Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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How hungry are you this morning?
Your body is probably thrown off because of the time change, so I bet you are extra hungry.
When I get like this, there is one thing that I am a sucker for: good rolls.
Which restaurants do you think have the best?
For me, it’s a toss-up - O’Charley’s and Texas Roadhouse.
I think my favorite might be O’Charley’s when they are just a little underdone and they melt like cotton candy when you bite into them.
I would probably eat my body-weight in rolls if each basket came out right.
Have you ever eaten so many rolls that you weren’t hungry when the meal came?
Here’s the thing, though—have you ever eaten enough rolls that you were full for the rest of your life?
You may have skipped a meal after a big lunch, but even the most satisfying meals have always left you wanting more.
A few hours later, or the next day, you are looking for something to soothe that ache in the pit of your stomach.
Jesus is going to use that reality this morning to point us again to the fact that he alone can satisfy our heart’s deepest longing.
If this sounds familiar, it is a similar picture to what he used in John 4, where he offered living water to the woman at the well.
Why are we going back and looking at this same kind of concept again?
Because this time, Jesus pushes the crowd further into understanding just what it takes to find that lasting satisfaction that only Jesus can give us.
He uses language that, when we get down to it, makes us uncomfortable.
It did with the crowd that day, and it still is odd to hear today.
Here’s the main truth I want you to take home with you today: Feeding on Jesus is the only way to find life.
If you aren’t familiar with these verses, then that sounds incredibly strange.
However, we will see that Jesus is using a beautiful picture as we get further into it.
With that said, let’s dive into our text this morning.
The account unfolds in several different movements, but let’s divide it into three as we give this overview.
We are actually only going to have two main points and a conclusion, but let’s divide this into three different parts.
In the first part of the account, we see Jesus multiplying five loaves and two fish and feeding 5,000 men plus women and children, and there are twelve baskets of bread left over.
In the second part of the account, we see the crowd chasing after Jesus, and he talks with them about what that bread symbolizes.
In the final part, we see the responses of the crowds and his disciples to what he has said.
We are going to cover a lot of ground this morning, so let’s dive in and quickly go through the feeding of the 5,000.
Start in verses 1-15...
After feeding the 5,000, Jesus sends his disciples across the lake in the night, and he walks out on the water to join them later.
The next morning, everyone figures out Jesus had to have left at some point and they rush to the other side of the lake.
When they catch up to Jesus, here’s how he responds.
Look at verse 25-29...
Here’s where we get to the meat of the message this morning.
The first observation we can make from what we have seen so far is that...
1) Tasting what God can do isn’t enough.
There is quite a crowd that is following Jesus.
John said back in verse 2 that it was a huge crowd.
Scholars estimate that with women and children, the crowd he fed was likely well over 10,000 people.
He took this kid’s lunch and used it to feed a massive amount of people, and he had twelve baskets left over.
When the people saw it, they thought this man must be the Prophet they were looking for, and they were ready to make him king.
They were following Jesus; they even chased him around Galilee.
At first, doesn’t that sound right?
Isn’t Jesus the one who fulfilled all those promises in the Old Testament?
Isn’t he the one who is bringing his kingdom into the world?
Isn’t he the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
Shouldn’t we leave everything to follow him?
All those things are true, but the crowds still didn’t understand who Jesus was and what he was doing.
Look back at verse 25-26.
They were coming to Jesus because they wanted what he was dishing out.
They saw the signs, but then they ate the food, and it filled them up.
They wanted in on more of that.
They wanted all the benefits that they thought would come with being in the Messiah’s kingdom.
However, Jesus said that all of that was just the external stuff that wouldn’t satisfy.
He went on to say that following Jesus for the outward benefits was similar to the manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness while they were wandering around for 40 years.
Here’s what that looked like on the first morning God provided it:
They called it “manna”, which literally means, “What is it?”
Not only was this manna unique because it was on the ground every morning, God had also commanded them just to take enough for each day.
Anything left over until the morning would rot overnight, with the exception of the bread they collected Friday morning that would last through the Sabbath on Saturday.
It was miraculous provision that God gave his people through their wandering.
However, it was bread that perished.
Every day, they needed to get more.
Not only did the bread perish, everyone who ate the manna eventually died themselves.
The manna didn’t kill them, but it also wasn’t enough to give them eternal life.
It sustained them and gave them the energy they needed, but it wasn’t actually giving them life.
Look at the contrast Jesus makes in verses 47-51...
There is something different that Jesus is offering here.
He isn’t offering bread that perishes or that simply sustains; he is offering bread that gives life.
The crowds were coming because they wanted more baskets of food.
They wanted the external blessings of following Jesus, seeing diseases healed and having an abundance of bread.
However, Jesus was offering something far better than that.
Let me ask you: why are you following Jesus today?
Why are you here?
Is it because you have seen a little of what God can do, and you like it?
Have you seen someone on TV who claims that Jesus made them rich, or have you even seen how God has changed someone’s life when they got right with him?
Let me be clear: there are incredible benefits that come from following Jesus, but they are secondary and not the primary reason we follow.
He doesn’t heal every disease or make everyone who follows him rich or fix every problem in your life.
I get concerned that some of you who come here and sing and hear the Word preached, or who join us online for our services—that some of you are just here for the food.
You are here because the people here are nice, and the songs make you feel something.
You are here because you want to be a good person, and Jesus seems like a really great guy.
Let me be clear and say that I am so glad you are here, and I am glad you are listening to our services.
You may still be figuring out who Jesus is and whether or not you want to follow Jesus, and that is part of the process.
However, I want to read a passage for you as a warning:
I will be the first to admit that this is a tricky passage, so let’s break it down.
Some believe that this is talking about people who lost their salvation.
They were Christians, but they walked away, and now they aren’t saved anymore.
That goes against what we believe the rest of the Bible teaches about salvation, even with what we just read in verse 45.
So, what is this talking about, then?
I believe this is talking about people like the crowd that day.
It’s people who have been around church, who know what to say and how to behave, and think that they are squared away with God, when the reality is their hearts were never changed.
They took a bite, but they never fully committed to Christ.
It’s impossible to restore them to repentance, because they don’t think they need it.
Is that talking about you?
You’ve tasted Christianity, you have tried it some, but you think you are good to go, and you don’t need to get all radical about this whole Jesus thing.
Listen, can I be bold enough to point you to what Jesus says here, and with all the love I can muster tell you that that isn’t enough?
You see, if you and I are going to be fully satisfied in our inner being, and if we are going to have eternal life, then we have to recognize our second observation:
2) Feeding on Jesus leads to life.
Jesus said in verse 48 that he is the bread of life.
He is the bread that gives life.
Look at what he means by that.
Pick up in verse 51-58...
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