Ephesians 4:25-5:2

When I was a child I noticed that I was not allowed to do thing that other children's parents let them do. I remember arguing with my dad, "But Joey has a mini bike and a BB gun." Or "Max doesn't have to go to church every Sunday." Or "Other kids get to stay up later on school nights." And my parents had a set response to that line of reasoning. "That's other people. We're different."

Paul the Apostle is explaining to the Christians is Ephesus that we are different from other people. We have a different set of standards and expectations. Other people may deal falsely with one another and lie and steal. But we are different. We speak truthfully to each other in love and we don't steal but work honestly. And in our work we don't just work for our own gain, but so that we can help others. Others talk about people behind their backs and in malice try to assassinate others' character. Christians are supposed to try to build one another up and be kind to each other and forgiving.

This is a lot of advice to take in. So Paul sums it up at the beginning of chapter 5. He says, "be imitators of God as beloved children." Have you ever seen a child playing? Much of their play is an imitation of adults. They act out the things they see their parents doing. Speaking of beloved children imitating their parents. Consider how Jesus, of whom God said this is my beloved, imitated his father by sacrificing his life for us! As the adopted children of God, we should imitate our Father in heaven.

So this all begs the question: What is it about God that we should imitate? God of course is the creator. The Bible tells us that God spoke the worlds into existence out of nothing. He made the land and sea and the sky and all the creatures that live in them. And God created us. And the Bible says over and over again that it was good. God created a world that was very good.

Now none of us can speak planets and stars into existence. But God has given us some creative power. We have the power to create an atmosphere in our lives. With our attitudes and actions we can create around us an atmosphere of love or one of hate. We can create anxiety in others or we can bring peace. We can agitate others or we can bring healing.

We should imitate God in the little worlds we create in our lives. God made a good world. One where all things were in harmony. We should imitate our Heavenly Father. In our lives we should seek to foster those same things. We should seek harmony and an atmosphere of peace.

We should imitate God by trying to create a good atmosphere in our lives. God creates but God also blesses! God is in the blessing business. God blessed Adam and Eve by giving them the Garden of Eden to tend. Then they sinned and had to be punished God blessed them by giving them clothes. God blessed the children of Israel by leading them out of slavery. And when he blessed the world by sending his son, one of the first things Jesus said was "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, �"

God's plan for humanity was to bless us. When He called Abraham He said, "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. � and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves." (Genesis 12:2-3) God's plan from the beginning was to bless the world through the descendants of Abraham. And so through them he sent Jesus!

We too should seek to be a blessing to the world. God has blessed us with love and joy and hope and peace and faith and grace and �. The list goes on. We should seek to share those blessings with others. As the spiritual descendants of Father Abraham we should be a blessing to the nations. As beloved children imitating our Father, we should seek to bless others with the storehouse of blessings God has given us.

As beloved children we should imitate our Father by creating a good world around us and by seeking to bless others. We should also imitate God's sacrificial love. And of course Jesus is the ultimate example of God sacrificial love. Jesus left the glories of heaven to come and dwell with us. Then he humbled himself to help others and even to wash his disciple's feet. He then made the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life for our sins.

We all know of people who have imitated God in this way. We call them martyrs or heroes. People who give their life for the faith or for the welfare of others. Fire fighters and police officers and soldiers seeking to save others lives sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice. And people still die for the faith in some parts of the world.

But most of us will never be given the opportunity to die for another. How can we imitate God's sacrificial love? Jesus gave us a living example. Before he died for others he lived for others. He sacrificed his wants and desires for others. He fasted for 40 days to put the Devil in his place. And right before he died he took on the role of a slave and washed his disciples' feet. We too can make those little sacrifices. On a daily basis in the little ways that present themselves we can give of ourselves for others in imitation of our Father.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." (Ephesians 5:1) The idea has taken many different forms. In 1896 Charles Sheldon wrote a book In His Steps. In the book he challenged people to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in the way they live. In this book Sheldon coined the now popular question "What Would Jesus Do?"

But how can we follow in those footsteps. How can we, mere humans, imitate the Almighty? If we had to do it on our own it would be impossible. But Jesus is more than our example of how to live. He died not just to give us an example of love to follow. He also died to redeem us and save us from our sin.

