The Better Bread

Transcript

Good morning family Before we begin this morning I did want to just take a Brief moment to just express how thankful I am for you For the ways in which you have cared for my family over the last couple of weeks We’re thankful for every text message and voicemail Letters in the mail hospital visits for your prayers for meals It has been a great encouragement to my family, so I’m very thankful for you all it’s one thing to stand up here and encourage the members of the congregation to Practice this one anothering and it is a whole other thing to be the recipient of that as a member of the church And so thank you kindly for your love and care for my family this morning We’re gonna be looking at John chapter 6 verses 22 through 59 I’m also thankful for pastor Andre stepping in last minute to preach

I think he had like one day to kind of put some stuff together And so brother, thank you for doing that and I’m thankful for your patience as we kind of navigate the text We started one way then we maneuvered a little bit and now we’re going back But John chapter 6 verses 22 through 59 if you don’t have a Bible with you this morning There’s some Bibles in front of you in the seat in that basket. You could find our text on page 838 If you don’t own a Bible You are welcome to take that Bible home with you as our gift to you Because of the length of our text this morning. I’m gonna approach it a bit differently than usual Rather than break it down verse by verse in real time. I’m gonna read the entire section at the beginning And we’re gonna walk through it together from about 30,000 feet

The Shallow Search

We’ll take some stops along the way to touch on some key texts that I think accentuate the overall weight of the text and my goal in doing that is to Basically help us grasp the big picture of the text without getting lost in the weeds And so I’ll read our text this morning. We’ll pray and then we’ll we’ll dig into this text John chapter 6 beginning at verse 22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea Saw that there had only been one boat there and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples But that his disciples had gone away alone The other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given. Thanks So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples They themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him rabbi. When did you come here? Jesus answered them truly I say to you are seeking me not because you saw signs But because you ate your fill of the loaves Do not work for the food that perishes But for the food that endures to eternal life Which the Son of Man will give to you for on him God the Father has set his seal Then they said to him. What must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them. This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent So they said to him then what sign do you do that? We may see and believe you what work? Do you perform our? Fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat

Jesus said to them 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 for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world They said to him sir Give us this bread always Jesus said to them. I am the bread of life Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and This is the will of him who sent me

That I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day For this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life And I will raise him up on the last day So the Jews grumbled about him because he said I am the bread that came down from heaven They said it’s not this Jesus The son of Joseph whose father and mother we know How does he now say I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them do not grumble among yourselves No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day it is written in the prophets and They will all be taught by God Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me

Not that anyone has seen the father except he who is from God. He has seen the father Truly I say to you whoever believes has eternal life I am the bread of life your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die I am the living bread that came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread He will live forever and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh the Jews then Disputed among themselves saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them Truly I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood You have no life in you Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day

For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him as The Living Father sent me and I live because of the father So whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me This is the bread that came down from heaven not like the bread the fathers ate and died Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum Family, this is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God. Let’s pray Our Father in our God we do thank you for your word this morning We thank you that Your word is the wisdom of God and We pray now. Oh Lord that as we open up your word that you would help us to feast on it

The Supernatural Source

And not only to eat of your word But we pray Oh God by the help of your Holy Spirit that you would change us by your word Conform us into the image of Jesus convict us in areas where we need to be convicted So that we might be encouraged and live godly lives reveling in the goodness and the gifts of God our Father We pray that you would be our guide this morning. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen Family, what does freedom taste like? for a soldier returning from combat freedom Might taste like metal and blood The bitter taste of sacrifice and loss for a prisoner stepping into sunlight after years behind bars freedom might taste like cold unfamiliar air a crisp and almost forgotten taste for Israel the people of God freedom probably tasted like dust and desperation After centuries of slavery God delivered his people

