So last week we finished our summer going through the parables of grace taught by Jesus.
We've been going through those for the entire summer.
And now this week we're going to begin using the church liturgical calendar to guide our teachings on Sunday morning.
And what that is is, if you're not familiar with that, that is how the church has historically structured the calendar year and put passages Sunday by Sunday for us to learn the scriptures over time.
And so we jump in at John 6 this morning.
So at this point, Jesus fed the 5,000, probably 15,000 people, 5,000 men, so there's women, there's children, so maybe 15,000 people, and he feeds them with five loaves of bread and two fish.
An incredible miracle, right?
I mean, this was incredible.
Everybody would have known about these, not only these 15,000 people.
Word would have spread about this.
Then there's this story where he goes out on the water, there's a storm, he walks on water, another incredible, incredible story.
And then he ends up back on land, and this crowd of people finds him.
Well, rightfully so.
These were hungry people.
These are the people that were either fed at that miracle or they heard about it, and they're hungry people.
They're not at Chick-fil-A three times a week.
They don't know about the Golden Corral buffet.
They are hungry, literally starving people.
And this man, this rabbi can provide food.
Well, yeah, I'm gonna find him.
I'm gonna show up at that place.
Of course they find him.
And then in that moment, in that moment, Jesus delivers this truth bomb, verse 26.
Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
That's John 6, 26.
He's saying, you love the bread, but you don't love me.
That's what he's saying.
You love the good stuff, you love the bread, but you don't love me.
You see, you you can miss him.
You can miss him.
You can love church, you can love the checklist that religion gives you that makes you feel productive and valued, and you can miss him.
You can love all the good stuff.
You can own all 137 Hillsong albums.
You can own all of them.
Maybe 237 at this point.
I don't, I can't keep count.
And you can miss him.
Because you can love the bread.
What he can give, but you can miss him.
That he is the bread.
Now, what am I talking about?
Well, point number one is this Jesus primarily came to be bread, not to give bread.
Alright, let me break that down a little bit.
So, bread's getting a bad rap, right?
Right?
Oh, you oh you eat bread?
Oh.
I think my pastor eats bread.
Well, if you aren't in a culture where there's a million of other options, you eat bread.
Like, I mean, it's the staple in most diets around the world.
Historically, everywhere you go.
Bagels, naan, pita, tortillas.
We all love the red lobster cheese biscuit.
We do.
It's the only good thing coming out of that place at this point.
And no matter where you go in the world, you will find bread.
You'll find some form of bread because it is universal and it is accessible.
And you know what I'm talking about, because it's interesting that we will actually crave bread and not crave others.
You've never craved celery, right?
But man, when there is a basket of bread in the middle of the table, and we wrap it up too, like a present, right?
Like other food we put on platters, right?
Like, but bread, we put it in a bag, we wrap it up, a little blanket for it.
And you will crave bread.
Just me mentioning the red lobster cheese biscuit, you're thinking that through a little bit.
You're like, yeah, it's pretty good.
It is pretty good.
And Jesus says, I'm not bread for your body.
Like that's what these people were thinking.
That's what they wanted from him.
Can I get something from him just to apply it into my life?
And keep my life the same, keep me the same, but just get something from him.
Get some bread.
He says, No, no, no, no, no.
I'm for your soul.
And we have to understand the difference of these two.
Verse 35, 41, 48, I'm the bread of life.
Verse 51, if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
And then verse 60, when many of his disciples heard it, so they heard this teaching, they say, ah, it's a hard saying.
Who can listen to it?
But Jesus, knowing himself, disciples were grumbling.
He says, Do you take offense at this?
Does this offend you?
Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
And then he delivers this.
Verse 63.
It is the Spirit who gives life.
The flesh is no help at all.
The words I've spoken to you are spirit and truth, spirit and life.
Point number two is this your flesh is a costume.
And that costume is useless.
That's verse 63.
Last week, my oldest daughter and I, we went to the square to get some ballet tights.
Now, we're driving up there, getting a parking spot.
I'm like, babe, where do we get them?
She says, Oh, we got to go into Eddie's trick shop.
And I'm like, no, no, okay, for real.
Like, there has to be like a little dance shop, right?
For like little girls to go in and buy their stuff.
No, she's like, no, really, you walk through Eddie's trick shop to the back of the store.
Have you been in Eddie's trick shop?
You've been in there, didn't see ballet stuff at the back of that store, did you?
You walk in, it's about 30 feet wide by 300 feet long.
It's the longest store you've ever been in in your life.
You know, you're like, how can this still be in a building?
And you walk, and it's it's like makeup and dress up makeup and dress up costumes and masks, and just about when your little girl is emotionally wounded from all the zombie, strange, bloody like knives through the forehead, and you know, and then oh, and here's the sweet ballet shoes and tights in the back after we've made you walk through everything else.
And so she's back there, and while she trying, changes into her tights.
I'm looking at the weird stuff in the shop, and man, there's stuff in there, like there's inventory in there from 1973.
Like, I mean, you start looking around, you're like, this shop's incredible.
And it's been there for that long.
Like, like it's been there that long.
People are buying people something.
