Who is Jesus?
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“I Am the Bread of Life”
; Who is Jesus? Week 1, 3/6/19
Introduction
Who assassinated Kennedy? Did aliens actually land in Roswell, New Mexico? Is Bigfoot real?
There are questions that arise in culture that develop their own cultish following in seeking the truth. These questions persist and remain due to the craziness of the answers, the conspiracies that arise, and the belief of some to go against the grain of human thought.
However, one question has remained and stood out above all the others:
Who is Jesus? This question has been circulating for thousands of years, and people have answered it in many different ways.
Some have viewed him as a fictional character used to teach morals.
Some have believed him to be a man who was a great teacher, instructing the religious people of that day.
Some have understood him to have died on a cross and remain dead and buried, while others believe in the resurrection, calling Him the Son of God.
Across the world, people have believed different things: I remember being in Gonaives, Haiti, seeing a giant cross in the middle of the street. That cross that represents freedom from sin and life everlasting for so many, it stood for the people of that village as a reminder of Satan’s victory over Jesus. The voodoo people of that town believed Satan won, Jesus lost.
But with each belief about Jesus, we have to reconcile whatever we believe with what Jesus said about Himself.
The claims of Jesus about who He is are written and recorded in Scripture, and when we read them, we have to decide in our hearts whether we believe these claims to be true or not.
C.S. Lewis famously wrote that when making this decision, we are deciding whether Jesus is a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.
He either knowingly lies about who He is, deceiving the masses to follow Him as a practical joke.
Or He’s a lunatic, who actually believes the things He says but is too crazy to understand that it is not actually real.
Or He is Lord. What He says is truthful and as the Son of God, He has paid the debt for our sins so that we may freely receive everlasting life.
Who is Jesus? That is our question for the next few weeks, so we’re going to spend some time examining who Jesus says He is, and my prayer is that each of us develop a clear view of our Savior and Lord and can readily answer the question: Who is Jesus?
Tonight, if you have your Bible, let’s look at . In the gospel of John, Jesus makes several different statements that begin with “I Am…” and in , Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” He had just fed 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread and some fish.
Read .
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked.
29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”
30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again. 36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
We’re going to stop here in this passage though their conversation continues through this chapter, what is Jesus saying here about himself?
Jesus says He is the Bread of Life, and we see a few things that are very important about this bread of life:
First, we see that God gives bread to those who are hungry.
1. God Gives Bread to Those Who Are Hungry.
God does not stand by and watch His creation starve. Look in the beginning. Where did God place Adam and Eve? In a garden. A place of satisfying one’s hunger.
When God’s people wandered in the wilderness, how did God satisfy their hunger? He miraculously provided bread for them.
The day prior to this conversation, Jesus fed 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and two fish, and everyone was filled. God proves himself time and time again throughout the Scripture to be the One who gives bread to those who are hungry, and what does this reveal about God?
a. God cares.
How many of y’all are familiar with the books and movies about the Hunger Games? Pretty much everyone, so you understand the concept of how God could be?
He could be like those who watch the games from afar, from the safety of their own homes, and they delight in the misery and death of those they watch.
Instead, God watches us live our lives, God sees us in a great need, and He does everything He can to meet that need. So God cares, and God satisfies.
b. God satisfies.
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, we see God meeting both physical and spiritual needs. We look at the bread He just provided for the mass of people.
Look at Jesus in the gospels, He’s curing diseases, providing food, He’s meeting many physical needs, yet there are moments like this where Jesus says that’s not enough to fully satisfy us.
Jesus tells the people “you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life”
Jesus says these things will only temporarily satisfy you, but I will fully satisfy you.
I remember Christmas as a child, waking up early, waking up the parents, going to the tree to rip open presents, seeing toys that I had wanted and begged for, then spending all day playing. I remember the joy and fun that was present on those days. But then a few weeks passed by. I’d worn the clothes, beat the games, and each of these things that brought me joy were placed on a shelf as I moved on to other things.
Think of the things that seem to satisfy you. Winning the game, getting new clothes, passing that test…each of these things we work for and strive for, yet at the end of the day, even if we accomplish every goal on our “To-Do” list, those feelings pass. The satisfaction they bring fades away.
