LOOKING FOR ONE THING, FINDING ANOTHER

Introduction

-Way back in 1986 journalist Geraldo Rivera hosted a live TV event that centered on the opening of a secret vault in the Lexington Hotel once owned by notorious crime lord Al Capone. He expected to find money or weapons or something of great interest and value since it was from this hotel that he ran his syndicate for several years. Once the excavation team broke through into the vault, what they found in the vault was absolutely nothing other than dirt and some empty bottles. They were looking for one thing, and they found something else.

-I tell that story because I find that there a lot of people in the world who look to Jesus for one thing or another, but when they look at Him truthfully and follow the revelation of Him in Scriptures honestly, they find something completely different than what they had initially hoped for or were expecting (like Geraldo and the vault).

-A lot of people come to Jesus looking for a good moral teacher who just happens to be OK with whatever their sin of choice is. A lot of people come to Jesus thinking that He is going to be their ticket to wealth, prosperity, and a comfortable life. A lot of people come to Jesus thinking that He will protect them from any pain and suffering in this world.

-A lot of people come to Jesus with a lot of expectations, but after an honest encounter with Him they will find something other than what they were looking for.

-The Jews in Jesus’ day were looking for something from Jesus. They were looking for a type of Messiah that fit their mold—especially, in our passage, they were looking for someone who would constantly take care of their physical needs.

-And maybe you are looking for a Jesus for some of these same reasons—but instead you are going to find a Jesus who came to take care of your greatest spiritual need. My prayer today is that your heart is open to accept Jesus for who He has revealed Himself to be and receive Him for what it is that you really need.

John 6:22–40 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. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 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. 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.” 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.” 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.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 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. 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. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

-I just want to mention 4 lessons:

I) Jesus did not come to serve people’s agendas

-What happened prior to the passage that we just read is that Jesus performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. He then dismissed the crowds, sent the apostles ahead of Him on a boat across the Sea of Galilee, spent time in prayer, then walked on water to meet the apostles in the middle of a wind storm. They then made it to the other side to Capernaum.

-Meanwhile, the crowds started looking for Him in the place that He fed the 5000, knowing He didn’t go with the apostles in the boat. But they couldn’t find Him there, so they went over in numerous boats to Capernaum continuing to look for Him and they finally catch up to Him.

-They confront Jesus, but Jesus knows what it is they are really looking for. They didn’t search for Jesus to learn more about Him or about God. They didn’t search for Jesus to learn how to live holy or to be right. They looked for Jesus because He filled their belly, and they wanted Him to do give them more of what they wanted.

-They were looking for Jesus to serve their own ends, looking to manipulate Jesus for their own personal gain rather than receiving from Him what it is He was sent to earth for.

-There were personal, earthly, worldly causes that they wanted Jesus to advance—be it to fill their stomachs or take up the political cause of the Jews in driving out the Romans. They wanted to use Jesus for their own agendas.

-But Jesus in essence tells them that He didn’t come for their agendas, but to give them what they really needed—so instead of looking for physical bread, they needed to set their heart on the spiritual bread that lasts for eternity. That’s what He came to offer.

-When Jesus came to earth, He didn’t do so to further people’s particular causes—He came to further the cause of God. So for us humans to think that we could somehow manipulate Jesus and His name and His Word to further our own agenda is just downright insulting, because Jesus is not on the side of our cause, He is on the side of God the Father’s cause, and that’s it.

-It reminds me of the incident in Joshua 5 where the army of Israel is set against Jericho and the commander of the Lord’s heavenly army appears before Joshua.

~Joshua asks Him: Are you on our side or the side of our adversaries?

~Listen to the response—He in essence says: I am on neither side; I am commander of the Lord’s army, and I serve Him, not humans.

-You would have expected Him to say: I’m here to help the Israelites in their battle. But that’s not what He says—I am here on behalf of the Lord to do His will, not to further a human agenda.

-So don’t think that you can look to Jesus to further your own worldly ends.

~I find it funny that both Republicans and Democrats try to claim Jesus for their platforms.

~First off, when you look at the mess in Washington, do you really think that Jesus is any part of that?

~But really, when we try to say: Jesus if for me in this political arena—Jesus replies: I am neither, but I am for the Lord.

-Jesus says in v. 38 that He has come to do the will of the Father—not your will, not my will, but the Father’s will—don’t ever think He has come to further your worldly, earthly little cause. Jesus came for something that is greater and a lot more important than our agendas of comfort or power or ease or whatever.

II) Jesus did not come to establish religion

-Now, I do need to clarify this, because people think: WAIT A MINUTE, I THOUGHT CHRISTIANITY WAS A RELIGION

-Well, Christianity is a religion in the sense that there is a belief in and a worship of a personal God. But what I am saying is that Jesus did not come to set up a system based on traditions, rituals, and mandatory services. Jesus did not come to give people a checklist for them to mark off and then think that they have met the standard and appeased God.

