1 August 1871 · 24 min read aloud

   The exhortation begins with the origin of the breaking of bread at the last passover, dwelling on Christ’s sorrow before his death and the comfort he gave his disciples.

8. Clod-Hoppers, Invisible Stock and Scriptural JustificationNo. 29 · 1 September 1871 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Romans 4

   Opens by saying that life and all its goods end in the grave, yet men turn from the glory to be revealed and, like an agricultural labourer who distrusts commercial “stock”, despise the spiritual things they cannot see.

9. Christ Our Captain: Diligence and True HonourNo. 34 · 1 February 1872 · 26 min read aloud

   Begins from the weekly breaking of bread as Christ’s appointed reminder of himself, whom the world offers nothing to recall, and presents him as the captain who chooses his followers, requiring loyalty and promising immortality in return.

10. Sonship in Christ and Longing for His ReturnNo. 40 · 1 January 1873 · 16 min read aloud

    Roberts contrasts the hopeless, mortal state of man in Adam with the sonship and fellowship with the Father offered through Christ, whom the breaking of bread sets before the brethren.

11. Lessons for Steadfastness from Sacred HistoryNo. 46 · 1 July 1873 · 28 min read aloud

    Roberts imagines travelling back eighteen centuries to Rome and then to Paul, a prisoner, letting Paul recount his conversion, and then traces Bible history back through the patriarchs and Noah to Eden.

12. Love Christ: His Character and Coming GloryNo. 51 · 1 February 1874 · 23 min read aloud

    Beginning from the breaking of bread, the speaker describes the love of Christ as the strongest motive among men and sets out the many sides of his character, which are all to be imitated, not only the gentle ones.

13. Steadfast at the Table Amid Trials and ApostasyNo. 52 · 1 March 1874 · 20 min read aloud

    Notes that the world regards the breaking of bread with scorn, though the saints are now free to meet since the end of the Papal power.

14. The Sufferings of Christ in Psalm 69No. 53 · 1 April 1874 · 26 min read aloud

    Taking the breaking of bread as a reminder of Christ’s inner experience in the days of his flesh, the speaker reads Psalm 69 as the voice of Christ in his waiting, his hatred by the world without a cause, his burden of mortal nature, and his zeal for the Father.

15. The Table’s Panorama: Christ Behind and BeforeNo. 58 · 1 September 1874 · 19 min read aloud

    Gathered at the table, the exhortation surveys the Bible story as a landscape coloured with Christ: behind, his birth, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension and the apostolic age, followed by the decline into apostasy and the rise of the Papacy; ahead, his reappearing, the judgment, the time of trouble among the nations and the kingdom of God filling the earth.

16. Keeping the Things of Christ in MemoryNo. 60 · 1 November 1874 · 18 min read aloud

    The speaker says that those called by the gospel must see their present life as part of God’s long plan, and that acceptance at Christ’s coming follows from the course pursued now, as harvest follows seed-time.

17. Faithful Exhortation and the Fear of GodNo. 63 · 1 February 1875 · 20 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 38

    Urges the brethren to keep assembling and exhorting one another daily, noting the restoration of the Spanish monarchy and the Jewish Board of Deputies’ decision on Sir Moses Montefiore’s Holy Land scheme as signs of the Lord’s approach.

18. Waiting for God: Obedience, Chastening and Scripture ReadingNo. 69 · 1 September 1875 · 25 min read aloud

    Starting from Jesus’ words about the blessedness of those who see and hear, says the blessedness is yet future, that present life is brief, and that the long reign of evil teaches God’s greatness and trains the sons of God through chastisement.

19. Obeying the Commandments of the Sermon on the MountNo. 72 · 1 December 1875 · 43 min read aloud

    Beginning from the breaking of bread, the exhortation says obedience is the great lesson of the faith and the test by which Christ’s friends will be known at his coming.

20. Seeking Wisdom Against the Senses’ False ImpressionsNo. 74 · 1 February 1876 · 22 min read aloud

    Starting from the weekly breaking of bread as a needed reminder, the exhortation rejects the theories that man has a light within or a permanent store of knowledge, and says that light comes from without, through the gospel believed and obeyed.

21. Finding Christ through the Word and BreadNo. 82 · 1 March 1877 · 22 min read aloud

    Christ is not found in daily surroundings or in nature, but through the preaching of the apostles’ written word and the breaking of bread, by which faith in him is created.

22. Remembering Christ Together with the FatherNo. 95 · 1 May 1878 · 23 min read aloud

    At the breaking of bread we are to remember Christ in all his aspects, including as the manifestation of the Father, who dwelt in him and whose love Christ himself declared.

23. Zion’s Dawn: Cyprus Protectorate and WatchfulnessNo. 99 · 1 September 1878 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Jeremiah 4

    Beginning from the heavy tidings against Zion in the portion of Jeremiah read that morning, the speaker turns to the promises of her comfort and restoration, and says the time of Jerusalem’s desolation is now past.

