The Bread of Life
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmark:
Needs: Easter services card
Needs: Easter services card
Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:
Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:
Welcome guests to the family gathering, introduce yourself. Thank the band. Invite guests to parlor after service.
COVID-19 Precautions. I’m not one to panic or even really worry, but I have had several church members ask about COVID-19/coronavirus and what precautions we are taking as a church family. Even if you’re not particularly concerned about it, we need to remember that we are a family, and that we love each other. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:
Therefore, if we want to love our fellow brothers and sisters well, those who might be more susceptible to getting sick, there are some things that I’m going to ask of all of us for the time being:If you don’t feel well, we love you, but please stay home. Think about . If you have ever looked at someone and thought, “They’re sick… they should have stayed home.” That’s what you wanted them to do for you. Do that for them. If you need to stay home, you can access the sermons at least on the website, on the church app, or by the podcast, usually by Monday afternoon.Wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds with soap and water with friction.If you can’t wash, use at least a 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer often. We have hand sanitizing stations in the foyer that have this type of sanitizer.Try to keep you hands out of your mouth, nose, and eyes while you’re in public areas, because we touch public surfaces.If you need to cough or sneeze, use good etiquette: cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow.Don’t get your feelings hurt if someone isn’t shaking hands or hugging for the time being. We love each other, and love to hug and shake hands, but let’s just be understanding with one another.
The annual week of prayer for North American missions is coming up. It begins next Sunday, March 1. There are some half-sheet flyers on the Get Connected table in the foyer with information about our activities and events that week. Monday, March 2, at 7PM, we will have Dessert & Prayer Fellowships at 3 homes in the city: The Flurys, the Kittredges, and the Bowmans. Amanda Bowman asked me to let everyone know that there will be something for children at the Bowmans. Their addresses and phone numbers are on the flyer. Our Day of Prayer here at the church building will be Wednesday, March 4, from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. You can sign up for a 30 minute time slot on the sheet also on the Get Connected table. Finally, there will be a potluck Prayer Lunch on Friday, March 6, beginning at 11:30 am here at the building in Miller Hall. Please find ways to get involved in our emphasis on praying for our North American missionaries during this week of prayer.
Therefore, if we want to love our fellow brothers and sisters well, those who might be more susceptible to getting sick, there are some things that I’m going to ask of all of us for the time being:If you don’t feel well, we love you, but please stay home. Think about . If you have ever looked at someone and thought, “They’re sick… they should have stayed home.” That’s what you wanted them to do for you. Do that for them. If you need to stay home, you can access the sermons at least on the website, on the church app, or by the podcast, usually by Monday afternoon.Wash your hands often for at least 20 seconds with soap and water with friction.If you can’t wash, use at least a 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer often. We have hand sanitizing stations in the foyer that have this type of sanitizer.Try to keep you hands out of your mouth, nose, and eyes while you’re in public areas, because we touch public surfaces.If you need to cough or sneeze, use good etiquette: cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow.Don’t get your feelings hurt if someone isn’t shaking hands or hugging for the time being. We love each other, and love to hug and shake hands, but let’s just be understanding with one another.The annual week of prayer for North American missions is coming up. It begins next Sunday, March 1. There are some half-sheet flyers on the Get Connected table in the foyer with information about our activities and events that week. Monday, March 2, at 7PM, we will have Dessert & Prayer Fellowships at 3 homes in the city: The Flurys, the Kittredges, and the Bowmans. Amanda Bowman asked me to let everyone know that there will be something for children at the Bowmans. Their addresses and phone numbers are on the flyer. Our Day of Prayer here at the church building will be Wednesday, March 4, from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. You can sign up for a 30 minute time slot on the sheet also on the Get Connected table. Finally, there will be a potluck Prayer Lunch on Friday, March 6, beginning at 11:30 am here at the building in Miller Hall. Please find ways to get involved in our emphasis on praying for our North American missionaries during this week of prayer.Every year during March and April, we take up our annual offering in support of our missionaries serving in North America, called the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. It was named for the first national executive leader of the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU). Our goal this year is $14,000, 100% of which will go to support Southern Baptist missionaries across the U.S. and Canada. We will take this offering up during March and April. We will watch a short video about the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering at the end of the service today.We have invite cards available for our services and activities during the week of Palm Sunday and Easter. They are available in the office, at the Welcome station, and on the Get Connected table.
Every year during March and April, we take up our annual offering in support of our missionaries serving in North America, called the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Our goal this year is $14,000, 100% of which will go to support Southern Baptist missionaries across the U.S. and Canada. Last week was day 1 of the offering time, and we started with $765 given. Not a bad start for day 1! We will watch a short video about the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering at the end of the service today.
