I Am the Bread of Life
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
There is saying I heard often that the bible stands for Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth
So many of us think of the bible and Christianity that way
Sadly as we saw last week that weak belief is like a vaccine that puts an inactive form of something in us so we are unaffected by the real thing
How many of us feel like bad christians because we can’t get the rule following life alteration therapy to
Here is some liberating news today and I really hope this frees some of us of the ineffective christian vaccine we know
Christianity is not primarily baout lifestyle change it is about knowing God
That knowledge makes us fall in love with this scandalous God
Then and only then does real life change happen
So how do we know God?
We learn his character and who he is through the bible
Its not basic instruction before leaving earth
it is the epic drama of God moving all of human history to save the lost through Jesus and get us home
It is the most epic story ever told
That is how we know God
Nothing puts on cosmic display like his I Am statements
Who are you God? What are you doing when it looks like things aren’t how they are supposed to be?
He is shouting this is who I AM
In the most amazing ways he doesn’t make us come to him
He uses the things we know to show us how he is I AM
Today we are in John 6 to see him use our deepest longings to show us He is what we truly long for
Today we see Jesus show he is the bread of Life
An Old Problem
An Old Problem
The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat. They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone. Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked.
Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:5 sets the scene we are in
This is the day after Jesus saw a huge crowd and fed 5000 men not counting women and children from a little boys lunch
So here we are the day after and he has left the crowed but they found Him
And in this epic there is all of us
We are confronted along with these 1st century jews with the exact same problem
He is targeting 2 parts of our hearts
what we seek and how we seek it
this is bread for the heart to convert us at our core
It is so impertant that this is the only miracle recorded in all 4 gospels that is the matthew mark luke and john
What is at your hearts deepest longings
What are you hoping will make you whole today?
And when we ask it we see the same problem these jews had
In this we see how we sell what we are seeking and how we are seeking it short of what we truly want
But he asks us all to our heart
What do you want?
What do you really need Jesus to be and to do for you
Verse 26 “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Jesus’ reply, as is often the case, is neither polite nor seemingly directed to the question asked
Because there is always something we are blind too underneath our questions of what we want Jesus to do for us
That they are looking for him is good (cf. 1:35–39), but Jesus says there is something wrong with their motivation
At our heart level we are forced to ask ourselves why do we want Jesus
Is it because we want him to give us what we want apart from him anyway?
God i really want to be married so help me meet someone and I will take it from there?
Never let you show me the way in a relationship to be whole and sacrafice for this person
I have literally said God if you let these powerball numbers hit i promise I will tithe off of it
These jews thought the savior would make Israel great again and kick rome out
If we were free we would be whole if we had political power we would be free to live our own truth
The motivation we have to battle is do we want a useful Jesus or a Lord of our life to show us how to live
Following Jesus in the day to day is the way to curate your heart to be attentive to and intentional about what you long for and how you are seeking it
Why does Jesus answer the question they aren’t even asking
James KA Smith says becuase Jesus is a techer who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to just be useful or give us new information he is after nothing less then your wants your loves and your longings
Why does he confront this old problem?
Because there is a war to simply make him a useful Jesus
How are you doing that today?
That is where he goes next
A Useful Jesus
A Useful Jesus
“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked.
Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”
“What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
This is the usefulness of a Jesus in religion verses the gospel
Look at there question in verse 28
isnt that our response to religion
what must we do?
What can I perform what rules can I keep so I am in control
How can a useful Jesus give me what I want and still keep me in control of seeking and finding what I want
And it goes even deeper
“What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform?
He was useful once in filling their stomachs so be useful again in this situation Jesus
What is amazing if you look at the miracles of Jesus is that all of them aren’t magic tricks but they are assaults on the brokenness sin has created
God hates what sin has done
Think of john the baptist asking did we get in wrong when he was in a prison cell…and how does jesus answer him would be the sign he is the king come to rescue his people in Matthew 11
How would we know?
Would it be because he would be useful and get them out of a political jam?
