Grumble Grumble

Good Morning Everyone. I am so glad that we can be in the house of the Lord this morning.

We have already taken the Lord’s Supper this morning so we should all be feeling well fed right now right?

I mean that small amount of bread and juice should hold us for a couple hours so let’s dig into the word this morning.

Jesus is continuing to talk with the crowd about this idea of bread and life. They want the bread they know it is good and Jesus is wanting them to take it but they keep getting in their own way. They like to Grumble as a people. That’s where I want us to pick back up in the word this morning.

John 6:34–40 NIV

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Jesus Identity

Jesus makes a very explicit and bold statement in this passage of scripture.

He gives insight into who he is.

He is the Bread of life.

The very use of the words “I Am” connect us to the power of the image of Christ as the Bread of life.

There can be no doubt that Jesus has been sharing with them that he is the very nourishment that they need.

Jesus Sustains

Bread sustains life for us as it provides nourishment and Jesus is telling them that he is there to help sustain their lives.

He is here to help us sustain our lives.

Yet, this isn’t like the bread we ate earlier it is something different. It is more than just a formation of flour, water, and other ingredients. This is a deeper meaning here. He is the bread that both Creates and sustains life. He is the true bread that fully satisfies.

But I told You...

Even despite Jesus telling them and showing them the truth of who he is they still don’t want to believe him.

They have seen the signs, they have seen the wonders, they have heard the truth and yet many did not believe.

Jesus Promise

Jesus also makes a powerful promise int his passage. He promises that whoever comes to him he will never drive them away. Jesus is going to preserve them.

This passage makes it easy to argue that all who have been given to Christ will never stray. That means we are predetermined to salvation because once Christ has us why would we stray. Yet, there is an important aspect of this that we have to understand.

It isn’t Jesus who drives people from Him. It is their own heart and choices.

Jesus the Great shepherd will do everything he can to keep us in his flock.

Unfortunately, he also provides us with choice. We have the ability to walk away. It is hard to think about the fact that people can make that choice but it remains.

We have to be reminded that we have to remain in him so that we can be sustained.

John 15:4 NIV

4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

We must remain connected because he promises to keep us. Without the connection though.

John 15:6 NIV

6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

The Jewish people in the crowd heard all this and they got upset. They started to grumble.

John 6:41–42 NIV

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

Grumble Grumble

They started to grumble. They didn’t like what Jesus was saying they started to get upset.

Growing up I loved to play video games. In fact to this day it is still a regular hobby of mine.

One of my favorite game series is the Legend of Zelda. In these games you play the character Link who is tasked to save the Primcess Zelda from the hands of the Evil King of Power Gannon.

The Original game was and still is one of my favorites to play. There is a moment though from this game that I remember and it has a great connection to this mornings passage.

In the game as you work your way through the dungeons to fight the monsters you will come across a room that presents a challenge. A monster stands in the center of the room and simply says Grumble Grumble

Grumble Image

It looks like you can simply walk around him but the joys of video games is sometimes there are invisible forces that prevent you from doing that.

The only clue you get to how to pass this guy is that he says Grumble Grumble.

I remember looking at this image as a kid and thinking.

“what am I supposed to do now?”

This doesn’t tell me much. Grumble Grumble.

You can’t finish the level without getting past tis guy. The first time you play this game you have to leave the dungeon in frustration because you don’t know why you can’t get past him.

After some exploration you visit one of the shops you can buy supplies in and you notice a piece of meat.

The Light bulb clicks and you realize oh this guy is hungry. You spend your money take it back and feed the monster and sure enough you get by.

The Jewish people were so busy going Grumble Grumble that they dont’ want to even hear about the truth that Jesus is sharing with them. That he is the bread feed them so that they could draw closer to God.

They are too busy looking around the room for another way around.

John 6:43–44 NIV

43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

Stop Grumbling

I can only imagine what it was like for Jesus in that moment. He had to be getting so frustrated with them as they were so busy complaining they refused to see who was standing there right in front of them.

We experiecnce the same thing in our own lives all the time and we may never realize it. We look out at the world around us and we think.

Why are people not coming to church?

Don’t they know?

Why won’t they believe?

We struggle because we want people to come to him. Yet, we have to face a truth that we can’t deny.

The Father draws them

Nothing that we do will ultimately draw them into the relationship they need with God.

Only God draws them into that relationship.

God can use us and we certianly can help the situation by following his instruction becuase our example and way we live life helps draw people to the Father. There are many examples of Jesus sharing that with us.

At the end of the day though it is only the grace of God that makes the very idea of salvation even possible.

It is his prevenient grace that is drawing us to come to him. It is his love for us that brings us to realize that we need to be in relationship with him. It is that grace and love that gives us the bread of life in Jesus so that we can no longer be hungry.

Hunger and Thirst

The Gospel of John gives us this story to draw us to the fact that we no longer have to hunger for anything because God is all we need.

Earlier in the Gospel of John Jesus also shares with the Samaritan women that he is the living water.

John 4:14 NIV

14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Hunger and Thirst

The truth that we have this morning is that Jesus doesn’t want us to fear anymore. We can hunger and thirst no more because he is the Water that is eternal life, and the bread that fully satisfies us.

In him we no longer have to grumble and get in our own way but we can find the satisfaction of being in his grace and presence. Changed and made a new creation.

This is why we glorify him and thank him for what he does in our lives.

Let’s Pray.