Tonight following our evening service, where Lord willing I will begin to teach on apologetics, we will have Adults on Mission, and we’ll hear a report from Curtis on his recent trip to Moldova. 6:30 in Miller Hall.
Next Sunday night, the 15th, we will have our bi-monthly business meeting for the church. Please plan to be here for that, as we have a few things to vote on, and there will be some very important discussion regarding our impending facelift, maintenance, and upgrade for our building.
We have invite cards available for our services and activities during the week of Palm Sunday and Easter. They are available in the office, at the Welcome station, and on the Get Connected table. Some of our students will be at the doors to the sanctuary at the close of service with stacks of the cards, so you can grab a couple on your way out.
Opening
Opening
Welcome to week 3 of our “I AM” Series, where we are looking at what I see are eight statements that Jesus made in the Gospel of John that connect Him and His ministry to the centrality, work, and presence of God in the life of His people.
For those able, let’s stand in honor of the Word of God as we read our focal passage together. If you can’t stand for a long time, you might want to remain seated.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” 28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.” 30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” 32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again. 36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who 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 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 41 Therefore the Jews started complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Stop complaining 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 listened to and learned from the Father comes to me—46 not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone 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. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” 28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.” 30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” 32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again. 36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who 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 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 41 Therefore the Jews started complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Stop complaining 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 listened to and learned from the Father comes to me—46 not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone 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. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
focal passage
22 The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat. They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone. 23 Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” 28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.” 30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” 32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again. 36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who 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 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 41 Therefore the Jews started complaining about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Stop complaining 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 listened to and learned from the Father comes to me—46 not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone 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. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
PRAY
PRAY
PRAY
PRAY
There have been some times in my life when I have been really, really hungry. But one time in particular stands out. Back in, I don’t know… 1998 I guess, before I was the youth pastor here at EHBC, I went with the youth group on a campout at the end of the summer, before school was back in session. We camped up north near Wheeler Peak, and the activity on Saturday was to climb Wheeler from Williams Lake and then hike down the Bull of the Woods trail. We went in the morning to the trailhead, and had been told that it was an easy hike, and that we would be back at Taos Ski Valley Resort by about lunchtime, so while a snack was a good idea, packing a meal was unnecessary.
There were several adults and maybe 25 students (both high school and mid school) on this hike. This hike, total distance, was about 9 1/2 miles, including a climb up to Wheeler (sometimes very steep), and then a very long and windy path back down to the Resort. Someday, maybe I’ll share some of the grueling details—but we didn’t make it down by lunchtime. In fact, it was nearly lunchtime when everyone made it to the top of Wheeler… and that was only about 2 1/2 miles of the total distance.
By the time we got back down to the resort, it was nearly 3 pm. And then it was another maybe 30 minute drive to the camp, where we then had to get dinner ready. Now, going 8 or 9 hours without eating hardly anything is not really that big of a deal. We do so just about every night of our lives. But we do that ordinarily while we’re sleeping. I hadn’t been sleeping, but expending tremendous amounts of energy. By the time we got back to camp, I was HUNGRY. Like miserable hungry. So hungry I was hangry. So hungry I didn’t feel well. I needed food, and nothing else was going to satisfy.
I think that we all get this idea of a ravenous physical hunger, and what it’s like to actually satisfy that kind of hunger with a meal. In our focal passage today, Jesus spoke about bread, but not about bread for our physical hunger. Instead, He’s telling us something about His ministry as nourishment and satisfaction for a desperate spiritual hunger.
This passage is coming right after two other passages that we’re likely pretty familiar with: Jesus walking on the water, and just before that, the feeding of the 5,000. You can read about that in .
Like last week, we aren’t going to go through our focal passage verse-by-verse in order this morning. What Jesus says in this passage speaks volumes about why He has come and what it means to be a disciple—a lifelong learner and follower of Jesus. He says that we all have a hunger, and that He has come to fulfill that hunger for those who will just partake.
Physical hunger and a meal. Spiritual hunger.
Background: feeding the 5,000. Then the walking on the water. They go looking for Him, and find Him in Capernaum.
1) God has provided spiritual bread for all.
1) God has provided spiritual bread for all.
The next day following the feeding of the 5,000, the crowd that had eaten the miraculous meal from just 5 small loaves and 2 fish went looking for Jesus. They had seen Him go off by Himself, and they had seen His disciples leave in the boat, but they hadn’t seen Jesus walk on the water in order to reach the boat during the night. So this crowd crossed Galilee to Capernaum in order to find Him. When they find Him, Jesus confronts them with the motive behind their search for Him. He says they weren’t really hungry for Him, but for what He could provide (and in fact, had already provided). He tells them to change their perspective, because while Jesus had provided them with physical food, His real goal was to meet their spiritual hunger.