24. Minding the Things of the SpiritNo. 100 · 1 October 1878 · 21 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s contrast between those who are after the flesh and those who are after the spirit, the speaker says the weekly breaking of bread does not lose its interest, and that the world is almost wholly given to the things of the flesh.

25. Christ’s Temptation: Scripture as Our DefenceNo. 105 · 1 March 1879 · 33 min read aloud

    Starting from the purpose of the weekly breaking of bread, the exhortation considers the temptation of Christ as part of his moral preparation as a sinless but tempted brother.

26. Paul’s Antioch Address and Israel’s HopeNo. 108 · 1 June 1879 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Acts 13 Robert Ashcroft

    Taking up Paul’s address at Antioch (Acts 13), the speaker says popular religion neglects the history of Israel, whereas the hope of believers rests on those histories being true.

27. God’s Mercy and the Forgiven Believer’s ConductNo. 111 · 1 September 1879 · 19 min read aloud

    Begins from the wisdom shown in creation and argues that the Bible, which makes everything of God, answers the self-evolution theory and settles the question of the Creator.

28. Remembrance, Paul’s Testimony and the ResurrectionNo. 114 · 1 December 1879 · 16 min read aloud

    Says the breaking of bread was appointed so that believers would keep Christ in memory during his absence, and takes Paul’s words ‘I have received of the Lord’ as its starting point.

29. The Golden Candlestick: Light-Bearing EcclesiasNo. 116 · 1 February 1880 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Zechariah 4

    Taking the vision of the olive-fed golden lampstand in Zechariah 4, the speaker says its message, “Not by might nor by power, but by My spirit”, points to the future work of God through Christ and the saints drawn from Jew and Gentile, the two olive trees, by tried faith.

30. Betrothal to Christ and the Lamb’s MarriageNo. 117 · 1 March 1880 · 22 min read aloud

    Taking the blessing on those called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the speaker says the Bride is the saints, so those now called are invited to take part in the union and not merely to watch it.

31. God-Centred Wisdom: Proverbs, Moses and ChristNo. 118 · 1 April 1880 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Proverbs 1, John 14

    With no appointed readings, the speaker takes Proverbs 1 and John 14, saying that Proverbs is a book of revelation whose wisdom differs from Gentile philosophy in being centred on God.

32. Life’s Brevity, God’s Mercy, and Husbands and WivesNo. 122 · 1 August 1880 · 23 min read aloud · Read: 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter 3

    Begins from the passing of human generations and the vanity of present life, and sets against it the hope and ‘abundant mercy’ of 1 Peter 1, which promises relief from every present trouble.

33. The Memorial Cup, the New Covenant and BloodNo. 128 · 1 February 1881 · 26 min read aloud

    Beginning with the passover that Jesus kept with his disciples, the speaker treats it as a type fulfilled in Christ, who shared the mortality of those he came to redeem and whose own blood delivers them.

34. Waiting Patiently and Watchfully Until He ComeNo. 129 · 1 March 1881 · 27 min read aloud

    Taking the words “until he come” from Paul’s remark on the breaking of bread, the speaker contrasts the first disciples, who had known Christ personally, with believers now, and says the Lord’s return is more nearly due than ever, though the exact time has been withheld.

35. Eating and Drinking Literally in the KingdomNo. 130 · 1 June 1881 · 24 min read aloud

    Starting from the Lord’s words that he would not drink of the fruit of the vine until he drank it new with his disciples in his Father’s kingdom, the speaker argues that the promise is to be taken literally, even though it also carries a wider significance.

36. Self-Examination: Weakness, Will and Daily ReadingNo. 133 · 1 September 1881 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Romans 7

    Invites the brethren to review the past six days. Using Romans 7, he distinguishes the unavoidable weakness of the flesh, which will be forgiven through Christ’s intercession, from deliberate, wilful sin, which excludes from the kingdom, illustrating the two with Peter and Judas.

37. Why We Meet: Christ’s Resurrection and Our NeedsNo. 141 · 1 July 1882 · 27 min read aloud

    The speaker asks why the brethren meet every first day to break bread, and answers that Jesus commanded it and that his works, and above all the apostles’ eye-witness testimony to his resurrection confirmed by miracles, show him to be Master and Lord.

38. Ezekiel 20: God Acts for His Name’s SakeNo. 144 · 1 November 1882 · 30 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 20

    Taking Ezekiel 20 as God’s own review of Israel’s history, the exhortation says the elders who came to enquire of Ezekiel were rebuffed because they approached without reverence, and that God repeatedly spared a rebellious Israel for His Name’s sake.

39. Ezekiel’s Coming Glory and Abiding in ChristNo. 156 · 1 May 1884 · 24 min read aloud · Read: John 15

    Joins the morning’s two readings: Ezekiel’s vision of the restored land, temple and city, which is the ‘heavenly country’ and ‘city having foundations’ Abraham looked for, and Christ’s discourse in John about the vine and the branches.

40. Jerusalem and Rome: Their Present State and FutureNo. 159 · 1 August 1884 · 28 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 54, Revelation 17, Revelation 18

    Taking the readings from Isaiah 54 and Revelation 17 and 18, the speaker contrasts two cities: Jerusalem, now desolate because God has forsaken her for a time, and Rome, which has long ruled the nations as the harlot of the Apocalypse.

