Eat Up!

Intro

We just spent eight weeks preparing for battle, armoring up if you will.

So often when we finish a series like that, especially one where the Lord just moved so mightily, I struggle hearing God tell me where to go next.

This week, as I was praying and asking God where we needed to go next, a Scripture popped up on my phone — John 6:35 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

Then the Lord began to speak through that!

Today, as we think about how God has prepared us for battle and encouraged us to armor up, let us not forget that, as we armor up, we must, too, eat up!

Now, what do I mean by that?

I am no saying that we need to just sit around and eat all the time (although I know that you are already thinking about our Thanksgiving potluck coming up).

No, what I am saying is that we are called by Jesus to take up the bread of life and the living water and, eat up!

Read with me John 6:22–35 “The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:) When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

God is our Sustenance

After Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus their wives and children, and after He calms the storm, the crowds had questions!

You can hear their desperation as they ask “why are you here?” “What must we do to follow God?” “Our father’s were given mana from heaven, what sign can you give us?”

Then Jesus sets off on His dialogue proclaiming to them that manna from heaven is nothing compared to Himself.

As God sent manna from heaven in the OT, He sent His Son Jesus Christ as the Bread of Life to seek and to save all who will accept Him.

And, He is inviting them to eat!

The Bread of Life

First and most obvious, Jesus invites them to eat the bread of life. He says “all who come to me will never hunger again!”

This is very familiar language for Jesus, as it is the reason He came to earth to begin with.

We hear verses like Matthew 11:28–30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

And we are drawn into the lovely invitation of Jesus.

When we travel for work, one of the things we run into is families who want you to come eat with them, which is lovely!

However, without an invitation to dine, it wouldn’t work, we would be an unwelcomed guest.

This is the same case with salvation, Jesus came to seek and save the lost, Luke 19:10 says, and as such, is extending an invitation to you to come to him in repentance and dine on the bread of life.

If it isn’t obvious by now, and it wasn’t for the original audience in John chapter 6, the Bread of Life is no physical meal, but is Jesus.

Jesus is the sustenance that you and I need for all of life. Without Jesus, life is sad and eternity dark.

But, those desires that you have for something more, something grander than what you have, something else, can be fulfilled by Jesus Christ, not only as the bread of life, but the as our living water!

The Living Water

John 4:1–15 “When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.”

In the USA in 2020, starvation death rates were so low that the primary statistic had to be changed to “death caused by malnutrition” (which was .9 per 100,000 people). In our country, death by starvation is rare, we have food.

However, death by dehydration in our country is in the hundred-thousands per year!

Why? Well, the body can last a lot longer without food than it can without water.

Jesus knew this, and thus made this illustration.

Jesus knows that, spiritually, you are dehydrated, thirsty beyond belief. Jesus knows that without water, you will die.

Without Jesus, the Bread and Water of your life and eternity, you will die, not just a death from this life, but an eternal death for all of time.

Without proper nutrition from the Bread of life and the Living Water who is Jesus, you will not live eternally in Heaven.

Naturally, you know your hunger and thirst, and you know how to fix the problem.

However spiritually, your flesh will cause a struggle within you in deciphering what that desire is that you have, that true desire for something Greater, for Jesus.

God is our sustenance, for day to day life, for each breath we take, for the songs we sing, the voice we have, the love we share, whatever it is that you have, Jesus is telling us, is a gift from Him. Sustenance to make it through each moment of each day.

But, what does that sustenance do?

Well, when I am hungry, I mean I am ready to eat the paint off the wall, a morsel wont do, no. One morsel of food causes a craving within me for more, more, more.

And, the sustenance of Jesus Christ will cause the very same thing.

As you accept, take, and eat the Bread of Life and the Living Water, as you decide to believe that Jesus is the only way and the very sustenance you need not only for this life but for the one to come, then you will begin to develop, crave even, more and more of a “spiritual taste.”

Develop a Spiritual Taste

Psalm 34:1–8 “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: And their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth Round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

Naturally, your taste is dead in sin, and you won’t crave the things of the Spirit of God, you won’t have a spiritual taste.

Oh, but once you taste and see that the Lord is good, then things begin to change. Your taste begins to transform, and will then transform until the day you are glorified in Heaven with the Father.

So, what changes in our taste? Just about everything, but today I want to share four things with you, four positions you may have, four preferences to put aside, four tastes if you will that will change as you begin to develop a taste for spiritual things.

A Taste for Righteousness

The first taste that changes is the most necessary and radical, it is your taste for righteousness.

Prior to your conversion, and some of you may be in this position now, you did not desire right things, or things of righteousness, you were unable! And, if you tried to desire righteousness, it was only for the purpose of working your way to heaven.

However, as you become a follower of Jesus Christ, you can begin to desire righteousness only because Jesus has given you His!

Romans 4:3–5 “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

When you decide to follow Jesus, to come eat of the bread and water of salvation, then your desires change. And, the first desire is the desire for righteousness because Jesus gives you His righteousness by your faith in Him.

Oh, but pastor, I have been saved this long and still struggle with being righteous? Maybe I am not even saved.

Maybe, or maybe the Lord is still sanctifying you.

Remember church, perfection is the mark, a mark which wont be achieved until heaven, and a mark only achieved for you by the grace of God.

And, when you can keep that in mind, then your desire to be right before God and do right things for God changes from a selfish act of trying to work your way to heaven, to a joyful and delightful act of doing what is right because you enjoy it and so does God.

