Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris
Hey, everybody. Hi. Hi, Jeff.

Jeff
He’s Chris. I’m Jeff. We’re the Bible guys. We’re so glad you joined us today. And we have a really fun moment.

Chris
Yeah, that is. Well, the moment is going to be a social media minute. Is that what you’re talking about?

Jeff
I was going to say it’s so much fun to hear from our listeners.

Chris
Yes.

Jeff
So many people send us things like on YouTube, they’ll leave comments or what, Facebook or whatever. Yeah.

Chris
Or just on our website, or sometimes they’ll, you know, what do you call it? Like they, they give us four stars or whatever. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, exactly. And I’m so excited about this because I love to hear from our listeners.

Chris
Oh for sure. Yeah. So this this first one, I’ll let you read it.

Jeff
Really? Yeah. Read it. Okay. It says love these discussions each day. Chris is fabulous from KTV. What? No world.

Chris
Hey, listen. What? For those of us. For those listening, who don’t know, who don’t know, this kid is on our staff. Yes, because, well.

Jeff
She used to be on our staff.

Chris
Because he says Chris is fabulous. Yeah. Anyway, so I think that she probably knew that we would know her name. So she says, oh, lovely discussion. Chris is fabulous. I think that is so funny. I see.

Jeff
I see how it.

Chris
Goes. It’s very, very funny.

Jeff
I just wanted to think from Deion Sanders. But if there was receipts.

Chris
If there was also truth in it besides the funny. Thank you Kitty. Yeah, I appreciate that.

Jeff
But you heard Deion Sanders the coach for Colorado. Yeah yeah. He said he keeps receipts. Do you hear him talking about that. No. Oh yeah. Yeah Kitty trust me I’m going to keep receipts on that one. That’s funny I know.

Chris
Here we go. So. So you don’t think it’s right for her to give a compliment to another person? Oh, I do think it’s right. Is that what you’re saying?

Jeff
No, no, I think it’s perfectly right.

Chris
Oh, wow.

Jeff
What do you say?

Chris
It’s terrible. Your view. I’m just trying to figure out.

Jeff
I’m just saying. I think that the fact that Jeff is fabulous is understood. She had to stay. She had to state it for you. Stroke your.

Chris
Ego. You long and have to come up with something.

Jeff
Your ego. But it was understood already. Yeah.

Chris
Go ahead. Oh, I’ll read the second. This one’s yours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good talk. Guys. I wouldn’t mind if you went over time to finish your thoughts though, says Ruth P okay.

Jeff
Ruth, I agree with you. How great is that? Yeah, that.

Chris
Is so fun. All right.

Jeff
There’s no more deadlines anymore. We’re just going to talk till we’re done.

Chris
Yeah, I’ll tell you what that’s actually.

Jeff
Then these people never be able to go to work.

Chris
Well, that’s heartwarming actually, because she’s she’s wanting more and we already go like 20 something minutes. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. There is a little bit of a fallacy in her statement that she wishes we’d finish our thoughts as if we’re thinking this through.

Chris
Right, right, right.

Jeff
We’re not thinking. It’s just coming out of our mouths. Yeah. Let me see. Thank you. Ruth, that was nice. And then this says good morning, Bible guys. Thank you again for the stimulating podcast during my workout. I love that it’s thought provoking for me sometime between 330 and 5 a.m. from David D.

Chris
David D you are a strange man.

Jeff
He’s working out between 330 and 5:00 in the morning.

Chris
Part of me wishes that I were you like have the discipline to be you, right? But most of me can’t vibe or even understand or comprehend that.

Jeff
Yeah, well, he’s got so many things working against him. One, he’s listening to our podcast and then it’s sometime between 330.

Chris
I can’t believe we don’t put him to sleep.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, he’s making a whole series of bad choices.

Chris
I wonder if he’s listening right now to this podcast. Good morning. Dave at 4 a.m.. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, maybe. Hey.

Chris
Hey, Dave.

Jeff
David.

Chris
You can do it, buddy. Yeah. One more rep. One more. You’re 1% better today, David. Go for it, man. Yeah. That’s so funny. At one time, I got motivated to do jogging when I was in high school. Got up at, like, 5:00 in the morning, jog down to the park, fell asleep and woke up to ducks pecking my face near the lily pond.

