The Bread of Life
7: I Am • Sermon • Submitted
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· 17 viewsJesus is the bread of life. He is nourishment for our soul. Physical bread satisfies physical hunger and in much the same way Jesus satisfies spiritual hunger. To eat and drink is to believe.
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Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
1 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. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 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.” 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?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. 16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. 22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 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.
Tonight we begin a 7 week series through the “I Am” statements of Christ. We find all of them in the gospel of John - so I’d encourage you to be reading through the gospel of John if you are in HS or not part of our JH SS class, because our JH SS class has a reading schedule. We are going to spend the rest of the semester looking at who Christ is because as A.W. Tozier once said, “what comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…we tend by secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.”
What he was saying is that we become like what we worship or we move toward how we view God. And that means we need an accurate and deep and true picture of who Christ is.
One of the songs that we’ve sung around our church for the past six years or so is “The Great I Am”. It’s a song about the wonderful fact that God Is. That before all things and above all things God exists. That He is the great reality.
In the gospel Jesus makes 7 claims about who He is - what we call the Seven I Am statements of Christ. Each of the statements give us a slightly different window or view by which we should understand and see Christ. Tonight we are in and we see Christ claim that he is “The Bread of Life.”
Turn with me to , let me pray and then we will begin.
Pray
The Context
The Context
So the day before Jesus made the claim “I Am the Bread of life” Jesus was with a group of 5,000 men plus the women and the children. Estimation - 12-15,000 people. That’s a large group in that day and culture. And he performs a miracle. He feeds them all. A boy had 5 loaves of bread and two fish - and Jesus used that to feed roughly 15,000 people. It was a big day for the people. In fact, it was such an amazing miracle that the people remembered another who had brought bread like this to Israel - Moses.
Through Moses, God sent manna, which was like ancient Honey Grahams, that would rain down from Heaven, the sky, each morning. So when Jesus did this miracle - the people thought - “hey, this is awesome” - much like the miracle of golden grahams from Heaven, manna, during the 40 years Israel wandered in the desert. They thought it was so great that in (v.14) this is what we read:
14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
The crowd was correct about Jesus - in fact, Moses said that a prophet was going to come after him that was greater than him:
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
But, they missed the point of Jesus being the Prophet who was to come. We know they missed it because of (v.15):
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
So, the people wanted to make Jesus the king, but Jesus knew this so he got out of their - He went to a mountain to be alone. Then verses 16-24 tell us that Jesus decided to take a stroll across the sea of Galilee to go to Capernaum - where the crowd followed and found him.
It was like paparazzi type stuff - Jesus, he just couldn’t get away. You would think it was a good thing for people to follow after Jesus, but they were pumped about about the wrong thing (v.26-27):
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.”
The Bread of Life
The Bread of Life
So here’s the skinny - the people loved having a full belly - that’s why they followed Jesus. Not because He has authority over the material world, not because of His power over all things including food, but because He could meet their physical needs. And that’s why they wanted Jesus to be king - if Jesus was king they would never go hungry. If Jesus was king they would have their fill of food.
See, Jesus was bringing good news of rescue to the people. He was bringing forgiveness of sin, appeasement of God’s wrath, access to the Father through His own self. He was coming to take away the sin of the world, but for the crowd - well the good news of Jesus was full tummies. It was Wednesday night meal. It was Friday night pizza night. They missed the Giver of Bread for the gift of bread. And that’s when Jesus turned the entire scene on it’s head.
28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
They wanted to know how they could labor for the food that last’s forever. Listen to what Jesus says:
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
John 6:29
The work and labor that they needed to do was to trust or believe on God’s messenger - the Prophet - Jesus. How did they respond to this?
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.’ ”
John 6:
They responded with “prove yourself”. Perform. They demanded for more signs - and more bread!
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.”
, “Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven...” now Jesus is going to clue them into the real source of heavenly bread. , “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” So now, Jesus is beginning to hint at what the true bread is - listen to their response:
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
And, then Jesus does the mic drop:
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.
So as the crowd wanted more yummy bread for their tummies, Jesus corrects their thinking. The bread that they needed was not a commodity that you could buy or trade, but a Person that you must believe on.
Dental Work Illustration - so hungry, I bought Chick-Fil-A and it just hit the spot. When you are starving food is incredibly nourishing.
Transition: in the same way Jesus is the nourishment for our starving souls. In Christ, we find a satisfaction that nothing in the world can give us - it is an eternal satisfaction.
As fallen, sinful humans we run to money and relationships and pleasure and popularity - external and outward things to try and complete an inside and internal need.
Who in here has an iPhone X? It’s great right? Yes, but you aren’t obsessed with it like you once were. It’s not as shiny and it doesn’t make you feel as happy.
See, external and outward things are good, but what we tend to do is elevate them above God - and when we do this we commit idolatry. We become captivated to a lifeless and powerless idol. And in the midst of our search for meaning and satisfaction and contentment - Jesus stands ready offering himself as the bread of life. In our culture bread is optional, but in there early culture bread was an essential staple.
