The Bread of Life

Introduction

Conclusion of Come and See: our series in John until after the summer.

The outline for our study today is framed around three questions that the crowd asks Jesus along with two statements from Jesus that form the ultimate answer to all three questions.

Did this for two reasons:

This is a discourse event in which Jesus is having a conversation with the same crowd that experienced the miraculous event of the multiplication of the bread and fish. Given the makeup of the passage itself is a conversation, it would seem natural to see its structure in light of the conversation itself.

Second reason is more pastoral. I hope that by framing our study around the questions of the crowd, I hope to give us a better sense of the revelation of Jesus through the conversation and that we might find ourselves entering somewhere into the progression and all together arriving at the final answer Jesus gives which will be the first of the seven I AM statements of Jesus found in the Gospel of John.

I feel that too often when we read the Scriptures, we tend to view the passage from either the narrator’s viewpoint — where we already know the outcome and so look only for the sterile truths devoid from the mood, emotions, and the diagnostic effect many of the narratives were meant to convey. see ourselves aligned with the heroes of the story — or we view the passage from the viewpoint of the hero — aligning ourselves with the winners, the righteous, the just, or the holy.

Rarely do we align ourselves with the Philistines, Pharisees, or the failures in the stories. So, as we walk through the story, don’t be afraid to ask yourself in what ways you may be seeking Jesus for the very same reasons as those in the crowd.

4min

John 6:22–35 (ESV)

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.

Setting of the scene

Next day the crowd (that had been with Jesus when he multiplied the food and fed the thousands), recognized that the Jesus and the disciples had only come in one boat

The boat is gone — perhaps they saw the disciples leave as Mark 6 tells us Jesus sent the disciples on ahead of him while he dismissed the crowds.

The problem is they can’t find Jesus either. They are about to head out to find Jesus which would require walking around the lake since we are told there was only one boat there.

23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

Lucky for them, other boats arrived from Tiberias which allowed at least some of the crowd to travel more expediently (perhaps at a profit).

This may all seem like incidental or superfluous to the passage itself but I believe it sets the scene and will give context for Jesus’ response to the crowd’s first question to him.

All of this detail seems to point to how energetic the people were in seeking Jesus.

Throughout John’s Gospel, as people seek Jesus it leads to a revelation of who Jesus is and requires a response based on that revelation

7m

John 1:38 (ESV)

38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

John 7 - the Jewish leaders are seeking to kill Jesus and the people are questioning whether Jesus might be the Messiah.

John 11 - Disciples warn Jesus not to go to Judea as the Jewish leaders are seeking to stone Jesus, but Jesus goes anyway to meet his friends Mary and Martha whose brother Lazarus has died that he might declare to them that he is the Resurrection and the Life.

John 18 - in the garden - Jesus asked those who came to arrest him “Whom do you seek?” When they stated they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth Jesus replied, “I am He.”

John 20 - After resurrection, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and as she does not immediately recognize Jesus Jesus asks her, “Whom are you seeking?”

John notes that the next day, now, this crowd is seeking Jesus.

Yesterday, they had been with Jesus and he fed them (ever feed a stray cat?) They WILL find you again.

Perhaps they were saying to each other,

“That was an amazing day yesterday! I can’t remember a time when I felt so hungry then felt so filled! Yes, and remember all the left overs? I wonder if Jesus can do it again?”

Perhaps there were some who had not been part of the crowd the day before — maybe they had come on the boats from Tiberias — but had heard about the previous day’s miracle.

Whether seen or heard, they knew of what Jesus had done and so they were seeking him now.

9:40m

{{{ Reason I Should Listen}}}

It’s here that I should like to push PAUSE and enter into the story alongside the crowd.

How would you describe your level of satisfaction with your life as it is currently? (1-10)

If the People, Positions and Things in your life should suddenly change, how would that number be affected?

You see, some of us here today are hungry for something more than what we are currently experiencing . . .

While others of us, perhaps, would rate our lives as satisfied but if we are posed a more probing question we may find we are more amused than we are satisfied.

To know if you might be in this category:

Life is good. Things are going well. I have no complaints — and we justify our answer with People, Positions, and Things:

Family is well. Business is picking up. Finances are stable.

My prayer for you today is that no matter where you might find yourself in the crowd that you might SEEK Jesus, being honest about the hunger of your soul and you might learn what it means, through Jesus, to be fully and finally satisfied in life.

12:20m

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

Interesting question - “Why not HOW did you get here?”

disingenuous question — “Oh, hey, been here long?” It’s like a bad spiritual pickup line.

Whatever the case we know they are genuinely interested in Jesus — his timing or mode of travel — they are interested in themselves

We know this because Jesus is about to expose the real reason for their seeking Jesus.

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.

You are not seeking me for what the miracle pointed toward (ME) but toward what I can do for you.

