I Am The Bread Of Life

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

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.

Message Introduction/God Story:

Have you ever wanted to meet someone so badly that you

Two weeks ago we began a new message series for the season of Lent called “The Great I Am”, in order to focus our attention specifically on the Identity and Character of God. So today’s message takes from Exodus 3 near the beginning of the Old Testament, all the way to John 6 in the New Testament. There, in the passage I just read for you, we find Jesus offering us the first of seven key statements found in the Gospel of John, known as the “I Am” statements.

So, as we pick up the storyline of Jesus’ life in John 6:25ff, here’s the context: Imagine a large group of over 5000 people following you around the countryside… desperately wanting to hear your words, and see what amazing thing you might do next. Now, imagine that same group, being so taken by the chance to encounter you that they forgot to bring any food for lunch. So you snag a kid’s lunch bag… five little barley loaves and two fish, you pray over it, you pass it around, everyone eats their fill, and then somehow, there are actually leftovers. Lot’s of leftovers, in fact. To be precise, 12 baskets full of leftover bread and fish. This would be crazy, wouldn’t it. If you can manage to put yourself in Jesus’ sandals for a moment, imagine the near hysteria that acts like this would produce in people.

So that’s why we find in the storyline of Jesus’ life this interesting back and forth, between engaging the crowds and escaping the crowds. Jesus loved to touch and people’s lives… but even Jesus needed a break now and then. Even Jesus needed to withdraw and have some time alone with God, or some more personal time with his team of disciples.

So in this case Jesus sent his disciples back across the lake by boat, toward their sleepy little hometown fishing village of Capernaum, so he could catch some alone time with God. Then, in the middle of the night John tells us that Jesus simply hiked back across the lake, not around it, to meet them. In other, words, John wants us to get the picture firmly in our minds that this guy, Yahshua - or Jesus as we say it - could do just about anything…. And John would know, for he was there to see it all as an eye witness. He was right there as part of the entourage to witness the reality that Jesus had become a middle eastern rock star.

Now why do I tell you all this back story? I tell you all this because it helps us get our minds around the arrival of that same crowd in Capernaum the next day. Imagine you spot a flotilla of boats appearing on the horizon, only to realize “They’re back!”… the crowd is after you again. That, my friends, is about where verse 25 picks up the story. There’s a large crowd of people desperately following Jesus around trying to figure out who he is and what he has to offer them. They know there’s something special about him, but they can’t quite put their finger on it.

As John puts it in verses 14-15:

Ref. John 6:14-15. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

So who was he, really? Just another famous guy?… a magician?… a true prophet?…. or someone even greater than those crowds could imagine? That’s the question that haunted those crowds, just as it still haunts many people here and now 2000 years later.

And here’s a little insight toward discovering the answer to that question:

Message Point 1:

The Seven "I Am" statements of Jesus clearly connect him with the Great I Am, YHWH.

Ref. John 6:35 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..."

We might read right past these words as if there's nothing all that unusual here. But for a first century Jewish listener, these words would have been both recognizable and reminiscent of the words we've spent the last two weeks studying in Exodus 3. The LORD had revealed himself to Moses with a resounding "I AM".... tell them, He said, that "I Am" has sent you to them.

Did Jesus just happen to construct the sentence this way by accident. No. What I hope we've learned over the last two weeks is that the words "I Am" are loaded with meaning and significance.

Think of it this way: this was Jesus' way of identifying himself as One with God. This phrase, and the six others recorded in the Gospel of John that all begin with the same phrase, were uttered on purpose... with a very deliberate aim in mind. Jesus' words were meant to clearly link his identity and ministry to the self-revelation of God.

So doctrinaly, as we consider the significance of this statement, we have to start by recognizing this is Jesus' subtle but purposeful way of making a claim to his own divinity. By identifying himself with the Great I Am, the personal name of God, Jesus is basically saying He and YWHW are united. He's essentially calling himself by the same name.

Illustration: George Foreman.

The great boxer George Foreman had five sons. Did you know that he actually named them all after himself!? He named them all George Edward Foreman. So first there was George Jr., then George III, George IV, George V, and George VI.

In this case, though they had the same name they weren't exactly the same person. But they were related. George Sr.'s sons were all part of his lineage.

Why would a man do this? Some might think it an act of vanity... that perhaps George thought too highly of himself. But get this: Did you know that George Foreman actually had ten kids (five boys and five girls) and he went on after his boxing career to author a book called "Fatherhood by George".

Here's what he wrote about the naming spectacle: "If you're going to get hit as many times as I've been hit by Mohammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, and Evander Holyfield - you're not going to remember many names." That was his tongue-in-cheek answer.

But here's the real reason he named them all after himself: George Edward Foreman Sr. grew up not knowing who his father was. In fact, he didn't find out until he was a young man who his own natural father was. Then, after he attended his natural father's funeral he really didn't see it has his own father's funeral, but as the funeral of an aquiantance. So George decided that when he had kids some day, there would be no questions regarding who their father was: they were all going to know, hence they were all named George.

