[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on Communion Sunday, the 5th of October, 2014.]
In just a little while, we will be coming to our Lord’s Table to share His last meal on earth with Him. That night He broke the bread for His disciples and compared it to His own body, soon to be broken for us all. But before that fateful night, He spoke of Himself as bread, as the elements that sustain life, more than once.
Hear the words of the Apostle John from his Gospel account, chapter 6, verses 26 through 35…
Hear the words of the Apostle John from his Gospel account, chapter 6, verses 26 through 35…
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” 30 So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
--John 6:26-35 (NASB)
Let us pray... Father God, we gather this morning in the name of Jesus to be fed. Fed not by the bread and unfermented wine of Holy Communion, not by the hot dogs and hamburgers later on this afternoon, but by Your Word and Your Holy Spirit. Feed our spirits, O Lord! Open us now to receive Your message. In the glorious name of Christ Jesus we pray. Amen.
It has been recorded that once when the English Duke of Wellington went to the altar to take Communion at his parish church, a very poor old man made his way up the opposite aisle. Reaching the Communion table, the old man knelt down close by the side of the Duke. Immediately a commotion began to interrupt the silent and solemn mood of the church. Someone came and touched the old man on the shoulder and whispered to him to move further away or to stand back up and wait for the Duke to receive the bread and the wine.
But the eagle eye and sharp ear of the great commander caught the meaning of that touch and the whispered words. He took and clasped the old man’s hand and held him there so he could not stand. And in a reverential but clearly audible undertone, the Duke said to the man, “Do not move. We are equal here.”
At our Lord’s Table, we are indeed all equal. Jesus sees no differences in us like the world sees. In fact, according to the Apostle John, Jesus put Himself lower than His disciples. Before this meal we’ll commemorate shortly, He took the servant’s role and washed the feet of His closest followers, His closest friends.
But our scripture this morning tells of an earlier time, one most of us are well familiar with. Jesus had just fed over 5000 men, not counting all the women and children present who also would have been fed. He fed them way out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than five loaves of bread and two small fishes. And there was enough left over to fill 12 baskets! It’s kind of like how Jesus fills us with the Holy Spirit to where He spills over and there is more than enough left to fill everyone else.
Do you remember what came next, after that mass feeding? We talked about it a few weeks ago. Jesus walked on the surface of the sea out to the boat the disciples were in. Peter tried to walk on the water too, but lost focus on the Lord and began to sink, only to be rescued by Jesus reaching out to him. What follows next brings us to today’s scripture.
When they reached the other side of the sea, the crowds soon gathered as they always did when Jesus was in the area. Many of the throng had been those that were just miraculously fed the day before. Others massed there would have heard about how so little food to start with had ended up being shared among so many people and no one went away hungry. They came - by the hundreds, by the thousands. They came seeking Jesus… But they came for the wrong reason.
Jesus says they came because they had been fed from the loaves and were filled. They had been fed with earthly food and their mortal bodies had been nourished and filled. But all that perishes – the food and the bodies. What they should have come seeking was the bread that never perishes, that not only lasts forever, but that provides for eternal life for those who accept it. They should have come seeking the Bread from heaven, not the bread from the grain of the earth. The Bread from heaven nourishes the spirit that we might live forever.
Silly mankind. Of course the people just had to ask what they could do to receive that heavenly Bread, what works they must do to accomplish the works of God. We always think we have to do something to get something.
Jesus once again tells them, tells us, that all we have to do is believe, believe in the One that God sent. But the people still have questions. They’re still hung up with this whole “bread” thing. They tell Jesus that Moses spoke to God when their fathers were hungry in the wilderness, and He sent manna to feed them, fresh every morning, as in “give us this day our daily bread” fresh.
Jesus then reminds them that it was not Moses who provided that manna from heaven, but God. God, our Father, gives us the true bread from heaven. It is the bread of God that comes out of heaven and gives life to a hungry, dying world.
The people’s next response to Jesus reminds me of how the Samaritan woman reacted to Him when He offered her the Living Water. The people asked for this bread that gives life to the world. They were still thinking about literal, physical bread, made from crushed grain grown and harvested by the hands of man.
So Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. I was sent by God My Father from heaven. Whoever comes to Me will not hunger. Everyone who believes in Me will never thirst.” Jesus wasn’t talking about earthly bread or water. He wasn’t referring to mortal hunger or thirst.
Jesus is our daily bread, sent from heaven fresh every morning. He is the bread broken just for us, taking the punishment just for us, dying just so we might live. He is the wine, poured out for us, His blood shed for us, just so we might be washed clean to stand before God on the day of our judgment.
A little later, on the night He was betrayed, Jesus reminded His followers that through Him they might not hunger, through Him they might not thirst. Listen as I read from the New Living Translation from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, verses 19 through 20… listen to what Jesus told His disciples…
It has been recorded that once when the English Duke of Wellington went to the altar to take Communion at his parish church, a very poor old man made his way up the opposite aisle. Reaching the Communion table, the old man knelt down close by the side of the Duke. Immediately a commotion began to interrupt the silent and solemn mood of the church. Someone came and touched the old man on the shoulder and whispered to him to move further away or to stand back up and wait for the Duke to receive the bread and the wine.