Your taste for righteousness will develop more and more over time.

The best way for you and I to develop a better spiritual taste is through God’s Word, so as you develop a taste for righteousness, you will naturally develop a taste for the Word of God!

A Taste for His Word

Psalm 119:103 “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Again, God does not speak by accident and His words are well chosen. He understands the human desire for taste, for food and drink, so He continues with this imagery.

The Word of God, written for you and I, is sweet. Objectively the Word is sweet.

However, your taste for it may not be where it needs to be. You may not be able to say “Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth are thy words.”

Why? Because you haven’t acquired a taste for it yet!

I really don’t like peppermint, I think it is nasty! However, you know those really soft peppermints that you can find at banks and places like that? I love those!

But I didn’t always.

In college one semester we had a 3 hour class once a week with the president of the college, and, 3 hours after lunch is a long time to stay awake. Dr. Pinson knew this, so he kept these mints on his desk and threw them to us to help us stay awake. And, over time, after eating them over and over again, I developed a taste for them.

Now, every time I am at the bank, I grab a couple.

I like them because I have eaten them so much that my taste has changed.

Your taste for the Bible is going to be nonexistent prior to salvation, the only time you may desire it is to prove it wrong or check off your “get to heaven list” (with the exception of the HS speaking to hearts to lead them to truth).

However, when you become a Christian and you begin to trust in God, when you taste and see that the Bread of Life and Living water are good, then you will understand that His word is good!

You will begin to read it, and even through times where you may not want to do to the enemy or distraction, you choose to.

Then you begin to understand it.

Then you begin to love it.

Then you develop a taste for it!

And, once you develop a taste for the Word, then you will see all the wonderful truths within and you will develop a taste for them, even His commandments.

You will see the love that the Father has had since before time, and that will lead to you wanting to share it, which develops your taste for evangelism.

A Taste for Evangelism

Revelation 10:8–11 “And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”

Isn’t that passage beautiful? It encapsulates what we are talking about.

Taste the Word of God, see how sweet it is, and then see your responsibility to share it to a lost world.

Approximately 150,000 people die every day in this world, how many of them are going to heaven?

If we take the Word of God to be true, and we do, then the path to heaven is narrow and not filled with as many people as the path to hell.

So, the majority of 150,000 people everyday enter eternity in hell.

What are we doing to stop that?

We know the only remedy to sin and hell is the gospel of Jesus Christ, so, are we taking it to them? Are we delivering the medicine of the Great Physician? Or are we too scared and shy?

Church, tens of thousands of people a day, that is what is at stake.

And you may say “well, that is just too many people to talk to!” And, that is true.

But is one? What about 5? Dare we say 10?

When is the last time you shared your faith?

You don’t have to know the Word front to back to start sharing your faith. You don’t have to be a Christian long at all. Simply share what Jesus has done in your life, he has blessed you, saved your soul, loved you to the Nth degree, he has given you eternal life. Maybe he has delivered you from drugs and alcohol, porn, over-indulgence, maybe you never struggled with those things. Can I tell you this morning, if you follow Jesus, it doesn’t matter if you have never been an addict, He has saved you from sin and its eternal effects!

So, tell the world! Share it! And, pray not only for boldness, but that the Spirit of God would give you the words to say. He will!

When you start sharing the gospel, you will develop a liking to it, a taste for it, and you will want to do it more and more.

Over arching all of these points is one last one, understanding that God provides for you, that He is your daily bread and water, and deciding to follow Him leads to a taste for righteousness, for the Word, for evangelism, and ultimately, you develop a taste for God!

A Taste for God Himself

Do you want to know what is wrong with the world? We were designed to have a taste for God, a life filled with Him, and we choose not to.

However, we have seen today just a few examples of what it is like to choose God over and over and over again.

Ultimately, a taste for God Himself is your partaking in a complete life.

Your life is complete, matured, whole when you develop a taste for God.

For when you have a taste for God, then you choose Him always, and when you choose Him always, you are in constant communion with Him.

Matthew 26:26–29 “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Take of the Lord, always. Eat. Drink.

Love the Lord, love His people, love His word, love His gospel, Love your God.

You have surrendered to God, why not allow Him full control?

Develop a taste for God, a godly worldview, a biblical worldview. See life through God’s lens. See life through Scripture.

Then, pain, suffering, loss, war, whatever it is you deal with, will be simpler and simpler. Why? because you will see it the way God sees it, temporary, not lasting.

You will begin to trust God’s plan.

And, you will be looking to heaven, not earth.

So, come, take the Bread of Life, eat. Come, take the Living Water, drink. Be filled. Be satisfied. Be taken care of. Remember, you need bread. You need water. Come eat

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Conclusion

Are you hungry this morning? Is your soul growling for something more to eat and drink? Are you missing something in your life today? Some of you may be.

You don’t need a snack, you need to surrender your life to Jesus. To take and eat the Bread of Life and the Living Water.

To follow Jesus is to surrender your life to Him in repentance, and then trusting Him for complete and daily sustenance.

I trust, daily, in my food and drink to satisfy my physical needs.

Why shouldn’t I trust my heavenly Food and Drink to satisfy my spiritual needs?

But, maybe that is where you are. Maybe you aren’t trusting Jesus like you should, would you come pray? Would you come seek Jesus for your complete and total sustenance. Would you come repent of the sin of trusting in yourself over God?

This morning, would you come repent maybe for the first time!

*salvation plea*