They walked through walls of water and as they stood on dry ground they could smell victory and could taste freedom But freedom wasn’t easy for Israel and it wasn’t paradise It was a wilderness Yes, there were no more chains. No more taskmasters. No more bricks But also there was no bread So the people began to grumble and complain against Moses, what’s the deal? Did you bring us out here to die? You know at least in Egypt we had meat and bread out here. We have nothing now what and so Moses did the only thing he could do he turned to God and in mercy God answered The next morning as the dew evaporated from the heat of the Sun what was left on the ground was this strange small white thin like frost flakes And the people asked what is it? Moses tells them this manna

bred from heaven and This manna came down in the form of new mercies every morning faithfully for 40 years But this manna also came with a lesson daily dependence You see they couldn’t hoard it They had to open up their hands and trust what God provided daily. They couldn’t skip it if they did they starved and In each provision every single morning God wasn’t just feeding them He was forming them to be dependent upon him to live But the manna as Miraculous as it was couldn’t save them from death. So yes, they ate every single day but eventually they died and That’s because the bread was mercy not resurrection It was provision Not salvation, so it kept them alive for a little while, but it couldn’t keep them alive forever And you see that’s because the manna This great, what is it? Was always meant to be more than just a meal

Yes, it was provision. But more importantly it was a shadow of a better bread to come from heaven and so then 1,500 years later Jesus shows up on the scene and says I am the bread from heaven Not the kind that spoils Not the kind that fades but the kind that gives life Eternal life and this family is the bread that we’re exploring this morning in our text the better bread And so what I want to do this morning as we move through this long beautiful and sometimes challenging Conversation is to help us see what true freedom tastes like and to help us take it all in I’ve broken this text up into four digestible scenes And so if you’re the note-taking type here are the scenes in verses 22 through 26 We’ll look at the shallow search and verses 27 through 33. We’ll look at the supernatural source in

verses 34 through 40 the satisfying substance and then verses 41 through 59 the secure salvation So let’s begin with scene 1 the shallow search Now just to set some context because we’ve kind of reordered the preaching a little bit Just one day earlier from this narrative Jesus was teaching the large crowds and having been there all day The people obviously became hungry and instead of sending them away like the disciples asked Jesus provided for them by multiplying Bread and fish for everyone to eat and it was a moment that was so powerful and so filled with Tangible provision that the people immediately wanted to crown Jesus as king but Jesus refused and Eventually withdrew from the crowd and if you remember when Andre preached this first He withdrew to the mountain alone and then later in the middle of the night Jesus crossed over the sea

But he didn’t cross by boat instead he crossed over by walking on the water passing by his disciples To show them something deeper than just provision and that was his very identity well now after a day and night of Miracles, it’s morning and the crowd wakes up from the first feeding miracle only to find Jesus is gone The provider has disappeared and so in an attempt to find Jesus they get into their boats and they cross over to the sea They cross over the Sea of Galilee hoping to find Jesus there and as they’re working their way Across the sea to find him you can just imagine that the people are hungry again They woke up to no breakfast They’ve been hustling to get to Jesus and so their appetite for another miracle was quickly rising But while they were pursuing Jesus with empty stomachs what we see from this first section is that the returning crowd?

was full of assumptions Namely that Jesus would provide another miracle meal We also see that their desire in pursuing Jesus had more to do with signs Than a genuine desire to hear Jesus’s teachings And we know this because when they finally find Jesus they ask him this very strange question in verse 25 They say rabbi. When did you get here? Not why did you leave us? Not what do you have to say to us this morning not even can you help feed us again? They just asked when did you get here and you see it’s subtle? But the question reveals that they were more concerned with trying to keep up with the movements of Jesus Rather than his message and that small question reveals a very big problem their pursuit of Jesus was shallow and superficial they were primarily looking for another meal for another miracle and

Jesus sees right through it and so he doesn’t answer their question Instead he addresses their motives. He says in verse 26 Truly I say to you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves and To be clear. This is not just a correction This is a confrontation Jesus is saying you’re not coming to me for me You’re coming because your stomachs are growling again You see they weren’t hungry for the truth of Jesus’s teachings They were hungry for food. They’re chasing them down not to receive his wisdom, but to be satisfied in the most Superficial way and family Jesus’s words here might very well be confronting some of us this morning Are you following Jesus because he is the bread of life or because he gives bread? In other words is your faith rooted in who he is or in what you’re hoping he’ll do for you

