John 6:22–36 - Bread of Life Part 1: Believing in the Bread of Life (Rev. Erik Veerman)
The Bread of Life Part #1: Seeking, Seeing, Believing
Please turn in your Bibles to John 6. We'll be focusing on verses 22-36 this morning. That is found on page 1059
I'm calling this a part 1 sermon about Jesus as the Bread of Life. But really, last week could be considered part 1. The first section of chapter 6 was about Jesus feeding the 5000. In our verses this morning, Jesus explains that the bread which he multiplied was a sign that he fulfilled as the bread of life. And then next week, he will elaborate on what that means and its implications.
So, chapter 6 is one big narrative that focuses on Christ as the bread from heaven.
If you remember from last week, the disciples are now in Capernaum on the western shore of the sea of Galilee. They had left on a boat on the eastern short without Jesus. Well, on their journey, a storm arose, but Jesus came to them, walking on the water. He calmed the storm and they arrived in Capernaum. So that is where they were, but the crowd was still on the other side of the sea.
Let's now come to God's Word.
Prayer
Reading of John 6:22-36
I know it's not Thanksgiving, but Black Friday came to mind this week. That is the day after Thanksgiving. It's the day that almost every store has crazy sales and tries to lure shoppers in to buy their stuff. It's the biggest shopping day of the year. People literally camp out the night before so that they can be the first in line and buy big TVs, fancy speakers, laptops and phones, games, and appliances. Of course, the sales are only "while supplies last." So, you'd better be there early.
You may have heard about the fist fights that break out or you may have seen the videos of people running through the store when the doors open to get to that TV before the other guy does.
It's a picture of how we will go to great lengths to satisfy our so-called needs. We want to be comfortable and well fed and have all the latest things out there. But we are not thinking about our eternal and spiritual needs.
The crowd following Jesus was similar. They wanted him to feed them. They saw the signs he did including the miracle of multiplying the bread. And they wanted more. They were even in a kind of frenzy to find him. But they didn't want him for the right reasons. They wanted to satisfy their earthly needs not their spiritual ones.
As we work our way through these verses, that is what we will see this morning. We'll see that contrast between searching for bread which will perish and searching for the bread who gives eternal life.
There's an outline on page 4 of the bulletin. We'll consider these verses in three points:
1. Seek the eternal provider
2. See the one signified
And 3. Believe in him and his eternal provision
And let me say that each point is contrasted by the Jewish crowd's selfish motivation, their lack of understand, and their unbelief. That is clear in these verses.
1. Seek the eternal provider
Ok, again, number 1, seek the eternal provider.
The crowd did not see their spiritual need and how Jesus could fulfill it. No instead, as I mentioned, they were fixated on the temporary provision thinking it could save them. They should have been seeking Jesus for who he is but instead were seeking him because of what they thought he could do for them.
That's what we see in the first couple of verses. The problem was that their motivations were suspect. Really, they didn't want Jesus. They just wanted temporary things that they thought Jesus could give them.
As we get into the narrative, remember that it was the day after Jesus fed them. And the crowd quickly realized that Jesus was no longer there. But where was he? The evening before, they had witnessed Jesus' disciples enter a boat and leave for the other side of the sea to Capernaum. But Jesus didn't get on the boat. But, where was he? They wanted to find him.
At this point in Jesus' ministry, there was a buzz, so to speak. At the end of chapter 4, Jesus had been up in Galilee and if you remember, had healed the official's son. Word had gotten out about that and other signs. Just the day before, they witnessed Jesus miraculously multiply the fish and loaves.
They crowd was (in a way) desperate to find him. They wanted to find this man who healed people and performed signs and miraculously fed them. They even believed he was the prophet that Moses promised. We learned that last week.
Well, at this point, several boats had arrived from across the sea. Maybe they had sheltered there from the storm the night before or maybe some boat owners heard there was a crowd and therefore an opportunity to make some money by ferrying them somewhere. We don't know why the boats were there.
But whatever the case, the crowd quickly got on the boats and directed them to travel to Capernaum. Remember, that's where Jesus' disciples had gone. Maybe he was somehow there?
Well, when they got to Capernaum, lo-and-behold, he was there. They had no idea how Jesus had gotten there. They hadn't seen him leave and they hadn't witnessed him walking on the water, but somehow he had arrived. That's why they asked him in verse 25, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Maybe they were wondering whether he arrived at night. Or whether he had taken a different boat. They wanted to know because they had been very eager to find him.
And here's where the narrative pivots. Jesus changed the subject. Remember, he did something similar with Nicodemus in chapter 3 and with the woman at the well in chapter 4. Jesus pivoted the conversation to penetrate to the heart of their problem. Nicodemus needed to be born again and the woman at the well needed living water.
Jesus said to the crowd, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves."
You see, they cared more about the food. They cared more about their earthly situation than their spiritual need. They wanted to find the man who performed the miracle so that he could do more miracles for them. In other words, their search for Jesus was not about Jesus, it was about what he could do for them. Their motivations were about satisfying their appetite.