Jeff
You fell asleep at the park? At the.

Chris
Park, at like six in the morning on the grass. And what made you lay down?

Jeff
You didn’t think I should just run home now?

Chris
No, because I was tired. I ran all the way to the park and then ducks were literally right above me. Quack, quack. And they’re pecking me. And then. And I was like, oh no, I fell asleep. Which, by the way, is pretty dangerous at Mill Creek Park. And then and then I got up and came home and I thought, wow, I sacrificed getting up. I was so tired, I fell asleep and that was the only day I jogged.

Jeff
Some healthy guy went jogging past you going that drunk, right? You’re just sleeping on the side of the path, right? Wow.

Chris
Okay. But it was the only day I jogged. So mind you, I started the story with. I was committed to go jogging.

Jeff
I’m committed to jogging. That was the one day.

Chris
The one day?

Jeff
That was the day you jogged.

Chris
Yeah, that was.

Jeff
I jogged one day.

Chris
That was the day I jogged. It was great.

Jeff
That’s awesome. Well, Dave, David, we are really glad that we get to spend time with you every day. Yeah. For sure. In a couple hours we’ll be up and we’ll celebrate this too. Yeah.

Chris
That’s awesome. Hey everyone! Before we continue on with our podcast, we want to take just a moment and say, if you’re on Facebook, do us a favor and just, you know, repost our video. Share a link or follow us on our Facebook website. Because it really does go a long way and inviting others to join the party. So thank you for that.

Jeff
Well. Hey, we are continuing. Matthew chapter 14, Mark chapter six and then John chapter six. These are two different issues. The Matthew and the Mark are two different things. Two little, two different things. Matthew and Mark are little short phrases that are really, really significant. And then in John, Jesus starts talking about bread from heaven, which is bread from heaven. Yeah, yeah. There you go. So Matthew chapter 14, verse 34, it says, after they had crossed the lake, remember the big storm yesterday I do. They landed at gennesaret when the people recognized Jesus. The news of his arrival spread quickly throughout the whole area, and soon people were bringing all their sick to be healed. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.

Chris
Nanny. It’s crazy. That’s just like four sentences. And so much happened in that moment. Yeah, you could make a movie from those four sentences.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And a whole bunch of people were healed just touching his garment.

Chris
Yeah. Hey, let me touch.

Jeff
So incidental.

Chris
Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah. Let me just touch the end of your robe. And then there was tons of people here.

Jeff
In a message recently that you preached. You were talking about a really big thing and you said, and yada, yada, yada, and you went, I remember. Remember what you said that.

Chris
It was it was, it was. Yeah, it was yesterday. It was day before yesterday.

Jeff
And I just thought it was funny in the in the make it better meeting, we always have a meeting in between services that kind of make things better. And I said dude, what you were talking about was such a big deal. And then you go and yada yada yada. And we just left with these sentences are kind of that way. So he just gets down walking on the water, storms, storms ended. He shows up, people touches his hem of his garment, they’re healed. Yada yada yada. That’s another way to feel it’s just.

Chris
You now I do now.

Jeff
It’s so funny. So then Mark says it the same way it says after they had crossed the lake, they landed at Genesaret and they brought the boat to shore and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once, and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard he was, wherever he went in villages, cities or in the countryside. They brought the sick out to the marketplaces and they begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed. That’s just those are beautiful sentences.

Chris
Pretty close, pretty close accounts.

Jeff
But then we pivot just a little bit. John, he’s the only one who tells this part in chapter six. Verse 22 says, the next day, the crowd that had stayed on the far shore saw that the disciples had taken only the only boat, and they realized Jesus had not gone with them. Several boats from Tiberius landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread, and the people had eaten. So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you for the father or for God the Father has given me the seal of his approval. They replied, we want to perform God’s works too. What should we do? Jesus told them, this is the only work God wants from you. Believe in the one he has sent, they answered. Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you, what can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness. The scriptures say Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said, I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Jeff
Sir, they said, give us that bread every day. Jesus replied, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But you haven’t believed in me even though you’ve seen me. However those the father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my father’s will, that all who see his son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day. Yeah.