Because the truth is it’s easy to want Jesus because sometimes Jesus offers relief in the midst of suffering It’s easy to want Jesus in moments of crises because he can provide help and listen just to be clear Jesus delights in meeting the tangible needs of his people But if you only come to Jesus when you have, you know needs or to have your needs met Then there needs to be some realignment in your approach of Jesus. I mentioned this before God is not a vending machine he is King and he deserves your time and your allegiance and your complete devotion and The question for all of us and I think it’s a reasonable question to ask is are we chasing the giver or just the gifts that the giver gives and Listen, this can be a very confusing thing for Christians Having been a Christian as long as I have I’ve heard this said over and over again

Come to Jesus and he will fix what is broken in your life Come to Jesus and he will you know, make your messy marriage fixed Come to Jesus if your finances are in ruin and Jesus will fix it But family what is true is that Jesus does deal with what’s broken about us? But it’s primarily dealing with the brokenness of our hearts our sin problem and our righteous standing before God Jesus never promised to fix every facet of your life. What he promised is to be with you in the brokenness His presence is what he promised and here’s the truth Sometimes the brokenness in our lives is the very means God uses to draw us closer to him Not to punish us Not to push us away But to actually pull us in because the ultimate goal of the Christian life isn’t that we get things from Jesus

But that we get to have Jesus He’s the treasure He is the reward. He’s not just a giver of good things. He is the good thing and listen, Jesus doesn’t simply confront them and us what he does here is he offers us a Correction and this brings us to scene to the supernatural source We see this in verses 27 and 33 here in this section Jesus doesn’t just expose false motives He redirects them to something greater He says in verse 27 Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life and to be clear This is not simply a suggestion from Jesus This is wisdom in the form of a command This is in every way a redirection of desire He’s moving us from the gifts to the giver He’s saying listen, you’re gonna give your whole life

Working for things working to get things You’re gonna pursue the things of this world with all of your energy your heart and your time You’re gonna work your entire life trying to acquire things And the question Jesus is asking is will those things endure? In other words Don’t waste your life pursuing or working on that which is temporary Don’t invest your calendar your emotional bandwidth Your best thoughts all of your money on bread that will mold in the morning Stop building your whole pursuits around a perishable feast Now listen, Jesus isn’t implying here that food is unimportant Jesus had just fed them the day before if you remember he had compassion on them when they were hungry and Jesus came in the flesh and entered into our physical needs So he’s not telling them to you know Live as like these super spiritual people who float through life without any physical needs or desires

what he’s doing is he’s exposing our misplaced ambition or Obsessions or idolatry with seeking God for material things or comfort or the things that we get out of it for coming to Jesus only when our stomachs growl or When our bank account gets low or when our circumstances get desperate Yes, Jesus meets our needs and he delights. He says come to me with your needs But if you only pursue Jesus when you have needs then your relationship with Jesus is transactional It’s saying I will follow if you feed me. I Will do what you ask as long as you give me what I ask Can I ask you this morning? What does your pursuit of Jesus look like when it’s inconvenient? When it costs you something Do you still want him when those spiritual feelings fade or when the provision pauses Or when the path that you’re currently walking on gets difficult

Listen the crowd came to Jesus looking for comfort But Jesus came to offer himself to those who would lay aside their comforts to follow him And family this is the difference between convenience Christianity and true discipleship and Here’s the point Material provision isn’t the final prize it’s simply a pointer and Jesus won’t let them or us this morning settle with full stomachs But with an empty soul and listen, there is grace in this correction Jesus doesn’t just tell them to stop chasing the wrong bread You’re pursuing the wrong thing He offers them better bread He invites them and us to shift our pursuit from that which is temporary to that which is eternal from something that fades to someone who endures Family what you need most is something eternal and Jesus tells them in verse 27 The Son of Man will give it to you

