Best thing since sliced… Men’s BS

Scripture

John 6:35–40 NIV

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 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 them up at the last day.”

Introduction

Becoming:

“Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity...”

as James K.A. Smith puts it, or in other words we are not static but we are always becoming. Who and what we are becoming has everything to do with the extent to which we are following Jesus. On several occasions Jesus makes these personal declarations we know as the “I am” statements that have demands on our longings and desires. Lent is an opportunity for the followers of Jesus to be challenged with all that Jesus is and claims to be. Furthermore, lent is a season to focus on becoming who God has created us to be.

Context

Jesus and the disciples are at the sea of Galilee and they are in the middle of the ministry. There is growing conflict surrounding Jesus and this experience we will talk about today no doubt fuels the fire as Jesus makes some incredibly bold claims. First Jesus and disciples are sitting on the shore when a great crowd come and find them, near the passover festival.

Jesus feeds the thousands gathered with a sack lunch. and there were leftovers.

After they saw this they thought he was some great holy man, a prophet, someone sent by God.

Then disciples get in a boat and head out to Capernaum. I dont know if they forgot Jesus or if he was deep in ministry or maybe retreating to be with God after a busy day, but he is gone. When the waters get crazy they see a person walking out to them.

Another miraculous event no doubt.

Crowds see they are missing and they get into boats and go looking for him. They seem to realize Jesus got there in some different means…asking him “when did you get here?”

Jesus immediately gets at them for going sign hunting. look again....

John 6:26–27 NIV

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

The followers here seem to be missing all that Jesus is doing or the real importance behind everything. The disciples are guilty of it too.

They are eager for the signs and missing the person of Jesus in front of them. They (and we) love to have our bellies full…dont we?

Becoming is about finding Jesus to be a sustaining relationship....not just a meal time prayer.

Today I want to talk about the three questions

Question of Religion

The first question after Jesus presses hard into them, calls them out on their pursuits is they ask the religion question:

verse 28: What must we do to do the works God requires?

Work is a good translation here:

What do we need to accomplish?

What is the labor we need to put in to get the special bread?

Jesus responds:

John 6:29 NIV

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Even this is not a work in the modern sense, Grace has been given to you so that you might have the opportunity to respond. God has given you the ability to believe. Paul:

Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Listen, Jesus is not asking for your religious commitment. The Christian faith is unlike other belief system because it is actually opposed to the efficacy of human works. When Jesus says you need to work for eternal bread that never spoils....he is not saying

Here is your checklist:

Go to church regularly

pray often

read Scripture when you can, memorize something (John 3:16 is easy)

Sign up for a Bible Study every now and then

Give some money

Volunteer for VBS, if you are an overachiever serve homeless or prison

Hear me, these are good things. They are how we get deeply rooted. But Jesus is saying it right here…the only requirement is BELIEVE. BECOMING is about BELIEVING, not religion.

Question of Proof

Quickly they have a second question and this one is a matter of proof. They want to know that they are doing it right. I wonder if any of this sounds familiar? Look at John 6

John 6:30–31 NIV

So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

What sign will you give us so that we know we are doing it right?

We know about this bread thing....Moses at the thing worked out for Manna, will you give us something like that?

The fringe is coming to see these signs to see if he might be the one they were hoping for. Searching for signs....I wonder if there is anyone in here that can relate? You are looking for justification, you are looking for proof....if I could just see him walking on the water. If he could do the bread thing one more time…I did not get a closer look, or I heard about it from so and so and I was hoping to see it myself.

Jesus’ response is masked. It looks like a non-answer:

John 6:32–33 NIV

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, 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. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Jesus is saying, you are thinking of the manna and not the God who made it happened. You are looking for me in the bread, in the signs, and I am standing right in front of you.

To anyone in the room that this might be speaking to…I understand our desire for proof, to understand, to know we are on the right track. When you go sign-hunting you are putting Jesus on your terms and I think you will miss Him.

What if He is right in front of you? Here. In this meal.

Question of Transactional Faith

The third question that they ask is one that might be familiar to others in the room once we dig down a little. Next these folks immediately ask Jesus, ok well will you always give us this bread? (they are still missing it).

What sign will we have? Will it be like the manna in the wilderness from Moses?

Jesus says dude God provided the bread, stop worrying about the bread.

Right, bread came from God. Got it. Sooooooo will we always get this bread?! That’s all I am asking.

It is at this point, if I am Jesus, I throw the bread to the birds and take off. I am not Jesus.

Jesus, gets even more to the point...

“I AM the bread of life.”

This request is slightly deeper than the question of proof. This is that transactional faith. When I need bread will you provide it? When we are in the wilderness, will it be there. That is why Jesus continues to point beyond the gift and to Himself.

Dependent on him?

This is where I got crushed this week. There are so many times in my walk with Jesus that I fall dependent on His blessings and miss my relationship with him.

Think about a parent child relationship:

Like a child that only comes to you when they need something. We only know our Father as an extension of what he provides for us. And because he is good he does provide. But this transactional faith leads to a warped sense of what we need.

And when the parent decides what we want is not right for us then we feel abandoned.

Question of Eating Jesus?

At the end Jesus really gets into it. Later the disciples would even cringe a little at this language. Look at verse 53

John 6:53 NIV

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.

This is like that weedout Biology 101 class. You know what I mean…day 1...

Jesus is giving them some hard teaching and it would take time for this to make sense. What he is saying is I am life. I am sustenance. I am your proof, I am your vitality in the wilderness, I am your gift from God that brings life, I am the one you are to eat. Consume.

What happens in this meal is a mystery, but He gave it to us and He is present here.

two challenges:

1. when we receive bread...we are forced to consider what else we are consuming:

material things....lent

but also consuming that is from Jesus but not him.

craving his acts and not craving him

joke about lenten fast of coffee

2. We are forced to consider where we are empty…What do you desperately need God to fill?

In the Name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit