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?
Don’t get the impression that Jesus doesn’t want us to pray to Him and ask Him for what we need in this life. He tells us to come to Him. He commands us to do so and promises to listen. But He wants us to realize there is more to Him than just the giver of gifts. He had SO MUCH MORE to give them. And the problem with bread is that IT SPOILS. It goes rotten. It’s temporary. It’s only for the HERE and the NOW.
The relationship. The job. The promotion. The child. The game. Many things we desire can be good and God pleasing. Yet how long does it last for? What is it for? Even marriage is only for the here and the now. Children can be such a blessing, but sooner or later they move out and move on in life and we lose some of our connection with them. Your team wins the championship one year, but in the course of three months everyone else moves on and looks forward to the next one. You get the promotion and the raise, but you only spend more and get more in debt. You get what you want, but it always leads to MORE. You never end up being satisfied. And here’s another problem, you can have all the money and happiness in the world, but it will never set you right with God. You’ll still be a sinner who has earned nothing but God’s wrath with all of the stuff you’ve got and all of your success. It will do absolutely nothing for your soul.
If you read between the lines of the text, you can quickly see that the people weren’t seeking just one more meal from Jesus. They mentioned how Moses fed the people in the desert for 40 YEARS, and they wanted Jesus to do the same. They could live off of Jesus for the rest of their lives.
So Jesus confronts them. 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. Here they had traveled all the way around the lake for more food, which was a several mile walk at least. But Jesus said to them, “I can give you a different food that will endure for eternal life! If you’re going to seek me, seek after THIS FOOD.” Jesus made a distinction between earthly food that only sustains your life for a few hours versus eternal food that lasts into eternity.
Again, it goes back to your prayer life and your priorities, right? What are you working for? Are you willing to work overtime to be able to go out for steak dinners and dine at the finest restaurants? Are you willing to spend thousands of dollars on hotels and campers? Are you eager to plan your vacations months in advance to find a place at your favorite park? And maybe you pray that God would bless your trips and your fun. That’s great. But do you seek Jesus for the other things like mercy and forgiveness and grace in the same way? Or do you take those things for granted? Do you put as much effort into spending time with Him as you do with His nature and His gifts? What are you working for in life? What are you looking for?
Just this past Sunday, after church, Garnet was lying in her hospital bed. She was restless and in pain. I spoke God’s Word with her. As I spoke, she became less agitated. We spoke the Lord’s Prayer together, and by the time we were done, she had calmed down. She had been fed with the grace of God. Those words that she knew helped to comfort her. The Holy Spirit worked peace in her soul.
Every time you see this font, you are to be reminded of how you are bound together with Jesus in your baptism. His death is yours. Your sins are His. His life is yours. You are bound together with Jesus. You are not alone. There’s peace. You can’t find this anywhere else, this God of true grace and peace.
This is what is meant to happen when you come and receive the Lord’s Supper. Jesus comes to you with His body and blood. The Holy Spirit says to you, “Given for YOU. Shed for YOU.” You feed on the very means that Jesus used to pay for your salvation. It’s meant to give you peace to know that after another week of failures and another week of fear or rejection, you have mercy and acceptance from Jesus.
The people who sought Jesus didn’t get the “give” idea of grace. He said “work for food” that doesn’t spoil. 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.” Notice how Jesus switched it? When it came to this work of receiving salvation, GOD would do it. HOW? He would generate faith in their hearts - to believe in the One that God the Father sent. What did the Father send Jesus to do? To die for them! To forgive them! To give them HOPE and a FUTURE. When they sought HIM and HIS righteousness, ALL THESE THINGS would be given to them as well. So throughout this whole discourse, where His fellow Jews were looking for the physical type of bread you EAT for your BODY, Jesus was trying to point them to HIMSELF, as the bread for the SOUL.
This is how Jesus wants us to be focused too. I have salvation from my sins. I have full and free forgiveness. I have the promise that my soul will be carried to heaven, and my body will be raised from the dead. I have the promise that God will give me everything I NEED for this life, not everything I want. I have purpose in this life, as God promises to give me more than enough so I can be GENEROUS with others too. When I focus on JESUS and SALVATION, it cures me of my temporary desires for things that spoil.
So Jesus lovingly 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.” I am part of that world too, and so are you.
Ultimately, you can’t expect an unbeliever to have the right motivations to come to Jesus. People will come to Bible Information Classes to get a discount for school. People will show up at church looking for money or looking for help with their bills. Some will come to try and cement a relationship with someone they love. God can do so much more than these things. God is so much more than a food God. He is an eternal God. Yet you hope that if they HEAR the Word, and if they learn of Jesus, their motivations will CHANGE when they see who they are as sinners and who Jesus is as Savior.
Jesus had the courage to call them out and to QUESTION their motivations. He didn’t hate them. He wasn’t trying to drive them away. He wanted to give them BETTER food, eternal food of salvation. It’s good to question your motivation as well. Why are you here? What are you seeking from God? What kind of a God do you want in your life?
Are you like Bono, still looking for something more? Jesus is good, but I still want this . . . A little help here. A little money there. No matter what you get in this life, it will never be enough. It will be only more, more and more. And it won’t be what you really need. Like the Israelites, you’ll want God to give you life on a silver platter and make life here and now EASY for you. If that’s what you want, then the problem isn’t with God, the problem is with you. You’re looking for the wrong god.
Jesus may not look fancy. He may not pass the eye test, weak and dying on the cross. He may not give you an easy life, telling you how you’ll suffer in this world and die like the rest of them. But in the end He comes out of the grave. He covers sin. He conquers death. He gives you peace. He gives you hope. He gives you life. God grant you an appetite for Jesus, with all of His mercy, grace, life, and forgiveness. The bread of life. He may not be what you’re looking for. No, He’s so much more. He’s eternally what you need. Amen.