Meaning Jesus will give you the bread that will endure forever. And did you catch the contrast? That Jesus is making here in verse 27. He’s saying don’t work for bread that fades Instead I will give you bread that lasts forever so not working but receiving What’s true for most people is that we work to earn our paychecks most people anyway You don’t work You don’t eat you’ve heard that before right? You don’t eat you don’t live What Jesus is saying here is? You don’t work to get eternal life Jesus Is telling them and us there is a kind of hunger for your soul that no paycheck can satisfy There is a kind of life that no labor can achieve a kind of satisfaction That doesn’t come from all of your hard work, but comes only from grace In other words, you can’t make this bread

You can only receive it from the hand of God freely Fully and most importantly forever But here’s the thing family you have to want him more than what he gives You have to love the giver not just the gifts that he gives and So let me ask you is your pursuit of Jesus conditional or transactional Would you keep following Jesus if he stopped answering your prayers the way you want him to Would you still trust him if the next season isn’t as easy as this season? Would you still give him your life if that life was to be marked by trials and hardships? You see this entire section here Functions as a kind of spiritual filter it forces us to ask. Do you want Jesus himself? Or simply what he can provide in the form of things or comfort So the crowd has just heard Jesus

Speaking about this better bread Not a bread that spoils or fades a bread that doesn’t leave you hungry again But a bread that lasts forever and yet in typical human fashion The crowd turns the grace of this supernatural provision into a question about performance Rather than simply receiving what Christ is offering. They instinctively ask in verse 28 What must we do? To be doing the works of God Do you hear it family? God is offering bread that satisfies the soul forever Food that endures to eternal life and their first impulse is to say, okay, what’s the catch? What’s the work that we need to do to get it and Listen, this is the reflex of every human heart When grace shows up we instinctively reach for our religious rulebook We assume that if God’s gonna feed us if he’s gonna comfort us if he’s gonna answer our prayers

If he’s gonna bless us, then we need to do something to earn it from God We need to do something to work off the debt or earn God’s favor We hear the good news and we immediately put it through our religious filter Surely something is required for me to deserve this eternal life No one gives away something that valuable for free Surely this is a preview there has to be a paywall You see the question Really exposes human tendency towards performance towards doing something to try to earn or secure God’s approval But Jesus’s response redirects them again and his words completely reverse their expectations Jesus doesn’t hand them a to-do list He gives them a one-line gospel presentation in verse 29 This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent That’s it The work is to believe No contractual agreement

No cultural Christianity no performance-based religion belief Leaning your whole life on the person and promise of Jesus and to be clear faith isn’t something you work for It’s bread you eat meaning. It’s something you take in and receive And what’s crazy is after? Jesus just drops all of this wisdom on the crowd The crowd still thinking with their stomachs Asks Jesus for another sign Another miracle as if feeding 5,000 wasn’t enough As if these people are entitled to more proof And instead of seeing Jesus as the gift they demand another sign verse 30. They say Then what sign do you do? That we may see and believe you What work do you perform in other words? Show us that we will believe And it’s not just about the gift It’s about the proof And this statement is almost Ironic if you think about it Just one day earlier. They witnessed the feeding of 5,000 people

They had literally seen and tasted the miracle, but now they’re asking for another miracle Something even more supernatural than what they just experienced And the sign that these people have in mind Is what happened with moses? The experience of manna coming down from heaven They say in verse 31 our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat And I wonder if you see what’s happening here They’re comparing jesus’s miracle with moses’s legacy Jesus had just fed 5,000 people in a single afternoon, which is not a small deal But moses Comparatively, well, he fed a nation Roughly 2 million people and he did it every single day and for 40 years So in many ways you can hear what’s underneath their challenge. Sure. You did this thing yesterday and it was kind of impressive But you’re not moses

