Episode 287: The Feast You're Looking For

Good morning, good morning, welcome in.

Great to see you guys here worshiping with us at Harbor West.

If you have a Bible, you can grab it now and turn to the book of John.

We're going to be in John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

And so if you're using one of those Bibles under the chairs in front of you, that's around page 946.

My name is Justin, and I'm one of the pastors here of our church.

And just want to welcome you again.

Thank you so much for coming and worshiping Jesus with us today.

About a year ago, I went with my family to New York City, and it was my first time to be in the city.

And my kids' first time, my wife had been once before.

But I was stoked to go.

I was a 40-year-old, and I still hadn't been to New York City.

And so it was just kind of a cool experience to see what I had imagined the city to be like.

And of all the things that I was excited for, right?

I was excited for the Statue of Liberty.

I was excited to go to a Yankees game.

I was excited to see the giant killer rats on the subway.

all the stuff, of all the things, the thing I was most excited for was the food in New York City.

Because everybody that comes back from New York, I always hear, man, the food, the food is epic. And

so I was like, all right, I want to test it all out. See if this is where the best food is. And man,

it really, it did not disappoint. We had some amazing food. I wasn't quite prepared for how

many bagels I was going to eat. I didn't know that it was like at least a daily thing. But lots of

amazing bagels, the pizza, the Italian food. I had, I think, the best cookie of my life randomly in

New York City. Like, it was just all amazing. But, you know, as we were walking around, it was hot one

day, and I was like, okay, you know what? Since all the food's been amazing, let's see if we can find

the most amazing acai bowl. Because I love acai bowls. Those used to be like a dessert for me,

or maybe a snack, but now in my 40s, that's a full meal for me now. And so I was like, let's for lunch,

let's get acai bowls. So my wife found the highest rated acai bowl in New York City.

And so we trekked, brought the whole family through the streets, found the place, went in,

ordered my acai bowl, super stoked, and this thing came out. And like, I don't know, like I don't want

to be snooty, but I opened it up and looked at it and I was like, no, that can't be right.

And so I brought it up to the dude.

I was like, hey, this isn't right, is it?

And he just looked at me, looked down, and he looked up to me.

He goes, you want me to make you another one?

He was 17 years old.

He had his earbuds in, had some gauges.

He didn't want to be talking to me.

And I was like, yeah, let's give it one more shot.

Yeah, try again.

And so I had to take a picture of the second one.

You just got to trust me or you got to ask my wife to see if I'm exaggerating.

The second one was worse.

I promise.

And I just kind of embarrassed.

just kind of looked at him like this. I was like, dude. And he's like, I don't know what to tell you.

And so I was like, well, I guess I'll take my money back. And so at least he gave me my money

back. But it was just like so disappointing. Everything else was so great. And I don't know

if you ever had that experience where you've gone into a place, especially into a restaurant,

and you're like, man, I want to just be satisfied. I want to get this epic, awesome meal and feel the

satisfaction of this meal. And then you walk away unsatisfied, confused, and maybe a little angry.

Right? Has that ever happened to you? I feel like that happens to us all the time. But not just with

food. Not just with food. I feel like this happens with everything. We're constantly hoping that

things will satisfy us only to be let down. And what we're going to see today is that God knows

exactly what we are looking for in life. He knows exactly where we can find it. He knows exactly

what will satisfy us. And so let's pray and get into John chapter six. And so Father,

we come to you, a bunch of beggars looking for bread, looking for something to satisfy us.

And so God, I pray that you would show us what you know will satisfy us now and forever.

We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. So in John chapter six, a big group of people have gathered

around Jesus and they want to hear him teach. And eventually this crowd gets hungry. And so maybe

you know the story. He performed this miracle where he took a couple of loaves of bread, a couple of

fish, and he blessed them. And he just multiplied them miraculously and gave out enough food that

all 5,000 people were fed. And so, man, if you were in that group, you probably have some questions

for Jesus, right? Like, how'd you do that? Like, what happened? And so a group of people came up to

Jesus right after this miracle, and they start asking him questions. But Jesus knows exactly why

they're there. Look at verse 26. He says, truly I tell you, you are looking for me not because you

saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Here's what Jesus is saying.

