Sermon Brief
Date Written: March 3, 2011
Date Preached: March 6, 2011
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Falling in Love With Jesus
Sermon Title: Jesus - Bread of Life!
Sermon Text: John 6:25-40 [ESV]
25When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You get here?" 26Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27"Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal." 28Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" 29Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." 30So they said to Him, "Then what sign do You do, that we may see and believe You? What work do You perform? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32Jesus 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. 33For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. 36But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. 39And 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. 40For 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."
Introduction:
I can remember Christmas of 1984… I had a 2 yr old son and on Christmas Eve I was up late putting together the latest ‘pedal-car’ on the market, “The Knight Rider 2000” pedal car! Austin’s favorite show was Knight Rider and so we just had to give him that car!
This car was amazing… racing stripes, all the decals, flashing lights, a recorded voice that spoke to you, buttons that made sounds… it was great. The awful thing about this car was that it came UNASSEMBLED! I had to put it together…
As so many men before me, I took the parts out of the box… threw the instructions to the side and began to put the car together! 3 times I thought I had finished only to realize I had left something out or not put something together the right way. 3 times I had to disassemble this car and then rebuild it… Finally at 3 am I “finished”… mainly I gave up and went to bed… the car was a big hit, but Austin was 2 and it did not take much to impress him.
The car was NEVER what it should have been… by not using the instructions I had actually damaged some of the parts and the car would not work like it was supposed to… I was so disappointed! My desire to have something work RIGHT now… the way I desired it to work… in my time… done my way… damaged a gift we had wanted so much to give our son!
Now what does that story have to do with this story we just read out of John 6? How often do we rush into things… desiring OUR way… in our time, only to damage what we were trying to do. Well, I see a great parallel in our lives as believers today, as we desire the easy, quick fix… we seek to take the easiest route… we seek what FILLS our desire the quickest, but Jesus reveals that there SO much more! Let’s take a little journey thru the Scripture this morning and see what God has to say to us…
The Jews in our story this morning, knew that Jesus worked out of Capernaum and when they could not find him the next morning after He fed 5000… they went there looking for Him. In v.25 they find Him and ask a rather odd question, 25When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You get here?" “WHEN did you get here… not HOW, but when…”
They had seen there was only one boat AND they had seen the disciples get in that boat and sail away… WITHOUT Jesus. There were no ferry services from one side of the lake to the next… there was not a charter service… but they asked Jesus WHEN He had arrived!
Jesus had been with these people, and He understood them far better than they understood themselves… His answer was not a polite answer, but it was direct, honest and to the point! 26Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
HE told them that they were not looking for Him because of anything spiritual, but because He had FED them so well the day before! Jesus knew that He was seen as a free meal… and many were flocking to him for that free meal. How often do we see people take advantage of good ministries like this? where God is working and moving but people only seek to please their own desires!
Jesus sees this in them and He tells them to stop seeking their earthly and physical desires that will one day be gone… 27"Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal." and instead seek something greater… something significant! Here Jesus is using FOOD as His illustration…
He tells them to stop seeking after a meal that will spoil if not eaten right away! He encourages them to seek after a meal that will never spoil… a meal that leads to eternal LIFE!
What Jesus is getting around to is that He is telling them to begin to seek after what only HE can give… And Jesus says, “I can do this because God has sent Me to do just this…”
Immediately the people began to react with questions of… WHAT CAN WE DO? 28Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" You know, people today are still seeking to answer the question, “How can I get God to notice me…love me…bless me…save me?” These people were saying to Jesus was “Let me know what I can do… so I can do it and get this special food You’re talking about…”
These people were thinking that Jesus was implying that there was some action they could take… some task they could perform to get God’s favor! 29Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." Jesus clarifies that this ‘thing’ is NOT a duty or a performance… but it is what is in their heart! Jesus says… THIS IS WHAT YOU CAN DO… Believe in the One God has sent to you!
WHAT? HUH? Believe? Believe in what? Believe in WHO? Jesus are You talking about believing in You? Believe in Jesus? Why should we believe in You Jesus? 30So they said to Him, "Then what sign do You do, that we may see and believe You? What work do You perform? What they do here truly boggles the mind… these people that have just recently been fed by Jesus the day before, with a mere 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish they personally witness Jesus feed over 5000 people and they have the nerve to ask Jesus… “What sign are you going to show us to make us believe you are from God?”The NERVE of these people!
They had witnessed His teaching… wiser than any they had ever heard!
They had witnessed His compassion… Jesus NEVER turned away anyone!
They had witnessed great ‘signs’ performed by Jesus… the feeding of the 5000!
They had witnessed Jesus healing many people, and yet they ask Him… “What sign are you going to give us to PROVE yourself to us?”
They went on to compare Jesus to the Jews most revered hero and prophet, MOSES! 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" They said, “Hey, even Moses gave us a sign… and so we know Moses was from God… and that Moses was sent FROM God!
The probably detailed to Jesus just how…
Moses came and delivered them out of the bondage of Egypt!
Moses led and fed them in the wilderness…
Moses led them to a new life in the promised land!
They were telling Jesus… “Hey Jesus, Moses did great things and because of this we know he was from God… so what are YOU going to do to let us know you are from God?”
