COME HUNGRY - THE MENU
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Okay, so by a show of hands, how many of you find that if you don’t eat by a certain time in the day your stomach starts to growl? Raise your hands.
Week One
Okay, so by a show of hands, how many of you find that if you don’t eat by a certain time in the day your stomach starts to growl? Raise your hands.
For some of you that’s about right now! right?
Have you ever had your stomach growl so loudly that the person next to you said, “Excuse me?” because they thought you spoke to them?
Have you ever found…? again, by a show of hands—found that if you don’t eat by a certain time in the day you become a little bit grouchy? It’s okay. Raise your hands.
It might be a more accurate statistic if I changed the wording of the question and said, “how many of you find that if the person sitting next to you doesn’t eat by a certain time of the day they get a little bit grouchy?
Okay, one more food question. If you could only have one food item…just one, for the next three years and that’s all you had to live on…what would that food be? (Give time for responses)
If you think about it, though, so much of our life revolves around food. I bet if you just wrote down different significant memories that you had in your life or some meaningful moments it was oftentimes around a meal or perhaps around the dinner table.
It’s another reason I am a huge advocate for family dinners at the table… even though it doesn’t always happen we strive to be together making memories around the table.
Well this is no different as we study the Gospels.
If you look through the life of Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, one of the things you’ll find is that many significant moments took place around the dinner table… It took place around a meal.
So, what we are going to do in the next few weeks is pull up a chair to the table with Jesus and just listen!
We want to lean in and hear about these different moments that took place around a meal.
-If you have your Bibles, turn to John chapter 6. John chapter 6 is the first meal we’re going to look at in this series. This is the only miracle that is recorded in all four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and, of course, John.
You’ll find that in this meal… the restaurant is pretty crowded. We read that there are five thousand people there that day. That is five thousand men actually. You include women and children and you’re looking at probably 15,000+ guests— so 15,000 people that are going to eat at this meal.
It is probably a miracle that you know a little bit about. You’ve probably heard this taught at one point or another, but we want to put ourselves there that day. I love bringing the Word to life in our minds. So, think about this with me, what would it have been like to be one of the people in that crowd?
-So, here is what has happened. Jesus has been teaching for awhile. This huge crowd has been listening, sitting outside probably for hours, and they start to get a little grumpy, ok?
I mean, Jesus knows they need some food… and let me tell you, you don’t want to preach to a crowd that is hungry. That’s why I so glad some of you bring things in to eat for fellowship in the mornings.
So, Jesus knows, “Hey, we need to feed these people.”
Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
And in
So, Jesus already knows He is going to feed these 5,000+ people, but He is asking Philip, “What should we do about the fact that all these people need to eat?” Jesus does this because it is going to test Philip’s faith.
How would Philip respond?... Jesus says, “Here is what I want to do.” And here is how Philip responds. Verse 7: “Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” … come on Philip!…Do you know pessimistic people like this?
Phillip does the math and concludes, it’s just not going to work. It would take more than a half a year’s wages just for everyone to eat a little. Philip basically says, “Jesus, it’s just not practical.” So, Jesus tests his faith, and Philip said, “No, I don’t think it can be done.”
But I want you to think about this for a moment. What has Philip seen in his time with Jesus? He’s watched as Jesus turned water into wine. He watched as Jesus said to a lame man, “Get up and walk,” and the lame man got up and walked. We read early in this chapter of the signs and the miracles that were taking place. And that’s why that crowds have come. They have seen Jesus do things people can’t do.
Philip has seen all of this, but when Jesus says to Philip, “What should we do about these hungry people?” Philip says, “Well, there is nothing we can do. It just can’t be done.” …
It was a test of faith. He has seen Jesus work in powerful ways, but he still doesn’t believe. He sees the need, but he doesn’t believe Jesus can do something about it?
-I think a lot of us can be like Philip. The solution, the answer is right in front of us, but we can’t see it.
What would it look like if we could pull the chair up to the table with Jesus? And sit with Him and listen to Him. If we would do that we might just understand what He wants us to do.
Maybe then it would be it clear to us and we won’t be left scratching our heads… doing the math while leaving Jesus out of the equation and coming to a conclusion that says, “it’s just not practical, Jesus”
So, maybe, this morning, Jesus has told to you what he wants to do.
Has he told you…has he made it clear yet…?
Maybe He wants you to adopt a child. And you’ve talked about that with your spouse and you really feel like that this is what God wants you to do, but you’ve done the math and it just doesn’t seem practical. You just can’t do it.
Or maybe He expresses to you that He wants to put your marriage back together, and you look at it and you think it’s too far gone… you think I can’t even count the pieces that are broken because there are too many broken pieces in my marriage.