[Jesus Exposes (26) and then Refocuses (27)]

ILLUST - Old cameras — you needed to wait until you have the film developed (see the exposure) to know if anything needed to be refocused. Nothing worse than taking photos, waiting for developing only to have them returned completely out of focus — a waste. Worst part is, you could spend the week, three days, or (if you were rich) one hour completely satisfied as you wait — a satisfaction that will quickly pass once you realize the exposure.

- The Scriptures are to operate as a developer in our lives — exposing our motives of our heart, the intentions behind our actions, the root of our desires.

> Do you allow the Scriptures to function this way in your life? Can you describe a time when you were exposed by the Word of God?

- Through personal time alone with God, through godly friend, Life Group, preacher, when God’s Word returned to you a snapshot of your life and exposed an action to take or an attitude to change?

- If not, we are either holy or hiding.

you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

“You are not seeking me because your souls are hungry but because your bellies are empty”

Seeking Jesus to fill your belly is a false gospel.

(This does not mean that Jesus cannot or does not provide for our physical needs)

But to seek Jesus for the hopes of material gain is not the gospel at all:

It is a FALSE GOSPEL and we must declare it as such! — Prosperity Gospel.

“Sow a seed, reap a blessing” “it is God’s intention for you to be rich” “Jesus came to deliver us from poverty.”

These are the words of the Prosperity Gospel.

Prosperity gospel is good for two things: filling churches and emptying souls.

False gospel because it stands on two false premises:

filling our bellies is equal to the filling of our souls (which Jesus will address in just a moment)

That this is why Jesus came — to primarily make sure you are happy, wealthy, and comfortable in this life.

This is not to say that we cannot be any of those things in this life — it is to say that we are not to seek Jesus primarily for those things.

And we ought to warn them of this very thing not because the fact that following Jesus focuses primarily on spiritual satisfaction is worse than the idea that he might satisfy us physically but that it is far greater .

Seeking Jesus only as a means to fill our bellies is a cheap substitute for the richness of his grace that can offer us eternal security NO MATTER IF THIS LIFE BRINGS US FEAST OR FAMINE.

I am worried that while many Christians today may FORMALLY reject the tenets of Prosperity Gospel, they have succumbed to the values of this theological error:

I haven’t done x, y, z sin or I have done x, y, z good thing and I can’t understand why God would allow THIS to happen to me. (Law of Compensation)

I hear prayers that get tagged with “If it be Your will” when really the thrust of the prayer is based on wants.

The measure of things is a measure of blessing which is a measure of faith.

We must seek Jesus to gain Jesus!

Jesus now turns from exposure to refocus:

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.”

“Food that perishes vs Food that endures”

pleasure

great works — building houses, planting vineyards

Great wealth — gold and silver

Ecclesiastes 2:10–11 (ESV)

10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Feeding your belly to fill your soul is a vain pursuit.

ILLUST - Happy Meal

In mid-1970’s, the fast food chain, McDonalds realized they were struggling to reach one of the most important demographics for their industry — children. Menus were not kid-friendly, so McDonalds hired advertising executive, Bob Bernstein. Mr. Berstein solved McDonald’s problem after watching his 10-yr-old son reading a cereal box while eating his breakfast. From 1979 to the present day, every minivan in the world echoes with two words as they pass by the golden arches — Happy Meal.

The genius of the Happy Meal, as any child will tell you, lies not in the delectable food it offers but in the TOY which is included.

Too often the lures of materialism function the same as a Happy Meal. The purpose of the item is to provide a meal, but really we care less about the nourishment of the meal and more about if it makes us “happy.”

The NIV Application Commentary: John Contemporary Significance

If bread is what we need to survive in order to feel well and wholesome, the pursuit of bread becomes complicated when people determine that their needs include things unnecessary for true life. It would be as if the crowd asked Jesus for an ice cream break. Would he serve this too? Christians in the West are familiar with this theme, but we have difficulty diagnosing it in ourselves. Living in a consumer society fueled by sophisticated advertising and relative affluence, we have been given the means and the motivation to pursue countless forms of bread. If I simply possess this car or that cologne, my self-image will be healed and my sense of safety and well-being renewed. Once we possess these things, of course, their seductive appeal evaporates, and we move on to new targets of gratification.

Christians are not exempt from the seductions of the material culture around us. We define the “bread” we need with lives of remarkable indulgence.

Stop chasing Happy Meals!

What is the prize in your Happy Meal?

Person, Position, or Thing that you work for? That you will be content to choke down the malnutritious amusements of this world to obtain the earthly prize that will soon leave you hungry again?

(I feel like McDonalds might just sue me for defamation or something!)

It is possible to fill your belly and leave empty your soul.

How will Jesus satisfy? First, by calling us away from the “Happy Meals” of this life into something that is eternally more nutritious and satisfying.

