I Am the Bread of Life
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I Am the Bread of Life
I Am the Bread of Life
Introduction:
Church, what are you hungry for? Most preachers would tell you that this is the worst introduction to a sermon that you could possibly have. Because now I have all of you thinking about what you are going to eat for lunch, right. Well, it is kind of impossible to not think about food when the entirety of this lesson is about food.
So I want you to hold on to the question, what are you hungry for because we will come back to it at the end of our time together.
Last Week Troy introduced for us the I am statements of Jesus. And this morning we are going to look at the first I am statements found in John 6:35. Jesus says I am the bread of Life.
Background Info
Now in order to fully understand what Jesus is communicating in this statement we need to back up and look at the immediate context surrounding this statement. And its for that reason why I had __________ read for us the feeding of the five thousand.
Here in this story we see that Jesus has assembled a large crowd of people and he has compassion on them and wants to feed them. But unfortunately, he doesn’t have enough money or food to give the crowd just a small bite similar to the amount of food that we are about to partake of in just a few moments.
So, what does Jesus do?
Jesus takes what little food they could find, 5 small biscuit like pieces of bread and two small pieces of fish and makes so much food that they had plenty of leftovers because everybody got their fill.
You see the crowds were so amazed by this that they knew that Jesus must have been the Prophet that they had been waiting for because just like Moses fed their ancestors with bread or manna from Heaven, Jesus fed them with bread from Heaven. So, the people thought this must be the prophet that we have been waiting for to make king. John 6:14
Knowing this Jesus slips away from the crowd until the next day when they catch up to him again on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
Knowing the purpose behind why the crowd caught back up to him Jesus cuts them off and tells them that their motives are wrong. In verse 26 Jesus says…
In other words, now you are just seeking after me because you want your belly to be full again. Then notice with me what Jesus says next. John 6:27-28.
Crucial info # 1- 2 Different types of Food
Here in verse 27 we have a very crucial piece of information that helps us understand what Jesus is talking about when He says I am the bread of Life.
Notice that Jesus identifies two different types of food. The first is a food that perishes similar to like the food that they ate the day before and then there is the food that endures to eternal life.
Thinking that Jesus is wanting them to work for this food that endures they ask Jesus what must we do and Jesus responds by saying that they must believe in Him.
Now keep these two types of food in the back of your mind and let’s keep reading starting in verse 31. John 6:31-34.
Crucial info # 2 – Two types of Bread
Just like Jesus describes two types of food he now describes two types of bread that come from Heaven. in verse 32.
The first bread is a reference to the Manna that the Children of Israel ate in the wilderness during the time of Moses.
The second bread also comes from Heaven, but it is distinguished as the true bread, the bread that last forever and gives life to the world. But not just any life. Eternal Life.
Now look with me at verse 35. The key verse in this story. Jesus is going tell us what the bread from Heaven is but not only that, he tells us how to receive it.
Jesus says I am the Bread of Life. Not only in this verse does he claim to be the bread of life but makes the same claim in verse 51 when he says I am the living bread. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
Here we see that Jesus is telling a large crowd of hungry men that He is the bread from Heaven and that if they consume this bread they will live forever.
I can only imagine that this caused many of these men to scratch their head. In fact, scripture tells us that, that is exactly what happened.
These men said amongst themselves, how can this man give us his flesh to eat. John 6:52
And then notice with me how Jesus answered their question. John 6:53-58.
After hearing Jesus’ response, I’m assuming that none of us have any more questions. His answer was as clear as mud, right.
If you are like me, I understand that Jesus is the bread that we are to eat of and if we do, we will receive eternal life. But at least for me the question still remains, how do we eat the bread of eternal life?
I believe to get our answer we have to look back at the key verse in this passage. John 6:35.
There are two very important things that Jesus says that we must do in order to eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood.
I. We must continually Come to Him.
The first is this. In order to eat his flesh, we must come to him. Well, what does that mean? Many times, when we think about one coming to Jesus we think about when they first obeyed the Gospel and when they came to Jesus past tense so that their sins could be forgiven.
Well, that is part of it, but this word come in this passage is a present tense verb which we should understand as one who keeps on coming.
This isn’t a onetime thing. It’s a continual coming to Jesus.
