What is the Church? A Body Nourished by Christ

Pastor: 
Rev. Jon Brohn
Date: 
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sermon Text: 

(John 6:24-35) 

24Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

 

25

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"

 26Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27Do 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."

 28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

 29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

 30So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

 32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

 34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."

 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

My dear friends in Christ,

What is the Church? Two weeks ago we began with our Fall Building Project—the Church is built on Jesus as its foundation. Last week we learned that the Church is the Body of Christ, and that members of the Body serve each other in love. Today we’ll see that the Church is a Body nourished by Christ!
Do you like food? Why? It looks good. It smells good. It tastes good. We have to have food for our bodies to survive. Without food, a person will slowly starve to death.
The day before Jesus spoke the words of our text, he used a boy’s lunch—5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish—to feed 5000 men, not counting women and children. Everyone who was there had plenty to eat—more than enough. The disciples gathered 12 baskets full of leftovers. Jesus fed them well!
We know that Jesus can fill empty stomachs. What does the Body of Christ need to keep it nourished and alive? Let’s look back at our gospel reading for today.
"Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 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 6:26-27). What kind of food did the crowd want? Food for their stomachs. What kind of food did Jesus offer? Food that lasts forever.
The crowd wanted more bread to fill their stomachs. They wanted a ruler who could give them food every day. Then they wouldn’t have to work for it. If Jesus was their king, he could do greater miracles than this! They didn’t want to believe that he was the Son of God. Jesus told them, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29). Jesus tried to tell them that he was the nourishment that they needed. He came to do more than fill their stomachs. He wanted to fill their souls with everything good.
They refused to listen. They told Jesus that Moses had given the Israelites manna from heaven every day for 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. They wanted to know what miracle Jesus would do to compete with Moses.
 "Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘from now on give us this bread.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty’" (John 6:32-35). From where would this heavenly food come? The Father. What was this bread? Jesus—the Bread of Life. What would happen when they ate it? They would never go hungry or be thirsty.
The manna God sent from heaven and the loaves and fishes were good nutrition for bodies, but that nutrition wouldn’t last. Jesus wanted them to crave food that would last—food for their souls. When they believed in Jesus as the promised Messiah and Savior, their souls would be filled, and they would never hunger or thirst again. Jesus promised to satisfy every one of their souls’ desires!
What kind of foods do our stomachs crave? That’s easy! Junk food. We crave sweet, sugary donuts; gooey, cheesy pizza; chewy, chocolaty candy; giant, greasy burgers dripping with ketchup. We crave whatever tastes good. We eat it and our waistlines expand, our blood pressure and cholesterol counts rise, and our health suffers.
Our souls crave spiritual junk food too. We want a sweet, sugary message that tells us, “You’re ok just the way you are!” We look for a gooey, cheesy message that life will be perfect for Christians because we have faith. We crave a chewy, chocolaty experience in worship so that we go away “uplifted” every time. We want the giant, greasy, heart-clogging 7 simple steps to make ourselves better Christians.
Spiritual junk food looks attractive and nourishing. Our spiritual health suffers when we fill up on it. Our soul’s waistline expands and we get “fat and lazy” in our faith. Our spiritual blood pressure rises and we worry when we don’t feel good about ourselves or our faith. Our cholesterol count rises and threatens to clog up the body—we don’t serve because we love Jesus, only because we want to be “better Christians.” If we don’t find something good to eat, poor nutrition will land us in an early grave—an eternal one. Where can we find something good for our souls?
Do you recognize this panel? It points out the nutrition facts for a food product. This one happens to be from the side of a cereal box. Why do we read these things? We want to eat food that are good for us and provide the best nutrition possible.
Have you ever seen one of these on the side of a Bible? I haven’t, but I tried to imagine what it would say. God’s Word offers real spiritual nutrition. That’s where we meet Jesus, the Bread of Life. That’s where we read God’s Law—he points out our sinfulness and that we have earned God’s punishment for the things we’ve done wrong. That’s where we read God’s gospel—he sent Jesus to take away our sins and to give us eternal life. That’s why he called himself the Bread of Life. Jesus also said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6). When our souls feast on him, we won’t ever be hungry or thirsty for anything else!
Have you ever gone to a buffet style restaurant? What is so special about a buffet? You can choose from all different kinds of food, pick your favorites, and eat until you’re full.
Jesus provides a buffet for us, especially when we come to worship on Sunday mornings. Think about all the things Jesus offers in worship. It all comes straight from the Word. The theme of the service gives us something to chew on before worship even begins. The organist / piano player chooses music that will help us focus on the theme of the day. The responsive readings, the confession and absolution, and all the sections of our liturgy come straight from the Bible. Think of the song we sang after we confessed our sins: “If We Confess our Sins.” That song quotes John’s words from his first letter: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Pastor and I carefully choose all the hymns and songs to support the Word that God provides for us each week. In Sunday morning worship, we share the best spiritual food that Jesus has to offer!
What if I don’t like everything I hear on Sunday morning? How many of us heard mom or grandma say, “Eat your vegetables. They’re good for you.” We all sat there are looked at them until they were cold, and then we had to devise a way to swallow them. Every part of our worship service provides solid nutrition for our souls because it comes straight from God’s Word. There may be sections of the liturgy, or songs, or a style of worship that we don’t always care for, but does that make it unhealthy for our souls? It’s still good for us because it provides the nutrition from God’s Word that we need!
I find it hard to watch TV after supper most night. Around 8 o’clock, the ads start to kick in. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, all with their late night drive throughs. The burgers look so good, so tasty. I sit back and think, “I could really sink my teeth into one of those!” I can’t. It’s just a picture. Do you ever struggle sometimes on Sunday morning, or as you’re studying the Bible on your own. Do you long for something concrete from God, something you can see or touch?
Jesus has provided some very real ways for us to fill up on the Bread of Life. Think about the blessings he offers in Baptism. He commanded us to use water. We see the water droplet create ripples in the baptismal font. We feel the cool wet as it runs down baby’s forehead. We hear Jesus’ words: “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus gives that child, that person a banquet in that moment—a banquet for eternal life!
Jesus also lays out a special meal that we can “sink our teeth into.” We come up to the communion rail and kneel together as fellow believers. We hold out our hands and hold a piece of bread. It looks like bread. It smells like bread. We put it in our mouths and swallow it. Food. We hear Jesus’ words: “Take and eat. This is my body” (Matthew 26:26). He gives us the Bread of Life. We eat and receive blessing that his body won for us on the cross—forgiveness! We reach out our hands again and take a little plastic cup filled with wine. It looks like wine. It smells like wine. We drink it, and it warms our throats. We hear Jesus’ words: “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28). We drink, and our soul no longer thirsts, because we have received the blessing for which Jesus poured out his blood on the cross—the forgiveness of sins.
There’s more. Jesus has an even greater banquet waiting for us in heaven. Isaiah wrote, "On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken (Isaiah 25:6-8).
Did you hear the Bread of Life in this verse? After the LORD made his promises, he said, “The LORD has spoken.” Our worship time, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the personal time we spend in God’s Word are only a foretaste of the joys waiting for us in heaven.
What is the church? It’s a body nourished by Christ. He nourishes us with his Word and Sacrament. He gives us the Bread of Life to sustain us here on earth, and forever in heaven. Amen.