10-04-20 Pass the bread, Let’s eat!

 

Scripture   John 6:28-32
 
John 6:28-51
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
          30 So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
          32 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
 
LET’S LOOK AT THE SCRIPTURE
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
          30 So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?
John 6:2    and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed. Jesus said the work of God you must do is to believe in him. And they said show us a miracle. The reason they were there was because they had seen him perform miracles. How many miracles must God perform for us to believe? Seriously! Jim Steiner, pastor in Boise Idaho used to say some people come to church as long as we grease their wheels. As soon as we stop greasing it the way they want it done, they will go somewhere else to get it greased. Jesus doing miracles could be like that – if we need a miracle to believe then we will need miracles to keep believing.
 
          Amazingly, Jesus decided to grease their wheel. If you listened last week, the next miracle, according to Matthew, came after John the Baptist was beheaded and Jesus tried getting to a place to be alone, but the crowds followed him. Now we have John’s account who also records great crowds, but John adds to the narrative. We want more grease…more miracles. Give us the show – What can you DO for us?
          Jesus says…”Just believe in me”
That was a hard concept 2000 years ago and it is a hard concept today. We still want to SEE what God can do. “God, wipe out COVID 19 and we will believe in you” You know what – some would believe if that happened and others would say nature somehow took care of it. Some of those who believe would later say – well I think it was God, let’s see what else God can do now – keep greasing the wheel.
Doubting Thomas – needed to grease the wheel. (Tell his story)  John 20:29  Then Jesus
told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed."
          It is hard to believe that we are more blessed in our believing than the disciples were who spent time with Jesus.  But that is all Jesus is after – getting us to believe that HE and HE ALONE is God in the flesh!
 
          Speaking of flesh, Jesus wanted us to take His Spirit into ourselves in the same way our flesh takes in food.  We eat because without food we die. Food gives the flesh nourishment (nutrients and vitamins) needed to sustain life. We need Jesus in a similar way to sustain abundant and eternal life. The people justified asking for a sign by recounting what God had done in the past: Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
          Remember – this is just after the feeding of the 5000 with what fish and BREAD.
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (World Communion Sunday)
          34 "Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
          35 Then Jesus declared, "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. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. (Remember – the work of God is to believe in the one whom he has sent) 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
 
          What happens next with this crowd is nothing short of extraordinary. They not only still don’t believe in him; they argue and grumble about the things he said. Isn’t that true today. People say, if Jesus were really God he would do this or that or not do this or that, as if we know how God should be God.
          41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."  42 They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
          43 "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
 
          You need to believe in me in such a way that I literally become a part of you – in the same way that eating bread becomes a part of you and gives you life – so too – believe in me and you will have life.
 
          John 6:52-69
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."  He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
          60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
 
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
          John 6:66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
          67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
          68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
 
          TODAY IS WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY. It emphasizes that Jesus died for the world (John 3:16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
 
          Yes, we sinned and deserve to die
          Yes, Jesus died in our place taking our sin upon his flesh.
          Yes, Jesus died for the entire World.
          Yes, to receive forgiveness and eternal life, you must believe that Jesus did that.
          Yes, we must eat his flesh and drink his blood.
          Yes, that sounds like a cult, but Jesus was talking spiritually.
          We do not believe as some do that the bread and juice we drink actually become the body and blood of Christ. Nor do we believe as others that Christ is really present in the elements of communion. Nor do we believe that eating the bread and drinking the cup is nothing but an ancient ritual. The bread and the cup represent life for the physical body as What Jesus has done for us in his body represents everlasting life for you and me who believe. When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes again. When we partake of this meal, we are saying in a visible way through a tangible symbol that we believe that Jesus was actually God in the flesh!
          Therefore, when Jesus died, he truly became for us the bread of life! Jesus became the bread of life! Jesus is the bread of eternal life. That is where Jesus ministry culminated in his death. Where did his ministry begin? After his baptism, what were the very first words recorded that Jesus said, that he wanted us to know in his word? “Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God!” The physical bread we eat is the perfect symbol for receiveing and believing in the word of God. What is the word of God? John 1:1-4,14  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  JESUS!
 
WORLD WIDE COMMUNION
 
AMAZING GRACE – MY CHAINS ARE GONE