You're not looking for me because you've seen the signs that God is sending the promised Messiah.

You're here because you want bread. You're here because I just handed out a bunch of free food,

a bunch of free bread, and you want some of that bread. See, this group comes up to Jesus,

and they only want to be around Jesus because of what Jesus is giving them.

And Jesus here, he's upset that that's their motivation because they've missed the point.

They want the physical things that Jesus can give, but Jesus wants to give them so much more.

They want another loaf of bread to fill their bellies, and Jesus wants to give them something

that will blow their minds and fill them up forever. So here's a great question to ask

ourselves, what do you want from Jesus? What do you want from Jesus? Like, why are you here?

Why are you here this morning? What are you hoping to get from Jesus? When you open your Bible to

read it, when you sit down to pray, what are you looking for from Jesus? Why do you come to Jesus?

These people have come to Jesus because of what he can physically give them. And I wonder if we do

that a lot. If we come to Jesus because of what he physically can give us, maybe he'll bless us.

Maybe we think he'll give us the best life that we can live right now if we just come and are

faithful and keep ourselves around Jesus. Maybe we just have these dreams of what Jesus could maybe

one day do for us? The way I like to think about this is by thinking about this movie I really

loved as a kid. There was the live action adaptation of Peter Pan called Hook. Y'all remember Hook,

Robin Williams. I remember a little bit about it. I haven't watched it in about 30 years, 35 years,

because there was something in it. I don't remember what that scared me. I'm still a little nervous

about it. And so, but I do remember one scene in there where there's a dinner table and he's with

the Lost Boys out in Neverland, and they're like, come on, man, eat. He's trying to rediscover that

he's Peter Pan, all that thing. They're like, eat, man, eat. And to him, it's an empty table. There's

nothing there. Because he doesn't realize in Neverland, you eat based upon your imagination.

Whatever you dream up, that's the food that exists on the table. So you can just dream up your food

every day. And man, I loved that thought as a kid, because I was like, I can just dream up anything.

Like, I wish I had that ability to just dream up whatever I want to eat. So here was their table.

here's what they dreamed up these lost boys and Robin Williams and so they're just feasting every

time they come to eat and I was like man you know what I would dream up there's this one thing like

this one thing kind of at the center of this feast this is the thing that I was like man that's what

I want I don't know what that is but I just knew like that's the thing like that's what I want

like that just looks awesome just a bunch of frosting on something you know and so I kind of

think about that with Jesus sometimes, where I'm like, I come to Jesus and I'm like, man, okay,

what do I want? What am I asking Jesus for? What am I hoping and dreaming that Jesus will do for me

and in my life? What are you dreaming up? What are you hoping to get from God? Is it money,

fame, possessions, success? Whatever we could likely dream up, Jesus wants to give us more.

That's what he's telling them in verse 27.

He says, don't work for food that perishes, but for 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.

Jesus says here, man, there are two kinds of foods that you can be interested in.

Food that perishes and food that lasts forever.

Food that perishes is the stuff of this world.

Money, fame, possessions, success, all that stuff tastes great.

But Jesus says it perishes.

It gets old.

It gets damaged and outdated.

That's why none of us remain stoked about physical stuff.

That's why none of y'all are still stoked about what you got when you were six years old for Christmas.

Right?

When I was six years old, my parents got me a bat cave, which meant it was the greatest day ever.

I got a bat cave for Christmas.

But then that thing started to break, started to wear down.

And I think they sold that $40 bat cave for $2 at a garage sale in April because I wasn't playing with it anymore.

Right?

The stuff of this world, it always perishes, is what Jesus is saying.

Things get old so quick.

Our houses, our cars, even our achievements.

