Spiritual Bread

Returning to the initial text we listen to it again. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. John 1: 11. Is this text relevant for you and me today? Is this true of Jesus’ Church in our day and time? Have we and do we continue to not receive Him? Earlier in the week, we were made aware of and reminded of this unalterable fact. The Light to which John was referring was Jesus. The people to whom John was referring, were the Jews, Jesus’ own kinsfolk. All of us who are believers, who are Christians, who are born, not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit of God, are His Church, His people, His own.

Sadly however, too many of us feel quite self-righteous in ourselves, because we have received much of who Jesus is and what Jesus commands. Nevertheless, we are in no way troubled or concerned about the fact that we do not receive certain words and commands of our Lord. We are quite comfortable to make excuses and argue, with plausible human reasoning, why we are unable to totally accept all of Jesus. Not only that, but many of our own, many believers, agree with us and uphold us in the many subtle ways in which deceiving, worldly fancies - teachings, explanations, arguments, life-styles and other changes – have surreptitiously eased into the Church and have become what is accepted as normal.

Before continuing on this track, if you will, permit me to bring to you what has been stated before our text, and what is given after it. I’m likening it all to a bread sandwich where, for example, meat is sandwiched between two healthy slices of bread. This analogy of bread is absolutely appropriate, astutely fitting and altogether spiritual, as we are reminded of the unspeakably healthy, spiritual nourishment, all who eat God’s Word receive. I’m constrained to linger for a bit here, on the image of the bread sandwich. There are two slices of bread, and I bring you two healthy, life-sustaining Scripture verses, which show the wisdom, astuteness and sheer life-healing power of the eaten Word. Indeed God’s living and active Word as Bread, is to be eaten.

The first Bread Word comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself, the Bread of Life. We listen to Him as He responds to the deceiver, the fancy of the world, who comes in a most subtle way, to the human Jesus, to enter into His very life-veins. He is trying his utmost to get Jesus to deny some of His Father’s promises to Him, not all, mind you, but some, the same tactic the deceiver is still using on us, the Church. The devil wants Jesus to turn from listening to and implicitly trusting the Holy Spirit, as he seeks to have Him not depend totally on His Father for bread, but on His own given resources.

O may the Holy Spirit, enable us to hear this well-known response of Jesus to the wicked devil and ravenously feed upon this Bread Word. Amen!

Receive this Bread Word of Jesus. It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Matthew 4: 4b. God’s Word, not just spoken, but also written for all to hear and see, is Spiritual Bread that is much more valuable, essential and life-preserving to everlasting life, than carnal bread. Hey! If indeed we, the Church, have been born of the Spirit, then we must not just be eating Spiritual Bread, but it must take precedence over physical bread. It is the Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, which guarantees us Spiritual Food unto everlasting life.

The second Bread Word comes from the man to whom God said, these words. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I sanctified you; And I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1: 5. It is this God-blessed man to whom we now listen, as he converses with his ever-living, ever-working, ever-caring Lord about his present dejected state. It is in his pleading and appealing to God that he speaks these revitalizing and encouraging words about God’s word and words. Your words were found and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. Jeremiah 15: 16. 

Doesn’t this earthly servant of God clearly and most vividly represent God’s Church, you, me and all believers? The Church is not just God’s Church or Jesus’ Church, but the Church has been known by God even before her birth. God knew her and sanctified her before she was born. In like manner, has not God ordained the Church, you and me, to be his prophets to all nations? In that wise, can the Church literally and sincerely confess these facts, before her Maker and Lord? I mean, like Jeremiah, are these flesh and blood facts in us, as people born of the Spirit, or are they simply, sentimentally, metaphorically, hopefully or figuratively spoken? God’s child who represents God’s Church to us, confesses these truths to God.    

• Lord, Your words were found by me.

• Lord, Your words were all eaten by me.

• Lord, Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.

• Lord, Your word is You, Your Name is Your word, for I am called by Your Name. O Lord of Hosts.  

Are these truths being evidenced in you and me, our Lord’s Church?

The Word of God is our food, if we are to live and grow as God’s children. Is this therefore, true of the word which John has brought to us?

Tomorrow, we shall resume where we left off concerning the analogy of the sandwich and our main text.