John 6:25-59
Notes
Transcript
{Thank Tyler for inviting me to preach}
{Introduce yourself & Family}
We’re going to start of this morning reading through the text we’ll be in. This gives us the chance to see the text as a whole, giving context leading us through today’s teaching. If you have a Bible with you, open to John 6 verse 25.
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for 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.”
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ u Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. (John 6:25–59).
{PRAY}
{2021 we got to have our company picnic. There are 3 things at it; people, bouncy houses & food trucks} Keep this short
{eating in line story}
Cause you see, it’s a scientific fact that free food tastes better. No, I’m serious. There’s an experiment you can do to prove this. Go to your local pizza spot, buy a pizza, drive to my house, put the pizza on my table. Then, I’ll eat it and show you how much better it tastes. I’m serious, you can try it.
We can trace the love for free food all the way back to the Bible. One of the most well known stories took place just a few passages before today's text we are looking at and is actually mentioned in all four of the Gospels. Jesus goes out into a remote place and a bunch of people follow him. He teaches for a while and eventually, people are getting hungry. Jesus’ disciples come to Him, tell him about the situation, and then Jesus works the unexpected by turning 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish into enough to fill the stomachs of some 5 thousand people.
This group finds Jesus after he crosses the lake and is asking Him questions about where he was, but in their hearts, just looking for some more of that free food. And Jesus calls that out immediately seeing through their question. He says
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
But as always in good Jesus fashion, he isn’t just calling them out for the sake of calling them out. No, there is a reason when Jesus does this. For then he says
Do not work for food that spoils, but for 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.”
So Jesus is pausing them here and working to create a different way of thinking about what they are seeking. He’s going right to the core of what they seek to satisfy them in life. That thing they’re grabbing for, there’s something better. And we need to hear that as well. Cause Jesus is going to drive this theme home throughout the entirety of this conversation and it’s important we don’t miss it. Jesus is taking this earthly view of wants and needs and is directing us to an eternal view of those things. When He says eternity, He is talking about us, forever in heaven with God. When He introduces food that endures to eternal life, he’s telling us we don’t need to just think bigger, we need to think further, longer. Cause that’s the thing, and if you’re taking notes, this next part is worth an underline.
Jesus’ ideas aren’t just “bigger” ideas, they are longer ideas, they are eternal ideas.
And what do these hungry followers ask? “What must we do to do the works God requires?” What a great question right!? I feel like I’m always reading the Bible and when people ask Jesus questions I’m always going “c’mon man” or thinking “ohhh, Jesus ‘bout to show you”. But this one resonates with me, cause I’m sitting asking that same question. What’s my contribution to the end goal?
See, I work in sales... Now hold up, I see some of you out there got that look already like you just walked into the furniture store to browse and I’m walking across the floor with a name tag, polo shirt and a big cheesy smile welcoming you like family. Just stop, I work from home so I definitely don’t wear a name tag at work, okay. I bring this up because being a good sales man is all about knowing what your work is, and doing it on repeat over and over again. So as a sales person, I’m all about that connection between doing your job to get what you want.
So we hear these people asking Jesus, “what work do we need to do that God requires,” I’m sitting in the front row with my pen and paper waiting eagerly for that answer.
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
To put it more plainly, God’s gonna do all the work for your belief in Jesus.
Now some of you might be a little excited because a sales person just got told He doesn’t need to work anymore, but we really need to focus in on this here. Cause this is big, this is eternity big. Our ultimate satisfaction in life is knowing God. And takes place through belief in His son. And our belief is a result of the work of God, not our own. Jesus is just pushing us from this earthly view of satisfaction and purpose to an eternal one.
In John 17:3, He says
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Let’s key on on what Jesus is saying here.
That is the final goal we were created for, our only true satisfaction; to Know God.
That is the final goal we were created for, our only true satisfaction; to Know God.
