Josh Benner

Category: Bible

  • Jesus is the bread of life and why bread is the perfect food

    Jesus is the bread of life and why bread is the perfect food

    Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
    -John 6:35

    Jesus tells a group who’s following him that he is the bread of life. What the perfect food to pick. Something so universal, something that’s such a staple of life. Most foods, you can find someone who doesn’t like them. 

    Cheese is amazing. There are people who don’t like cheese. There are people who don’t like fish, or beef. There are even weirdos who don’t like chocolate. But everyone likes bread. It’s a universal staple. 

    Think about bread for a moment. A lot of restaurants you go to, they just give you a bowl of bread. You go to an Italian restaurant, maybe it’ll be breadsticks, maybe it’ll be bread with some olive oil. You go to a Mexican restaurant, they bring you chips and salsa. The tortilla chip is just bread that they then fried. 

    They don’t even charge you for it. Just “here, have some bread.” 

    Go to a Mediterranean restaurant, the meal will come with a pita. An Indian restaurant, it’ll be naan. 

    And that only works with bread. 

    Can you imagine going to a restaurant and they bring the table a bowl of broccoli? No! You can’t even imagine that. 

    Really, a lot of popular chain restaurants are known more for their bread than their actual entrees. No one is really going to Red Lobster for their week old fish and ocean roaches. It’s all about the cheddar bay biscuits. Olive Garden? The breadsticks are the real star of the show. 

    We love bread. 

    It plays a major role in so many of our favorite foods. Pizza. Cheeseburgers. Fried chicken. 

    Meatballs. Already a brilliant idea unto itself. A ball of meat, but we say “needs bread crumbs.” 

    We add bread to things that have nothing to do with bread. A salad. Mostly vegetables, let’s add bread crumbs. Soup. Mostly liquid, let’s add crackers and put it in a bread bowl. A bowl of ice cream. We look and say “the soup people were onto something. Let’s get rid of the bowl and replace that with a piece of bread.” 

    Most of our favorite desserts are just sweeter versions of bread.  Cake. Donuts. All the best breakfast foods. Bread. Pancakes, waffles, french toast, bagels. We LOVE bread. 

    Rich people love bread, poor people love bread. Old people love bread, young people love bread. We love it so much that many years ago, people said “I wonder if we can find a way to drink this stuff.” And that’s how beer was invented! 

    Bread and language

    Bread even impacts our language and sayings. 

    We judge the greatness of achievements and innovation by how it stacks up with sliced bread. We have indoor plumbing, we have cures to horrible disease, we’ve been to the moon, we have the internet. But no, when something great comes along, we compare that to the invention of sliced bread. When we eat together, we call that breaking bread. In many cultures, bread is a symbol of peace. We call money dough and the person who makes more money in a relationship is called the “bread winner.” If someone wants too much out of a situation, we say “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

    Bread in the Bible

    And then we consider it in the Bible. God feeds the Israelites with manna (which was bread) from heaven. Jesus references that in the Lord’s Prayer when he teaches us to pray “Give us each day our daily bread.” It is bread to which Jesus refers when the devil tempts him. He’s quoting from Deuteronomy but he says “Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).  

    Even the place where Jesus was born. Bethlehem in Hebrew means “house of bread.” 

    And it is bread at the Last Supper when Jesus institutes communion which he takes and breaks and says “this is my body, which is broken for you.” 

    Bread matters in our lives and the Bible. 

    Jesus is the bread of life

    So in John 6, a great crowd has seen miraculous signs done by Jesus. He’s just fed multitudes. But the crowd wanted to be dazzled with greater signs and wonders but Jesus instead explains the significance of the sign when he felt the multitudes. 

    The manna from heaven was the bread which God gave to the Isrealites to sustain them on their desert wanderings. Jesus is the bread of life which God has given to sustain the human soul. 

    The people had followed Jesus because he filled their stomachs, but Jesus came to save our souls. 

    The people wanted to see a physical display of glory and power but Jesus came to fulfill the longings of the human soul. 

    And it’s for that reason that Jesus is the greater bread. The manna had to be collected everyday. Jesus is the bread which gives eternal life at the moment you believe in him. 

    But as the manna was collected daily, there is still a daily element to the bread which Jesus provides as he himself is the bread we need everyday for our spiritual sustenance. Without the bread which Jesus provides, we grow spiritually hungry and malnourished. We need to feed upon him everyday.

    We need to commune with Christ everyday. Anytime you’re struggling spiritually, you feel like you’re just going through the motions, the first thing you should ask yourself is what your daily time with Jesus is looking like. 

    Going to him, praying, meditating on his word, serving his people, loving his people, orienting our lives around him.

    Jesus is the eternal nourishment and the daily bread without which we will Spiritually starve. 

    The world wants to just satisfy your body. 

