Settlers

Anthony W. Franklin

After Pentecost • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Are we settling for something less than God has for us?

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Scripture: John 6:41-51

John 6:41–51 (NRSV)

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Old Settlers’ Days

Most communities have some kind of celebration during the year when they lift up the values and heritage of their community through parades, carnivals, and lots of outdoor food and fun. Often, during this time of year, you can go from county to county, and follow the festivities of Apple Days, Ham Days, Pumpkin festivals, and many others.

The town I grew up in celebrated Old Settler's Days. An outsider would not have any idea what it was about, but for kids it was one of the most exciting times of the year. There was a parade down Main Street where people threw candy to the crowds. We would have food and ice cream stands set up with all the junk food you could imagine. They set up carnival rides next to the courthouse downtown and the churches would come together for a community-wide outdoor service on a stage they set up next to those rides. Musical groups would come in and play concerts in the evening, many of them local groups, and they would fill the city park with tables and tables of used clothes, appliances, collectables, and other hand-me-down items and auction them all off to raise money for the volunteer firefighters of our town. We saw the same items come back every year as they swapped them from house to house, raising money for the fire department. It was very exciting.

I remember in the early 90's they had a big 150th celebration of the town and they created a play to perform in honor of the founding of Toulon. I was young enough that I wasn't paying a lot of attention, but I vaguely remember one of the scenes where the Old Settlers, dressed up like the days of Little House on the Prairie, were deciding what to name the town. The mayor and the secretary were taking suggestions. Someone called out the suggestion of ""New Constantinople"", or something wild like that. Someone else said, ""No, that's too long.""

"Toulon?" the mayor said. "Sounds good to me." And that was how our town got its name.

Not really. Wikipedia says it was named after a city in Tennessee, which was named after a famous town in France.

Almost all the churches in town were started about 10 years after the city was founded. The Methodist Church started early as a house church for 20 years. Their first building was a frame building that cost $2,000. They moved a block south 40 years later and built another building. The historical records say, "The building which cost $7,000 was dedicated Dec. 13, 1885. The architecture of the new church was traditional with a high spire and high backed, straight pews, some of which were cushioned by families who sat in them every Sunday. Mrs. Stewart had a special chair below and beside the pulpit where she sat in dignity with her ear trumpet."" They rebuilt once more in 1921 and managed to pay off the building in the midst of the Great Depression.

While they had finally settled in a place that they would remain for the next 100 years, God was not finished with them. That church in a very small town, with limited resources, raised up disciples that they sent out to transform communities all across the nation and the world. I stand here today because of the people of that church who invested their time, money, prayers, and teaching into me, to make me a disciples of Jesus. They had settled in one place for over a century, but they were looking to God for a vision that went far beyond their walls and their city limits. God led them to and through that ministry that started off in the homes of their ancestors.

Thesis: Are we settling for something less than God has for us?

If the Shoe Doesn’t fit

Somebody, probably a grownup, once said, "If the shoe fits, wear it."

I think it was a grownup because I remember when I was little and had trouble telling my right shoe from my left shoe. I would grab my shoes and put them on very fast, (remember the ones with those velcro straps) and take off running. After 3 or 4 steps I would realize my feet felt funny. It was hard to walk. My shoes didn't quite fit. The problem was not my shoes. The problem was that I wasn't wearing them right.

That was how the Jews felt about Jesus. They thought He didn't fit them. They thought that since He looked like a normal guy, someone they grew up with and whose parents they knew, He couldn't be the Son of God too. They thought He didn't fit the role of Messiah: Lord and Savior for them. But they did not know how to relate to a Messiah. They didn't want a Lord, and their were probably some things they did not want to be saved from yet.

Jesus explained to them that they would not feel like He "fit" them until God showed them. God had to show them that they needed Jesus, and then God would show them how to follow Jesus. Only then, when they saw their need and were beginning to follow Jesus, would they really see how much He "fit" them.

I taught my younger sister how to tie her shoes when she was little. She couldn't make any of her shoes fit by herself. She needed someone to show her how to wear them and how to tie them, and then they finally fit right and she could walk, run, jump, and play just the way God intended. When we let others teach us how to connect with Jesus, and we begin following Him, Jesus raises us up into new life. Not just after we die, but a new life that is greater than anything we can do on our own, starting today.

Taught by God

God doesn't expect us to figure that new life out on our own either. He wants to teach us how to live and help us grow better and better at it every day.

Is there anyone excited about starting school this week? Is there anyone who is a little nervous? When we go to school, we go to learn. Learning is an important part of life. If you don't learn, you can grow bigger, but you don't know how to do any more than the things you did when you were little. Learning is kinda like growing bigger on the inside. You can't see it just by looking at someone, but the more you talk to them, and watch what they do, the more you see how much they can do.

God wants to teach us so much. In fact, I think there will be Sunday School in heaven, because I don't think we have enough time on earth to learn everything we could learn about God. I bet there are Sunday School classes in heaven, and maybe God is the teacher. He wants to be our teacher today, too. That's why He sent Jesus to us, so that we could see and learn and grow and become the people God made us to be.

Living Bread

Back in the Old Testament, long before the Old Settlers, long before Jesus, there was a story about a man named Elisha who came across a poor widow who was running out of food. All she had left was a little bit of oil in a jar to help make some bread. She used her last bit of oil to feed Elisha. When she went back the next day though, there was still some left. The day after that, there was still some left. God blessed her little oil jar and it never ran out, almost as if God was refilling it secretly each night.

What if it wasn't an oil jar that never ran out, but a loaf of bread? No matter how many slices you cut off, they kept growing back until everyone was fed, and then the leftover part would grow back the next day. Maybe that was how Jesus fed the 5,000 people with just a few loaves.

When Jesus said He was the living bread, I think He was talking about bread that grows back after you eat it. God was like that living bread for Jesus. Wherever He went, Jesus always had God with Him. In fact, He told us that He did not live off bread alone, but when He got hungry, hearing from God made Him feel full and satisfied. Jesus wants to be our living bread as well. He doesn't want us to settle for a bite here or there. Jesus wants us to take Him home with us. He wants to go to work with us. He wants to go to school with us.

And here is the most exciting part! You can share Jesus, your living bread, with anyone around you. You will never run out, no matter how many people you share Him with. There will always be leftovers. Once your friends and family take Jesus, they can share Him too, and they will never run out. Everybody could have living bread, sharing it with each other, and we would always have more left over at the end. Just think of what our world would look like if everyone shared Jesus with each other.

There's only one thing that keeps us from growing to be more like Jesus and helping everyone around us do that too. Forgetfulness. Last year, I can't tell you how many times I left home without my mask, or church keys, or tried to leave home without my car keys and had to turn around and come back. It wasn't that I didn't like them, I just forgot. Peter wrote to the churches about growing in faith and he said that when we stop growing in our faith it is because we have become "nearsighted and blind, forgetting that (we) have been cleansed from (our) past sins." When we leave Jesus at church or at home, we forget we are Christians. When we leave our living bread and don't take it with us, we become hungry again, and we don't have anything to offer others.

Don't settle for just enough Jesus to meet your hunger for this moment. Take leftovers with you. Share them with others. Ask God to fill you up every day, not just once in a while. God wants more for you than you dare to dream for yourselves. Don't settle for less from yourselves and for yourselves, than all that God wants to give you.

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