The Revelation of the Bread of Life
Notes
Transcript
JWrote a book on how to fall down the stairs… more of a step by step guide
Have you ever tried archery blindfolded? You don’t know what you are missing
So he is telling us this morning what happens when we partake in the bread of life… what are the results…
Results of partaking in the Bread of Life
Life- the Abundance of life
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.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 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.
Lets talk for a moment about the context of what is going on here…the Jews are here in Jerusalem to celebrate the passover… they are celebrating the freedom that God gave them when he freed them from Egyptian rule. And as Jesus begins to talk about bread they would remember the bread in the wilderness… and he is pointing out in these verses and the ones noel did last week that they complained about that bread...They would remember the blood on the doorposts… and here he is causing them to dispute amongst themselves
Some would have thought of his words as a parable they needed to digest, no pun intended.. but that was they way they talked adn communicated and Jesus was surely doing the same thing in his ministry that they were able to see,,,
And as we think about this, we typically think that he is referring to the eucharist and maybe in a roundabout way, but not directly, remember Jesus hadn’t yet put the eucharist out there… it wasn’t something that he had already shown them, so that is unlikely what he was directly referring to… as we can see it will point to it, but not directly… think about this for a second here is where other people would have had an issue… They are there celebrating this freedom… remembering the manna that was given from Heaven to make them survive. it is qite literally what kept them alive… and here during this moment Jesus is saying HE, is the bread of life… he is the sustainer...
Listen, we look past this, but this is a huge thing to the Jews… he is taking the role of God here.., he is saying I am the one that can sustain you I am the one that will give you life… and this is HUUUUUGEEEE he is quite literally saying you have to have me....
You have to understand how offensive this would have been to the people he was talking to…
And as we look at this, eat and drink is the greek aorist tense, and it means a once and for all act… so this is not talking about a daily thing, which we need to do, but what he is talking about here is the partaking.. or receiving of him once and for all He is pointing it forward to that act on the cross.. and here is what is so cool, is at the last supper he changes passover into the last supper which will point to the giving of his flesh and blood… its is an amazing act
Jesus tells us before we partake of him, the first time… we are dead men walking… thats spiritually dead of course… which is the worst kind of dead… and jesus offers us the true life, and abundant life
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
And what Jesus offers will fulfill that and bring you to life…
And the second result of partaking in the bread of life
2. eternal life - comparing death and being resurrected
54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
The word for feeds here is the word trogon it means to eat eagerly, to grasp chunks of.... it is the picture of hungering after Christ and waiting to feed on him… It reminds me of a child as you are cutting a birthday cake they are salavating and waiting to get to it...
Here the tense has changed from the aortist tense to the present tense which and this changes it from the previous verse of a one time even to a continuous event.. its somethign we have to do day by day and we get this eternal life from him…
How do we do that daily… prayer, worship, fasting..3 fold disciplines
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
THe first thing he gives us is an abundant life, then eternal life, and then TRUE satisfaction
3. True, not false Contentment
55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
As we have talked about before… the things that we feast on in this world to try to fill ourselves will not actually fulfill us...
Money
Kids
Job
Status
All of these things in the end will leave us completely empty and unsatisfied… all of these things will leave us wondering if there is more to life that what we have to offer...
And what he is telling us is that true satisfaction comes only through him
Just as food and drink in this world will fulfill our lives for just a little while… we can eat and the truth is we will be hungry again… we have to realize … Jesus is telling us he will fulfill and sustain us permanently
I know Dave was talking about this with the teenagers Wednesday Night… true contentment… satisfaction go hand in hand… but those things we fulfill ourselves of the world… they go away… its spiritual growth when you get to a place where you can be Content, satisfied in Jesus, and not need any of the things of this world
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
4. Supernatural companionship and fellowship
56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
The thing I love to talk about is our world is in need of community… we want it… we desire it whether we realize it or not… and we need it we were designed for it… but we have a huge problem in our culture where we retreat and run from it, and we are lonely and broken, and Jesus tells us he is our true companion. and will give us the fellowship we need.. dont hear this as we won’t need people because we have Jesus… yes its true he fulfills us , but we still need others
That word, abides, is the word menei which could also be translated as remains… or dwells or rests,,, if we have received him and he enters our life and we are placed within Christ with all those other believers and we can rest in him… amd in those moments that we realize we are lonely, and in distress we can take hold of the fact that he is with us.
5. A life full of purpose and meaning
57 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.
The fifth result of receiving christ is a life that is full of purpose and meaning and significance
Jesus said I live because of the father… which means two things he lived because of the father… his life was that of the father…he was living FOR the father...
We should be doing the same thing
Jim Carey once said, “I wish everyone could get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see its not the answer.”
What happens for so many of us is we work so hard to fulfill our own hearts desires what we think we want and need and we chase after it and we finally get there and all we want is somethign else… We can’t ever achieve what we are looking for apart from Jesus and we have to get to a place where we put our life and plans in the hands of him if we are ever going to get the joy our heart is after… he is the source of all our joy...
Also he tells us if we have recieved him we live because of Jesus
This goes right along with the teachings of Paul in Ephesians… we were dead in our transgressions but Christ gave us life.
Jesus tells us that he is the LIVING father… thats a huge deal for you and for me
6. Incorruptible food received within the heart - energizing life forever
58 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 is a call to the wilderness for sure… he’s reminding them… remember your ancestors in the wildnerness… God gave them bread, and they wandered, and ate freely every day, but in the end all of them died… And I am so much different than that… I am the bread that has come down from Heaven that will give you life forever… Some of us know the Bible verse… if you know it say it For God…
Listen I am the bread that never goes bad… its not going to wither away and turn rancid the next day… more of me is always going to be there, and iti will eternally give you life… not just for a little while but FOREVER>… understand he is telling them that he is God… he is able to do even MORE than what they saw in the wilderness… he will give them life not for a short time, but forever....
The question this morning is, are you partaking in the bread of life… has Jesus become your source of life… and in a few minutes when we come to take the sacraments this morning, what you will see is an allusion to that work that he does on the cross… its a representation of the thing we should be doing in our daily lives… eating and drinking and finding our source in Jesus.