John 6:15-40
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Christmas Party
Wrap a white elephant gift and bring it
Bring a plate of your favorite Christmas cookies to share
You’re encouraged to dress festively
No youth group over break
Intro/Background
Before we get into our Bible study tonight, I have a question I want you to think about - what was the best meal that you have ever eaten?
Call on a few kids
I can remember a few (b/c I like food so much)
I remember a family vacation to Mt. Rushmore when I was in Middle School and we stopped in this hole in the wall diner that ended up having the best steak I’ve ever had - the melt in your mouth kind
In college, we went on a mission trip to Germany and our host family may have been the worst cooks in the history of cooking. My first meal back after 3 weeks of cardboard was Memphis BBQ - maybe the best meal ever
I also remember this Mexican place in San Jose CA that served the best tacos - and jamica tea!
My wife won me over when she made me sopapillas - I knew she was the one!
Whether you remember one meal or a few like me, we all have something in common with those memories - that one meal, as good as it was, didn’t satisfy your hunger forever - you had to eat again (probably just a few hours later!)
Tonight, we are going to talk about a radical statement that Jesus made about being full
Not our stomachs, but our souls
But first, a quick miracle, and then onto Jesus’ teaching
Lesson - John 6:15-40.
Verse 15
Remember that Jesus has just performed this amazing miracle of feeding the 5k (which was really 10k-15k)
Combined with all of His other miracles, the people were ready to crown Him king
But He didn’t want that - He escapes and avoids that
If a crowd of students went into your math class, grabbed you, and drug you to the principal’s office to become the new principal, I bet you’d be pretty excited
Jesus was not excited - why?
The crowd wanted a political king to overthrow the Roman gov’t that was in charge
But Jesus knew He had more important work to do. If He became king, He would never go to the cross, and if He never went to the cross, we couldn’t be forgiven of our sins.
B/c of His love for us, Jesus resisted this temptation to skip the cross and become king
Verses 16-21
Jesus went to a mountain to pray (remember that’s what He was trying to do before the crowd found Him last week and He ended up feeding them)
He send the disciples away in a boat across the Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee is a large lake - 7 1/2 miles wide ( Sylvan Lake is only 1,500 ft across, Galilee is 25x bigger)
But many of the disciples were fishermen, so this wasn’t something crazy for them to do
So they get in the boat at evening time and start to row. This huge storm comes up and starts to hammer them while they’re on the lake
Made the rowing really difficult - in fact they only make it half way across the lake after about 6 hours of rowing!
They were frustrated. I’m sure they were grumbling and complaining (why did Jesus ask us to go across - He knows what’s going to happen, couldn’t He predict this storm? What’s in dumb Capernaum that we have to do anyways....)
In the midst of that, Jesus comes walking out to them on the water
I’m sure that freaked them out! Mark’s gospel tells us they thought it was a ghost
But Jesus just tells them that it’s Him and to not be afraid
And immediately the storm was over and they were on the other side of the lake
Lesson for us - when we are in a time of fear, or frustration, remember that Jesus is with you
His presence is enough to bring comfort even in the midst of an intense storm. We need to focus on Him and invite Him into our storms that we face and He will bring a calm to our hearts.
Verses 22-26
All the people that had been following Jesus and had tried to make Him king were looking for Jesus the next day, but saw that He wasn’t there, and so they go get into their boats and they seek after Jesus
They find Him on the other side of the lake and ask Him, “What’s up Jesus! When did You get here? We were looking for You.”
Jesus, knowing their hearts, responds with, “You just want more food, don’t you?”
They were moochers!
Do you have a friend in your group who is the moocher? They’re always asking for food
That’s what these people were doing. And just like in their effort to make Jesus the king, it was for selfish reasons
Jesus then uses this as an opportunity to teach the crowd about His true purpose on earth
Verses 27-29
Jesus warns them of being too focused on earthly things (food) b/c like we talked about earlier, even when you have the best meal ever, you’re still hungry a few hours later
Jesus’ mission wasn’t just to do good works and feed the hungry (although that is important!), His mission was to tell the people about something that actually lasted, something eternal
The crowd is all interested in this, and they ask Him, “What do we need to do to get this?”
