The Bread Is A Somebody

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John 6:25-40

“The Bread is a somebody”

“The giver of the bread is himself the bread.”

Sunday Morning Sermon

11.04.07

Intro: (Advance)

The fellowship of the community of believers is a time for celebration, and love. It should be a time of self-examination, conviction and closeness with God, a renewal of a relationship should happen. This morning we have gathered together – to celebrate. I have before us the reason of celebration – BREAD. It’s warm (thank you Lori). It’s fresh – and it smells good. But, it’s just bread – how do we get excited about bread? We don’t have songs about bread; we don’t see bread as an offering. It’s hard to get excited about or want to celebrate bread. There is a good chance later this month you will gather your family around a table, stocked with more food than you can eat, but the main item on the table – won’t be bread.

There is a long Jewish tradition that I want us to do this morning – we aren’t Jews and I’m not a rabbi, but this neat – The head of the house would take the loaf from the table in front of him and pronounced this blessing – I need your help – give me a hearty “AMEN” afterwards. (Advance)

“Blessed be the Lord, our God, the King of the universe, who has caused bread to spring out of the earth.” Congregation says: AMEN. The Rabbi would then share the bread with the people. The gospels record Jesus feeding the multitudes – Jesus probably gave this blessing. At the last supper – again he probably gave this same blessing.

Discussion:

I want to focus this morning on bread – but not the bread you just ate. I gave you bread, but I am not the bread – that’s pretty deep. This morning, the giver of the bread of life, and the bread are the same. It’s a different kind of bread from a different kind of source. I love the way one commentary said it, “The bread is a somebody.” Physically, we can be hungry – God supplies all our needs when it comes to physical hunger. He is also the supplier of our needs when it comes to our spiritual hunger – when you are searching for truth, and life and have a desire to understand the meaning of life, and the purpose of this life – it is the giver of spiritual life that will draw you to himself.

Turn with me if you have your Bibles to John 6:25-40 (Read) (Advance)

I want to suggest something this morning – The bread of life for you spiritually is not only the hope of eternal life (which Jesus is the supplier of) – but also the clarity we need in this life. Jesus told the Jews around him who believed: (Advance)

John 8:31-32 (NIV) – 31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "*If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Truth = Freedom; because there is clarity in understanding direction, there is hope in understanding purpose. Later in John’s gospel Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is the bread of life that we seek – he is the clarity that we need in life, he is the hope of eternal salvation that we long for. Someone said it this way, “He is the certified, authorized, “franchised” distributor of the bread of life.”

Life is a whirlwind sometimes. If you need clarity in your life – if you need purpose in your life – if you want direction in your life – if you need some hope in your life – all of those needs are found in the person of Jesus – because he is the giver of the bread of life.

Our story this morning takes us to a few events – all of these are connected. In John 6 – Jesus feeds the 5,000 –Jesus then withdraws from the crowd, because he didn’t want to become their king – so he leaves. The disciples get into a boat that night and Jesus walks out to them on the water. The crowds find Jesus on the other side of the lake – that’s where our text picks up this morning.

I see 5 different things this morning –

(Advance)

1. He is clear with his intentions (26-27)

The problem is – the crowds following Jesus were not clear with their intentions. They have very mixed motives.

a. They see Jesus

i. Not as the son of God – the bread of life