I am the bread of life (6/3/18 The Book of Life #30)

ATTN:I experienced first hand the power of words last weekend. I was invited to a wedding of my former youth last Saturday. This time though, I didn’t have to officiate the wedding and was able to enjoy the wedding stress free. Now, as Janet and I were driving to the wedding, which was in Issaquah, we wondered about who would be at the wedding. Certainly groom’s high-school friends would be there, but we couldn’t quite remember who were in his class. I was a youth pastor for 11 years at a church that had anywhere between 200 to 150 youth, and we categorize the students in our minds according to the peers that they graduated with. And we couldn’t quite figure out who were in his year. But when we got to the wedding, we got to find out. The faces that we haven’t seen perhaps more than a decade were there. The ones I had known since they were in 7th grade, whose homes I visited, whose parents I prayed with, whose schools I had lunch at, whose struggles I have counseled, some of the ones I had given my youth to were there! It was a grand time of reunion. One of them, frankly, I didn’t even remember him, came up to me said that I shared the gospel with him when he came to our church on his senior year and he even remembered what message I shared with him. And this was more than 10 years ago. He gave his life to Christ then and ever since then, he’s been following the Lord. Now, he’s an officer in the military, engaged, and off to U.C. Berkely for law school. Another boy, I should say, now a man, who is now training the marines in the Navy, he is a father himself and told me how I had a vital role in those few formative years when he was in high school and he got grounded in the Lord then and now, he tries to raise his own family in the Lord. And many others we met that day and I was singing praises that day as we were driving back how faithful the Lord is. A decade and more after sowing the seeds, he lets us see some of the fruit in an unexpected way, just when I needed it, as I felt buried in work and ministry lately feeling the burn out… And then that followed by Pastor Eldie’s stirring message last Sunday when he drove home the word of God, and then again on Monday evening when our family went out with Isaac and Eileen as they were moving back to california and we had dinner with them and hearing their testimony just encouraged our hearts.

           Looking back at last weekend, it was the intimate moment that Martyn Lloyd Jones talks about. Most of the time, you are walking with the Lord on a journey side by side. But there are times when he picks you up, hugs and kisses you all over to let us know how much He loves us. Last weekend was one such experience that the Lord had allowed.

RECAP: We want to be that kind of encouragement to you through the preaching of the word. Let me recap where we have been: Two weeks ago, I said that that the miracle of the feeding of the 5000  revealed something about the people and something about Jesus. 1) people were acting as mercenaries toward Jesus. 2) Jesus came to be bread and not just give them bread. And then last week, Pastor Eldie preached an inspirational sermon on how God would not only not prevent a bad thing like a storm to come into our lives, (We don’t believe: “If I come to Jesus, He won’t let anything bad happen to me!”)  but He would invite us into a storm so that we would not become self-reliant but God-reliant.

           Today, we are back to talking about Jesus being bread because that’s where the text takes us. But notice the progression: Jesus just fed 5000 people and when people wanted to make Him king, He disappears! Jesus rejects fame, fortune and power. Very different from us, isn’t He? Then, he lets his disciples cross the lake and lets a storm come on their way and then he strolls on the water to show something extra to the disciples. Now, this miracle of walking on water, Jesus didn’t show to anyone else but the disciples. The feeding of 5000, everyone got to witness it, but this walking on water, only the disciples witnessed it. What was Jesus showing them? That His presence is all they need. To solidify who Jesus is and sear it into their minds, because He knew they would die for their faith in just a few years. To the crowd, he gives them a sign. To the 12, He gives them what the sign points to – Himself.

           Back to the story: As you can imagine, people are looking for Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is useful to them. He gives them free food and turns water into wine. And He speaks of puzzling things that are interesting. What is not to like? But Jesus, in today’s passage, finally confronts them and exposes their motive for following Him.  

So, in v. 35, He says directly and clearly, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

And then he goes on for another 22 verses expounding on what this means. There is so much here that I can easily preach 5 messages on these verses. But today, I will limit myself and tackle just one aspect of that statement. And that is, what are the similarities and differences between the physical bread and Himself? He is using the physical barley bread they ate the day before as a metaphor to describe something actual. So, there must some similarities between bread and Himself that he is using this metaphor, but since it’s a metaphor, there must be some differences as well. What are they?

I. Similarities

1.  Bread is essential to life.

It’s something we need in order to live. We need physical food to survive. There aren’t whole lot of things we absolutely need in order to live. Three essence of life – food, clothes, shelter. But clothes and shelter, if we absolutely must, we could do without. But food, we cannot do without. Likewise, when Jesus says that He is the bread of life, He’s saying that He’s absolutely essential to life, whether we know it or not.  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”v. 33 Just like physical bread or food, sustains our physical life, Jesus sustains and therefore is essential to life. We will not live without Him literally giving breath to our lungs.

These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

  when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. (Psalm 104:27-29)

           People who don’t have Jesus do not have a life. It’s not that they have a bad life; it’s that they don’t have a life. “Jesus did not come to make bad people good, but dead people live!” That is why Jesus describes this new life as being born again. Jesus said, “I am come that you might have you and have it abundantly”(John 10:10) Jesus is absolutely essential to life if we are to have a life beyond this physical life.

2. it satisfies us (satiates our hunger).

