1. I’ve been told that there’s a health-food restaurant out in the northeast with a billboard that says, “Eat here and live a long life!” Not wanting to be outdone, the barbeque place next-door put up a sign that reads: “Eat here and die happy!”
2. Food is important to us – some more than others
a. Notice how we eat our favorite food for a meal and get hungry a few minutes later?
b. A Health indicator is hunger
3. Ravi Zacharias – “With all of our ingesting and consumptions, our hungers are still many and our fulfillments are few.”
a. Jesus came to fix that
b. He provides life and satisfaction – John 6.32-35
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.
I. Bread Sustains Life
A. A Demanding Process
1. Prepare the soil; plant the seed; tend the plants
2. Harvest—Using sickles; bundle the sheaves; thresh; winnow; Grind; Flour – Dough; knead; bake; serve
‘If God intended man to live on bread, why didn’t he create a bread tree?’ And the answer, in effect, is that God could have created a tree that produced crusty loaves of bread, but he prefers to offer us a grain and invite us to buy a field and plant the seed. He prefers that we till the soil while he sends the rain. He prefers that we harvest the crop while he sends sunshine. He prefers that we grind the crop and knead it and bake it while he gives us air in our lungs and strength in our arms. Why? Because he would rather that we become partners with him in creation.
B. A Decisive Picture – of Yeshua (Jesus)
1. A Comparison to Moses and Manna – John 6.28-34
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.’” 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.”
a. Daily Gathering of Manna – Exodus 16.4, 15;
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
b. God did not forget their needs for the journey – nor ours
2. Yeshua (Jesus) is Greater
a. A Prophet like Moses – Deuteronomy 18.15-16
15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
b. Yeshua (Jesus) enacted the history of Israel – wilderness temptations; call from Egypt; Jordan; Moses
c. Yeshua’s birthplace – Bethlehem – “House of Bread” (Micah 5.2; Matthew 2.1ff)
1) Boaz and Ruth – David; Yeshua )Jesus)
2) From the House of Bread he came to be the Bread of Life
II. God is the Source of Life
A. Constant Provisions
1. Manna in the wilderness
2. Bread for the 5 K
3. ALL of our NEEDS – Philippians 4.19
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
4. GOD provides, not Moses – John 6.30-32
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.’” 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.
B. Clear Perception
1. Comes in Seeing Yeshua (Jesus)
2. Results in giving thanks
A few years ago, the cartoon pictured Charlie Brown bringing out Snoopy’s dinner on Thanksgiving Day. But it was just his usual dog food in a bowl.
Snoopy took one look at the dog food & said, "This isn’t fair. The rest of the world today is eating turkey with all the trimmings, & all I get is dog food. Because I’m a dog," he said, "all I get is dog food." He stood there & stared at his dog food for a moment, & said, "I guess it could be worse. I could be a turkey."
III. God’s Word Satisfies Life (6.35)
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.
A. Yeshua (Jesus) Emphasizes a Spiritual Level
1. Not Mere Physical Food (Matthew 4.4 cf. Deuteronomy 8.3)
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
2. Does supply our daily needs and lifts us to another level
B. Yeshua (Jesus) Expresses a Sacrificial Life
1. Bread is a picture of the DBR of Yeshua (Jesus) – John 12.24
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
2. Bread is a picture of Yeshua (Jesus) – “My Body”
Joseph Bau was born on June 18, 1920, in Krakow, Poland. He became a young man just in time to experience the German invasion of Poland. He was one of three boys in a prosperous middle-class family that lived in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods. Joseph had always been good at art, and at the age of 18, he enrolled in the University of Plastic Arts at Krakow.
But the war interrupted his studies. His family was forced to move to the Jewish Ghetto, and then later to the Plaschow concentration camp. Because of Joseph’s partial education in Art before the war, and because of his talent for Gothic lettering, the Nazis employed him in producing maps and signs for the camp.
Joseph’s job also enabled him to save more than 400 Jews by forging false documents and identity papers that secured their release from the camp. When asked after the war, why he did not forge documents for himself, he replied, “Then who would have done it for the other Jews?”
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, we hear a similar question, “He saved others; He cannot save himself?” And Jesus answers, “What shall I say, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. “
1. This account emphasizes the deity of Yeshua (Jesus)
2. Some came to him to get temporal things
a. Food/Bread (churches with prosperity message) – 6.26
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.
b. Entertainment – 6.30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
Even Herod – Luke 23.8-9
8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. 9 So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer.
3. Yeshua (Jesus) wants us to come and receive:
a. His words
b. His Life – 6.33-34
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.”
c. HIM – 6.35
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.
As World War II was drawing to a close, the Allied armies gathered up many hungry orphans. They were placed in camps where they were well-fed. Despite excellent care, they slept poorly. They seemed nervous and afraid.
Finally, a psychologist came up with the solution. Each child was given a piece of bread to hold after he was put to bed. This particular piece of bread was just to be held—not eaten. The piece of bread produced wonderful results. The children went to bed knowing instinctively they would have food to eat the next day. That guarantee gave the children a restful and contented sleep.