We are, we are, right?
Like, like you want a costume, that's where you go.
It's incredible.
Just costume after costume, mask and makeup, you can paint yourself and wig yourself and make yourself up.
I mean, it people love costumes, and we are people.
You see, your flesh is a costume.
That's what your flesh is.
Maybe the best way to understand your flesh.
And there's two parts to us there's our soul and there's our flesh.
And our soul is our true self that's underneath all the costumes, underneath all the behaviors.
Healthy, unhealthy, sinful, not sinful.
But the soul's underneath all of that.
It's the forever you.
That's your soul.
And then your flesh is that false self that is afraid.
It's afraid.
It's afraid that if you were really seen underneath all of that, whether you would be loved or not.
And so the flesh does all sorts of crazy stuff.
The flesh just keeps putting on costumes.
A rebellious costume, right?
Escapism and sinful behaviors.
Rebellious behaviors.
But then it's very happy.
The flesh is very happy to get into church.
A church is a wonderful place for the flesh to hide and feed on.
To feed on self-righteousness and judgment.
I mean, what a costume for the flesh.
I mean, you can feel incredibly good about yourself in church and still not be loved in your soul.
The flesh tries to use approval and achievement, religious merit, anything to feel full.
But the hunger's still there because the hunger underneath all your costumes and my costumes, the hunger is still in your soul.
It's underneath.
And all of that sin, by the way, like whether it's rebellious or like self-righteous moralism and performancism, that's all sin, right?
Like it's all us trying to self-save apart from God's provision in Jesus.
Us trying to absolve ourselves of our sin or work our way into righteousness by our own work.
That's sin.
That's what sin is us self-saving.
Rather than saying, no, God provided that as a gift to us in Jesus.
My sin is put upon Him, His righteousness is given to me.
I'm forever His beloved.
I'm loved in my soul.
That's the great rescue.
Your flesh is a costume, and the costume is useless.
The more we begin to see that costume, confess it, repent of it, the more we get comfortable being loved in our soul, enjoying our salvation.
Point number three, the spirit brings life to your soul, but the law kills.
For while we are living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law.
Well, that's really interesting.
That's a lot right there.
That's a lot because he's saying, um, while you're living in the flesh, so your costumes, your sinful passions, behaviors out of those costumes, and that was aroused by the law.
All right, hold on.
My sinful passions were aroused by the good and holy and righteous law that God gave to us for how we should live.
Okay, that's what Paul's saying.
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work and our members to bear fruit for death.
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Okay, so here's what it's saying.
The flesh, your flesh, loves a good law.
Nothing like a good law.
A standard to try to dress yourself up as, to be somebody in front of the world, in front of the church, in front of God, to you, you to do your dressing up.
Rather than to be covered in the righteousness of Jesus, I'll just cover myself up.
I'll form a costume.
And our flesh uses laws, that's why the sinful passions are aroused by the law.
Our flesh uses laws, the standards and rules and merit, to feel redeemed, to feel valued, ultimately to feel loved.
But it never works because you're not you're not having bread of life in your soul, you're taking bread for the flesh.
If I'm liked or loved or viewed enough, then I'll be okay.
If I have that respect or that money, then I'll be okay.
These are all laws.
If I'm good enough, I'm kind enough, if I'm disciplined enough, then I'll be okay.
None of it works to bring you life.
Because God's love is only received enjoyed in the soul.
This is what Jesus is saying that the Spirit brings to us.
Point number four, while the flesh wars against you, you, hidden in Christ, are truly a loved soul.
That's who you are, that's what you are.
And here's how you know the difference.
How do I know the difference?
Oh my gosh, like how do I know the difference if I'm just like religious flesh or am I actually loved in the soul?
I mean, how do I know the difference?
One way, just sit somewhere still and quiet.
A million things will rush into your mind.
And they're all emergencies.
They weren't an emergency 15 seconds ago, right?
So they're right now, I gotta go do whatever, I gotta clip my fingernails, I gotta do it right now.
It's very important.
You didn't have to two minutes ago, but all of a sudden, right now you need to.
So that's all your flesh, it's so scared for you to be seen in the soul.
A million things will rush into your mind of what you need to do and should do and have to do and what's coming up, and all of them can wait.
They're all escapes, they're all escapes.
Your flesh is panicking, so you're you're there.
And then maybe your flesh gets religious.
You start to recount all your good things.
Maybe you start to compare yourself to other people.
It's still your flesh.
It's still costumes, it's still you showing things you do to God.
Maybe you move on to a to-do list.
Maybe you start planning ways to escape your anxiety or guilt or shame.
Start thinking about unhealthy and sinful things to do.
It's still a costume.
And the question is that the soul is wondering.
Will you let God love you underneath the flesh?
Just write through it.
He'll just love right because he's taken care of it already on the cross.
But will you get still enough?
And the soul doesn't need costumes.
It doesn't need it.
That's the great thing about the soul.
The soul doesn't need it, the soul waits to be loved apart from everything else.
The soul sees the costumes.
You know what the soul wants to do?
Just confess them.
Just confess more and repent more and walk in the spirit more and enjoy that freedom more.
