I AM: THE BREAD OF LIFE

One of the most commonly said phrases we hear is “This is the Greatest thing since sliced bread”. Now bread is one of our oldest sources of nourishment. Bread slicers became popular in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Especially in the American Midwest. An American engineer by the name of Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the first automatic bread-slicing machine and a brand that is still around today, Wonder-Bread became one of the first to sell sliced bread.

This was a huge deal back then. Came you imagine if we had to slice bread today, how much of a hassle it would be? We’d have to make sure we would have to cut it even so it wouldn’t be to thin were everything would just weigh down the bread but, we’d also have to make sure we didn’t cut it to thick because nothings worse than a pound of bread with a little bit of meat in a sandwhich.

WE

But have you ever tasted a loaf of bread that comes straight from the oven. It has this pure flaky crust that’s hot and just melts in your mouth.

That’s how our relationship with God is. It should be hot, fulfilling, and satisfying. For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled!

Jesus has described himself as the Good Shepherd, the True Vine and now

Jesus describes himself as “I AM: The Bread of Life”.

Let’s Read John 6:25-35

GOD

(NKJV)

25 And 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 and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” 28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give 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 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Background:

To fully understand Jesus declare being the “Bread of Life” we need to know the context here. If we go back in John a little further to the previous days which mention Jesus feeding the 5,000 with 5 loaves of Bread and two Fish. We will see the supernatural signs and miracles that Jesus is doing among the people and the purpose of it was to prove His authority. That He is who He says to be. That He is the messiah, the son of God.

We see that in the next days a crowd went to Capernaum seeking Jesus. Boats would arrive even as far as Tiberias which was several miles from where Jesus performed His miracle of feeding 5,000. So there is no doubt that the news of His miracle spread quickly and they didn’t even have facebook, email, or even phones back then! So many of them seeked Jesus out.

When they finally find Jesus, what do they ask Him? Do they thank Him for what he has done or bow to him in worship? No! They don’t even address Him as Lord but as “Rabbi” which is teacher and they asked him “When did you get here”?

Now, the common thought would be that they asked Jesus that, why? Because they feared that they missed their next meal!

They wanted to earn their salvation

In other words.....

The crowd wanted the provision more than the provider

GOD

(NKJV)

25 And 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 and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” 28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give 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 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

They wanted the provision more than the provider

They wanted the provision more than the provider. Jesus wasn’t enough for them. They came to see what they could get out of Him instead of seeing what they could give back to him. It’s a lot like what the Apostle Paul said in “They worshipped Created things rather than the creator Himself.

None of us here, do that, right? We are all flawless.

We never come to church to see what we can get instead of what we can give.

The American church suffers from this consumer Christianity mindset. We want God to tailor to us. We want our lives to go exactly as we plan. What happens though when life is stripped down to the bare essentials? When we lose our job, when we get cancer,our spouse dies or any other life altering crisis? What if you suffered day and night until God called you home? Would Jesus and the salvation He offers be enough for you?

The answer to the problems of the world around you is the world within you. There are some who have a conditional belief in their walk with the Lord.

Such as... “God, I will follow you as long as you don’t take my child away. Do that and im done with you”

“God I will follow you as long as you don’t interefere with my schedule. Do that and im done with you”

“God I will follow you as long as I have no troubles in my life” Do that and im done with you”.

A good question for you to ask yourself is “Why am I here”? Jesus has a way of dividing the sheep from the goats, the Disciples from the cultural Christians, the fans from the followers.

Jesus addresses those who were come for the show, the spectacle of the miracle. Whats your because for being here. Is it because this is what you have always done, you like the music and the chit-chat? That can get you by for a while but, that won’t get you into heaven. If the reason for you being here is for your own agenda and not Gods then its not a relationship with Jesus it’s a relationship with religion.

The crowd wanted to earn their salvation

Some that were in the crowd with Jesus “wanted to earn their salvation”. Why? Because that’s what they were use to. That’s what they always done. All they knew before Jesus was the law and it’s commandments. So they ask Jesus a question “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God”? How do we get this “bread of life” you speak about? Jesus responds by telling them all they have to do is believe in the one which God has sent to be the messiah. In other words that Jesus is the Great I am”. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s love.

For some of us this might be hard to grasp. Now im sure everyone in this room has the knowledge that you can’t earn salvation but does that head knowledge flow into the heart?

You know in the Superbowl a few years ago the Seahawks played the patriots. On the last drive of the game they were stopped just 3 inches from victory.

Thats the same distance from heads to our hearts. Just about 3 inches can seperate us heaven and hell.

In (NKJV) it says...

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

(NKJV)

25 And 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 and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” 28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give 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 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

The crowd trusted more in man and tradition then they did the son and the father.

The crowd trusted more in man and tradition then they did the son and the father.

The crowd asked Jesus for a sign that they might see and believe in Him. Then they shared Moses fed them bread from heaven. There are some stark parallels between here in and . Both mention....

Where are we to get meat/bread?

The proportion between the existing needs and available resources.

The description of the bread

The people’s grumbling

Jesus in had to remind the crowd that it wasn’t Moses who provided their ancestors with bread and water. Moses was merely a vessel who was used. But, it was God who provided it

Sometimes we can give glory to man instead of to God. And our God is a jealous God and a consuming fire. It can be easy to give Glory to the saints of old as this crowd is doing. They were wanting to see a sign of old, a sign that was familiar to them But, God in Christ, was going to do something new. God parted the red sea, gave the tablets with the ten commandments, caused all types of plagues in Egypt but, this time it would be something different, something better. The bread that their ancestors ate. They ate it and died but the bread of life which is Jesus they may eat and live and live life eternal

Jesus the bread of life, He would give up himself, His flesh, for the life of the world. Jesus would offer himself as an atonement for sin as a new covenant. The New Covenant would be one that is under grace and not law because He was the fulfilment of the law. His blood would be poured out for the sin of the world. He is now our faithful high priest and is the son of God.

Alcohol will leave you breathless

Drugs leave you senseless

Evil leaves you heartless

Death leaves you lifeless

But Jesus Christ wont leave you regardless!

YOU

What are you putting your believe, faith, and trust in? Do you know Jesus as the “Great I AM” More specifically that He is the Bread of Life that provides nourishment for your soul. That when everything is stripped away to the bare essentials, that He is more than enough for you?! Come and taste that the Lord is good.

WE

What if we came to Jesus before He was all that we had left. Come dine with the Lord at His table and eat of His bread and drink from His cup and you will be satisfied. Imagine how lives could be transformed if we came to Him without any alternative motives but, simply because we wanted to worship Him and be at His feet!

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