Category: “I Am the Bread of Life” series

The Bread of Life: Dine or Dash?

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(John 6:51-69)

What are the most terrifying words in the Bible? You might think of Jesus’ teaching about hell and weeping and gnashing of teeth, where he describes a place and experience that we would not wish on even our worst enemy. You may have your own section of Old Testament Bible History that has always left you unsettled or uneasy. Maybe snippets of Paul’s letters come to mind, sections where he describes in detail some of the suffering and hardships he endured as a result of his faith.

I would like to add a verse from John 6 to the list of terrifying words in the Bible. It’s right there in verse 66. “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” What is it about that verse that is so terrifying? I would point to the word “disciples.”

You see, it would be much more palatable if John had informed us that those who turned back were those who were searching or questioning and no longer followed. Or if those who turned back were those who were on the fence about Jesus. Or hypocrites. Or unbelievers.

But John doesn’t use any of those terms. Instead, he uses the word “disciple.” In other words, these were individuals who had, up to that point, chosen to follow Jesus. And then sadly, these are the same ones who at this point made the conscious decision to stop following Jesus. 

I wonder… might there be some reading this very post who have chosen a similar path, or are possibly dangerously close to doing so? There was a time in the past when Jesus and his church were a central part of your life. Maybe as a child growing up in a church-going home. Possibly as a teenager or young adult active in a local church’s youth ministry. Or you came to faith later in life as an adult. 

But then something happened. I suppose in many cases it wasn’t some big event, but rather a slow drifting away. Let’s also acknowledge, though, other scenarios that did leave their mark. A humiliating or even traumatic experience. A big change at church that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. A false teaching – or maybe just an offensive one. Whatever it was, that was the point when you, one of his disciples, turned back and no longer followed him. Or for others, perhaps that point hasn’t yet come, but it’s right around the corner for you if something doesn’t change.

So there are still many today who would fall into the category John was describing of those who turned back and no longer followed Jesus. That response prompted Jesus to ask if his Twelve disciples had similar intention; if they too, were planning to walk away.

Peter, always the vocal one, hit a home run with his response. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God” (v. 68-69). There is nothing terrifying about that response! Peter was listening to the same Bread of Life teaching that the others had heard, and to him, going elsewhere wasn’t even an option. It would have been ludicrous to do so when the source of eternal life itself was standing right before him!

Let’s take note of two general responses to Jesus’ teaching. The first reply from many of the disciples was, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? (v.60). But Peter said he had “come to believe and to know that [Jesus is] the Holy One of God” (v.69). Even as drastically different as those two responses were, neither one argued that Jesus’ teaching was unclear. No one said it was confusing. No one claimed it was too complicated and that they needed help understanding it. No, they said it was “hard.” 

What was hard about it? It was hard because Jesus was saying that in eating him, in dining on the Bread of Life, he is to be our greatest priority. He is to come before all else in our lives.

It was hard because the Jesus who is about grace and love and compassion… is the same Jesus who has something to say to us about how we should live, how we should manage money, who we should sleep with, how much we can drink, how we should forgive those who wrong us, etc.

It was hard to let go of all other preconceived ideas of what religion or getting right with God was all about. It was hard because all of those in some capacity involved our effort or participation.

But Jesus’ teaching shot all of that down! Jesus said, “Nope. Just me. I’m all you need. Let go of your pride that insists on knowing better than I do what is best for your life or earning your own way or that you are somehow in a more deserving category than someone else. Put all of that behind you and see that I alone am the way to eternal life. All me. Only me. Not you.” See, that isn’t complicated or complex!

But it is hard. 

Not to Peter, though. To Peter, it was easy. And, if you’ve been listening to what Jesus has been saying in this whole teaching in John 6, one of the most worthwhile teachings of Jesus to wrestle with, it was reasonable. It was logical. It made perfect sense. 

Does it surprise you that faith could be described in those ways? Peter wasn’t overthinking things. He listened to Jesus and applied what Jesus was saying. If one listens to what Jesus says about himself, the claims he makes, the invitation he extends, Peter actually drew the most logical conclusion. If any of Jesus’ words had any merit, then it would be crazy for anyone to dismiss him and turn somewhere else. To draw any other conclusion about Jesus’ words, one would have had to be willing to have Jesus admitted to a mental hospital as someone struggling with multiple personality disorder or who had clearly lost his mind. Because Jesus’ teaching is not complicated or complex.

