(Preview flow of sermon series – Miracles w/ “I Am” statements)
Pick-up the reading in John 6:15 (read through verse 27).
Jesus hasn’t made the significant “I am. . .” statement yet at this point, but He is leading up to it and has begun to refer to this food that endures forever. This thing that they can partake of that will have a much more lasting impact on their lives than the bread and fish they ate on the mountainside.
And in this first statement the He is building to, this first dialogue, this first time of Jesus beginning to teach and introduce who He is, we encounter a number of challenges to the “I Am” statements. In fact, in this first one are revealed a number of challenges that creep up in various forms throughout the remainder of Jesus time on earth. Beginning to be revealed in response to this first statement and teaching that Jesus is the bread of life.
Let’s look at these challenges together. Verse 28. The first challenge is the. . .
1. LEGALISTIC CHALLENGE
Rather than accepting Christ for who He is. Rather than “being” a child of God. The people want to know how to “do” life like God.
Understand, it isn’t that it is bad to want to do the works of God. It is the motivation behind the works that causes the problem. If we are motivated to do the works because that is the only way we think we can partake of the bread of life, we will be misplacing our energies, and develop a legalistic mindset. We will develop a mindset of trying to earn this bread of life. Of working to achieve this eternal meal.
Many churches have gone astray by being to quick to answer, “What shall we do?” So we set people up with all the “do”s, and the “don’t”s of church life, and never teach them the “being” of the Christian life.
You may remember, in my personal vision statement I shared on January 1st that I want to work on finding my identity in who I am, not what I do. Have you ever walked up to someone and said, “Tell me about yourself?” What do they usually start with? What they do. But our identity should not be found in what we do, but in who we are.
We are “doing” based people. So it is our natural instinct when Jesus offers something to us for us to respond, “Great. What do I have to do to earn it?” The Legalistic Challenge.
Verse 29 (read through verse 31). The second challenge is the. . .
2. SUPERNATURALIST CHALLENGE
This really cracks me up, until I realize how guilty I am of this same mentality. Many of these people were probably the same people who had been fed the day prior by Jesus. They had just seen an incredible miracle. But now they want another sign.
We’re the same way, right? God works wonderful miracles in our lives. God’s hand clearly moves in our circumstances. But as soon as the next trial or difficulty comes along, “God, show me that you are real. Work a miracle.”
There are two problems with this challenge. First, the people Jesus was dealing with, and people today, have already shown that no matter how many signs they see, they aren’t going to receive Jesus for who He says He is.
Turn over to Matthew 11. This was a passage from this past week in our One Year Bibles. Matthew 11:20 (read through verse 24).
Jesus is saying, “Look at the great miracles, and works that were done before these cities, and they still didn’t believe! One more miracle, one more supernatural act isn’t going to do it.” When you run into someone who says, “If God would just do this, I would believe in Him.” More times than not, no they won’t. Jesus already knows that now matter how many signs they see, those who pose the supernaturalist challenge aren’t going to receive Him for who He says He is.
A second problem with this challenge is that it is humanly focused. Jesus knows that the people are giving the credit for the manna to Moses. That is why they think they need a miracle from Jesus. “Moses did us one, and we believe in him. Now you do us one.”
But Jesus says, “That manna didn’t come from Moses.” The supernatural challenge is focused on humans, rather than on God, and based on the false presumption that one more work, one more miracle, will push us over the fence.
Verse 32 (read through verse 34). Well, they still don’t get it. So they present. . .
3. THE GLUTTONS CHALLENGE
“Okay. You say there is this bread from God that gives life. Well then, give it to us. In fact, keep giving it to us. Don’t stop. More, more, more. Give it to us always.” Again, it isn’t bad to desire to receive from God, but remember the unrelenting nature of this crowd. Selfishly focused on having their every need met. And now as Jesus is trying to teach them, and help them grow. . .they just keep saying, “Give me, give me, give me.”
Verse 35 (read through verse 40).
I don’t know if you have ever found yourself in this type of a situation, but I have. A situation where it seems like the more I say, the longer my answers are, maybe in a dispute with Debbie or a disagreement with someone. . .the deeper the hole gets. Were we Jesus, I guarantee you that at about this point, we would be getting quite frustrated.
The more He says, the less they seem to get it. And after He provides this explanation of who He is. . .He encounters. . .
4. THE RATIONALIST CHALLENGE
Verse 41 (read through 42).
The people are really starting to have a time of it with Jesus. They wanted to know what to do to fulfill the will of God, and Jesus wouldn’t give them a list of legalistic activities. They wanted a sign to show them that He is who He says He is. He responded with a statement that just confused their worldly focused minds.