If you expect us to believe well, you’ve got to be better than moses He fed our people daily He sustained our ancestors through the wilderness. You gave us one meal. What else do you got? So they’re not simply asking for another sign They’re testing jesus They’re essentially saying what do you have on moses? And jesus’s response here is striking. Look what he says in verse 32 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. In other words, don’t get it twisted. You think moses was the provider? You think manna came from his hand? You’re mistaken The manna came from the father’s hand moses was just a middleman He was a servant not the source And now the same father who gave this manna of mercy in the wilderness is giving you something even better

the true bread Not temporary sustenance not perishable provision But bread that gives life to the world and that bread isn’t falling from the sky It’s standing right in front of you right now Jesus is saying you’re looking back to the manna in the wilderness, but i’m standing here as the fulfillment of what that manna pointed to You’re asking for a better bread. Guess what? I am the bread And In this one verse jesus shifts the glory away from moses and away from the miracle itself And reflects it back to god the father the giver of every good gift The manna was always meant to point people to a greater reality The truth the true bread Isn’t simply a substance that comes down from heaven. It is a person That comes down from heaven this is why he says in verse 33 for the bread of god is he

Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world? The manna that god provided kept israel alive temporarily, but the bread of god Came down from heaven to give life eternally And this family brings us to scene three the satisfying substance And we see this in verses 34 through 40 so Jesus gives these people this profound spiritual reality check That the bread of god is a person that comes down from heaven, but the crowd still doesn’t get it After everything jesus just said their response Is an eager misunderstanding Look at verse 34 sir Give us this bread always And this maybe at first glance sounds kind of spiritual It sounds like they’re hungry for the kind of bread that jesus is offering that comes down from heaven But you see they’re still thinking with their stomachs not their souls And because they don’t get it

Jesus drops the metaphor And declares the truth as plainly as possible in verse 35. He says I am the bread of life And this is the first of his seven I am statements in john You see when he says I am the bread of life He’s identifying himself With the god who spoke to moses from the burning bush The I am who I am And now the I am is standing before them not in a burning bush, but in the flesh Offering them not direction, but eternal life And he’s doing it with open arms Look at what he says in verse 35. Whoever comes to me Shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst This invitation is amazing But the response Is sobering verse 36. Jesus says but I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe

You’ve seen the signs You’ve seen The miracles you’ve eaten the bread. You’ve witnessed my power. You’ve even wanted to make me king because of it But you’re still blind to the truth And so in what feels like a moment of divine clarity. Jesus lifts the curtain on the mystery of belief He says in verse 37 all that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me. I will never cast out and this family Is one of the most hope-filled heart-leveling verses in the entire gospel of john Because here jesus reminds us that faith doesn’t come by way of human accomplishments It’s a divine gift We don’t believe because we somehow figured it out because we’re smart enough obviously that’s the case We don’t follow jesus because we’ve somehow learned to hold on tight to jesus Like it’s just some kind of formula

Listen, the father draws the son receives And the son will never let go of the one whom the father draws That’s the mechanics of our salvation and the comfort in all of this is that whoever comes to jesus Whoever comes to jesus He will never cast out This family is for the struggling believer here this morning who wonders if they’ve done enough religious work to be saved This family is for the doubter this morning who fears that they’ll be turned away from jesus because of that sin that they keep tripping up over This is for the tired saint this morning who feels like they’re hanging on by a thread if you’ve come to faith in jesus Even with trembling with a half-formed mustard seed faith. You are his Do you hear that this morning? You’re his And he doesn’t drop What the father delivers Brothers and sisters your salvation isn’t resting on your performance

The Satisfying Substance

It’s not resting on your passion It doesn’t rest on your persistence. It rests on the grip of god and his grip does not fail Even if we think he will let us go he won’t One of the puritan writers wrote christ’s hold of you is better than your hold of him And this is a comforting reality because if it was dependent upon us to hold on to jesus Family, we would let him go a thousand times When something else comes along that seems appealing in the moment Jesus isn’t just offering us bread for today. He’s offering us a promise for eternity that is fixed forever in verse 39 He confirms this reality. Jesus says this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing Of all that he has given me But raise it up on the last day If you belong to jesus

