StoneBridge Community Church
Pastor Jeff Cheadle
John 6:31-35 NIV
Exodus 3:1-14 NIV
John 6:35 NIV
Romans 7:18-19 NIV
We are trying to find satisfaction in things that do not satisfy.
John 6:35 NIV
For Reflection/Discussion: Read about the story of Moses and the Burning Bush in Exodus 3.1-15. What is God's Holy Name? How does Exodus 3.1-15 help explain why Jesus seven "I AM" statements in the Gospel of John were so provocative and problematic? What are some of the things people do or turn to in order to cope with emotional, relational, and spiritual problems? Why do most of these make matters worse rather than better? In their book Switch Chip and Dan Heath suggest that the primary obstacle to lasting change in our lives is a conflict that built into our brains between our rational minds and our emotional minds. Can you think of examples of how that conflict has played out in your life? How does Paul's statement in Romans 7.18-19 help us understand that conflict? In what ways does Jesus satisfy our hearts deepest needs better than anything or anyone else?
John 6:51 NIV
John 8:58 NIV
Mark 2:1-7 NIV
Matthew 5:21-22 NIV
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic… or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book II, Chapter 3, "The Shocking Alternative." London: Collins, 1952, pp. 54–56.
For Reflection/Discussion: In John 6 people begin to reject Jesus. To what do you attribute their rejection? In what ways do Jesus's words and actions here and elsewhere suggest that he believed himself to be God? Why, in your judgment, do some people want to view Jesus as simply a great moral teacher or prophet? How does C.S. Lewis address that option in his book Mere Christianity? If Jesus were merely a human being, in what way, if any, could he bring us salvation?
John 6:58 NIV
Psalms 34:8 NIV
For Reflection/Discussion: What is the life-changing choice Jesus presents us with in referring to himself as "The Bread of Life"? How have you responded to this choice? How has your response to Jesus effected your life's trajectory? What does it mean to receive Christ? Read John chapter 6. What other insights can you glean, or questions are raised, as you read this chapter?
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