Sermon
8-3-14 hard sayings – drink my blood jn 6:48-60
48 I
am the bread of life.
49 Your
ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But
here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not
die. 51 I
am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will
live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world.”
52 Then
the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his
flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus
said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at
the last day. 55 For
my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 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. 58 This
is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but
whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 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?”
New
series - Hard sayings - Eat my flesh drink my blood
What is the context?
They were eating the food from the
miracle of the feeding of the 5000
The
story of the feeding
Peter
Rollins version of it
the
people enthralled w Jesus
They
want to make him king
The
roman’s rule has been tough
This
guy will make our lives easy.
Did
you ever want Jesus to make your life easy?
When
my kids were sick
When
I could barely feed my family
When
my car wouldn’t start
Do you remember the Sermon on the
Mount?
Jesus
said, ”do not worry
about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will
wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important
than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or
store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
much more valuable than they?”
God
knows and cares about our needs, but he did not come to earth to live in the
flesh of a mortal to become king so he could feed the masses bread.
his
kingdom - Its not about the earthly bread. Not about the miracles
They
are thinking with their bellies instead of with their hearts and souls…
Jesus
calls them out on this- many walk away
There is something more here than
earthly bread
I
am the bread of life
Reference
to manna in the wilderness – quail and manna
Gathered
every day – did not last if you tried to hoard it
Must
depend on God daily
he
is appealing to the sense of jewish history………..
he
is making a reminder that we must depend on God daily
and
as they were sustained by him via manna in the wilderness, so all will be
sustained by me.
Take
me in
Make
me a part of who you are.
a
pretty bold, even seemingly arrogant claim.
No
wonder many did not want to follow him.
They were not ready for something that
serious
They
wanted an easy faith, a shallow Christianity
Story
about little boy falling out of bed
A
little boy constantly fell out of bed. No matter what his parents did, the boy
couldn’t sleep without rolling out of bed. An uncle came to visit and in the
middle of the night the usual thump and cry was heard. In the morning the uncle
teased the boy and asked him why he fell out so often. The little fellow
thought for a moment and then said, “I don’t know, I guess it’s because I stay
too close to the place where I get in.”
There
is also the story of the orchard………many only visit the trees on the perimeter
when the orchard itself is miles and miles deep.
They
wanted nice parables and some miracles
Don’t
ask me to set aside myself for you
People
can be selfish and lazy. Not really meaning to oppose him, but just
wanted to live their lives without his interference.
Today we run into the same problem
Want
enough religion to make us comfortable
When
Jesus asks us to take him in, we can tend to turn the other way
We
have to go deeper, we have to get further into this relationship.
There
is an article I read recently about the missional church.
It
suggest that many Christians do good things but do not love God.
It
asked the question - are we doing what we do in this life for god?
Or with God?
Are
we simply doing good things or is the relationship the driving factor?
Jesus
is not looking for a cursory belief in some teacher.
Believing
in jesus should be a person’s life work.
eat
my flesh. Drink my blood. Take it all in. let it change you.
He
invites us to do more than believe in him
He
invites us to love him
And
to live our lives based on that love
To reprioritizing ones life
To take up the cross
To go the second mile
To give ones self away
He made his point- and then
this……..from verse 66
66 From this time many
of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
the people thought that they did not
need jesus –
do you?
our world is full of those who need
jesus
Full
of people who need help
Raytown
The people walking across the street to
Raytown
The woman whose mother died, hugging mike
Scott
The
person who has three terminal friends at work
Our
friends need help
We
need help
Someone
is here today that needs help - that needs Jesus
Who is jesus? He is the bread of
life
What
is bread? Bread sustains us. It fills our bellies. It gives us
comfort.
How
much food is in your pantry? Why so much?
after WWII many children were left homeless and orphaned. Allied forces
would gather these children into group homes where they were fed, clothed and
cared for, but many of the children had trouble sleeping at night. An
Army psychologist came upon the idea of giving each child an extra piece of
bread at night before bed to help them sleep. Some ate it and with a full
stomach, slept better. Many of the children though, did not eat the
bread but rather held it closely to them as though it offered some sort of
peace and protection. Those children slept soundly comforted by the
knowledge that tomorrow would include bread.
Jesus offers us not just bread for
tomorrow,
but
bread for eternity and a Peace that passes all understanding
for
those who trust and believe in the one who is "the bread of life".
He
calls for us to take him in.
He
calls for a deep passionate love.
A love that seeks him when we are
struggling.
A love that thanks him when all is
well.
a love that recognizes him as the friend that
sticks closer than a brother,
and a love that upon our death bed welcomes
us home.
When
every other philosophy of life fails, we can trust is Jesus.
To
all who would listen again today he says……….
“I
am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever
believes in me will never be thirsty.
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