Bread: Things That Kill and Things that Give Life

Bread: Things that Kill and Things that Give Life

Introduction:
I want to cover the rest of chapter 6 today, but because of the breadth of this chapter, we’re going to have to do it in bite sized chunks. Let me just set the context for the discourse between Jesus and the multitude- Read 6:30-37

What the multitude is saying to Jesus is this, “Hey, that miracle of multiplying bread was good, but it’s nothing compared to what Moses did when he fed our fathers with the Manna from heaven. At best, you’re a minor prophet unless you can give us some greater sign… say, feeding us always, because that would be greater then what Moses did.”

The irony of their demand was first of all, that the Manna wasn’t given by Moses, it was given by God. Also, the Manna they revered was a shadow of the greater bread given by God: Jesus- look at v. 48 (read 48-51). The whole reason God gave Israel that Manna in the first place was because they grumbled in the desert and wanted to return to bondage in Egypt to eat meat. They were willing to sell their inheritance for a belly full of meat. Christians are likewise in a constant struggle to replace our satisfaction in God with satisfaction in earthly things. During a time of great suffering for Israel, the prophet Habakkuk prayed this prayer to God:

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,
[though] the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
[though] the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will [find joy] in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation (Hab 3:17-18 ESV).

Moses is an example for us all; he “refused to be called a son of Pharoah, choosing rather to suffer affliction… than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt…” (Heb 11:23ff). Wouldn’t you gladly suffer five minutes if it guaranteed you a lifetime of pleasure? How about suffering for a lifetime and turning our backs on worldly enjoyment if it meant an eternity of immeasurable and ceaseless joy? The chief end of man is to enjoy the exaltation of God; the chief end of sinful man is to fight for the enjoyment of the exaltation of God!

One thing that Kills and Four that Give Life:
Between vv. 30 and 71, Jesus reveals four things that give life and empower us to enjoy God. I hope that by looking at them we will gain a better understanding of the entire discourse. Let me preface the four things that give life, with one thing that kills and robs us of the enjoyment of God

Sin Gives Death:
God created humanity with the potential for eternal life, but there was just one rule, “Do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Let’s not miss the point of this command. God didn’t arbitrarily make a rule that our first parents could not possibly keep or that was a petty misdemeanor should they break it- hardly worthy of death. And it’s not that there is anything magical about the fruit. It was the act of Adam’s disobedience to God’s command that caused the Fall. Funny how eating is what got us into trouble in the first place.

When they ate that fruit, they broke the Law- the Ten Commandments: Eve believed the lie of Satan, that God had not forbidden it (profaning His Name), she coveted the fruit because of its beauty committing the sin of idolatry thinking she could be like God; and she also stole when she took the fruit from God’s garden. Then Adam, willfully disobeyed his heavenly father and ate the fruit knowing it would bring death- he became a murderer and threw the universe into chaos and decay, thereby profaning the Sabbath. That sin of rebellion is what causes death and it reigns in our bodies, it reigns in the universe so that all of creation groans under its tyranny- everything decays and dies because of the disease of sin. Sin brings death!

Now let’s look at the four things that bring life:

Bread
Jesus said, the bread of God gives life (Read v. 58). This time, rather then being prohibited from eating something, we are exhorted to eat it. We eat this bread when we see that it is not just bread but something greater: Read v. 35-36, and 40. The tree of knowledge has blinded us to this truth and prevented us from eating from the tree of life. Therefore, we cannot see that our need is for more than bread and that Jesus is the one who satisfies that need unless our eyes are opened spiritually- and having our eyes opened spiritually requires that God opens them. This is called illumination- being taught by God, read v. 45.

When God enlightens a soul, he gives that soul to Jesus. Read v. 37a. There is great assurance in this because it says “All that the Father gives me” not, “some of what the Father gives me.” It means that God’s grace cannot be resisted. So if God teaches someone so that they see who Jesus is they will believe in him, they will come to him; they cannot resist anymore then a starving man can resist the aroma of bread.

(Read 37b). If you have come to Jesus in belief, then he will not turn you away. There is another great assurance in this verse: Jesus says he will not cast us out. In other words our salvation is secure and cannot be lost. Similarly, in 10:27-28 Jesus said, “my sheep hear my voice… and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.”