We consume ourselves and our schedules with things that do not fully satisfy, while Jesus stands here saying, “I am the Bread of Life. Come to me, and I will truly satisfy you.”
How does he satisfy? Not because He meets physical needs, but because meets the greatest need we have: He gives us life.
2. Only God’s Bread Can Give Life.
The people are looking for bread like Jesus had given them the day before, they’re looking for bread like God provided for in the days of Moses, yet Jesus says to them
“Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
God’s bread gives life! Jesus says here “I am the bread of life! If you believe in me, you will have eternal life!”
This life that Jesus brings is two-fold:
a. Life for now
The life that Jesus offers us affects us now! Paul would later say about our lives in :
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
Think about the life that Jesus brings and offers us: how does it affect us now?
In comparison to the life I had before Jesus, it changes everything. My life before Jesus did not satisfy.
I couldn’t be good enough. I couldn’t be happy enough. I couldn’t be successful enough. Each of us lived for things that did not truly satisfy, while Jesus stands there with scars in his hands, side, and feet.
Jesus, the Bread of Life, gives us life. He changes everything. Why would we continue to live for something that will only kill us in the end? Why would we stay on a path that leads to our death?
Look at your life right now. What are you living for? Better yet, as Adrian Rogers once asked, “Is what you’re living for worth Jesus dying for?”
Jesus is the bread of life, and He offers us life for now and life forever.
b. Life forever
40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
He does not leave us to starve. Instead, Jesus offers us life everlasting in Him. After this life passes, Christ will raise up those who believed in Him to live with Him for eternity.
What does that mean for us? There’s coming a day, when all that leaves us hungry and thirsty, all that leaves us broken, all that leads to death, will be gone. We will finally experience life as God desires for us, in His presence forever.
Only God’s Bread can give life. Jesus is the Bread of Life. It is only by Jesus that we experience life.
I love to cook. I love to bake. I enjoy making food, following recipes. The smell of a kitchen when a good meal is being prepared can change your life.
Do you know what I like even more than cooking? Eating. What’s the point of preparing food if you don’t actually get to eat it? Cooking food does not cure hunger. Going through a drive through, sitting down and ordering food does not cure hunger.
What cures hunger? Actually eating the food!
The final thing we must understand about this bread of life is that
3. We must eat the bread to live.
Now, an analogy only goes so far. Later in this chapter, Jesus is going to say, “Only those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will live.”
So let me be clear, Jesus is not advocating some weird cannibalistic religion. Remember the context, people asked Him about bread, and so He’s continuing this analogy.
Let me say it a different way, Jesus Christ has done everything necessary for you to have life. He has created you, He has paid the debt for your sin, He is preparing a place for you in Heaven.
But if you don’t believe, if you haven’t given your life to Him, then you will not experience life.
Look at what Jesus says here:
35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again. 36 But as I told you, you’ve seen me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.
There’s no middle ground here, Matt Carter, a pastor, says it this way:
· Thinking about eating is not the same as eating.
· Knowing nutritional facts is not the same as eating.
· Understanding how food is processed by the body is not the same as eating.
To believe is to internalize the truth about Jesus. It’s to receive him into your soul. So with that in mind, understand this spiritual truth:
· Thinking about Jesus is not the same as believing.
· Knowing facts about Jesus is not the same as believing.
· Understanding how Jesus saves a person is not the same as believing.
If you’re not careful, some of you are going to equate experiences you’ve had like a girls conference or summer camp, things you do like going to church and reading your Bible, if you’re not careful, you’ll equate these things as believing, when if you look into your life, you’re still slowly dying of starvation because you’ve never really given your life to Jesus.
Tonight, I want to ask you: who is Jesus? Is He the one you’ve given your life to? Is He the one who is giving you life?
I’m going to ask for every head to bow and every eye to close.
Some of you are already at the dinner table. You’ve learned facts about Jesus, you’ve gone through the motions, but you’ve never truly given your life to Him. Won’t you come and do that tonight? Won’t you surrender your life to Him? Say to God, “I’m sick of living for myself and never being satisfied, will you save me and make my heart full?”
Maybe you’re sitting here and you’ve given your life to Jesus, but it’s been a while since you’ve tasted a full meal. Maybe you’ve let your life drift from Jesus to where you aren’t experiencing Him like you should.
Won’t you come and make that right tonight?