They tried just being direct. “Fine, just give us this bread all the time.” And He went into this diatribe about hunger, and the Father, and heaven, and being sent by God.
It just doesn’t make sense anymore. They just can’t seem to deal with this man rationally. So they stop and look at each other and say, “Come on. Get real. We know who this guy’s mom and dad are. We know He is the son of a carpenter. So what is with this ‘I came down from heaven’ business? This just doesn’t make any sense.”
You have heard me say it before. We looked at it with Philip last week. I will preach it until the day I die. If God has to make logical sense to you. If who He is, how He works, and what He does has to fit in your pre-determined set of rational boxes. I’ve got bad news for you. Your life will not be one of peace with the Father.
He is too big, too awesome, too complex, too unphathomable to the human mind, to be neatly packaged, and put on a shelf for $19.95.
And I’ll tell you what. If you allow the rationalist challenge to trip you up. If you allow “what makes sense in your mind” to be your frame of reference, things will rapidly go down hill. Just watch.
Verse 43 (read through verse 51).
I want you to see the progression this conversation is taking. In verse 25 they address Jesus with a question and call Him Rabbi, teacher. Showing some significant respect. In verse 28 they ask Him what they can do. In verse 31 they tell Him about their history, as if he didn’t know it, and ask Him for a similar sign. No longer what can we do. Now, what can you do?
In verse 34, the questions stop. Now there is a command, a demand from the crowd. In verse 41 things have reached the point of complaints. Murmuring. Now in verse 52, we have reached an all out argument (read).
I’ve been in discussions like this. You probably have to. They start friendly and open. They start with what can we do together to help make things better. Then they shift to what I ought to be doing differently. Blame starts being assigned. Then they shift to demands for actions from me. The discussion becomes complaints about my behavior. And before I know it, it is an all out fight.
And when that progression takes place, it often ends with. . .
5. THE LITERALIST CHALLENGE
You know that one. Everything you say is taken so literally. Every word that comes out of your mouth is being dissected, and analyzed.
That is where it has ended up for Jesus. He so wants to communicate the exiting news that He. . .not the stuff He multiplied. . .He himself is the bread of life. And now He is getting looked upon as some freak cannibal suggesting people eat His flesh.
Wow! That really didn’t go very well did it? So let’s hit the rewind button. Let’s see if we can’t play back this whole episode, and maybe dig out what Jesus was trying to say about Himself. What statement was He making when He said, “I am the bread of life.”
Four important elements to what Jesus reveals to us about Himself in this statement. First. . .
A. HE SATISFIES HUNGER
Verse 35 (read). What bread is to hunger. . .to the physical stomach, Jesus claims to be for the soul. Have you ever noticed, go to almost any restaurant above the luxury level of McDonalds and they’ll serve you bread. Even Fazollis does it. How many of you have gotten your steak at Logan’s, and are already full because you ate 14 dozen of those wonderful, warm, buttery, yeast rolls?
Bread is a staple. If the poor have nothing, they usually have bread. If the rich have everything, they still have bread. Bread is not a regional food. It is not an American national dish. No particular country claims to be the exclusive source of bread.
It may look different. In Mexico, it may be in the form of a tortilla. Or in New York, a bagel. But bread is everywhere, and so is Christ. He is not bound by boundaries. He is universally available.
Bread is eaten daily. Some fruits are available only in season. Not so with bread, and not so with Jesus. He can nourish our hearts, not just in certain months or on special events, but daily.
Bread is served in many forms. It’s toasted, jellied, buttered, flattened, and grilled. It can be a sandwich, sweet roll, hot-dog bun, croissant, or dinner roll. It can take on many forms to meet many needs. So can Jesus. He has a word for the lonely as well as for the popular. He has help for the physically ill and the emotionally ill. If your vision is clear, He can help you fulfill it. If your vision is cloudy, He can help you see it.
Can you see why Jesus called himself the Bread of Life? What bread does for you physically, for your stomach. Jesus can do for you spiritually, for your spirit. But too many people in our society are counting spiritual carbs, and not enjoying the bread of life. It’s the Atkins diet for the new millennium. Jesus free.
This is such a simple, but powerful truth. If you believe Jesus to be true to His word. If you believe the Word of God to communicate eternal truth. This is really simple to understand. If you find yourself hungering, and thirsting spiritually. If you find a place of emptiness in your heart and your spirit. You just need the bread of life. Because Jesus says if you come to Him, you will never hunger or thirst again.
He satisfies hunger. A second thing that Jesus reveals about Himself in this statement is that. . .
