I AM: The Bread of Life

Intro.

Last week we began a series that will take us up to Thanksgiving. We will be looking at the places in the book of John where Jesus declares, “I AM!”

Last week we unpacked the statement, “I AM the Light of the World”

Today we continue with:

I am The Bread of Life

I have a 15 yr. old boy in my house. He is almost always hungry.

He can be eating a meal an ask for a snack. That’s not to say that he overeats. There are also times when he recognizes that he is full and stops eating.

He’s just going to be hungry again, very soon.

Last night he said: “Can I have Ice Cream?”

“Josiah, you know we don’t have any ice cream in the house.”

“Sweet potato chips it is then!”

Even if you aren’t someone who is always ready to eat, there comes a point when your last meal wears off and you are ready for the next one.

Have you ever eaten a light meal only to later say, “That wore off quickly”

Josiah does that often.

Apparently, this phenomenon is nothing new.

In the book of John, chapter 6, Jesus spends a rather extended time teaching a crowd that had gathered around Him as he was speaking to His disciples.

Jesus realizes that they are far from the nearest Chick-fil-a, and that they have stayed and listened to his words rather than go find food.

He has compassion on them, aaaaand He has a lesson to teach His followers.

You know the story. Andrew finds the little boy with the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish.

Jesus prays over the lunch that is quite generous for one boy, but nothing for 5,000 people.

Miraculously... the food lasts and lasts and lasts and lasts some more.

All the people have enough to eat and 12 baskets of gathered of the leftovers.

5,000 men plus women and children is a LOT of people. I imagine that the people in the back couldn’t see how God multiplied the food, but you KNOW that news like that would be hard to suppress.

John 6:14 ESV

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

It was a miracle.

That evening Jesus sends the disciples back across the water to their base camp in Capernaum, while He came walking on the water to them in the middle of the night.

The next morning the crowds realized that Jesus and His followers were gone. There had only been one boat at the dock, and it was gone.

So they decide to follow Jesus for more.

Once they catch-up to the Savior, He gives them a bit of a rebuke.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. John 6:26 NLT

Then, in verse 27 Jesus begins to whet their appetites for spiritual food.

John 6:27 ESV

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

The people don’t make the connection right away, and ask Jesus to give them this bread.

This is when Jesus springs the news on them:

John 6:35 ESV

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.

Unlike a hungry teenager looking for the next snack, Jesus satisfies the spirit with all the spiritual sustenance that you will ever need.

Do you want Jesus to feed your hungry soul? Do you want Jesus to fill your empty heart?

Then, 1st of all…

Come to Jesus

and hear what He has to say. That’s what the crowd did.

When Jesus gets to the east side of the lake, the people immediately begin following Him around.

His reputation has preceded Him.

Jesus meandering until He is in just the right spot and then sits down, as if to only speak to His disciples.

The crowds quickly fill in around him and up the hill of the natural amphitheater.

Yes the people who gathered around Jesus were originally: Just here for the food!

But they caught a whiff of something, and all they know was that they wanted more.

John 6:24 ESV

So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

There’s a small town near where I grew up called, Valdese, N.C.

The dominant feature of the downtown strip is the Waldensian Bakery.

It’s been owned by different groups through the years: Sunbeam, Sara Lee, currently… Bimbo bakeries.

But locals still refer to it by it’s Original owners… the Waldenses.

If you drive down Valdese in the early morning, the whole town smells of fresh baked bread.

Everything in you wants to slam on the brakes and go into the outlet store and buy some of that bread that is screaming at your nostrils.

That’s what happens to anyone, who catches a whiff of the goodness of Jesus...

They want more, NOW!

We come to Jesus. ALL of Jesus. ONLY Jesus.

Once we come to Jesus, then we

Trust in Jesus

Believe in Him. Depend on what He has already done for you. That’s what Jesus urges the crowd to do when they find Him.

John 6:25–29 ESV

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Jesus tells them: You want to do God’s work. Then, believe in Me. Keep it simple. Believe in Me.

Some people have trouble believing that all you have to do is ask.

Their have to be good deeds. I have to get my life cleaned up. I need to give a certain amount of money. I.... I... I...

It’s not about what “I” must do. It’s about what HE has done.

Illus. There was a woman in the United Kingdom who went in for cataract surgery.

Her only complaint… Dry Eye.

When the surgeon began to lift the eyelid, he saw a “blue mass” .

What they discovered were 27 disposable contact lenses.

Whenever the lady couldn’t find the old lens, she assumed that she had removed the lens and then dropped it.

In reality, she was stacking then up under Her lid. But for all the added eye correction, her sight became worse.

The surgeon needed to simplify her situation.

To everyone who tries to over think God, get the excess out and just trust Him.

When Jesus talks about the life-giving bread from heaven, the crowd expresses their eagerness for this bread.

John 6:34–40 (ESV)

They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

It was a simple step of faith. “Give us this bread.”

They didn’t have a grasp on everything. They grumbled because they couldn’t understand everything Jesus said.

They grumbled because they knew Jesus parents were simple people.

They grumbled… but they believed.

You don’t have to have it all tied up in a neat little bow.

Just keep trusting

Illus. 1557 was one of Martin Luther’s worst years. It was ten years after he nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg church.

During those ten years, he weathered many storms, at times being in danger of his very life. Now, he was battling some of his fellow reformers, and Luther was deeply disturbed. In fact, he suffered severe depression.

In April he endured a medical condition that even stopped him in the middle of preaching

In July the sickness progress to the point that Luther was certain he would die. He later wrote to a friend: “I spent more than a week in Hell.”

By August the symptoms eased, but depression set in.

Then there was an outbreak of the Plague. Luther turned his house into a hospital, and he watched many friends die.

The outbreak subsided by November, but then his own illness flared up.

Yes 1557 was a horrible year for Luther, but Jesus was the Bread of Life for Him.

It was in that year that he wrote one of his most

it was that same year—1957—when Luther wrote his most well-known hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe— His craft and pow’r are great, and armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.

And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us. We will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim? We tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him.

Jesus says, “Believe in me and so accomplish God’s work.

Sometimes that work is simply living victoriously

In order to share in the Bread of Life:

Come to Jesus Trust in Jesus

Stay with Jesus

This becomes the turning point in those who would serve Jesus.

Jesus starts talking about eating flesh and drinking blood. We have had 2,000 years to process the symbology of the body and blood of Christ.

But this was out of left field for these people.

Some of those crowds begin to turn away. Not everyone could deal with it

Even the disciples were struggling here

John 6:60 ESV

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

When Jesus has the disciples alone later, he calls them on it.

John 6:67 ESV

So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”

They responded with:

John 6:68 (ESV)

... “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

THERE IT IS! The core of the Bread of Life... “The words of eternal life”

That’s what you need. That’s all you need.

Illus. Tony Hsieh, was a CEO of Zappos (an online shoe seller.)

Hsieh had a practice known simply as, “the Offer.”

After a week or so on the job, he gave new employees at Zappos an option: they could continue on, or they could take a cash incentive to quit—initially $1,000

At the time of its inception, it seemed odd to pay people to leave the company, but Hsieh knew that it was worth far more to ensure that everyone who worked at Zappos truly wanted to be there.

Business writer Bill Murphy summed up the lesson this practice teaches:

“Life is far too short to follow the wrong path. And today is always a great day to start finding the right one” -Bill Murphy

The right path for you and me is following Jesus.

Conclusion: