As Jesus concluded his Bread of Life discourse, many said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” and walked away. Read carefully. They did not say the teaching was hard to understand. The meaning was clear enough. Jesus was teaching that the only chance to enjoy eternity in heaven is through a close connection to him. He is the only bread that gives eternal life. That isn’t hard to understand, but it is hard to accept. Eating this bread means reordering our lives so that Jesus is by far our highest priority. It means loving the Blesser infinitely more than his earthly blessings. It means realizing that Jesus is the only thing we really need. If we had nothing but him, we would not lack anything that ultimately matters.

Jesus watches the multitudes walking away from him. He turns to the Twelve—he turns to us this week—and he whispers, “You do not want to leave me too, do you?” May the Spirit give us the wisdom to answer, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

There are many different theories about the healthiest way to eat. There’s the old food pyramid, built on a foundation of whole grains. There’s the Mediterranean diet, the Atkins diet, the Paleo diet, and many others. We can debate which is best, but what is undebatable is that whatever your diet, you are going to die. Perhaps a vegetarian diet is indeed easier on your heart. Still, your heart is going to stop eventually. But in his Bread of Life discourse, Jesus offers food that enables us to live forever.

There are foods you might never have tasted without someone working hard to convince you to try them. Likewise, this spiritual food that Jesus describes is something no one finds appealing at first, but distasteful. And so today Jesus explains that we need God to work within us, so that we have the wisdom to see that this food gives life and the faith to find this bread most delicious.

Physical food is a blessing from God without which we would literally wither away and die. That is why Jesus lovingly and miraculously fed thousands of followers with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Yet, while physical food is a good thing, it is far from the greatest thing God provides us. The greatest blessing God provides is spiritual food. The best thing God gives us is his Son, the Bread of Life. Without that spiritual food, we wither and die in a much worse way.

This week we see the multitudes coming to Jesus looking for two things: ever more temporal blessings—full bellies, healthy bodies—and an explanation of how to gain them. Jesus explains the greater need for spiritual food. He assures us that there is nothing we do to earn it. Our Father urges us to come to him for our daily bread, asking him to provide for our temporal needs. But may we hunger most for our greatest need: spiritual food that Christ freely gives.

Shortly before He ascended, Jesus told His followers they were to engage in meaningful ministry—to work their way through the world, sharing the good news of salvation. Our loving Lord knew that was a big and often intimidating task. So, His next words were a promise. “Surely I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). God’s people still need to hear that promise.

For several weeks we have been discussing the reality that the Lord of the Church has called all believers to meaningful ministry. Ministry will come with challenges. It can cause fears to arise: the fear of rejection, the fear of inadequacy, the fear of persecution. So, listen again to your Savior. “I am with you always.” We conclude our series on meaningful ministry empowered by that gracious promise.

King David explains, “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1). That word “everything” doesn’t leave any wiggle room, does it? That word “everything” means that your home and all its furnishings, your vehicle and all that’s in the trunk, your bank account, the twenty-eight dollars in your wallet, the wallet itself, and the pocket in which you carry your wallet all belong to God. Everything you have was given to you by your good and gracious Father. We need to understand that.

But it is just as important that we understand why God provides for our physical needs. As we have seen throughout this worship series, God has called us to ministry. He asks us to reflect his love in meeting the physical and spiritual needs of others. Believers want to serve others in those ways. By providing for us, God meets our need to meet others’ needs. This week Jesus promises that he will provide the resources necessary to conduct meaningful ministry.

In the ancient Middle East, a shepherd needed certain skills to do his job well: knowledge of edible grasses, ability to trim hooves, capacity to fend off predators, competency to birth lambs. However, the greatest qualification of a shepherd is much simpler. A good shepherd needed to care for his sheep. Without that, none of those other skills would be fully utilized.

In Scripture, meaningful ministry is often pictured as a compassionate shepherd caring for his sheep: Jesus’ care for us; a spiritual leader’s care for his “flock.” Certainly, gospel ministry requires specific skills: ability to actively listen to people, aptitude for applying the gospel to someone’s situation, etc. But ultimately, meaningful ministry requires a compassionate heart—a profound caring for others. An individual might know God’s Word backwards and forwards. But if they lack compassion, they will not fully perform meaningful ministry. Today, we ask the Spirit to see how Jesus models a compassionate shepherd’s heart so that we might be filled with that same compassion.

When a child asks a sibling to do something, there isn’t much certainty as to the results. The sibling might simply ignore the request. However, if that same child goes to a brother or sister with “Dad said so,” it’s a very different story! Now the father’s authority is behind the child’s request.

As believers carry out gospel ministry, encouraging others to turn to Christ in repentance, people might push back. “What gives you the right?” Maybe we ask that question ourselves. “I’m far from perfect. So, what gives me the right to talk about things like sin?” This week we are given the answer to that question. “Dad said so.” When our God calls us to do ministry, he also gives us authority. In calling us to ministry, God isn’t asking us to share our advice or our opinion or even our values. We are sharing God’s own authoritative Word. Gospel ministry is conducted by believers but with God’s own authority behind the effort.

If ministry involves serving others with love and compassion, you would think that people would respond only with glee and gratitude for the help they received. Sometimes, but not always. If you offer to help a family member who is having trouble paying his bills, he might be offended, wondering if you are implying that he is not a good provider. Likewise, if you try and share the gospel with someone, he might resent the message that he is a sinner in need of salvation. You are trying to minister to this man’s greatest need. Your intentions are loving. Yet he responds with rejection and resentment.

When our ministry efforts are met not with glee and gratitude but rejection and resentment, we are in good company. The prophets, apostles, and even Jesus himself all had those who responded negatively to their ministries. When that happens to us, it doesn’t mean our ministry is no longer meaningful. For if others do not appreciate our efforts to serve them, God still appreciates our efforts to serve him.

Most people fear death to some degree. Some fear death because they assume it is the end. Others fear death because they assume it isn’t the end at all, but that there is some sort of reckoning after death which might not go well for them. And have you seen what happens to a dead body? It is far from pretty. So, it is understandable that most people would fear death.

Not so for those to whom God has given a top-down faith. Christianity teaches that for God’s children, death is not discipline but deliverance. The living Lord gives Christians such a radically different view of death that they can have confidence to face death in their effort to give Christ glory. They understand that death does not cut us down, but only raises us up. Finally, the Christian has been given the top-down faith that believes Jesus can wake us from death as easily as we can wake a sleeping child from his nap.