In Jesus, God was meeting our spiritual needs.
26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
Jesus is the One who has been approved (seal of approval) of God to be the One to provide this food that lasts for eternal life. No one else can provide it. And Jesus gives a warning: “Don’t work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life.”
Think about how much time, effort, and thought we put into taking care of our physical hunger. When you woke up this morning, sometime in the few minutes after you woke up, you probably thought about what you were going to eat. Some of you have already made lunch plans for after service this morning. Some of you are thinking about making lunch plans because I just talked about making lunch plans. We shop, we cook, we travel to restaurants, we discuss with our friends how good this place was or how bad that place was. Food is important for us. How much consideration do we give to our spiritual hunger?
Jesus’ point here isn’t that He’s saying that we have to work for our salvation, but that working for anything else to fill the hunger that only Jesus can fill is ultimately not going to satisfy. It will be a waste of time, a waste of energy. You can have anything at all that you might desire other than Jesus, but if you think that those things are going to fill your spiritual hunger, you’re wrong. They won’t. Those things are all only temporary.
The people that Jesus is talking to really don’t completely get it. The feeding of the 5,000 in a way had reminded them of another miraculous provision of bread in Israel’s history:
We pursue so many things in order to
30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” 32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
john 6:30-
Verses from focal passage in support.
Before we jump to looking at manna for a moment, I just have to ask: what more sign should they need? Jesus just fed like 15,000 people the day before with a kid’s lunchbox, and now they’re asking for another sign before they’ll believe? Tough crowd.
When the people mentioned the “bread from heaven,” they were talking about manna, a miraculous provision that God had made for Israel during their trip through the wilderness for 40 years. The first mention of this was in .
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.
13 So at evening quail came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was. Moses told them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.
It makes sense that they were reminded of this. God had provided for their physical hunger in the wilderness. Jesus had provided for physical hunger in a remote location. But both were to point back to a spiritual reality: that while God does provide for that physical hunger, we have another kind of hunger that food will never satisfy. God had now provided that “true bread from heaven,” in Jesus. Just as only food was going to truly solve my physical hunger when I got down from Wheeler, only Jesus will truly solve our spiritual hunger.
One additional thing that we need to understand before we move on: In our modern world of manufacturing, rapid transportation, grocery stores, electricity, and refrigeration, we can eat pretty much whatever we want to eat whenever we want to eat it: fruits, veggies, meats… we have technology that makes these things both readily available and also easily preserved. We can get fruits and veggies from all over the globe. We can purchase meat that wasn’t just carved an hour ago.
Verses from focal passage in support.
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 listened to and learned from the Father comes to me—46 not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.
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.
In the ancient world, the only food product that was easily stored and saved for much later was grain. It was a true staple. For us, we might enjoy some bread with dinner or lunch, or to hold our sandwich together, but in Israel at the time we’re talking about, bread was usually the main course of a meal. So as Jesus works through this idea of His being the bread of life, remember that for that time, having bread to eat was often a life or death proposition.
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
Verses from focal passage in support.
Verses from focal passage in support.
Verses from focal passage in support.
But even when Jesus had been literally starving physically, He kept His priorities straight:
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Why did Jesus say this? Because it is true. We saw last week that Jesus is the living Word of God, and it is only in Jesus that we have spiritual life.
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.
13 So at evening quail came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was. Moses told them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.
exo 16:
God had provided for their physical hunger in the wilderness. Jesus had provided for physical hunger in a remote location. Both were to point back to a spiritual reality: that we have a hunger that food will never satisfy.
2) Only God’s bread gives life.
2) Only God’s bread gives life.
The crowd had been looking for more bread and more fish. They had received their free meal, and now they needed another one. Just like those who went looking for Jesus just wanted another meal ticket, we might look for lots of other “food” (including actual food) to satisfy us, but nothing else can meet our need for life. It doesn’t matter how good a meal tastes or how much money it cost. Jerry Seinfeld had a bit about hunger when the show Seinfeld was on. He said, “As adults, we understand that even if you ruin an appetite, there’s another appetite coming right behind it.” The fulfillment we get from physical bread just won’t last. You’re going to be hungry again.
This is because bread might sustain our life, but only for a time. Even those who ate the manna of God still died (verse 49). Physical bread won’t keep us alive indefinitely. That bread is FOR life, but only Jesus is the bread OF life. He tells us this twice in this passage:
Just as only food was going to truly solve my physical hunger when I got down from Wheeler, only Jesus will truly solve our spiritual hunger.
