Sermon Discussion Questions
Here’s a few sermon discussion questions to help our church love God by applying his word to our lives. Feel free to use these questions for personal reflection, alongside your family, within a smaller discipleship/journey group, or even within the context of your Life Group. If you missed Sunday’s sermon from John 6:35-59 you can view it online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBpWZLXUvVw
TPQ: To open the sermon, Rich shared a story of a ‘good day gone bad’. When have you had a good day, seemingly going well, then it all changed? What was that like? How did it affect your attitude or your mood?
As we look more closely at this passage, we’re reminded that we can tend to base our satisfaction with life on our outer circumstances rather than our satisfaction in Christ.
In the context of this passage, Christ had provided food for the crowd the day before. Now, in conversation the next day, Jesus claims that He is the Bread of Life. From the verses that follow, Rich poses 3 questions:
1. What’s it mean to eat the Bread of Life?
The surface meaning of Christ’s command to, literally, ‘eat His flesh & drink His blood’ is troubling and confusing. He must mean something else. In the passage itself, Jesus says that belief in Him is partaking of Him. Receiving Him goes to the depth of taking Him into our lives like food that we ingest and becomes a part of who we are and how we live.
Q: how do you tend to approach the ‘hard sayings’ of Jesus like this one? Does it surprise you that He would use such a graphic metaphor? What would it look like in your life if you allowed Christ to be fully ‘ingested’ (or taken into and become one with) who you are, your personality & temperament? What might change?
2. Who may eat of the Bread of Life?
We see in the passage the dual aspect of coming to Jesus for salvation: God brings to Christ all those who He calls, and they (all who are called) will believe in Him. “Whoever believes has eternal life” There is great comfort & security in this. Jesus is the very image of God the Father living in front of them, and yet some do not come to Him for who He is. The assurance is this: that the Father will draw all who He calls out and all who will believe will be saved, will have eternal life. Those are the ones who will eat the Bread of Life.
Q: if you have come to know Christ personally, if you’ve been saved by Him, think about the elements of the story of your coming to Christ. What aspects of it show God’s supernatural drawing of you, bringing you to Himself. And what other aspects show the mental process you went through, the learning about the Gospel and the decision to believe & trust in Him? What encouragement do you find in this double faceted picture of salvation?
3. What’s provided to those who eat the Bread of Life?
1-Assurance that we’ve been accepted & approved by God through Christ.
2-Security that we’ll never lose that acceptance & approval, that Christ will never let us go. Our security is not found in the strength of our faith but in the strength of the One in whom we have faith. What Jesus has done is where our security is based, not on our own faith. Because of this, we can stop dwelling on our sin & failure. We can focus on Christ, His power & His work for us.
3- Hope of eternal life & the resurrection of believers. Because Christ was resurrected, we can look to our own resurrection. We can hold onto these promises, this hope, through the challenges and difficulties, even the extremes of life & death.
4- Contentment in Him, satisfaction in Jesus Himself. He, and only He, truly satisfies. This is why the metaphor of food fits so well. But earthly food never truly satisfies for very long. Just like Rich’s example of the newest Lego sets for the kids, the new toy that is soon discarded. All that we think will bring contentment, at some point, will always fail us and fizzle out. Our only true sense of being fulfilled & satisfied is in Christ.
Q: what are some things people look to for satisfaction & fulfillment these days? What have you looked to in an effort to feel full & content, in your own life, that has ended up disappointing you? There is freedom in confessing that and then turning back to the only One who truly satisfies. What are some practical ideas for how we can acknowledge & practice our daily dependence on Jesus, on Him who is truly our daily Bread?