RABBI: Better Bread

1.pledge make room - Head to Make Room STA

2.invite to good friday. Prayer time at the end of the message.

3.palm sunday next week.

John 6:25–71 ESV

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 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. 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.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 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.’ ” 32 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. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 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. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 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. 40 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.” 41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. 60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

RABBI: Better Bread.

Prayer

Rabbi series ending today. Hope this has been a help to you. a blessing in your own look into the bible.

Here is a quick recap of where we have been

TEACHINGS OF THE MASTER,

Rabbi: Part 1 Follow the master - How teachable are you? Who teaches you?

Part 2 “basic training” (Let the dead bury their own dead) discipleship is free to join but the cost is great. We never gratuate from it, we just get better at it. We grow as a disciple. We learn more.

Part 3 “Rich in Faith” / Rich Young Ruler. wealth cant get you into heaven but the opportunity for earthy wealth is to make heaven different with it. To

Part 4 “Born again” (you must be born again: he says to nicodemus). are you born again? you cant be half in and half out. You cant continue on with your old life and expect an eternal one as well. You must be reborn. The most graphic picture to illustrate Jesus uses the picture of physical BIRTH, ofcourse meaning spirit birth.

I heard an old time preacher say the first birth gotcha here… its the second birth that gets you into heaven. You decide.

Part 5 Today: “Better Bread”

John 6:48 ESV

I am the bread of life.

John 6:53 ESV

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

This is potentially the most explosive and confronting teaching that is considered one of the hard sayings of Jesus

John’s Gospel has a very unique theme in the first five or six chapters focused around water and bread

Johns prologue - think Genesis 1.

Then the wedding at Cana - water

Then Jesus cleanses the temple (water)

Then Jesus talks to nidodemus: you must be born again. Born of water and spirit

Then the woman at the well… Water

Chapter 5… The healing POOL. The man of 38 years.

John 5:6 “When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?””

John 5:7 “The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.””

John chapter 6 begins with physical bread but ends with spiritual bread and what we find is again. Jesus is using miracles signs and wonders to display and to reveal who he is to the people that were around him, and he is astounded that people don’t get it.

So essentially what we have here is the miracle of the loaves and fishes followed by a brief departure by Jesus because he recognize they were going to try to make him king so he gets out of there, then connect back with his disciples on the water and then the next day we pick it up in verse 22

And it says that the crowd remained on the other side of the sea, saw that they had only been there for one reason only and that was to get another feed

John 6:26 ESV

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.

And for whatever reason, he decides this is the time to connect the dots between yesterday’s miracle and today’s truth, and what it all means

John 6:27 “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.””

1.YOU NEED BREAD.

We all need bread. You need to FEED.

This is not to be missed here —-What bread exactly? bread of heaven.

They’d seen that. and God had proven to them, that he was able to supply their needs.

God caters to the physical need. He uses their physical desperation as a good parralel to their spiritual malnutrition.

the sphyical; supply f food, is just a parralel to the supply that the spirit supplies to the soul.

Food for the Body

Spirit for the human soul.

The physical need was not like we think it may have been either: this is not affluent returning for a meal.

JESUS GETS ONTO THEM BECAUSE THEY SHOW BACK UP AGAIN FOR ANOTHER MEAL.

This is what you would naturally see in a poverty type scenario. I remember the time i went to columbia on a mission trip years ago. and the first thing that people want to know when you show up was did you bring any food with you

Did you bring any flour?

Any supplies?

anything that can GET ME THROUGH ANOTHER MONTH

Another Week?

… another day.?

GOD IS SHOWING US SOMETHING HERE. Our need of him is meant to be daily - not every seven days. not every christmas or easter. Not when we are desperate and a bit famished.

What about your hunger?

do you show up daily for the better bread?

These mishguided followers through the word today are actually painting a spiritual principle for us in their own daily lives.

YOU CANNOT LIVE OFF YESTERDAYS PROVISION. YESTERDAYS REVELATION. YESTERDAYS SUPPLY.

**Yesterdays cuban sandwich was good, but the half i took home and had the next day - whils still amazing - was a day old. and even tho it was good - it wasnt as good as when it came right out of the oven and onto my plate.

Such is our relationship with God: you can access the supply any time you want?

God always wants to something fresh in your life. But will you seek it?

Physical but also and more importantly - SPIRITUAL BREAD.

in other words WE NEED TO EAT. We all do

Remember what John said in John chapter 1?

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Some of you are starving. You need to be feeding on the words of Jesus, the word of God. As you do, you are consuming life and words of life that will build your spiritual body your soul. This is what we as Gods people do.

