When Worship Becomes a Lifestyle

[HKHaugan]

John 10 Ch.6:5-15

Until we take ourselves before the Lord, see the differences between Him and us, really compare who we are in our past and present with the same in Him, we can't take the next step in being fully human. We can only remain where we are, conjuring some way to deal with each next moment the best we can. It's a pride thing. We try and control circumstance. Having control, looking like we are in control and being in control is the life Jesus describes later in the Gospel as being the life without God that we have to hate in order to have His eternal life (12:25). I believe we can all identify with that. It makes sense. It's logical. I really hate that kind of life, having to be at the mercy of what everyone around me thinks and expects, always having to measure up. Who really wants to live in the constant fatigue of having to prove yourself all the time especially when the hardest part is trying to prove it to yourself when you know it's not true? It's self-deception on steroids.

However, the new Lord's Supper (frequent worship, home group to church building) replacing the old Passover (once annually) gives us the pattern for every day living that frees us to look forward instead of living in slavery to tradition and what others think. “The Lord took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to the disciples (1Cor.11:23-26).” This is an ongoing process for every next moment. Look at the four verbs and apply them right where we are at any moment.

First, if we -take- and place ourselves next to Jesus and compare ourselves to Him, how do our attitude, integrity, trustability and character measure up as every next choice, decision and relationship make their demands? That's a daily evaluation.

Second, if we -thank- the Lord. Scripture shows He is an uncompromisingly honest open person who, through the Resurrection and Pentecost has made Himself available 24/7. So maybe -thanks- are due after having found someone who really makes sense out of living. He accepts us just as we are and we realize we can be completely open with Him. His only judgment is His love for us. It's hard not to yield when love looks you in the face.

Third, if we -break- away. It follows then, that we -break- the ties we have with the things that don't fit in with Him, His attitude and His ideas about life and people. That's what taking up our cross is all about. If we have hang-ups, habits, strongholds, attitudes, fears and pain, we turn them over to Him.

Fourth, if we -give- our experience of Him to others. When that process starts with Him in mind, we find it easier to stand on our own two feet, being more open and honest with others and then to -give- our personal experiences of that process to others.

This process is how worship is applied to life. It's a 'gut-level' 'boots-on-the-ground' lifestyle. Sometimes that process is slow and hard and other times you just flow along with it. Sometimes it's accepted and sometimes it's rejected but neither matters as much as the truth you have experienced in it. You know in your heart it's true. It's the take, thank, break and give process that the Lord's Supper patterns and develops in our lives. Perhaps this helps us to see why it has become worship-central for generations of people, many of whom don't even realize this is what is taking place spiritually within them. It's building a lifestyle based on Jesus' Cross and Resurrection.

I know by this time you are probably asking 'When are we going to get to the meaning of the feeding event? That's what was introduced!' We will, but the context is what prepares us to understand the deeper significance, the substance behind the event, the really important stuff.

Let's return to the process. The process is what makes the event a 'now-event' for us. In this process there is good news and bad news.

First, the bad news. The biggest block to our willingness to try the process is human pride. Pride is a killer. Pride keeps us self dependent, self protective and cautious. Pride's payoff is emotional isolation, loss of intimacy, guarded relationships, dissolving trust, increasing frustration, disillusionment, depression and finally complete aloneness. Pride is the internal attitude that feeds on the need for acceptance, personal fulfillment and relational honesty. That attitude is the only evidence necessary to prove sin is a heart infection that must be cured. Human pride is all about me getting the attention, recognition, honor and praise because I earned it. Genesis describes man's condition of sin perfectly, “Every inclination of his heart was only evil all the time (Gen.6:5).”

The good news is that Jesus, being sinless, reversed the issue by placing His total trust in His Father, His Father's will and His Father's Word. Getting personal pleasure in Jesus' case was serving His Father. This was a totally different kind of pride, a new pride. It was the conversion of pride to humility. His pride was in the Holy Spirit serving and motivating Him. Pride is really being humble before the Father and with the Father in mind. That's how the Spirit worked in Jesus. Wherever Jesus was and with whomever He related He wanted His Father to get the glory, the praise and the honor. He was 'proud' of His Father. He loved His Father. He believed, trusted and had faith in His Father. That's how He died and the reason He was raised from the dead. That is what the Abraham-Isaac story was pointing to (Gen.22).

If you look carefully at the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness you'll see the devil was consumed with pride, the kind he brought into human nature. The devil was and is always about himself. His goal is to isolate us from God and repeat himself in us, to re-make us who are images of God into images of himself, from image of God to image of the devil. He had reached to such a level of rebellious self adoration he actually thought he could get Jesus to think and act apart from His Father. He took his best shot by tempting Jesus to take control apart from His Father, to elevate Himself and be the emperor of the world by worshiping him. Talk about pride in full bloom, that's it. Right there, and finally on the Cross, Jesus exposed the devil's pride and demonstrated its weak underbelly.

Trusting Jesus, in the moment we sense our pride rising within, will block it. Human pride transformed into Jesus' humility opens the door to eternal life at that moment. He was always 'proud' of (humble before) His Father in the midst of people. That's what made Him so different.

All that has been said so far gives us context in which we see the 'why' in The Feeding of the 5000. As we take in its specifics, not only is Jesus' calling as Messiah proven, it gives substance to our worship, receiving the bread and wine and then processing that 'take-thank-break-give' experience in the world around us.

Let's detail the account given us.

vs.5-6 Jesus, seeing the arriving crowd, tests Philip even though He knows ahead of time what He is going to do. Jesus asks him, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” Philip replies that even an annual wage wouldn't feed them all. The disciple Andrew brings a boy before Jesus with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, both probably dried. Jesus has everybody sit down. He takes the 5 loaves, gives thanks, breaks them and gives them. Note that everyone had as much as they wanted and that there were 12 basketfuls left over. We are talking about 5000 plus people here. But why the numbers, the bread, the fish, the leftovers and the super abundance for everyone?

