Sunday 08/01/21 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Feed People and Feed People!”
(“Feeding the Body and the Soul” - Series: Part 1 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 51:1-12
New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-16
Gospel Lesson: John 6:24-35
This morning in our gospel of John
reading that I just read, it says once again in John 6:26-27:
“26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:-26-27, NRSV)
Jesus is saying in this scripture that
people not only need physical food, but also spiritual food. For example, Jesus
says in the gospel of Matthew 25:35-40:
35 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, 36 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.’ 37 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? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 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).
So, what are we supposed to do then friends? Are we to be
focused on feeding bodies or feeding souls? The biblical answer is both. For
these reasons, and because of our Gospel of John readings for the next five
weeks, I will be preaching a sermon series called “Feeding the Body and the
Soul”. In this sermon series, I will talk about the Christian call to feed
people physically, but also the call from Christ to be feed spiritually. I am
proud to pastor a church that takes both physical and spiritual food seriously.
This is why my first part of this sermon series is called “Feed
People and Feed People”! You know, I have been to churches where it seemed
clear from the pastor and the church that the only focus was spiritually
feeding people. Don’t get me wrong, the primary mission of the Christian Church
is to bring people into relationship with Jesus Christ. Yet, there is more in
addition to bringing people to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why
our Sidney UMC mission statement is:
“Is to bring people into relationship with Jesus Christ, and equip them to transform the world”.
We want all people to repent
of there sins, come to Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, be filled by the Holy Spirit,
and be transformed. Beyond this primary and central mission of our church, the
rest of our mission here at Sidney UMC is:
“and equip them to transform the world”.
This
mission statement is the mission statement of the United Methodist Church, with
some modifications. Some of this transformation as I just stated though, is
Christ working in me and you so that we can serve and love others in new and
amazing ways. This transformation has led to this church housing the largest foodbank
in Delaware County, hosting Share the Bounty dinners for years, Sauce and Cross
dinners, and etc. If someone comes to this church hungry, we will get them something
to eat, something to drink, etc., but the church of Jesus Christ is called to “Feed
People and Feed People!”. Well, what do I mean by this once again? We are called
to help take care of people’s physical needs, while addressing their spiritual
needs.
Of
all the Wesleyan of Methodist traditions of Christianity, I have to say that in
my opinion the denomination that does this the best is the Salvation Army. They
preach the full life saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and people’s physical needs
are also met. The gospel, the bible calls us to do both. We are to “Feed People
and Feed People”. Our hope should be that in the process of caring for people’s
physical needs, that they see the great love and the hope that we have in Jesus
Christ. Not only will their bodies be feed, but so will their souls. We are
called to “Feed People and Feed People!”
While I have seen
churches that only seemed focused on bringing people to Christ and not caring
for their physical needs, I have also seen churches that seemed only concerned
with people’s physical needs, and not bringing them to Christ. Yet we are
called to do both. We are called to “Feed People and Feed People!”
Some
people might say though that what Jesus said this morning in John 6:26-27 was
harsh. You see, Jesus had just performed the miracle of the feeding of the five
thousand with five loaves of bread, and two fish. This miracle was about much
more than just the physical food though. Jesus wanted these people to believe in
him, and to live for him. Where the rub comes in is when some of the people
that Jesus feed catch up with him on the other side of the sea. Once again, as
I read, as it says in the top of the inside of our bulletin for this morning,
Jesus says in 6:26-27:
“26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:-26-27, NRSV)
Some might say, “Well jeez Pastor
Paul, that is harsh. Doesn’t Jesus want to give them more physical food for their
bodies?” Everything Jesus did on this earth, was so that people would have
faith in God through him. It’s not that Jesus did not want to love, heal, feed,
and forgive, for this was and is who Jesus is. Yet Jesus’ primary mission on
earth was die for our sins on the cross and have us follow him as our savior
and Lord. The problem in John 6:26-27 then isn’t that Jesus feed people
physically. Instead, the problem was that the people didn’t seem to care about
who Jesus was spiritually. Let me say this again, the problem in John 6:26-27
then isn’t that Jesus feed people physically. Instead, the problem was that the
people didn’t seem to care about who Jesus was spiritually. So many churches
are good at feeding people’s physical needs, yet are we allowing God to use us to
lead people to Christ?
Jesus is saying then that it is about
more than just the food from the foodbank. It is about more than just a free
community dinner or a dinner and worship. The physical food is important, but
the real food, the spiritual food, is Jesus Christ.
In fact, Jesus ends this gospel of John
reading for this morning, once again, with one of his “I Am” statements, which
we will hear again next Sunday, as well. Jesus says in John 6:35 once again:
35 Jesus said to them, “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).
The
primary mission of the church is to bring people into relationship with Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. Someone might say, “So you don’t care that there are
hungry people Pastor Paul?”. No, I care a lot, but as much as I care about
people’s physical bodies, I also care about people’s eternal bodies and their
enteral life. We are called to “Feed People and Feed People!”
In
our reading this morning from Ephesians 4:1-16, hear about the various gifts and
callings that people have. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4:11-13:
11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. (Eph. 4:11-13, NRSV).
God gives all of us different gifts and graces so that we
might “Feed
People and Feed People”! In doing this, God will use us to lead people to the
head of the church, Jesus Christ. God will also use us in various ways to
transform Sidney and world.
Part
of my role as a pastor is not only bringing people to faith in Christ through
God, but also to help those people to discover or strengthen their gifts and
graces. I don’t want everyone here to do what I think you should do. I want
everyone hear to be unleashed in the ministries that God has called you to, so
that we might fulfill the mission of this church, which is:
“Is to bring people into relationship with Jesus Christ, and equip them to transform the world”.
How do we do this as Sidney UMC? We do this by what our
church vision is:
1. Love God
2. Serve Others
3. Transform the World
Through doing this, God
will bring people to Christ, we will find or further develop our gifts and
graces, and we will serve others and pursue the ministries that God has called
us to. We will do all this to transform Sidney and the world.
Since
I have the privilege of having my father Ken and my stepmother Jan from
Illinois with us today, I want to tell a story about my father. As you might
have heard me say, my late Grandpa Winkelman grew up during the Great
Depression. As a result, my grandma and grandma, and my father and stepmother
have pantries. Maybe it’s more of a mid-west thing, but you stock up on food
and store it in a room. You can, you jar, etc., because if you grew up in the
great depression like my Grandpa Winkelman did, you know what it is like to not
have a lot of money.
For a number
of years, the Winkelman men and other family would take annual summer fishing
trips. Sometimes Grandpa Winkelman would cook a meal. It was not uncommon for Grandma
Winkelman to make a ten-pound bag of potatoes and expect that we eat it all in
one meal. If we didn’t though, it would come back for lunch, for dinner, and so
on and so forth. My grandpa and grandma never wasted food. To this day, I hate
throwing out or wasting food. Anyone else feel the same way?
I
remember when I was a kid eating dinner at my dad and stepmother’s table. Here
was the deal at that table, you could put as much food on your plate as you
wanted. Yet, the deal was also that we must finish everything on our plates
before we were excused from dinner. A couple of times when I was kid, I thought
this clear your plate thing was a bluff. After a few minutes or several hours
at the dinner table however, I learned that I was going to finish the food I
put on my plate.
In
the process of learning the value and the blessing of physical food, I also received
spiritual food. The lessons I learned and the things that I was taught were
more than just the food I was physically eating. We all did and do need to eat
physical food, but families, and church families can also share spiritual food.
That spiritual food is Jesus Christ. I learned about physical food growing up,
but I was also offered spiritual food.
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