Just like those who went looking for Jesus just wanted another meal ticket, we might look for lots of other “food” (including actual food) to satisfy us, but nothing else can meet our need for life. Just as only food was going to truly solve my physical hunger when I got down from Wheeler, only Jesus will truly solve our spiritual hunger.
It doesn’t ma
35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.
48 I am the bread of life.
Eternal life passages from focal passage.
Sadly, we often think that things or activities in our lives give us meaning, but these can never quite deliver. We always want more, but we find that even more doesn’t cut it. We wrap our lives up in this goal or that milestone, thinking that when we get that, then we will have arrived at a meaningful and fulfilled life. But even if we reach every goal that we ever set, we will still die. Is this where our hope is?
I shouldn’t be, because it’s fleeting. We need a hope that will last. Over and over in this passage, Jesus speaks of eternal life that only He can provide:
27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
john 6:
33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life.
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone 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. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Only Jesus gives eternal life.
Only Jesus gives eternal life.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Only Jesus is the bread that gives life that never ends, and that bread is His flesh, which He gives for the life of the world. The Bible tells us that Jesus died to ransom us from our sin—He paid the penalty that we owe because we rebel against God. He took our place in death. And Jesus defeated death, rising from the grave, never to die again. And He has ascended to the right hand of God the Father, until He comes back and finally puts the broken world right again. While Jesus has given His life for the world, there is one additional piece to this that we must address.
26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself.
Because
This giving of life is two-pronged. First, Jesus makes us alive spiritually now. When we believe in
3) Only eating God’s bread gives life.
3) Only eating God’s bread gives life.
Eating is eating. Nothing else is eating. When I got down from Wheeler, thinking about food was not eating. Knowing about food was not eating. Talking about food is not eating. You could spend an entire day doing all of those things, and you’d be hungry. If you spent a month doing it, you’d probably die. Because only eating is eating.
Now, when Jesus here in this passage spoke over and over about eating the bread of life, He was speaking metaphorically. The metaphor is this: Eating = believing. Notice the focus on believing in this passage:
29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”
Eating=believing.
40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
When Jesus speaks of believing in Him, He means that we trust in Him and Him alone for our salvation and our life. We realize that because of our sin (the ways that we have rebelled against God), our relationship with God is broken. We also admit that we can’t save ourselves, and so we stop trying to, and give up. We surrender in faith to Jesus’ completed work of salvation on the cross, and He will give us life.
35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.
john
This giving of life that Jesus does is two-pronged. First, Jesus makes us alive spiritually now. When we trust in what Christ has done instead of what we can do, our broken relationship with God is restored. We enter into this life right now. This is where our hope is, church. Look at how Jesus said this in the last part of our focal passage:
Back in verse 35, Jesus said, “No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me with ever be thirsty again.” This giving of life that Jesus does is two-pronged. First, Jesus makes us alive spiritually now.
Back in verse 35, Jesus said, “No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me with ever be thirsty again.” This giving of life that Jesus does is two-pronged. First, Jesus makes us alive spiritually now.
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.
Especially last part of the passage.
john 6:53-56
24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
Not only do we have new life now, but also after the bread and the medicine and the doctors of this life can no longer keep us physically alive, we will be raised to new physical life in a perfect body without sin if we have believed in Jesus.
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”
Now think about the comparison. Believing is believing. Thinking about Jesus isn’t the same as believing. Knowing about Jesus isn’t the same as believing. Understanding about how Jesus saves isn’t the same as believing. Believing is staking your forever on the fact that Jesus alone saves us. Jesus alone gives eternal life. The beautiful thing about this is that it is God who is at work drawing people, people in this very room, to Jesus, and if we believe, then we are promised that we’ll live forever.
35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.
40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
(again?)
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.
John 6:
God loves you and wants a relationship with you. And He is at work here this morning, and where those are who are listening to this message on the podcast later. He’s at work, calling you into a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus.
47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!
(again?)
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Closing
Closing
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
john 6:53-57
Closing
Closing
Taste and see. We are meant for this relationship with God, and so there’s a hunger that we have that only Jesus can satisfy. St. Augustine said this at the beginning of His Confessions:
“…You made us for Yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You.”
Jesus is the bread of life, and we can search and search and never find what our souls crave. It’s in believing in Jesus that we find life. Trust Christ this morning, and come and share that with us.
Church membership.
Augustine. Confessions (Classics) (p. 21). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition.
Other prayer need.
Call down the band.
Pray.
Remind of parlor