Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

So the Jews began grumbling (argue sharply) again…at least this time some of them got it and were arguing for Jesus and what He was teaching here!

There was an argument and an argument takes two sides.

Christian writer Tim Stafford tells of an unusual approach to teaching about religious truth adopted by a pastor he knows.

You might expect this, for the pastor, Stephey Bilynskyj, holds a Phd in Philosophy from Note Dame University!

Whenever he runs a confirmation class the pastor takes a jar full of beans with him.

He then gets the students to guess how many beans are in the jar, and writes down their guesses on a notepad.

Pastor Bilynskyi then asks the class members to list their favourite songs, writing them down alongside the bean estimates.

Pastor Bilynskyi then returns to the bean guesses, revealing the actual number and then whose guess was closest to being right.

After congratulations have been offered attention is then refocussed on the song list.

“And which one of these is closest to being right?”

Pastor Bilynskyi asks.

Invariably the students argue that when it comes to “favourite songs” there is no right answer.

It’s purely subjective, a matter of taste.

It’s at that point that Pastor Bilynskyi asks “When you decide what to believe in terms of your faith, is that more like guessing the number of beans, or more like choosing your favourite song?” Always, Bilynskyj says, he gets the same answer: Choosing one’s faith is more like choosing a favourite song.

Bilynskyi disagrees, and though he still confirms those who hold this view, does his best to try to argue them out of it!

Truth about God and His Son Jesus is not a matter of debate!

For matters of faith we need a source of absolute truth and we have it in Jesus and the revelation of Him in His Word…we will never find our answers in ourselves or each other…all truth is a revelation of God through His Word and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had said they must eat his flesh in order to live forever.

They knew he was not talking literally…anyone and everyone could figure that much out.

But they could not understand what He meant by using the metaphor.

“How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

In response Jesus repeats what He said in verse 51, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood you will have no life in you.”

Both “eating” and “drinking” are in the Aorist tense denoting once for all action…you eat the flesh and blood of Jesus once and it has impact upon you forever…you will henceforth always have eternal life.

The Law of Moses forbid the people from drinking blood, not only that, it also forbid the eating of meat which still had blood in it.

So the metaphor was an awful one in their eyes and simply could not be easily understood.

If we are going to understand Jesus and what He says in verse 54 we must take it alongside verse 40.

The conclusion is an obvious one…the former is a metaphorical way of stating the latter.

Just as Augustine of Hippo wrote, “Believe and you have eaten.”

Both “eating” and “drinking” are in the Aorist tense denoting once for all action…you eat the flesh and blood of Jesus once and it has impact upon you forever…you will henceforth always have eternal life.

So once you come to believe in the work of Jesus on the cross for your sins…you forever have eternal life…it is a one time act with continual affect.

Other food and drink are important.

We need nourishment to live…But the flesh and blood of Jesus are REAL food and drink…they will satisfy our spiritual hunger and bring us eternal life without end!

And this relationship will never end.

We enter the closest possible relationship with Jesus…a spiritual and perfect union through His body and blood…an eternal union.

And this relationship will never end.

We enter the closest possible relationship with Jesus…a spiritual and perfect union through His body and blood…an eternal union.

Eternal life is always mediated through Jesus…not self, not us, never

Some view salvation like Noah offering to put a peg on the outside of the ark.

"If you just hang on through the storm, you'll be saved."

Salvation is not dependent on our holding on to God, but on our being securely held by and in Christ.

Harry Ironside stated that salvation was like Noah inviting a pagan in his day to place his trust in God's Word and come in to the ark.

Some view salvation like Noah offering to put a peg on the outside of the ark.

"If you just hang on through the storm, you'll be saved."

Salvation is not dependent on our holding on to God, but on our being securely held by and in Christ.

Now the Disciples Are Grumbling

Now it isn’t the Jews who are trying to figure Jesus out amongst themselves…it is those closest to Him…His disciples.

