ONLY JESUS OFFERS THE LIVING BREAD

We live in a lost spiritual world today. It seems that everybody wants to be a spiritual person, yet they are lost. Look around today and you will see many people seeking spirituality, but are caught on a hell-bound train. We live in a world that worships crystals, yoga, new age music, Stonehenge, nature, Wicca or witchcraft, organic foods, visualization, inner peace, Dianetics, self-help, alternative therapies, palm readers, Shirley McLaine, reincarnation, ancient Indian spirits or gods, false gods, Oprah, Mohammed, Buddha, etc, etc, etc.... We live in a world that teaches that there are many paths to heaven. Which ever path you choose, live it to the fullest and Salvation is yours. We live in a world that teaches tolerance and quickly shoots down intolerance. If you say that Christianity is the only way to heaven, then you are labeled as a fundamentalist, hypocrite, bigot, or simply a Christian Freak. To say that Christ is the only way to heaven is politically incorrect and intolerant. We live in a world where it is wrong to say that someone else is wrong. This view is called the "Post-Modern World".

Well, as a Lutheran, our faith is in Christ who saves us from our sins. The Bible does not have a problem telling us what is wrong. Jesus doesn’t have a problem telling us where we are wrong. The world today says it’s incorrect to say that homosexuality is wrong. In regards to life, the world says that it’s a woman’s choice to have a baby or an abortion. It is okay to believe whatever you want as along as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. We live in a world where it is wrong to punish your kids. We live in a world where living together is considered acceptable. We live in a world where sex before marriage and outside of marriage is the norm, and divorce is okay. The world also shows us that it is okay to break the law unless you get caught. This is the World we live in.

Now let’s take a look at the flip side. Lutherans teach that homosexuality, abortion, divorce, sex outside of marriage, and belief in someone other than Jesus Christ is wrong. To be a Lutheran today is to be politically incorrect. .... And that’s fine with me. The new testament reading from Ephesians gives us a warning!

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

The ways of the world today are not really any different from the days of Christ. We live in a fallen world. Sin has been present since Adam & Eve ate the forbidden fruit. You too, sin on a daily basis and I don’t need to make a list because you should already know many of your own sins. But what about this Post-Modern world that accepts many paths to heaven. You hear of this view from many spiritual leaders today, including Oprah. I know many love to watch Oprah, but sit back and listen to what she is actually saying regarding spiritual issues. She doesn’t single out Jesus Christ, but speaks in vague terms of God or a divine spiritual being. I’m not here to pick on Oprah, but this is the world we live in, and we see it on the TV every day. The Gospel reading teaches us something clearly different from Oprah, or any other new age spiritual leader.

Jesus teaches us that He is the Bread of Life. If you want to live, you must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Jesus is the only life which really counts. Verse 53 states:

53 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Jesus states that you have "no life in you" if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. Jesus is not talking about Buddha, or anyone else, but the Son of Man. There is no life outside of Jesus Christ. If you want to see the Father in heaven, you must eat His flesh and drink His blood. This is not a reference to the Lord’s Supper, but to faith. To "eat and drink" his "flesh and blood" is to believe in the crucified Christ with all of one’s being. It is an intimate union of man with God. To eat and drink is to have FAITH in Christ. If you want to go to heaven, you must eat and drink Christ, that is you must have faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Jesus himself states in John 14:5 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." There are not many paths, but only one path! Anyone who worships anything other than Jesus Christ, that is the Triune God, will not live in heaven. Even the Jews who are God’s "chosen people" will not have eternal life in heaven without faith in Christ.

Jesus is the only one who offers fellowship with God. There is no fellowship with God if you do not have faith in Christ. Fellowship outside of Christ is fellowship with Satan. We live in a world that tries to separate good witches from bad witches. The Wizard of Oz has a so called good witch and a bad witch. I like the movie, but this is an example that brings to light the views of the world. Now I ask you, can any witch be good? No! Witchcraft falls under the religion of Wicca which worships nature and not Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us that the only fellowship with God is through Him. Jesus is speaking in verse 56 & 57.

"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."

Notice the connection between man and God. "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him." As long as we have faith in Christ, He is in us. Now this sounds like it hinges on our action of belief, but let’s not forget that we do not choose Christ, but He choose us. He comes to us and gives us this faith that unites us with God. The benefit of this faith is that "the one who feed on me will live because of me." We receive eternal life because we have faith. We have eternal life.

Jesus offers the only life which lasts forever. The bread that the forefathers ate still brought death, but Jesus gives us the Bread of Life that has eternal life. This eternal life does not begin when we die, or when Christ returns, but we are living in this eternal life NOW! The gift of eternal life is given in faith to you at your baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, and the hearing of the Gospel. Eternal life is God’s gift to you. The faith that is freely given to you immediately brings eternal life. Anyone who eats His flesh and drinks his blood HAS eternal life. This is of great comfort in knowing that Jesus not only forgives us of our sins, but gives us life through the bread He give us. We rejoice as we share the eternal life with the Father today. Our eternal life will only get better when we join the Lord in Heaven and then again when we receive our heavenly bodies at the Second Coming. We will not be burdened with the sins of the world and our own sinful flesh. Today we have a taste of eternal life. Our sins have been forgiven! Hallelujah!

Amen.