Water, Bread, Wine
Notes
Transcript
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Spiritual Hunger
Spiritual Hunger
We all know what it means to be hungry.
I will never forge being in boot camp and having dreams about food.
I was so hungry that all I could do was think about when our next meal was.
Hunger is a physical need that drives us to seek food.
In a spiritual sense, it was about 20 years ago that I experienced an intense spiritual hunger and I began to seek more spiritual food in Jesus.
One Wednesday nigt I stopped into a Lutheran Church and it so happened they were starting catechism that night for adults.
I joined them and when we got to the sacraments it was like the heavens opened.
What I realized is that I’d been hungering for more than spiritual talk.
I wanted a God who is so close that He would come down into our earth elements and feed us and be with us.
I can’t guarantee that by the end of today you’ll feel as passionately about the Lord’s Supper and baptism as I feel, but I hope you will at least see that these aren’t optional to our faith.
They are central and they are life giving.
We are going to start with the Lord’s Supper today because it’s where the text takes us.
We read……
Bread of Life
Bread of Life
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
It’s important to understand two aspects of this passage.
Firstly, this statement is party of much larger commentary that we will explore in just a moment.
Jesus has just fed the 5,000 with the five loaves and two fish.
Jesus is now shifting the attention of the disciples to how he is our spiritual meal.
Secondly, Jesus is not simply using metaphorical language by calling himself the bread of life.
If we jump down to verse 51……
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
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 you.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
This passage is considered by many theologians a foreshadowing of the Lord’s Supper.
And notice what Jesus does not do when the Jews question him.
Jesus does not back down and say, “I’m just being metaphorical, folks!”
He doubles down and gets even more explicit, stating, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.…”
In fact, Jesus is so clear on this that we read in verse 66…
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
The first disciples took Jesus quite literally, and Paul writes in 1 Cor 10:16
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
The New Testament Church understood, without equivocation, that Christ is in the Lord’s Supper giving to us his body and blood whenever we receive the meal.
New Covenant
New Covenant
But why does this matter?
Recall what Jesus says when he institutes the Lord’s Supper…
And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
NEW COVENANT
The transition from the Old Covenant Jewish sacrificial system and the New Covenant sacrifice is simply this……
The body and blood of Jesus are a once and for all sacrifice, and every time we receive the Lord’s Supper we are both reminded, and renewed as a NEW COVENANT COMMUNITY.
Christ gives for us His body and blood in this meal so that we might be renewed.
Remember what he says in John 6…
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 you.
It sounds so carnal to our ears for Jesus to be so literal.
And, yet, it is what the church has believed and confessed for two millennia.
Duty of Constant Communion
Duty of Constant Communion
This teaching is so central to Methodism that John Wesley wrote a sermon titled, The Duty of Constant Communion. He wrote:
“This is the food of our souls: This gives strength to perform our duty, and leads us on to perfection. If, therefore, we have any regard for the plain command of Christ, if we desire the pardon of our sins, if we wish for strength to believe, to love and obey God, then we should neglect no opportunity of receiving the Lord's Supper; then we must never turn our backs on the feast which our Lord has prepared for us."
Wesley practiced what he preached and received the Lord’s Supper almost every day of his life.
He also stated: “We should remember that the sacrament is not a burden, but a blessing; not a law, but a gift; not a duty, but a delight.”
A sadness for me is how infrequent the celebration of the Lord’s Supper has become.
Whenever God gives us a gift, attaching forgiveness of sin and renewal of life, we should take EVERY opportunity to receive it.
How many of us have gotten used to hearing that attendance was light in church this week because it was a communion Sunday?
If that’s true, then I would offer that it’s only because people have an impoverished view of the depths of God’s grace in the meal.
Jesus, Paul, the whole history of the church remind us that Jesus in some way gives to us the very body and blood that he shed for our sins.
That should be MORE compelling than even a sermon.
I can have an off day.
Jesus never has an off day when he shares forgiveness and renewal through this holy meal.
With that, let’s turn our attention to baptism…
Baptism
Baptism
I have two favorite baptism passages:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
In the first passage, Jesus is commissioning the 12 disciples to baptize in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
He secondly tells them to go and make disciples.
In the second passage Peter is preaching to a crowd on the Day of Pentecost and accuses them of killing the Messiah, Jesus.
When they realize what they’ve done they ask what must be done.
We note a few things at Acts 2 implies:
These new converts needed to repent.
Forgiveness of sins is promised.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is promised.
Children and all who are far off are included.
Baptism is the sign and seal of our incorporation into Christ.
It is the initiation into the covenant community of faith.
In baptism, we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection.
United With Christ
United With Christ
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
In addition to forgiveness of sins and new life, we are baptized into Christ and we are raised with Christ through faith.
Baptism connects us with the bread of life, because it is through baptism that we are grafted into Christ and made partakers of his life.
As Jesus said in today’s lesson.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Baptism initiates us into Jesus and gives us access to the bread of life.
It is through baptism that we enter into the covenant of grace and receive the promise of eternal life.
Invitation to Baptism
Invitation to Baptism
My strong encouragement to you, friends, is that if you have not been baptized to do so as soon as possible.
The benefits and promises are too many to pass by.
You are promised forgiveness of sin.
You are promised the gift of the Holy Spirit.
You are promised grafting into the Body of Jesus.
You become a participant in the fellowship of all believers.
I cannot say this strongly enough.
Jesus commands baptism and he promises wonderful gifts in baptism.
Don’t delay if you’ve not yet received the blessings of this gift.
See me afterwards if you have not yet been baptized and we will do so right away.
Conclusion and Call
Conclusion and Call
Perhaps you’re where I was 20 years ago and you were hungry friends.
Perhaps you’ve wondered what’s missing.
I can tell you that when my understanding of the sacraments was impoverished, my faith was impoverished.
When I realized that Christ is truly present in this meal each week, I began to desire it greatly, and I became resentful that the Methodist Churches in my area treated it very often like an afterthought.
Friends, I can promise you that s long as I am the pastor, we will celebrate this meal every weak, and you will have frequent access to the Lord’s Supper.
Too much is at stake to have a small view of the sacraments.
Individually, they are tangible means that assure us of God's love and forgiveness, and strengthen us to live as his disciples.
As a worshipping community the sacraments bind us together as the body of Christ, and enable us to love and serve one another.
Missionally, the sacraments empower us to share the gospel with the world, and to invite others to the feast of God's grace.
Let us therefore come to the table of the Lord with joy and gratitude, and partake of the bread of life with faith and hope.
Let us pray.
Hymn: I Come With Joy