First Presbyterian Church of Inglewood
100 North Hillcrest Ave
Inglewood,
California 90301
Telephone
numbers: (310) 677-5133 Fax (310) 330-8342
Electronic
mail: PRESBYTS@SBCGLOBAL.NET
Sunday,
August 2, 2009
Rev.
Dr. Harold E. Kidd
Communion
Meditation
John 6:
24 - 35
FOOD
THAT ENDURES
"Do not work for
food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal
life."
John
6: 27
We have often heard
it said that ours is a Fast Food Generation. In other words, the average
American diet is overwhelmed, in preparation and purchase, with quick, easy-to-fix
instant meals. From Cup-o -Noodles to Minute rice, from zip-lock vegetables to
microwave chicken wings, we have reduced the time it takes to prepare a meal.
Many Americans today
live by the consumption of processed or fast foods. One report says that 90% of
the money we spend as a nation on food goes towards the purchase of fast foods.
I remember a school
teacher friend of mine, she taught elementary school, expressing her dismay
over the diet many of her students were getting at home. During the school meal
time supplied by the district, designed to give children balanced meals, she
would frequently observe several of her students taking whatever was on their
plate and making it into a sandwich. Her comment to me was, “Rev. Kidd they
make a sandwich out of anything, because sandwiches is all they’re used to
eating at home."
One Consumer Report I
read stated that "we can fool our
bodies only so long. It is a virtual certainty that if a person subsists on
fast foods, they are accelerating the aging process as well as compromising
their health."
Because most fast
foods are processed foods, they do not have the abundance of vitamins,
minerals, proteins, and complex carbohydrates that are found in the five basic
food groups (dairy, vegetables, grain, meat, and fruit). So we find ourselves
in a fast food culture that is serving up super-sized and unhealthy Americans.
Another aspect of
fast foods is that very rarely do they hold you up. From the standpoint of maintaining
good health and fighting off the cravings of hunger, fast foods are not foods
that endure. Some like to call this
brand of food, junk food, because its food loaded in sugars and fats but
without any essential nutritional value.
Some of us will
remember a common expression used to describe food that stayed with you throughout
the day as “stick to the ribs” food. Foods like oatmeal, grits, beans (lima
beans, pinto beans, red beans, navy beans) -- some of us grew up eating beans,
lots of beans, amen.
And still do.
Stick-to-the-ribs foods like green leafy vegetables, steak and rice, and potatoes
were commonly referred to in this way. It was food that would stay with you all
day. You could work all day and not feel hungry, be in school all day and
remain mentally alert in those
mid-afternoon classes.
Stick-to-the-ribs
food. Food that endures. Food that holds you up. Food that gives you physical energy as well as
mental alertness throughout the day.
In our text, Jesus in
describing himself as the Bread of Heaven is actually talking about
stick-to-the-ribs food. Amen. Food that endures. He had just fed 5000 from
two small fish and five small barley loaves given him by a small boy. No matter
how small it might appear to us, whatever we freely give to the Master he can
take it into those divine hands and provide a blessing until there is not room
enough to receive it. God can do the
miraculous if we will trust him to provide the resources.
The blessing of food
multiplied from this small gift of a lad's lunch was so abundant, that after
all had eaten, they still had enough food to fill 12 baskets with bread that
was left over. The next day, the crowd had followed Jesus across the sea of
Capernaum.
When they found the Lord,
Jesus criticized them for following him because they were interested only in
the physical and the material. "I
tell you the truth; you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs,
but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that
spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life."
Like this crowd who
sought out Jesus, many are concerned only about physical needs without ever
giving any thought to their spiritual needs.
Jesus proclaims himself to be the Living
Bread, the Bread come down from
Heaven.
The soul cannot be
fed on material matter. But it is: the Living Bread.
As much as we like to
dress up and look good, clothes do not feed the soul. But it is: the
Living Bread. Our position, title,
and socio-economic status, while they are an indication of our hard work and
life investment in career, cannot feed the soul. But it is: the
Living Bread.
These earth-bound
things may feed one's sense of well-being and ego, God may use them in blessing
us to live a comfortable life and do some good in this world, but they do not
provide that for which our souls hunger.
The hunger is for fellowship with God. The hunger is to be cleansed from the guilt
of sin. The hunger is for spiritual
rest from the cares of
this world. The hunger is to find peace with God and
peace within.
The hunger is to experience life as God so
designed it at the beginning of creation. The hunger is to experience the love of God with all our heart, soul,
and mind, and the love for one another as the Lord has commanded of us. "This is my commandment: that you love
one another even as I have loved you." Jesus, the Living
Bread, is the only one who can feed that hunger.
At Calvary, He became the Bread of Life to all
sinners, such as we are.
"Thou bruised and broken Bread,
My lifelong wants supply,
As living souls are fed,
O feed me, or I die"
Every time we commune
with the Lord -- in worship, prayer, service, giving -- our soul is fed spiritually.
To be in communion with Jesus is to be fed by the Living Bread, who is able to feed us until we want no more.
Yes, in this life, we
need some stick-to-the-ribs Spiritual food, Amen.
And that food is
Jesus. The Living Bread.