“Words of Life”

Text: John 6:60-70
Sermon:

• Before we investigate this scripture, let’s go ahead and make sure that we understand the context of this scripture. Right before this scripture, we see Jesus teaching his disciples about being the Bread of Life, which includes scriptures such as “54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” Jesus also states, “55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.”
• These terms are highly controversial if we take them literally. This is highly controversial if you take them out of the context of these instructions being spiritual practices and not literal. Why is Jesus being so controversial here?
• The scripture that I want us to investigate is verse 63 and 64, “63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.”
• The Holy Spirit gives spiritual life. All Spiritual renewal begins and ends with God. He reveals the truth to us, lives in us and then enables us to respond to that truth.
• The term Spirit means “the spiritual nature of Christ, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ.”
• Looking at our scripture for today, we see that Jesus’ words are meant to give life. We are receiving life not only in the physical sense, but we are receiving life in a spiritual sense.
• The way these life-giving words impact us physically is encouragement. When we read the Bible, or we attend a church service we are encouraged in our difficult times. We can feel empowered and strengthened to keep moving and growing in our most difficult times. Through these words and church services, we can come together as a community and encourage one another.
• The way these life-giving words impact us spiritually is connection. When we study the teachings of Jesus, we realize that so much of his teachings discusses attributes of our Spiritual connection with the creator of the universe. This also connects to the context of the chapter. Jesus is teaching a spiritual concept when he teaches about the Bread of Life.
• It is important for us to be open to Jesus’ spiritual teachings. As we see in the scripture, some of the disciples left because the teachings were offensive. I believe this is because the disciples had an expectation of Jesus and his teachings that was not met.
• Some of the expectations could have been: 1. They realized Jesus was not going to overthrow the conquering messiah-king as expected. 2. Jesus refused to give in to their self-centered request. 3. Jesus emphasized faith, not deeds. 4. Jesus’ teaching were difficult to understand/offensive.
• People often look to their own imagination, instincts, and some intangible wisdom inside them. People often have their own expectations of who and what Jesus was supposed to be. People project their desires onto their religious beliefs.
• Jesus was not trying to drive believers away, He was simply telling the truth and giving them a choice. Jesus gave the disciples to the option to stay and learn from Jesus’ teaching or to also leave. This is a great freedom.
• God wants us to live in freedom. God wants us to think through our beliefs and place our trust in Jesus’ teachings. We are not meant to be trapped by our Christian identification. Our faith is meant to heal us and connect us to the God the Creator. This freedom also connects us to each other and other communities.
• In some churches, members are talked down to when they question their faith or when they have doubts; this scripture indicates that Jesus does not condemn or mistreat church members for their questions/doubts or their concerns.
• We see that Jesus is leaving the spiritual door open for doubts, concerns and questions in the church. Members can come and go as they please. A relationship with Jesus is an open door.  

 
Conclusion: Let us be people who are open doors.