Untitled Sermon

Eating the flesh and drinking the blood

Background

a. Jesus is talking to mostly Jews, who believed in a religious judicial (or legal) system in which you were punished for failing to meet God’s criteria and rewarded for obedience. As with all Judicial systems the Jews

had been exploiting what they thought were loopholes in the system. Most Jews of that day had perfected living by the “Law”. In the mind of the Jew he was chosen of God and all he had to do was follow a set of

rules and ordinances in order to maintain his or her standing. In the event that they failed to follow the rules, there were plenty of legal “provisions” to put them right back on the path of “righteousness”.

It didn’t matter often whom they stole from, whether or not they were charitable or how many wives they divorced over something as trivial as a burned piece of toast. The religiosity of that day had become

nothing more than a people group who had learned to avoid “the big sins like murder, adultery and worshipping idols” while also learning how to cover up the “little sins” like charging more for items sold during

temple worship, all in the “guise of this is for our service to God” or like lusting after another woman and then finding a trivial reason to leave your wife in order to marry another, and then divorcing that one and

returning to your previous marriage. They knew how many yearly sacrifices they had to make in order to justify hating their neighbors, and marginalizing the poor. They had become experts at Judaism all the while

becoming more alienated from the God they claimed to worship, And in this particular discourse we are beginning to see the climax of Jesus challenging their hypocrisy.

b. The crowd he was talking to was not confusing his metaphors for literalism, they knew he wasn’t talking about cannibalism, however according to Jewish law and what they believed

about cannibalism, it was supremely offensive to them that he was comparing God’s gift of salvation to eating human flesh and drinking human blood.

Most offensive however was the notion that God’s legal system of punishment for disobedience and reward for obedience was being challenged. Jesus was essentially telling them that

their system of “religious piety” was no longer valid.

c. The Jewish crowd that he was talking to likely understood at least in part that what Jesus was alluding to was a violent end to his life. No doubt they didn’t fully understand that he was

going to be condemned to death on a cross. But they were certainly picking up on references that would bring death by brutality to mind, and it appeared to them that Jesus was alluding to the fact

that he had to be killed. This notion would not only be offensive, but it would be disheartening as we will see when we read the conclusion to this story. The Jewish people were expecting a Messiah to save

them and their religion from the rule of the Roman Empire. In their mind if Jesus was truly the Saviour he was coming to fight the Romans. He was coming to lead an army of Israelites to a glorious victory.

He was coming to take away all of their problems, and affirm their religious lifestyle to the whole world. It would be known everywhere that these are God’s people who follow God’s ways. The fact that this man was

a carpenters son, an ordinary man, seemingly on his way to self destruction, was standing in front of them telling them that not only does God not affirm them as his people who follow His ways, but that the true way

was standing before them would have no doubt left feelings of absolute disdain in their hearts. You can almost feel how offended they are when you read through this narrative.

A. What is John Telling us in this Story?

When we read the Gospel narratives in particular the teachings of our Lord, after we have determined some of the historical context and kind of sorted through who, what, where and why

of what Jesus is saying; it is super duper important to discover why the Author of the Gospel is highlighting the particular teaching of our Lord. The gospels were all written and put together

for the edification of the Church. So while it may appear that the target audience is the Jews that Jesus in interacting with in this story, and in part that is true, the real audience is was the early Christians

and ultimately you and I.

ii. In this particular narrative John is bringing to light what many believe is the importance of faith in Christ alone for salvation, and the relationship between that faith and the Lords Supper. There is an inseparable

link between trusting in Christ finished work on the Cross for salvation and living in Christian community. When Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for our Sin and went to that old rugged cross he did so

for the reconciliation of God to His people, which inevitably includes the unification of Gods people. There can be not reconciliation apart from a unification. Jesus always had an “US and WE” emphasis and never

an “I” or “ME” focus. Nothing makes that more clear than the imagery that we see in the Lord’s Supper, where even the one that would ultimately betray Christ was welcomed to participate. The Lord’s supper

was not simply a picture of Jesus suffering on the cross for our sin, it was also a picture of the Resurrection and the power of reconciliation that came with it. In the rising of Our Lord the power of Death and Hell

had been defeated, and those who now live in Christ are now reconciled to God and to each other.

B. What was John’s Purpose in sharing this insight with the early Christians?

So now that we know a little about the crowd that Jesus was addressing in this particular passage, and now that we also know that John was addressing a completely different audience when he was telling this

narrative, and now that we know that John is highlighting the importance of “faith in Christ alone” and the connection between that faith and Christian community, there remains for us one question. What was John’s

purpose in bringing these points out.

i. 2nd Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work

If we study the New Testament it doesn’t take very long to see that there are many problems that begin to confront the church very early on in its conception. Satan was not sitting by idly while the Church was growing.

He didn’t just give up being God’s adversary when Jesus resurrected. No when he failed to conquer Christ, he turned his sight to the next best thing, Christ’s church. One of the first assaults of the enemy on the church was

an assault on the unity and love in Christ between the brethren. Acts 2:1-8 doesn’t just tell us about the wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t even focus so much on the tongues that were uttered that day. In fact

we don’t even know what exactly was being said. We are told however about the immediate effect of this outpouring. There was an instant move to unifying what the enemy of God had tried to destroy when he tried to

unify the people against God and his purposes with the tower of Babylon. verses 5-8 tell us this “Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?”

Amazingly God seemingly appears to reverse a judgment that He made long ago when He diversified language to thwart the evil plans of the enemy and his people to build a tower that reaches God with the purpose of dethroning

him. Now we see The Holy Spirit speaking through these disciples and foreshadowing what would be the distinct mark of the Church of Jesus Christ. Unity. Every man speaking the same thing. Every man looking toward the need

of the other. Nobody esteeming themselves as greater than their brothers or sisters. Along with this outpouring and initiation of Godly unity came Peters sermon, which convicted 3,000 people and led them to repentance and faith. And this faith in Christ led them to being a unified body of believers who had a unique love for one another, lets just listen to what verses 42-45 tell us: And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

It is God was doing through a body of believers who were living in love and unity with The Lord and with eachother. The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Praise God!!

2. So what happened?

Lets look at one of the first recorded attempts from Satan to attack the Unity or Community of Believers and thereby destroy the believers faith in Christ alone! We don’t need to look too far in scripture, in fact in the

same book of Acts in chapter 5 their is a sobering story of 2 beloved believers who allowed themselves to be seduced and deceived by the enemy.

a. Selfishness is one of the ways that unity is destroyed. The unity that Christ brings to His church is embodied in serving and not in being served. All through the Gospels we see again and again Jesus Christ as a servant.

He came not to be served but to serve. The Climax of His service to us was the giving of His Body and of His Blood by the brutal death on the cross, in order that He might be raised to life and we too would live with him.

When John is reminding his Christian audience of Jesus teachings, He is reminding them that as Christians we put our trust in the Lord and that should be evidenced by the same spirit of servitude that Christ embodied.

There is no room in the Church of Jesus christ for self indulgence, self seeking and pursuing our own self interests.