It's like this whole life is just one massive bag of Costco spinach that molds before you can eat it.

Because Jesus says it all perishes.

But he says there is something, another kind of bread that will last forever.

Bread that he himself wants to give us.

And so here's the first thing Jesus is telling us about this feast that he has for us.

The first thing that he's telling us, we need this feast.

The feast that Jesus has, it's something that is needed.

We desperately need it.

Because these guys came to Jesus looking for physical bread for one meal.

And Jesus says, I have what you're really looking for.

I have what you really desperately need.

Jesus knows they're looking for something else.

Jesus knows they need something else.

You see, guys, we all have a satisfaction problem.

When we finally get what we're craving in this life,

when we finally get a meal that we are craving,

we always get hungry again.

Even if that meal or even if the things we get

do give us quick satisfaction in the moment,

we always get hungry again.

It's true no matter what we consume in this world.

It never totally fills us up.

It never completely satisfies.

We're always looking for the next fix, the next possession, the next experience, the next vacation,

the next TV series, the next new restaurant, the next relationship. We keep thinking that we'll find

something that'll fill us up and truly satisfy us and make us happy, but we keep getting hungry

again. Blaise Pascal described it this way. He said, what else does this craving,

this helplessness proclaim, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which all that

remains is the empty print and trace that we try in vain to fill with everything around us, but

nothing can help. See guys, it's not for a lack of trying. We're grabbing on to everything that we can

to try to fill this void that we fill within ourselves. We're trying to grab all of it. The

problem is none of it lasts. None of it totally satisfies us. But part of the problem might be

that we've allowed the bread of this world

to satisfy us when it was never meant to.

It's almost like we have this meter in us

that goes all the way to the top.

This is what we're craving.

This is what we desperately want.

And the bread of this world can get us here,

can get us this high on our satisfaction meter.

And we're like, okay, I guess that's good enough.

I guess, I mean, I can't find anything else in this life

to be excited about or to be stoked about.

And so I guess I'll just use the stuff of this world

and get as much as I can out of it

and call it a day. Here's what C.S. Lewis says about that. He says, we are half-hearted creatures

fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like ignorant

children who want to go on making mud pies in the slum because we can't imagine what is meant by

an offer of a holiday at the sea, we are far too easily pleased. You and I, we are far too easily

satisfied. We're satisfied with decent marriages and okay behaved children, and we're satisfied with

jobs and promotions, and we're satisfied with money and slightly bigger houses and additions

on our houses and new cars. We're satisfied with stuff of this world.

We've let it satisfy us because we're far too easily pleased, and we don't realize that God

has something infinitely greater for us. Maybe you've allowed yourself to be satisfied in life

money or possessions, vacations, clothes, success, comfort, mud pies compared to what Jesus is

offering. But Jesus here, he's saying, man, I don't want you to settle. I don't want you to come to me

just for the physical bread I can give you. I want to blow your mind with something else,

something you desperately need. And so they're like, all right, even better bread,

bread that'll satisfy our souls forever. We'll take it. So verse 28, they say,

what can we do to perform the works of God?

That's their first question.

Now, you hear what they're asking there?

They've come to Jesus and Jesus says,

I have something that will blow your minds

and I want to give it to you

and it'll satisfy you completely.

And you know what their first question is?

Okay, how can we buy it?

What can we do?

How can we earn it?

They know if you want to eat, you got to work, right?

If you want bread, you got to buy that bread,

go make that bread, right?

And so they're trying to figure out

What do we need to do to get it?

Jesus answers, this is the work of God that you believe in the one he has sent.

Jesus tells them, you want to know how to earn this eternal bread?

You want to know what you have to do?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

There is no physical work that you can do.

You can't earn it.

And actually, as long as you're trying to earn it and work for it, you'll never have it.

Here's what Jesus is telling him and us.

This feast that God offers us, this soul-satisfying feast that we desperately long for, it's open.

It's open.

Here's what I mean by that.

It's free.

