Jesus is the Bread of Life
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Jesus is the Bread of Life
John 6:22-71; December 3, 2006
Recap:
-Jesus & the disciples cross the
-Jesus feeds the multitudes
-Jesus withdraws from the crowd
-His disciples cross the sea in the boat
-Jesus walks on the water, and like Moses crosses the Sea
(READ vv.22-26)
Jesus says “you’re not here to follow me, you’re not here to be my disciples, you’re not here because you believe, you’re not here because you recognize the signs, but because you ate the bread and now you’re here to eat again! You’re just here because you’re hungry again!”
It might be a foolish thing to feed 5000 men. Give it a few hours and you’ll have 5000 men back for more.
Jesus recognizes that these followers, were not true followers.
1. Not all people who follow are Followers
Not everyone who follows Jesus around physically, is his Follower. Not everyone who acts like his disciple is really a true Disciple. Jesus knows their hearts and he knows why the crowd has followed him. They’re hungry for more. à more food; another magic trick perhaps.
They’re following the buzz that Jesus is creating. Like the buzz of every year’s Christmas “must-have” gift. Like a Ferbie or Tickle-me Elmo. Jesus is causing a major buzz. So the people go to see the latest thing.
But Jesus will not be reduced to a fad. He has no interest in popularity or cheap followers or causing a buzz. He is seeking true worshippers; true disciples.
(buzz-followers, pretend followers vs. true followers. You can fake it a long time)
(READ vv.27-30)
2. Don’t waste your life chasing stuff that won’t last
Jesus says to you: “Do not labour for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life”
I like books. I really enjoy them. And sometimes I get distracted, and I look fondly at my bookshelf and I admire my books and say to my self “Steve, buddy, those are some very nice books. You should be proud, BUT you would be much happier if you had just 10 more.”
Sometimes, I’m driving in my little family sedan and I’m in a parking lot and I see a nice truck, a big, new, shiny one. And I say to myself: “Steve, buddy, you could drive over many big piles of snow in a truck like that. And it has heated seats, so your bum can stay toasty while doing it. You would be a happier man in that truck.”
Sometimes, walking around town I’ll see a house that looks nice and I’ll say to myself, “Steve, buddy, you need a nicer house. You would be a much happier and more satisfied person if you owned a house like that one. You would be content if you owned that house.”
Sometimes I sin and I treasure toys and status and things. Sometimes I believe the lie that if I owned nicer things, I would be happier and more successful.
Is buying these things wrong? No. Hopefully, someday I’ll need a bigger house. Someday I will need a newer car. And I don’t know very much so I definitely need to read more books. Buying things you need isn’t wrong. But, coveting things you don’t need is. Treasuring things that are not truly valuable is. When you act as if temporary, material, shiny toys are worth your life’s work, you are badly deceiving yourself and are wasting your life. Jesus says: “Do not labour for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”
Don’t find your value in the truck you drive or the things you own, find it in Jesus Christ. Toys are temporary, Jesus Christ is forever.
“In that case, what then is the work that God requires of us?” they ask.
Jesus responds: “This is the work of God: that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
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(READ vv.30-31) Are you serious?!? He just fed 20,000 people with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, and they want a miraculous sign to prove that he’s from God!
(READ vv.32-34) They wanted a sign. Jesus says, I am the sign.
(READ vv.35)
3. Jesus is the True Life-Giving Bread
Jesus is the only satisfaction for our spiritual hunger. That craving inside of humanity: New cars, new clothes, new gadgets, more friends, more things will never satisfy and it will never last. Humanity craves for spiritual satisfaction. Only Jesus can bring you the satisfaction that you hunger for.
(Many things claim to offer this satisfaction. Products?)
Humanity is starving to death and Jesus is the bread of life.
(vv.36-40)
Jesus here talks more specifically about how he is the bread of life: that is, he explains how God brings life to people through Jesus.
The first thing that Jesus proclaims is that…
a. God is Sovereign in salvation (READ vv.37, 39)
Some people will tell you that God doesn’t know who will be saved, and in fact he has no control over it. His hands are tied. He did his part with the whole cross thing, and now it’s up to the people to do their part and choose to be reconciled to God. So, God doesn’t know who will be saved, and he couldn’t save someone if he wanted to. The Father really has no say over who will be saved.
But what does Jesus say? (v.37) “All that the Father gives to me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” And v.44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
In these recent years of church history, at the common level, it is quite popular for people to hold to a view of God that says “his hands are tied. He’d like to save more people, but he can’t do it.” They would say that God is more of a passive observer, than a sovereign redeemer.