This is where history comes into play. God gave the Law to Moses. It comprises the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, the bread and heart of Judaism. After the Law the rest of Jewish Scripture is contained in two sections, the Prophets and the Writings (Psalms and non-prophetic books). For the Jews the Law was their spiritual bread, the Prophets their balance and the Writings their history and application. This is the foundation that pointed to Jesus as He told the Pharisees (Jn.5:39). Jesus came to be their fulfillment, to personally and spiritually fulfill them. The Scriptures and God's enduring people were like a half empty glass He came to fill full.

Now to the feeding event. Remember, Jesus “knows ahead of time what He is going to do.” His is an overview, a forward looking view that includes not only the fulfillment of past history but His present claims as Messiah and the future of the restoration of Creation that He will bring about. The first sign of His being Messiah was changing water to wine (symbol of Blessing, later Jesus' blood), the second, healing sickness (sin, that separated man from God) and now the third, abundant food supply, a spiritual supply (grace, repentance, forgiveness, truth and love) verifying the power of God is in Jesus not outside Him.

Watch carefully how the specifics are played out. Each of the following were the building blocks the Father would use to restore His will for and in His people:

The occasion starts with a boy who really represents a kind of youthful innocence, a readiness to learn and respectful willingness to give what is expected of him. He is an individual bringing what he has. Right away we know this is not about human limitation but what God can do if we let Him. The boy happens to have 5 loaves and 2 fish for a travel lunch. Humanly, so little for so many. Note the balanced carbohydrate and protein.

As Messiah, Jesus takes the five loaves (the Law), the two fish (the Prophets and the Writings), God's Word, and infuses them with real life. He demonstrates how spiritual, personal, heart changing and lasting they were meant to be instead of a tool to maintain institutional power through legalism. Legalism leads to traditionalism which makes them subject to drying out. Multiplying the loaves however, places the emphasis on the original relational intent of God's Word, His truth, grace and love, that make them fresh and new for each next moment. It's about a relationship with Jesus and the fullness of life He brings. Jesus gives life to the Word and makes it the every day vehicle to personally experience the Lord God. God's Word, Scripture, is the key to growing into eternity and the means to establish relational honesty between people. Note here the shape of the Cross, vertical worship and horizontal application.

This visual physical experience enveloped those there thus lifting up God's heart joining the people's real need, a return to their Heavenly Father through the Son, everyone feasting relationally with God. And, everyone had enough to eat. Then, to put a cap on the miracle, He has them gather the leftovers which just happen to fill twelve baskets (the soon-to-be 12 Apostles who spread the good news of Jesus and His spiritual food) and personal access to the Lord God with all His blessings would be spread to the world. Obviously the crowd won't get this at that moment. That would come after Pentecost and the arrival of the Holy Spirit when He comes and, by faith, brings Jesus into the hearts of believers. 1st Samuel 21:1-6 as an Old Testament backdrop for this occasion and one example of Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament. Jesus refers to this scene in Matthew 12:3, Mark 2:25 and Luke 6:1.

Even with the impact of this event sin would take over. For the moment the meaning of the occasion would be overlooked. Vs.14 shows the crowd was enamored not only by the miracle but also the possibility of their being able to get Him to provide more food for them. Vs.26 makes that quite clear when Jesus exposes their real motivation. We see there and in vs.15 that the crowd was consumed by the satisfaction of not only being fed but looking at Jesus as a possible provider of economic and social power. The kind of leader that should be king. But Jesus avoids that and retreats to a mountain to be by Himself.

Again, keep in mind, this is prior to the Cross, the Resurrection and Pentecost, after which the real meaning of Jesus' mission is realized personally and the faith spreads. This is when the new family of God, the Body of Christ, arises. Then they will remember how Jesus said that He didn't come to get rid of the Law but to fulfill it (Mt.5:17) and that He was the bread of life (Jn.6:35). In essence this is the beginning of the understanding that Jesus is not only the fulfillment of Scripture and Jewish history but the fulfillment of all history and the will of God for each of us personally. Jesus came to draw us close to Him in a heart to heart relationship so that the world could be changed by Him through our faith in Him.

To fully appreciate this event we need to skip to vs.25 to see Jesus' own commentary on this event that gives us a picture of its real purpose, that He is the Bread of Life. It consumes the rest of the chapter (vs.25-71).

Now perhaps we can see why the Lord's Supper was so important to those early Christians who would gather in homes for it and when persecution started, even find cellars and caves to meet secretly just to share that experience. Something as dramatic as the Feeding of 5000 carried a spiritual atmosphere of the promise that whenever two or three were gathered with Him in mind He was there with them (Mt.18:20). When they continued the Lord's Supper it was because of His command to “Do this in remembrance of me (Lk.22:19).”

It was also a reminder of His death that proved just how sinful human nature was. It was a reminder of Jesus' sacrifice of His life to be the 'Passover Lamb' for the forgiveness of sin not only for those who believe in Him but also for those who had Him crucified. It was for all people for all time. It helped them remember His words of forgiveness from the Cross as they took up their cross of faith looking forward to His coming a second time and to their own Resurrection after they died. Just as Jesus appeared to the disciples in the Upper Room after His Resurrection, so they too knew that He was with them every time they celebrated the Lord's Supper.

Now maybe we can feel the passionate will of the Father behind Jesus' suffering on our behalf, the depth of its spiritual nature and the calling to see ourselves not as human beings having a spiritual experience but as spiritual beings having a human experience.