Autobiography: The Bread of Life: Finding Fulfillment in Faith | John 6:22-40

1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week Church family?

This morning I will be in John, chapter 6, the sixth chapter of John.

John 6 · chapter mention

I'd like to read just a few verses and then pray for us before we get started this morning.

Just a few verses and then pray for us before we get started this morning, starting in verse 25,.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him Rabbi, when did you come here?

Jesus answered them truly, truly.

I say to you you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you, for on him God, the Father, has set his seal.

Then they said to him what must we do to be doing the works of God?

And Jesus answered them this is the work of God, that you believe in him, whom he has sent.

So they said to him then, what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?

What work do you perform?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written.

He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

And they said to him, sir, give us this bread always.

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.

Let's pray, lord Jesus.

Thank you for a morning like this where we can come and worship you as we've done this morning, lord, and would you receive that offering of worship from us?

Thank you for your word that we can now worship you through the hearing of your word.

But to hear your word truly, we need your spirit to speak.

So would you do that now?

We are dependent on your spirit, I am dependent on your spirit.

So speak now.

I ask in Christ's name, amen.

Maya Angelou has the famous quote that maybe you've heard many times when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

Now, more often than not.

That's used in the negative sense.

If someone shows you their character, maybe they show you that they are an untrustworthy individual.

Maybe it'd be a good idea to believe them and maybe next time there comes a chance for maybe to put a little trust in that person, just be a little careful.

There it's used in the negative.

I believe John, the writer of the gospel of John, believes this same phrase, but uses it in the positive.

John says I want to show you so clearly who Jesus is.

I want to show you his character, his actions.

I want to tell you his words and from there I want you to believe in him.

That's the whole point of him writing the gospel John 20, 31.

But these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John says I want to show you who he is.

Believe in him.

Jesus, through our I am statement, says I want to tell you exactly who I am.

Believe me.

And today we see our first I am statement that I am the bread of life.

We're going to begin in John 6, verse 22,.

John 6:22

But to understand how we get to this passage.

In this moment we have to look back a little bit at the beginning of John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

There's two really impressive stories on Jesus' part in the first part of John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

First of all, they're by the Sea of Galilee and there's a large crowd of 5,000 people, and that's likely just the men.

So women and children.

You've got thousands upon thousands of people.

It's getting late and they're looking for something to eat.

And the disciples think we should probably send these people home, jesus, to let them get food.

And Jesus says why don't we feed them right here, right now?

One disciple says there's a boy over here with some fish and some bread, but what will that do among 5,000 plus individuals?

And Jesus basically says that'll do just fine.

And Jesus takes the bread and the fish and he prays and he starts passing them out and at the end of the day they've got 12 to-go boxes left over and everybody is fed to the full and everyone is happy and goes home satisfied.

Later that evening the disciples leave on a boat.

Jesus is not on the boat with them, they're out on the water.

The water starts to get rough and the storm starts to come.

The disciples are nervous in this moment they look out and they see someone walking on the water, and it's Jesus.

And those famous words that are said to them it is I do not be afraid.

And those famous words that are said to them it is I do not be afraid.

Jesus gets on the boat.

And then they arrive safely at land.

And so this is what's happening as we come to our passage today.

Jesus has miraculously led I mean fed the 5,000 individuals.

Now he has walked on the water to his disciples.

And then we arrive at verse 22.

On the next day, the day after all of these events, on the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

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.

Let me paraphrase what happens here.

Everybody kind of returns to the scene of the miraculous events that had happened the day before, and you would probably do the same.

If just the day before someone had multiplied food for 5,000, you would go back to that place and let's see if this Jesus individual is still here.

And they all go back to this place and he's nowhere to be found.

And then they start to do kind of an investigation of the area and they say we saw the disciples get on the boat, but Jesus was not there.

We did not see any other boat leave, so we have no clue where Jesus is.

They had no idea that Jesus does not need a boat.

Jesus is a boat.

His feet are all he needs.

