2004-08-01 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

Here we find Jesus about to leave many of these 'so-called' disciples behind, and shift into a higher gear concerning the Bread of Life.

He spotted the weakness in this bunch right away. They followed Him around because of the miracles they saw Him do. They sought after and paid closer attention to the supernatural works of Jesus than to His simple teaching, and it was crippling their understanding of His words. The signs should have pointed them to Jesus, not to more signs. He fed thousands of them in the desert with only five loaves of barley bread and two small fishes, and when they caught up with Him across the lake the very next day, the first thing they wanted to know was, "How did you get here?" He already knew their weakness, so He knew if He told them that He'd made half the journey by walking on the water, it would only add fuel to their flesh, which was burning with desire for more food and entertainment.

He made Himself of no reputation. He didn't call attention to the miracles. He took upon Him the form of a servant, but His primary mission was not to serve by performing miracles, by serving dinner by the lake. His primary mission was to become the meat in the pages of this Book we devour, to fill us with His Holy Spirit, to impart life through His death for all who will believe.

John 6:48-50

48. I am that bread of life.
49. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

I think these verses mark the transition, of Jesus about to shift into a higher gear of teaching. I believe Jesus was looking way past the crowd gathered before Him that day, and that He saw all the way down through the ages to this very day. I believe He was looking forward in time and speaking these words to you, sitting right where you are. He knows your weakness. He knows my weakness. To Him we're an open book. I have a tendency to think that my life is long, and I don't think much about the fact that it could end this very day, so I have an unfortunate tendency to put off the spiritual things of life. I convince myself that I can do those things when I'm older, but days turn into weeks, weeks become years, and I just keep feeding the desire for more food and entertainment, for the desires of the flesh. All the while, Jesus patiently waits, and I've missed out on what He had planned for me. He has the book of my life open. He sees all the way from page one to the very end, and here I am, somewhere in the pages between, trying to be the author of my own life story. He's not going to pry the pen from my hand. I have to hand it over to Him.