Then David slept with his ancestors, and
was buried in the city of David. The
time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in
Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
So Solomon sat on the throne of his father
David; and his kingdom was firmly established. 1 Kings 2:10 - 12 (NRSV)
Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the
statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the
high places. The king went
to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon
used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in
a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have
shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he
walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of
heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and
have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O LORD my God, you have made your
servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I
do not know how to go out or come in. And
your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great
people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding
mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can
govern this your great people?”
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked
this. God said to him, “Because you have
asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the
life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what
is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a
wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like
you shall arise after you.
I give you also what you have not asked,
both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways,
keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I
will lengthen your life.”
1 Kings 3:3 - 14 (NRSV)
Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole
heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the LORD, studied by
all who delight in them. Full of honor
and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds; the
LORD is gracious and merciful. He
provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant. He has shown his people the power of his
works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy. They
are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and
uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people; he has
commanded his covenant forever. Holy and
awesome is his name.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.
Psalm 111
I am the living bread that came down from
heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will
live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my
flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves,
saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and
drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood
abide in me, and I in them. Just
as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats
me will live because of me. This
is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors
ate, and they died. But the one who eats
this bread will live forever.”
John
6:51 - 58 (NRSV)
The Olympic Games are in the
books for another four years! The
buildup to the games always includes the runners carrying, and passing the
torch. Our three texts have something of
that. David passed the torch of
leadership to Solomon; the Psalmist passed the torch of praise and worship to
the community of faith; the beloved apostle John passed the torch of eternal
life in Jesus Christ.
Today I would love to fully
develop all three texts, but, for the sake of time we will dwell on that last
torch; it is the most critical. We must
pass on the gift of eternal life to the next generation. Someone once said that the church is only one
generation from extinction. This is true
because the church is not monuments or buildings – it is passed on in
transformed lives. If we drop that ball
in this generation, Christ will be lost in the next.
Eternal life
We normally speak of eternal life
as that which happens after a man dies. Someone
has said Man's life is made up of 20
years of his mother asking him where he is going, 40 years of his wife asking
him where he has been and one hour at his funeral when everyone wonders where
he is going.[1]
Jesus maintained you don’t have to
wonder!
Notice the progression of
becoming a follower of Jesus Christ:
CURIOSITY BECOMES IDENTITY
I am the living bread that came down from
heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will
live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my
flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves,
saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” John
6:48-52 (NRSV)
What
you do with bread, of course, is eat it.
The Jews were thinking only in literal terms. Jesus tried to talk their language, but they
missed the point. He spoke of the manna
the children of Israel ate in the wilderness, while they followed Moses around. That bread sustained physical life.
But Jesus was speaking of
spiritual life and the identity He came to establish with us. This bread speaks of the humanity of
Christ. He was fully God, but He was
also fully human. The Bible declares He
was incarnated [literally put on flesh]. When you go through difficult times, Christ
understands, because he shares the same flesh with which you contend. For those who will identify with Christ, saying
I
belong to Christ; I will follow Him, our grumbling ends, and our
identity begins as His believers. Then…
IDENTITY BECOMES INCARNATION
So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. John 6:53
(NRSV)
Identifying with Christ brings
the new birth, the incarnation of Jesus, not just in Bethlehem’s manger, but in
the Believer’s heart and life. One
interpreter’s comment about this is worth noting...
What does that mean? Think
of it this way. Here in a bookcase is a
book which a man has never read. It may
be the glory and the wonder of the tragedies of Shakespeare; but so long as it
remains unread upon his bookshelves it is external to him. One day he takes it down and reads it. He is thrilled and fascinated and moved. The story sticks to him; the great lines
remain in his memory; now when he wants to, he can take that wonder out from
inside himself and remember it and think about it and feed his mind and his
heart upon it. Once the book was outside
him. Now it is inside him and he can
feed upon it. It is that way with any
great experience in life. It remains
external until we take it within ourselves.[2]
Jesus wants to be our internal
companion in that way; not a theological subject for debate. He told us to abide in Him and He would
abide
in us. That means Jesus takes up residence. Identity with Christ leads to Incarnation of
the Christ in us. He becomes the very
bread of life that feeds us internally.
From identity to incarnation,
and...
INCARNATION TOUCHES ETERNITY
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood
have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is
true food and my blood is true drink. Those
who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live
because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven,
not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live
forever.” John 6:51 - 58 (NRSV)
Everything associated with Jesus
is life. His flesh and blood give life;
are life! The Father is living; Jesus
himself lives by the Father’s vitality.
Compared to the physical manna of the Old Testament Israelites, who died
in the barren wasteland, the life provided by Christ is eternal, in that it has
no end in any direction.
Chronologically, something that is eternal has no beginning, nor an ending. Dimensionally
it is also without barriers. Our life in
Christ is not contained in a church building.
It is not confined to the Lord’s Supper Table, or some religious
ceremony. Life in Christ doesn’t just
extend to places; it governs and inhabits all creation. When you leave here today, you will not leave
your life in Christ hanging on a peg in the foyer wall. Rather it takes you out into the
mission field to carry life everywhere; eternal life has no boundary.
a warning
A number of years ago my doctor
scribbled something impossible to interpret on a white pad. He handed me the note and said, Take
this – you’ll feel better soon. Considering
that I was so sick I imagined I’d have to get much better to die, I did what so
many of us have done - I followed the instructions. I took the prescription to the pharmacy,
holding it like precious treasure. I
carried the bottle home, eyeing it on the seat of my car like a miracle in the
making.
This is gonna make me feel so much better!
After I started to feel a little
better it just did not seem quite so urgent to take the pills. I stopped taking them regularly – quit
altogether with six or eight left in the bottle. The relapse was the worst feeling in my
life.
Many people treat Christianity
the same way. A small dose of religion
will act like any other immunization; it will keep you from getting the real
thing. In the long run, if you are going
to drink this cup with Christ at all, you’d better empty it down to the
dregs. Part time Christianity is miserable
Christianity!
You can’t pass a miserable torch!
We blessed the backpacks today, and our
prayer is that these children, the next generation to which we’re charged to
pass the torch of eternal life, will get it, hold it high and pass it on again.
That is too important for “part-time, misery
religion”.
So how will we do it?
An old wooden church was being moved through
the little town to preserve the building for the future. As it passed Main Street the steeple brushed
the power lines; in a second the white clapboard church was blazing. A crowd gathered – including “Bad Buster” who
had never darkened the church doorstep since he was baptized as a babe. The preacher was furiously carrying water
buckets and noticed Buster. What
are you doin’ here Buster? You’ve never been
interested in church before. Buster
replied, That’s true, preacher; but I also ain’t never seen no church on fire
before either!
How do you pass the torch? Bring it close, get warmed – let the fire of
God’s Holy Spirit set you on fire; you won’t have to worry about the next
generation – they’ll stand in line to catch that kind of fire!
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