And so they don't know where Jesus has gone.

Others come, they start to look, and those last words of verse 24, what are they doing?

They are seeking Jesus.

Now, that's a good step.

That's a good next step.

Seeking Jesus We'll see in a moment.

Their motives are a little off, but the action is right.

Seeking Jesus Verse 25,.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him Rabbi, teacher, when did you come here?

Again, we looked at everything we know when the boats left.

When they came back, you weren't on it.

When did you come here?

Verse 26,.

Jesus answered them.

Truly, truly, I say to you you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

This is, honestly, a harsh statement on behalf of Jesus.

You're here today, the crowds, you've come, you've looked everywhere for me, not because you saw signs, not necessarily because you want to know more about me, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Basically, it is this You're only here because you want to know more about me, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Basically is this you're only here because you're looking for the next meal.

You got dinner provided last night and it's a new day and you need breakfast, lunch and dinner, and so you have come to find me.

That's what Jesus is saying in this moment.

Not for me, for what I can provide, and there's the important note and we'll see this later on that the crowds are following Jesus, not for Jesus, but for what Jesus can offer them.

He can give them a meal, verse 27,.

For the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you, for on him God, the Father, has set his seal.

Do not work for the food that perishes, that expires.

How do you think about expiration dates?

You've got expiration dates all over your pantry right now.

Your bread, your milk, everything probably has an expiration date on it, and most of the times posted there at the top.

How do you think about expiration dates?

I'm convinced there's two types of people in this world when it comes to expiration dates, and you know exactly where I'm going in this moment.

There's there's the first type of person.

When they think of expiration dates, they're not messing around with it, they're not playing games.

That is the date.

Five days before that date, we get rid of it.

And so if I buy bread today and it says it expires on October 20th, on October 15th, we are on a countdown.

We probably need to get this out of here today and order what's next.

Now, that's type person number one.

Number two is this that expiration dates just do not even exist.

If you've got eyes, you can see.

Is there something growing?

If you've got a nose, is there?

You know how bad is the stench.

Not even is there a stench.

How bad is the stench?

Expiration dates, don't?

Some of you woke up with a headache this morning.

You took an ibuprofen from 1994.

You know, maybe take inventory of your medicine cabinet this afternoon.

Expiration dates don't matter.

There's two types of people, and I found this.

Those people usually marry one another.

But everything in our world expires, doesn't it?

Earlier this year I got a new phone, the iPhone 15.

The new bells and whistles, or at least the new price from the 14.

New phone, the iPhone 15, the new bells and whistles, or at least the.

You know the new price from the 14,.

You know the new things, whatever it was.

I had the iPhone 15 and then last month you know what happened the iPhone 16 came out.

Everything expires.

Everything around us expires.

Why?

This is a heavy thought this morning, because the reality is we expire.

We have our own expiration date.

Now I want to be clear and preface that with those who are in Christ Jesus in the truest sense.

You have no expiration date.

We know this, but in the here and now we are but dust and we too have an expiration date.

And when we expire all these things we look for and search for and try to find and try to gain and not all those are bad, some of those are very good, but they will expire as well and all the things I look up to the Lord, and I pray for again good prayers and ask God for things, and God is so gracious to give me good things that will help me.

But even those things will eventually expire.

Most of those things will, and even the selfish things that I look up and say this will finally give me satisfaction or worth or identity.

All these things I try to fill my life with and tell myself this is what will finally lead me to my own fulfillment and I will be satisfied.

Those things too, they will expire.

They have an expiration date written right across the top.

And Jesus says this don't work for the food that perishes.

Don't work for the things that are just here today and gone tomorrow.

Don't make those things ultimate.

There's nothing wrong with this bread, there's nothing wrong with so many of the things that we do seek and we do work for.

But when good things become ultimate things, they become dangerous things.

Don't work for the things that you desire to make ultimate when all these things, eventually, they do have an expiration date Verse 28,.

Then they said to him what must we do to be doing the works of God?