Intimately, closely, perfectly, eternally, knowing Him. And thanks to the powerful work of Jesus on the cross and the resurrection that conquered death leading to His ascension into heaven, our hearts can look forward knowing that someday our knowing of God will be complete when we are taken home to be in paradise with our heavenly Father. This is what the Gospel is all about, spending forever in Heaven with God. And that food that endures forever is the belief in Jesus.
Praise God for this right. Amen.
So this conversation continues between Jesus and this group. They respond likening this eternal food to the manna that the Israelites received in the wilderness and once again Jesus pushes them to beyond their stomachs and the needs of their earthly bodies,
For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Now let’s pause here. You see, when we talk about our hope in Christ and knowing God eternally, He isn’t just saying someday, but until then good luck. No, Jesus came into this world and brought that life into the world now, that even amongst this sinful broken world we live in, we can begin to experience the hope, joy and goodness of knowing the Father in Christ. He is bringing this eternal hope to earth. He’s mixing up the entire expectation on what relationship with God looks like, BEFORE we go to heaven. Because as we read earlier,
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
My gosh, Jesus is pointing us to our eternal satisfaction right now. He’s saying that satisfaction of knowing God can be experienced on earth. Even with Heaven being in our future and what we need to look forward to, in that looking forward, God is allowing us to experience pieces of it now.
I think one of the devil's greatest schemes on this earth is to distract us from this truth. He wants you to look at your life and not see eternity. He wants you to forget that someday you and God will be in perfect unity. He wants you to see the sin that is infecting your life, those mistakes you’ve made and your failures, and lose hope in eternity. Because here’s the deal, that hole that you feel in your heart to be satisfied, that push to feel something more than who you are and what this moment makes up. Is that feeling a result of our nature as fallen people? Yes. Is that feeling because in our sin we are separated from God? Yes. But that feeling also exists because we were created for union in Christ that cannot be fully attained in this life, or by any effort of man. That feeling is the feeling of a sick and dying patient in need of a doctor. The devil doesn’t want you to forget about the doctor and His healing. Here’s what I believe
The devil works hard to make us think that this emptiness we feel in our life can ultimately be satisfied here on earth.
The devil works hard to make us think that this emptiness we feel in our life can ultimately be satisfied here on earth.
He’s out to distract us. Satan works to shorten our view. He wants us to forget about heaven and Christs work for us. So he works to get us focus on our earthly life like it’s the only thing we’ll ever have.
I know if my life, satan has distracted me from my eternal hope in heaven at more turns of my life than I’d like to admit. Convincing me in high school and early 20’s that if I made everyone around me happy, I would be able to be at peace and have no trouble in life. As a career minded employee that if I got that next promotion, I would finally feel the satisfaction of the perfect job. When I was a single dad, that if I could just find a wife, everything would be okay, and all my unhealthy anger and temptations would just was away. I want you to know that I succeeded in getting all those things. And though they brought me joy and blessing, they didn’t satisfy my hearts deepest desire of spending forever with God.
Cause you see, the tough truth is, here on earth, before the coming of Christ, the devil definitely can succeed in distracting us. He convinces us that our satisfaction can be met through how other people see us, through popularity, admiration and fame. He tells us a nice comfy life with a cozy job and perfect family will bring the comfort of satisfaction. He takes the gift of parenthood and tells us that our children are the ultimate happiness in life and their accomplishments in life will be ultimately satisfying. He tells us that hard work is nice and all, but if we commit enough to our careers and push aside other things our success will make us kings and queens among our peers satisfied by the success we accomplished.
Or maybe he’s just whispering that there will never be any true satisfaction, and numbing the pain is the best we’ll get. So just do what you can to momentarily escape your troubles. Maybe replacing our spouse with someone who does what we want in an online video, drinking away your feelings so that you can at least enjoy the next few hours, or maybe just mindless scrolling of social media that so nicely helps us pass the time. Whatever it is, the devil will do everything in his power to distract you from looking to your eternal satisfaction in knowing God.