Chris
It’s good man. I’m yawning and.

Chris
I’m sneezing the whole time.

Jeff
Let’s just keep it there.

Chris
Right, right. Well, yawn and low lighting, even though that we have lights blaring in our face. That’s a low lighting environment. Yep, yep. And then and I sneezed. I actually don’t know why I don’t sneeze often, but I always yawn.

Jeff
Yeah, you’ve sneezed several times on the podcast so far. It’s very exciting. Have you been keeping track? I don’t think so. Why? Because, I mean, I’ve sneezed in my lifetime. Just not on the podcast, I don’t think.

Chris
Well, you think I was asking you whether or not you’ve ever sneezed, I don’t know.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, I did one time. Have you? Super exciting. Have you ever sneezed? I’m just wondering.

Chris
Because I want all of our listeners to.

Jeff
Too. Have you ever sneezed?

Jeff
Yes. Oh. It’s great.

Jeff
It’s such a weird.

Jeff
Question, man.

Chris
Okay, so let’s back to the back to the deal here.

Chris
Okay.

Chris
So. So Jesus crossed the lake. He crossed the lake. And and then he goes over to the other side. And then they go. They find out he’s not there. So they go to the other side and they find him and he tells them a hard truth. He says, I tell you the truth, you’re not here because you understood the miraculous sign. You’re not really seeking me in the truth of me. He’s like, you’re here because you want food. You want more food, you want food. So I’ve heard a preacher, a preacher that you and I both know for for decades. I’m not going to say his name. Good. But. So you see that part here in the book of John where he says, we want to perform God’s work. So what should we do? And Jesus told them, this is the only work God wants from you. Believe in the one who is sent. And I’ve heard a preacher actually say to his entire staff, hundreds of people say. You know what God expects of you, by the way? I think, I think I think this was a stage comment. Do you know what God expects of you? Hey, Jeff, do you know what God expects of you? Nothing. God has no expectation from you. Nothing. That’s what God wants from you. Nothing. The only thing he wants from you is believe in the one who has sent. That’s it. That’s the requirement. Wow. And I think and I said can we have a meeting about that? I said, I think I disagree with that. So every other commandment in the book that talks about how we’re supposed to demonstrate faith and obedience in our lives, even though that his blessings most of the time are not conditional, but there are some blessings that are attached to obedience. Chris
Yeah, there are. I mean, absolutely, he says, knocking. You’re going to find, right? He says if you treat me and honor me in your finances, you’re going to you’re going to receive blessings like like you would never have before. If you honor me with your relationships, your marriage will be better. So there are there are some things that are attached to to our obedience. And so when he makes a statement, he says, oh, God wants nothing from you because your only job, it says so right here, the only work from you that God wants, the only thing, Chris see, the only thing is believing. He said. And I said to myself, wait a minute. This sentence was given to a group of people who had just shown up and who wanted bread. And Jesus said, let me tell you the hard truth you’re actually here for the wrong reasons. The only thing I want from you is to believe. Right, right, right. So this wasn’t.

Jeff
But once you believe he wants more from you, right? He only wants everything else, right?

Chris
Right.

Jeff
That’s what he wants. He wants everything else right from you, right? He says whatever you do in word or deed, do it all to the glory of God, right? Right. That’s what he says. He says, be ye holy, even as I am holy. Yeah. He says, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Right. He says, come to me, draw near to me, and I’ll draw near to you. So he wants a relationship with you. He says to to love mercy, right? Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. That’s what does God require of you? Oh, man. That’s literally the phrase in Ecclesiastes right to to love mercy, to justly and walk humbly with your God.

Chris
So I did so many of those things. I did a sermon one time that says, how much? How much is enough when giving to God? Like how much is enough? And then I made this list, this like crazy list. I was like, oh yeah, he doesn’t want much. He only wants my money, my time, my resources, my agenda, my will, my preferences. Right? My relationships, my relationships. I started naming everything right. Right. You know, my obedience, my morality choices, my you know, my love, my love. I started listing all these crazy things. I’m like, oh, yeah, he doesn’t want much, right? And then I sort of, you know, sort of proposed it as a tension filled question, like, okay, God, how much is enough? Right? And then I finally did that on purpose because I finally got to the answer and I put it on the screen and I said. Enough is when you’ve given them everything. Yeah, right. You don’t stop until you give them everything, right? Because that’s what he wants and that’s what is required. And that is what is best. And so it’s like, God doesn’t want most of you. He wants all of you. So.