They want an assignment.

Now, there's a lot of people like that.

We're all like that to some extent.

Okay, there must be something I have to do If I'm working for something different than the bread that perishes.

Jesus, just tell me how to do it, tell me the checklist that I can check the boxes If there is a score.

I want to keep score so that I can know I have done the things that you're asking me to do.

And if I can just do enough, surely I can earn my way to this better bread, this bread that doesn't perish.

Jesus, just give me something to do, give me a list to check off.

And Jesus says this verse 29,.

He answered them this is the work of God.

He basically says if you want a work to do here, it is that you believe in him, whom he has sent.

Here's the work Believe, believe.

And this is all about the object of our belief, not necessarily even the impressiveness of our faith, but the object of our faith.

If you want a work, just believe.

You know.

The reality is this that the gospel.

It is strange to our culture.

The gospel is a strange message to a dark world and I'm convinced that there is a certain scandal around the gospel.

It's strange, but the scandal is not that the gospel is too hard, too exclusive, I'm convinced.

Sometimes the scandal is that it just seems too easy.

I want something to do, I want to be able to say I've accomplished it.

Surely that's just too easy, jesus, to just say I believe and I can have the bread.

Shouldn't there be more to this In our culture, in our world?

We just want to achieve it, and the gospel comes to us and just says there is nothing you can do to achieve it, you've got to receive it.

Here's the work that you do Believe.

People aren't done here.

Verse 30,.

They said to him then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?

What works do you perform?

Okay, if you say the work is believe, well then, then we need to at least be able to trust you.

You know, how about you do?

How about you do a little trick for us?

How about you show us that you really are who you say you are?

Just impress us in some type of way so we can know that, hey, this Jesus is the real deal.

Now notice, this is the guy that they were there yesterday, when he took a few fish and loaves of bread and fed 5,000 people.

And yet still they're saying Jesus, just show us something else.

Surely, if you show us the next thing, then that'll be enough to believe.

And they say this verse 31,.

You see Jesus, our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness.

As it is written.

He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

They're saying this.

Our ancestors got a sign.

They asked God for something and God gave them this bread.

Back in the book of Exodus Numbers into Deuteronomy, we see the story of the Israelites coming out of Egypt and when they're in the wilderness they're hungry, they grumble and let God know they're hungry.

And God provides this bread, this manna from heaven, every day, that daily bread.

And they come back day after day to receive this gift from heaven.

And look, they say our fathers ate manna in the wilderness.

But Jesus says 32, jesus said to them truly, truly, I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven.

First of all, I love that on Jesus' part.

If you think Moses gave you that bread, you're off from the start.

It was my father who gave you the bread, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

We've seen that we work for the bread that's perishing.

We've seen that even your ancestors had to come back day after day because the bread would spoil after 24 hours and day after day they had to get the next piece of manna.

Yet Jesus says there is a new type of bread that the Father is giving, and this is not a something, this is a someone.

This is the one that comes down from heaven.

And I love verse 34.

And they said to him Sir, give us this bread always.

I'm convinced everyone on the face of the planet is looking for Jesus.

I'm convinced most of them don't know it, but everyone on the face of the earth is looking for Jesus.

What they're looking for is something that will fulfill the longings of their heart, something that will satisfy the deep places of their souls.

They have no idea that Jesus can do it, but they're just looking for that thing that can satisfy.

And here these people are so close and they know there's something.

It's on the tip of Jesus' tongue and they just say this sir, give us this bread always.

Everything you're describing is exactly what we're waiting for and we are ready for it now.

And verse 35,.

And Jesus said to them I am the bread of life.

All throughout these seven I am statements of John.

Each week we're going to see something that Jesus is not going to give the crowds or give the disciples, something.

He's going to offer them himself.

Notice with this sir, give us this bread always.

And they're expecting to receive something, as if Jesus can just reach into his bag of tricks and give out this bread, that it is something apart from Jesus.

But Jesus says no, no, I am.