There's nothing you and I can't buy it.

You and I can't earn it.

You and I can't do enough works to unlock it.

There's nothing we can do to qualify for it.

It is completely open.

An open invitation for everyone.

And that includes you and everyone you know.

Here's how Isaiah 51 talks about it.

Look at this.

It says, come everyone who is thirsty.

Come to the water and you without silver, come buy and eat.

Come buy wine and milk without silver and without cost.

Who's invited to the feast?

People who can't pay for it.

People who have no means to purchase it.

Those who are thirsty, they need to be satisfied

and they're invited to come, come to the feast,

come to the water.

But it's an invitation specifically to those

without silver, without cost.

If you want your soul deeply satisfied now and forever,

you can't buy it.

You can't earn it.

And that is really good news.

Here's why that's good news.

Look how Tim Keller describes it.

He says, a salvation earned by good works and moral effort.

In other words, a salvation you and I could purchase and earn

would favor the more able, competent, and accomplished, and privileged.

But a salvation by sheer grace favors the failed, the outsiders, the weak,

because it goes only to those who know salvation must be by sheer grace.

See what that's saying?

If you and I could earn or purchase our salvation,

then there would be some of us that are at more of an advantage than others.

Some of us who are more able to do what it takes to be saved and rescued by God.

But Keller's saying, man, it's great news that it can't be earned or bought because we're all the same.

We're all the same.

The feast is open to everyone because Jesus says it's about believing.

The feast is open to everyone because anyone can believe.

Jesus says the way to get in on this feast is to believe in the one he has sent.

What's he saying?

Believe in the one he has sent.

The one there is Jesus.

The he is God.

And so Jesus is saying, the way you get in on the feast is to believe in Jesus, who God has sent.

That's how you get the bread that will satisfy you forever.

If you believe in Jesus, you get this bread.

So what about you?

What about you?

What do you believe about Jesus?

today we're kicking off this sermon series through the gospel of john where we're just going to look

at the seven i am statements of jesus we're going to look at what jesus has said about himself he

introduces himself to the world he says i am this i am this and and we're going to see man like what

what do we believe about jesus do we believe who he says he is because i think one of the problems

that we can drift into or start out with

is that we start to believe

or we begin our faith journey

by believing in a Jesus that we've created ourselves.

It's almost like we come to God

with our own expectations,

with our own ideas and image of who we want God to be.

And we say, okay, God,

as long as you're this, this, and this,

I'll believe in you.

And so, yeah, I believe in Jesus,

but then we actually get confronted

with how Jesus reveals himself.

When he says, I'll actually,

here's who I am. You came looking for me to be this way, but I'm this way.

And in that moment, we got to decide this. Do I believe in Jesus, in the Jesus who he says he is,

or in the Jesus that I've created myself? Jesus says, if you want the bread that'll satisfy your

soul forever, you got to believe in me, in who I say I am. And if you do, then God is going to give

you something so good that will satisfy you forever. And so these people that are coming to Jesus and

he's saying this to, man, they could have just believed. They could have just been like, okay,

we're in Jesus. But look at what they do in verse 30. They try to get out of belief a little bit

here. They say, what sign then are you going to do so that we may see and believe? You hear the

condition there? Jesus says, just believe. You can't earn this bread. You can't purchase it.

Just believe in the one who God has sent.

And they're like, okay, well, what are you going to do for us?

What sign are you going to do so that we can believe?

Look what they say.

What are you going to perform?

Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness.

Just as it's written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.

They're saying our ancestors in the wilderness, they came out of Egypt,

and God rained down physical bread from the sky, and they ate that bread.

God did that miracle.

And so, man, we want that.

What miracle are you going to do for me?

so I believe. Do you see where their focus still is? It's the physical.

Our ancestors got a bunch of free bread from heaven. What are you going to do for us?

