Message
John 6:35
I Am The Bread Of Life
When Jesus describes Himself with a phrase beginning with “I am” He is identifying an aspect of his character and ministry.
Today we are looking at Jesus who is the Bread of life.
In the context Jesus, the day before, had fed 5000 men – a crowd of at least 15,000 – with 5 loaves of bread and two fish.
The whole crowd ate as much as they wanted.
When the clean-up happened there were twelve baskets of left-over fish and bread.
Nobody paid a single denarius.
Actually, the family of the boy who brought the five loaves and two fish, they would have paid a denarius.
But no one else paid.
That has a huge impact on the crowd.
In the evening, after feeding the crowd, the disciples and Jesus move away from the crowd. The disciples take a boat, and Jesus walks on the water.
We take up the story from there.
Read John 6:22-40
Everyone is looking for Jesus who seems to have vanished.
They know that Jesus uses Capernaum as His home base so a flotilla of boats make their way to the town.
Isn’t it great that everyone is searching for Jesus.
We should celebrate. That is what we want isn’t it … for people to search for Jesus?
We do … want them to search … but we want them to search for the right reasons. Most people in the crowd are not searching for the right reasons.
It is hard for us to appreciate the significance of what is happening here because
… well frankly we are spoilt.
When we go to Woolworths and we want to buy bread, there are 40? … 50? different types of bread. And the bread section is just one part of many sections that make up the whole shop.
If you don’t like bread you can buy plenty of alternatives.
In fact you can have a diet that doesn’t include bread.
That is our experience. Let’s go back to that day in Capernaum.
Most of the people in the crowd who have fervently-searched-for-and-now-found-Jesus … most of them live what is called a subsistence life.
Today I earn money to get the provisions I need for this day. And after that I won’t have much left. Tomorrow I will do the same.
That is a subsistence life.
And a key ingredient of the food provisions in Judah is bread. Not the processed white rubbish bread which is only good for vegemite toast. The loaves are heavy, and healthy, and organic and full of nourishment. They satisfied your hunger.
Yesterday a crowd of 15,000 people plus ate as much of this bread as they wanted – with fish. They didn’t have to make the money to buy the bread. They didn’t have to go to the lake and catch the fish. Groceries for the day were fully sorted with no effort.
Imagine, never having to go grocery shopping. And also not having to put in the work effort required to go grocery shopping. Now you start to get a sense of what is going on in the minds of the crowds as they put their efforts into searching for Jesus.
… efforts that should have been put into going to work to make the denarius to get the provisions.
… they put in this effort because people really want to stop putting in all the effort needed to have a subsistence life.
That is the motive which drives the search. Following Jesus because of the physical provisions He will give.
It is the wrong motive.
It is not that Jesus won’t provide for physical needs. There are plenty of passages which speak into that area of our relationship with Jesus.
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Mark 11:24
Clearly Jesus cares about, and provides for, our physical needs.
Why we don’t always get what we want.
Why there are many Christians who have very little.
Well that is a topic for another sermon.
The point Jesus is making here is that searching for Jesus because we want our physical provision met – that is not the right motive to search for Him. The reason being is that such a search does not lead to true belief. Let’s follow Jesus’ teaching on this in John 6:25-34
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’
26 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for 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 Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’
29 Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’
30 So they asked him, ‘What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’
Hint hint Jesus. 40 years of manna and quail.
No more grocery shopping, and working for us.
That would be a good sign.
32 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’
34 ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.’
35 Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.
Do you know where they are going wrong?
They don’t understand the character and ministry of Jesus.
Jesus is the Bread of Life. The One who fills our spiritual subsistence. The only source of spiritual nourishment. The Only one who can satisfy our spiritual hunger.
When we come to Jesus as the Bread of life we will not be driven away.
Through the Bread of Life we will be raised up on the last day.
Belief in the Bread of Life gives eternal life.
That is who Jesus is.
But what do the crowds want?
They …
Bringing it into modern culture.
They want a Jesus who is the Woolworths of Life.
The easy, free, not-having-to-work-for-it life.
They think about having such a life and they think this is what it means to be blessed. Life is being condensed down to physical stuff … down to materialism.
Physical provisions. Material stuff. That is not the blessed life. No matter how much this world keeps trying to convince us that it is. But, if we are honest, it is a pretty convincing argument that easily sucks us in.
You buy a new car. Brand new or a good second hand one. This happens doesn’t it. A month … two months … go by now you have a new scratch on the car that wasn’t there when you brought it.
Our new car is ruined!
How quickly we forget, or stop appreciating, all that God has given us because of the conditioning of materialism.
“Things” … “objects” … “possessions”. It is not life. It is part of living, but it is not life. Even when we acknowledge that such things are indeed a gift of God as He cares for us through his physical provisions – having such things, objects, provisions, the supply of our needs.
Even when we see this sign of God’s provision.
Such seeing doesn’t lead to a belief that brings us to eternity.
Only knowing Jesus as the Bread of Life … as His character and ministry is revealed here … only there is true belief.
Is Jesus your Bread of Life? Or is Jesus more of the Woolworths of Life?
Do we follow because Jesus provides? Or is Jesus the fundamental source?
Are we searching for Jesus because we need Him to give us … or fill in … or make provision … for a physical need? Or is the searching for the Son done so that our hunger and thirst … our spiritual hunger and thirst … can be satisfied.
Because that is where true blessing is.
It is a blessedness that was already promised back in Isaiah
1 ‘Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?
Isaiah 55:1-2
It is a blessedness promised to all who believe in Jesus as the Bread of Life
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:6
It is a blessedness that we will experience in eternity – for those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.
Revelation 7:16
Knowing … believing … seeing … Jesus as your Bread of life.
It’s a character of Jesus that, when we believe, also impacts our spiritual character and our ministry.
For when we know Jesus as the Bread of Life. When we no longer hunger or thirst. Doesn’t that also mean we now have a spiritual character and a ministry where we can bring the Bread to others?
Think about Jesus as the Bread -- it doesn’t take too long to make a connection the Bread of the Lord’s Supper. Indeed, in the later verses in John 6 Jesus makes that connection.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 6:51
When Jesus says this it causes a lot of confusion – that is a sermon for another day. The point is that Jesus, as the Bread of Life, calls us to celebrate our belief by having the Lord’s Supper.
Which is also often called Communion.
It is called Communion because we are coming together in … community … the people together who are the body of Christ. A people who – having had our hunger and thirst satisfied by Jesus the Bread of Life – are celebrating together that we will be raised up on the last day because, in Christ, we will never be driven away.
We celebrate together because we know Jesus as the Bread of Life.
We have all we need. Our hunger and thirst is satisfied.
That means we also have a responsibility … a calling. Have a look at these Scriptures.
We cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:14
I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.
Philemon 1:6
When we come to Jesus as the Bread of Life we have the fullness of Christ.
Yes of course we can grow and learn and mature. We are not fully transformed.
But we have the fullness of Christ – all that is needed for eternity.
There are millions – just here in Australia – millions who are not satisfied.
Their spiritual emptiness has been going on for so long many don’t even realise how spiritually empty they are. They are searching … searching for something
… but they are not searching for Jesus even if it is for the wrong reasons.
… they don’t even know they have to search for Jesus.
Jesus is our Bread of Life. Let’s not just eat and be satisfied … and not share. Instead let the bread-of-life character of Jesus in each one of us overflow into a heart for communion … for community … for those who the Father has given to come to Jesus – but who need us to tell them about Jesus our Bread of Life.
Prayer