We are not talking about the 12…there are disciples and then there are the 12 disciples.

At this point we are talking about the former.

And not everyone who was a disciple was saved.

At this point a disciple was someone who followed Jesus and saw him as an authoritative teacher.

Many of these did not continue to follow Jesus after this particular time of teaching in the Capernaum synagogue.

A genuine disciple never leaves Jesus.

A disciple follows Him to the end…because they are kept in the faith by Him.

Jesus begins by asking them if they are offended…what if they see greater things…Jesus has said He came down from heaven…what if they see Him ascending to heaven?

Would that offend them too?

What about when they see Him ascend to the Cross?

If they are offended in this moment then the Cross will be a scandal to them.

Jesus then speaks clearly to the points of the metaphor and declares they are not to be taken literally.

This debunks those who see the eucharist and the literal body and blood of Christ at transubstantiation in this passage.

Flesh and blood mean nothing…a man or woman is saved by the work of the Spirit.

“If the words of Jesus in this discourse are rightly grasped, then instead of rejecting Jesus people will see him as the bread from heaven, the one who gives his flesh for the life of the world, the one who alone provides eternal life, and they will receive him and believe in him, taste eternal life even now, and enjoy the promise that he will raise them up on the last day.”

If the words of Jesus in this discourse are rightly grasped, then instead of rejecting Jesus people will see him as the bread from heaven, the one who gives his flesh for the life of the world, the one who alone provides eternal life, and they will receive him and believe in him, taste eternal life even now, and enjoy the promise that he will raise them up on the last day.

However great the revelation of God there are still going to be some who do not believe.

Carson, D. A. (1991).

The Gospel according to John (p.

302).

Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.

No One Can Come Unless The Father Has Enabled Him

There will always be unbelievers among us.

There will be those who see, hear and enjoy the same revelation we see and reject it whereas you and I will accept it.

People will continue to attempt to figure out God and the faith apart from the decision of the Father and work of the Holy Spirit…a work necessary for genuine faith and eternal life.

Jesus knew which ones would actually go all the way from disciple to believer — There are a great many people who are disciples but not believers…they are following Jesus without ever consuming Him…without ever eating of Him…without having faith.

Once upon a time there was a fire in a small town.

The fire brigade rushed to the scene, but the fireman were unable to get through to the burning building.

The problem was the crowd of people who had gathered not to watch but to help put out the fire.

They all knew the fire chief well – their children had climbed over his fire engines during excursions to the fire station, and the friendliness of the fire chief was legendary.

So when a fire broke out the people rushed out to help their beloved fire chief.

Unfortunately the townsfolk were seeking to extinguish this raging inferno with water pistols!

They’d all stand there, from time to time squirting their pistol into the fire while making casual conversation.

The fire chief couldn’t contain himself.

He started screaming at the townsfolk.

“What do you think you’re doing?

What on earth do you think you’re going to achieve with those waterpistols?!” The people realised the urgency of the situation.

How they wanted to help the fire chief.

So they started squirting more.

“Come on” they encouraged each other, “We can all do better, can’t we?” Squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt.

Exasperated the fire chief yells again.

“Get out of here.

Your achieving nothing except hindering us from doing what needs to be done.

We need fireman who are ready to give everything they’ve got to put out this fire, people willing even to lay their lives on the line.

This is not the place for token contributions” This story was originally told by Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

He was urging us to realise that discipleship to Christ means much more than token levels of support to the church and Good’s mission in the world.

It calls for wholehearted and total life commitment.

Unfortunately the townsfolk were seeking to extinguish this raging inferno with water pistols!

They’d all stand there, from time to time squirting their pistol into the fire while making casual conversation.

The fire chief couldn’t contain himself.

He started screaming at the townsfolk.

“What do you think you’re doing?

What on earth do you think you’re going to achieve with those waterpistols?!”

The people realised the urgency of the situation.