See, they still think the physical is going to satisfy them. They still think if God would just

do a physical work for them, would just do a physical, even miracle, that then they would believe

and they would take this bread that lasts forever. But Jesus says, truly, I tell you,

Moses didn't give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Jesus again takes their focus off of physical bread.

He says, what you need is not an actual meal to come down from heaven.

But do you see what he says there?

What you need is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

The bread of God is the one, the one who comes down.

We don't need physical blessings to come down in order to have satisfaction in life.

We need one to come down.

And see, Jesus is saying, this is the miracle.

God has done a miracle.

God has become flesh.

God himself has come down.

The feast has come to us.

You see, what we're finding out is that we need a better soul satisfying feast.

And so God opens up this free feast for you and everyone you know.

And the feast, the bread that will satisfy us forever, it's actually a person.

The feast is a person.

And in case they missed it or misunderstood it, Jesus says it again clearly in verse 35.

Look at it.

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.

The deep satisfaction that you long for in life, what you're most deeply searching for,

it's not in a possession or an achievement or a life stage.

No matter who you end up marrying, how much money you end up having,

how big you make it, what job you get, or how well your kids behave,

God says you will never be totally satisfied and content in this life without Jesus.

Augustine said it this way. He says, God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are

restless until they find their rest in you. We will continue to scour this earth with restless

hearts, grabbing onto everything that we could possibly experience. Look for anything to satisfy

us and our hearts will continue to be restless until we feast on the bread of life, come down

from heaven to satisfy us forever. It is a person that satisfies our soul. The person we were created

to find our ultimate satisfaction in. And when we feast on him, we can be totally satisfied and

content in this life and forever. And so man, in verse 34, they're like, sir, give us this bread

always. What a response. That's perfect, right? That's what we should be saying. Like if you and

I truly believed that God had something that he could give us that will bring us complete

satisfaction for what we're searching for in life, both now and forever, shouldn't this be our

response? God, give us this bread always. Don't just give it to us one time at that moment of our

salvation, give it to us every day. Give it to us every moment. Let this be the bread we are

constantly feasting on. If this is the bread that truly satisfies our souls, is that where you're at?

Is that the posture of your soul? Are you saying, God, you have bread that will totally satisfy me,

and that's the bread I want right now and forever. Are you feasting on Jesus?

Is he the one that you're looking for and finding every day?

Or are you settling for less?

What do you turn to every day?

What are you looking for every day to give you satisfaction?

For me, some days, it's our snack drawer.

I wake up and I'm like, you know, I think the best thing that's going to happen to me

is whatever I can find in that snack drawer.

What are you turning to?

What do you roll over first thing in the morning and look for?

For a lot of us, we grab our phones and we look for what other people are doing.

And we think that if we can continue to see what other people are doing

and experiences other people are happening,

that somehow that's going to satisfy our souls more.

Maybe you've been looking for a vacation,

thinking that you'll come back from Italy or Greece totally satisfied and content.

maybe you've been looking for money and think if you had more of it more stuff the bigger house

life would be so much better and you just know you know you'd be more satisfied

maybe you've been looking for a new life situation if you could just catch a break

at work and get the promotion or figure out how to work from home that then you'd be satisfied or

or maybe you're like man if i could just get my wife to do this or if i could get my husband to

stop doing that or if my kids could just give me one day of peace or finally be potty trained

there's something out there that you truly believe that if it just happened or you got it,

you would be more satisfied in this life. And the God who created you and designed you has said this,

it's not going to work. You and I wake up every morning thinking there's something that we're

looking for, something physical in this world. And God has said, no, it's going to let you down.

But God has said that there is something out there that he has given to us.

And it's free and it's for you and for everyone you know.

And it's Jesus himself.

Look how Psalm 107 describes our lives.

It says this, some wandered in the desolate wilderness, finding no way to a city where they could live.

They were hungry and thirsty.

Their spirits failed within them.

Doesn't that sound like life sometimes?

Doesn't that sound like just a normal day?

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.

He rescued them from their distress.

He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.

Look at this.

For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.