When you think like that, you don’t leave any room for God to accomplish His purpose.
Or maybe, as a church, God calls us to do some things in more radical ways to reach out to people who are hurting, hungry and suffering in one way or another.
When He does that, it is not the time to say, “Well, it isn’t in the budget, Jesus. It’s a good idea, Jesus. It really is. I mean, we appreciate your heart. We’re glad You care about these people, but the money just isn’t there.”
No, we don’t do that! When Jesus says the what, it’s not a time for us to get caught up in the how. Yet a lot of us can be this way. When Jesus expresses what He wants to do with us or through us and in our lives or in a moment, all we can do is see the reasons why it won’t work.
Unless you are like {ANDREW}
We read about Andrew in . Another disciple who overhears the conversation, he picks up on what Jesus wants to do and he brings a little boy over to Jesus.
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
And I don’t know exactly how the conversation went, but he says to Jesus, “look, little Billy brought his lunch box Jesus?” And he opens it up and it has five loaves of bread and two fish in it.
And I don’t know exactly how the conversation went, but he says to Jesus, “look, little Billy brought his lunch box Jesus?” And he opens it up and it has five loaves of bread and two fish in it.
Now, I want you to know something. When we hear “loaves of bread,” for a lot of us, we think of homemade Thanksgiving big loaves of bread, bread. Right?
But Billy wasn’t carrying a huge picnic basket. It says, “barley loaves,” which is significant because the poor people used barley for bread. The wealthier people would use wheat.
So, Billy pretty much only has crackers and sardines with him. And this tiny meal was so ludicrously inadequate compared to the need. And that’s why John mentions it to heighten the miracle.
-By the way, some of you are looking for the name “Billy” in your bible. It doesn’t say Billy. I’m just painting a picture for you to help God’s Word come to life!
So, Billy brings the crackers and sardines to Jesus, and it’s as if Andrew understands that this could be all that Jesus really needs. Five loaves, two fish, 15,000+ people—Jesus does the math. “That’ll work. I can work with that he says!”
Here is what we read in verse 11 “Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.”
If you write in your Bible, you might circle that or underline it. It’s easy for us to miss this… It said the they ate as much as they wanted!
We don’t think much of eating as much as we want. For many of us, this is a daily routine, right? For most of the people in the audience that day, this was a first for them!
It’s likely that most of the people listening, most of the people in the crowd, had never in their life eaten as much as they wanted.
Because this is a world where hunger was their constant companion, and even though they might get to eat some food during the day, they would never eat as much as they could possibly eat. WHY?
Because they would have to save some for later. It was never enough for them to feel fully satisfied. So, Jesus gives them as much as they wanted.
And if you’re sitting at the table next to Jesus… at this meal, I think one of the things you would say to yourself is this: “Wow! Jesus can do a lot with a little
We see this all throughout the life of Jesus. He is constantly doing a lot with a little.
He is born into this small nothing town called Galilee. Why? Why Galilee? Why not Jerusalem? … Well, because He can do a lot with a little.
And chosen for Him as a mother is this poor, teenage girl named Mary. Why? Why Mary? Why not someone of more noble standing, someone more educated, more connected? Why not someone married? … Well, because Jesus can do a lot with a little.
He chooses fishermen to be His disciples. These are guys who had flunked out of rabbi school. They didn’t have what it takes so they became fishermen, and Jesus said, “Yeah, come on. You’ll work. Perfect.” Why? Because, Jesus can do a lot with a little.
And as you read through this story, I think if you were sitting at the table with Jesus, you’d be struck by the fact that “He can do a lot with a little.”
And for all of the Billy’s in the room today…for all of us who come to Jesus and really don’t have much to offer…this is really good news for you today!
That Good News is: Jesus can do a lot with a little!
-Later that night Jesus walks across the lake—literally—to a city called Capernaum, and He is with His twelve disciples. Verse 24….
verse 24. “So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.”
So, the crowd wakes up the next morning after sleeping all night with full bellies and they look around for Jesus. Jesus and the disciples are gone, so they start searching for Him.
Why are they looking for Jesus? Because it’s breakfast time, right? They are hungry again and they’re looking for their meal ticket.
verse 26 they catch up to Jesus in Capernaum and here is what Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
He says you’re not looking for me because you believed that I am the Son of God, or because you believe that I am the One who was sent from heaven.
“(It’s) not because you saw the signs I performed,” He says, “but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” …. “You just want more bread.”
And I think that is the question for us: Are you just here for what Jesus can do for you, or are you here for just Jesus? If the all-you-can-eat buffet shuts down, do you still show up?
