Contentment. Not Consumerism.

John 6:25–40 (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.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

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. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

“Contentment is freedom from worry and frustration about unfulfilled desires in my life.” - Charles Stanley

Be content in him who cannot be consumed

26 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.

The people consumed the bread.

There was an end to what they consumed.

There is no end to Jesus. There is no point where you have met an end to who He is.

The bread and fish that they consumed left them hungry still.

Any point that we put creation in the place of the creator in our life, we are left unfulfilled.

Shopping

Clothes

Houses

Cars

Phones

Black Friday

Affairs

When people place too much weight on their marriage, they consume what is there and find an end to it. This unfulfillment leads them to want more and seek for it elsewhere.

If you’re chasing after consumable things instead of Christ, they will end up consuming you.

Be content in him who cannot be contaminated

27 Do not work for the food that perishes,

All of the things that we consumed here on Earth will one day passaway. It will perish.

Cabin built by my great grandfather where Papa was born. He worked hard to build it. It served its purpose and is now falling apart.

It was a good home, it was not eternal. It was not immuned from decay.

Jesus cannot decay. He cannot be contaminated. He will not fall and will not fail.

He is a safe place to rest and build a life on.

Be content in Him who cannot be contained

27 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 food here on Earth is temporal. The houses are temporary. The body is temporary. The pleasures here are temporary. This does not make them bad. It does mean that they will not last forever.

The things here on Earth are contained to this temporary life.

What is not contained are the things that are eternal. These are things pertaining to Jesus. Jesus is eternal. There is no end to His depth or His breadth.

We ought to pursue that which has no end versus chasing after things that are fleeting.

Jesus is not contained to this world or the constraints of time. He is not dead and will not die.

He has defeated death and the grave.

You cannot hold Jesus in your hand. Or contain him to how you think He ought to be. He is who He is and He is bigger than us. He is uncontainable.

They tried to contain Him in death and a grave, He broke out of there and is alive.

Be content in Jesus who cannot be contained.

Be content in him who cannot be commanded

30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

They are saying, Jesus, give us some more bread.

Jesus does not work for us. He is gracious to give us what we need, not what we want. We need eternal salvation. We do not need a new iphone.

We needed His blood and He gave it to us.

This is hard to hear and is a painful thought. He saved us eternally, for Him to save us temporarily is grace that happens sometimes but is only temporary. The most blessed people in the Bible simply got to die twice.

We do not get to command Jesus to do what we want. We are right to ask Him for things, however, if He does not make you the bread that we want, we need to trust that He is the bread that we need.

Believe in Him

Read His Word

Embrace His Call

Approach His Throne

Delight in Him