Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening Illustration

Opening Illustration

Franz Kafka, an atheist writer in the early 1900’s, was famous for writing symbolic stories that spoke on both his personal life and on the political climate in which he lived.

In one short story, The Hunger Artist, he summed up his thoughts.

He wanted his other works burned but insisted that this one story be saved.

The Hunger Artist tells the story of a man who would lock himself in a cage and publically fast for many days.

The hunger artist performed in a cage for the curious spectators, and was attended by teams of watchers (usually three butchers) who ensured that he was not secretly eating.

Despite such precautions, many, including some of the watchers themselves, were convinced that the hunger artist cheated.

In a typically bizarre fashion, Kafka has the hunger artist making his living by professional fasting.

He is the practitioner of a once venerated profession.

Seated on straw in his small barred cage, he is marveled at by throngs of people.

After forty days, his fasts were terminated in triumph.

His manager would make a speech, the band would play, and one of the ladies would lead him staggering in his weakened state out of the cage.

However, the day arrived when fasting was no longer understood or appreciated by the people.

He lost his manager and had to join a circus.

His cage was placed next to the animals.

He became depressed by the smell, the restlessness of the animals at night, the raw flesh carried past him, and the roaring at feeding time.

The people barely glanced at him in their hurry to see the animals.

Even the circus attendants failed to limit his fast by counting the days.

Finally, he was discovered lying in the straw, and in his dying breaths he told his secret: “I have to fast,” he whispered.

“I can’t help it.

I couldn’t find the food I liked.

If I had found it, believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else.”

Kafka was a writer of parables.

The parable of the hunger artist is not about physical hunger but about spiritual hunger.

Kafka was the hunger artist, and he realized he was starving to death spiritually, but he couldn’t find any food he liked.

Introduction

Like Kafka pointed out in his story of starving because he couldn’t find food that could satisfy him… the world in which we live in is Spiritually Hungry.

If you look around you will see that our culture and those around us are constantly looking for something to satisfy their soul and no matter how hard they look or what they turn to they wind up being dissatisfied.

The writer of Ecclesiastes says,

11 He has made everything appropriate in its time.

He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.

God created all of us with this void in our souls that can only be satisfied with Jesus.

God has revealed himself through all that he has created and ultimately in his Son Jesus Christ.

This is where we are this morning in our sermon series through the gospel of John.

Today we are beholding Jesus the great provider… Jesus the living bread where when you eat you will be eternally satisfied in him.

If you have your Bibles this morning go ahead and turn those to the Gospel of John chapter 6.

Last week, in Pastor Barry’s message, we beheld Jesus the Judge who has come with a powerful message of life.

He came with Authority from the Father and one day he will judge the living and the dead through this authority.

Today we get to see some of this authority on display when creation itself obeys the word of Jesus through both the feeding of about 15,000 people and Jesus walking on water.

This is the main idea that I want you to get this morning before we really get started… and you can write this down:

Jesus is a Savior that provides far more than just our physical needs.

He provides for our most deepest and most spiritual needs and leaves us eternally satisfied.

Look down starting in verse 25 of chapter 6...

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.”

This is the Word of God.

Let’s pray.

There are three things that I want us to see from chapter six this morning.

And this is the first thing...

Point I: Jesus providing physical bread points to who he really is (vs.

1-15).

Jesus performed many signs and wonders… miracles.

The miracles themselves were not the point but the one who performed them is the point.

Jesus.

Look with me at verse one to see what’s going on in this story.

6 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.

2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.

So Jesus is starting to get really popular.

If you remember last week and two weeks ago, Jesus is healing people who have been sick for a long time.

And that’s starting to get the attention of people.

And so now there’s a large crowd following Jesus.

Waiting for him to do more miracles.

Waiting for him to meet the needs that they think need to be met more than anything.

So there’s this large crowd following Jesus now.

The Bible says that there’s about 5,000 men which means that if you count women and children there could be about 10 or 15,000.

This is a lot of people.

That’s how many people the Veteran’s Memorial Arena seats downtown.

That’s around how many students are enrolled here at UNF!

The problem with having so many people following Jesus for any extended period of time is that they are going to want to eat soon.

They are out in the wilderness away from the city.

Look at what happens next...

5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”

5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

Jesus knew what he was going to do.

He knew that there was going to be a little boy that would offer up his lunch to help feed anyone but Jesus asks one of his disciples to test him.

And of course Philip being the realist that he is is like “we can’t afford to feed this many people.”

He says even if we had 200 danarii we wouldn’t be able to afford it.

That’s about 200 days worth of working and that’s sounds about right.

But Jesus knew what would happen next.

Look at verse 8...

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”

Andrew finds a little boy with a small lunch.

Andrew was very much like Philip.

Philip calculated.

Andrew simply looked at the resources and decided there was no way to solve the problem.