Untitled Sermon (3)

What Satisfies Us?

Have you ever noticed that the hungrier that you get the less picky you are about what food you will eat?

-When you first start to get hungry you are picky. You say, “I really want this” and if someone else gives a suggestion you might say, “I don’t really want that”.

-Then you move from wanting one thing specifically to being open to many a few different options.

-Then you get to the type of hungry where you don’t care what you eat, you just want to eat. You are easily satisfied. Where anything will do as long as you have some food.

Here Jesus is going to talk to the people about what it means that He is the bread of life and what it means that they should be satisfied in Him.

Jesus here goes back to the feeding of the five thousand and he talks about what they should be satisfied with. Specifically about Him. He tells them that they should seek Him not because He performed miracles but because they have been satisfied by what He offers, eternal life.

-The people had seen His miracle but they were focused on the miracle itself.

-They were focused on what Jesus had done rather than what Jesus was trying to show them about Himself. They were enjoying the benefits of His glory but they hadn’t accepted His glory.

-Do you accept Jesus glory? do you accept who He is?

-We are getting close to Easter and with that are many truths about who Jesus is. That He is God, that He died on the cross, that He rose again, and that He ascended. We must believe these things.

But Jesus doesn’t just say that they had enjoyed this food, but that this was the food that they were working for. That was their most important desire for them.

-Why?

-Because the food that they were after would perish. They would enjoy this food for a while but then they would get hungry again.

-But He also tells them where they can find this food, this food that they should be looking for is in Him.

-Jesus says that He is this bread of life, that He is what truly satisfies.

So they ask Him, “how can we work for this food that never goes bad?” Their question is about how they can attain this food. What they are asking is “tell us what things we need to do in order to secure this food for ourselves. Give us the instructions and we will find it.” But in this answer they miss the point.

-They are trying to figure out what they need to do in order to have eternal life but Jesus is saying that He is the one who has it.

There are many stories out there about the “fountain of youth” where people are attempting to attain this fountain that keeps them young forever.

-What happens in these movies?

-People fight each other, they war and steal and kill so that they can gain this great gift.

-If it is something that we need to attain then we are going to go overboard trying to figure out the proper formula in order to meet that standard.

-So Jesus tells Him what He means. That you believe in the Father. Salvation comes through faith, not of works.

Even after Jesus states this they ask for a sign. They say “well if this is true what sign can you give us that proves that you are greater than Moses?”

-They probably bring up manna remembering that He had fed the 5000.

-Then want Him to prove that He isn’t just a prophet but that He is the Messiah they have been waiting for.

-But Jesus doesn’t perform the sign they want. Why not?

-Because God doesn’t just act because we want Him to, He isn’t our puppet.

-We often ask God for things like that. We might say “God do this one thing if you want me to believe in you”

-But Jesus reminds them that the Father was the one who brought manna from heaven, it was the Father who gave them food each day.

-But God doesn’t just give us food, He gives us life. And not just physical life, He gives us eternal life.

Jesus tells them that they have seen Him yet they don’t believe.

-What He means by this is that Jesus has proven who He is yet they still aren’t convinced.

-They are only curious in what He can do, what He can offer them rather than in enjoying the gift of salvation.

-We can often hope that God will do miraculous things while neglecting our relationship to Him.

-But Jesus wants them to know that if they come to Him they can rest in Him. That they can feel confident that they will have everything they need, that they will know of the salvation He has given them.