Sidney UMC - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost - 08/26/18 - Sermon - “How can we be broken bread and poured out wine?" ("I am the bread of life" Series) - (Part 4 of 4)

Sunday 08/26/18 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “How can we be broken bread and poured out wine?”

                                (“I am the bread of life” Series – Part 4 of 4)

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 84

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: John 6:56-69

          Welcome again on this our Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. It is my prayer that like the day of Pentecost, nearly two-thousand years ago, that the Holy Spirit may blow through this place and through us in a new and a powerful way.

          This morning, I am concluding my four week sermon series called the “I am the bread of life” series. All throughout the month of August we have had readings from the Gospel of John where Jesus said of himself, that he is “the bread of life,” or “the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn. 6:35, 51, NRSV).

          Of course, as I have said, Jesus wasn’t or isn’t saying that he is literal bread that feeds our stomachs, but rather that he is the “Eternal Bread” that feeds our hearts and our souls. Jesus again in John 6:35 said:

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (Jn. 6:35, NRSV).

          Jesus is saying therefore, that you can fill your stomachs, you can have every possession, you can have power, you can have prestige, and etc., but that only he can fill that God shaped hole that we all have inside of us.

          Jesus takes his metaphor of him being “The Bread of Life” even further when he gives us the sacrament of Holy Communion of the Lord’s Supper. In giving the disciples and us the gift of Holy Communion at the Last Supper nearly two-thousand years ago, Jesus was showing us that not only is he the bread that can fill our hearts and our souls, but that he was “Broken for us”.

          The very bread and cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper symbolized not only that he is the “Eternal Bread,” but that would be, and was, broken for us and our sins on the cross. Jesus then is the “Eternal Bread” for our souls, and was “Broken for us”.

          Last Sunday, I preached on how Christ has called us to “be broken bread and poured out wine” for the world. Like breaking bread or even a cookie, we symbolically break and give of ourselves, so that people might know Christ and might be served. We are called to live sacrificially, to love boldly, and we are “called to be broken bread and poured out wine,” for Sidney and for the world.

           In finishing this sermon series this morning however, I want to elaborate on just how we are “called to be broken bread and poured out wine”. Last Sunday, I talked about how we can do this in a very general way. I even read a story about how Christians in two-hundred’s nursed people sick with the plague back to health.

          Yet what are some very specific ways that we ourselves can do this in Sidney and in the world each and every day? Here are a couple specific examples of this:

          Since I have been in Sidney for a whopping two-months now, I have often many days seen this blue car right outside of the church. The driver of this car Carol Hubbard is here sometimes 3-4 days a week. She brings left over bread and pastries from the Great American, and by the way she always gives me a donut. Even when Carol isn’t feel well, she still gets that food, shops, fills her car, and does so much for our Food Bank. She doesn’t do this for accolades, she doesn’t do this for awards, but rather she does this to serve her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Week in and week out, serving, bringing food, helping, and being “broken bread and poured out wine” to Sidney. Carol, thank you for inspiring me, the people of this church, and the whole community by showing us “how to be broken bread and poured out wine” to Sidney and the world. I also told Carol that if I knew that she donuts I would have been here five years ago. Is God calling you to help feed those in need?

          Here is another example:

From what I understand, for twenty-years or better, Mary Braun has lead the charge for our “Share the Bounty” dinners. As many of us know all too well, these dinners occur the last Thursday of every month, and over the years these dinners have fed thousands and thousands of people right here in Sidney. Mary, through “Share the Bounty” has inspired me, has inspired this church, and has inspired Sidney. This is how we “can be broken bread and poured out wine”. Any of you feel called to help with “Share the Bounty,” or feel called to do something like this?

          These are but two stories in many of the heroes of faith in this church, as there are many others that are being “broken bread and poured out wine” to Sindey and the world. Friends, what is God calling you to do? To start a program? Do a mission trip? Have a dinner? A prayer meeting? Give Pastor Paul a donut? I am praying for you, that God may continue to reveal to you how you can better serve Sidney and the world. Know that as your pastor that I want you to pursue those things that God has called you to, so that we might all better “make disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world”.

          Now I am not saying that all of us need to do something on an epic scale, but if Jesus is the Lord and Savior of the world. If he died on a cross for our sins, if he rose again, if his words and the Bible are true, then how can we then better live like Jesus Christ? I am here to empower and help all of you to do those things that God has called you to do.

          In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s epistle or letter to the Ephesians, Paul encourages us to be “strong in the Lord,” and put on the “whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:10-20, NRSV). If we do this, can God call us to do things that we can’t even imagine? Of course. For what is impossible for God?

          In looking at our gospel of John reading for today, it says once again:

“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum” (Jn. 6:56-59, NRSV)

          The bread of life, come down from heaven, our “Eternal Bread,” “Broken for us”, that we might be “broken bread and poured out wine” for Sidney and the world.

          The gospel then says once again:

^“When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father” (Jn. 6:60-65, NRSV).

          The gospel then ends once again by saying:

“Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn. 6:66-69, NRSV).

          So if this is our Lord and Savior, our broken bread, what is God calling us to do, specifically for Him and for each other?

          Well here is a list of some of things that Christians and the church has accomplished in the last two-thousand years. We have as Christians and as church created:

• Hospitals, which essentially began during the Middle Ages.
• Universities, which also began during the Middle Ages. In addition, most of the world’s greatest universities were started for Christian purposes.
• Literacy and education for the masses.
• Establishment of public libraries.
• Capitalism and free enterprise.
• Representative government.
• The separation of political powers.
• Civil liberties.
• The abolition of slavery, both in antiquity and in more modern times.
• Modern science.
• The elevation of women.
• Benevolence and charity; the Good Samaritan ethic.
• Higher standards of justice.
• The elevation of common man.
• High regard for human life.
• The codifying and setting to writing of many of the world’s languages.
• Greater development of art and music. The inspiration for the greatest works of art.
• Set “age of consent” to protect minors.
• Children’s rights and protection.
• Care of the aged.
• Care for mothers and babies.
• Hospices and care for the dying.
• Services and care for the ill in poor countries
• Human rights activism.
• Encouragement of philanthropy.
• Pioneered modern Social Work.
• Braille reading system for the blind
• Disaster relief, homelessness services, charity shops
• The concept of universal human rights and equality comes exclusively from the biblical idea that all people are created in the image of God.
• The eternal salvation of countless souls.

(https://poweringon.com/peeves/good-things-christianity-has-done/)

          We are the church, and this is what we do! This is what we have always done for the past two-thousand years.

So my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I am being very specific to end this sermon, by asking how has our Lord and Savior specifically called you and called me to be “broken bread and poured out wine” to Sidney and the world. Imagine what we could do individually and together through God, His Son our Savior, and with the power of the Holy Spirit? With faith, hope, and love, God can us to do amazing things. Is God calling you to do something new or different? Let me know, because as your pastor I am ready! Amen.