John Part 1, Week 7: The Bread of Life

Kristi Wile |

 

We apologize - the audio did not work for this week's teaching time. Technology is only great when it works!!! 

 

Here is a summary of Kristi's teaching from John 6.

 

John 6 wrap-up review

“We live in a spiritually hungry world desperate for meaning and hope in life.  From the beginning, human beings were created to serve God and fellowship with Him (cf. Gen. 1:26; 3:8).  He was to be both their focus and their fulfillment.  But by rejecting Him, men and women have been left with an aching void deep in their souls.   In their misguided attempts to fill that emptiness they, like Israel of old, have forsaken the Lord, “the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). 

“Into this fallen world of disappointment, despondency, and desperation came the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the Bread of Life, the only One who can satisfy the deepest longings of the human soul.  Only through Him (Acts 4:12) can sinners obtain forgiveness (Matt. 26:28; Acts 5:30-31; 10:43; Eph. 4:32), be restored to a right relationship with God (John 14:6; 1 Peter 3:18), and receive eternal life (John 3:15-16, 36; 5:24; 17:2; 1 John 5:11-12).”

“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”  (6:51)

            “For the fifth time in the discourse, Jesus claimed to be the living bread that came down out of heaven.  He then added the promise that if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. “

            “Ever the master teacher, Jesus used the simple, everyday routine of eating to communicate profound spiritual truth.  The analogy of eating suggests five parallels to appropriating spiritual truth.”

            “First, just as food is useless unless it is eaten, so also spiritual tryth does no good if it is not internalized.  Merely knowing the truth, without acting on it, both profits nothing (Heb. 4:2) and does not allow one to remain neutral (Luke 11:23).  In fact, it will result in a more severe judgment (Luke 12:47-48; Heb. 10:29).”

            “Second, eating is prompted by hunger; those who are full are not interested in food.  In the same way, sinners who are satiated with their sin have no hunger for spiritual things.  When God awakens them to their lost condition, however, the hunger for forgiveness, deliverance, peace, love, hope, and joy drives them to the Bread of Life.”

            “Third, the food people eat becomes part of them through the operation of the body’s digestive system.  So it is spiritually.  People may admire Christ, be impressed with His teaching, and even bemoan His death on the cross as a great tragedy.  But not until they appropriate Him by faith do they become one with Him (17:21; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Cor 4:10; Gal. 2:20; Eph 3:17).”

            “Fourth, eating involves trust.  No one knowingly eats tainted or spoiled food; the very act of eating implies faith that the food is edible (cf. Mark 7:15).  This, the metaphor of eating the Bread of Life implies believing in Jesus.”

            “Finally, eating is personal.  No one can eat a meal for another; there is no such thing as eating by proxy.  Nor is there salvation by proxy.  In Psalm 49:7 the psalmist wrote, ‘No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him.’  Sinners must appropriate the Bread of Life as individual to receive salvation and live forever.”

(Taken from John MacArthur’s commentary on John 1-11)

 

When Jesus talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, we find this very strange language.  Yet we really are more familiar with it than we realize.  Here are some examples:

• We devour books
• We drink in lectures
• We swallow stories
• We ruminate on ideas
• We chew over a matter
• We eat our own words
• And as doting grandparents, we eat up our grandchildren!

This metaphor is clearly a picture of how we need to appropriate God’s Word.  We can’t be satisfied by “snacking” on his Word, or even treating it like “fast food.”  Henry Blackaby, in Experiencing the Cross, stated “You cannot experience the fullness of God apart from quality time in the Word of God.”  When we open the pages of our Bibles, we gaze into the face of God through his Son, the Living Word.                                          

Appropriate means to take in; to take possession of.  Just as food eaten becomes a part of you and nourishes your body, the Word of God needs to be taken in, meditated on, memorized at times, until it becomes a part of you.  Then it will nourish your soul and grow your faith and increase maturity in Christ.

 

Ladies, let’s be serious about getting into the Word and staying in the Word!