Jeff
So when you read a statement like this, this is a great Bible study principle. When you read a statement that is so emphatic like that, then the very first thing you do is take it only in the context that he’s saying it right. And then you look for principles outside of that context. Right. But in this context, he’s he’s a very making a very emphatic statement. But I agree with you. It’s directly in contrast to the fact that they were looking for bread. He’s like, dude, the only thing I want from you guys is to believe, right? I’m not doing the miracles to feed you. I’m not doing the miracles to just heal you and keep you alive for a few more years until you die again, right? Right. I’m doing these things so that you would believe that’s what he’s trying to do, is he’s framing why he’s doing what he’s doing. And so to to take one sentence and build an entire doctrine off of the idea that, well, God doesn’t want anything else from you is is not. And you can’t get to heaven any other way than belief. Right. But there’s a lot more to the Christian life than just getting to heaven, right? If God’s only goal was to to get you to heaven, the kindest thing he could have done was take you to heaven the minute you trusted him, right? Right. Instead, he leaves you on this earth where people are dying and we’re going to have all this loss, and there’s disease and violence and danger, all these things.

Chris
Pain and.

Jeff
Sickness and sadness and all this stuff. The kindest thing. God’s been to heaven. I don’t know if you’ve heard.

Chris
I get a movie quote for you. Go ahead. What’s your prediction for the fight?

Chris
Pain. Pain? What is it? I don’t know, it’s Rocky three.

Chris
Rocky three. The Clubber.

Jeff
Lang. Oh, Clubber. Yeah.

Chris
Clubber Lang, Mr. T yeah.

Jeff
So? So Jesus has already been to heaven. Yeah. He knows how good it’s here. It was there and he’s been here. Yeah, right. So the. If his only goal was to get you to heaven, then he would have taken you there immediately. But it’s not. So he has a mission for you here. He wants your life while you’re here.

Chris
Yeah. It is better. It is better to interpret that statement first of all, in the context of that particular crowd. Right. He’s giving that to that crowd. Right. But that statement does work for salvation. Sure. So so in other words, like, hey, listen, the only thing I want from you right now is to believe in Jesus Christ, right? In this case, he’s saying, believe in me. The one who is sent. Right? Right. So, so the very first and only thing that they need to be concerned with is believing in the Messiah.

Jeff
And that is the pivot he makes because he talks about eternal life and all.

Chris
Next it is it’s exactly.

Chris
What he’s talking, exactly what.

Jeff
He says. So in that.

Chris
Context. Yeah. So so once you’re a Christian, the idea that you can apply this statement doesn’t, doesn’t work, right? Right. Because elsewhere in the Bible, the Bible never contradicts itself. And the Bible is also its own best commentary. Right? So when you stack the verses next to each other, there’s no way to, you know, come up with that conclusion.

Jeff
So and a big part of it is that we die to ourselves daily, right? And we are supposed to give our lives to Christ. So the way that we live our lives every single day now is not for me. It’s for him. He says. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So now my whole life should be for him, right? Right. And then when I die, I gain heaven, eternity. So the eternity conversation, that’s what he’s talking about here. I want you to believe. But while you’re alive, just give your whole life to him. That’s all he.

Chris
Wants. That’s great. Yeah. Hey, another thing that sticks out in my mind is that in verse 35 of John six it says, Jesus replied, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever, whoever believes in me will never be thirsty again. So when he says, I’m the bread of life, I here. I’ve also heard another sort of misconception about that one verse when I grew up, when I think of bread and bread of life, and you didn’t grow up this way, but I grew up, you know, taking the.

Chris
Bread.

