Good morning to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Wednesday,
I hear a word quite often these days that I don’t remember hearing years ago and it’s a word that’s really confusing to my 98-year-old father who tries to imagine it being used in his world growing up nearly a century ago. The word is “Virtual Reality”. (I suppose that’s actually two words.) Virtual Reality means what you are experiencing is not what it seems. Yesterday we watched as the disciples had a ‘virtual reality’ experience with Jesus when Jesus walked ON the water approaching their boat in the middle of a storm on Lake Galilee and they thought they were seeing a ghost! (Matt. 14:25,26)
The disciple John was in that boat of course, he saw it with his own eyes, and John continues the story to tell us what happened after Jesus and His disciples came ashore. The teaching which Jesus gave to a crowd the next day was another type of ‘virtual reality’. Only John gives us this account in John 6:25-71. Jesus challenged the crowd to consider WHY they gathered when He came to town? Jesus proposed it was NOT because they saw amazing miracles, or they were looking for a relationship with Him, but because they most recently had a free meal with thousands of other people. (John 6:1-15)
So, Jesus challenged them to consider a much higher calling: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.” (John 6:27)
With those words the focus of Jesus’ public teaching shifted to a contrast of the temporary earthly life we all live and eternity future, life after earthly death, and how we can be confident we can live that eternal life with God.
Jesus stated a theme He would repeat many times in the weeks ahead: “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” (John 6:29) Over and over Jesus would claim that HE was sent by Almighty God from heaven to earth for a specific, LIFE changing purpose and eternal life with God begins by believing WHO Jesus is, WHY Jesus came to earth and HOW Jesus can affect a person’s eternal destiny.
Pause. How do you answer these questions:
* WHO is Jesus? WHY did He come to earth? HOW can Jesus affect YOUR eternal destiny and mine?
* How do you explain it to someone else, especially your children and grandchildren? So, here’s an equally important question:
* What are the consequences of ignoring Jesus and disregarding both what He said and did?
Don’t rush past those questions my friends because the major consequence is the difference of spending eternity in heaven or hell… for eternity, not 5 minutes, eternity!
The crowd around Jesus that day was mostly Jews, proud of their heritage and the great Old Testament stories they loved, like Moses leading the Hebrew slaves out of slavery and for 40 years wandering in the desert, providing manna to keep their ancestors alive for decades! But Jesus challenged their distorted memories to understand it was not Moses who produced that miraculous manna but GOD Himself who made it and sent it faithfully each day from heaven to earth, to give 1 million wilderness wanderers life in the desert! (Deut. 8:2-5)
Jesus said these shocking words: “…it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father…For the bread of God is bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty…” (John 6:32-35)
Oh my! I doubt any of us can imagine how stunned the crowd was at that moment?! Do you see what Jesus was claiming?
* First, that Almighty God is His Father!
* Second, that Almighty God had sent Jesus from heaven to earth!
* Third, that Jesus is able to give eternal life to anyone and everyone of the entire world!
* Fourth, that somehow, as God sent daily manna bread to keep 1 million people alive in the desert, Jesus is the God sent ‘bread of life’ for those listening that day and also you and me today!
* Fifth, that in a relationship with Jesus we will never go hungry or be thirsty!
Oh my! This story of Jesus speaking very radical, life changing words to this crowd is so significant, both for them and for us, that we’ll linger here for a couple of days watching, listening and reflecting deeply with Jesus.
May I invite you to carefully read John 6:25-35 perhaps two or three or four times, reviewing the questions I’ve already asked us and adding these questions:
* What is the balance of time I spend ‘working for food that spoils’ as compared to what Jesus called ‘food that endures for eternal life’? (John 6:27)
* If Jesus is ‘the bread of life’ how does Jesus satisfy my deepest life hunger and quench my deepest soul thirst, as He claimed He would? (John 6:35)
If I’m honest and I don’t find my soul thirst quenched and hunger satisfied, what does that mean about the relationship Jesus and I have?
The ‘lessons learned’ notes just below will really help you wrestle with these questions, and the worship song I’ve included will draw your soul to a wonderful worship encounter with Jesus. And let’s meet here again tomorrow with Jesus and this crowd because what Jesus said next is radical, remarkable and actually caused some to walk away and abandon Jesus!
Today’s Scripture: John 6:25-35.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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