Andrew Fountain - A deeper look at the strange words: 'Eat my flesh and drink my blood'

Link to Video: 
A deeper look at the strange words: 'Eat my flesh and drink my blood'
  • These strange sounding words can be, for your, a deep source of life.

    download

Sermon Outline - A deeper look at the strange words: ‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood’

Video cover image from Pexels Free Photo by Andrew

View or download the handout of the story here.

John 6:25–71 – Eat my flesh and drink my blood

  1. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. 27Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life—the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.”
  2. So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?” 29Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.” 30So they said to him, “Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
  3. Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”

 

  1. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.
    The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.
  2. But I told you that you have seen me and still do not believe.
  3. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.
  4. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 39Now this is the will of the one who sent me—that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
  5. Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,”
  6. and they said, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
  7. Jesus replied, “Do not complain about me to one another.
  8. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
  9. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me.
  10. (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God—he has seen the Father.)
  11. I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life.
  12. I am the bread of life.
  13. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
  14. This is the bread that has come down from heaven,
    so that a person may eat from it and not die.
  15. I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
    If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever.
    The bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.”
  16. Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus began to argue with one another,
    “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
  17. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth,
    unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.
  18. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
    and I will raise him up on the last day.
  19. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
  20. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.
  21. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father,
so the person who eats me will live because of me.
  1. This is the bread that came down from heaven;
it is not like the bread your ancestors ate, but then later died.
The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

 

  1. Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, said, “This is a difficult saying! Who can understand it?” 61When Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining about this, he said to them, “Does this cause you to be offended? 62Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before?
  2. The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
  3. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65So Jesus added, “Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come.”

 

  1. After this many of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer. 67So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”
  2. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!”
  3. Jesus replied, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the devil?” 71(Now he said this about Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for Judas, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.)

NET

Goal:

  • To grasp what Jesus really means when he says
    ‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood’”
    and how these strange sounding words can be, for your, a deep source of life.

Overview

  1. Very brief recap of the story so far
  2. A careful reading of John 6
  3. How can we eat Jesus’ flesh and drink his blood?
  4. A Challenge to Feed on Jesus

1. Jesus relationship with the Father a pattern for us

John 6

  • Jesus said that people had to eat his flesh and drink his blood!
  • -This is a difficult passage
  • -But it’s not just difficult—it’s important
  • What on earth is he talking about? -—to some extent, but wine is not mentioned
  • -A key to understand is
  • v.57: “Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.”

Key: John 4:32–34

  1. But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
  2. So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one brought him anything to eat, did they?”
  3. Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.”

John 6: Jesus relationship with the Father a pattern for us

  1. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father,
    so the person who eats me will live because of me.

Pattern of relationship

Pattern of relationship

Image source: amf

Summary: How Jesus relates to his Father

  • Jesus lived every moment and breathed every breath to obey the will of the Father.
  • To do the Father’s will was his drink, his meat. It was everything to him.
  • He did not do anything in his own strength but did everything by the power that flowed from the Father.
  • He is calling us to relate to him in the same way
  • This might seem like death, but actually it is the way to life

Battleship

Battleship

Image source: link

I want to spend some time now looking at the image of eating...

Light from the Old Testament

  • The word blood is used frequently in the Bible to mean violent death. - 2 Sam 3:28 “Afterward, when David heard it, he said, “My kingdom and I are guiltless before the LORD forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.” and Psalm 30:9: “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? will the dust praise You?” There are many places where we read of someone having a man’s blood on their head. It means they are guilty of the death of that man. When the Bible refers to blood being poured out or being spilt, or blood anytime outside of the body, it is usually a graphic metaphor for violent death. Two very relevant stories:
  1. “When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.” -Ps 27:2
  2. David was on the run from Saul, he remarked how much he would love a drink from the well of Bethlehem… -he was fighting the Philistines at the time who had captured the town of Bethlehem
    • “Far be it from me, O my God, that I should do this!
      Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.”       -1 Chron 11:19
  • Summary: -That phrase really sums up what Jesus is talking about here.Enjoying the benefits which come at the expense of his life

Food = survival

Food = survival

Image source: link

Jesus is teaching us that

  • We need to depend on him utterly,
    moment by moment,
    in order to survive

Our Food and Drink

Our Food and Drink

Image source: link

Four Parallels

  • “Eating and drinking Christ”
  • Is there anything else that does?
  • Trusting/Believing Christ -So whatever he means by eating and drinking, it is the same kind of thing as believing because both of them lead to everlasting life.
    I am trying to build up a picture here of the images that are used to mean the same thing as eating and drinking.
  • Coming to Christ -Here, believing and coming are used in a parallel fashion. Their meanings are not identical, but the comparison sheds light on how we should understand each individual image.
  • obeying Christ’s words and abiding in them.
  • Four things that result in everlasting life

Parallel images

Parallel images

Image source: amf

Pioneer

Pioneer

Image source: amf

John 6 Feeding on Jesus

  1. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth,
    unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.
  2. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
  3. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
  4. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.

Updated on 2019-12-01 by Andrew Fountain