But it is hard. 

Until faith comes into the picture. Jesus said it this way: “‘The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.’ He went on to say, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them’” (vs.63 & 65). Yes, faith in Jesus is reasonable. It is logical.

But it is also a gift, a gift that can be received only through the Holy Spirit, only when in humble submission I set aside my arrogance and let Jesus be who he claims to be in my life: my only Savior from sin and my only assurance of eternal life.

When by faith I know that Jesus, the Jesus who forgives all sin and welcomes with open arms all who know they need him, the Jesus who loves unconditionally and loves harder than anyone else, when that Jesus is the focus of my faith and the bedrock of my belief, that which seemed to be so hard becomes much easier. 

One of those challenging elements of faith in Jesus that becomes easier to grasp is how faith in Jesus relates to the role of his church. A gap has grown in recent years between the perception people have of Jesus and the perception they have of the church. Regardless of how familiar they are with him or how well they know him, people still tend to have a very positive opinion of Jesus. His church, however, has not sustained that same image. What used to be viewed as a respected and appreciated institution, one that played a pivotal role within communities, has seen its once favorable reputation steadily decline.

This is sad. Why? Because too often it has been justified.

When an institution, and more directly priests or pastors like me, betray a trust and abuse it for selfish and even sinister motives, shame on us. When we as Christians have by our own words and actions earned the reputation of dismissing or diminishing society’s neglected, the marginalized, victims of injustice, or anyone in need, shame on us. When Christians are more concerned about chastising than charity, shame on us. When we as Christians have hypocritically stood in judgment of certain sins while cozying up to other sins, shame on us. When we as Christians have cared about protecting an established institution more than proclaiming the good news of Jesus’ peace, hope, and salvation to the lost and condemned, shame on us.

But, if we can be honest and transparent enough to own those sins, can we also be honest and transparent enough to admit that the church’s reputation isn’t always tarnished because it does the wrong thing; sadly, it also happens when the church, when Christians, are doing the right things.

When Christians firmly stand on the teachings of Jesus even when his teachings aren’t popular, good for the church. When the church recognizes that its responsibility is to govern God’s kingdom with God’s Word, and lets the secular government govern the worldly kingdom with the laws of the land, realizing those two very different purposes, good for the church. When the church rightly realizes the good news of Jesus is for all people, regardless of how different we all are or how uncomfortable others may make her feel, good for the church.

When the church is doing those things, good for the church. And if the reputation of the church continues to decline when it is carrying out its work properly, the problem isn’t with the church, but with those who insist on being offended by her. When that happens, there is no place for pretending to hold to Jesus while rejecting her church, because the two are inseparable. The church is the body of Christ. And to be offended by the church carrying out her business as Jesus calls her to, is to be offended by Jesus himself. 

Did you catch Jesus calling that out in his dialogue? He asked the question in a very straight forward manner. “Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, ‘Does this offend you?’” (v.61). Look how ahead of his time Jesus was! In this day and age, where everyone is concerned about being offended and giving offense, Jesus would fit right in!

But it wasn’t Jesus’ church that had done anything wrong when he asked the question; it was his own teaching that came from his own lips. So Jesus acknowledges that even when his words are proclaimed and his teachings continue to be passed on, even by imperfect Christians like us and imperfect pastors like me, there will still be be those who are offended. 

So let us consider this: will you be one of them? Will you be so offended by Jesus, who by his perfect life, death, and resurrection in your place and in mine, claims to be your Savior? Will his teaching that you and I are sinners in need of his salvation so offend you that you, like many of the disciples at the close of Jesus’ teaching, turn away from him, perhaps even attempting to draw less attention to it by claiming that it’s his church you’re turning away from, and not him? 

Or, will you, as Jesus invites all of us to do, continue to draw closer to him by feeding ourselves the Bread of Life, by filling up with more – not less – of Jesus through his Word? His promises and blessings are assured for all who choose not to dash, but to dine on the Bread of Life. If that is your choice, please realize that is precisely why congregations exists. It is exactly what we are here to do: help each other nourish our faith with the Bread of Life. 

Suppose you were on an expedition with a group of highly trained professionals. This expedition put your life at risk. At every stage, at every turn, there are dangers that threaten not only your physical health, but your very life. Imagine that one of those threats catches you off guard and you somehow are separated from the rest of the expedition.