Let me connect this to last week. Look a few verses earlier at verse 15. The crowd had just pronounced that Jesus was the Prophet that Moses promised. Now, look at what they wanted to do. Verse 15. It says that Jesus perceived that the crowd wanted to take him by force, and make him king. That is when Jesus withdrew from them.
They wanted to make him king because they wanted a king who would provide for their earthly needs. It's the same near sighted motivation. The irony in all of this is that Jesus was and is the true King, the eternal King, and he was the one who could truly feed them - you know, spiritually feed them for eternity. But as the crowd came to him, they only cared about their earthly and physical needs.
That is why in verse 27, Jesus then said to them, "do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life." Jesus was saying, even though the fish and the loaves fed you and it was a miracle, that bread and fish will not endure to eternal life.
To be sure, our earthly needs are important. God has made us as physical beings. We are body and soul. We have daily needs for food and water. It is not wrong to seek our daily bread. We pray for our daily bread in the Lord's prayer.
However, when our pursuit for daily provision becomes our main pursuit in life then we have lost sight of our greater need. The crowd did not see their need for the spiritual provision that Christ could give them. They simply wanted to have more of their earthly, physical, near-term needs met… food and an earthly king to provide for them.
This sin manifests itself in different ways in our hearts and in our culture.
For one, we live in a time and place of great prosperity. And it is so easy to get caught up in the rat race of our culture and the pursuit of comfort and things. Our covetous hearts do not help us! Certainly, many around us are blind to this. They cannot see that the near-term path that they are on is a path that leads to destruction and judgment. But even for believers in Christ, we can be so caught up working for our daily needs or our pursuit of comfort in this life, which can become idols, that we lose sight of our greater spiritual need. We lose sight of Christ. That's one pitfall in our culture and in our hearts.
Related to that, Jesus just becomes to us a means to an end. That's what was happening here. We've talked about this in the past. There are so-called preachers out there that say that God wants to bless you with material wealth. Your barns will be full, they say, if you just have more faith. I don’t sense that anyone here believes that, but are you seeking Jesus for who he is? As the one who saves and gives eternal provision and life, OR are there subtle ways that he has become for you just an avenue to meet your perceived needs in this life? Just to be sure, I am not disregarding the benefits and blessing that come with knowing Christ like peace with God and community. But Jesus should never be a means to an end. He is the end. He is the telos of all things.
We should be seeking him as the one who gives life and not for bread which perishes.
So, seek him, the ultimate provider.
2. See the one signified
#2. See the one signified. The crowd was so enamored with signs that they missed the significance of them.
Look at verse 30. The crowd said to Jesus, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you?" In other words, show us something. Give us a sign. It's quite ironic because Jesus had just given them a sign the day before, but they didn't see that it pointed to him.
And then the crowd mentioned the example of manna from heaven. That was to them the great sign that Moses performed as God's chosen instrument. Moses was the one, in their eyes, who opened heaven to give them this bread from heaven. The crowd wanted a sign like the manna.
As Coleman pointed out last week, this whole chapter includes allusions to Moses and the Exodus. A first century Jewish reader would have seen the parallels. We see those in reference to the Passover, the miracle of the food, the crossing of the sea, the reference to the Prophet which Moses promised. And a little bit later, the Jews grumbled just like the Israelites grumbled in the wilderness. It's all there.
Really at the heart of the parallel is the manna. The manna was the miraculous food that God provided the Israelites from heaven. We read about it earlier in the service.
Now, you may be asking, if the crowd just experienced Jesus miraculously giving them food, why would they mention the manna as an example of a sign? Well, think about this. Jesus fed 5,000 people one meal. That's amazing, but it pales in comparison to the provision of manna. There were at least 2 million Israelites in the wilderness, and they received the manna 6 days a week for 40 years. It was tremendous. And so the miracle of the manna was unparalleled from their perspective. And furthermore, it was Moses who had opened heaven on God's behalf for them.
Look at Jesus' response in verse 32. Jesus said, "truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." Jesus was telling them that they missed the point. For centuries they thought that the sign of the manna was the greatest provision of all. It was THE sign. What they didn’t realize or acknowledge is that the manna was really pointing to something greater, "true bread from heaven." They missed that.
The manna in the wilderness spoiled and only endured for a day. The true manna, on the other hand, would sustain them forever. What they needed was not more physical manna. No, what they needed was the spiritual manna from heaven.
Jesus continued, "for the bread from God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
Look how the crowd responded in verse 34. "Sir, give us this bread always." Did you notice that their response exactly paralleled what the Samaritan woman said at the well? After Jesus said to her that the water he gives will spring up to eternal life, she said, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty."
In both cases they were still thinking about physical water and physical bread. The crowd here wanted to eat this bread. They thought it was something they would physically consume. "Give us this bread, always." You know, every day, just like the manna from heaven.
