JESUS IS
(Jesus - The Bread of Life March 21, 2021)
Series Big Idea: "Jesus is everything all of us need"
Sermon Big Idea: "The heavenly Father sent Jesus down from heaven to be our spiritual bread"
Key Scripture (John 6:34-40)
Come with me back to a time when God physically walked the earth in human flesh. What an amazing time to have been alive. Now picture with me that you are with your family and you have all gathered with others into a synagogue to hear this man named Jesus speak. It is the time of year you and your family have been studying and remembering the specific Scriptures pertaining to the history of your nation and how God brought your ancestors out of bondage of Egypt and journey into the desert.
The day before, on the other side of the lake, you had seen Jesus feed over 5000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. The next morning you follow a crowd of people across the lake who are looking for Jesus. You and the crowd are curious to hear what Jesus has to say about anything.
When you find Him in the synagogue, Jesus makes the statement that the only reason you are following Him is because of the miracle He performed with the food. He goes on to tell the entire crowd to work for the food that lasts forever and not for the food that parishes. And after you ask Jesus how to perform the works of God He replies by saying the work of God is to believe in the One God has sent.
You remember from studying the Scriptures that Moses provided manna for your ancestors in the wilderness. So you ask Jesus what sign He would perform so you can believe. But Jesus says something you were not expecting. He says that Moses didn’t give the manna in the wilderness but God the Father did. And then Jesus says that the bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then someone from the crowd shouts out a demand from Jesus.
(John 6:34-40)
34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always!” 35 “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. 36 But as I told you, you’ve seen Me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come [to Me], and the one who comes [to Me] I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down [from heaven], not to do My will, but the will [of Him] who sent Me. 39 This is the will [of Him] who sent Me: that I should lose none [of those] He has given Me but should raise them up [on the last day]. 40 For this is the will [of My Father]: that everyone who sees the Son and believes [in Him] may have eternal life, and I will raise him up [on the last day].”
The metaphor that Jesus used for Himself in this passage would have been plain to the Jewish people He was talking to. But they didn’t comprehend the implications of what He said. He was not saying He was a physical loaf of bread. He was not saying they would not be thirsty or hungry physically ever again. It didn’t really have anything to do with the physical at all. He was saying He is the very substance of life itself. He gives it and sustains it. In Jesus there is eternal satisfaction. He says come and be filled.
Jesus had full confidence that His work on earth will be effective, because the Father enables people to come to Jesus in the first place (v 37). The person who comes to Jesus for salvation will never be driven away (v 39).
CONCLUSION
The spiritual bread that the Lord can provide is essential for life itself. It is for everyone. It must be eaten daily. It will produce spiritual growth in those who believe. These verses are a personal invitation to participate spiritually in the life of Jesus by trusting Him. Here's how we eat the "bread of life." We acknowledge that the death of Jesus on the cross was on our behalf.
The kind of faith that produces eternal satisfaction (never hunger/never thirst) is not just a faith in miracles but it is a genuine commitment to the person of the miracle-worker, Jesus Christ.
If we have then received that gift of eternal life, we must live in a constant state of availability. God wants everyone to believe in Jesus, have eternal life, and experience resurrection on the last day. There is no question that God's sovereign will be accomplished in the lives of people who belong to Jesus.
Orville Murphy, who was a Christian man who lived in the Middle East, once told the story of an Indian man who was convicted to witness for Christ on his job. So the next day he said to his Pakistani co-worker "Jesus died for you." Unfortunately he was cursed out and rejected, but the next day he said it twice, and the third day three times. Through the working of the power of the Holy Spirit and this mans simple message of the Gospel the Pakistani man broke down and gave his life to Christ. Now these former enemies are united in the cross of Jesus.
Christian, you have everything you need, share it with the world.
Pastor Beaver's thoughts and ideals for this message, are inspired by:
Holman Christian Standard Bible
English Standard Version Bible
King James Version Bible
Christian Standard Bible
The Bible Knowledge Commentary by John F. Walvoord/Roy B. Zuck
The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge by Jerome H. Smith
Water, Mark, ed. Encyclopedia of Bible Facts. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2004. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
Barry, John D. et al. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016. Print.
NIV, Archaeological Study Bible, eBook: An Illustrated Walk Through Biblical History and Culture
Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Duane Garrett, and Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
NIV, First-Century Study Bible, eBook: Explore Scripture in Its Jewish and Early Christian Context
Zondervan, Kent Dobson, and Ed Dobson
Hughes, Robert B. and J. Carl Laney. Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1990. WORDsearch CROSS e-book. Revised edition of New Bible Companion.
Vincent, Marvin Richardson. Word Studies in the New Testament. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887. Print.
Robertson, A.T. Word Pictures in the New Testament. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933. Print.
Gangel, Kenneth O. John. Vol. 4. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000. Print. Holman New Testament Commentary.
Kruse, Colin G. The Letters of John. Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos, 2000. Print. The Pillar New Testament Commentary.
Borchert, Gerald L. John 1–11. Vol. 25A. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996. Print. The New American Commentary.
Burge, Gary M. John. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000. Print. The NIV Application Commentary.
Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991. Print. The Pillar New Testament Commentary.
MacArthur, John F., Jr. The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006. Print.
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