Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 07 – Feb 1989

 

The Food That Endures

(Why Are You a Disciple of Jesus?)

 

Sermon by Rev. D. J. Van Garderen on John 6:26-29

Reading: John 6:16-35

Singing: 36, 290, 150, 404, 483

 

Dear Congregation,

You have to admire the enthusiasm and persistence of the crowds which first followed Jesus.  No stone was left unturned until they found him.  They would have followed him just about anywhere.  Good, keen, willing disciples who would, in modern terminology, have filled the pews to overflowing twice a Sunday!

But Jesus didn’t want them.  He saw that these potential devotees were coming to him for the wrong reasons.  Their enthusiasm and persistence was based on an unacceptable, a totally wrong foundation.  Jesus in effect is saying:
            To be sure, you want me alright!  I can see that!
            But the reasons why you want me are totally wrong.
            As long as that is the case,
              although you might feel you want me, I don’t want you!

That situation begs the question.  It forces any and every follower, or potential follower of Jesus, to ask of himself, “What about Me?  Does Jesus want ME as one of his disciples?”  Well, does he?  It all depends on your MOTIVES or REASONS for being a Christian.  Are you, or do you want to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus for the right reasons?  Why do you want or claim to be a Christian anyway?

This morning let us pause to examine these questions once again.  Let us find out or remind ourselves of the reasons WHY, as individuals, families, clubs, organisations and as a congregation we follow Christ.

1.  THE CROWDS WHICH CAME TO JESUS

The Jewish crowd referred to in John 6 was tremendously impressed and enthusiastic about Jesus.  He really ‘turned them on’ to speak.  How?  Well, basically as a worker of miraculous signs.  We read in John 6:2:

“…a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.”

That was precisely the kind of “religious entertainment” they loved.  Hence they swarmed around him like bees to a honeypot.  As a real bonus, this crowd even became involved in a miracle.  They were miraculously fed by Jesus.  Just like Elijah had fed the widow of Zarephath, they were all fed as Jesus distributed the five small loaves and two small fishes.  The food supply just went on and on!  Twelve baskets were filled with leftovers!  Great!!

But, in the night that followed, Jesus disappeared mysteriously!  Most were disappointed.  The more imaginative ones guessed at the possibility of another miracle.  Everything pointed that way when, after diligent searching, they finally tracked Jesus down on the other side of the lake at Capernaum.

WAS it another miracle?  Is this another miraculous sign over which we must marvel and drool?  Well, ask him!!  “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Maybe Jesus had expected to be disappointed by this crowd.  Even if that was so, the disappointment he experienced at that moment was no less real and painful.  They were there but their enthusiastic antics and the eager gleam in their eyes, showed that they were there FOR THE WRONG REASONS.

They were there FOR WHAT THEY COULD GET OUT OF IT.  They were there FOR THEMSELVES.  How and in what manner?

It was the MIRACLES, the MIRACULOUS SIGNS.

You see, these MIRACLES – or SIGNS as John consistently calls them in his gospel – were misunderstood by the crowds.  They understood the miracles of Jesus… his power to HEAL them and his power to FEED them… as a short-cut to sure happiness and contentment.  Followers of Jesus don’t get sick!  If they do, there is need no to worry about big expensive medical bills and a slow, painful healing process.  There will be quick, painless, and FREE healing.  Followers of Jesus don’t go hungry.  If they do, Jesus will get a few loaves and fish, and feed them.  Jesus said:

“You are looking for me… because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”

The harshness and sharpness of these words are very real.  The word “eat” he uses refers to the eating of ANIMALS, especially animals like COWS and oxen.  This is a mindless crunching away at grass.  The animal stuffing itself.

Seeing the opportunity for a free feed, for a worry-free, better and more rosy future, the crowds came running!  ‘Makes you think of a farmer feeding out his cattle with hay in the middle of winter.  The beasts lumber towards the tractor, rolling their eyes, bellowing and snorting with hunger as they push and shove their way forward.

Are we like that?  What drives YOU to following JESUS?

Those people came driven by the needs of their bellies, by a hungering to see miracles, to have Jesus provide for them.  They came to Jesus because they thought he could deliver the goods for which they yearned and longed.  They didn’t come to Jesus because of who He was, they came for what he could give them.  If the devil came along, did more amazing miracles, offered them greater satisfaction, they would have followed him into the fires of hell itself!

Why are YOU interested in following Christ, in being one of his disciples?

1  So that you will go to heaven and share its rewards?

2.  So that you will receive the gift of eternal life?

3.  So that all of your needs will be provided for and your problems solved?

4.  So that you can have happiness, success and blessings for you and the children?

5.  So that you can now expect an answer to your prayers?

6.  So that you can look at yourself and sing, “It is well, it is well with my soul!”?

Sobering, isn’t it?  I have been struck again and again how, from very, very many angles, our Christianity seems to be driven by a hungering for all the things that we believe Jesus has to OFFER us.  Christianity comes across as the solution to problems, as the means of having all of your needs fulfilled.  You come to Jesus because of the whole range of good and beautiful things he has to offer!

Is that WRONG?  Is that the way it ought to be?

2.  GOOD AND BAD FOOD.

Listen carefully to what Jesus said:

            “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life…!”

Do not expend all of your energy, all of your time, strength and effort on “FOOD THAT SPOILS”.  What kind of food is that?  Is it anything that cannot take you to heaven, that you cannot take with you, and will be of no use to you in the life to come?

a)  Think of the crowds running and panting after Jesus like hungry cows.  What they wanted out of Jesus was INSTANT, IMMEDIATE SATISFACTION and GRATIFICATION for their needs.  “Fill our stomachs!  Heal our diseases!  Give us a better life!  Free us from the tyranny of Rome and our religious leaders!  Look after us!  Give us a show, a demonstration of your power!”  See it?

