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Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Believe It or Not {John 6:22 - 7:9}


Tuesday, October 16, 2018


About ten years ago, I was sitting at my son’s fifth grade basketball game chatting with another mom.  Her dad had recently passed away and she was sharing some of her sadness with me.  It had been a few years since my first husband had died, so I knew a little bit about grief, and I told her, “only God can fill that hole left by your father’s death.”  She was so thankful I told her that.  Fast forward to today.  That God-size hole is still a thing.  In fact, we all have a God-shaped void that craves filling. 

After Jesus fed the 5,000 and retreated to the other side of the lake, the follower said to Jesus, “Sir, give us that bread every day of our lives.”  (6:34)  The bread that Jesus is offering is reunion with God because that is what the soul is missing.  Our soul is not craving for something, but for someone.  And until we have been reunited to that someone, our souls will always be famished. 

What do we have to do to obtain this “bread from God”?  I just love Jesus’ answer; “This is what God wants you to do:  Believe in the one he has sent.”  (6:29)

It’s just not something you can do.  This is a bread that is given to you as a gift.  In order for bread to do your body any good, it has to be broken – your teeth have to break it in pieces and chew it up.  Jesus would be broken for us so that He could feed us.

In order for water to do us any good, it has to be poured out.  Jesus’ blood would be poured out so that it could become the water of life to us. 

The meal for our starving souls would be provided – entirely – by Him.  Our part is simple.  Take.  Eat.  And drink!  We are powerless to restore what was lost.  So God Himself did the work of restoring our salvation. 

There are two words that characterize the real gospel.

God:  The true gospel’s primary focus is reconciliation/restoration with God.  John Piper said, “The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God…’Behold your God’ is the most gracious command and best gift of the gospel.”

He doesn’t “give us this bread of life”, He is the bread of life.  Until you feast on the bread of Jesus Himself, all the other things you are seeking are going to leave you hungry.

C.S. Lewis said, “It seems that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures fooling around with drink, and sex, and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.  Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.”  Remember Lisa’s post yesterday?  We think we want this lesser bread.

There are so many political and social causes these days.  Yes, we are commanded to love and take care of our neighbors, it just seems that we have lost the focus that Jesus died for our souls.  People don’t just need shoes on their feet and food in their bellies, they need forgiveness of their sins.  We don’t want well-clothed, well-fed people who die and go to hell.  We all want to alleviate suffering, but the most significant suffering is eternal suffering.  The suffering of the soul that is starving from being separated from God.  Our mission should not be just random acts of kindness – it should also be bold acts of proclamation!

I just want to point out something about politics while I have you here.  One of the disciples was Simon the Zealot (Jewish nationalist).  The other was Matthew the tax collector (Roman rule).  This means they were on POLAR opposites of the political spectrum.  You have Matthew the tax collector [far right] and Simon the zealot who fiercely opposed the state [far left].  Yet they are brothers in Jesus’ band of disciples.  They did not lose their opinions; they were united by a larger agenda!

The second word to characterize the gospel:  Grace.  The true gospel centers on what God has done for us, not what we should do for Him. 

The gospel leads to profound change, but it is always in response to what God has done.  Those things are done because you have been reconciled to God, not in order to be reconciled to God.  It’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3 …”Christ died for our sins…”  The true gospel centers on what God has done for us, not what we should do for Him.

 Image result for John 6:51

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Believing in something we do not see or have something to grasp, is very difficult.  But what else can we do?  The answer is nothing.  We simply have to believe.  I believe the reason a lot of people struggle with believing in Jesus is because they have never recognized that they were made for His glory.  We are so fixated on quick fixes, physical bread, that we never understand what we are missing.  God.  And the only way He could be restored to us was for God Himself to have His body broken like bread and His blood poured out like water.

We are so consumed with small things; wonderful things, but lesser things, like marriage, children, friends, houses, cars, boats, vacations, politics and world peace, that we miss the true bread from heaven, the God behind it all!  

And, are we like so many, that become offended and desert Jesus?  Are we going to hear Jesus ask, “Are you going to leave too?”  Or are we like Peter, who replies, “Lord, to whom would we go?  You alone have the words that give eternal life.  We believe them, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”  (6:68-69)

Jesus is the bread of life. 

You were created not for something, but for Someone.

Your soul craves for His glory.  You were made for it.  

The alternative is to have a starving soul.  To enter into eternal existence, hell, with your soul still famishing and starving.  Hell, a place of nothingness and fire, but worst of all, with all traces of the glorious love of God removed.  Like C.S. Lewis said, “God threatens terrible things for those who refuse to be infinitely satisfied in Him.”