Thankfully though, satan is wrong. And just because he has at times succeeded in distracting, that doesn’t mean we are lost. Jesus speaks straight to the heart on the state of our being saved by Him.
All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
See what he’s saying, we cannot sin our way out of going to heaven. God has given you to Christ. This verse shows that those who He calls his own he will never change his mind about.
But what if we mess up enough that we are out of Jesus’ reach? He responds to that too in verse 39
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
Those passages aren’t just a reminder that Christ is more powerful than the power of sin and death. You see, Christ once again is focusing our eyes to further. He is pointing us to an eternity where we know God in Christ without any hindrance.
Jesus says further along in these passages
John 6:49-51,54(NIV)
Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” … Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
When Jesus talks here about his flesh as the real food and his blood as the real drink, Jesus is continuing on the same theme as he has been throughout.
Jesus is the bread of life. To feed on that bread is to believe in Him.
Jesus is the bread of life. To feed on that bread is to believe in Him.
It is through our belief in Christ that we can live forever. And we can feed on this faith and experience the gift of knowing God by feeding on that belief. You see, even though God has done the work of our belief, Jesus is saying that we can feed on that belief to experience what it brings. We can feed on this food that gives eternal life.
So what does it look like in action, believing in Christ? Jesus told us that the work of our belief is God’s work. But He also indicates that we are called to eat. So what do we do?
Jesus grasps completely something we can only begin to understand, and that is the mysterious work of God’s power and control among men who are at the same time free to decide each moment what they will do. Let’s put it this way,
Although God has done the complete work of our belief in Jesus, He still wants us to take part in the work of receiving the benefits of that belief while here on earth.
Although God has done the complete work of our belief in Jesus, He still wants us to take part in the work of receiving the benefits of that belief while here on earth.
Are you tracking here with me? God has done the work of our soul saving belief, yet he still wants us to take part in the receiving of that belief. The satisfaction of having our hearts, minds and souls set on life in heaven with God through His spirit, He wants you to join Him in the delivery of that. Let’s start seeing these areas where we take part with something Jesus says
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
Jesus is pointing here to Gods decision to have the Words of scripture be a delivery method of His Spirit. That's why he said in Matthew
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
That word from the mouth of God, that’s the Bible.
He also shows us how this satisfaction and connection with God takes place in prayer. He leads us by example in the many times in scripture he leaves His followers to go and be alone with God in prayer. He even uses the bread metaphor we’ve been seeing as an examples of believe in Christ when he exemplifies how to pray, by saying
Give us today our daily bread.
See, even in prayer we are seeking the Lord to do His work in giving us our belief in the bread of life, Jesus Christ.
And even in the Last Supper, Jesus tells us
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
All three of these actions are the primary ways that we feed on the bread of life, our ultimate satisfaction. If this whole section has been about Jesus pointing to further, to heaven and forever with God, than there is nothing else in life that takes our satisfaction, and entrusts it with something further out than what these verses are talking about. Nothing.
You can’t fill your mind with a more eternal focus than reading the book given to us by the eternal God, telling the story of his people, His Son and how he will bring everything to it’s right place in eternity.
You can’t have a conversation that is more eternally focused than one with the eternal God, whose face you will not see until that day of where we go home comes. There is no more eternally focused act of putting something into our bodies that we can do than by believing in the instruction of eating the broken body and drinking the poured out blood of Christ in remembrance of him, despite our eyes not ever seeing those wounds until eternity.
God has chosen that He will use the reading and preaching of his word, the taking of communion, and prayer, as the primary sources for us to experience, here on earth, the satisfaction of knowing God.
God has chosen that He will use the reading and preaching of his word, the taking of communion, and prayer, as the primary sources for us to experience, here on earth, the satisfaction of knowing God.
God wants us to experience eternity now. He wants heaven on earth. That is what we are hungry for, the satisfaction of knowing God and being filled with the life His spirit gives. And He gives it while you’re still here on earth. Let’s give Him praise for showing us we can experience more of that satisfaction now.