Their wants and desires were limited to the here and now, to this physical life on this physical earth.  Sure, Jesus can offer that… but how does that open the way to heaven and provide the way to it?

b)  Today’s crowds aren’t that different.  Many seem to come to Christ looking for solutions to family problems, to personal insecurity, to a shaky marriage.  They come looking for a healthier life, a circle of caring friends.

They come to work out their desire for success and prestige by doing good and noble things for other people.  I know that names like Sigmund Freud are not popular in Christian circles.  His assessment of Christianity came too close to the bone when he claimed that it was a CRUTCH, needed by the infirm and weak to enable them to get through life.  You LEAN on your Christianity to get you through this life!  Christianity gives you access to divine store-house of all kinds of goodies available only to the followers of Jesus who ask for it in prayer.

But there is the other kind of food.  This is the REAL thing, the food worth labouring for.

Jesus calls it:
            “The food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

That food is very different.  It is a completely different, revolutionary way of looking to Jesus.  How?

The best way to explain it is as follows:

Do NOT look at the miraculous power of Jesus, His power to heal sick people, to walk on water, to feed 5,000 people with a few loaves and fishes as a way of being cared for by him.  His MIRACLES were not a short-cut to immediate long life, health, wealth and happiness.  NO, his miracles were and still are SIGNS which identify Him as the SON OF MAN, as the MESSIAH, the KING OF KINGS – through whom the LORD is going to crush Satan’s head, to establish a new and eternal kingdom, to wipe sin off the face of the universe.  In JESUS God the FATHER is going to CHANGE THE WORLD – take it out of the hands of sin, sinful men, of satan and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places!  The “FOOD” Jesus was offering the crowds was PROOF, DIVINE PROOF from GOD THE FATHER, that He was indeed the one through whom the new age of the Kingdom of God would come!

MIRACLES were and still are primarily PROOF to all the world, God’s SEAL OF APPROVAL on JESUS as the One through whom the new life, eternal life, the Kingdom comes.

So WHY did Jesus perform miracles?  WHY did God work these signs through him?

In order to WORK IN US A REAL AND LASTING miracle.

That miracle is FAITH in the LORD JESUS as the SON OF MAN… the MESSIAH.  Faith which believes that only JESUS and only IN HIS NAME – BELIEVING, being FED with His crucified body and shed blood, ONLY IN HIS STRENGTH can and will the Kingdom come!

3.  RECEIVING AND EATING THAT GOOD FOOD.

Congregation, that may sound just a little bit theoretical.

It did to the crowd who first heard these words.  They didn’t understand and therefore they asked him for further clarification:

            “What must we do to do the works of God?”

They certainly didn’t understand!  They thought that they had to do something themselves.  They thought they had to earn their own eternal food!  They had no idea!  Therefore Jesus answered:

            “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

That needs careful thought and explanation.

a)  The MIRACLES of Jesus were not intended to satisfy the earthly, bodily needs and appetites of his followers.  Instead their purpose was to act as God’s seal of approval on Jesus.  The miracles PROVE that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Son of Man of whom the prophet Daniel spoke.  Miracles SEALED, GUARANTEED the identity of Jesus as the MESSIAH.

b)  Being able to SEE the real meaning of miracles, being able to UNDERSTAND that their purpose is to be God’s seal of approval on Jesus, is in itself a miracle.  By nature we are deaf, blind and totally ignorant of the real meaning of miracles.  Only as God works in us through His Spirit, only as God’s Spirit opens our hearts to really HEAR and really SEE what Jesus says in this passage, can we come to an understanding of the truth.  You and I would NEVER understand the real purpose of Jesus’ miracles without this divinely given and inspired explanation!

c)  The ultimate step is to go beyond seeing, hearing and understanding, to BELIEVING.  To BELIEVE means to put your faith in, to accept the truth of, AND ΤΟ SURRENDER YOUR WHOLE LIFE TO WHAT YOU BELIEVE.

Like the young air-force trainee who was to make his first parachute jump.  He was terrified.  He knew all about parachutes.  He had read about them, seen them working, and seen his mates jump.  The instructor asked him: “Do you believe that parachutes work?”  “Yes!” he said.  “Then JUMP, man JUMP!”  He couldn’t because it seemed that someone had bolted his feet to the floor.  Said the instructor, “You don’t REALLY believe in parachutes until you actually JUMP and TRY IT OUT!”

BELIEVING is in fact ACCEPTING and then GOING ALL THE WAY!

d)  How far?  Jesus uses some very graphic language later on in this same chapter.  In John 6:54-56 he says:

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him”.

BELIEVING, which is the real purpose of miracles, of all that Jesus revealed about Himself, especially on the cross and three days later at the empty tomb, means that you eat his flesh and blood.

Put another way: YOU BECOME LIKE JESUS.  You begin to think as Jesus thought.  You speak as Jesus spoke.  You do as Jesus did.  You are a Christian for exactly the same as Jesus is the CHRIST!

Why are you a Christian?

So that through you, Jesus may live, walk, talk, teach, listen, love, sacrifice, and establish His kingdom!  You are a Christian so that JESUS MAY CONTINUE TO LIVE THROUGH YOU.  You are a Christian so that God’s presence in the world of today may be as real as it was in the days when, His only begotten Son actually walked on earth!

FALSE Christians are Christians for what they can get out of it for themselves.

TRUE Christians who have and are feeding on the food that endures to eternal life ARE, DO and SHINE FORTH CHRIST.  A true Christian is proof that the love, the compassion, the mercy, the real compassion to seek and find the lost IS STILL THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY and TASK in the world.

Now, having heard it again: WHY are you a Christian?

AMEN