Sermon Tone Analysis

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Prayer

Introduction

As we continue our series in the Gospel of John, we’ve now arrived at the “I Am” statements.

You may be familiar with the statements where Jesus said He is the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Door of the Sheep, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way the Truth and the Life, and finally the True Vine.

Over the next several weeks, we will look at each of these statements, starting with Jesus’ declaration that He is the Bread of Life.

If you would, please open your bibles to John chapter 6, verse 35, that’s where we’re going to start.

As you turn there, allow me to give you some background so we have the context for the passage.

The Bread of Life passage actually runs from John 6:22-59.

The day before Jesus taught what this passage details, He fed the 5 thousand.

In reality, there were 5,000 men there, so including wives and children, scholars believe there could have been as many as 20k people there.

After feeding them, Jesus withdrew, but the people followed Him across the sea the next morning.

Many of the crowds had found Him, and asked why He was there in Capernaum.

John records in John 6:26-27 that “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.””

Jesus told them not to be focused on food that perishes, or He knew that they were only following Him because He fed them the day before.

Instead they should be focused on the food that endures to eternal life.

Not understanding His words, they asked what kind of works they could do.

Jesus said, the work of God is that you believe in the one God sent.

They wanted to know what sign Jesus could give them so that they could believe.

Remember, these people just witnessed a sign the day before, but did not see it as a miracle proving Jesus is the Son of God, but rather it reminded them of how their ancestors received manna from heaven during their days in the wilderness after fleeing from Egypt.

Jesus taught them that Moses didn’t provide the bread, but that God did.

And now God has given them bread in the One who came down from Heaven, referring to Himself.

They misunderstood and thought He was talking about physical bread, and cried out, “Sir, give us this bread, always.”

It is here that we begin our passage for today.

At the moment where the people cannot make the spiritual connection Jesus is sharing with them.

They are not alone, however.

When Jesus told Nicodemus, in John 3, that unless a person is born again, they cannot see the Kingdom of God, the response was, How can a man be born when he is old?

He didn’t see the spiritual teaching Jesus was giving Him.

Remember, also, the Woman at the well in John 4. Jesus told her that he could give her water that if she drank she would never thirst again.

Missing the spiritual connection, she said, “Give me this water so that I won’t thirst or have to come back here to get water.”

In this circumstance, where the people have missed the connection of food being used to teach a spiritual lesson, Jesus explains exactly what He means.

We will start with John 6:35, and I’ll make a couple comments along the way.

For our purpose today we want to see how Jesus, the Son, satisfies us as the Bread of Life.

Let’s look to the Scriptures together, again in John 6, beginning with verse 35.

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(I will stop to make comments of a few of the verses - not typed below)

John 6:35–51 (ESV)

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.”

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

And I will raise him up on the last day.

45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—

46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.

47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

48 I am the bread of life.

49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

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.”

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I Am = Ego Eimi

Before we can get too far, we need to explain the significance of the “I Am Statements.”

In English we simply see the words: “I Am.”

In the Greek, there were two different words used for I and I am, they are Ego - where we get our word Ego from, and Eimi.

Ordinarily, if you were speaking Greek and wanted to say I am, you’d use one or the other.

Jesus uses both.

In doing so, a truly literal translation would read, “I, I am.”

This might seem strange, or as if Jesus stuttered.

When I was very young I had a terrible stuttering problem, and the word “I” was a particularly difficult word for me.

I have been known to start a sentence saying the word “I” four, five, sometimes even more times before I could get on with the next word.

Not the worst problem in the world to have, but I can honestly say I wasn’t doing it to make a statement.

Jesus had a very particular reason for saying, “I, I am.”

This should sound a little familiar - When Moses asked by whom He should tell the Israelites had sent Him, God said, “I am who I am.

Tell them “I Am” sent me to you.”

What’s interesting is that in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament - compiled prior to Christ’s arrival - when God said, “I Am” in Exodus 3, He used the same sentence structure of, in English, “I, I Am.”

Any Greek speaking Jews would have immediately been familiar with what Jesus was saying here.

Even before finishing His statement about being the bread of life, Jesus was making a strong statement as to who He is.

That same structure will show up in each of the “I Am” statements we will look at in this series.

As we here Jesus declare that He is the Bread of Life, let’s first think about the physical food to contrast with the spiritual food, lest we miss the connection too.

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Food that Spoils

My family and I, for those who may be visiting, have lived here for 3 years as of March.

One thing we quickly noticed after moving was how quickly the bread goes bad here.

Have you ever bought a loaf of bread that went bad before you got to eat all of it?

What about bananas?

Now, I’ll be honest with you, I love Poke.

I haven’t had a bad kind of Poke yet.

Now, if you bring me Poke, I can promise you that it won’t go bad before I eat it, but we all know what fish that went bad is like, right?

I’m telling you all of this not because I want you to know how much I love food, but rather to point out that it can go bad rather quickly.

In fact, depending on how your day goes, you could make food in the morning and it could spoil before you even get to eat it that day.

When I was in third grade, I took a sandwich to school.

Now many of you know that I was adopted by my dad, who was my step-dad until he adopted me.

This story is about my biological father.

He prepared a speciality sandwich - Mayonaise and peanut butter.

Don’t judge me, I didn’t make it.

Long story short, I got to go home from school early, after eating that sandwich that sat in a hot locker most of the morning.

Now, I’m not saying that is the reason I went on to get adopted, but I’m not saying it might not have been a factor either.

My adoptive dad does make way better, non-completely ridiculous sandwiches by the way.

Just saying.