08-12-18
Sunday Morning Sermon
John 6:25-59
Today, we are going to be continuing on with our message coming
from the Book of John 6:25-59 ESV
To refresh a little on what is going on, I would like to begin
to read starting in verse 6:22.
Beginning with verse 22
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.”
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.”
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.
36) But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me.
37) However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and
I will never reject them.
38) For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who
sent me, not to do my own will.
39) And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one
of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.
40) For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and
believe in Him should have eternal like.
·
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’?”
43) But
Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said.
44) For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.
45) As it is written in the Scriptures,
·
‘They will all be taught by God.’
·
Everyone who listens to the
Father and learns from him comes to me.
46) [Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was
sent from God, have seen him.]
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.”
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.
55) For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56) Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me
and I in him.
57) I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same
way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me.
58) I am the true bread that came down from heaven.
·
Anyone who eats this bread will
not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live
forever.”
59) He
said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.”
I believe it would be safe for us to believe at the beginning of
our Scripture for today,
·
The people of the crowd are like
our world is today.
·
They were a little impatient,
·
They were disbelieving, skeptical,
and maybe even somewhat argumentative with, and even combative even
with Jesus.
25)
“They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when
did you get here?”
You know, He never did
answer them.
·
What could we assume was the
reason for him NOT to answer?
28)
They said,
·
“We want to perform God’s works, too.”
·
“What should we do?”
Jesus replies in a way which they didn’t want to hear.
·
Jesus answers: The ONLY Thing you can do
is to BELIEVE!
30)
They then demand,
·
“Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you.
·
After all - What can you do?”
31) You know,
·
It was our ancestors who ate the manna!
·
And The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave our ancestors bread
from heaven to eat!’”
32)
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth,
·
Moses didn’t give you bread from
heaven.
·
It was My Father who did.
·
And now My Father offers you
o 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.”
I Do NOT believe that this conversation was getting off to a
calm start or at the very least, we could say that the crowd was not on the
best of terms with Jesus.
What About YOU?
There just seems to always be the ones who whine and complain
and whine and complain!
In
verse 32 and 33,
·
Jesus is referring to the fact
that
o Even when God gave all of the Israelites manna,
o They still complained.
·
They were still NOT satisfied.
And it didn’t take too long before they complained that they
wanted
·
Meat so God gave them quail
·
But were they satisfied?
Then later on, the whole Israelite community
·
Complained to Moses that
o They were just dying of thirst!
But they had wetness in their mouths to complain so they were
NOT Dying of thirst.
But Moses said, “Give us water to drink.”
·
And Moses struck a rock
o And water came out from it
Yep, for 40 Years –
They seemed to never be happy.
They were never satisfied.
The problem was, that They ALL
·
Continued to hunger after
o Their own righteousness.
Are we like that today?
·
Do we go through life whining and
complaining?
·
Are we never happy?
·
Are we never satisfied?
·
I am not talking about Laziness, here
o But rather, at Peace in
Life.
o SATISFIED?
o CONTENT?
o HAPPY?
In verse 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 once again,
·
Using a very common ITEM
·
An Everyday – type of thing
·
In order so that we can relate
with Him
·
So we can learn about
o And so we can understand
o The Kingdom of His Father.
Jesus uses bread
in his object lesson for us.
We may think
·
“Jesus is the Bread of Life.
·
We know this,
·
Is there anything more?
·
OK, what else is there?”
But there is so much more.
For us to TRULY
·
Understand the FULL Meaning of
this
·
We need to understand a few
things.
First:
·
We need to understand that there
are two kinds of bread.
·
There is Good Bread
·
And then there is Bad bread.
We have:
·
The Bread of Life
·
And we also have the Bread of Un-Life
ON a Side Note:
The ingredients of bread is simple,
·
Flour,
·
A small amount of Yeast
·
And of course Water.
·
“Wheat is the most
common type of flour used in bread baking.
·
And Yeast is the heart
of the bread. It allows the bread to rise and it gives the bread that wonderful
taste and aroma.”
·
And of course, we need
some water to mix it all.”
·
We crush the grain of wheat to a
powder form.
