Have You Found What You Are Looking For?

August 8, 2020 John 6:24–33

24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” 28 So they said to him, “What should we do to carry out the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent.” 30 Then they asked him, “So what miraculous sign are you going to do, that we may see it and believe you? What miraculous sign are you going to perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the real bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Have You Found What are You Looking For?

One of my favorite groups that I liked to listen to in high school was U2. One of their hits was called, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The lyrics go,

I have climbed highest mountains, I have run through the fields

Only to be with you, Only to be with you

I have run, I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls - Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey lips, Felt the healing in her fingertips

It burned like fire, This burning desire

I have spoke with the tongue of angels, I have held the hand of a devil

It was warm in the night, I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I believe in the kingdom come, Then all the colors will bleed into one

But yes I'm still running - You broke the bonds, And you loosed the chains

Carried the cross Of my shame, Oh my shame - You know I believe it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

Notice how Bono ends at the cross! Yet even after finding the God who carried the cross of his shame, Bono still sings that he hasn’t found what he’s looking for. It makes you wonder, what is he looking for? Does he even know? A feeling? An emotion? Happiness? What is it?

It’s a question worth asking yourself. Do you know what you’re looking for? What are your goals in life? What is your purpose? And as a Christian, if you know what you’re looking for, it would be good to ask how your goals fit into the big picture of what God wants FROM you and what God wants FOR you? How does it compare to the saints who have lived before us?

The people who were coming to Jesus in our text for today knew EXACTLY what they were looking for. Jesus had just fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, and they wanted more! But Jesus wasn’t so welcoming to them. “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not continue to work for the food that spoils.” It’s kind of interesting if you think about it. He hadn’t given them a three course meal. He hadn’t given them riches or power. All He gave them was BREAD. But that was all it took, and they wanted MORE of.

Now think about it. If they had the ability to walk around a lake to find Jesus, they had the ability to work. Work is a gift from God, given to Adam and Eve in the Garden even BEFORE the Fall. Solomon wrote that there’s nothing better than when a man can eat and find satisfaction in his work. Yet these people were following Jesus simply for the fact that He gave them a free meal, and they wanted MORE.

Jesus could have given them plenty of it, but He REFUSED to do it, because they weren’t coming for HIM. They only came to Him because their end game was BREAD. I had an old friend call me out of the blue some years ago, and I was excited to hear from him. I thought he wanted to catch up. Come to find out, he wanted me to get a phone plan from him to help pay for his kids’ schooling. I took the information from him, caught up with him for a while, but then when we hung up I was disappointed. He wasn’t ultimately calling me to talk to me. He wanted something from me. And I think about how many times I have done that with people, and how many times I have done that with my God. Do we only come to Him to get the STUFF we want? Or do we come to Him to be with Him, because we love listening to Him and being with Him?