Did you hear that? Listen closely to this breakdown: By giving them the same name as his, he wanted their sense of identity as his sons to be firmly rooted in who he was.

In fact, here's what's really funny about the whole thing: In the same spirit, George Foreman even named his first daughter Georgetta. And his second daughter was named Freda George. Then, at last, his wife finally intervened, and the last three daughters escaped with the names Meechie, Natalie, and Laola.

So let's circle back to Jesus here. What I'm saying is Jesus knew who he was. And he wanted his audience to know who he was too. So he identified himself on purpose with the name of God, "I Am". And then he tacked on to the end of that statement a series of seven unique statements that would identify his purpose and mission, all of which flowed from his identity as the One and Only Son of the Living God.

If you want to know who God is, and what God is like, and what God is committed to doing for humanity, look at Jesus. That's what the "I Am" statements of Jesus draw our attention to, and that's takeaway number 1 this morning. So with that clear, let's dig into the unique significance of this very first "I Am" statement: I Am the bread of life.

When Jesus declared, "I Am the bread of life", what did he mean by that? Here’s what I believe he meant:

Message Point 2:

Jesus is to life in the spirit what bread/food is to life in the body.

Let's think about bread for a moment, and what it means to us. How badly do you need bread/food to survive?

Well, truth be told, a lot of people survive quite well without bread, but there’s not denying that it’s right up there with rice as one of the two main food staples on planet earth… and it has been for thousands of years.

Have you ever thought about how much bread you consume over the course of time?

In data compiled just last year by the Simmons National Consumer's Survey, the typical American (that is about 260 million of us!) consume between 1 and 2 loaves of bread each and every week.

I know all you teenage math students might rebel at the thought of Math on Sundays, but do the math with me here anyway, just for fun. If we roll with 1.5 loaves/week as the avg., then the average American consumes about 76 loaves of bread every year. And if that average American then lives to be the average age of 79 years old, they will consume approximately 6004 loaves of bread over the course of their lifetime. That's entire loaves, not slices, mind you.

Now, I offer you that statistical insight simply because it helps us think about how integral bread really is to most people's diets and daily lives.

However, let me be quick to clarify something: When Jesus said "I Am the bread of life", I believe what he really meant is that he is like food for the soul. In other words, for those who don't eat any bread, the message here is that Jesus is still essential to the nourishment of our souls. Jesus is essential to life in the spirit. In fact, if you look and listen closely, you’ll find that is the common thread that runs through all seven of the “I Am” statements.

Jesus is essential to our experience of spiritual life. He nourishes our souls like bread nourishes our bodies.

In fact, take a look here at Jesus’ own words in verses 26-27, and analogy becomes clear:

Ref. John 6:26-27. Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Do you see and hear in those words how food is being used as an analogy? Food that spoils is physical food… food for the body, like bread. But food that endures to eternal life is something altogether different. It’s like this: When someone says to me, as they have occasionally, ‘Pastor, I’m just not being fed by your teaching lately”, what do they really mean? Do they mean I’m not giving them lunch during or after church? No… of course, not. What they mean is that my teaching of the Word of God is not nourishing their soul as they think it should. It means they want a gourmet meal in the spirit, and they think I’m only delivering hot dogs and macaroni.

You see, the fact is that Jesus often spoke in symbolic language like this, which was a customary teaching style and linguistic practice in ancient Jewish culture. So the point here, I believe, is not to read too literally that Jesus' body actually becomes bread, or that bread actually becomes Jesus' body. The point is metaphorical: The human soul needs Jesus like the human body needs bread, or food. Just as our bodies will die without food, our spirits are dead without Christ.

To this point, consider another famous quote that came from the lips of Jesus when he was tempted by the devil during his wilderness fast to turn stones into bread. It's a quote that first originated with Moses, and was recorded way back in Deuteronomy 8:3. And it explains, why YHWH allowed the Israelites to wander for 40 years in the wilderness without the ability to bake any bread. Moses explained it to them this way:

Ref. Deuteronomy 8:3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

That experience of forced fasting from bread made with human hands was a lesson in humility. It was meant to teach the Israelites an life-changing principle: Man lives not by bread alone, but by the Word of God. Spiritual life comes to us through the living Word of God.

So is it any wonder then, that John also said of Jesus:

Ref. John 1:1,14. *“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…*The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Now, let me take this from the level of more impersonal head knowledge down to the personal level of the heart.

I want you to think with me now about the real reason Jesus felt compelled to say “I Am the bread of life", and how the real meaning of those words might be difficult for some people to hear and apply.

Are you ready to get real about this? You see, the issue is not just semantic… whether Jesus was speaking literally or metaphorically. The real issue is our human pride… or the false sense of security that we really don’t need what Jesus has to offer us. In fact, even those who follow Jesus can often forget to depend on him, like we depend on food every day. Why?

Message Point 3:

One of the hardest things for people to do is recognize and honestly admit our need for Jesus help.