B. HE IS FROM HEAVEN
Verse 32 (read through verse 33). Jesus is from heaven. Not a creation of man. And this is way too huge of a theological challenge of the day for me to even try tackling today. But Jesus says, “My origin is not here among you. I am not of this world. I have come down from heaven, sent by the Father, to be the bread of life.”
A third thing Jesus reveals is that. . .
C. HE IS ETERNAL LIFE GIVING
Verse 47 (read through verse 51).
Wow! What can I say to that? How can I expound on these words of Christ? How could I drill home in any better terms the power of this promise? (read verse 51).
Christ has given of His flesh, His life, His all. He has laid it all on the table. Forget about living a life of legalism. Quit demanding a supernatural sign. Stop being a crowd glutton that cries out, “Feed me, feed me, feed me.” Surrender to the idea that you are going to be able to use your intellect to rationalize this thing called Christianity away. Give up on the constant literal battles and arguments over each and every word or phrase that you hear or are taught.
Jesus says, “Quite complicating this. I am the bread of life. You want eternal life. Partake of me. I have made the sacrifice. Made my life available to you. Just receive it, and you will have eternal life. You will never die.”
And as important as anything else that has been said today, be sure to catch this last one.
D. HE WAS SACRIFICED FOR ALL
In Jesus words, “The bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
A distinctive to our theology, our beliefs, what we hold as truth in the Wesleyan church is that Christ died for all. We do not hold a limited view of the atonement. A view that says, “Well, there are a select few. An elite group. God’s specially chosen. And for those and those only did Jesus go to the cross.”
We don’t see it that way. We see it that Christ died for me, and for you, and for you, and for you, and for the person in the BP pumping gas as we sit here, and for the person in the Burger King frying fries as we sit here, and for the pregnant teenage girl sitting in a home somewhere, and for the unborn child inside her body, and for the abusive man who raped her and sits in a prison somewhere, and for every one else that was ever created. Jesus Christ went to the cross; the bread of life was broken for all.
That is the message of the church. That is the message of hope that Jesus Christ was trying to communicate that day to the crowd. That is the truth that has been transferred to our hands to communicate to a lost, lonely, dying and hungry world. Let me tell you a story about a baker, and a beggar.
There was a beggar who came and sat before a baker. “I want bread,” he said.
“How wise you are,” the baker assured him. “Bread is what you need. And you have come to the right bakery.” So he pulled his cookbook down from his shelf and began to tell the beggar all he knew about bread.
He spoke of flour and wheat, of grain and barley. The baker’s knowledge impressed even himself as he cited the measurements and recipe. When he looked up, he was surprised to see that the beggar wasn’t smiling. “I just want bread,” he said.
“How wise you are.” The baker applauded his choice. “Follow me, and I’ll show you our bakery.” Down the hallowed halls he guided him, pausing to point out the rooms where the dough is prepared and the ovens where the bread is baked.
“No one has such facilities. We have bread for every need. But here is the best part,” he proclaimed as he pushed open two swinging doors. “This is our room of inspiration.”
The baker knew the beggar was moved as they stepped into the auditorium full of stained-glass windows. The beggar didn’t speak. The baker understood his silence. With his arm around his shoulder, he whispered, “It overwhelms me as well.”
Then the baker leaped to the podium and struck his favorite pose behind the lectern. “People come from miles to hear me speak. Once a week my workers gather, and I read to them the recipe from the cookbook of life.”
By now the beggar had taken a seat on the front row. The baker knew what he wanted. “Would you like to hear me?”
“No,” he said, “but I would like some bread.”
“How wise you are,” The baker replied. And he led him to the front door of the bakery. “What I have to say next is very important,” he told him as they stood outside. “Up and down this street you will find many bakeries. But take heed; they don’t serve the true bread. I know of one who adds two spoons of salt rather than one. I know of another whose oven is three degrees too hot. They may call it bread,” the baker warned, “but it’s not according to the book.”
The beggar turned and began walking away. “Don’t you want bread?” the baker asked him. He stopped, looked back, and shrugged, “I guess I lost my appetite.”
The baker shook his head and returned to his office. “What a shame,” he said to himself. “The world just isn’t hungry for true bread anymore.”
I don’t know what is more incredible: that God packages the bread of life in the wrapper of a country carpenter or that he gives us the keys to the delivery truck. Both moves seem pretty risky. The carpenter did his part, however. And who knows — we may just learn to do ours.
Of course, Jesus did answer that final question. That final challenge. That final point of debate. Verse 53 (read through verse 58).
(Begin passing bread and transition to communion.)