Jesus died for you and me. He saved us from hell and gave us eternal life. Then let us seek to follow his example of love and blessing. Let us dedicate ourselves, as beloved children, to be imitators of God!

John 6:35, 41-51

You can get away with murder if you are just a little vague. Let me tell you what I mean. If you make a statement or a promise and you are just vague enough, you leave yourself an out. We have come to expect this kind of thing from politicians. A politician promises to "address" an issue. We think the politician will do something about the problem when in reality all they intend to do is make mention of it in a speech. Another word for a speech is an address.

If you can get away with murder by being vague, you can also get yourself killed by being too precise. If you say exactly what you mean, people will hold you to your words. Your precision has given them a standard by which to judge you and your actions. It gives them something solid to shoot at. Your enemies will love you for being too precise.

If you beat around the bush you can get away scott free, but if you say exactly what you mean they'll nail you.

That is what happened to Jesus: He said exactly what He meant and they nailed him---to a cross. Things were going good for Jesus, with the healings and exorcisms and teach-ins at the temple. Jesus' popularity was already on the rise, then there was the feeding of the 5,000. Now that was a publicity man's dream. What a photo op. Jesus feeds the masses and they try to make him king, but he declines. This looked great on TV. But then Jesus jeopardized the whole thing by making a precise statement.

He said, "I am the bread of life." There was no mistaking it. He was looking straight into the camera and the microphones picked it up. Every network ran it as the sound-byte for the day. "Today on a Galilean hillside Jesus said, 'I am the bread of life' film at 11:00." Now, if I had been Jesus' speechwriter, I would have convinced Jesus to say something different. "Jesus, love this 'bread of life' shtick. Great copy! Especially on the heels of the whole multitude thing. But let's work of the wording a little. Maybe you should say, 'God sends the Bread of life.' Or better yet, 'The bread of life is among you.' Let people draw their own conclusions and believe what they want to believe. But this 'I am the bread of life' will get you into a lot of trouble in the religious press."

But I wasn't there and Jesus said, "I am the bread of life." The press had a field day. I can see it now. His opponents at the next rally got all the mileage they could out of it. "This man claims to have come down from God to give us eternal life, but we know he really came from Nazareth and we have witnesses." Then an old man come out of the crowd, "Jesus, who do you think you are? Why I knew you mother when she was in diapers and now you want to be my savior. You should be ashamed of yourself you uppity young whippersnapper."

Jesus was precise; he said exactly what he meant and it got him into a lot of trouble. So at the risk of getting into trouble let me be precise. Jesus is the bread of life: Not Buddha, not Mohammed, not human nature, not science or technology, not philosophy, Jesus and him alone. Jesus: born to Mary at that point in history where BC turns to AD. Jesus: conceived by the Spirit, born in human flesh.

Jesus is the bread of life: not was, not used to be, not maybe or will be, but is! Jesus is not merely an historical character or mythological formulation. He is alive and sitting that the right hand of the Father from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead. And he is present with us here by the power of his Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the bread of life. He died and rose again to give us eternal life. He gave his flesh to be nailed to a cross and his blood to be shed that we may be fed eternal food and given everlasting and meaningful life. That is why Jesus said, "and the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."(John 6:51) Jesus is the one true source of abundant and everlasting life!

Jesus is the bread of life. And in order to be saved we must accept Him as our salvation. I can hear it now: "Oh no! The preacher's done gone Baptist!" What I am saying today is not Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian or Catholic or Orthodox, it's just plain Christian.

Jesus is the bread of life. Now Christians often discuss and debate the fate of people who have never hear of Jesus. Can they be saved or is there a special place in the hereafter for them? If this or a similar question really bothers you, then see me about it later and we will talk.

But for today remember this: Jesus is the bread of life. He is the one true source of forgiveness and salvation. He is the one true source of abundant and everlasting life. Look to him to satisfy your hungers and to give you salvation. Let's be precise about our faith: Believe in Jesus and him alone, and you will be saved.

John 6:35, 41-51

The Kingdom of heaven can be compared to a restaurant that was in the desert. Every day people dying of thirst and hunger passed by. Some even died within feet of its doors. Inside there were banquet tables filled with more than enough to drink and eat to save those dying. Large neon signs pointed to way to the diner, but people still perished. Despite flashing lights proclaiming: "food" "drink," people still died of thirst and hunger within the glow of the lights.