Chris
Right? You know, it’s that Latin whole thing, right? Like, you know, bread is bread is bread, you know, and it’s like, it’s that whole thing. And so we were taught that Jesus becomes the bread, right, right, right. And by the way, I did my college thesis on this. So it’s a fancy word called transubstantiation. There you go. Which is, which is a person, a minister having the ability to pray over the sacraments and then them to literally become flesh and blood. Right. So and by the way, I bet you a ton of our listeners grew up thinking the same thing, or at least being taught the same thing. So when he says, I am the bread, or, you know, when he tears the bread at the First communion and says, this is my body, okay? The thing that I always like to say is this Jesus said in the scriptures, I am the Rock. But Jesus was not a rock, right? Jesus said, I am the gate. Jesus actually, to my knowledge, never turned into a physical gate. Right? Right. Jesus said, I am the door, right? Jesus was never a door. Jesus said, I am a shepherd right? For. For all we know, he was a carpenter. Right. So when he says I’m the bread, it’s a metaphor. Right. And so the implications of the bread being broken is the idea that his body was, was torn as flesh was torn and broken. For you is flesh was at least. And then in the idea that, like the cup was poured out in the same like manner, his blood was spilt. So it doesn’t make us. And I used to, you know, as a kid, you know how you always do. You’re like, does that make us vampires eating flesh, drinking blood? Chris
And so but I just want to let you know that, like, I’m not trying to disrespect another belief at all because I am certain that we have people listening. I am certain of it. We have people listening that are going, hey, that’s what I believe. Don’t disrespect that. Right? But I don’t want to I don’t want to disrespect it disrespectfully. But but I want to challenge the thought unapologetically. Does that make sense? So I want to challenge it unapologetically. Just just to just to be kind and be considerate. But at the same time, say, this actually is what the Bible says, right? And the Bible tells us that, you know, the purpose of communion is only one reason. He says as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. You know, every time you eat of this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So you are, you are. You are reflecting on the sacrifice of Christ. You’re looking forward to his coming again. And and those sacraments are a reminder, nothing more of what he’s done. Yeah.

Jeff
So you and I both agree in the idea of the priesthood of the believers. Yes. Right. And when we when we tend to make like the bread and the wine at, at the Lord’s Supper, be something more than it is, it’s symbolic. Yeah. Then we suddenly need holy people to handle it. Right, right. And there’s the whole ritual that comes around that. And then we have clergy versus laity. We have the elite religious leaders, right, leading everybody else. But for the priesthood of believers, we believe that anybody can share in communion. He just says as often as you do it. The Book of Acts says they were doing it every day in every house, right? Every group of believers that would come together. They were every day, every house. They were breaking bread, sharing the Lord’s Supper.

Chris
And by the way, that also means there’s no frequency given of requirement. No. Right, right, right.

Jeff
They were doing it every day. Right?

Chris
And so, so even a church that does it every week that says sin, sin, sin, you’re not doing it every week. Right? Well, you’re not doing it every day, right?

Jeff
Right, right.

Jeff
So so he just says as often as you do it, do it in remembrance of me. So he’s not saying every time you’re supposed to do it every certain time, but as often as you do. And so, you know, as, as a priesthood of believers, which is what Peter teaches, then we begin to realize, okay, if this is not suddenly the body, the physical body of Christ and the physical blood of Christ, but these are symbolic of his body and his blood, then all of us can participate in the symbolism, right? As opposed to needing a holy person, you know, to lead us in that. And so there is there’s all kinds of reasons why that tradition grew up, but it’s not biblical.

Chris
Yeah, right. And by the way, just for fun, you went I went to churches that did it once a month. Yeah, I did, I went to churches that did it once a week. And then I’ve also been a part of a church that did it once a year.

Jeff
Oh wow.

Chris
Yeah. So and but but we do it like 6 or 7 times a year.

Jeff
Yeah. We usually.

Jeff
Go every, every other month or every month.

Chris
Something like that. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah yeah yeah.

Jeff
I grew up in churches that did every week, every every month and once a quarter.

Chris
A four times a year. Yeah.

Jeff
Four times a year. Yeah.

Chris
Yeah yeah. So. Yeah. All right. Well listen that’s about our time. So, so that’s, that’s a good passage of scripture. And we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.