Jesus stops them right there and informs them that Moses was NOT the One who did those things for them, but that it was God in heaven who had… 32Jesus 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.
Here we see the Apostle John drawing a parallel between Moses and Jesus:
Moses was used by God to bring about to bring physical bread… but after they ate that bread, they hungered again, and eventually they died!
Jesus was telling them that God wants to give them a “bread” that is far different… a living bread… a bread that will satisfy their spiritual hunger and will bring about eternal life! 33For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." In other words, this bread is the bringer of life! Jesus tells them this new food brings life… eternal life… and they want it! They desire it…
Like all humans, we desire what benefits us! Think about it, how many times did you NOT desire something that benefits you… Now you may be thinking, well I don’t desire broccoli and it benefits me! What I mean is that we all want the best for ourselves!
But the human nature in us wants it GIVEN to us… I mean, I want to be able to play the guitar, but I don’t want to sacrifice and practice! I want to have a HUGE retirement amount, but I don’t want to sacrifice and save!
These people demanded that Jesus GIVE them this food… 34They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." But these people did not understand what Jesus was saying… They did not know what He was talking about… they saw the physical, and Jesus was speaking of the spiritual. They were looking for food that perishes… Jesus was offering food that gives eternal life! Jesus then reveals to these people… just what this FOOD is… it is HIM!
35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. If you want eternal life, I am offering it… you have to accept ME for who I am! This was Jesus proclaiming His exclusive ability to save souls and forgive sin.
He is drawing a line in the sand and saying that HE alone is the way to salvation! He is the spiritual food to bring about eternal life! It is HE they need to look to, and NOT Moses, as they had brought up just a moment before!
Jesus then challenges their hearts… He challenges them by saying, “36But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. He is telling them that they had already SEEN the signs they needed… they had already seen Jesus do MANY things, but yet they refused to believe in Him. Jesus was throwing down the gauntlet here… challenging these people to believe in Him!
Jesus then tells them what the benefit of believing is… what the benefit of this ‘bread of life’ that He has to offer will bring to them… Jesus says, 37All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out.
Jesus is assuring them that their belief will NOT be in vain… that He can and will deliver on His promise! God has sent Him… He will NOT fail in His promise! But He wants them to know that this was NOT His plan, but the plan of the Father that He was submitting to… and that it is God who wants to give them the bread of life!
38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me. 39And 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. 40For 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."
So preacher… what does all this mean for us today?
First it reveals to us that we often seek after the wrong things… we seek after our physical desires… and that those desires are things that are FLEETING!
How often do you find yourself constantly calling out to God to give you what you want? Sometimes we plead our case… sometimes we DEMAND it from God… but we always seem to be seeking what WE want… and MOST of the time that which we seek is something that WILL NOT last!
You want that promotion at work… we all know that job don’t last
You want that car you have seen your friend driving… we all know cars wear out
You want, you want, you want… and you demand it from God! How many times have you prayed, “God I deserve this thing I want…”
Now don’t get me wrong, there is NOTHING wrong with asking God to provide you with things. But what I want us to realize is that we often ask for things that will not last… things that don’t matter in the eternal perspective of things! And we place too high of a priority on these things! God wants to give us things, but he wants us to seek after Him first, not these things! READ Matt 6:33 here
33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
The 2nd thing this tells us is that even though we seek after that which will perish, God wants to give us that which is eternal…
God does not want us to perish… 2 Peter 3:9 reveals:
9The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
God wants to give us that which is eternal…and God provides that opportunity in the person of Jesus Christ! God wants us to be saved… God does not wish for us to perish… or for us to CHOOSE to perish!
God sent Jesus to BE the salvation for those who would receive Him! God’s provision is Jesus Christ, the bread that will bring about eternal life in the soul of man!
Finally what this represents this morning is that there is a choice! We can seek what is temporal and fleeting… fulfilling our desires and getting that immediate quick fix! OR we can choose Jesus, the ‘bread of life’ and know eternal life!
When we chose Jesus… when we choose the ‘bread of life’… we are making the choice to give up what we know… choosing to turn our backs on the way we have been living… choosing to surrender our hearts and desires to Jesus! These are not easy things to do… You see here is what God has to offer!
God has eternal life and eternal joy with Him to offer us, and He has provided all there is to purchase that for us… we can do nothing to earn it… we can do nothing to impress Him to give it to us… He has already offered it! All we can do is accept it or reject it!
If we reject it, we consign ourselves to eternity without God… but if we accept it we receive eternal life WITH God! However, in accepting God’s grace and forgiveness and salvation means we give up our lives! To accept HIS life, we must give up our own! Just as Jesus accepted His mission and gave UP His life… we must accept Christ’s calling and give up our desires… give up what WE seek after… and submit to His calling!
You have a choice to make… Jesus has made it plain and simple! HE IS THE WAY! HE is the spiritual food that will bring about eternal life, but your choice has to be made by being willing to give up your life… give up YOUR selfish desires… Are you willing and ready today to SURRENDER to Him?
He has ALL the answers… He provides all the spiritual nourishment you need for eternity…are you willing to surrender yourself to Him, to get what He has to offer? If you are, I call on you to step out as Bro Ken comes to lead us in our Hymn of invitation… come and give your heart to Christ today! Come and surrender your heart and life to Him this morning