And to see that you're putting on a costume in front of somebody, in front of yourself, in front of your parents, and to confess it and repent it.
I'm doing that performance thing again, I'm doing that guilt thing again.
Like, I don't have to do that to live from your soul that's already loved in Jesus, hidden in Christ.
Victory, victory.
There's no performance in the soul.
It's only faith and belovedness.
And Jesus says, I am bred for your soul.
There's a classic Bible story, the prodigal son.
You've probably heard it, probably.
I don't know, maybe you haven't heard it.
It's a great story.
It's two sons, wealthy dad.
The younger son comes up, you remember the story?
The younger son comes up and say, Dad, can I have my share of the inheritance?
And dad would have been very offended, right?
Like if you go to your dad right now and you say, Dad, I know you're alive, don't really care that much about you, but I want your money.
Can I have your money?
Like, of course your dad's offended.
This dad would be offended, but he gives it, he gives it over.
And the son takes all his money and he runs off.
He's like, peace out, I'm out of here.
I got the money, I'm gone.
And he goes off to a foreign country, he goes off to another country, and he is living it up.
He is spending his money, he is having parties, he's having women, he is living, he is spending the costume is on.
And then the money starts to run out, and then the money runs out, right?
The costume finally fails, as they all do.
And he does an amazing thing.
This is the moment where a lot of times we have the option of just putting on another costume.
He's at the end of himself, and Luke 15 says he remembers.
He remembers his dad.
He remembers his home and he begins to think, perhaps dad'll take me back.
I wonder if dad will take me back.
I wonder if I am loved so deeply, I am loved under all costumes, unto just me when there's nothing else.
And so he forms this little speech as he's going home.
He said, I'm gonna say that I'm gonna say that I've sinned against you and against heaven.
I'm gonna say that, okay, I'm gonna say I'm not worthy, I'm gonna say that.
Those will be really good, those are good things or true things, okay?
I'm gonna say that, and I'm gonna say I'm just gonna beg him, I'm gonna beg him.
If I can just get back, make me your hired servant, just anything to get back in.
That's what I'm gonna say.
And the story says while he was a long way off, the dad runs toward him and embraces him, throws his arms around him.
The son starts in on a speech.
He's been practicing it, so he's ready.
The son starts in on his speech, and the father, almost like he doesn't hear, just begins to throw a party.
He starts giving orders, hey, hey, hey, fat and calf, let's get that taken care of.
We're gonna we're gonna have that.
He starts planning the party because the son was lost and now was found.
And the father has loved him underneath all that costume business the whole time.
The father loved him in his soul, in his true self.
And then this older brother, right?
Comes along.
He's seen all this play out.
He's not happy.
He says, Dad.
Man, all these years, I've been working.
I've been working for you.
I've been performing.
You've never thrown a party for me like this.
He's thinking, you know, the our little brother, he disrespected you.
He wasted your money.
The very least he should have to do is work his way back in.
And it's a costume.
He has on a costume.
It's his costume of moralism and performancism.
It's pride.
This is the good son.
He would have been in church.
He would be wearing an overpriced plaid button-up shirt.
And he's saying, I work and I don't even get this.
And you know what it results in?
It results in an inability to receive the true love of the father, an inability to have compassion on his brother.
He's self-consumed, he's self-righteous, he's arrogant, and he's unhappy.
And the father says, No, no, you don't get it.
You're always with me.
Everything I have is yours.
It always has been this way.
The father's working off of a system and a framework of grace, and the son is working off of a system and a framework of some performance system.
And the father was talking to his soul.
But he wouldn't have it.
He just kept his costume on.
And here's what I love.
What I love is that the father still loves both sons.
That's the good news.
Because there's times in our lives where we have on the costume, and it takes us a while to figure out oh my gosh, the last two weeks, last two years, before you confess and repent.
And the father loves both of them the entire time.
See, church, when you're hidden in Christ, God loves you.
All your sin and the way we dress up and costume and performance and even escape into unhealthy things that break peace with God, sin.
Even that has taken care of He loves you.
He's already proud of you, already values you.
And it's not even because of what you do, it's because of His grace for you and what Jesus did for you.
What I know is I know all of my fear, all of my anxiety, which is incredibly real.
All of it is because I walk around in the flesh.
And not the truth that my whole self is hidden in Christ.
Church, the Father really loves you.
So, my brothers and sisters, hear the words of the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 55.
Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.
And he who has no money, come, buy, and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread?
And your labor for that which does not satisfy.
Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear and come to me here, that your soul may live.
Let's pray together.
God, thank you for the gift of Jesus that is so supreme that while we act like fools in this world and before you, putting on costumes of rebellion and costumes of performance, you love us underneath it all.
You love us despite our motives and despite our behaviors.
You you love us despite we are sinners and push you away.
You love us while we are the younger, rebellious sons, and while we are the older, prideful sons.
Thank you that your love triumphs all and the gift of Jesus is sufficient.
That all of our sin has been taken upon the cross, and your righteousness is given to us, and we are made forever the beloved because of the work of Jesus, not our work.
May we live from our souls that are forever loved and cared for.
In Jesus' name, amen.