If you are found in jesus if you are hidden in the righteousness of jesus, he will not lose you Not in your doubt Not in your weakness and most importantly not in death amen Scene four the secure salvation verses 41 to 59 And just for some context here this scene This whole little section here Well, it’s now shifted from the sea and the crowd to the synagogue in capernaum Lest we think he’s still speaking to the large crowd. He’s speaking to the religious pharisees in the synagogue And the people in the synagogue, well, they’re complaining amongst themselves because of everything jesus just said Which means they understand the metaphor of the bread But jesus doesn’t back down from his claim Instead what he does here is he begins to intensify it a little bit He doesn’t soften the metaphor of bread here. He be he begins to sharpen it

I mean just listen to some of the things that jesus says in this section of verses in verse 51 He says I am the living bread that came down from heaven Lest they get it twisted He says the bread I give is my flesh For the life of the world in verse 53 He says unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life So clearly this is no longer about fish and loaves This is about body and blood At this point jesus had fully shifted the conversation from physical appetite to spiritual nourishment He’s not just better than manna He’s the true manna Sent from heaven broken for the people sustaining life not just for 40 years but for eternity And jesus begins to clarify in verse 49 the contrast For these religious pharisees. He says your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and guess what?

They died They ate this wonderful mercy from god, but they still died Every morning they woke up to the grace on the ground But even that couldn’t keep them alive forever They grumbled just like you’re doing They perished just like you will Their bread was temporary, but jesus says in verse 58 whoever feeds on this bread will live forever Jesus is offering permanent provision Not just a daily collection of bread He’s offering salvation for the soul and the language jesus uses here is intentionally provocative Eat my flesh drink my blood Why does he use this language here He uses it because it would be shocking and offensive to jewish ears It would be unsettling to everyone listening in the synagogue and that’s the point Jesus is provocative because he’s trying to shock them into this sobering reality Now just to be clear here jesus is not talking about cannibalism

Don’t mix the metaphor And listen, he’s not even primarily talking about the lord’s supper though there are some echoes in this imagery He’s talking about something deeper than physical eating He’s calling for complete identification with jesus Faith that partakes in his death in his life and in his indwelling presence This is why he says in verse 56 whoever eats or whoever feeds on me Abides in me and I in him family, that’s covenantal language That’s union language indwelling language To eat of christ is to receive him completely to take him in Not just to admire him from a distance Not just to take his teachings into consideration and then you know weigh it against, you know the world’s wisdom

It’s to make him your source of life Your internal sustenance your only hope for eternal life and resurrection and that’s where the manna motif lands The manna came in the morning It had to be gathered. It had to be trusted. It had to be received and then eaten. It was daily grace in a desert land But jesus doesn’t say I can give you bread for every day He says I am bread eat of me and live forever You see the difference there And friend if you’re here this morning And you’re not a christian We want you to know we’re happy to have you here Sitting in the congregation listening to the truth of god’s word and I know that this language can sound a bit strange Maybe even jarring to you when you hear us talking about the body and blood of jesus

But I want you to know that the point jesus is making here is for you as well as strange as it might sound Listen if you are chasing bread that perishes in your life Meaning the temporary things that you’re looking for pleasure money Status whatever it is those perishable things. They will never satisfy your soul If you’ve tasted freedom only to find that you’re enslaved again hear this Jesus is the bread that you’ve been starving for Not the bread of religion Not the bread of performance not, you know self-made salvation, but true bread from heaven. He gave his body for you and listen What this means plainly this body and blood Means that his body was broken for your sin Your rebellion your pride And your unbelief You and I and everyone in this room have wandered away from god The one who made us the one to whom we are accountable to and the just punishment

for our sin For our rebellion against the god who created us is death. The bible says the payment for our sin is death Which is real separation from life and god But jesus stepped into our wilderness and on the cross his body was broken in our place His blood was poured out to cover our guilt He endured hunger. He endured thirst and most importantly he endured the wrath that we deserved So that we could be filled with the mercy of god and feed off of his grace. That’s why he came Not just to be an example like some kind of spiritual guru Or some religious teacher but to be a sacrifice To die in our place To do what manna could never do to give life eternally and abundantly So hear his words today if this is you Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out