    If you can just have enough money, you’ll be secure and have what you need. Some people are drawn to intimacy and feel like that will sustain their soul. It’s looking to a physical desire. Some look to prestige and power. Those are still ultimately fleeting accolades that you can’t take with you. Dying people in a dying world honoring one another. Some people look to politics. The right party being in office. Men who are fallen and sinful, flesh and bones are our hope. 

    The world makes idols of what is fleeting and feeds the body. Jesus feeds the soul. 

    Jesus is the bread of life. 

    Where is your hope though? Is it in the material? Is it in today? Is it in what you have or who you are? Is it in what’s in front of you? Or is it in the eternal Lord of creation? 

    The crowd had said to Jesus: What must we do, to be doing the works of God?

    Jesus says: I am the bread of life. whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst

    We’re called to come to him. Coming to him in humility, coming to him realizing our needs, realizing our hunger. 

    And we are to believe in him. To trust in his gospel and his grace. We must recognize that we’re sinners in need of a savior. 

    That is what we do to receive the bread of life. We believe in Jesus. And he invites us to never hunger or thirst because he fulfills the longings of the human soul. 

  • Difficulties as times for joy: the Bible and suffering

    Difficulties as times for joy: the Bible and suffering

    We face trials in life that our beyond our control. But we do have control over how we respond. In the Bible, in the book of James, he says, “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2).

    We face trials, we face difficulties. It’s not that we find joy in the trials themselves. The point isn’t when a person breaks their arm, they should celebrate! But to find joy through what God is doing. What God is doing when things don’t go to plan.

    Count it joy. It’s getting more at our thoughts than our feelings. The call here isn’t to put on a happy face when we’re struggling. It’s not to live a lie if we’re in a tough season. But through trials, through difficulties, that we should still find joy in God.

    There are purposes as to why. James 1:3-4 says, “For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

    To be steadfast is to be resolute and unwavering, to persevere. Testing of your faith produces steadfastness. When we are tested, we have an opportunity to grow in faith. We have an opportunity to trust God, to trust his purposes, to trust his goodness.

    And there we have part of the reason why we should count tests and trials as occasions for joy. Not because of the difficulties in themselves, but because they produce steadfastness. We grow in strength.

    A person might ask, “Well if God is so good, why does he make us go through the trials at all?”

    Several reasons. The most obvious, based on this text is that God uses trials to make us perfect, and complete, lacking nothing.

    But this also gets at the purpose of life on earth. And that purpose is not to have a total life of ease without any difficulties ever. We live in a fallen world. And even as children of God, we are not insulated from the effects of the fall: from health problems, from broken relationships, from lost jobs, and disappointments.

    We live to know God, and facing trials doesn’t hinder knowing God and experiencing him. In fact, trials are meant to enhance that relationship.

    If following God meant that you didn’t face any trials, and everything was totally smooth sailing and the way we thought it should be, then God wouldn’t be God, you would be. If everything went the way we thought it should go.

    We grow through tests and trials. Or at least, we have the opportunity to grow in trials. We can keep our focus on God, we can turn to him for joy. Without knowing the answers, we can place our trust in him when we’re struggling. Or we can sit down and feel sorry for ourselves.

    We can grow in faith through being tested. We never grow if everything is always smooth sailing and status quo. It is in the struggles, when we are forced to rely on God and God alone and to trust him that we grow.

    Some of us won’t. And I don’t say this to mock, but some people who either don’t really have a relationship with God or who don’t really have a strong faith, in the struggle, will be like plants that aren’t strongly rooted in the soil, and in a challenge, totally become uprooted.

    God doesn’t test us so that we can fail. He tests us so we can be perfect and complete lacking nothing. So that through having a greater reliance and trust on him, we can grow in holiness.

    God is trustworthy in our trials.

    Trials are not the time to distance yourself from God and His Church. That’s the last thing you should do! It is in the trials that you should more and more be living for God, trusting God, growing with God.

    In facing trials, it’s important to have Godly people in your life. People to talk to, to pray with, to share your struggles with, to be encouraged by.

    Again, it’s not if but when we face trials. It’s inevitable and just actively being aware of that is valuable. We can rejoice in the good times. But we can also rejoice in the struggles because God is working in us. It is in the trials that we are most enabled to grow. Muscle fibers have to be torn before they can grow back together and form stronger muscles.

    If things are going really great right now, rejoice in that. There are trials in life, trials in families, there are trials in churches. God is trustworthy in our trials.

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  • There’s no such thing as a Christian who has not been born again

    Being born again is another word for the doctrine of “regeneration.” It is a supernatural work that God does within a person who comes to faith. All Christians are born again because all Christians have experienced regeneration. There’s no such thing as an unregenerate Christian. That’s not a Christian!

    Being born again is about coming to Christ, turning away from sin, and trusting in Jesus as your Lord and savior. And when we come to him, there is grace. There is forgiveness for our sins.