Philippians 3:7–8 (ESV)

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul calls trash the things we might call desirable so that he might call ‘meaningful’ those things we might call painful. Paul has it right.

What kind of people might we be if we would from today begin to long for and chase the satisfaction of our souls rather than the filling of our bellies?

What would it look like?

orienting life around Jesus and not vice versa

having their motives exposed

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.”

Notice how the crowd’s followup question is then “What must we DO?

Jesus tells them they are only seeking him so he might satisfy them with material things. He then refocuses them to show them material things will never truly satisfy - only eternal spiritual, so now they ask

How can we satisfy ourselves spiritually?

There comes a time when we realize the things of this world will never truly satisfy and so we strive to find the things that will outlast this world.

This leads to a searching of religion.

Many people will search for God to find meaning in life.

Seeking God is not what satisfies, finding the truth through seeking God does!

Why make this distinction? This is the problem with the question

Trying to fill your soul on your own is empty religion.

ILLUST - Roz

Work of God is to believe

29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Son of Man will give to you

Is faith a work?

ILLUST light switch

Think of a light switch -- which happens first, flipping the switch or seeing the light? Experientially, they happen at the same time, logically, flipping the switch precedes the light; however, the switch itself does not produce the work necessary for the light, it is only a conduit. In all of this, however, we must remember that salvation is God's work from beginning to end as we find ourselves in the dark and first need God to lead us to the switch itself.

There are many in the church today that operate with the same mindset — What can I DO so that God will bless me?

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.”

Progression - Jesus is drawing their gaze away from their bellies to the Savior.

Can we trust Jesus to satisfy?

Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you?

What sign do you do? Were they not there the day before?

They reference Moses — perhaps to say that you fed us for a day while Moses fed the Israelites day after day, year after year.

“What evidence would you give to show you are able to care for us?”

Seeking more evidence before surrendering to Jesus is unnecessary.

Again, I would ask us to join the crowd. See if you can find your voice woven throughout their question:

“Sure, Jesus, I’ve seen you take care of me with this, but how can I be sure that you will come through later? Just look at him over there? Look at what you are doing in her life? How can I be sure that if I surrender my life to you, if I DEVALUE the material things in my life to chase after the spiritual things, that I will actually be satisfied - find peace - find joy?”

work a little less in order to make room for mission?\

Make relationships that build my faith a priority?

Chase you as much as I chase my

> What evidence must you have to finally and fully surrender your life to Christ?

Jesus had already offered signs and noted that the signs was not what they needed

The issue is not lack of evidence but an unwilling heart.

(Luke 16) Lazarus and the rich man - send a person - Even if someone comes from the dead (HE DID!)

We have all that we need to know and trust that Jesus will truly satisfy!

1 Corinthians 1:22–25 (ESV)

22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

If only. . . then I will. . .

There is a real sense in which some of us may be waiting for Jesus to prove to us he can satisfy us before we will fully surrender our desires to him.

34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;

(Jesus moves it from the material to the personal - not I HAVE the bread of life — may run out — but He IS)

whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Jesus satisfies finally and fully.

Seek Jesus to be satisfied finally and fully.

The satisfaction both capacity and duration

Jesus fills both fully and finally.

How does Jesus satisfy?

FULLY

Hunger pains - satisfies our hurts (expand)

Emptiness -

When your belly is filled, there is no meal on earth that can make you hungry. When your soul is satisfied, the draw of this world is diminished, and there is no loss in this world that leaves you less satisfied.

FINALLY

Because the Bread is personal and not material as long as Jesus is with us we can be satisfied

Matthew 28:20 ESV

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

ILLUST - Missionaries always seemed satisfied even though they were without much of what I had — contentment and satisfaction

The satisfaction comes to us as we come to Jesus.

We do not bring anything when we come to Bread of Life.

There is nothing that we can bring that can eternally satisfy:

“Rock of Ages”

Not the labor of my hands Can fulfill Thy law’s demands; Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow, All could never sin erase, Thou must save, and save by grace.

Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling;

John 6:36–37 (ESV)

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.

Conclusion

We are told that “Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.” (v59)

Pattern for worship at a synagogue included Scripture Reading.

I wonder if the reading of the day was from Isaiah.

Isaiah 53-55 is a clear depiction of the Messiah as Suffering servant.

Isaiah 55:

Isaiah 55:1–13 (ESV)

1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;

and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food.

. . .

12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

What kind of people might we be if we would long for and chase the satisfaction of our souls rather than the filling of our bellies?

What sort of peace might we enjoy if we can refocus our satisfaction on the Bread of Life rather than the Happy Meals of this world?

What is the next step Jesus is calling you to take in order that you might move the scale of satisfaction toward Him?

The difference between filling bellies and satisfying souls is one of eternal significance and is the difference between chasing Happy Meals that only leave us hungry again and receiving the Bread of Life which fills us for eternity.