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!