    But here’s a point that people too often miss. It needs to be a genuine faith in what Jesus has done. And the validation of that sincerity will manifest itself in a life that is transformed by the gospel. And if there is no change in your life, if there is no fruit, if there is no greater love for God, no appreciation for the work of Christ, no recognition of the cost of sins for which Jesus went to the cross, then for the sake of your own soul, you need to do some sincere soul searching into whether or not you actually believe.

    There are so many things that we like to tie to regeneration. For some, they want to look at baptism. Baptism doesn’t confer regeneration to you. Baptism doesn’t make you born again if you don’t have faith. Baptism doesn’t mean anything if you don’t believe in the triune God in whose name you were baptized.

    Some people like to tie it to their family. Mom and dad are Christians, or were Christians. “That’s how I was raised.” That’s a wonderful blessing. But that doesn’t mean you’ve been born again. The faith has to be your own. To

    For others, it might be the Sinner’s Prayer. “I asked Jesus into my heart.”

    But did you believe it? Did you place your trust in him? If there’s never been any evidence in your life that Jesus is in your heart, is he really? Don’t go through life thinking “I said this prayer one time,” or “I got baptized one time,” and that that’s all that matters if you’re living a faithless life.

    This isn’t meant to undermine the justifying work that Christ did on the cross. How we are justified by Christ. And what a glorious promise that is. But that presupposes faith. This isn’t meant to undermine the work that God does in our lives, he does work in our lives through his Spirt but we have to have had faith in him to have the Spirit. We’ll talk about the in June. All of those things are still true.

    But this is to say that a person who never did have faith still isn’t saved. And empty words don’t change that. And water doesn’t change that. The only thing that can change that is recognizing your inability to live up to a God who is absolutely perfect and holy. And that while you could not live up to it, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for you (Romans 5:8).

    Jesus said “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” It’s the regeneration of God in our souls.

    It’s not some inconsequential change. It is a monumental miraculous work of almighty God.

    In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

    Nothing existed and God spoke the universe into being by the power of his words.

    But when it comes to being born again, the regeneration that God works in us, God takes a person who is dead in sin, God takes a person who is opposed to him, who does not trust him, and he makes us alive. He gives us a new life, a new birth.

    Originally published September 5, 2017

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  • The Supreme Court and LGBT rights – 2 major decisions in 5 years

    Tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision which guaranteed the right to marry for same-sex couples.

    In the years preceding the decision, state after state after state voted against it. 32 of 33 states where this was voted on, voted no. In 13 of those states, the vote wasn’t even close, with more than 70 percent of people voting to ultimately preserve the traditional American definition of a marriage. The will of the people was ignored and five justices -who are no more virtuous than the rest of us – declared the law by fiat.

    Many years ago, the argument for recognizing the legal validity of same-sex marriages and unions was the “what if two people are in a loving relationship for many years and one is in the hospital. Their partner can’t visit them?”

    We’re so far beyond that now. A celebrity says something critical of same-sex marriage and there’s a backlash, efforts to boycott and essentially destroy the person. If a business owner doesn’t want to support it, he’s a hateful and bigoted. The conversation has been crushed on this issue. In the popular cultural narrative, the only accepted response is enthusiastic support and affirmation. Dissent is not tolerated.

    Last week, the Supreme Court enshrined LGBT rights into federal employment law.

    This week, California banned state funded travel to Idaho due to Idaho’s transgender laws. In 2016, the NBA moved their all star game with Charlotte, due to a state law that disallowed transgender people from using the bathroom which corresponded to their selected gender. The World Health Organization, which had viewed gender dysphoria as a mental illness decided it no longer was last May. In several states, transgender identified females (biological males) have dominated women in athletic competitions. And this is all being seen as more and more normative.

    This would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

    In coming years, I expect the popular culture to have more and more support for the LGBT community. I expect more court decisions to go in favor of the LGBT movement. As I look around and survey our current climate, I see destruction in our cities, statues coming down, calls to defund the police. I see people going after our fundamental institutions. These are attacks on our society, our history, and our system of law and order. But the church is another major institution in our society. The church and our religious tradition is fundamental to our history and worldview.

    There have already been attempts to force Christian businesses to go against their moral beliefs and provide services for same-sex weddings. We’ve seen more pressure on Christian adoption agencies to work with LGBT couples. With the latest rulings on employment law, churches and Christian organizations will continue to face opposition for their beliefs.

    I do expect the culture to more and more come to be at odds with evangelical Christianity. Instead of coexisting, I think the church and Christian organizations will increasingly become targets of legal action.

    I look at those who want to attack our society and institutions and see the LGBT movement more and more coming at odds with evangelical Christianity. Certainly there are members of the LGBT community who want to coexist and can agree to disagree, but as Marxist thought runs prevalent within the radical progressive movement, the LGBT movement will be used to undermine religious liberty while pushing a progressive ideology that runs contrary to the gospel.

