Sunday
08/19/18 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Called to be broken bread and poured out
wine”
(“I am the bread of life” Series – Part 3
of 4)
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 111
New Testament
Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-20
Gospel Lesson: John
6:51-58
Welcome again on this our Thirteenth Sunday after
Pentecost. Thirteen Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved, and the Christian
Church was born nearly two-thousand years ago. I pray my brothers and sisters
that the Holy Spirit may move here in Sidney and throughout the world, bringing
forth revival and renewal.
I am continuing this morning with my “I am the bread of
life” sermon series. I haven’t checked with Price Chopper or the Great American
here in Sidney in the past two weeks, but my guess is, is that maybe they have
been selling more bread the last couple of weeks. Maybe some of you came into
the store and bought a whole bunch bread, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the
bread of life! Who knows!
As I have said the past two Sunday, for the entire month of
August, we have readings from the gospel of John where Jesus refers to himself
as “the bread of life,” or “the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn.
6:35, 51, NRSV).
The questions I have posed about these statements are:
1.
Did
Jesus say this and other statements?
2.
If
Jesus said these statements, what do they mean?
3.
Are
these statements still fully authoritative for our lives today?
I
believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that Jesus said every
statement attributed to him in every gospel. If Jesus said then that he is “the
bread of life,” and if he spoke to us the way that God spoke to Moses in the
burning bush in Book of Exodus, then who is this Jesus (Jn. 6:35, NRSV, Ex.
3:14, NRSV)?
I believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, and I believe
that he died for us and that he lives and reigns. We can have a personal
relationship with him. We can invite him into our hearts, and through him be
forgiven of our sins, and live with him in eternity forever.
When Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” I take him at
his word (Jn. 6:35, NRSV).
In the first week of this sermon series I talked about how
Jesus is “The Eternal Bread”. Jesus told us on the first week of this sermon
series that:
“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).
So, if Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, which I
think he is, and if he said this, which I think he did, he is saying that only
through him can we be made spiritually whole. This means that I believe that
nothing can so transform us and so fill our hearts and souls like Jesus Christ
and his gospel. I believe that Jesus Christ, our “Eternal Bread” can offer us
freedom, joy, hope, and peace, like nothing else in this life.
Last Sunday, I talked about how Jesus, “the bread of life,”
was literally broken for us on the cross. I talked about how Jesus’ body was
literally harmed and broken, and how his blood was spilled for us. I talked
about how the night before Jesus’ trial and crucifixion that Jesus had the Last
Supper. At this supper, as many of us know, Jesus instituted Holy Communion, by
taking bread and breaking it, and then by taking the cup of wine and comparing
it to the blood that he would shed. This savior of ours, not only proclaims to
us that he is “the bread of life,” but then he show us with actual bread and
wine what will happen to his body. He then tells us to celebrate Holy Communion
or the Lord’s Supper “In Remembrance of ME”. Jesus is then, “The Eternal Bread”
from heaven that fills our hearts and souls, who was literally broken and
poured out for us.
The question that I have for us to consider this morning then,
on this the third Sunday of this “I am living bread” series is, what do we do
with all this? If Jesus is our savior, if he died for us, and he gave us the
sacrament of Holy Communion to remember him and connect to him, what should we
do with all of this? Should we simply just worship more fully and passionately
on Sunday morning? Should we have more enthusiasm in church?
All of these are good of course, but what we should do not
only in the church, but in Sidney and in the world, with this gift of Jesus
Christ and his gospel? Another way to ask this question, is how are we supposed
to live out fully the love Jesus Christ and his gospel?
What I am driving at this morning then is this, is that our
faith in “the bread of life,” Jesus Christ is more than just a mere
transaction. This is to say, we don’t just repent of our sins, believe in
Jesus, and then do nothing. Jesus has instead called us to be “broken bread and
poured out wine” for Sidney and the world. Does this mean that we are called to
be literally crucified and harmed like Jesus was? No, but it means that were
are supposed to live sacrificially as he did.
When a soldier is awarded a metal for bravery, when a
police officer risks there life to save someone, when a firefighter nearly dies
in a fire pulling a child to safety, they are living as “broken bread and
poured out wine”. Are we living like this?
In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s epistle or letter to
the Ephesians for this morning, Paul tells us:
“Be careful then how you live, not as
unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are
evil. So do not
be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with
wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to
the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for
everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:15-20, NRSV).
Paul tells us
that this time that we have on this earth is short. In fact, some of people
that I have talked to in this church can’t believe how fast the summer has
flown by. Some cannot believe how the years of our lives have flown by.
My grandma
said once that “life is like a roll of toilet paper. It gets smaller and goes
quicker”. This life then is fleeting, brief, and these bodies that we have will
wither and decay. The only thing that is eternal is God and His kingdom.
Hundreds of years from now, maybe no one will ever know that we lived here on
this earth, but we will be alive for eternity with Jesus Christ.
I know that I
have had days or times in my life that I have wasted. I have frittered time
away worrying, or maybe in the past having a day where I thought that “the
world was going to heck in a hand basket,” yet I cannot get that time on earth
back. For it is “like a roll of toilet paper, it gets smaller and goes quicker”.
