Soul Food

When we hear Jesus say, “My flesh is real food.” We should immediately think back to Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.

The Holy Spirit threw Jesus into the wilderness and Jesus willingly endured a fast for 40 days. The scriptures report that at the end of this period of fasting, when Jesus was excruciatingly hungry, weakened by the fast, that’s when the devil approached him and tempted him to give into his hunger.

Listen to the way Satan tried to deceive Jesus. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Satan uses the same method on Jesus that worked on Adam and Eve. In the garden, Satan asked, “Did God really say?”

In the wilderness, Satan asks Jesus, “Are you really the Son of God? Prove it! Tell these stones to become bread!”

Even in his weakened state, even though he would have been very hungry, Jesus didn’t fall for Satan’s trick. Jesus knew that yes, he is the Son of God, but he doesn’t need to prove it to the Devil.

Then Jesus resisted temptation by quoting scripture. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God.”

Jesus not only resisted temptation by quoting scripture, he understood the scripture He quoted. Humans don’t live by bread alone. We live by the word of God. We live by the promise of God; we live by the grace of God. God in his just righteousness could destroy the planet. No one deserves to live. God in his great love allows everyone to live, all people owe their lives to God, whether they realise it or not.

So, the source of life, the focus of our lives must be on God. Jesus taught His disciples this important fact in the Lord’s Prayer. And so we pray, “give us today our daily bread.” Whom are we asking? God. Who provides everything? God does. What does God’s Word tell us about God? That He is faithful, patient, the best loving Father in the universe.

Let me ask us this question. What is better? Seek God’s kingdom first and in the process die of hunger, or scrape together a few morsels by turning your back on God?

Isn’t that what Esau did? Didn’t he value his appetite more than his own birthright?

Jesus was not willing to trade a perfect relationship with His father for a full stomach.

It is better to starve to death than to break one of God’s commandments. It is better to enter heaven with one eye than to go to hell with two. It is better to enter heaven with one hand than to go to hell with two.

What Satan was asking Jesus to do was to take His eyes off God, and to place his immediate physical needs above God. God had not commanded Jesus to break his fast yet. To do so, would have resulted in sin, in disobedience.

But on the face of it, was Satan’s temptation such a bad idea? Jesus was hungry, the 40 days were over, and he had the power and the ability to turn those stones into bread. We know that he was able to feed more than 5000 people with just 5 loaves, so turning some stones into bread wouldn’t have been impossible for him.

Jesus’ teaching in our passage and His response to Satan are very important for us. They teach us the truth: Jesus is the true source of life. We can resist and turn away from temptation by drawing strength, nourishment and sustenance from Jesus.

Jesus said to Satan, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

Who is the word of God? Jesus, that’s how John identifies Jesus at the beginning of His Gospel!

Can you see Satan’s audacity?

He tempted the bread of life to make bread!

But Jesus didn’t fall for it for a second. For he is the bread of life, he is the Word of God.

And Jesus, by giving himself to us, as true food, as true sustenance, as living bread, teaches us that if we really want to live, really experience life, we must eat his flesh and drink His blood.

Do you see why it is so important to know your Bible? Mary and Joseph knew that going to Jerusalem was important, not just something Jesus could decide to do on His own. Jesus’ parents made Jesus go to Sabbath School? Jesus’ parents didn’t let him sleep in rather than going to synagogue. In this way, they prepared him for his future fight with the devil.

This is why we do everything we can to teach our children God’s Word. In this we’re providing them with true nourishment. We’re equipping them with a useful weapon with which to defeat the devil.

Let us continue the hard work of teaching our children the truth. Let us keep reminding them of their baptism, of who they are in Christ! Let us constantly remind them that they are new creations! That they belong to God, that they are not their own, that they belong to Jesus Christ, body and soul, in life, this life and in death?

They, we, all of us face serious challenges, serious temptations, serious attacks from our own sinful natures, and from the devil himself. Just looking at Facebook, you can see the struggles people are going through, and the temptations everywhere.

It is so easy to exchange the bread of life for the stones of earth.

Isn’t that the temptation always?

How quick are we, even as adults to really, truly trust the scriptures?

Well, I suppose because we’re all here, that we’re pretty good at it, aren’t we?

But don’t you still find yourself doubting?

Don’t you find yourself sometimes thinking that there’s a disconnect between what takes place here on Sundays and what happens throughout the rest of the week?

The gospel, the fact that Jesus is the bread of life means that we cannot find anything more satisfying in anything else in the world. There is no salvation apart from Christ. There is no real food more satisfying than Jesus is.

The author of Hebrews puts it this way in 6:4-6 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”

Once you have come to see Christ, once you have tasted the bread of life, you will not turn away. But even if someone were able to taste and then turn away, that person would never ever come back.

It’s like a guy who has lived on Kraft Dinner for years. One day he gets an invitation to go to a gourmet dinner. Everything he tastes is the most succulent, well prepared, delicious food the world can offer this side of heaven.

But after eating this meal, unbelievably, he goes home and makes some Kraft Dinner and says, “Now that’s a fine meal.” If you were this guy’s friend you’d take him to a doctor, wouldn’t you? Now, I will eat Kraft Dinner like anyone else, but give me the choice of eating Kraft Dinner or eating at the Keg and I’ll choose the Keg every time.

Unfortunately, I can’t always say the same about my life with Christ, can you?

Don’t you find that on occasion you’ve fallen into accepting the temptations of this world? Haven’t you exchanged the glory of God, for the confidence act put on by Satan?

We all have, and that’s why we have prayers of confession.

Why do we choose these things? It’s easier and less costly to eat Kraft Dinner than save up, dress up and go out to the Keg, especially with kids. It’s the same with church, getting ready, dressing up, and getting kids to be silent and sit still.

Either we’re crazy, or we’ve discovered something that’s worth that kind of work!

We’ve discovered, through the Holy Spirit, the Bread of Life. We come every week in order to be fed. And we long for the true food. We long for the day when we will see Jesus in person. When we won’t have to listen to a preacher, because we’ll be able to listen to the THE preacher!

But in the mean time, here we are.

We’ve eaten the bread of life. We’ve heard the Word of God, which gives sustenance in every situation, regardless of the physical condition our bodies might be in. Because of the goodness of God, we don’t have to despair the situation of the body. The body of earth is out of dust and it will return to dust until Christ makes it new and glorified.

Therefore, what we’re doing is, as a wise friend of mine told me one day a while ago over lunch, we’re building foundations.

We’re building foundations on the rock, Jesus Christ, the bread of life.

Look at the leaning tower of Pisa. That’s a classic example of a poor foundation. It’s funny, the world celebrates a mistake.

Let’s not make a mistake with our lives. Let’s not make a mistake with our children’s lives, our grandchildren’s lives. Let’s work hard on the foundations. Building our faith up, brick by brick, tied in all together, we’re not building individual walls here, but one big building, the church, a structure built on the rock solid promises of Christ.

Anyone who believes in Christ is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (Jn. 12:25). Don’t love this life. Love Jesus. Love the Bread of Life. Eat Soul food, not junk food. Amen.