8/25 Sermon - Eating the Bread of Life

Eating the Bread of Life

John 6:51-69

Have you ever meal planned your week? Shopped for the ingredients for each supper?

When you meal plan, what dishes are your favorite? Do you have easy, go-to meals?

They’re smart! It saves money

They’re healthy! When we consistently eat good, healthy food, our health improves.

But that’s hard to do, right? It’s hard to follow a meal plan, diligently and consistently.

The Israelites still didn’t get it. They didn’t understand the meal Jesus laid before them.

“How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Is he a cannibal?”

In the first part of our reading, Jesus doubles down and repeats himself.

“I am the bread of life. Whoever eats my flesh has eternal life.”

Jesus meant: Whoever believes in him, comes to him, will never die but have eternal life.

Jesus is exclusive. He is the ONLY bread, food. If you don’t eat him alone, you won’t have life.

ILLUSTATION: Many claim that there are many truths, many paths to the top of the mountain.

But Jesus says, “That’s not true. There is only one truth, one way, one food: Me.”

FINALLY, what Jesus says clicks in the people’s minds.

Only in Jesus do they have life.

But… “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Who can follow it?”

Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only food that gives eternal life? NOTHING else?

This… insignificant man?

We’re told, “Many disciples left Jesus that day.” Many turned their backs on him.

Jesus laid out a meal plan, but they didn’t want to follow it, to eat that bread.

We are here in church because we believe in Jesus. We want to eat the living bread!

But our hearts can still respond like those people in the crowd, like the disciples that left him.

> We don’t prioritize Jesus in our hearts.

It’s easy to skip our meals, our devotions and our prayers.

Our Bibles quickly become ornaments on our nightstands.

We go about our day, attend to our business, our to-dos, but God’s Word is skipped.

Or maybe we DO read our bibles. We DO come to church to eat the bread of life!

But the Word goes in one ear and out the other. We open the pages and our eyes glaze over.

Our minds are instead 100s of miles away, maybe even in a different universe, and we take nothing to hear.t

> We don’t look to Jesus as our living bread, as our foundation. We’d rather eat junk food.

Jesus says, “I am the only living bread, the only source of food.

Yet, we would rather run after and eat our politics, hobbies, friends, ourselves, not Jesus.

We even trust in those things and rely on them for happiness, and not on Jesus.

We go anywhere else for happiness, for purpose in life, but not Jesus.

We like to make our own meal plans, or cheat on Jesus’ meal plan, and not eat him alone.

What does Peter say?

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life?”

What did Joshua say?

“Choose today for yourself whom you will serve. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

What did Moses do?

He refused to live in wealth as Egypt’s prince and joined the children of God. He was looking ahead to heaven.

Every day, every week, we have a choice. Whom will we serve? What will we eat? To whom shall we go?

Of course, last week we learn this choice is enabled by God.

Jesus repeats that in v. 65, “The Father must draw us to Jesus.”

V. 63 tells us the Word of God gives us spiritual and eternal life.

But this is a Spirit-wrought, Spirit-enabled choice that we, as Christians, make.

ILL: It’s like a dad and son fishing. Sure, the son fishes, but who makes it possible? Who helps? The father. Our Father.

What will we eat? That’s the choice we have to make.

Meal plans happen every single day.

Today, tomorrow, every day of our life, what will we eat?

Jesus. The Word of God.

“Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the WORDS of eternal life.”

Jesus said, “The WORDS I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.”

Jesus is the Word of God.

Our meal plan, eating the bread of life, means that we are in God’s word daily, eating every day.

Let’s end by talking about eating the Bread of Life, let’s talk about a meal plan for God’s Word.

I want you to have a plan this week, and every week, for how you’ll eat God’s Word. A meal plan.

Some of what I’ll say is necessary. I’ll also give you some options for devotions and prayers.  

Necessary:

Sunday church. It every day we “eat” God’s Word, think of Sunday as a banquet, a special, longer meal.

Bible class. Worship is about hearing and receiving God’s Word.

But Bible class is a conversation where everyone can dive into God’s Word deeper, talk about it, ask questions.

Daily Devotions: Every day, eating a little meal of God’s Word.

Could you eat 1 every 7 days? Sure. You can last 3-4 weeks without food.

But it’s not good!

We don’t need to spend hours doing this! It can be 15 – 30 minutes. Or more!

Options for daily devotions:

Time of grace app.

You Version app.

BibleGateway app.

Bible reading plans in the back.

Meditation booklet.

Options for prayers.

SOAP.

Luther’s four strands.

Lord’s Prayer.

What are you eating? How often are you eating?

I want you to have a meal plan for Jesus.

What can be more important?

Whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life, and Jesus will raise them on the last day.

Eat the Bread of Life!