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  • The gospel is unstoppable in a world that is often hostile

    Paul was the greatest missionary who ever lived. When writing to the Philippians, he was in jail. That’s the last place he needs to be! Why would God allow this to happen? Wouldn’t it be better for Paul to be out in the mission field sharing Jesus?

    Regardless of what is happening in the world, God is still at work.

    In Acts 16, Paul was also imprisoned, yet in that passage, it was because God did not spare Paul from prison that he was able to witness to his jailer.And so it goes throughout the history of the church. Where God has been working in ways that people might not have expected. Powerful empires have tried to crush Christianity.

    It’s often been true that the church has faced oppression. The blood of the martyrs waters the seeds of the church. And in places where it’s easy, where it’s common to be a Christian, there can be complacency. It’s easy to just assume everyone around us is a Christian. Whereas in other parts of the world, you actually have to take risks to acknowledge Jesus.

    None of this is to say that we should want bad things to happen! But to be mindful that in the face of sin and injustice, noting stops God. The gospel is unstoppable.

    Sometimes it’s because God does not spare people from the difficulties that people are in positions to evangelize and share the gospel. Sometimes through the wickedness and evil of men, because of God’s immeasurable goodness, he graciously puts them in position to hear the gospel that they don’t even deserve.

    A modern example

    During the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian citizens were facing persecution from the government for transporting Bible across borders, sharing their faith, and even worshipping privately in their own homes.

    Virginia Prodan was a Romanian lawyer who defended Christians of these basic human rights. Prodan was a Christian. She had suffered much for her faith. She had been beaten and torutnred. She had been placed under house arrest. One day, when returning to her office, one of her assistants told her a man wanted to speak with her.

    The man was a giant, 6’10” which dwarfed the 5 foot tall Prodan.

    He pulled out a gun and told her he had come to kill her.

    WRITING IN CHRISTIANITY TODAY, SHE SAID:
    I CONSIDERED THE MAN BEFORE ME. BEHIND THOSE HATE-FILLED EYES WAS A CREATION OF GOD. HE HAD AN IMMORTAL SOUL, AND HE NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LOVE GOD HAS SHOWN IN JESUS CHRIST. AT ONCE EMBOLDENED, I MET MY KILLER’S EYES. “HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF: ‘WHY DO I EXIST?’ OR ‘WHY AM I HERE?’ OR ‘WHAT IS THE MEANING OF MY LIFE?’ I ONCE ASKED MYSELF THOSE QUESTIONS.” MY VOICE STAYED CALM AND DID NOT WAVER.

    HE SLID HIS GUN BACK INTO THE HOLSTER. I LEANED FORWARD. “YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE GOD PUT YOU HERE, AND HE HAS PUT YOU TO A TEST. WILL YOU ABIDE IN GOD OR IN THE WILL OF A MAN—YOUR BOSS, PRESIDENT CEAUSESCU, WHO REQUIRES YOU TO WORSHIP HIM? GOD HAS GIVEN YOU FREE WILL TO CHOOSE.”

    The assassin didn’t kill her that day. He acknowledged that he had needed Jesus in his life. The power of the gospel had penetrated his heart.

    But it was because God had not spared Prodan from that persecution that she had been enabled to witness to that man.

    And there are other stories we can find in modern times from almost every empire that has cracked down on Christianity, that has persecuted Christians, of the gospel working through the cracks of the walls that empires have built up. The gospel is unstoppable. Because God is unstoppable at achieving his purposes. Even in oppressive regimes that try to totally crush Christianity, the gospel still takes root. The truth finds a way.

    In our world, persecution and challenges shouldn’t be a surprise when the gospel is that Jesus came into a fallen world to redeem people to himself. It’s a message that’s offensive because it confronts people with the reality of sin. It points to the narrow way.

    In America, we’re often times too comfortable.

    If we think that we always need ideal conditions to share the gospel; if we think that the gospel always needs receptive environments to thrive: it doesn’t. Because the spread of the gospel, is not about our abilities and talents and planning. Not suggest this things are irrelevant. God does equip and gift people in different ways.

    But even when it seems to be against all odds, it is the power of God through which the gospel reaches people. The gospel is unstoppable.

    What does that mean to you?

    It makes sense people would be hostile to the gospel. When Jesus came to redeem a world that was dead in sin. A world that was so sinful the it killed its savior.

    And it’s not a shortcoming of God that he doesn’t do more to make the way to share the gospel easy. It’s his grace that he came to earth and made the gospel possible to be proclaimed at all. It displays his power and glory that the gospel still goes forth when people try to thwart his work.

    People have tried to stop the gospel’s advance. And those people are dead and gone, but the gospel message continues because Jesus lives on.

    Originally published February 6, 2018 

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