When Jesus doesn’t come through the way you think He should come through, if He’s not handing out free samples of bread, do you still come?
Church!:…….. Is Jesus enough?
Because, I think, for many of us, we get drawn into the Christian faith because of the perks. We think, “Well, I want to be close enough to Jesus to get the bread.
I want to get the benefits of following Jesus, but I don’t want to be so close that it requires any kind of commitment or sacrifice.”
And Jesus draws a line here and He says to this crowd, “Look, the only reason you are here is because you are looking for some bread. It’s not for Me. It’s because of the bread.”
So now Jesus uses this metaphor of food and hunger to draw attention to a deeper hunger within them.
Not to talk about the physical hunger but a deeper spiritual hunger that only He can satisfy.
Now, I want to help us understand what this metaphor would be like for the audience that Jesus speaks to, I want you to put yourself in your favorite restaurant. Okay?
Go ahead and get it in your mind. Do you have it? It’s not a hard question.
Okay, you’re sitting at your favorite restaurant, you haven’t eaten all day. The server comes over and hands you a menu. You say to yourself, “I’m starving.” And you look at the menu and everything looks good, because when you are hungry you want to order everything.
You start looking at the menu, your excitement begins to build, because your stomach is growling and you’re so hungry.
It’s to this type of crowd, a “hungry” crowd, that Jesus uses this metaphor as being “the bread of life” that I am about to show you.
-Now one more thing, we don’t understand hunger in the same way they do, right? Because we might say we’re starving… but we’re not starving.
You see, when they speak of hunger… for this crowd, when they say “hunger” it’s this idea of not eating lunch or dinner and you are not sure when you next meal will be.
It’s a hunger so great, your body begins to cannibalize itself in order to try and find the nutrients to survive.
In our culture, in our Western culture, when one of the main health problems of those under the poverty level is obesity, it tells us that we don’t understand hunger the way this culture in the 1st Century understood hunger.
So, Jesus says to them in verse 35… To this crowd who knows what it is to have hunger as a constant companion, He says…
verse 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.”
And to the people who all they know is hunger…this would’ve been a pretty powerful metaphor. That, JESUS IS THE BREAD OF LIFE…..
-There are a few other things I want to point out to you that help us better understand this idea of Jesus being the bread of life.
Culturally, bread for them was the primary sustenance. For us bread tends to be the side dish, right? It comes out before the real meal arrives... But for people in those days, this was the main course. It was the entrée. It was the staple of their meal.
So, when Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” He is saying, “I am the primary source of sustenance.”
Another important thing to understand about bread, both then and now, is that bread is available to everyone.
I mentioned that the barley bread tended to be for the poor; and the wheat was for the wealthier… But bread was available to everyone.
So, when Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” He is saying, “I am the primary sustenance,” and He is saying, “I’m available to everyone.”
He doesn’t say, “I am the filet mignon,” Or, “I’m the T-Bone steak” He says, “I am the bread of life.” Not just available to a select few, but available to everyone!
So, for this crowd who understood hunger this is a pretty powerful picture, yet we read in verse 41 that they begin to grumble about this amongst themselves.
It’s because they’re starting to understand that Jesus is not talking just in physical terms. He is speaking metaphorically about food and in doing so He is claiming to be more than just a man.
They know Him to be this carpenter’s son from Galilee, so they begin to grumble among themselves.
But in Jesus pushes this even further. It says, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
And as if it’s not pushed far enough, verse 53 He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Jesus is the Bread of life, giving life to every man, woman and child who will come to the table and receive the only thing that is truly good and satisfying on the menu.
CLOSING:
We are going to come to the table this morning in communion.
I want you to think about this table thing again with me. your sitting at the table and you look over your menu and you try to decide what to order.
The server comes over and says, “Do you know what you want? Have you decided?”
That is what is happening here in . Jesus says to the crowd, “You’ve had time to look. What do you want? What do you really want?”
So I ask you church…. “If Jesus is the only thing on the menu, is that enough for you?”
Have you decided that Jesus is enough? Will you choose the bread of life?
Because ultimately, it is the only thing that satisfies.
Would you pray with me? Then I will give instructions for communion.
God, we thank You that You are what we have been looking for. There are all kinds of things that we can order off the menu that give us satisfaction for a moment and might fill us for a short time but ultimately leave us weak and emptier than ever. But, God, you are the bread of life who satisfies us forever. So, God, I pray today that we would choose you, that we would experience the fulfillment and the satisfaction that our souls have longed for since the moment we were brought into this world. Lord, I pray that we would shut the menu today, stop looking at other options and we would just say, “Jesus is more than enough for me.” It’s in Your name we pray. Amen.