The Light of the World
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Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
Happy Father’s Day!
Scripture
Pray
Intro
Jordan and Adri Floyd
Do you remember what is was like to be dating someone?
It’s exciting, you want to get to know this new person. You’re fascinated by them. Everything they do is interesting, fun, unique, exciting.
Imagine back to your first date…here’s what I bet you didn’t do.
You’re looking across from the person. You’re enjoying their company.
“I looked you up on LinkedIn. Did a lot of research about you. Don’t say a word about yourself. I know you already. Here’s what you are…I like to think of you as funny, outgoing, you love all my hobbies and interests, you’re just like me in every way.
Obviously this is a joke. What’s the point.
How is that interaction similar to how we approach Jesus?
How often do we learn things about Jesus, and impose our views on him, rather than asking him, “Jesus, tell me about yourself.”
That is going to be our goal the next couple months. We want to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?”
We’ve come so far in our Year of Biblical Exploration in 2022. We’re looking at the story of the Bible as a whole.
CONSIDER READING DEFINITION
We’ve gone through many nooks and crannies of the Old Testament, and we’ve come to the New Testament which is all about Jesus.
And the New Testament begins with four narrative accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” each in their own way.
“Who is Jesus?” It is THE biggest question any of us will ever answer.
How do we go about answering such a massive question?
One way is to look at the gospel of John, which highlights 7 “I AM” statements of Jesus. In the course of the gospel of John, Jesus says , “I am ____________” seven times.
He says I am
The bread of life
The light of the world
The gate
The good shepherd
The resurrection and the life
The way, the truth, and the life,
The true vine
And so for the next 7 Sundays we will walk through these and ask, “Who is Jesus?”
My prayer for us is not that we have the right answers about Jesus, or that we can nail a quiz, but that each of these messages allow us to experience the love of Jesus, be fascinated by him in a fresh way as we ask him to tell us about his heart.
Prayer
Let’s journey to John, the forty-forth book of the Bible, the fourth book in the New Testament.
Why was John written? Just so people know stuff about Jesus?
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John is written so you and I would believe. Why? So that we would have life. Not to know facts so we can have knowledge, but to believe, and trust the person of Jesus so we can experience his life.
One of the stories John uses to persuade us to believe is in John 6. John chapter 6 is a part of a larger section of John 2-10 which tells stories of various miracles of Jesus. In this section, Jesus performs a miracle, people are confused and don’t understand, Jesus uses metaphor and imagery to explain himself, and people are forced to ask themselves, “Who is Jesus?”
John 6 begins with a story of Jesus bending the laws of physics by feeding thousands of hungry people with a little boy’s lunchable.
After this miracle, a full but soon to be hungry crowd chases him down. Who is Jesus?!
I have a hard time empathizing with this urgency. I’ve got a full pantry and a freezer in my garage. In ten minutes I can afford to fill up a cart at not one but TWO different Costcos.
However this need is not far from home, just last month the Sumner Food Bank fed 6,000 people. Up over 400% from a year ago.
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.’ ”
Interject on verse 25 because he walked on water!!
They’re chasing after Jesus because they believed he could give them what they want: food! Jesus knows this and says as much in verse 26.
The crowd immediately calls to mind the story of Moses and the giving of manna in the wilderness.
Today we celebrate Juneteenth when federal troops arrived in Galveston Texas in 1865 to tell slaves they were free based on the Emancipation Proclamation signed two and a half years before.
In Exodus, we have a story of freed slaves on the run, the nation of Israel. They, like black slaves in 19th century America, also learned freedom is a windy road. They were hungry! And they were complaining to God. So God graciously gave them this flaky bread that fell from the sky, they have no idea what it was, so they called it manna, which meant “What is it?”
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.
This is the first “I AM” statement of Jesus in John.
Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.”
What does that mean?
It could also be stated, ‘I am the bread which gives life.’
Bread in Jesus’ day was made of either wheat or barley. Their loaves were of varying shapes and sizes. Sometimes flat and round or in the shape of a modern rectangular loaf.
We think of bread as an option for food. You could come to the membership class next Sunday and order a sandwich from Jimmy Johns, or you can go with an unwich and get salad instead. You could get toast with your breakfast at Dixies, or you can go with a fruit cup.
In Jesus’ day, bread was a staple part of their diet, and was synonymous with food itself.
Jesus’ could’ve essentially said, “I am the food which gives life.”
Bread is an amazing image in the Bible. There’s not many images that are more ordinary, and yet it provokes extraordinary meaning, and you can essentially track the whole story of the Bible with just the image of bread.
Jesus is meeting the crowd where they’re at…they’re hungry! They want bread! And Jesus takes that image and bakes up a perfect metaphor.
First point this morning,
Jesus satisfies.
In verse 35, Jesus is almost certainly quoting from Isaiah 55:1-2.
1 “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
In any relationship, we have moments where we’re talking about the same thing, but we’re not talking about the same thing.
The crowd and Jesus are talking about food…but Jesus is talking about more than food. He’s talking about their souls.
In the Bible, our souls - the all encompassing part of us that makes up the whole of who you are - is compared to your throat.
25 Good news from a distant land
is like cold water to a parched throat.
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
Jesus is saying, “I could give you food, but you’ll be hungry again tomorrow. I am something more.”