And Jesus responds, “Believe in me” - eternal life doesn’t start with a work/action, it starts with trust/faith
Verses 30-31
The crowd doesn’t really like Jesus’s answer. They wanted an earthly king to kick out Rome, and they wanted food.
Jesus is offering them something spiritual and alluding to Him being the Son of Man (Messiah) and not a conquering king
So they say, “How do we know who You are? Show us some miracle to prove it!”
#1 - Jesus had just fed 10k-15k of them from 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish - that seems like a pretty good sign!
#2 - Jesus had been healing the people right before feeding them - more miracles!
#3 - They were all confused about how Jesus got to the other side of the lake, they knew He wasn’t in the boat with the disciples, so it had to be a miracle that He got to the other side
He had done so many miracles! This wasn’t a genuine “God show me who You are” prayer, this was an attempt to get what they wanted
Vs 31- “Moses gave us manna from heaven every day, what can you do?”
Verses 32-33
Jesus tells them, “First off, Moses didn’t give you bread, God did. Second, what the Father gives is true bread” (again, speaking spiritually)
The people are all jazzed. They don’t care who the food comes from, they just want the food - “Give us this bread always!”
They probably thought Jesus was about to rain bread from heaven and show them how much more powerful He was than Moses
They weren’t getting it. Yes it’s important to take care of people’s physical needs, but their spiritual needs are more important
Verses 34-40
Jesus then makes this incredible statement - the true bread, this spiritual bread that brings eternal life, it’s Him.
“I am the bread of life. The one who comes to Me shall never hunger again”
This is the first of 7 “I am” statements of Jesus in this gospel, and it tells us that the person that comes to Jesus and believes in Him will find their spiritual hunger satisfied
They will find eternal life, death can’t defeat them b/c He will raise us up and give us new bodies one day, and He will not cast us out/aside, He accepts us all.
Couple of big takeaways
#1 - What Jesus has to offer is complete. You don’t have to go looking for something else later to satisfy you. This isn’t something that’s meant to be a phase and later in life you’ll need some other spiritual pursuit to be happy
Jesus gives us fulfillment to last a lifetime.
It does require us to continually seek Him.
It’s not a one time prayer and then life is never hard
But I can tell you, being a Christian for longer than any of you have been alive, Jesus has never left me wanting more
If anything, He blows me away by how good and loving He is, by how many times He forgives me when I blow it, by how He wants to use me even though I don’t deserve it.
Nothing else I’ve found in my life even comes close to the satisfaction in Jesus - everything else always leaves you wanting more or the next one or the next time
#2 - There is security in Jesus
The person who comes to Jesus isn’t going to be tossed aside
It doesn’t matter your past, it doesn’t matter how strong (or weak) your faith is, He just wants you to come to Him, and He will keep you secure in His family
#3 - There is hope in Jesus
We have that eternal hope, that when this life is over, we have an eternal destination all ready for us, a place with no more tears, no more sorrow, a place of eternal joy
Small Groups
Sample Small Group Questions
Sample Small Group Questions
How do most people your age attempt to satisfy their need to feel secure and significant in life?
What needs do you spend the majority of your time trying to satisfy?
In what ways have you tried to use Jesus to satisfy your earthly needs or satisfy selfish needs?
Describe in your own words what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the bread of life”
In what ways has Jesus satisfied your hunger in life?
In what ways do you still feel empty?
How can Jesus satisfy those areas where you still feel empty?
Why is it important that our security in Jesus is dependent on Him and not on us?
What situations cause you to be insecure in your faith?
Read Romans 8:38-39. What do those verses say about our security in Jesus?
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How can you put tonight’s lesson into practice in your life this week?
Prayer Requests and Group Prayer