This is about Pride. Pride is the innate condition of the human heart that causes us to think and feel we are self-sufficient... "I got this!", we think to ourselves, and often say out loud... "I got this.... I'm good." I don't need anybody else's help.

Pride and need are like oil and water. They don’t mix well together. In fact, I’d say one of the most common manifestations of pride in human behavior - and there are many - is self-reliance.

In fact, if you look closely at the story as John tells it, it’s pretty clear that Jesus statement was specifically made to confront the sense of religious pride that the Jewish people of Jesus’ day were often characterized by.

Their pride was in their heritage.. their identity and history as Jews. The problem this created for them, and it can for those of us who identify ourselves as Christians, is that they assumed they already had all that they needed from God. The had history. They had the law of Moses.

It’s subtle, but notice how Jesus confronted and corrected their thinking about this.

First they ask Jesus, "What does God require of us?”

Then Jesus answers, essentially, “The only thing God requires is that you believe in the one He has sent.”

And in reply, do they say, “Oh, ok, no problem… we can do that!” No.

In reply they basically say “Why should we believe in you?… who are you after all?" And if I can take the liberty to put some words into their mouths.. some words they might well have been thinking… the implication was something like this: “That was a nice lunch we had the other day, and our stomachs are growling again. We don’t know how you pulled it off, but whoever you are, you couldn’t possibly be as great as our ancestor Moses, who gave us bread from heaven. Why don’t you do another sign for us, and then we’ll consider whether we should believe in you?"

That’s where we come to this statement in verse

Ref. John 6:32-33. Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Friends, listen closely. Have you ever popped a balloon with a pin and seen the air quickly go out of it?

These words were intended to have that sort of effect. Jesus was essentially saying to that crowd, as we read in Deuteronomy 3:8, that manna for their ancestors was intended to humble them, not to make them proud.

Yet, these people he was speaking with saw their own ethnic history as their security. And they saw their obedience to the Mosaic Law as their ticket to favor with God.

But Jesus wasn’t buying that argument. Jesus was trying to get them to recognize their own need for something more important than obedience, or good behavior.

Don’t you find it interesting that even today, here in our own culture, when asked why they think they will go to heaven, most people still answer “Because I’m a good person.”? That’s the same sense of pride and self-reliance Jesus was battling 2000 years ago.

Illustration: Fonzi’s Challenge

Whenever I think about the nature of pride I often remember a classic old scene from the sitcom "Happy Days", which we used to watch routinely when I was a kid. You've probably seen the episode I'm thinking of, even if . It's the episode where Fonzi can't bring himself to admit that he was actually wrong about something.

So every time he opens his mouth to say the words 'I was wrong', what comes out is 'I was wrrrrrr...."

You see, eternal spiritual life is dependent on bread from heaven, not on what we can do down here. And the only way to receive bread from heaven and partake of it is to admit your need for it. The journey into God’s Kingdom and eternal spiritual life begins with the self-awareness they we can’t ever get there on our own. The only way to get there, as Jesus words indicate, is to believe in the One the Father sent… which is Jesus himself.

I think of the words that James quoted from Proverbs, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, about the trouble with pride.

Ref. James 4:6-10. That is why Scripture says,**“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Friends, as I close this message and invite to the Lord’s table this morning, let me encourage you to embrace the humility of recognizing your need for the grace and life that only Jesus has to offer. He is indeed the bread of life!

Let’s pray.

Closing Invitation:

How well do you really know Him?

What I want to fix your attention on through this series of messages over the fall season is the fundamental question: “Do you know the one true God of the universe personally and intimately, and is that knowledge continuing to grow deeper?” Do you know how He is present with you? And do you know how He is greater than you?

Illustration:

As our group was walking through the Old City of Jerusalem, our guide Nader pointed out to us several times a scrap of bread on a window ledge or a few pieces on an electrical box. He explained that, because Jesus revealed himself to the two disciples he met on the road to Emmaus in the breaking of bread, bread is so revered by the Christians of Jerusalem that they will not throw it in the garbage … and if any bread falls to the ground or is seen on the ground, the residents will pick it up and place it on a ledge so it won’t be trampled underfoot.

So I asked everyone to come to communion, expecting to meet the living Christ in the breaking of bread, like those two disciples. And then I asked them, on their way back to their seats, to leave a piece or two or more of bread on the window ledge to represent the person or persons they had invited or planned to invite to Easter, with a prayer that that person would someday soon be meeting the living Christ in the breaking of bread, as they had just done. It prompted a beautiful response from the people of God that day.

Now, what makes this trickier with the ‘bread of life’ statement, of course, is its' connection to communion, or the Lord’s Supper as we often call it. Many people around the globe, namely Catholics, take Jesus quite literally when he says “I Am the bread of life", while many others, namely Protestant Christians like most of us, take Jesus' words more figuratively.

In fact, I trust we would all agree that the same is true of a few of Jesus’ other “I Am” statements like "I Am the gate", or "I Am the true vine”. It’s clear when you look at these examples that Jesus is using the gate and the vine as analogies… I am like this, or this is like me.

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