At that point, what are your feelings about the rest of the group in the expedition as it relates to your specific situation threatening you? Do you hope that the expedition forges ahead without you, plugging onward to carry out the mission, and that hopefully you’ll eventually get yourself out of your sticky situation and catch up with the rest of them? Or, do you hope and pray that they quickly discover you’re not with them, backtrack on a brief search and rescue mission, and eventually come to your aid?

I’ve just described for you one of the tremendous blessings of belonging to a local congregation. Our congregation is not a community of comparison. We are not here to stand in judgment of others or diminish those who aren’t where we are in our walk of faith.

We are an expedition, navigating our way together through an ever-challenging world that has far more risky and dangerous threats than any earthly adventure; the kind that can damage our soul and compromise our eternity. And it makes all the difference to know that I am surrounded by those who will drop everything for a search and rescue mission when any one of us is threatened. There are many things in the world that are terrifying; Jesus’ church should not be included among them. 

We’ve considered some of the most terrifying words of the Bible; let me now close with some of the most comforting. There are so many of them, but let’s be sure to include these words of Jesus himself: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (v.51). Feast on Jesus, the Bread of Life, and you have nothing to fear.

The Bread of Life for Eternal Life

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(John 6:35-51)

You are at the drug store looking for something to provide relief and recovery from certain symptoms you’re experiencing. While in the aisle you are scanning everything, sorting through what seems like an endless assortment possibilities. What exactly are you looking for? Something that not only claims to be able to provide the relief you’re looking for, but will effectively do so. You aren’t looking for a placebo. You aren’t looking for something that is cheap and ineffective. How do you know what will work? You read the box, assess the claims it makes, and end up purchasing the one that holds out the most promise to get the job done. 

As we continue giving our attention to Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, we see a number of very bold claims on the part of Jesus. And his claims are not fuzzy. They do not cause confusion by lacking clarity, nor are they hidden in some mysterious verbiage that requires special enlightenment to understand.

No, just as you’d expect to see on the product in the drug store, Jesus clearly states who he is and what he’s able to do. When you find that, what you need, what not only claims to work, but which actually does, you take hold of it. You don’t keep on looking for something inferior that underpromises. You take what works. Jesus, the Bread of Life, reveals this morning that where nothing else works, he does.

The first part of Jesus’ teaching, which we looked at in the first post in this series, drew our attention to that which doesn’t work. Not only what doesn’t work, but what actually will end up doing more harm than good. Jesus emphasized the importance of not making our lives about food that spoils.

We do well to carry out a routine review in our lives to guard against slipping back into sloppy spiritual habits that find us favoring the pursuit of food that spoils instead of food that sustains and endures: Jesus, the bread of life. When any busyness of life that we have chosen prohibits us from feeding more on the Bread of Life in our own lives, we had better be aware: prioritizing a diet of food that spoils is going to leave us spiritually malnourished and potentially starved. Keep allowing the food that spoils at your own risk!

In this middle portion of Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, we see the focus shift from avoiding the stuff that spoils to highlighting why we have every reason to purse the food that endures to enteral life. Similarly, parents don’t just warn their children against eating too much junk food; they also make sure they eat their fruits and vegetables and the stuff that’s actually good for them. There is nothing better for us than that which is best for us, Jesus, the Bread of Life.

The more I have reflected on these words of Jesus from John 6, the more I am convinced this might be one of the best places to direct a skeptic of Christianity. Why? Because these words of Jesus provide a great opportunity to simply put Jesus’ words to the test. 

Suppose someone recommended some superfood or nutrition that is going to improve your health and make you feel so much better. If they urged you to try it and you were reluctant, you’d probably look into it a bit more. You might ask some others if they’ve heard of it or know anything about it. You’d undoubtedly Google it to find out more about it. While you can do all of those things, and there is wisdom in doing so, you’ll probably come away with so much information on both sides – for or against the recommendation – that it hasn’t really helped you make a decision. You end up doing what you could have just decided right away: you try it. Assuming there are no dangerous side effects or risks, the worst that could happen is it doesn’t deliver what was promised.

But… what if it does? And what if the benefits of trying it far surpass even your wildest expectations? What if it’s life changing and positively impacts your daily mood and energy in a way that you could never have imagined? Well, you’d never know unless you tried it. 

