I am the Bread of Life

Intro: We are taking a look at some of the great sermons of the New Testament for our special five Sunday series. We started early, by looking at two sermons of Jesus the past two Sundays. We continue today with a sermon found in John’s gospel immediately following the one from chapter five, but probably several weeks or months later. This sermon could also be labelled the worst sermon ever, since the result was most of His audience walking away – 6:66.

I) World seeks perishable bread – vs.24-26

A) Jews followed Jesus because He fed them, yet He was not pleased with them because of their materiality

B) The world seeks material satisfaction, yet they are never satisfied – – our culture is fed by greed, which is a building with no foundation

Luke 12:16–21 ESV

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

C) There is no end to the pursuit, because nothing is permanent – – even with temporary success

Matthew 6:19 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,

II) God gives true bread – vs.27-33

A) We strive for the “perfect” nutrition in our food (Tang, vitamins, etc)

B) Manna of the wilderness was perfect nutrition for Israel – ,

Exodus 16:13–15 ESV

In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

Exodus 16:35 ESV

The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

C) God also has the perfect spiritual bread – – for all our needs

Psalm 34:8–10 ESV

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

D) This bread gives life to the (spiritually) dead

III) Jesus is that bread – vs.34-50

A) Our message must be centered on Christ – – but also our lives must be centered on Christ –

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 ESV

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Colossians 1:13–18 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

B) We will never hunger again – – but like Israel complaining in the wilderness, man tends to not be satisfied with perfection

John 4:14 ESV

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

C) Jesus came to save according to God’s will (purpose) – – so this bread cannot fail

Isaiah 55:10–11 ESV

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

D) But we must be willing to listen and learn from God –

Isaiah 54:13 ESV

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.

IV) We must be willing to eat His flesh – vs.51-65

A) This speaks of the total and unique commitment involved in being a disciple of Christ (I was a Boy Scout, but did not advance because I was not committed)

B) More than study, it is living for Jesus; there is much study how to bake the bread, slice the bread, and present the bread, but too little eating the bread –

1 Peter 2:2–3 ESV

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

C) We must live each day as if Jesus is alive within us –

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

D) This is a difficult requirement in discipleship (“If was easy, everyone would do it.”); but there is no other salvation –

Acts 4:12 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Concl: The sad result of Jesus’ words is that many would no longer seek Him – v.66 – but true disciples are not put off by such a commitment, they are heartened – vs.67-69 – what will be your reaction to the commitment required to be one of His servants?