Bread connects us to the beginning. Adam and Eve were given all the food in the garden. But they wanted MORE.
We feel this in our souls.
John D. Rockefeller was once asked, “How much money is enough?” He answered, “Just a little bit more.”
We feel discontent in so many areas of life. Work is a big one, right?
Drew Carey says, “You hate your job? There’s a support group for that. It’s called everybody. They meet at the bar.”
What do you want?
Maybe you’re getting hungry. Maybe you would love a little more money.
But what’s under those desires? What is your soul longing for?
Jesus says stop chasing things that won’t satisfy. I am the food which satisfies.
How do we eat this spiritual food from Jesus?
Believe
Jesus says, “Don’t work for food that perishes, but for the food that comes from God.”
The crowd doesn’t get it. They’re like Jonah, very relatable. They’re hungry. They’re eager for action.
“What must we do to do the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
And he reiterates again in John 6:35
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.
This word believe appears 98 times in John. It’s important. To believe is to consider something or someone trustworthy.
To use Exodus as an illustration, when God brought Israel out from the domain of darkness in Egypt and through the Red Sea, it says this in Ex 14:31
31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
God sent Moses to save Israel from Egypt. Israel believed God because of what he did through Moses to save them.
In that moment, what did the Israelites do for God? Nothing. God did everything, they just watched him work and they trusted him.
The crowd comes to Jesus and says, “What do we do to earn more bread?? We’re hungry!” Jesus says, “Believe me. The one God has sent to save you.”
The crowd, like Adam and Eve, want to take Jesus by force and make him King. Jesus says, I am giving myself to you, like bread to be broken on the cross for your sake. Receive me.
Jesus goes on to say
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.”
Eat Jesus? Are Christians cannibals? What’s he talking about?
A new Exodus is coming. A better food is here. I am going to give up my life for you on the cross. And if you, like the Israelites did, believe that I’m the one sent by God to die and save you, then you will be satisfied.
Earlier I asked, “What do you want?” Now consider, what does God want from you?
Maybe you’re like me and you live with a voice in your head that often whispers, “You’re not doing enough.” “Do better.”
What does God want from you? Belief. Trust. Receiving his love. To feast on the love of Jesus, the bread of life.
What if the greatest thing we could do this week was nothing? Not like Binge Netflix nothing, but to sit in silence for the purpose of feasting on Jesus’ love. What would that look like for you?
For the ones who feast on Jesus, and believe in him, what do they receive?
Eternal life.
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.”
What does Jesus mean, eternal life?
Great video from the Bible Project on Eternal life. Essentially, the phrase Eternal life is not something Jesus made up as a sales pitch because WHO WOULDN’T WANT ETERNAL LIFE…it’s a phrase from the Old Testament that means life unto the age.
An age is a period of time with a common characteristic, and you can live in multiple ages at once.
We are simultaneously living in the age of the iPhone, and the age of COVID.
What Jesus meant is we are all currently living in the age of death. You bake some bread, it will get moldy sooner or later. The Bible says this is the product of sin.
But…in Jesus, we enter a new age. An age of life. An age where all things are being made new.
How?
Well, not everyone wanted to believe that Jesus was the bread of life. He didn’t look like the king they hoped for who would break Rome and give them the literal food they craved. And so Jesus’ body, like a dried up loaf of bread, was broken on a Roman cross.
But Jesus three days later, through the power of God, broke the age of death by rising from the grave. And in Jesus, a new age has begun.
And so when you believe in Jesus, you become a person who has a foot in two ages. You have eternal life. It is more than going to heaven when you die, although the life to come is a part of the feast, it’s a quality of life now that you and I are the kind of people who are living examples that Jesus is the true bread of life.
So the question becomes…who wouldn’t want this? Right? Just believe. It’s simple.
But it takes humility. Surrender. Receiving a gift is not easy.
As many of you know, Morgan and I had a miscarriage a couple months ago. And Annmarie Mathews, being the eternal life kind of person she is, set up a meal train for us. Some of you came to our door and brought us food. And it was awesome.
But you know what, it’s also uncomfortable.
It’s not easy coming to a place where you say, “I can’t do this on my own. I need help from outside myself to make it.”
That’s what it’s like with Jesus. He’s the bread of life. He’s given for us, we can receive his eternal life if we believe. We can’t earn it. It’s all what he’s done for us, and we just have to surrender and say, you know what, I’ve come to the end of myself, and I need you.
Consider this week, a way to experience the love of Jesus and him as the bread of life.
You and I have roughly 21 times built into our schedules this upcoming week to acknowledge Jesus is the bread of life.
Following Jesus is not etherial, spacey, weird, or other worldly. It’s very ordinary. It’s like bread. But as we know with Jesus, even the most ordinary things are extraordinary.
Consider using meals as a form of spiritual practice this week.
Many of you pray before meals as if the time you forgot to pray would lead to getting salmonella.
But maybe you’re like me also and you eat really fast.
Slow down and savor Jesus.
Jesus I need you to survive more than I need this lunch.
Jesus you are a gift to me. I did not earn you.
Jesus you give me life through your death. You were broken, like this meal was made for me to consume.
Jesus your life gives me life after death. One day I will share a better feast with you.
And have hope. One day we will leave this age of moldy bread, undercooked chicken, sour milk, expired cheese, and fast food…and we’re going to enter an age of the great feast with Jesus.
15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
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