These words of Jesus serve as an invitation to try him out. Read, study, and reflect on what Jesus is saying in all this talk about bread. Then you can make an informed decision on who this Jesus really is. And, as others have pointed out, there are really three possible conclusions to arrive at about Jesus. He must be an off-his rocker lunatic, a deceiving, fork-tongued liar, or he is the Lord God himself. He cannot be all three; only one.

I believe these words of Jesus to be powerful enough to set himself apart as the Lord God, the Bread of Life. He alone is able to provide what we cannot find anywhere else at all. So let us try him out. Let us, as the psalmist encourages us to do, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Let’s start with Jesus’ bold promise in the first verse of this section. “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’” (v.35). Since this teaching of Jesus came on the heels of his miraculous feeding of the 5,000, it would be natural for the crowds to understand Jesus to be speaking literally, as if referring to his miracle as proof of being able to provide unlimited food and drink.

Even if that were the case, however, the word “never” says more than that. I can personally make a promise to others to do this or that, but I cannot attach a “never” to it, because I won’t always be around to see it through. My days are numbered, so I cannot make promises of “never.” So Jesus’ claim that those who come to him will “never” go hungry or thirsty is on a different level. It sets him apart from your average Joe.

Another straightforward statement of Jesus highlights very directly what is different about him. “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (v.38). Hard to confuse that one, isn’t it? Who would make such a claim as to have come down from heaven??? 

Jesus’ statement is so bold that it might be natural for the modern reader to force some other interpretation of his words of here. However, the response of Jesus’ listeners indicates that they knew exactly what he was claiming, and it didn’t sit well with them. “At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven’” (v.41).

They thought Jesus was crossing a line. Healings and miraculous feedings and all that were one thing, but to have the audacity to claim heaven as one’s hometown? That was too far! So they knew full well exactly what Jesus was claiming. And in their minds, things only got worser from there. 

Their reaction provides insight in how to address the common argument from skeptic’s today who claim that if God existed, all he would need to do was appear and it would be all the proof they’d need. If he just made himself visible then they’d believe. Is that too much to ask?

Well, it isn’t too much to ask, but it’s pretty shallow thinking for a person in denial about God’s existence to contend that he’d suddenly believe if God just showed up. After all, that’s an atheist, an unbeliever, we’re talking about; but those listening to Jesus were Jews who already believed in a God. Not only did they believe there was a God, but they were about as devout as could be when it came to worshipping him! And if those who already believed in a God refused to believe that Jesus could be him, then it would be a far greater stretch for a God-denying atheist to believe so even if God showed up as he insisted.

Back to Jesus’ teaching. Those listening to him began to resent him. They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” (v.42). It just wasn’t adding up for them. They couldn’t fathom how Joseph and Mary’s son could be what he was claiming. They knew the family. They saw little Jesus grow up. They possibly even heard stories of the unique details about the day he was born. Certainly someone who was born didn’t just beam down from heaven! They made up their minds. Jesus was just another local citizen, albeit a wise teacher with the power to perform miracles. But that wasn’t unique – God had often permitted his prophets in the past to do such things. But none of them had ever claimed to come from heaven. So what could be so special about Jesus?

His claims. Jesus’ claims don’t line up with the claims of ordinary men. Multiple times in this teaching he made a claim that no ordinary human being could ever have made. We see one of the most profound in verse 40. “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (v.40).

We cannot miss the three bold claims woven into this statement. Jesus says that the Father’s will is for all to look on and believe in the Son – in Jesus! Remember that the Jewish people were monotheistic – worshipping only one God was a BIG part of their religion It set them apart from so many other religions with multiple gods to worship and please. They believed and worshipped in one God, but now Jesus’ claim was that that one God desired for them to believe in his Son, in Jesus, for eternal life!

He didn’t stop there. He also claimed to be the one to raise up believers on the last day. That kind of ability surpassed that of a doctor; it belonged only to the divine. People don’t rise from the dead alone; only God raises them or gives others the ability to do so!

Finally, we can’t miss the timing. Note that Jesus wasn’t talking about raising the dead yesterday, today, or tomorrow, but on the last day. How could man, whose life is determined by decades, not only raise anyone from the dead, but still be around on the last day to do so?!?

There is no misconstruing or confusing what Jesus is saying here. His words are not convoluted or complex. He is making clear, yet bold claims that are beyond the reach or ability of any human being.

