You Are What You Eat
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
ILLUST - Otto Frederick Rohwedder July 7, 1928, sliced bread
John’s gospel - starts with Jesus as God, trust Him, accept His gift, what do you need to see that?
Make a choice, what to eat, physically and spiritually
STEPS TO LIFE FOREVER WITH JESUS, kinda like having bread offered for a meal
Invited to eat, Offered the food, Accept and consume (both the world, and Jesus - choice)
1) Drawn by the Father
1) Drawn by the Father
Jews = “opponents”
Grumbling - see Exodus 15 and beyond
Why do people grumble?
Needs not met
Fear, frustration
Lack of faith
Stubbornness
The Jews expected the messiah for them, nobody else
John sets that straight
You don’t, can’t, in fact, come, to Jesus, unless the Father draws you (draw = approach, get closer)
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
WHO IS DRAWN?
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
ALL = ALL
All drawn, why are not all saved?
They reject Him - plain and simple, no excuses
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
2) Spiritual Bread
2) Spiritual Bread
The opponents question His source
From Heaven?
The opponents question what is offered - they don’t like the source
They’ve already been told that they’ll follow anyone else who comes along, anyone besides God
They were told by Isaiah and Jeremiah (v. 45) that God Himself would show up to teach them
Claim to Deity - I AM (3x in this passage) - Here He is!
They claim He is arrogant, claiming to be from Heaven
“We know His parents”
(they also think He is illegitimate)
WHAT ABOUT THIS GRUMBLING AND BREAD?
Grumblers in the wilderness
I mentioned Exodus 15, 16, 17, physical needs are being met, food, water, safety, etc.
Physical needs met, so they could focus on the spiritual
And they grumbled
What did they want?
You can tell more by what they DID NOT want - to follow some God they had been re-introduced to
They did NOT want to be reminded of their spiritual responsibility to God
Grumblers with Jesus
They complain when He meets superficial needs
They complain when He does not
What is it they want? What about us, what do WE want?
In the opening of the passage, they grumble because of what He says, He’s the bread;
He is truth!
People don’t like truth when it pushes back against their belief system
“Good enough for me” mentality
Manna from above
Ate, satisfied superficially, died
Bread from Jesus (fed the 5000)
Ate, satisfied superficially, will die
Jesus offers a bread, spiritual life forever, that this world will NEVER satisfy
All are invited
All are offered the source of life
3) Eating and Drinking
3) Eating and Drinking
You are what you eat
What were they to be eating and drinking?
Jesus’ flesh
Jesus’ blood
vv 51-52 - confused
How can we eat this flesh?
Jesus doubles down (even though they are arguing with each other…)
If you DON’T do this, you have no life!
The flesh and blood - true knowing Jesus
Eating this flesh, drinking this blood = “accepting Jesus’ death, His mission here”
NOT about Communion
But…Believers take Communion seriously
This is about seeing and believing Jesus
Inwardly accepting the suffering death of Jesus
His flesh was killed, His blood was spilled
Eat that, digest that, INTERNALIZE that!
“Eat” this - understand and accept it
Then live forever with Him
CLOSE - v. 47, 53, 58 - You Are What You Eat
To grumble is to oppose Jesus - His Word, what He’s done, what is promised ahead (both judgment and glory)
Life here is about life there, with Him
When we make life here about life here, we are not “eating” this truth
Manna from heaven, quail, water from the rock - all blessings
And the people grumbled, complained
Food in the pantry, heat in the house, money in your pocket
And people grumble, complain
Wilderness - imagine the tombstones
“They ate and died” - this was their legacy
Superficial Christians today
“They were comfortable here, then they died” - Life is about them
What are you EATING? - FULLY SURRENDERED TO? - You are what you eat
People fill up with this world to be satisfied - die superficially happy, full, and end up in hell
Maybe for us it should look more like:
“I’m eating the Bread and I’m alive now for Him”
READ Matthew 6:19-21 for example
Then Matthew 6:33
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Jesus calls people to be Kingdom-seekers, not earthly treasure-storers
Jesus invites all to be Bread-eaters, truly and fully ingesting Who He is, what He’s done, what He will do.
Three times - I AM - This is God in the flesh
Our flesh here, it will age, die, decay
So what’s your plan after that?
Lions Club - someone said he hoped he didn’t croak
I told him to make sure he knew where he was going in case he did
Advice? Wait to croak until you know for sure what it is you expect after
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
“This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
LIVE HERE - But live as Jesus did, focused on where He came from, where we will be eternally
If we believe
Do you?
Have you eaten His flesh, drank His blood?
Again, this is not what we do during Communion, those elements are symbolic
Have you truly accepted Jesus, trusted Him for forgiveness? To do so is to consume His flesh and blood.
That’s why He came
To invite all, to provide what is truly needed, and then for us to trust and accept that.
You’ve been invited. What you do with that is your choice.
I’m living forever with Jesus - not a doubt in mind.
You with me?