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Iowa City Church Podcast


Welcome to the Iowa City Church sermon and teaching page.  We know that life can be confusing, and sometime just plain hard.  We believe the best way to live life comes through following Jesus.  These lessons and sermons are designed to be a resource to help you on that journey.  We hope you find them helpful!

May 11, 2021

Broccoli is good for you.  It's a good source of fiber, protein, and contains iron, potassium, calcium as well as vitamins A, C, E, K and B.  Needless to say, it would be wise to include broccoli as a regular staple in one's diet.  Here's the problem; broccoli doesn't taste good!  So, to get people to eat broccoli, there was a very smart mom who had the brilliant idea of covering broccoli in cheese.  All of a sudden, broccoli becomes much more palatable, almost enjoyable.  However, here's the question, are people eating broccoli because of the health benefits of broccoli or because the broccoli has become the utensil used to deliver the cheese to one's mouth?

What does cheese covered broccoli have to do with communion?  Think of it this way: Jesus is good for you.  Literally life changing.  However, Jesus teaches things and calls his followers to do things that don't "taste good."  What people often do to get others to follow Jesus is to "cover him and his teachings with cheese"...to make him or his teachings more palatable.  What about you?  Do you really want Jesus or do you prefer the "cheese"?

This is the tension that Jesus creates between himself and the massive crowd that surrounds him looking for a free meal as described in John chapter 6.  It's in this moment Jesus not only calls them out, but openly invites the people to consume him...and only him.  This is a pivotal moment not only for the crowd but for us today.  It challenges us to reevaluate our relationship with Jesus and determine our willingness to follow him.  So what does any of this have to do with communion!?  Make sure and check out part four of our sermon series, The Gospel of John and find out, we know that you will find it to be helpful!