All of scripture is peppered with this promise: “Being confident of this very thing, he who began a good work in you will complete until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who… has begotten us again to a living hope… to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled… that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation…” (1 Peter 1:3-5).[1] The Bread of Heaven secures us to life! Let’s enjoy the Bread, let us taste and see that God is good.

Flesh
Another thing that Jesus says gives life is found in vv.53-56 (Read). This is shocking at first sight because it sounds as if Jesus is advocating Cannibalism. And in fact this is exactly the charge that was made against Christians by the Romans in the early church: i.e. that when they took communion, they were actually eating human flesh and drinking human blood. But here’s something that is more shocking: if it were just a matter of eating it is not about eating a human but about eating God! Fortunately this is a metaphor just like the bread was a metaphor. It means that we sustain and nurture ourselves spiritually on the atoning work of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross so much that it is as if we are actually eating his flesh the way that the Priests in the Old Testament ate the flesh of the lamb after every time that they performed a sacrificed. He’s not literally talking about his flesh, Read vv. 62-63.

This was so offensive to the Jews, not because they thought Jesus was advocating cannibalism, they understood the metaphor. It was offensive because Jesus was claiming something more for himself then what they were looking for. They made the connection Jesus was making between the Manna and the Lamb but they wanted the meat pots of Egypt. They didn’t want a spiritual Messiah; they wanted a secular messiah- remember, they were going to make him king by force.

Spirit
The third thing that Jesus says which gives us life is found in v. 63 (Read vv. 63a). This harkens back to what Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, Jesus said to her:
[if you had asked, I] would have given you living water (the Holy Spirit). [And whoever drinks him] will never thirst…. [the spirit] shall become in him a fountain of living water springing up into everlasting life. God is Spirit and those who worship Him, must worship in spirit and in truth (4:10-26).[2]

Worship is the exaltation and enjoyment of God. If we have not been made to drink of the fountain of God’s Spirit, we cannot enjoy the exaltation of God to worship Him in truth because we are dead in trespasses and sin apart from the life-giving Spirit.

The Spirit restrains evil and convicts the world of sin, He draws the believers to Christ and regenerates their dead souls. Then he seals them with an unyielding seal enabling them to abide in Christ and guaranteeing their salvation.

Preaching the gospel can sometimes be offensive; telling people the good news about the free gift of salvation can actually cost you your friends, your family, your wealth, your job, and even your life. But our joy and hope is not in those things, it’s in the God of our salvation. The gospel is the great conversation stopper- Read vv.64-66. The gospel can be very insensitive.

Word
Jesus had a church split. Some angry members pulled their membership- did that make him a failure? I received a prayer request this week for the “Caucasian” churches in our convention because they aren’t growing (I think they meant English Churches). I just wonder if the way that we measure growth and the way that God measures it may be two completely different things. Not that numerical growth isn’t important; and it is a good measurement for the effectiveness of our gospel presentation. But whether or not numbers are up, I don’t know if that means that the “Caucasian” churches are growing or not. Maybe the churches that are shrinking numerically are the ones that are growing in the word. I don’t know, I am just worried when increase in numbers becomes the sole measure of spirituality in the church and so everything becomes geared to that weekly attendance count- it becomes a numbers game that results in guilt and the falsification of attendance and baptism numbers- it even results in reporting church plants that don’t exist.

Read vv. 66-69. The final thing that Jesus lists in John chapter six as giving life is his words.
“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” Ps 33:6
He chose to give us birth through the word Jas 1:8
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 1:23
“the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.” Ps 18:30
· How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. (Ps 119:9-16)
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us Jn 1:14
but the word of the Lord stands forever. 1 Peter 1:25

Notes
[1] “An we know that all things work together for good to… those who are called according to His Purpose [which is that they have been] predestined to be conformed to the image of his son…. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? …neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor things created shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:29-39).
[2] The water was a metaphor for Spirit the same way that bread is a metaphor for Christ. Jesus affirmed that “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me… out of his hearth will flow rivers of living water” (7:37-38) The gospel tells us that Jesus “spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive” (v. 39).