Students, Jesus will meet and satisfy every longing of your starving soul. He is eternal bread - in fact, listen to what He then says - this is when things get juicy:
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.
John 6:53-
Eating is Believing is Drinking is Believing
Eating is Believing is Drinking is Believing
Wait…what? Dude, Jesus this is getting weird. Eat you? Drink your blood? I mean my wife - Katie - loved the Twilight series, but she is no vampire.
Side note - students, whenever someone tries to tell you Jesus wasn’t the Son of God, but He was just a good moral teacher - I love to take them to this passage. Then I say - really? Jesus doesn’t sound like a “good, moral teacher here”! He sounds like a cannibal!
So, in these verses Jesus says that if you drink his blood and eat his flesh you will have eternal life. Or, in (v.53) he says that if you don’t eat and drink him you will have no life. So what did Jesus mean by these disturbing statements?
J
Look back at :
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
What’s the work of God? To believe upon Christ!
Or:
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.
So what keeps us from hungering - coming to Christ. What keeps us from having soul thirst? Believing in Christ.
Or:
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.”
What brings about eternal life? Looking and believing in Jesus Christ.
For Jesus, eating was believing; drinking was believing. Jesus promised eternal life not to those who eat and drink from his broken body, but to those who believe in why his body was broken — to pay in full the penalty for their sin and to freely give them his perfect righteousness in exchange for their unrighteousness. That is the gospel of the New Testament.
Students, Jesus is the bread of life. Him, and Him alone, will satisfy the deepest longings of our soul. Without Christ, your heart is a black hole that pulls in anything and everything to satisfy it’s cravings. Or, another way to think of your heart is like a factory - that produces an idol - then when that idol fails you - like popularity, a new idol is created. Your heart will continue to create these idols until it is made new by the Holy Spirit in salvation.
Students, quit taking the wrong paths. Quit trying it your own way. Feast on Christ, believe on Him as your bread your life. He will meet your every need. And you will be able to say along with King David, “The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need.”
Lord’s Supper
Lord’s Supper
Fencing the Table
Fencing the Table
Tonight, we are going to do something that we have never done on a Wednesday night at Fuel in the past 6 years that I’ve been here. We are going to take the Lord’s Supper. Students, what we learned tonight about Jesus being the bread of life is eating is believing; drinking is believing. The Lord’s Supper celebrates and proclaims our simple belief - that Jesus gave His body to be broken and His blood to be spilt for the sin of the world.
Tonight as we take of this meal we remind ourselves, again, that Christ is our bread of life. The bread that we will eat is not Christ, but it is a remembrance of Christ’s body that He gave to be broken for us. The juice that we drink is not literally Christ’s blood, but it is a reminder of Christ’s blood that He spilt for us.
We take of this meal to tell again and again of the old story of Christ giving Himself for us.
But, the Lord’s supper is not for everyone. It also works to reveal who is in the body of Christ. Not everyone should take this meal.
In fact, we learn from the bible that this meal is for the church:
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
So, when we take of this meal we demonstrate that we are one body, and not individuals. What this meal shows, in real life, is who is and who isn’t part of the body of Christ.
So only the church should take this meal:
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—
34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
So therefore, as a pastor of First Baptist Church, I have to do my best to serve this congregation and help you in your faith. Which means I need to look out for your spiritual health and benefit.
Listen to :
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
What Paul says is that there is a way to take the meal that is unworthy of Christ - that Paul later says in (v.29) brings judgment upon himself. So what that means is I have to fence the table or draw a line to help you understand who should take it:
Close Communion
Close Communion
So tonight, we are going to do something a bit different than our church officially does, we are going to ask you only to take this meal if:
You are a believer who has been baptized and is a member of a church (that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ truly).
So if you believe in Jesus, but you have never been baptized, I am asking you as a pastor here to not take of this meal. This meal, in the manner in which we will take it, is for those who are believers who have been baptized at our church or who are baptized members of another Christ preaching congregation.
If you have more questions about why we would do it this way, please do not hesitate to come and speak with me after our service.
Pass Out the Meal
Instructions: let the person who is on the other side of you serve you. Then please wait for me to give you instructions before you take of the meal.
Yet there is another principle we need to remember: the universal church is bigger than just our church.
As we take of this meal we proclaim
Therefore, it’s the practice of my own church to open the Table to members of other churches. Throughout the New Testament we see examples of churches working together, such as John’s commendation of Gaius for receiving the missionaries he sent (). What’s more, we see John condemning Diostrephes because he won’t welcome other believers (). When we open the Table to members of other churches, therefore, we demonstrate a rightful welcome to the larger body of Christ. So you’ll hear our pastors say something like,
“If you’re a baptized member of another gospel-preaching church, then you’re welcome to receive the Lord’s Table here.”
As we take of this meal we proclaim
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Jesus instituted it so that all of his disciples throughout all of history would remember and proclaim what they believe about his death until he comes ().
This represents Christ’s body broken for us “Take and Eat”.
1 Corinthians 11:23
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
1 Corinthians 11:2
This represents Christ’s blood poured out for us “Take and Drink”.
Pray