So to the argument which some make that Jesus never claims to be God in the Bible, what other conclusion are we to draw about Jesus’ words here? There is no alternative! Jesus, the Bread of Life, is the ultimate manna from heaven. “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die” (v.47-50).

What a difference! The Israelites ate the bread from heaven, manna, and they died. But Jesus, the true Bread from heaven, died, so that all who eat him may live!

How could all of this be? How could Jesus make such a promise?

Because he had in mind the very sacrifice he was going to offer to make it all possible. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (v.51). Jesus was foreshadowing his crucifixion, where he gave himself up so that the world could have life. The Living Bread willingly died so that the spiritually dead – all people – could live. Only Jesus offers what cannot be found anywhere else: eternal life. 

Do we forget that God originally created us to live eternally? There was no death in his design of things. The word “eternal” only had to be added to describe eternal life after sin and its separation from God changed everything.

So the same way jokes are made asking whether it’s called “Chinese” food if it’s in China or if the French call them “french” fries or just “fries,” there was no need to call it “eternal” life when God first created Adam and Eve, because that’s what life was originally. Sin and eternal death necessitated the distinction between “life” and “eternal life.”

Jesus has reversed that. Jesus restored eternal life, because the sinless One suffered and died and served the sentence for us. Jesus forgave our sins – including every time we sinfully slip into searching for food that spoils again and again.

But with the debt of our sin cancelled, the path to eternal life has been reopened. And it comes only through Jesus, the Bread of Life. Next time, as we close out Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, we are faced with the question of how we will respond to Jesus’ invitation to feed on him as the Bread of Life. 

The Best Bread

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(John 6:24-35)

There are a lot of good things to be said for being more aware of our diet and nutrition in America, of having a better sense of what is going into our bodies and what effects certain ingredients have on us. However, such awareness is not without its consequences. One of those is that we end up taking the results of this study or that headline to the extreme when it comes to either the positives of negatives of a certain ingredient or type of food. So, rather than approaching food sensibly, in moderation one direction or the other, we go to extremes. We either over-do it on this miracle superfood that promises to help us live to 120, or we completely eliminate something that an “expert” warned could send us to an early grave if we have too much of it. One of the victims of our health-conscious, carb-cutting culture has been bread. We order our burger without the bun. We scoop our bagels. We don’t eat the crusts on the pizza.

That general perception in our culture that bread is nothing more than extra, unnecessary carbs could have a negative impact on our understanding of the imagery Jesus used in his teaching from John chapter 6. We may not as easily relate to the main point Jesus is trying to emphasize by using bread as his focal point, which is simply that bread represented a dietary staple. 

In Jesus’ day, and still today in many places all over the world, where Grub Hub or Door Dash don’t exist to bring directly to your door any delicacy or delight you crave at any given time, bread is essential. It represents one of the most basic needs in life. Elsewhere in his teaching, Jesus does the same thing in comparing himself to water; it is a basic need for life. So even though we may go days or weeks so much as a crumb of carbs, don’t let that conceal the main truth of Jesus’ teaching: just as bread is a basic need for life, so also – albeit on a much grander scale – is Jesus!

As we listen to Jesus teach, certainly we wouldn’t question his teachings on salvation or eternal life. After all, where would we expect to find a more qualified expert to speak and teach on salvation than the Savior himself? When Jesus speaks on the matter of forgiveness and salvation, we listen and believe, because he is the authority on the subject. 

But let’s also realize something else about the authority and author of our salvation: if he is the expert on such things, then wouldn’t he also be the most qualified to warn us about the most dangerous threats to salvation? In other words, Jesus’ warnings are not just fringe possibilities or long shots to forfeit our salvation, but are in fact the most serious threats of which we need to be aware. So let us listen to Jesus, not only when he speaks of the stuff of eternal life, but also when he warns us about that which seeks to rob us of it.

In the first part of Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, we see quite clearly the warning Jesus provides. “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (v.27). Here is the question with which we are forced to wrestle if we want to appreciate all of Jesus’ teaching: are you working for food that spoils? Before you answer that question, we have to clarify what Jesus is emphasizing. We have to look at his warning as he sets it up in contrast to the “food that endures to eternal life.” 

Jesus isn’t throwing out a blanket prohibition against all of our personal pursuits or passions in this world. He isn’t saying the olympic athlete driven to be the best in the sport is sinning. He isn’t saying it’s wrong to want to advance your career. He isn’t saying you can’t have nice things. What he is saying, though, is that when our drive for those things surpasses or overshadows our pursuit of the food that endures to eternal life, then we have a problem.