Would it be because he would fly into rome and land in the colusium and snap his fingers and beat all the gladiators?
What does jesus say?
He says I am the one you long for because what you really long for is for the consequences of sin to be pushed back
Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”
What do those mean?
The blind see- physical brokenness
The lepper is cleanses - that thing you think if God knew he would never love me is cleansed
The dead are raised- life is given to dead lives
and on and on
They mean in the presence of the King all that is broken will be restored, physical brokenness, loss of community, loss of access to god, suffering injustice will be gone
The curse will be rolled back is what he is saying
Every miracle was an assault on what darkness has done
That is the sign
Thank God that is the sign
Would I rather have god let me win the power ball so i can tithe off of it have him promise and show me in his resurrection my funeral won’t get the last word
He is the sign
I hear from people they would believe if i could give an air tight argument …and I say there isnt one but there is an airtight person
How does the bread push back what sin has stolen
How does it put on display the scandal of the Gospel
christ says this bread is going to be given to you in verse 32 …not earned
Where did this bread thing start?
All the way back in Genesis 3 where god says by the sweat of your labor you will get your bread
What you long for is going to take someone killing themselves to make a reality by sweating
by the sweat of your face you will get bread
who is the only person recorded as sweatin in the entire bible?
jesus taking on the first adams curse we know so that he can be the faithful adam who did all we ever need
Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
he took the sweat of terror to give us what we long for because we never could break that curse
That is how the bread is all about the Gospel
What must we do?
Not perform
Simply believe the second adam has come and by the sweat of his face has made a way to what you truly long for….to see all that sin has done be pushed back
Melissa Kruger said - you must beleive to receive what you could never achieve
That is good news
Mellissa Kruger said The gospel rolls back the curse and offers us true bread we long for
What He Came to Do
What He Came to Do
For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.
Remember back to the beginning introduction
The bible is not a manual for a better happier healthier wealthier you
It is not a manual for self esteem self improvement
It is the story of God
WHo he is, who we are, what went wrong, and how they can be made right again
It is about knowing God
and our deepest longing for the hero we need
Thats what he means by being hungry
It is the language of longing for things to be made right and deep down how we know there is a god we need to do what we cannot do
We have to know who that God is so we can stop the ache
John: An Introduction and Commentary (2nd Ed.) iv. Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse (6:25–59)
Hunger and thirst are metaphors for the human need to know God, and knowing God is the present experience of eternal life (17:3). Those who come to Jesus—that is, those who believe in him—are brought into relationship with God, and their hunger and thirst to know God are satisfied (see commentary on
It is in knowing God that we go from death to life
For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
What does the bread of knowing God do?
He says gives life to the world
You want to see hope at a funeral- know the real God and what he has done to conquer it
You want to experience community where you are fully known even your worst mistakes- know the God who set his affections on you before he created a thing to save you
You want to know the injustices you have experienced will see justice- know this God who suffered the greatest injustice to make things right
On and On
You want to see yourself overcome sin know this god
he is saying that ache to know all of that can only come from knowing God
And here is the scandal
he came to you to show you and do everything you could never achieve to save you
Don’t you resonate with their longing question sir please give us this bread always
Please make this world that isn’t how its supposed to be be made right
Don’t leave don’t let us long and seek after those longings wrong
and what does he say
How is it done
How can we have it
Through a person not some rules to follow
Jesus says I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
Colin Kruse says Because Jesus was the bread of life he could promise that those who came to him would never hunger, those who believed in him would never thirst
He is not talking about physical hunger
I am a follower of Christ and as a husky man i promise i will be physically hungry in about an hour
He is saying Because I believe in him I have a well of hope that will never run out in the face of the human experience
I will never be starved for hope at a funeral or in fear or anxiety
Because he is the savior I needed not the useful king i want him to be sometimes
He is the Bread of Life
Who he is
What he has done
What he is doing right now
That is the answer to our ache and our longing
And you can have it today
Simply believe
He is what you long for
Lets Pray
