Sunday – April 10, 2016 John 6 verses 36 to 58 “I Am the Bread of Life”

Sunday – April 10, 2015 – Read the Word on Worship

Sunday – April 10, 2016 John 6 verses 36 to 58 “I Am the Bread of Life” from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Problems viewing?


Word On Worship – Sunday – April 10, 2015 Download / Print

John 6:53-56
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.”

Perhaps the Sunday after Friday Night Fellowship is not the time to ask, “What are you eating?” Being in a church with so many good cooks, it is hard to diet and attend so many pot luck dinners. But that’s the question that Jesus wants us to consider: “What are you eating?” – not physically, but spiritually. We hear a lot these days about the importance of a healthy diet. You are what you eat and a lot of Americans eat a lot of junk food, resulting in a lot of serious, but avoidable health problems. Most of us could benefit by being careful about what we eat.

It’s the same spiritually. If you gorge yourself on the latest movies or on the fare that is offered every night on TV, and you seldom feed on the Bible, don’t be surprised if you’re not spiritually healthy. If your spiritual intake consists of a sugary devotional that you grab on the run, like a donut, and an occasional sermon when you aren’t doing something else on Sunday, don’t be surprised if you’re feeling kind of spiritually sluggish. You are what you eat. In John 6, after He fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, Jesus repeatedly offers Himself as the spiritual food that gives eternal life and eternal satisfaction to all who eat.

Some interpret these verses to refer to partaking of communion. The Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church base their views of transubstantiation (the view that the communion elements actually become the body and blood of Christ) in part on John 6:53. But there are many reasons John 6 does not refer to communion. First, communion had not yet been instituted. Jesus instituted it on the night He was betrayed. Second, Jesus was speaking here to unbelievers and communion is for believers. Third, the Lord’s Supper does not produce the results that are attributed to eating and drinking Christ. If the words of Jesus here refer to communion, then you gain eternal life by partaking, which contradicts many other Scriptures that show that salvation is through faith in Christ, not through participating in a ritual.

There is a satisfaction factor about eating, isn’t there? That’s why we overeat – because it tastes so good and it’s pleasurable. Good bread nourishes and sustains life, but also it’s enjoyable. To smell bread baking in the oven and then to butter and eat a warm slice is delightful. Even so, feeding on Jesus by faith is enjoyable in this life and it will continue in His eternal presence, where, as David exults (Ps. 16:11), “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.