Be with Jesus #6 I am the Bread of Life We are on a journey together. The goal of the first part of this journey is to just be with Jesus. To take intentional time in your life to be with Jesus. To hear his voice. To consume his word. To talk to him. And allow him to form you into the human being that he designed you to be. Today we look at Jesus’ statement, “I am the bread of life.” John chapter 6 begins with Jesus teaching a crowd of 5000+ people. People who are hanging on to his every word. And then Jesus does something surprising. Jesus does something that we call a sign and a wonder. A sign is a miracle that points to who Jesus is an authenticates who he is. With five loaves and two fish Jesus feeds the 5000. People ate all that they wanted. There were leftovers. There were more leftovers than what Jesus started with. This sent the people into a frenzy. They wanted to make Jesus King right then. But Jesus slipped away by himself into the hills. The next day the people are once again looking for him. They finally find him on the other side of the lake. It is here that Jesus makes his first statement of who he is; “I am the bread of life.” John 6:22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the far shore saw that the disciples had taken the only boat, and they realized Jesus had not gone with them. 23 Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25 They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.” 28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” 29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” Jesus is the first one to identify what we might call consumer Christianity or consumer faith. “You only want to be with me because I fed you. Your only concern is getting your belly fed. You want me for what you can get out of me for the here and now. It’s all about your appetites and your immediate needs and how I can meet them.” These people want to be around Jesus so he could solve their problems. John 6:30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Don’t miss the story of the manna. God gave the Jewish people food every morning for 40 years in order to keep them alive, to sustain them, to show to the other nations how distinct and special they were. Without that manna they would have starved to death. And now Jesus shocks them… 35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Jesus is the new manna. 40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” 41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” 47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.” Jesus makes a claim…I am the bread of life, bread from heaven – I am the basic need of your life. John 6:35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. When Jesus talks about bread he is talking about the basic sustenance of physical life. We are all looking for bread. We are all trying to fulfill the hunger that is inside of us. And everyone is telling us where to look to find this bread. Our problem is that we try to take good things and turn them into God things. We tell the things of life to “fulfill me.” We want the things that we accomplish or the things that we buy or the pleasures that we indulge in to do for us what only God can do for us. We are all hungry people. You see, our dilemma is that we have a desire inside of us that we cannot fulfill no matter what we do. There is no doubt that we have been created for something more. We know it. It’s in us. There is an aching for something to satisfy us. We sense that there is some kind of destiny. A relationship that we were born to have. And Jesus says, “I am the bread of life and whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.” So, to summarize this passage… Jesus says he is the bread of life. That like the manna that kept the Israelites alive in the wilderness, he is the bread that will keep you alive. That he is the bread – he is the father’s gift to you. That he is the true bread. He alone can satisfy. He is the heavenly bread. This is the best bread you can get. His bread gives eternal life. John 6:35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:52 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked. 53 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. Jesus is providing bread. Bread that satisfies. He is providing an experience where you will never be hungry again. Where you will never be thirsty. Jesus is that bread and he’s inviting us to come and eat. Isaiah 55:1 “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! 2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. Jesus is inviting you to eat. No money required. It’s free. Eat it. Value it. Scoop it up and put it in your pocket. Don’t stand there looking at the table, sit down and eat it. When we consume Jesus, we get life. John 6:33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” You may say, “I’m already alive.” But Jesus says this is eternal life. Something eternal comes into you. Something from above comes into you. Something that satisfies the deep longing of your soul. Let’s see what GOD can do! Pastor Brian Harrell