And so if you want the bread of life, you're looking for a person.

I am.

Next week we'll see.

I am the living water, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way, the truth and the life.

I want you to know this that Jesus offers us himself.

That's what he does and that's the beauty of the gospel that he doesn't give us a thing.

He gives us a person, his very self.

I am the bread of life.

Here's what I want to talk about for a moment this morning.

The bread of life.

Here's what I want to talk about for a moment this morning.

And I want to ask you a question Do you primarily see Christ as the giver of gifts or do you see Christ as the gift?

Do you see Christ as the giver of gifts or do you see Christ as the gift?

We started this passage with crowds chasing after Jesus because of what Jesus could give to them, what temporary meal he could satisfy their hunger with.

We end the passage with Jesus saying I am the bread of life.

Do we simply see Christ as the giver of gifts, or do we see him himself as the gift?

Now let me preface this whole thing with this Christ is very much the giver of gifts.

Every good and perfect gift comes from above, so those are not mutually exclusive.

I am not discounting Christ as giver of gifts.

I praise God every day, and I hope you do too, for the gifts that Christ has given you, and he does more than we deserve, in ways that we don't deserve.

Christ is in every way, the giver of every good gift, and we can praise Him accordingly.

So I just want to say that clearly.

But ultimately, even more than the things that Christ can offer me, he is himself the gift.

That's why he says I am the bread of life, and so I want to give you something today, and what I want to give you is my very self.

And this is important for us to realize that when everything in our life is going right, when everything in your life is going as well as it possibly could and it seems like every good gift is yours in Christ Jesus and there's satisfaction and there's happiness and there's joy and everything in your life is good, even in those moments, ultimately, above all, christ Jesus is gift, the ultimate gift, the one to whom all other gifts bow down.

He is, above all and he is the supreme treasure of your life, or at least he should be.

Even in the good moments, but also this even in the bad moments, the moments of your life when every structure and support under your feet has seemed to fall away and it seems like everything is going south and trial and suffering has come and it's thing after thing.

Even in that moment when it seems like every gift seems to be gone, that in Christ you still have all things and that Christ alone is, can be, will be, will forever be your satisfaction, and that in Christ you lack nothing.

Even if on this earth you seem to lack all things, in Christ you have all things and all things are good.

I think of Job.

First few chapters of Job, a man that suffers more than we could ever imagine In a day's time he loses his livelihood, he loses his property, he loses his children.

It's horrific.

His wife looks at him and says Job, it's time to curse God and die.

And Job will not do it.

He later loses his health.

He's got nothing to his name.

He is in a devastating place.

And what does he say in Job 19?

At the very moment I'd be tempted to throw in the towel.

He says this, for I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, because he knows that above all, the Lord himself is gift and if he has him he has all things.

Habakkuk 3, 17 through 18.

Nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

I love Helen Joy Davidman how she talks about in her book Smoke on the Mountain about the Ten Commandments.

And she talks about the commandment thou shall have no other gods before me.

And she said.

That's a statement written in the negative.

You shall not have any other gods before me, she says.

If you move it to the positive, it is simply this thou shall have me and that's enough.

And it's more than enough, because more than the giver of gifts and he is that, don't doubt it Christ himself is the gift.

More than the giver of bread, christ Jesus here says I am the bread of life.

Do you rejoice in the person of Jesus Christ?

Do you dwell on his goodness?

Do you think about him in his radiant beauty and do you think about what he has done on your behalf on the cross, taking your sin in the resurrection, that in him you have life?

In no other way do you have life, but in him you have life.

And does that excite you?

And do you realize down to the depths of your soul that he and he alone he's gift and he's yours, he's your bread?

How do I know if I'm embracing Christ as that gift, as the bread of my life?

Look at your prayer life.

What does your prayer life look like?

I pray that your prayer life is filled with requests, making your requests known.

We're called to do that.

Never cease bothering heaven with your prayers, go to the Father time and time and time and time and time again with your request.