It’s something we want! It is pleasurable to eat! I love coming home after a hard day at work and I’m famished. And when I come in through the door to my house, and I get a waft of whatever Janet is cooking up, I don’t even wanna go upstairs to change. I just wanna sit at my kitchen and eat. And when I put that morsel of food in my mouth, there’s that satisfaction that comes from eating. God made food tasty. Have you ever thanked God for that? He could’ve made us without any taste buds so that we would just chug food like our cars chug gasoline without any satisfaction, but God gave us tastebuds to actually enjoy the food that our body needs. Bread satisfies our hunger.

So, Jesus also satisfies our soul. I shared my testimony in the beginning. It might be through encouraging words, it could be through reading and meditating of the word in the morning or it could be through the preached of the word – when our soul is downcast, when we are discouraged or feel very small and worthless, someone speaks Jesus into our ears, our soul revives. Like a newborn babe needs mother’s milk, we need the pure milk of God which is the word of Christ. And not only does it nourish us, but it also satisfies us.  

3. It reminds us that we are dependent creatures

We need something outside of ourselves to live. We are not self-sufficient no matter how independent we want to be. God, unlike us, is self-sufficient. He neither eats nor sleeps. He doesn’t need anything outside of himself to live. But we do. We are dependent on the physical food to survive physically. And we are also dependent upon the Bread of life to sustain us spiritual. We are not self-existing. That should humble us. We are so easy to kill! It ought to humble us to know that no matter how scientifically advanced we are, we are entirely dependent on something that grows from the ground.

           Now to the differences. And these differences are what made the Jews think twice about following Jesus. Spoiler alert: This conversation that Jesus is having with the people that started with “I am the Bread of life?” ends badly. Many stop following Jesus after this! Obviously, they didn’t like what they heard and they simply stop following. Now, I have no doubt that many people who came to our church listened to the messages in the same vein as Jesus’ and stopped coming because it’s not what they wanted to hear. We preach Jesus as Bread and not simply as one who gives bread. And some people don’t like that. We are okay with it. If our church disappears because no one wants it, then so be it. Jesus was rejected and if we are rejected for the same reason, then let God be praised!

II. Differences

  1. Jesus is a person; bread is a thing.

Jesus says, “I am the bread of life;” “I” here is a living, breathing, feeling person in Jesus. But bread is not. What Jesus is emphasizing is a relationship. We are created for a relationship. There is a clue to the meaning of life in relationship. We clamor for it, we need it, we are made for it, and without it, something goes very wrong. Medical personnel and health care experts tell us that there is a vast difference between babies that are held and touched by human hands vs. ones who have not been. Even though the same nutrition and same essential care are given to both babies, those who do not have human contact will stop growing, don’t develop normally and even die, and if they make it, they run into all kinds of pshychological problems in life. We know the devastating effects isolation and loneliness have on teenagers. Some will do the unthinkable to themselves when proper relationships are lacking. We are created for relationships.

But we not only need human relationships. We need someone greater. We are ultimately created by god and for and to be with and in God.  That relationship was severed through our sin and rebellion, and so like drug addicts who ran out of drugs look for any substitute that will give them a high, we look to fill that relational void in marriage, sex, career, money, travel, but nothing will quite fill it. But Jesus came to reestablish that relationship that was lost. Like a prodigal son, we have abandoned our father, but he came after us and redeemed us and made us God’s children again. What we get when we get Jesus is not a thing or things but a person.

2.             The bread is a sign; Jesus is what it’s pointing to.

Bread was an illustration. Jesus was the actual object that it was illustrating.

           Have you ever thought of the world this way? That this whole world is a pointer to Jesus? The reason the world exists is to reflect the glory of Christ? Consider this logic: When Adam and Eve sinned, God could have destroyed the whole world right then and there. But He didn’t. Why not? My answer is it was so that His Son, Jesus, would be revealed to the world. All of human history exists so that God’s Son would be known to the world. Listen to this enigmatic passage:8and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. Rev. 13:7.

           The Bible scholars agree that the last phrase – the book of life of the Lamb who was slain is actually referring to the title of the book of life that contains the names of those who have been chosen. So, it’s not that our names are written there when we receive and believe in Jesus But the reason why we receive and believe in Jesus is because our names are written there! They were written before the foundation of the world, it says! And the name of that book? “The book of life of the Lamb who was slain” Wait. There was a book with our names written before we were even created? Yes. And that book was called, the Lamb who was slain? But we haven’t even been created yet. Adam and Eve weren’t even there. They hadn’t sin yet because they weren’t created yet. And yet God knew that Jesus would die for the world?

           You know what? My head is way too small to understand it… I cannot comprehend it. But I know this. This world exists not for us but to reveal Jesus as glorious. Jesus uses all kinds of metaphors to point this out: Bread, water, salt, light, life, truth, resurrection, cornerstone, son, the father, every walks of life Jesus uses as illustration. Why? Because this earth is an illustration, a sign that points to Himself! (Heavens declare the glory)

3.             Bread sustains earthly life for a short time; Jesus gives eternal life.

35 I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.V. 40 everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

           Jesus is permanent, bread is not. Bread sustains us for this life only, but Jesus will give us eternal life that will last forever. And that eternal life does not start when we die physically, it starts the moment we receive Jesus! That means, we can start knowing Him as a person. We can find joy in little things, even in hardships and difficulties because they are there to train us to rely on Jesus and see Jesus better. And then we have a hope knowing that this joy that was put in us will grow and grow and become fully blossomed into eternal quality of life.

           Would you like this Bread? Would you like to know this Bread? Would you like to taste and enjoy this bread?  Would you want to see your eternal life secure in Jesus and enjoy Him forever? Then, come to Him and receive Him. Believe in Him. Trust in Him. and come to Him again and again to draw from Him.