With that understanding, we can ask the question again: are you working for food that spoils? What (or who) is it right now that you really really want? What do you have to have? What is receiving the bulk of your time and energy? What is consuming your thoughts? What will crush you if you can’t eventually get it or have it? What might even be a permissible reason for you to justify setting aside your integrity or ethics to get it? What are you willing to make significant sacrifices for as you seek it out? However you might answer any of those questions could be the indicator that you’re working for food that spoils.

And you know what happens to food that spoils, don’t you? Look at what happened to the Israelites who gathered too much manna in the wilderness (Ex. 16). It was covered in maggots! What a powerful visual aid for anything, everything, we could possibly work for or pursue with our short time here on earth that isn’t the stuff of eternal life! That’s what it all will come to! Whatever it is you’re burning the candle at both ends for will not amount to anything. It will all spoil and be gone. 

If it has hit you that you’ve been working for food that spoils for some time in your life, that’s the first step in turning things around. But beware – it’s very hard to give that up cold turkey and trade it in for the bread of life just like that.

Another pleasant visual aid that illustrates this can sometimes be found when bringing in your trash bins from the curb after they’ve been collected. Even after the trash has been emptied from the bins into the garbage truck, depending on what’s been in the bin all week, it isn’t uncommon to peek down into the bottom of the trash bin and see squirming maggots still hanging around. The trash is gone, but its effects are lingering.

So when it hits us that we’ve been giving our lives to working for food that spoils, and in repentance we want to turn things around, be aware that the effects of having worked so long for food that spoils can linger for a bit. It takes time to get rid of it.

But admitting that I’ve been working for food that spoils is the first step. Once I realize that, I can come to grips with how fruitless that endeavor has been, and how fruitful it will be to work for food that endures to eternal life.

Jesus had the crowd’s attention. While they didn’t fully understand yet, they did want to know what that looked like. They wanted to know what Jesus considered to be the kind of work he was calling for. “Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’” (v.28). While curious about turning things around, they still couldn’t detach themselves from the concept of working and pursuing and pleasing. 

This is understandable, given the essence of their religion, which was all about keeping laws and following rules. The Jewish faith emphasized obedience and righteousness and holy living. But, while these are all good things, they are not and never will be salvation things. They don’t save. People today who still share the sense that good people go to heaven are clinging to a work-based salvation. But good works for salvation is not only impossible; it’s also not what Jesus is after. There’s another “work” that is far more important. 

Jesus spelled it out for them. “Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’” (v.29). Jesus’ take on work was not about what you had to be, but rather who you had to believe. That’s what God was after because that’s the only way God saves – through belief in his Son through whom salvation is secured. Believe in him and you are working for food that endures. And, even as Jesus is imploring his listeners to believe, notice who gets the credit for that work – even that is God’s work! When belief – faith – is created, it is always only God’s work, not ours.

No, we aren’t saved by works; we are saved by believing in Jesus. But you may wonder, since believing is a relatively simple thing, why can’t we then carry on with our daily lives and continue pursuing our other interests and goals in life, the stuff that possibly qualifies as the “food that spoils” which Jesus warned against? If I believe, and that is enough, and that is the work God requires, well count me in. I believe! Good enough, right?

Yes, it is good enough. But here’s the problem: you aren’t.

You aren’t good enough to sustain or maintain – let alone grow in – that belief, that faith. Think of a simple flashlight. It has one task. In shines light. And it will do that one task well and it will do that one task for a long time. But eventually you’ll notice the light from that flashlight begins to dim a bit. It isn’t quite as bright as it used to be. Once that happens, the rate at which it dims seems to accelerate until finally, there is no light. The flashlight stops doing its one job. Why? It’s time to recharge it or change the battery. 

We are not unlike that flashlight. We are called to shine in our faith. We really have one job: believe, which leads us to reflect that faith in our daily lives. But we cannot shine endlessly, and we cannot shine brightly, without either a regular charge or new batteries.

Or, to switch back to the picture Jesus is using, the focus of our series, we cannot function in faith without regularly being fed the bread of life. We need Jesus. A lot of Jesus, not just a few crumbs here and there. That may make our carb-sensitive culture a little uneasy, but trust me, you can’t have too much of this Bread! It is hands down the best bread!