And here's the climax, verse 35. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
He is the bread. The sign of manna was merely revealing that they needed true bread from heaven. They needed Christ.
Colossians chapter 2 speaks to this. It speaks of various Jewish ceremonies and institutions like food, drink, festivals, new moon, and the Sabbath. And then the apostle Paul says this in Colossians 2:17, "These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ."
Jesus is the manna who came down from heaven. He is the one who gives life. He fulfills the sign of manna. The manna was a shadow, but Christ is the substance.
In fact, Jesus' very statement that he is the bread of life affirms this.
It's the first of 7 "I AM" statements in the book of John. Besides the bread of life, Jesus also said, for example, "I am the light of the world." "I am the good shepherd." "I am the resurrection and the life." We'll consider all of them as we work our way through John.
And each of these "I am" statements is yet another connection back to Moses. A few months ago when we started this series in John, I mentioned the I AM statements. They connect back to the burning bush when God spoke to Moses in the wilderness. Remember that Moses asked God who he was. And God answered and said, "I am who I am." That's the Hebrew name, Yahweh, which means. I am.
Yes, Jesus was saying that he was spiritual bread, but he was saying a lot more than that. He was equating himself with God. To the crowd, he was saying that he was greater than Moses. They had been appealing to Moses and to the manna. But Jesus revealed to them that he is greater because he IS God. He is the I AM of God. He is the bread of life, the true manna from heaven. Those who feed on him will never hunger nor thirst. Never.
Let me put it this way, Jesus is the spiritual manna that we daily need, who will sustain us all the way to the promised land.
See not only the sign, but see the one signified.
3. Believe in him and his eternal provision
Ok, here's where we are so far:
1. Seek the eternal provider. Seek Jesus for who he is not what you believe he can do for you.
2. See the one signified. Do not get caught up in the signs themselves that you miss out on what the signs signify. Jesus' miracle of the fish and loaves and the sign of manna in the wilderness reveal who he is. Jesus is the bread of life.
And now #3. Believe in him and his eternal provision.
Jesus was telling the crowd to look to him as the bread of life, and not to the food that perishes. And he calls them to believe. How do we to receive this bread from heaven? We're to believe in him.
Earlier in these verses, the crowd had asked what they needed to do? Did you catch that? They had this mentality that they needed to be working to receive the food that endures to eternal life. In verse 29, Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
Let me make something very clear. Faith or belief in God is not a work. We do not work in any way to earn favor from God. That is why verse 29 says, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in him'” Do you see the emphasis that it is God's work? Our belief is in response to God's work. In fact, this is very clear throughout all of chapter 6. It is God who draws people to himself. The Father is the one who is at work. We believe by faith in God's work… what he has done and is doing in Christ and through his Spirit. We'll see this very clearly next week.
The crowd's problem was that they did not believe in him. And look at the stinging statement that Jesus made to them in verse 36. "But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe."
I grew up in the church. It was not a reformed or Presbyterian church, but it was faithful. One of my elementary Sunday school teachers said something that was kind of shocking to me at the time. She said, "there are people in the church who are not Christians." She wasn't talking about visitors who were exploring Christianity and were coming to search for truth. She was referring to people who had been in the church for a while and who thought they were believers in Christ, but hadn't truly believed in him. My little 9-year-old mind had a hard time understanding that at the time, but it stuck with me.
When Jesus said to them that they had seen him but do not believe, he was telling them that even though they thought they were God's people, they had yet to believe. Many of them were Jews by birth. After all, they had just demonstrated a knowledge of the Scriptures and Israel's history, yet they were not secure in God. They did not have the eternal life that God promises for those who believe in him.
They did not believe in the true manna, the bread of life. Jesus could not have been clearer to them. Let me read verse 35 one more time because it's so important. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." To receive the food that endures to eternal life, is to believe in the one who is the bread of life.
I know many of you and your testimonies of faith in Christ. But some of you I don't know as well or we haven't yet me, and so I want to ask, have you feasted on the bread of life? Do you believe in the one who will satisfy your spiritual thirst and hunger forever? Let me say, he is the only one who can satisfy your soul forever.
All other life pursuits when they are your primary life pursuits are working for bread which perishes. But the work of God is that you believe in the one sent from heaven. He is the true manna of God.
Conclusion
In summary, the crowds were seeking Jesus but for the wrong reasons. They were seeking Jesus as a means to an end. They were seeking the manna that their forefathers experienced and tasted. They wanted that manna instead of realizing that physical manna was meant to direct their attention to the true end - to Jesus himself. Standing before them and standing before us in heaven is the Bread of Life, the true manna from heaven. He is the I AM of God. And he calls us to believe in him.
May we repent of working for bread which perishes. May we not trust in the things of this world which cannot save. May we not look to the signs and shadows but to the substance which is Christ. May we, believe in him, the Bread of Life, who will feed us for eternity.