·
And then we separate the parts of
the grain.
·
The bran and wheat germ part of the grain are pulled out and
they are generally used to make other things.
·
And then the rest of the grain is
used for making bread.
However, during Jesus’ days, Things were a little different.
They did not practice in the separation of the bran and wheat
germ from the flour
·
So all of it went into making the
bread.
·
And it is this bran and wheat germ
o Which GREATLY shortens the shelf-life
o Of the bread.
o So in the morning they had fresh bread but my the end of the day,
§ It would have already t
§ Been turning sour and even growing some mold on it as well.
Bread of that day,
·
Could not be kept without
o Adding a great deal of preservatives in it.
·
Their bread is so much different
than our bread which we have today,
o Which is full of preservatives.
A loaf of bread today can be kept
·
Without showing any mold
·
For well over a week
·
With even just having it sitting
on the counter.
But back in Jesus’ day,
·
And even continuing today in the
Middle East,
·
Bread had to be baked fresh
o Every morning.
And by nightfall, that same bread
·
Would be hard, stale
·
And the mold and fungus of decay
would have already started its work.
This is the
bread of un-life
·
The Rotten Bread
·
This Bad Bread is what Jesus
o Would have been thinking about
o As Jesus spoke about being
o The Fresh Bread
o The Good Bread
o The Bread of Life.
The Bread of Life is
always
·
Fresh smelling,
·
Has moisture within it,
·
Great Tasting,
Don’t you just love the
smell of Fresh Baked Bread?
Jesus said.
·
“I am the Bread of
Life,”
Jesus was referring to
Himself
·
As the Bread
·
Because He is everlastingly
fresh.
He is comparing His Kingdom
·
With a never ending – early - morning
·
Where the smell of fresh baked bread
o Would have filled the
people
·
So they would never be hungry again.
o They would be
Satisfied!
Jesus was telling us that His Bread,
·
He HAS the preservatives of the
Father’s Kingdom in Him
So What IS OR What can we expect this Bread of Life to be like?
In the Aramaic (R-A-Mak) language,
·
One of the meanings of Satan
o Or evil is Distortion.
The Bread of Life (CHRIST)
is able
·
To discern the Truth
o As opposed to falsehood or lies.
Thus, the preservative of the Kingdom of God
·
Will, It Does, preserve the
people
o From these false illusions.
The Bread of Life
then,
·
Would not let the people of God
·
To become separated
o From the Reality
o And Love of God.
By eating the Bread of
Life,
·
By BECOMING the Bread of Life
·
It Allows us to know and
understand that
o The bread of un-life,
o The bread of death,
o Satan himself,
o This Distortion or this illusion,
§ Can Not have any lasting effect upon us.
That is IF we Continue
to Eat the Bread of Life EVERYDAY.
WARNING
In a sense,
·
Jesus is also telling us
·
That if we partake of
o The bread of un-life,
o The bread of death,
o The Distortion or illusion,
o It is ALSO VERY TRUE
That
o We will become part of
§ That very death and illusion.
We will become partners with the evil
·
And therefore become co-inflictors
of it.
So Jesus says, “Come to me.”
“I am the Bread
of Life.”
“Partake of me.”
“And you will never be hungry ever again.”
So What Does this Bread of Life look like?
I will answer that within a short but true story.
There was a man called Charlie,
·
Who, beyond a shadow of doubt,
·
He knew that he was Extremely
Blessed by God.
He had a loving wife who stood by him in thick and thin.
·
In both the good times
·
And in the bad ones.
God Blessed them both with 6 wonderful children. They had 4
Daughters and 2 Sons.
One evening on his stroll home from the furniture store where he
worked,
·
He thought about how blessed his
wife and he were.
·
They were able to build their
very own house
·
On a nice street
·
Which was Close to where he
worked
·
And close to their church
·
And they were able to move into
it just last year.
“Yes”, he said to himself,
·
“My family and I are certainly
Truly Blessed by God.”
Every day on his stroll home from work,
·
Charlie would pass by their
church
·
And he would take inventory of all
of the things that needed some attention.