Imagine then
my sisters and brothers if we lived even more the way Jesus called us to live.
Are we living as “broken bread and poured out wine” to the world?
When I was on a mission trip to the country of
Nicaragua last March, I saw a gospel of Matthew scripture on every building of the
mission agency that we were working for. This scripture, Matthew 25:35-40 says:
“for I was hungry and you gave me
food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and
you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took
care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer
him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty
and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and
welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you
sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I
tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my
family, you did it to me’ (Mt. 25:35-40, NRSV).
If we know “The
Eternal Bread” that is Jesus Christ, if we understand that he was “broken for
us,” then I believe that we can then better “be broken bread and poured out
wine” for a broken world. As a church, we feed and help people, not just
because it is a nice thing to do, but hopefully because we have been
transformed by the hope and the love of Jesus Christ. As a result of this
transformation, we go forth living as “broken bread and poured out wine” for
Sidney and world.
Or as St.
Catherine of Sienna said:
“If you are what you should be, you
will set the whole world ablaze!” (https://www.romancatholicman.com/70-saints-quotes-to-elevate-your-game/)
Or as the founder of the Methodist
Movement, Rev. John Wesley said:
“Light yourself on fire with passion and people
will come from miles to watch you burn” (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/626960-light-yourself-on-fire-with-passion-and-people-will-come).
You see, we live a world that is so broken and it
need hope, and I believe that the hope of world is in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. When live as “broken bread and poured out wine” in will not only transform
Sidney, but the world.
So how can we do this?
Well I am starting Bible studies, and probably other ministries to grow and
equip others. How has God called you to “be broken bread and poured out wine”?
What ministry, what role is God continuing to call you to, either inside of
this church or in the world? Part of my role as the pastor, is help train and
equip each and every one of you, to “be broken bread and poured out wine” for Sidney
the world.
Let’s look again at our
gospel of John reading for this morning about Jesus Christ, “the bread of life”.
Again it says:
“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.”
“The Jews then
disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh
and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;
for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 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”
(Jn. 6:51-58, NRSV).
Jesus tells us that in
him we can have peace, hope, joy, love, and eternal life. May we live this. May
we live then as “broken bread and poured out wine,” the way Jesus lived and
loved a broken world.
I
would like to share something with you, about being “called to be broken bread
and poured out wine”. This is called, “The Power of Love and the Rise of
Christianity”. The source of this excerpt is taken from, “Historical data
derived from Henry Chadwick, The Pelican History of The
Early Church and Rodney Stark, the Triumph of Christianity”. This is what it
says:
‘Many
historians believe that central to the rise of Christianity was the simple fact
that Christians generously loved each other and their neighbours. They point
out that in the ancient world mercy was widely seen as a character defect that
ran counter to justice. Justice demanded people get what they deserved and was
seen as appropriate, where mercy extended grace, love, and kindness to people
who had done nothing to deserve it. Yet the Christians valued mercy. Christian
communities became places where people tended to live longer and healthier
lives, for when they suffered sickness, poverty or mishap they had brothers and
sisters in Christ who provided for their need. And Christians extended love way
beyond the boundaries of family and congregation to their pagan neighbours”.
“In 251 A.D. for
example, a great plague struck the Greco-Roman world. Memories were revived of
a plague a century earlier in which more than a third of the population died.
Fear was everywhere. Those who could afford it fled to the countryside. Those
who could not remained in the cities. When they went to the temples they found
them empty, the priests having fled. The streets were filled with those who had
become infected, their families left with no option but to push them out the
door. Christian communities however took an entirely different approach. They
saw it as their responsibility to love the sick and dying, so they took them
into their homes and nursed them. This action meant that many people recovered
who otherwise would have died. Historians suggest that elementary nursing could
have reduced the mortality rate by as much as two thirds, but it also cost a
number of Christian caregivers their lives”.
In The Early Church, Henry Chadwick comments:
The
practical application of charity was probably the most potent single cause of
Christian success. The pagan comment ‘see how these Christians love one
another’ (reported by Tertullian) was not irony. Christian charity expressed
itself in care for the poor, for widows and orphans, in visits to brethren in
prison or condemned to the living death of labour in the mines, and social
action in time of calamity like famine, earthquake, pestilence, or war.
So striking was the Christian commitment to generous
love that when the fourth century Emperor Julian sought to restore paganism to
the Empire he instructed the pagan priesthood to follow the example of the
Christians:
Why,
then, do we think that this is enough, why do we not observe that it is their
[Christians] benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead
and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done most to increase
atheism [Julian’s word for Christianity]? I believe that we ought really and
truly to practise every one of these virtues… For it is disgraceful that, when
no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galileans support not only their own
poor but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us (http://storiesforpreaching.com/category/sermonillustrations/love-2/).
‘See
how these Christians love one another’. So my friends, my brothers and sisters,
how is Jesus Christ, “the bread of life,” calling us to “be broken bread and
poured out wine” for Sidney and the world? Know that I love you, know that I am
praying for you, and together may we be “broken bread and poured out wine,” for
Sidney and the world. Amen.
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