So the owner of the diner went out to tell the people that there was food and drink within. He went out and shouted, "I know where you can find food and drink." Some scoffed, "Who are you to tell us where there is food and drink?" "You are in the desert just like us." "You thirst and hunger just as we do." Some even got violent and beat the owner of the diner.

But a few followed the owner and found water and bread to live.

God's presence with the children of Israel was much like a restaurant in the desert. When God led Israel out of slavery he led them through a desert. God did this to teach them. There was no food and water but God provided food daily. Each morning manna came from heaven to feed them. And God provided water from a rock.

But there was more to these miracles than bread and water to keep the physical body alive. The manna and water in the wilderness were neon signs pointing to God. God could have given them a forty years supply as soon as they left Egypt. But God chose to give them just enough for each day for a reason. God wanted to teach them who was the source of their food and water. God wanted firmly ingrained in their soul the truth that each second of life was a gift from God.

But that wasn't all! God also wanted them to realize that the more important things in life, not just food and water, come only from God. Only God can fill the hungry soul with peace. Only God can quench the heart's thirst for love. Only God can take a dull and meaningless existence and turn it into a life of eternal joy.

But some didn't learn. Even with the law and the prophets to point them to God they perished. Despite those neon signs of faith they died of spiritual hunger and thirst. So God came in his Son to tell the people personally. God came in Christ to point the way to living water and bread from heaven. And today�s lesson tells us what happened.

Jesus had recently fed 5,000 hungry people. He had literally given them bread by a heavenly miracle. But like so many of their ancestors they could not see the deeper meaning. They sought only bread to fill their bellies instead of spiritual bread to fill their hearts. Then Jesus made it as plain as he could.

He said, "I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never thirst." He had come into the world and was telling them that if they only came to him and believed, then they would find the eternal food they needed. But the people grumbled and said, "We know that you are from Nazareth and not heaven so how can you be the �bread of life.�" So Jesus explained to them that "the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Jesus here is talking about his death on the cross. He would give his life and that would provide the forgiveness that the entire world needs to have access to the things that they needed.

Some believed and some didn't. Those who believed Jesus, followed him. A thief on a cross, a few fishermen, a couple of tax collectors all found paradise in the midst of this desert. The others were consumed by their own hatred and had Jesus killed only to hear that he had risen again!

The kingdom of heaven is still like a restaurant in the desert. The world that we live in is a spiritual desert. That is why people are so desperately thirsty. They want something to fill the emptiness: Drugs, sex, things, cults. All offer to give people meaning. But they are no more than mirages in the desert. New Age cults that may even sound a little Christian offer to lead people to Heavens gate but instead bring them only destruction and death.

But within the Kingdom of God is the bread and water people need to survive. In the Kingdom of God is the presence of God that can fill the emptiness. In God's Kingdom is the peace and meaning that we hunger for. In God's kingdom is the love and forgiveness that we thirst.

And Jesus is that bread of life and the living water given for the world to find new life. If people would only allow him into their hearts. If they would only follow him and believe in him they would find what they need. And instead of dying at the very doors of God's diner they could follow him into the Kingdom. And there they would find a wedding banquet table prepared for all who will but come.

Are you in a desert today? Is there an empty place in your life that needs to be filled? Are you hungering and thirsting for peace, love, joy, fullness, guidance? If so come to Christ. Surrender to him and his will. He gave his life for us and he will give you what you need.

But I know many of you have come to Christ or if not you may come today. But there are many still in the desert. They still hunger and thirst for something lasting and meaningful. Some are in such great despair and hopelessness that they throw their lives away on drugs and materialism and cults and some even kill themselves because they have nothing to live for.

It is true that we have signs and steeples pointing the way to Christ. But many don't see them. We have to go out and bring them to God's diner. We have to go to them where they are and bring them a taste of the love and peace and glory of God. Then we have to lead them back to this place where they can find living water and bread from heaven.

That is what Holy Communion, is all about. Christ's blood shed for the sins of the world so that all may come into the presence of God if they only believe. Christ's body broken to purchase the forgiveness our hearts are dying for. Jesus is the bread of life and people need to know that. Come eat, be filled by the love of God. Then go bring the hungering and thirsting souls in the desert to dine with us.