That is an invitation to come to jesus this morning. If you come to him, he will never cast you out You don’t have to bring anything to jesus. You don’t have to clean yourself up You don’t even have to understand everything that i’m talking about this morning You just have to come hungry and thirsty come willing to receive and he will meet you So come and eat Come and live come to jesus the bread of life Who gave himself for you? And if you want to know what it means to follow jesus if you want to know more about that Talk to any christian in this room We would love to talk to you come to the picnic after the service and say hey Can you help me understand all of this language here? I don’t get it, but I want to follow jesus Any one of us would love to talk to you about that. Amen

The Secure Salvation

Family as we close this morning I want to I want to push in a little bit on what jesus says to us in verse 27 When he says do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life Jesus’s words here just don’t diagnose a hunger problem in the first century Like that’s something totally disconnected from us today He’s speaking to the hunger in our lives every single day And the hard truth is even as christians Many of us spend our lives working for food or for bread that spoils So to be very practical this morning Let me just offer you five kinds of bread that we’re often tempted to chase There’s obviously a lot more but I just want to give you five this morning And i’d like to invite you as you hear these to examine your own soul

Five Kinds of Perishable Bread

As we walk through them to find out which one of these you might be prone to chase after I was telling pastor sam this morning as I was going through this list. I was like, dude, this is all me So Receive that as an invitation to examine yourself this morning number one emotional bread entertainment and escapism We live in an entertainment saturated world netflix podcasts games Streaming news social media. All of it is just a tap away And in our exhaustion many of us choose to check out rather than to press in It’s not that rest is wrong. Listen You could watch netflix when you’re tired. That’s fine. I’m not i’m not trying to guilt you But what i’m saying is that oftentimes We are trading communion for consumption We’re numbing our hearts when we should be nourishing our souls. And how do you know if this is you family?

Well when you feel tired Or anxious or stressed out, where do you turn first? your phone or to your father If your screen time is replacing your scripture time Then that’s a problem A couple of months ago. I was with a brother from the church. We were just hanging out And we started talking about among other crazy things Like the sasquatch and stuff like that We started talking about youtube and as we were talking we started making reference to how much time we spent on youtube trying to learn like life hacks and things Like this and then this brother in the church said oh, you know, you can check like how much time you spend on youtube I was like oh word show me and he Showed me on his phone. And then I looked at my phone and we both were like dang

That’s crazy What’s interesting is in that moment I showed him I was like, bro uh Joe was the brother—just so you know—I said, ‘Joe, check how much time you and I spend on our bible app versus youtube and it was discouraging to say the least It was a gross comparison. we spend far more time on youtube than we do in our bible apps Dear brother or sister, if this is you like me, we can’t feed Our soul junk food and expect to feel spiritually satisfied So let jesus be your rest Not just your relief Psalm 16 11 says you make known to me the path of life in your presence There is fullness of joy at your right hand our pleasures forevermore That’s the place where we find Joy and peace and satisfaction real joy and lasting delight are not found in distraction But in the presence of god and when you feel the pull to numb out

And I feel it all the time remember that fullness is not found in our phones It’s found in his presence number two relational bread approval and affection Some of us the thing we crave most in this world is not entertainment You can take it or leave it’s affirmation We feed on people’s compliments On their attention or their validation. We build our whole identity on how other people perceive us

We want to be known as competent impressive needed spiritual funny Whatever it may be But here’s the problem the praise of people is a very fragile foundation It’s fleeting. It’ll crack in a moment It won’t hold up when life begins to crumble or our sin is exposed How do you know if this is you family? Well, are you more concerned about being liked than being faithful? Do you craft your image more carefully than you cultivate your own heart? When was the last time you let god’s delight be in you Than people’s opinion of you Family, if this is you don’t need to chase approval from people Christ has already called you beloved. You don’t need to perform for others You already have him you’ve been chosen and loved by god in christ You are fully known and accepted so there’s no need to perform or to pretend