-So we see in our passage in v. 27 that Jesus tells them:

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. (Jn. 6:27 ESV)

-In response, the Jews ask Him in v. 28:

"What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" (Jn. 6:28 ESV)

-They were good Jews, so it’s like they’re saying:

Moses gave a law to follow; Jesus, you say to work for this bread; OK, give us the checklist so that we can obtain the bread.

-Jesus, give us a works-based list of do’s and don’ts so we can earn this bread and be all proud of ourselves when we accomplish this.

-But Jesus had to burst their bubble. He doesn’t give them a list. This is what Jesus gives them, in v. 29:

"This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (Jn. 6:29 ESV)

-Jesus did not give them more law, He gave them Himself. This bread of eternal life was not a new form of religion, it was a person.

-Now, we have to be careful, because when we hear the word BELIEVE, we think it means that we merely have to give assent to the truthfulness of a proposition. But true belief goes beyond that.

-Belief entails a heart commitment to not only the truthfulness of something, but also a commitment to act in response to the truth. It is not an action that gains merit of any kind, but is an action based on love and obedience in response to the grace freely given.

-So, the work that Christ calls for is not a works-based religion kind of work, it is a faith in Jesus whom God has sent and then in response we live for Him—it is not about a checklist of laws but a heart that has been changed.

-The Jews looked for more laws, but Jesus instead gave them Himself.

-So these first two lessons have been the negative, now to look at the positive:

III) Jesus offers provision for man’s greatest need

-So Jesus tells the Jews to believe in the One that God the Father sent. In response, the Jews tell Jesus to do some sort of sign or miracle that proves He is who He says He is {as if the feeding of the 5000 wasn’t enough}

-Then they throw this in Jesus’ face: telling Him that Moses fed the multitudes in the wilderness with manna, the bread from heaven, for them to eat—and I believe is what is implicit in their words is that they expected Jesus to do something to top that.

~Jesus, show us a greater miracle than the manna in the wilderness that Moses did.

-Jesus then straightens them out on a few issues:

~First, it wasn’t Moses who provided the manna—it was God.

~And second, and most importantly, through Jesus, God is offering something that is much more valuable than physical bread. God the Father is offering to them, through Jesus, the true bread from heaven.

-Why is this bread so important? Because the bread that God gives comes down from heaven to give life to the world.

~In this agricultural culture of Judea, bread was the staple of their meals—to have bread was to have life.

~But God gives heavenly bread that gives heavenly life—sure, God gave physical bread to sustain the Israelites in the wilderness, and Jesus gave physical bread to the masses. But now God has provided that which is needed to have spiritual life.

-And the Jews ask of Him: GIVE US THIS BREAD. Give us this bread from heaven that will give us life. Give us this bread from heaven that has eternal value. Give us this bread that will sustain our souls.

-And Jesus responds in v. 35:

"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (Jn. 6:35 ESV)

-Man’s greatest need isn’t physical bread for physical life; man’s greatest need is spiritual bread for spiritual life

-Man is dead in sin, and what man needs is life—and Jesus says He alone is able to give that life. Whoever comes to Jesus, receives Jesus, and believes Jesus as He has revealed Himself is given that life. Physical bread might give physical life, but spiritual bread is needed to give spiritual life, and Jesus is that bread.

-To look for spiritual life anywhere else will leave you spiritually hungry and spiritually thirsty

IV) Jesus offers security that lasts for eternity

-Jesus ends the passage we read today to assure us that if we believe in Him—we accept Him as the bread of life—He will never cast us out or reject us or turn us away.

-Jesus is calling on everyone in the world to believe in Him, and when someone does He promises that He will never let them go and will raise them up at the resurrection in restored and renewed bodies.

-As He says in v. 40:

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (Jn. 6:40 ESV)

-This is the assurance that we are given—Jesus will not reject us, He will not forget about us, He will not cast us aside EVER! All who truly believe in Jesus Christ will persevere in faith to the end, and we will be resurrected just as He was.

-We are able to take comfort in this because this is all based on Christ’s finished works. It is not based on what we do but based on what Christ did.

-That means we cannot lose our salvation if we really have it to begin with. As John MacArthur has said: IF WE COULD LOSE OUR SALVATION, WE WOULD.

~Everyone every day does something that is sin in the sight of God. If one sin would take you out of the hands of Jesus, or cause Jesus to reject us, that would constantly happen to us all.

-But Jesus promises that He will lose none of the people the Father gives Him—and the Father gives Him all who have believed in Him.

-That should give us comfort and peace knowing that once we have the bread of life, we have Him forever, and He has us in His hands forever. We don’t have to worry about whether or not we are good enough or if we are doing enough—we aren’t and we won’t.

Conclusion

-But it all starts with a right belief in Jesus. He isn’t here to advance your agenda on earth, but He came to advance the kingdom of God in the hearts of mankind.

~Does He have your heart? Have you believed? If not, you must believe in Him today.

-Maybe your walk with Christ isn’t where it ought to be, and you want to come to the altar—maybe you need to find peace and security; you will find it in Jesus Christ

-Maybe you are looking for a church that preaches and teaches the right Jesus—the Jesus of the Bible…