John 6:51-58 * June 22, 2008 * Pentecost 6 * Pastor Thomas Engelbrecht

I want you to imagine being one of the Israelites during the time of Moses. You left Egypt, and even though life there was very hard, you probably had access to food for every meal. So even though it was a good thing that you left Egypt, you also left the source of your day to day sustenance. Eventually, after wandering in the desert for years and years, your food would start to dwindle, and you would wonder where your next meal would come from.

That is, you would wonder where your food would come from if you forgot who brought you out of Egypt. But it would be awfully hard to forget that God brought you out of Egypt, when you had to trust that every day he would provide the bread for you to eat. Can you imagine that? Every day you had to start fresh, go outside and gather your food for the day.

Doesn’t it seem like the Israelites were privileged to have to rely on God for their physical well-being every day? How could they ever forget that God was a huge part of their lives? Maybe sometimes it seems like God isn’t as closely connected to us in our daily lives. Maybe it seems like God is distant from our day to day life issues.

Jesus tells us that he is connected with our lives. He gives us true life. He is the living bread. This bread never spoils. This bread gives life.

The words we heard Jesus speak today are part of a larger discourse. Allow me to set the scene of John chapter 6. Jesus had just fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two small fish. The people thought this was great. Jesus reminded the people of Moses. He seemed to be a prophet. He was able to provide food for them, just like they thought it was Moses who supplied manna for the people. Jesus was just the man to lead them out of their Roman captivity, just like Moses led the people out of Egypt. They thought Jesus was the man to be their provider and liberator.

Jesus told them, however, that they were looking to him for the wrong reasons. They were working for food that spoils. He told them instead to work for food that doesn’t spoil. This “work” was to believe in the One God had sent. He was trying to tell them that the Messiah had come, and that he was the Messiah. Once they figured out that Jesus was talking about himself, they wanted proof. They said that the One, the Messiah, would give them bread from heaven to eat, just like their forefathers received manna from heaven.

Jesus told them that he IS the bread from heaven. He reminded them that their forefathers had died after eating the manna. Whoever eats of the bread of life, though, that person will live forever. To make sure that the people knew what he was talking about, he explained how he is the bread of life. He said in verse 53, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” The people understood what he was talking about now. He was telling them to believe in him. He was also telling them that if they don’t believe in him, they don’t have life.

Now to believe that Jesus was the Messiah was hard for them to swallow. Verse 60 says, “On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Basically this is what they said, “You’re not exactly what we’re looking for, Jesus. Sure, you provided bread for a few thousand people. But we’re talking about bread from heaven. You’re talking about eating your flesh—or believing in you (we’re not sure which is worse)—for eternal life.” These people wanted a king for what they thought was important for them. They were working for bread that spoils. Jesus was not offering what they wanted.

We all know that Jesus is the bread that never spoils. We know the importance of the regular consumption of the Word. But do we ever lose sight of the importance of a regular diet of Jesus through the Word? Have you ever caught yourself saying, “This bread Jesus gives is important and all, but it’s not exactly what I’m worried about right now”?

Maybe these words never actually come out of our mouths, or even form in our brains, but take a look at what happens in our day to day lives. We work long days to take care of our families. We do this to put food on the table, a roof over their heads, a couple cars in the garage, a boat next to the garage, ipods, vacations, and so on. Now there is nothing wrong with these things. However, when it comes time to feed our children through your nightly Bible studies, when it’s time for our personal devotions, is all of our energy used up? Does it ever happen, even if it’s not on purpose, that we overlook the most important food in our life? Does Jesus become a vitamin supplement that is taken once a week on Sundays?

Are you starving your spiritual life? We feed ourselves with so much that God’s Word can be easily neglected. But if someone asked you to recite the Ten Commandments or explain what you believe about the Lord’s Supper, would the explanation roll off of the tongue so easily?

Maybe we do spend too much time on food that spoils. The things that sometimes seem so important to us, really do not last very long. Cars break down, boats sit next to the garage—unused, ipods become outdated, and so on. If we neglect the bread of life, then we starve our spiritual life, and have no access to life. Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” No bread of life means no life. This is the great danger of working for food that spoils and neglecting the food that never spoils.

I mentioned before that Jesus is the most important food in our lives. He is the most important food in our lives because he is the bread that lasts forever. He said in verse 54, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” Eating the bread of life, or believing in him, has eternal benefits. This is the only food that lasts forever. This bread never spoils.

And this bread gives life that lasts forever. Jesus said in verse 51, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” This statement explains exactly why Jesus was able to say that this bread gives life to the world.

God saw that because of our sins, we were spiritually starved to death. Our sins made us guilty in God’s sight. But Jesus, who is true God, came down from heaven and took on flesh, becoming human. He was without sin, living the perfect life that we could not. But he willingly gave up that perfect life, to take the punishment meant for us. He died the death that was meant for us, and God accepted his death as the punishment for our sins. Our sins no longer make us guilty before God, because Jesus has forgiven them for us. He has taken away our sins, our death, and our punishment. He forgives us for the times we have neglected to feed on him in the Word. He forgives us for the times that we search for food that spoils instead of the food that never spoils. This is why the bread of life came down from heaven, to give eternal life to the world. Those who eat this bread, who believe that Jesus gave his flesh for them, have eternal life.

So we don’t have to worry about being spiritually starved, because we have the bread of life. This bread that gives us life will continue to give us life. It only makes sense then that a continual eating of Christ’s flesh and blood means a continual union between Christ and a believer. It makes sense that if Jesus is the bread of life, eating that bread, or studying the Word and learning about Jesus will sustain us in that life. In verse 56 Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” Jesus is describing a special union that he has with his believers. It’s kind of like that old saying, “You are what you eat.” When we believe in Christ, we are Christians. The more we study and consume the Word, the stronger we become.

The life giving bread of God’s Word can be consumed in a variety of ways. Personal and family devotions provide a healthy diet of God’s Word. Sometimes it might seem a little intimidating for us to just pick up a Bible and start reading. Where do you start? Well, Jesus gives us his Church as kind of a restaurant. The church provides you with different options to learn about this bread of life. You can select from the menu different things like worship, Bible Class, Sunday school, regular fellowship with other believers, and so on.

And you don’t have to worry about counting calories, because everything on this menu is good for you. Through the church and the services it provides you can grow in your knowledge of Jesus and be strengthened by his Word.

The point is: Fill yourself with Jesus. Never stop consuming him in his Word. Through him we have forgiveness. In the Bible we hear about how he won forgiveness for us when he handed his flesh over to death. We see in the Lord’s Supper how he gave us his body and blood to eat and to drink for forgiveness. He is the one that gives us eternal life.

Jesus can give us life because he has life because of the Father. Jesus said in verse 57, “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of him, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” The Father, who is the source of life, sent his Son into the world. Jesus, in his humanity, had life because of the Father. Jesus was sent to bring life to the world. We have life because he handed over his life for us. Now since the Father has drawn us to him, we believe and have the assurance of verse 54, that “he will raise us up at the last day.”

God sustained the Israelites every day with manna from heaven and God does take care of our daily needs. But most importantly God sustains us each day with the living bread from heaven. Feed on this bread. Believe that Jesus gives you eternal life. Continue to consume him in the Word and be fed by him regularly. For Jesus is the living bread. This bread never spoils. This bread gives life. Amen.