But also, is there part of your prayer life that just sits back and says Jesus, you are, you are the treasure.

Is there part of your prayer life that is just worship?

How about your thought life?

I pray that you would give time to think about those things that you need from your father so that you can go to him and pray and let these things be a part of your thought life.

But is there a part of your thought life that just sits back and thinks about the person of Jesus with great joy and with great satisfaction, knowing that he alone is the bread of life?

How about your outward life, your life towards others?

Does Jesus at times I hope at all times fill your conversation to where you tell people about the bread of life, tell others where to receive the bread of life?

Is this part of your life that you would embrace Jesus not just as the giver of bread but as the bread of life?

Our story in John, chapter 6, continues and towards the end of the chapter something interesting happens.

John 6 · chapter mention

There's more sayings from Jesus and they're hard sayings for the people that are there in the crowd that day.

They don't quite know how to take it.

And Jesus?

They seem to be some very exclusive statements.

Jesus says I am the bread, and that implies the only bread they're statements about.

You know, the only way to life is to like we did last week with the Lord's Supper, to feast on that bread and drink the blood.

And it's a strange new teaching.

How do we understand it?

And verse 66 is interesting.

After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Now, this is not talking about the 12 disciples they are there but it's a little bit wider group of disciples, of these kind of would-be followers of Jesus that, because of the hard sayings of Jesus, they start to walk away.

They just say in their minds this is too much for me.

And then Jesus gets extremely real in a moment.

I remember being late middle school, early high school and I remember reading Julius Caesar, shakespeare, and I Miss Jean.

Friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your ears, come to bury Caesar, lend me your ears, come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

I could keep going and maybe could after the sermon, but I also remember this in Julius Caesar.

I remember those words from Caesar, as Brutus is betraying him.

You remember it too, maybe.

Et tu Brute I'm sure the original Shakespearean actor did not say it in the Arkansas accent that I did.

But et tu Brute, you too, brutus.

This moment of betrayal, you too.

This is, in one sense, jesus' et tu Brute moment.

The disciples, you too.

Are you running away as well?

Are these statements way too hard for you?

Verse 67, so Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well?

Verse 68, simon Peter answered him.

Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.

Peter nails it right here.

Where else can I go that Jesus?

I've tasted the true bread and you've ruined my taste for anything else.

I've tasted the truth, and I know it's you, and that you've given me nowhere else to go, because you have given me all things just by giving me yourself Church, family.

Is Christ, for you, the giver of gifts?

He is, he is for sure.

But even more than that, is he your gift?

Is he your treasure?

Is he not just the giver of bread?

Is he for you the bread of life?

How do we respond this morning?

I wonder if there's one person in this room I pray there is that this morning for the first time needs to come experience the one who says I am the bread of life, that you would come down and chat with me or talk to your neighbor beside you and just say I want to know Jesus, I would love to introduce him to you.

Maybe you want to come join this church family to make this family your family.

We would love to have you.

Maybe you're in the room and you know Jesus, but you know for a fact that in your own life maybe you haven't quite gotten to that point where you truly just see Jesus as treasure and you just need to take inventory of your life and say, jesus, where am I making other things, ultimate things, and what do I need to remove from the throne so that it is only you on the throne of my life?

Maybe you need to take that inventory this morning.

I want to pray for us right now, and after I pray we're going to continue in worship, but I'll be right down front.

If you'd like to come, let's pray.

Lord Jesus, I thank you for your word.

I thank you that, more than anything, you are the gift, you are the treasure, you are the reward.

You are not just the giver of bread, you are the bread of life, and what a gift that is, lord.

Would you please, lord, show us any area in our own lives where we just don't have our priorities, where we need to have them, where in any way we treat you less than you deserve.

And what you deserve is all things in our lives.

The Lord of our lives, lord, if there's one in this room that doesn't know you, would they taste and see the goodness of the Lord this morning?

I ask this in Christ's name, amen.

Would you stand now?

I'll be down front if you'd like to come.