Or to pretend Jesus has you in the grip of his grace number three success bread career and accomplishments Many of us we go hard Trying to climb up the corporate ladder or the social ladder, whichever one that is we go hard after these goals This is for my young entrepreneurs Or motivated moms and dads You want to be seen as capable Successful productive or even as providers but underneath it all We often believe that what we do is the same as who we are And when our accomplishments stall out or fail When our business endeavors crash we fall apart. And why do we fall apart? Because the bread of success was never meant to feed your identity How do you know if this is you family Are you working from rest or working to earn rest? Have you confused being faithful or fruitful with being busy or building a brand or building a business?

Does your job define your value more than jesus’s finished work? If this is you brother or sister let your ambition Bow before the altar and lordship of jesus christ And i’m preaching this to myself Let your identity be received not something that is achieved your value doesn’t rise or fall with your productivity Or with how successful you are your resume doesn’t justify you Jesus does knowing him is more worthy than any accomplishments this life can offer number four comfort bread financial security and control For some of us the bread we reach for is security and control predictability saving accounts Meticulously careful planning 401k plans

Maybe that’s bitcoin. I you know, I don’t know Listen stewardship is good and godly But when fear drives us to control every outcome, we’re not living by faith We’re living by you know matrices and spreadsheets We’re trying to insulate ourselves from need And in so doing we often insulate ourselves from dependence on god And how do you know if this is you? Well, are you more at peace when your bank account is full? Or when your stock options look really good Or when your heart is surrendered Does your anxiety rise or fall with the market or the economy or with how our city is holding up Are you trusting god as a provider? Or hoping that he just simply blesses your plans Remember god gave manna in the wilderness Not just to feed but to form you into someone who would be dependent upon him

Family, there is no amount of money that can save your soul And there is no amount of control that can offer you security for salvation Jesus alone is the firm foundation. God knows what you need and he’s not stingy You don’t have to live a tight-fisted life seek his kingdom and trust his hand. He is a faithful provider Clearly, that’s what we see in his text this morning It’s what the text reveals And then finally number five religious bread performance and rule keeping And this is perhaps the most deceptive bread of all Religious performance We can come to church We could read our bibles We can go to small groups And we could still be feeding on pride comparison and self-righteousness We could do all the right things you could say all the right things and still miss jesus We end up trusting in our faithfulness instead of resting in him. And how do you know if this is you?

Are your spiritual habits drawing you closer to jesus or just making you feel more superior than others in the church? Do you secretly believe god loves you more than he? Loves other people in the church Or do you believe he loves you more when your week has been a good week? Oh, I was pretty good this week. Have you confused doing good for god with delighting in god Family, the gospel isn’t about earning god’s favor. It’s about receiving it’s about receiving it. You don’t need to earn what god has already secured for you Your best efforts don’t save you Jesus did his mercy saved you and his mercy still holds you today. So trinity let us be prayerful and honest about the bread that we’ve been chasing or Consuming or living for and let us turn away from that kind of bread that perishes

to the one who endures Jesus is the bread of life. He is the only one who satisfies The only one who sustains the only one who saves so think about this family as you come to the lord’s table this morning Think about his body and his blood and what that means for you Come hungry come thirsty Come and eat what your soul was made for Jesus himself come and taste true freedom You want to know what it tastes like? The body and blood of jesus broken and poured out for you for your sin, amen Let’s pray Our father in our god. We thank you

For the gifts that you provide us as your children For the countless ways you provide for your people But we thank you mostly for providing jesus our savior And we pray oh lord in god that jesus would eclipse all the other things that we Are looking for to satisfy all of our other hungers We pray god that you would make us mindful when we begin to move away from the giver And start reveling in the gifts Of jesus God help us to delight in jesus as our ultimate prize and may we feast on him feast on his word feast on our savior And for those here this morning who do not know you. Oh god, I pray that you would open the eyes Of the blind that they might see you the bread of life Taste of you and live forever These things in the name of our king jesus the bread of life. Amen