Think about it this way. None of us when we were hungry for the first time just ate one time and then never ate again. No. We continually come to a table and eat.
What Jesus is saying is if we want to eat of his flesh than we have to continually come to him for food. Jesus is telling this crowd don’t just seek after food to fill your belly but continually seek after me.
Well, how do we do that?
You see if we are going to continually come to Jesus it must be a purposeful and thought-out process. You can’t just happen to stumble upon spending time with Jesus.
In order to continually seek after Jesus, you must have a plan, you must have spent time thinking about, how can I make sure that in my daily life that I am continually coming to Jesus for food.
One way that this can be done is by working at having open and continual communication with God. Praying to God occasionally is not a continual coming to Jesus. We must have an open-ended dialog with God so he can continually feed us.
We can also continually seek after him by reading his words and those words that were inspired by him. A continual coming is more than just listening to the preacher or scripture reader read God’s Word but it must be something that we are continually doing.
We can continually seek after him by continually talking about him with our friends and family. Church we should strive to build a continual relationship with God so that He continually comes up in our conversations with others because he is what is on our mind and heart.
So, the first thing that we must do in order to eat the bread of Life which is Jesus, is continually come to him.
II. We must Keep on Believing.
Notice with me now the second thing that Jesus says we must do in order to eat the bread of Life.
Jesus says whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Again, this is a present verb meaning this isn't a onetime action. What Jesus is saying is whoever Keeps on believing will not thirst.
Once again, we must not think of this as a onetime act. You don’t become full on Jesus simply because you believed on him one time.
Believing in Jesus is not something that we did but it is something we do. Just like you continue to eat we must continue to believe and trust in Jesus.
We must continue to trust in his Words. We can’t say well I believed what Jesus said when I believed on him at my baptism but now I don’t know that I fully believe this hard saying or this difficult teaching from Jesus. We have to keep trusting that his words and his commands are true and for our benefit.
We must continue to believe and trust that Judgment is coming and that we will be judged by his words.
We must continue to keep believing and trusting that He will come again and that we will see our loved ones again.
When life gets difficult, we must continue to have faith that Jesus knows what is best for us.
Rather than looking elsewhere for help we must continue to believe and trust in Jesus for everything that we need in Life.
Church when I think about these two things. When I think about the fact that eating Jesus means I must continue to come to him and continue to believe in him, to me there is one word that encompasses both of these ideas. And that word is relationship.
If we have a proper relationship with God than we will continually be coming and believing in Him so that he can continually feed us so that we never go hungry again.
Think about your strongest relationship with another. Maybe it is your spouse. Maybe it is your parents. Maybe it is a grandparent. Whoever it is. What has made this relationship the strongest for you.
In order to build a strong relationship, you must continue to come and communicate with them. You must continue to believe and have faith that they love you. You must continue to trust in them that the advice that they give is what is best for you.
Church, relationships take work. That’s why Jesus says in verse 27 do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures.
In order for us to have a close relationship with God we must be willing to work at it. Are you willing to put in the time and effort it takes to have this type of relationship with God? Are you willing to continually come to Jesus and believe and trust in Him?
Unfortunately, most people are not willing to put in the work that it takes. We see the evidence of this in verse 66 of this chapter. After Jesus finishes talking to the crowds, we have recorded one o the saddest verses in Jesus Ministry.
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. After Jesus tells this crowd that in order to receive the food that endures to eternal life that they were going to have to continually work for it. Unfortunately, the majority of the crowd wanted no part of Jesus. From this point on in Jesus’ ministry he did not have the large crowds following him because the people didn’t want to work for the bread of life.
If you are willing, then Jesus says that by doing so you will receive eternal life.
Conclusion:
So, Church, I will ask you again, what are you hungry for?
Are you more concerned about consuming your life with only working for food that will fill your belly or are you hungry for the food that will provide you with eternal Life?
Jesus says I am that food. But if you want it you are going to have to work for it by continually coming and Believing in me..
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.
John 6:27-28.
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.”
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
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.”
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
John 6:31-34
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
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.
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
John 6:35
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.
John 6:51
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.”
John 6:52-58
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
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.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
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.
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.”
John 6:66
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.