41. Political Hopes Versus the Hope of IsraelNo. 160 · 1 September 1884 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Jeremiah 31

    Speaking at a meeting held in the Birmingham Town Hall, the speaker contrasts the political hope of the town’s public men and the religious hope of its sectarians with the hope of Israel, centred on Christ’s return and the kingdom of God.

42. Why Do We Break Bread? Remembrance and HopeNo. 161 · 1 October 1884 · 25 min read aloud · Read: 2 Kings 5, Lamentations 1, Lamentations 2, 1 Corinthians 14

    Imagining a stranger who asks why the ecclesia meets to break bread, the speaker explains who Christ was, why he died and why he is remembered, and says the weekly meeting renews faith against the passing things of this world.

43. Three Windows: Israel’s Camp, Proverbs, ZaccheusNo. 178 · 1 May 1887 · 26 min read aloud · Read: Luke 19

    Beginning from the refreshing sameness of the things of God and the commanded means of preparation (breaking of bread, prayer, reading), the speaker treats the day’s three readings as windows on the divine work.

44. Daniel 8, Rome and the Coming ChristNo. 185 · 1 December 1887 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Acts 8, Daniel 8

    Beginning from Philip preaching Jesus to the eunuch out of Isaiah, the exhortation takes the eighth chapter of Daniel and shows its connection with Christ: the ram, the he-goat and the little horn are explained as Persia, Greece and Rome, and Rome is said to complete the prophecy by standing up against the Prince of Princes at Christ’s coming.

45. The Return of Christ Rooted in ScriptureNo. 251 · 1 March 1894 · 25 min read aloud

    Beginning from the command to break bread “until he come”, the speaker imagines a stranger reading Revelation’s “Surely I come quickly” and tracing who Jesus is back through the New Testament to the Old: the promises to Abraham, Israel and the law, and the prophets’ foretelling of a son of David.

46. Overcoming as Christ Did: Crucifying the Old ManNo. 252 · 1 April 1894 · 20 min read aloud

    Starting from the wonder that Christ is remembered every week, the speaker turns to the chapter read, which shows Jesus in Gethsemane submitting the Father’s will over his own.

47. Looking Up: Signs of Christ’s ReturnNo. 253 · 1 May 1894 · 22 min read aloud

    Answering the charge that believers live in the past or future, the speaker says the table of the Lord links the first century to the present, and urges reading the New Testament as true eye-witness record.

48. Christ’s Rest for the Weary and ForgivenNo. 256 · 1 August 1894 · 23 min read aloud

    Beginning with the breaking of bread, the speaker says the ordinance keeps Christ in remembrance and shows, in his death, the condemnation of sin and the majesty of God.

49. The Meaning of Christ’s Death Against SubstitutionNo. 258 · 1 October 1894 · 23 min read aloud

    Beginning from the risen Christ’s interest in the disciples on the Emmaus road and in the breaking of bread, the speaker explains why sin brought death and why God chose a middle way, enforcing the law while offering mercy to the repentant.

50. Isaiah’s Song of the Redeemed Righteous NationNo. 304 · 1 January 1899 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 26, Hebrews 10 Printed after his death

    Beginning from the fact that the Scriptures are God’s word and not man’s, the speaker takes the song of Isaiah 26 and shows from Isaiah 25 and 1 Corinthians 15 that it is to be sung in the day of Christ’s return and the resurrection.

51. David’s Humble Origin, Trial and CovenantNo. 305 · 1 February 1899 · 22 min read aloud Printed after his death

    The exhortation says the meeting helps us see beyond our present surroundings, backward and forward, and that the Scriptures supply the material for this.

52. Remembering the Living Christ PersonallyNo. 307 · 1 June 1899 · 18 min read aloud · Read: Revelation 13, Revelation 14 F. W. P.

    The exhortation contrasts the world’s gatherings with the remembrance of Christ at the table and urges each believer to dwell on Christ as a living person with whom he will deal individually.

53. Readiness for Christ’s Summons Through Bible ReadingNo. 308 · 1 July 1899 · 13 min read aloud · Read: James 1 Printed after his death

    The exhortation considers Jesus as shown in the emblems and expects the aspect in which the world sees him to change soon, judging from the state of Europe and the coming end of Papal supremacy.

54. Obedience, Isaiah’s Servant and the Rainbowed AngelNo. 309 · 1 August 1899 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 50, Revelation 10, Revelation 11 C. C. Walker

    Meeting at the emblems in obedience to Christ’s command, the speaker says the obedience asked of believers is that of intelligent friends rather than mere servants, and turns to the day’s readings.

55. Obedience, Sons of God, and Inspired ProphecyNo. 311 · 1 November 1899 · 18 min read aloud W. R.

    From the day’s readings in Kings, Jeremiah and Mark, the speaker draws that God’s word by his prophets comes to pass and must be obeyed, citing the man of God at Bethel and the warnings against any other gospel.

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