Sermon Tone Analysis

you are what you eat

Dietitians and medical profesionals have used that phrase for years to discuss the impact of certain foods on our physical health.

the earliest version of the phrase was coined by a French lawyer named “Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante”

”Tell me.

What you eat and I’ll tell you what you are”

That phrase began to be popularized in english in the 1930s by Victor Lindhar, a man who had developed a Catabolic diet.

I think many of us recognize that foods affect us differently.

It seems that certain body types don’t do well with certain foods.

Now, I bring this up today not to try to get us on a church-wide diet, though I know I could benefit from that, but to correlate our spiritual lives with spiritual food.

Spiritually speaking, we are what we eat.

In the passage that we are considering today, Jesus is calling us to feast on true spiritual food.

We’ve already read part of the passage, but let’s begin by observing that…

Separation from Jesus reveals our need for him (6:16-21)

So, if you remember from our discussion last week, Jesus had been with a crowd of over 5000 people and had fed them with just five loaves of bread and two fish.

When the people realized who he was - the fulfillment of a prophecy- they wanted to make Him king.

As a result, Jesus withdrew from them to a nearby mountain.

He was not going to allow the plan marked out for him to be usurped by their political aspirations.

When he went on the mountain, he dismissed the crowd (according to Matthew and Mark) and sent his disciples to the boat.

It’s unclear if the disciples knew where they would be meeting up with Jesus.

My guess is he just sent them away.

Away from the crowd - to avoid their influence.

Away from him - assuming he had gone to the mountain to pray (according to Matthew).

Now, the sea of Galilee was about 600 feet below sea level.

It is a rather shallow sea - and was largely surrounded by mountains.

Because of the depth of the water and the mountainous surroundings, the sea was prone to sudden storms - which some of the guys would have been familiar with.

It seems this particular storm was challenging for them.

They were not making any headway - at least until Jesus came along.

But I think there is a potential lesson for us here.

It’s not hard for us to recognize that we are physically separated from Jesus - he ascended and is seated at the right hand of God.

We will learn later in our study of John that the Holy Spirit dwells within us, but we are physically separated fromJesus.

The disciples were physically separated from Jesus in the passage we are considering.

And yet I wonder if their physical separation might parallel our own spiritual separation?

How often do we walk through the storms of life and assume that we can handle them on our own - all the while failing to realize that he is there, he is in the midst of the storm with us, he has power to help in our time of need!

He is fully aware of our turmoil and our needs.

Are we aware?

Are we calling to Him for help?

Are we reaching out in our time of need?

Robert Hawker, a Puritan preacher, once prayed...

So when my poor heart is afflicted, when Satan storms, or the world frowns, and when I suffer sickness, or when all your waves and storms seem to go over me, what a relief it is to know that you, Jesus, see me.

And that you care!

So help me, Lord, to look to you, and to remember you.

And oh!

That blessed Scripture: “In all the reflection he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them.

In his love and his pity he redeemed them; he bore them and carry them all the days of old.”

Amen.

(Ellis, 71)

So Jesus and his disciples end up on another shore of Galilee, near the town of Capernaum.

As we read earlier, we got to see that the people who had received the food from him came to Capernaum to search for Jesus.

As a result, Jesus engages them in a conversation.

Through this conversation we get to see how...

Jesus exposes our motivation for searching and addresses the true spiritual need (6:22-40)

Just as Jesus did in his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 and the woman at the well in John 4, so too, Jesus here cuts to the core of their concern.

You see, they wanted...

Worldly satisfaction - earthly food (22-34)

Imagine how much easier life would be if you didn’t have to work for your food.

Wouldn’t it be great to just follow Jesus and be filled!?

But He urges them not to seek for the things that expire.

Don Carson notes

The Gospel according to John (b.

The True Manna (6:27–34))

His point was not that they should attempt some novel form of work, but that merely material notions of blessing are not worth pursuing.

They begin to pick up what Jesus is putting down; to which they respond:

Then Jesus gives them this call to faith:

So they seem to be interested enough to pursue Jesus a bit further, but notice what kind of work Jesus was talking about.

Jesus said that the “work of God” is to “believe.”

When it comes to the work of belief, where are you?

What do you believe about Jesus?

Is he savior and lord or just a good teacher and miracle worker?

So from there, they ask for some sort of sign confirming what Jesus was saying - as if feeding 5000 people - was not enough.

They claimed that Moses gave their forefathers manna or bread in the wilderness during the Exodus.

So Jesus takes their mosaic sign and turns it.

Notice that Jesus began by saying “Truly, truly” - he is emphatic.

Carson again notes:

Jesus is persuaded that far too much attention has been lavished on Moses, and far too little on God himself, the ultimate supplier of the bread from heaven.

It’s not Moses who brought the Manna.

It was God.

Moses is dead, God is not.

Jesus has been calling them to look beyond the temporary to the eternal.

No matter what we eat, no matter how much we eat, we will eventually be hungry again.

It’s as though they wanted to go from blessing to blessing - good feeling to good feeling - as though their spiritual journey was a series of spiritual highs.

I’ve been in those places and have experienced services and events where it was emotionally and spiritually ecstatic.

I’d get goosebumps as the music roared and voices soared.

I’d be encouraged by a speaker who’d seem like he’s speaking right to me.

I’d leave that place wanting more and more.

Only to find that my spiritual emotional high was unsustainable.

I’d return home from that retreat or conference or missions trip and feel let down on the emotion of it all.

Have you noticed that in our society?

It seems we are working toward good feelings or the latest and greatest gadget, car, house....thinking that it will provide hope and meaning - only to find that we need the next thing and the next.

Some of the richest people in world have been asked “how much is enough?” - to which they replied - “just a little bit more.”

Worldly satisfaction will please us for a while, but eventually it will fail.

The people talking to Jesus eventually get the point - because they respond:

So, rather than working for or hoping for temporary satisfaction, Jesus urges them to look for...

Eternal satisfaction in the bread of life (35-40)

Jesus makes it plain:

In many ways, this sounds a bit like Jesus conversation with the woman at the well in John 4.

His message is consistent - the bread and water of this world will not provide eternal satisfaction.

Instead - he is the source -

He is the living water,

He is the bread of life.

Consider discussing junk food verses healthy food.