March 24, 2003
April 6
___John 6:41-58, 66-69
Hearts, not stomachs, are Jesus' first priority
___By Craig Vire
___"Feed them and they will come." In Baptist life this statement is often made in jest, but the church I serve knows the reality behind the words.
___The annual Sunday School promotion day breakfast prepared by our men for the membership consistently posts one of the highest attendance figures for the year. Sometimes people need a little extra encouragement to participate in the life of the church. Food seems to be an especially effective motivator.
___Perhaps times haven't changed much from that day when Jesus fed the multitude on the hillside of Galilee. He blessed and broke the five loaves and the two small fish. The meager resources were passed among the multitude, and the abundance that followed is mind-boggling. Everyone ate until they were satisfied. To the astonishment of all, 12 baskets of leftovers were collected as the meal concluded.
___The ecstatic people wanted to crown Jesus king as a result. How convenient it would be to follow a leader who provided the needed daily nourishment without the labor and work normally associated with sustaining their lives. They saw in Jesus the makings of a political leader who could negate the economic hardships of life.
___A sign or a Savior?
___The crowd witnessing the miracle made a mental connection between Jesus and what happened in the days of Moses. During the tenure of that earlier prophet, the Israelites were physically sustained by manna from heaven.
___In similar fashion, Jesus provided food for the hungry people of his day. The observers saw in Jesus the fulfillment of God's promise to raise up a prophet from their nation who resembled Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).
___Yet the crowd failed to comprehend the primary message the miracle communicated. Moses did not provide bread in the wilderness for that past generation. God was the source of food (John 6:32).
___The miracle of the loaves and fishes indicated Jesus was more than a prophet made in the image of Moses. He was the bread of life come down from heaven. He was the promised Messiah of God sent to earth to give eternal life to everyone who will believe.
___Many who were content to eat the food Jesus provided on the previous day grumbled at his declaration of divinity on the day following. After all, this was the son of Mary and Joseph with whom they were acquainted. So how could he say he came down out of heaven?
___The message of the loaves and the fishes escaped the multitude. They were too busy seeking for a further sign as proof of Jesus' identity to see the Savior who stood before them.
___A short-sighted focus
___The short-sightedness of the crowd is demonstrated by their focus on temporary satisfaction. Their interest in Jesus was contingent on his ability to repeat the miracle and provide them bread for another day. But there was a fallacy in their thinking.
___Were they to eat of the loaves a second time, they still would know hunger in a matter of hours. The earthly food they sought never would satisfy their cravings on a permanent basis and could not sustain life indefinitely. Jesus reminded them their forefathers ate manna in the wilderness but died.
___In contrast, those who received the bread which the Son of Man came to bring never would hunger again. They would find spiritual nourishment that enabled them to live forever.
___The consumer culture we live in suffers from a similar short-sightedness. We crave the material rather than the spiritual, the impersonal rather than the personal, the transient rather than the eternal.
___There is danger in allowing ourselves to be preoccupied in meeting the temporary and external demands of life. Jesus challenges us to turn our focus upon the eternal and internal spiritual needs we all possess.
___Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor, theologian and seminary professor who opposed Adolph Hitler's rise to power. On April 5, 1943, he was arrested, and two years later was executed just days before the Allies liberated Germany.
___In his letters and papers from prison, he closed the June 14, 1943, letter to his parents with the following words: "It's Whit Monday, and I was just sitting down to a dinner of turnips and potatoes when your parcel that Renate brought as a Whitsuntide present arrived quite unexpectedly. I really cannot tell you what happiness such things give one. However certain I am of the spiritual bond between all of you and myself, the spirit always seems to want some visible token of this union of love and remembrance, and then material things become the vehicles of spiritual realities."
___The fish and bread consumed by the crowd on the previous day are visible tokens of the sustaining life Jesus provides at the cost of his own life. The material gift of food becomes the vehicle for revealing the presence of the promised Son of God. Those who accept his presence within their lives will receive eternal life.
___An offensive concept
___Jesus boldly declares that individuals must eat his flesh and drink his blood. The thought of ingesting the body and blood of Jesus immediately offends the Jewish sensibilities of the crowd.
___The Law of Moses required that the people eat no meat which contained the blood of the animal (Genesis 9:4, Deuteronomy 15:23). The blood represented life and belonged to God as the source of all life. To drink Jesus' blood in a literal fashion would contradict the direct command of God.
___Eating his flesh would amount to cannibalism. No sane person would advocate such a grotesque and repulsive act.
___Just as bread must be consumed before the life-giving nutrients can nourish the physical body, even so, Christ as the living bread must be incorporated internally into the life of the believer. When individuals receive him by faith, he imparts the life of God into their spiritual lives.
___The fourth gospel contains no account of the last supper shared between Jesus and his disciples. John explains the significance of the bread and cup of communion by means of another meal.
___On a hillside in Galilee, Jesus breaks the bread and feeds the masses with the knowledge that his body and blood soon will be sacrificed on the cross for the sins of all people. Individuals must receive the bread of his body and the blood of his life by faith to experience the life he provides.
___A clear-cut conclusion
___From this point, many of the fickle followers in the crowd turn back and abandon the master they so recently embraced. They cannot swallow the kind of faith Jesus demands.
___Jesus turns to the 12 men following him and asks the pointed question, "You do not want to leave too, do you?"
___In typical fashion, Peter responds immediately to the inquiry of our Lord. The impulsive apostle is too often criticized for his mistakes and too seldom appreciated for the insights he expresses about the identity of Jesus.
___"Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
___There are nearly 10 million people in our state who have yet to experience the life our Savior offers. All people need an opportunity to respond to the invitation Jesus extends. They must decide whether or not they will receive him by faith as a life-giving presence in their lives.
___A teenager lost a contact lens while playing basketball in his driveway. After a fruitless search, he told his mother the lens was nowhere to be found. Undaunted, she went outside and in a few minutes returned with the lens in her hand.
___"I really looked hard for that, Mom," said the youth. "How'd you manage to find it?"
___"We weren't looking for the same thing," she replied. "You were looking for a small piece of plastic. I was looking for $150."
___People are not always looking for the same thing when considering Jesus Christ. Some individuals find in him abundant life and the Savior they have been searching for all their lives. Others decide following him is not profitable and reject the spiritual nourishment his presence provides.
___Creating a hunger for God
___The psalmist writes, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God," (Psalm 42:1). That was not the experience of a former staff member who called to say things were not going well at his new place of service.
___He was discouraged and wondered if it might be time to seek a new assignment. When asked to identify what he perceived to be the problem, he stated, "The people here where I serve just don't seem to be spiritually hungry and thirsty for God."
___That represents the challenge we face as believers. Our assignment is to confront those consuming the tasteless diet offered by the world with the bread of life which Christ provides. Sometimes people don't know how hungry they are until they know what Christ has to offer.
___Questions for discussion
___Why do individuals sometimes need extra motivation to be faithful to their church?
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___Craig Vire is pastor of Bethesda Baptist Church in Burleson
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