But the eagle eye and sharp ear of the great commander caught the meaning of that touch and the whispered words. He took and clasped the old man’s hand and held him there so he could not stand. And in a reverential but clearly audible undertone, the Duke said to the man, “Do not move. We are equal here.”
At our Lord’s Table, we are indeed all equal. Jesus sees no differences in us like the world sees. In fact, according to the Apostle John, Jesus put Himself lower than His disciples. Before this meal we’ll commemorate shortly, He took the servant’s role and washed the feet of His closest followers, His closest friends.
But our scripture this morning tells of an earlier time, one most of us are well familiar with. Jesus had just fed over 5000 men, not counting all the women and children present who also would have been fed. He fed them way out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing more than five loaves of bread and two small fishes. And there was enough left over to fill 12 baskets! It’s kind of like how Jesus fills us with the Holy Spirit to where He spills over and there is more than enough left to fill everyone else.
Do you remember what came next, after that mass feeding? We talked about it a few weeks ago. Jesus walked on the surface of the sea out to the boat the disciples were in. Peter tried to walk on the water too, but lost focus on the Lord and began to sink, only to be rescued by Jesus reaching out to him. What follows next brings us to today’s scripture.
When they reached the other side of the sea, the crowds soon gathered as they always did when Jesus was in the area. Many of the throng had been those that were just miraculously fed the day before. Others massed there would have heard about how so little food to start with had ended up being shared among so many people and no one went away hungry. They came - by the hundreds, by the thousands. They came seeking Jesus… But they came for the wrong reason.
Jesus says they came because they had been fed from the loaves and were filled. They had been fed with earthly food and their mortal bodies had been nourished and filled. But all that perishes – the food and the bodies. What they should have come seeking was the bread that never perishes, that not only lasts forever, but that provides for eternal life for those who accept it. They should have come seeking the Bread from heaven, not the bread from the grain of the earth. The Bread from heaven nourishes the spirit that we might live forever.
Silly mankind. Of course the people just had to ask what they could do to receive that heavenly Bread, what works they must do to accomplish the works of God. We always think we have to do something to get something.
Jesus once again tells them, tells us, that all we have to do is believe, believe in the One that God sent. But the people still have questions. They’re still hung up with this whole “bread” thing. They tell Jesus that Moses spoke to God when their fathers were hungry in the wilderness, and He sent manna to feed them, fresh every morning, as in “give us this day our daily bread” fresh.
Jesus then reminds them that it was not Moses who provided that manna from heaven, but God. God, our Father, gives us the true bread from heaven. It is the bread of God that comes out of heaven and gives life to a hungry, dying world.
The people’s next response to Jesus reminds me of how the Samaritan woman reacted to Him when He offered her the Living Water. The people asked for this bread that gives life to the world. They were still thinking about literal, physical bread, made from crushed grain grown and harvested by the hands of man.
So Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. I was sent by God My Father from heaven. Whoever comes to Me will not hunger. Everyone who believes in Me will never thirst.” Jesus wasn’t talking about earthly bread or water. He wasn’t referring to mortal hunger or thirst.
Jesus is our daily bread, sent from heaven fresh every morning. He is the bread broken just for us, taking the punishment just for us, dying just so we might live. He is the wine, poured out for us, His blood shed for us, just so we might be washed clean to stand before God on the day of our judgment.
A little later, on the night He was betrayed, Jesus reminded His followers that through Him they might not hunger, through Him they might not thirst. Listen as I read from the New Living Translation from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, verses 19 through 20… listen to what Jesus told His disciples…
19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me.”
20 After supper He took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and His people — an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”--Luke 22:19-20 (NLT)
The bread of God, the bread from heaven, given for us. The blood of God’s Son that serves as the covenant between God and all of us, the covenant of God’s promise to us, the blood poured out as a sacrifice for us. May we never forget.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Amen.
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, thank You for Your true Bread, sent by You out of heaven to feed us so that we might never hunger, to give us life that will last forever. Help us, Lord, to not focus so much on the things of this earth, but to keep our eyes fixed firmly upon Jesus and the sacrifice He made just for us. His body was broken for us, His blood was poured out for us, and all so that we will not have to suffer eternal death if only we would believe in Him, repent of our sins, and truly follow Him.
Hear us now, Lord, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You silently, to prepare our hearts to receive Your Bread…
Lord God, Father of all grace and mercy, we come to the table Your Son set for us with bowed heads and humbled hearts. But Father, we also approach with excitement, in anticipation of the great feast we will one day share with Him and with You when we come home. Lord Jesus, until that day, may we always eat of this bread and drink of this wine in remembrance of You. In Your holy name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Amen.
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, thank You for Your true Bread, sent by You out of heaven to feed us so that we might never hunger, to give us life that will last forever. Help us, Lord, to not focus so much on the things of this earth, but to keep our eyes fixed firmly upon Jesus and the sacrifice He made just for us. His body was broken for us, His blood was poured out for us, and all so that we will not have to suffer eternal death if only we would believe in Him, repent of our sins, and truly follow Him.
Hear us now, Lord, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You silently, to prepare our hearts to receive Your Bread…
Lord God, Father of all grace and mercy, we come to the table Your Son set for us with bowed heads and humbled hearts. But Father, we also approach with excitement, in anticipation of the great feast we will one day share with Him and with You when we come home. Lord Jesus, until that day, may we always eat of this bread and drink of this wine in remembrance of You. In Your holy name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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