Is Jesus Enough?

Before a Blaise Pascal said it in 1670, and before the famed author CS Lewis said it. Augustine said that in each person heart there is a God shaped vacuum. What that means is that in each person there is a space that can only be filled by the presence of God. When Jesus is not in void then it causes all types of other problems in the person. For example if a person has heart diseases it will affect other places in the body. If the heart cannot pump blood to the vein because of a clog it produces a stroke and can result in death or brain damage. If the heart grows too large from overworking it will shut itself down resulting in heart failure. Your heart is the life support system in your body and if it is not taken care of the entire body will suffer. Take care of your heart. The same is true for us spiritually. It is the common mistake that we make that we attempt to fill that space with other things, which will lead to spiritual problems. If you work to hard to fill the void you will eventually shut down as well, if you fell lonely you might fill it with a person, if you are depressed you might fill it with liquor, if you are angry you might fill it with hatred to others. But, the face of the matter is that nothing can fill that void in your heart but Jesus Himself. A person is way to small to fill the void, being high is to temporal to fill the void, you can’t work hard enough to fill that void. Nothing you can do will replace the place in your heart reserved for the King. But, here comes the more disturbing observation in this whole thing. Christians, who have the void filled already, seek something to fill that void. Christians have the treasure of Jesus yet they still seek to replace the God that saved them. You think I’m being over the top, consider the number preachers who fall because of sexual immorality, money, and ego. Consider all of the Christians who say and do one thing on Sunday but say and do something else throughout the week. As Christians we too seek to fill the void in our hearts. The reason is two-fold: first the struggle against the flesh is a result of Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden, second the post-modern world encourages us to, as 50 would say “Get rich or die trying”. All of this begs the question is Jesus, is God, the creator of all that is, the King of Kings the Lord of Lords, is Yahweh the Savior and lover of our soul, is Jesus, the Christ child, and Messiah and Champion, is He, Jesus Christ enough. That is my question. Is Jesus Enough?

1. Are you Seeking Jesus?

The first observation I made in this text was that they did not have a spiritual perspective on who Jesus was and what he had just done for them, instead they had a worldly perspective. Consider the text. Jesus says (read v.26). This crowd is to be commended for pressing as far as they did to Jesus, and that they even found him is a blessing, but in reality, they did not want Him they wanted some more food.

Sometimes when we look to Jesus for material things we may miss out on what it is he truly has for us. They had just been the recipients of one of Jesus’ major miracles and they did not even seek him for his miraculous power but instead for fleshly gratification. This is wrong. This is complicated because the miracle was that he feed them enough to fill them, and they were full, so, the question is “What is the problem?” Well the problem is that they were chasing a sensation rather than a Savior, a happy feeling rather than a Heavenly Father, a chef cooking stuff rather than the Chief Corner Stone, a fine diner rather than the faithful Divine, for a King-sized meal rather than a God sized king, they where looking to have Jesus fill there stomach instead of their soul. If you are to be satisfied with Jesus than you are going to have to seek him for the miraculous rather than the material, in other words how does the blessing you want bring HIM glory not how does it make you feel. (Read v. 27)

Jesus address this worldly perspective by addressing what they really need, eternal life. He points out that what they were chasing after was temporal and that they should be searching for things eternal and that He was the only one who could give it. To often in our lives do we work for things that really don’t have any benefit in our lives. It’s just like a jigsaw puzzle you will work hard and patiently in figuring the puzzle out (and I like puzzles) but when you finish the puzzle you tear it all down and put it away, well sometimes people are spending their lives on spiritual jigsaw puzzles. People will work a job they know they hated from day one and quiet. People will peruse relationships they know wont work only to experience a break up. People will diet to adjust the way they look so they can feel better about themselves only to lose the weight and still feel depressed. We Jesus is saying don’t spend time chasing those things seek the thing I have to offer. So, when you look for employment pray that God will direct you to the one for you. When you are perusing a relationship make sure they are evenly yoked with you and that you are yoked to Jesus first. And when you diet do if for your health and not for how you look because my bible says in Psalms 139 that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by God you are perfect the way God made you. (Read 28-29)

Then they wanted to work to do work for God. That’s like a double negative, to work to work the works of God. Jesus makes it simple and that is how simple our relationship is, to believe in the on God sent. Know church that no amount of effort you put into your religious life it will fall shorter than a troll with no legs, because Jesus died on the cross every aspect in your entire existence has been taken care of if only you believe.

2. Are you Grateful for Jesus?

The multitude was not satisfied with Jesus and the glory of his miracles, nor where they grateful for the blessing of his very presence. They were not content with what they had been blessed with so the asked for a sign. (Read 30-31) I say this because Jesus had already addressed the fact that he performed a miracle already and now here they are trying to be slick and asking Jesus for another, just so ungrateful. Jesus is not a cosmic bell hop who is at our beck and call to will to us. The heart of the matter is this, “Do you love him because of what he can do or for who he is?” If you can learn to be satisfied with Jesus alone than when times are hard you can maintain a sound mind and peace, then when Jesus does open up heaven to bless you it will be all the sweeter. Now let’s did a little deeper into the text. V.31 they bring up the manna that the ancient Hebrews ate in the wilderness. (Teach on Manna) (Be sure to finish 32-33) (tell Moses story)

3. Are you Satisfied with Jesus?

Well, God should be the center of your joy and they source of your strength so even though we are satisfied with the Savior as you grow and develop in the faith so should your appetite for to be more with and like Jesus. The multitude finally begins to get this. (Read 34) They still didn’t fully understand what the bread was so Jesus tells them plainly, (read 35). He is what they have been looking for all along. All that God has and all that God is: his essence, his grace, his mercy, his loving-kindness, his sovereignty over the universe, his joy, his cross, and his power is found bodily in Jesus and He is what we should all desire more of. I failed to tell you that in v. 59 John lets us know that all this happened in the synagogue, the place of worship, so you have come to the right place Jesus is here, all we have to do is desire more of him, because every time you advance in your life the evil is present, another level is another devil. But, we have Jesus.

Jesus is so good. He not only lets them know what he is “the bread of life” but he gives them a blessed assurance that they would not hunger again or be thirsty again. This obviously does not mean if you believe in Jesus you won’t need food but he is saying that if you believe in me I will always be in your life, I will always be there to comfort you, I will always supply your needs and most of all you will always be in right relationship with me. David said it like this (quote psalms 23) Paul said it like this “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in ay and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And Jesus said it best (read 35 again) in other words if you have Jesus you have everything that you need so get more of him.