Sermon Tone Analysis

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! The Living Bread—John 6
 
 
 
 
            The history of bread spans millennia.
Archeologists have unearthed loaves of bread and rolls in ancient Egyptian tombs.
Most bread from Old Testament times was leavened bread, or bread that rises.
During the Passover in which everything that the Jews did required hastiness, unleavened bread was baked because the Jews did not have time for it to rise.
In 168 B.C., a bakers’ guild was formed in ancient Rome, and we know that from the time of Pliny (70 A.D.), the Romans preferred white bread over dark, the white wheat being imported from Alexandria.
Wheat, barley and rye grains have the ability to be stored after harvest for long periods of time; they are available during winter months and times of famine.
There are many ancient recipes, some requiring the inclusion of cheese, some requiring eggs and butter, and some requiring much more mundane ingredients, especially those for the poor who could not afford the richer varieties.
Bread could be baked in ovens, on hearths, or in pans over an open fire.
In ancient Greece, cities vied for the title of having the best bread.
Local breads were a matter of local pride.
Bread is such a satisfying food because it is not only nourishing and nutritious, but it also has a pleasing, airy texture.
Yeast, a single celled fungi, eats sugar and in the process emits alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide, a gas, enables bread to rise; the alcohol burns off as bread is cooked and contributes to the flavor of bread.
Bread rises because of a unique quality of certain flours that come from grain; when this flour is mixed with water, it can be kneaded, or worked with the fingers, making the flour and water mixture elastic and stretchy—this is called gluten.
It is gluten that will capture the gas emitted by yeast’s digestion of sugar; it is gluten that will make the mixture swell because pockets within it will fill like a balloon with gas.
John chapter six is the great chapter in which Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).
John carefully selects and organizes his gospel around seven “I am” statements of Jesus and seven specific miracles, or signs that Jesus performed.
/The Tyndale Bible Dictionary/ states that in the synoptic gospels, “the miracles of Jesus are seen as acts of mercy and divine power.”
John selects specific miracles of Jesus, or signs, that point beyond themselves back to Jesus himself; the miracles illustrate who Jesus is and why he came into the world.
Jesus’ great “I am the bread of life” thus follows the sign of the feeding of the five thousand on a hill in Galilee.
Before we discuss what Jesus meant by stating, “I am the bread of life,” let’s spend a few moments understanding the miracle, or the sign of the feeding of the five thousand.
This event supplies the context of Jesus’ discourse on him being the bread of life.
John 6:2 tells us that a large crowd followed Jesus because they witnessed the signs “that he was doing on the sick.”
They wanted a show, a spectacular, an entertainment, someone who would meet what they thought were their needs—physical healing from their ailments.
What they didn’t understand was that their infirmities were not physical, but spiritual.
When the disciples realized that so many people were following Jesus and that there was no food to feed them, Jesus quizzes Philip as a test, and asks him where they are going to buy bread to feed so many people.
Philip responds, probably with concern and despair, and says that the wages for two hundred full days of labor would not be sufficient to purchase the bread necessary to feed such a large crowd.
Andrew mentions that there is a boy in their midst who has five barley loaves and two fish.
Jesus has the people sit on the grass, takes the loaves, and after he gave thanks, he distributes the loaves, and the miracle is that all are fed—so much so, Jesus commands that the leftovers are to be gathered, and twelve baskets are filled.
The people responded, according to John 6:14, with “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
But this crowd was interested in the bread of the world, physical bread, physical well-being, and because of this, they later intended to take Jesus by force and make him king (John 6:15).
Jesus then withdraws from the crowd, going once again onto a mountain for solitude.
After this time of solitude while the disciples are crossing the sea of Capernaum in a boat, Jesus frightens them by walking on the sea.
He reassures them, and enters the boat.
The next morning the crowd discovers that Jesus has left.
In commandeered boats, they cross to the other side, and ask, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
It is then that Jesus presents his “I am the bread of life discourse.”
Jesus begins by pointing to the true motive of the crowd: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (John 6:26).
It was the hunger in their bellies that compelled them to follow Jesus, not the hunger in their souls.
It appears that too many Christians seek physical bread from the Lord, rather than spiritual bread.
This seems verified by the cover story of the September 18, 2006 /Time/ magazine entitled, “Does God Want You to Be Rich?”
The authors of this article, David Van Biema and Jeff Chu, interviewed over the telephone 770 professing Christians across the United States and asked them to agree or disagree with the following statements:
 
            God wants people to be financially prosperous.
\\             Agree: 61 percent \\             Disagree: 26 percent
 
            Material wealth is a sign of God's blessing.
\\             Agree: 21 percent \\             Disagree: 73 percent
 
            Poverty can be a blessing from God. \\             Agree: 45 percent \\             Disagree: 49 percent
 
J           Jesus was not rich, and we should follow his example.
\\             Agree: 48 percent \\             Disagree: 44 percent
 
            If you give away your money to God, he will bless you with more money.
\\             Agree: 31 percent \\             Disagree: 63 percent
 
            Christians in the U.S. don't do enough for the poor.
\\             Agree: 49 percent \\             Disagree: 43 percent
 
This key chapter in John’s Gospel
* This key chapter in John’s Gospel reveals that what is important is not the material as seen in an abundance of physical bread, but the spiritual which is our relationship to the Triune Godhead.
* This key chapter in John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus is the true bread of heaven and that he gives life to the world.
* It also tells us that this bread is ours to feed upon if we are willing to believe that Jesus is this bread.
When we appropriate this bread of life and it becomes a part of us,
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