This church had a special place within
·
Charlie’s heart because it was
here that Charlie was baptized back in 1917.
And whenever he was at the church,
·
He would look around and take not
of the things that needed to be fixed.
·
And sometimes they were very
small things like changing a light bulb.
Every day, on his way home from work,
·
If there was something that
needed fixing,
·
Charlie would patiently climb
those church steps
·
And begin to work on what needed
to be done.
Sometimes it was marks on the tile floor
·
Left from the children’s playing.
·
Charlie would begin to scrub off
the scuff marks.
·
As Charlie worked, he would pray
·
“Many people within our congregation wouldn’t agree with you and
me Lord,”
·
“But you and I just love these marks made by our children.”
·
“Oh my Lord, what would the Kingdom be like without the energy of
the children?”
Sometimes it would be light bulbs
·
That Charlie would stop and take the
time to replace.
·
“Just think Lord, this is Your Light” he prayed while he was
moving his ladder throughout the church.
And on another he would remembered that on the
·
Previous Sunday he noticed a
leaky faucet that needed new washers.
·
As he checked out the spigot,
o He reflected back upon the time
o When he himself received the
o Life-Giving Waters of his baptism.
Sometimes it was squeaky doors which
·
Needed some oil
·
And he would go around to every
door
·
And oil the hinges and the
latches so
·
They would work properly.
·
As he moved about, he was reminded
o That Jesus was the Door of
Life.
o That Christ was the threshold
to the Kingdom of God.
And then there would be those times when it would be the
windows.
·
He worked on the outside one day
·
And then on the next, he would
clean the inside.
He would check the window latches
·
And sand
·
And varnish any bare wood that he
saw.
When he was checking each window, he would look through and pray to God,
·
“It is only with Having a Heart-of-the Kingdom Of God
·
That one can see Right,
·
Because what is important is always invisible to the naked eye.”
·
Then there was always those days
when he would check on the furnace in the basement.
·
Charlie would replace the filters
·
And make sure the pilot light was
burning true and bright.
·
This is when he would be reminded of the Love and Warmth of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
And on those hot summer days he would
·
Often fix screens and while he
was mending them,
·
He thought of the cool breeze of God’s Mercy.
And there was a never end to the
·
Wastebaskets that needed to be
emptied
·
And trash that needed to be
carried out and taken away.
·
And this reminded Charlie of humanity’s garbage, SIN and of the
dark side.
Charlie was most certainly a blessed man.
·
He was Blessed in knowing God’s
Son, the Bread of Life.
Charlie lived a long and rich life.
·
But when he was 87 years old,
·
On that one cold - icy evening, he
slipped on the ice
o While he was walking up those steps of the church.
After that, He never returned to his once new home that they had
built
·
But rather, after being released
from the hospital,
·
He went to live in a nearby
nursing home where he received the best of care.
And for such a long time afterwards,
·
At Charlie’s church,
·
People would stop and say such
things as:
·
“Look at those marks on the floor,
why aren’t they being cleaned up”
·
“I can’t see to sing or read in the church anymore. Why haven’t those
light bulbs been replaced?”
·
“And there goes those doors again. Why doesn’t someone oil that squeak?”
·
“And isn’t it cold in here today? I wonder why the furnace isn’t working.”
It seemed that these questions were always answered by:
“Well, Charlie used to fix that.”
Charlie went to see the Lord in 1987 but still today, in that
church when a task needs to be done, someone is always there to say, “Charlie used to take care of that.”
Charlie was a man who did what he could on helping others find
their way to the Lord.
He did this not for his attention nor for his glory but for the
Lords.
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.
55) For my flesh is true food,
·
And my blood is true drink.
56) Anyone who eats my flesh
·
And drinks my blood
·
Remains in me and I in him.
57) I live because of the living Father who sent me;
·
In the same way,
·
Anyone who feeds on me will live
because of me.
58) I am the true bread that came down from heaven.
·
Anyone who eats this bread will
not die as your ancestors did
·
(even though they ate the manna)
·
But will live forever.”
God would be so pleased
·
And we too would be so Blessed
·
If we would only live as Charlie
did.