Listen, God wants you to be satisfied.

God wants it for you.

for you and I to find total satisfaction in this world

that doesn't upset God.

He's not hiding from us

in some sort of big elaborate hide and seek game

where we're searching, looking every day

for what will truly satisfy us.

And it's just without of our reach

because he's keeping it out of our reach.

No, no, no.

He wants us to be satisfied.

He wants you for your soul,

for the deepest part of you

to be so joyful and satisfied.

And at peace, he wants that for you.

But notice how it happens.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.

That's where the turning point takes place.

It takes an admission, a confession that we are in trouble.

It takes a confession that we can't find satisfaction for our souls and in this world on our own.

A confession that we are in distress.

and that's when the rescue comes.

So long as you and I are content

wandering around in this wilderness,

allowing our soul to be satisfied

with things that are infinitely less amazing

than what God is offering,

we'll never experience the rescue.

We'll never find a new city to live in.

So long as we're continually satisfied

in our pursuit of money,

hoping that it will satisfy us.

Man, there are so many stories of people

who've become extremely wealthy

but have ended up completely miserable in life.

Ecclesiastes 5 tells us,

he who loves money will not be satisfied with money.

It's right there.

That's the truth.

As hard as it is to hear,

if you are turning to money,

looking to money to satisfy you,

it is not going to work.

Jesus is offering something better

than all the money you could grab onto.

If we keep turning to relationships,

hoping that they'll satisfy us,

Yes, we were created to be in community and to relate with each other.

But when we start to turn to our relationship with other people to replace our relationship with Jesus,

those other relationships with each other will let us down.

Our husband or wife could never love us enough.

Our friends could never come through for us enough.

Our children will never fulfill us enough.

So long as we're turning to human relationships to bring us the satisfaction we're looking for,

we will be unsatisfied and we'll crush the people that we're turning to.

We will place an unbelievable burden and weight on the people that we love most in this world

to be for us what only Jesus can be for us,

and they will crumble and break under the weight of that burden,

and you will likely lose them.

so long as we turn to comfort, hoping that it will satisfy us,

we're never going to be satisfied. Man, when you look at the early church, a group of people who

are unbelievably satisfied in Jesus, we don't see a group of people pursuing comfort at all,

like at all. The early church was a group of people who were selling everything and moving

thousands of miles away to share the gospel in a different culture. The early church was a group

of people who loved each other and sacrificed for each other so much that they were selling their

own physical property to take care of other people in their church who were in need. They were looking

outward to bless their community at sacrifice and expense to themselves, not trying to make a name

for themselves and live their best life, but make sure everyone around them was living their best

lives. They weren't pursuing comfort because they were pursuing Jesus. Luke 17 says, whoever seeks

to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. What should the church

look like? Instead of a group of people who are pursuing comfort in life, it should be a group of

people who are fostering and adopting, even when we already have a full house. It should be a group

of people who are turning down jobs that would compromise our integrity or pull us away from a

life of serving Jesus just because we want to make more money. The church should be a group of people,

Christians, who are giving ourselves away freely. People who actually believe that the words of the

Bible are true and we change our lives because of it. The church should be a group of people that

the world sees feasting on Jesus, not on our own comfort. And guys, listen, once we stop settling

for less. And once we start feasting on what's greatest, then we're actually freed up to view

money and relationships and comfort and everything else in this world the way that God designed us to.

But if our souls are not at rest in Jesus, then we will naturally turn to those things,

the things of this world, and place infinitely too much weight on them to satisfy us,

weight that they cannot bear. Are you feasting on Jesus? Are you experiencing the satisfaction

in life that only comes when you feast on him, the bread of life? Or are you looking for your

satisfaction in something infinitely weaker? That's what this whole sermon series is going to be about.

We're going to look at exactly who Jesus himself says he is, and we are going to feast on him.

And so, man, come hungry.

Come ready.

Come expectant.

Come to the feast that Jesus provides.

Let's pray together.