Jesus, The Perfect Food

INTRODUCTION

• Can you name me one food that you will find in most if not all countries in the world, a food that no one country can claim exclusive rights to? A food that you will find at the table of both the richest and the poorest people on earth.

• BREAD

• Bread is served everywhere; it has many uses and many forms. Bread is eaten daily, it is not seasonal.

• We live in one of the most diet-conscious societies that has ever existed. Some of the diets you see are a little bizarre like the Sauerkraut diet or the Spam Diet. I am going to come up with one called the “Donut, Hamburger & Ice Cream diet.”

• Then there are some that will probably work like the one that says you can eat as much as you want of any food you don’t like. Or the one I ran across that’s called "The Stress Diet".

• Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, slice whole-wheat toast, 8-oz. skim milk.

• Lunch: 4 oz. lean broiled chicken breast, 1 cup steamed zucchini, 1 Oreo cookie, Herb tea.

• Mid-Afternoon Snack: Rest of the package of Oreo’s, 1 quart of Rocky Road ice cream, 1 jar of hot fudge.

• Supper: 2 loaves garlic bread, large pepperoni and mushroom pizza with double cheese, 2 quarts of Pepsi or Coca Cola, 3 Milky Way Candy Bars, and an entire Sara Lee Pound Cake eaten directly from the refrigerator.

• One of the things that ties all of humanity together is the need for food.

• All of us are deeply aware of our need for food and water, when we get hungry, our body tells us.

• Last week we started talking about the search for satisfaction. This week we will continue a bit on that theme as we look at “Jesus, The Perfect Food.”

• In this section of Jesus’ sermon He gives us one of the first of the seven or so “I AM” statements in the gospel of John. All of the “I am” statements represent the special relationship Jesus has to the spiritual needs of man. In this first on Jesus calls Himself the bread of life.

• We all need food to sustain us. Jesus is going to tell us that He is the spiritual food that we need to sustain us spiritually.

• I have talked about the pursuit of filling the hunger within us with many things. Jesus is going to tell us that He is the perfect food. When we make Jesus our spiritual food, we will not want anything else. Today we are going to look at three reasons Jesus is the perfect food.

SERMON

Jesus is the perfect food because:

I. HE COMES FROM THE FINEST BAKERY! (30-33)

• Jesus had just fed the people the day before at the feeding of the 5,000. Now Jesus is going to start calling for a commitment out of the people in verse 29 and the people want more.

• Read verses 30-33

• In verse 29 Jesus is claiming that He was sent from heaven from the Father.

• Jesus has already performed an impressive catalogue of miracles including healings, raisings, cleansings, and exorcisms, to say nothing about his power over the inanimate—wine, bread, wind, and waves. On the day following the feeding of the 5,000, how can they possibly ask for a sign?!

• Verse 31 offers a key to their logic, here, as well as the two previous times the Jews asked for a sign. They want a sign from heaven, like Moses gave them with the manna. It is as if they said, “We followed you for earthly food because that is what you miraculously provided. But if you want us to follow you for heavenly food (cf. v. 27), then we will need a sign from heaven.” In all three instances, the only sign Jesus promised was that of resurrection.

• Yesterday they were willing to inaugurate Jesus as king because he gave them what they wanted. But today, when Jesus asks for their allegiance, they reject him. They demand of Jesus, “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme If not earthly bread then heavenly bread!” Jesus replied, “It is not I who give, nor was it Moses, but God. He gave manna to your forefathers; but to you he gave me. You ask me to provide heavenly bread but I am that bread!” By rejecting Jesus, they are rejecting the very thing they asked Jesus to provide. (CHRONO Life of Christ. Mark E. Moore, College Press)

• Jesus is telling us HE came from heaven, sent from God. The bread He offers comes from the finest bakery.

• How many of you like cheesecake?

• I love it. I have eaten a lot of it in my life. My mother-in-law makes a killer cheesecake. I have bought the stuff in the boxes, the stuff in the plastic containers at the grocery store.