Some of you are eating well. Some of you know, you get up every day and you eat. You eat well. You get the sourdough fresh out of the oven every single day not every Sunday.

Some of you rely on my preaching to feed you. Listen to me, my prayer is every week you would get a good meal here on Sunday. There is food on the table today. But what about the rest of the week? What about Thursday when that stressful thing happens? What kind of condition will you be in?

John 6:34

“They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.””

We need this bread ALWAYS.

So there are some who eat not enough, some who eat well… then sadly

There are some, who have never tasted anything close.

2.WHEN WE EAT, WE FELLOWSHIP

AS WE EAT, WE PARTAKE IN FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LORD.

Feeding…. Is fellowship.

What communion Sunday (or any day) represents is not a focus on the food. but rather a focus on fellowship with God. It represents relationship.

Without fellowship we take no part in / we don’t partake. We have to part in him.

With fellowship, we are with him.

We are IN HIM.

This is not about FOOD, its about PRESENCE

They are intertwined

Jesus shows up on a beach in ressurected form: to see the guys but also to break bread with them.

The early church knew this instinctively because it was modeled to them:

Acts 2:46 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

Acts 27:35 ESV

35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat.

Old testament Jews know the significance of BREAD: IT REPRESENTS PRESENCE.

They know about the manna - Mannah in the wilderness.

they also knew that on the Golden table in the tabernacle was the fresh bread of the presence.

The "bread of the presence," also known as shewbread or showbread, was a sacred, twelve-loaf bread offering placed on a table in the Tabernacle, representing God's provision and covenant with Israel, and was consumed by the priests on the Sabbath. Here's a more detailed explanation:

Biblical Context:The bread of the presence is mentioned in Exodus 25:30 and Leviticus 24:5-9. 

Preparation and Placement:Priests baked twelve loaves of fine flour, arranged in two piles of six loaves each, and placed them on a golden table in the Tabernacle. 

Sabbath Offering:The bread was changed every Sabbath, and the priests ate the bread that had been displayed, making it a Sabbath sacrifice. 

Symbolism:God's Provision: The bread symbolized God's generous provision for his people. Covenant: It was a sign of the covenant between God and his people. Sabbath Worship: It was a key element of Israelite worship on the Sabbath. Memorial Offering: The bread served as a memorial food offering to the Lord. 

Food represents fellowship: More than provision

what it represented was connection, communion and FELLOWSHIP with the Lord.

What is JESUS saying here?

dont get fixated on the mannah, even the miracle of the manna

dont get held up because of the loaves and the fishes and how amazing that miracle sign was

get fired up about what it can mean for EVERY HUMAN HEART

fellowship forever with ME. Jesus Christ. The only one who can get you to GOD.

3.THERE IS PLENTY TO GO AROUND.

We will never find Jesus unwilling, unable or lacking in supply

He wants to do a miracle in every ones life.

He is able to bring heaven to earth in the life of that person

And his supply is unending in nature: This is true supply

The picture of the loaves and the fishes is a spiritual picture of how much of Jesus is available to go around…..

John 6:52 ESV

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

The question shouldn’t have been how can….but how much? Which is what they had just witnessed. It’s what their families has been talking about. Millions of Gods people eating daily manna for 40 years.

It’s not a question of if He can

It’s a question of if he will…

And he will…

John doesn’t record the last supper like Matthew mark and Luke. But what he does show is the generosity of JESUS who gives as much of himself as is ever necessary to his disciples…

John 21:12–13 ESV

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish.

Jesus is not limited to just the Jews

He’s also for the Greeks

He’s for everyone

This Easter, will you please share your bread?

NOTES

more

The "bread of the presence," also known as shewbread or showbread, was a sacred, twelve-loaf bread offering placed on a table in the Tabernacle, representing God's provision and covenant with Israel, and was consumed by the priests on the Sabbath. Here's a more detailed explanation:

Biblical Context:The bread of the presence is mentioned in Exodus 25:30 and Leviticus 24:5-9. 

Preparation and Placement:Priests baked twelve loaves of fine flour, arranged in two piles of six loaves each, and placed them on a golden table in the Tabernacle. 

Sabbath Offering:The bread was changed every Sabbath, and the priests ate the bread that had been displayed, making it a Sabbath sacrifice. 

Symbolism:

God's Provision: The bread symbolized God's generous provision for his people. 

Covenant: It was a sign of the covenant between God and his people. 

Sabbath Worship: It was a key element of Israelite worship on the Sabbath. 

Memorial Offering: The bread served as a memorial food offering to the Lord.