But that’s not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is not a frustrated and incapable God who is a slave to our bidding. He is sovereign over salvation. His will cannot be thwarted. As Jesus says here: All who the Father gives to Jesus, will come to Jesus, and they will never be cast out. Nobody comes to God by their own doing.
Ephesians 1:4-6 “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.”
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God.”
Does this mean that there is no human responsibility? Not at all. The Bible continually calls us to response, to action. The responsibility to believe and to come to Jesus is on us, But, ultimately, it is God’s sovereign grace that saves us.
This comes as a tremendous comfort to us, because we know that history will unfold as God has planned it. As Paul writes in Romans 8, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”
God is sovereign in Salvation, and…
b. Jesus cannot fail in preservation (READ vv.37b,39-40)
All of those who the Father has given to the Son, are assured to endure to salvation. The assurance is found in the obedience of the Son. Jesus guarantees it, and he cannot fail in his preserving work.
So, people ask, “Can you lose your salvation?” When you ask it like that, it sounds like salvation is spare change that can fall out of your pocket. Or it sounds like salvation is like a helium balloon on a string, and if you’re distracted for, but a moment, it can slip out of grasp and fly away.
è No, you cannot lose salvation.
Some may then ask, “Can you throw away your salvation?” à No.
Nobody who understands their sinful depravity, and has experienced the forgiveness that comes from the cross, and has reconciliation with God will ever throw that away, even if it were possible.
If anyone is called by God, justified by God’s sovereign grace, and has had Christ’s righteousness substituted for their human sinfulness, Jesus will preserve them to the end and will raise them up on the last day. He cannot fail in preserving his people.
(READ vv. 41-48) The people object! They cannot understand how Jesus can claim to be from heaven. They know his parents!
Jesus responds by saying that they’re blind. They can’t see. God has not revealed this truth to them.
I hope that all of us have friends or family who don’t know Christ and I hope that we are sharing with them the saving power of Jesus and the necessity of faith in him for reconciliation with God. à If you are doing that, and your friend just doesn’t understand. Don’t get mad at your friend. Your friend is blind. Keep praying and keep sharing. One day, by God’s grace, God may open your friend’s eyes, and although your friend may have heard the gospel 1000 times, it will be the first time they will have heard with their heart and understood. Keep praying and keep sharing Christ.
(READ vv.49-58)
In these verses Jesus reiterates his earlier statement using the vivid imagery of feeding on his body.
Jesus draws up a comparison of the bread from heaven that their Jewish ancestors ate in the wilderness, and himself, the true bread from heaven.
à Your ancestors ate of the bread and were hungry again. They ate it for years and at the end of their life, they still died. à But I am the bread of life. You feast on me and you will have eternal life. “Whoever looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life.”
4. All people Crave Jesus’ life-giving Bread
Everyone hungers for Jesus, the bread of life. Everyone is fighting death, and desiring life. Our souls crave life.
Ladies: Do you ever wonder why guys like sports so much?
We crave life: This is why we play sports. This is why people love new things: new cars, new clothes. Plastic surgery. (health craze?) We crave eternal life. Part of us just knows, that we were created for eternal life. Everyday we are faced with the question of our death. That question follows us everywhere.
Jesus is the answer to that question. “I am the bread of LIFE. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” The answer to our life’s craving is Jesus Christ. Only he can bring us life. All these other pursuits that make us feel young and comfortable, important and valuable are empty pursuits. They will never satisfy. Only Jesus Christ can bring us real life.
Don’t waste your life feeding on vain pursuits that will never satisfy your cravings. Feed on Jesus Christ! Don’t nibble on Jesus Christ! Feast on Jesus Christ! Believe in his name and have life. Read his word, live for his glory, declare his salvation to everyone, passionately follow him always. Feast on him and have life to the full!
Some people may not like this message. Some people may find it hard. Some may even find it offensive. But that just tells me that I got it right:
(READ vv.60-71)
Many of those who heard this teaching found it too hard and they turned away. And at times like this, it becomes very clear that not all who follow Jesus around are truly his followers. Not everyone who acts like a disciple outwardly is a true disciple. Many people were just there for themselves.
The words that Jesus speaks to us may be hard, they may be difficult, they may leave us with questions, they may rip our souls bare, but they are LIFE. They may be hard, but they are good, and they are live-giving.
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