9/3/06 - Pentecost 13 - John 6:51-58

A LIFE WORTH LIVING
- Eating flesh
- Drinking blood

I’m glad you’re here today. I’m glad you’re here every Sunday, don’t get me wrong. But today is special. Because our sermon text today is special. The words of John 6:51-58 are some of the most important words in all of Scripture. They have to deal with your salvation, with your eternal life! So these words are perfect for those who have never heard the gospel before, and they are perfect for those who’ve heard the gospel for years. Because Jesus cuts out all the extras, he gets back down to the basics. His words are blunt, his words are straightforward, his words are clear. In these few verses Jesus tells us what the only life worth living is. It’s a life of eating flesh and drinking blood.
The only life worth living is eating flesh and drinking blood. Those words of Jesus don’t seem too clear at first, do they? But trust me, they are. When I read these verses to you as our gospel reading today I said that this portion of Scripture is talking about faith in Christ. Jesus is simply explaining that we are saved by faith alone in picturesque and vivid language. We must eat his flesh and drink his blood if we are to have eternal life. We must believe in him! So why does Jesus bother putting the concept of faith in the words of eating flesh and drinking blood? Well, it stresses in two unique ways that we must believe in what Jesus did as both true man and as true God. And that is the only life worth living. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Any other life is really no life at all.
And I mean that. God means that. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Any other life is no life at all. And I know that we are Christians here. I know that you believe that Jesus is true man and true God. But sometimes that life, that life grounded in faith, takes a back seat to the pursuit of another. For example: what do you live for? What do you plan for, what motivates you to get up in the morning, what do you look forward to? Fishing? Hunting? Seeing your kids or grandkids again? You plan to do things that are months away and you look forward to those events every day up till then. Maybe you live for the weekend. Maybe you live to retire. Maybe you’re already there. And it could be a variety of other things that you live for. Do you see what I mean? There are so many things that we look for and we long for and we want. And those things aren’t wrong in and of themselves. There are many blessing that the Lord has given us in this life to enjoy. But do those things alone make a life worth living?
Sadly, many people who do not know Christ would say it is. They would say, “Sure those things make life worth living. Isn’t it the point to be happy with your life and enjoy the things you can?” Yeah, but that’s not all. In fact, those things aren’t even the most important part about your life. So don’t let them be any longer! Don’t let the earthly blessings that the Lord gives you in this life take precedence over the blessing of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Faith is the most important blessing that you have. It is really the only blessing that matters.
It’s the only blessing that matters. Because earthly blessings come and go. You won’t always be able to fish and hunt and see your kids and grandkids when you want to. Things won’t always turn out the way you planned. You may not be able enjoy next weekend, you may not be able to retire when you want to – if ever. The things that we want in this life and we strive for and we live for, very well may never happen. And, you see, it doesn’t matter. None of those things that might happen or have happened in your life matter, because if you have the blessing of faith in your life, you have the only life worth living anyway. Who cares what else happens. You are able to eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us.” John says earlier in his book that Jesus became flesh. He clothed his heavenly being in earthly flesh. The flesh of one of his creatures. And it was true human flesh. Jesus experienced things in the flesh and suffered things in the flesh just like any of us do. He “grew in wisdom and stature,” he was “hungry,” he was “thirsty,” “he wept.” Jesus’ flesh became tired, it was whipped, it was scourged, it was beaten. His flesh was driven through with nails, jabbed with a spear, pierced with thorns. Jesus’ flesh died. Why? Why did God take on flesh just to suffer? Because he had to. He had to be “made in human likeness,” as Paul says, so that he could save the human race. Somebody had to satisfy the demands of the law. And that’s exactly what Jesus did! In Galatians we read that Jesus “destroyed the law and its commandments in his flesh.” He kept the law, he fulfilled it, he destroyed the consequences of our sins in his flesh. That is the flesh in which we believe. That is the flesh our faith eats. That is the flesh that makes our life worth living.
Of course, Jesus’ flesh is only part of the equation, isn’t it. We are to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Jesus is stressing here not only that he is true man, but that he is also true God. Because while his flesh kept the law perfectly, suffered, and died – his blood was the actual ransom to buy us back. “In him,” Scripture says, “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Because “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” Jesus blood was shed for us. It was no ordinary blood. It was perfect blood. It was God’s blood. It was the ransom price for our lives. So drink it up. Drink it up. Never has blood been so beautiful. And never will blood taste so good.
This is the blood your faith drinks along with the flesh your faith eats. This is the Christ in whom your faith believes. Listen to this beautiful summary in the book of Hebrews: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—… For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”
You have eaten Christ’s flesh. You have drunk his blood. You have been forgiven. That is life. That is the only life worth living. Because Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Knowing this, what else matters? You have eternal life. You will be raised on the last day to go to heaven. What else matters? What else in this earthly life makes a difference one way or another? You have been graciously given faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior. You are saved. You will live forever. Period. Any other life could never measure up to the life of eternity.
And that brings us to the final point. Who did Jesus say these words to? He said them to his disciples, he said them to the Jews standing there, and he has them written down in Scripture – so really, he says these words to everyone. Jesus wants these words said to everyone in the world. Who have you said these words to? If faith in Christ is the only life worth living, if faith in Christ is the only thing that really matters, who have you told? Who have you ignored? Who have you given up on?
I know you have a family member or close relative or a good friend who does not eat Christ’s flesh or drink Christ’s blood. I know that you hesitate to say something because the time isn’t right, or you don’t want to stir up an argument, or they won’t listen anyway. When will the time be right? When will the eternal life of your loved one be more important than a little argument? When will their soul be worth a try – again? The time is now, my friends. Eternal life is on the line. Their soul is worth fighting for! Don’t hold anything back! Whatever you do, tell them about your Lord and Savior. Give them chance to eat that flesh and drink that blood. What else matters? Are you happy that they are not filling themselves with “real food” and “real drink?” Are you satisfied that they will go to hell if they don’t believe in their Savior? Are you content to let them live lives that count for nothing?
I know you aren’t content with that. That’s why this is an urgent plea to tell your loved one about the only thing that matters. Tell them about what you have. Tell them about the one in whom you believe. Tell them that Jesus came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died in their place, rose from the dead, bought them back from the clutches of Satan, washed their sins away in his own blood, and gave them a sure spot in heaven! Tell them about eternity that is waiting. Tell them about flesh and blood. Tell them, tell them about the only life that is really worth living.

Amen.