8/18/2024: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE

“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him” (John 6:66). What happened?! Jesus had recently fed many thousands of people. Everywhere he went, he was mobbed by a multitude looking for the hope and healing Jesus provided. In the first part of Jesus’ ministry, he was extremely popular. That changed so quickly. At this time many followers walked away from Christ. What had Jesus done that was so bad? He said, “I am the bread of life.” That statement seems, at worst, to be cryptic. It doesn’t seem offensive. But as the crowd grasped what Jesus was claiming, they decided they no longer wanted anything to do with him.

Bread is a staple food, something people eat every day (especially in Jesus’ day). Scripture will sometimes refer to bread and water as all one needs to sustain physical life. In this worship series we will examine what Jesus is teaching when he calls himself “the bread of life.” We will discuss why people would abandon Jesus for making that claim. And we will wrestle with whether we would ever do the same.

THE BREAD THAT GIVES WISDOM AND LIFE

There are many different theories about the healthiest way to eat. There’s the old food pyramid, built on a foundation of whole grains. There’s the Mediterranean diet, the Atkins diet, the Paleo diet, and many others. We can debate which is best, but what is undebatable is that whatever your diet, you are going to die. Perhaps a vegetarian diet is indeed easier on your heart. Still, your heart is going to stop eventually. But in his Bead of Life discourse, Jesus offers food that enables us to live forever.

There are foods you might never have tasted without someone working hard to convince you to try them. Likewise, this spiritual food that Jesus describes is something no one finds appealing at first, but distasteful. And so today Jesus explains that we need God to work within us, so that we have the wisdom to see that this food gives life and the faith to find this bread most delicious.

God bless your worship.

Pastor Adam Mueller will preach on 1 Corinthians 2:6–16

Watch service online. (Sunday, 10:45 AM MST)

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