Strathalbyn Church of Christ

“I am the bread of Life”

John 6:1-15, 35, 47-51

Jesus made some great “I am” claims for himself, which we find in John’s gospel. I want to take one of these and think about it with you this morning. It is “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." John 6:35

Do you have a favourite bread? I enjoy a range: wholemeal, multigrain, crusty vienna. But there’s another bread which you won’t get in Peska’s Bakery, or Woolies. It’s a very special bread, and it is called, “the bread of life,” and “the true bread”, “the living bread”, and “the bread of God." John 6:35,32,51,33

Now where does this bread come from? Jesus says, “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven." John 6:32. Jesus then identifies himself as this bread from God. He says "I am the bread of life." John 6:35

What do you look for in a bread? For myself, I look for a bread that is tasty, nourishing and filling. Now what can this “true bread”, this “bread of God”, this “bread of life” give to us, do for us? In short, it satisfies our spiritual hunger, as Jesus promises, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger."

And so, Jesus gives us life and satisfies the hunger of our hearts. He gives us life - life-abundant, eternal life, and fills our emptiness like nothing and no one else can.

“He who comes to me shall not hunger” And Jesus also says “he who comes to me I will not cast out” John 6:37

In other words he will receive us, never drive us away. He won’t refuse us because of past sins; and he won’t refuse us because of present weaknesses either.

Jesus is given by God the Father to be the satisfier, reliever of our spiritual hunger. He is “the bread of life”. So let us come to him by faith, and he will receive us graciously.

Now it is significant when the Lord made this claim about himself. It was shortly after he had fed the great crowd from five barley loaves and two fish. This was a great miracle, only John in his gospel doesn’t call it a miracle, but “a sign”.

Now a sign points to something and tells us something - like say, a street sign or a shop sign. This miracle of the feeding of the multitude had spiritual significance - sign-ificance if you like.

It was a sign pointing to Jesus - he is, namely, “the bread of life”.

It is a dramatizing of his claim.

Let’s just go back for a minute to think about this feeding of the multitude from five small loaves and two fish.

Ofcourse some have dismissed it as a legend and others have tried to explain it away; but we who believe in Jesus accept it is true. Having said that it is perhaps worth pointing out a few things in the gospel records that underline its credibility.

Take Philip’s reaction to Jesus who said to him “How are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?" John 6:5

Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bead for each of them to get a little." 6:7

Have you ever calculated or estimated whether or not you have enough to cater for a big family or social gathering? Well, Philip quickly calculates that even 8 months wages wouldn’t be enough to cater for such a big crowd! Philip’s reaction comes over as pretty ‘normal’.

Again, consider Andrew’s comment - “There’s a lad here who has 5 barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” 6:9

Perhaps we have said something like - ‘we haven’t got nearly enough for meeting the need - so go to Woolies and get more snags.’

Then consider the crowd. We are told Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee…."and the multitude followed him” 6:1,2 . Why?

Why walk kilometres around the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee? We are told “because they saw the signs which Jesus did on those who were diseased." John 6:2

Even today parents might travel interstate (probably not to Victoria at present!) or overseas to get specialist medical help for their child.

Let’s also notice things about Jesus in this story that ring true of what we know of him elsewhere in the gospels.

We notice his concern for the people - their hunger in this instance - and he wants to do something to help. We notice he is generous - the crowd were able to eat their fill, and enough was left over to fill 12 baskets. We notice his being in control or in charge - “make the people sit down” and “gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost” 6:12

And we notice he is not going to give into the people’s wishes to come and take him by force to make him King. Instead, he “withdrew again to the hills by himself”. John 6:15. Jesus would always follow his Father’s agenda rather than people’s.

All these are little signs that underline the truth of this great miracle. But now let’s notice a few other things of significance in this miracle.

Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" This he said to test Philip; for he himself knew what he would do” Jn 6:5,6

Sometimes our faith is tested too, so that we may grow in our trust in the Lord. He has plans, but he wants to involve us in his plans, and this calls for us to have faith in him.

Jesus took the five loaves and 2 fish that Andrew discovered a lad had, and from that miraculously fed the huge crowd!

Although the loaves and fish were only a little in the face of the need, Jesus still made use of them. He can still take the little we bring and multiply it and use it for his purposes. And he gave thanks for the loaves and then “distributed them to those who were seated”.

He involved his disciples to distribute the food. We can learn from this that we can bring to the Lord what we have and also be involved in what he wants to do. This can mean many things.

We can also learn from this that the resources of the Lord Jesus are far more than we might think, and he can do far more than we might think!

This is clearly a creative miracle - and only God can create. Jesus is much more than a man, He is God’s Son.

And what God really wants is for people to come to believe in the Lord Jesus and so to become new creations. God can create a new heart, a new life.

“If anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God."

2Cor 5:l7

And now let’s think about some of the things Jesus said about himself after he had done this great miracle. We find what he says in John chapter 6.

Jesus knew that the people whom God had set free from Egypt many, many years before, had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and God had fed them with a bread-like substance called “manna”, yet they still died.

Jesus says “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." John 6:48-51

So how and when did Jesus give us his flesh? - when he gave himself up on that cross for our sins. That’s the bread he has given for “the life of the world”.

Sometimes we might think when we go shopping, ‘I’ll have this food, but not that.’ But there’s a certain food that we need to have, must have, if we are to have eternal life. Let’s listen to Jesus again, “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever."

And Jesus goes on to say “Truly, 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.” Jn 6:53

Christ’s flesh, Christ’s body, and shed blood, offered up once and for all on the cross are not optional to our salvation, our eternal life, but indispensable to it!

To eat his flesh and drink his blood is to personally share in Christ crucified, to trust in Him and his sacrifice for you on that cross. ‘I rest my faith in him and him alone who died for my transgressions to atone.’ as an old hymn puts it.

Now Jesus knew that the people whom he had miraculously fed and who later came to him after he had left that place were only really seeking him because he had satisfied their physical hunger. So he said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves."

Jesus talked straight didn’t he? He was honest with people. He knew why they were seeking him. So he told them, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal." John 6:26,27

Now ofcourse food is essential, but as Jesus once said to the devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4

And here Jesus is telling them to make sure they get the sort of food which will last for ever which Jesus himself will give to them. Jesus is God’s agent who distributes it, for God has put his mark of approval on him.

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.’ “ John 6:28,29

The first good deed God requires is to believe in Jesus, to trust. The food that really lasts is a gift from Jesus.

And then they went on to say to Jesus, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?" Jn 6:30

Amazingly, they asked this the day after they had been fed with 5 loaves and 2 fish!

Then they referred back to their history, “our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always.’ “.

John 6: 29-34.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst." Jn 6:31-35

And so a person needs to come to Jesus to have this bread, to have his or her spiritual hunger and thirst satisfied. In a real sense to become a Christian is to come to Jesus Christ.

Jesus ended his conversation, his teaching about himself by saying, “This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever." John 6:58

Well, this was too much for them to ‘stomach’!

We read “many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, ‘This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?’ " Jn 6:60 “After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him."

Jn 6:66

Perhaps at times we may ‘feel out of our depth’ with some things Jesus teaches. If so, we can pray, ‘God, give me the help of your Spirit to help me understand that.’

There may well be things that we will have to work at and think through; but that helps us grow spiritually.

But sadly, what happened here is that “many drew back and no longer went about with Jesus." Jn 6:66

At this point, Jesus asked the 12, “Will you also go away?"

Jn 6:67.

As we listen to Peter’s response, let’s ask ourselves, ‘Is this my conviction too?’

Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Jn 6:68

Once you’ve known the Lord Jesus, who else is there to go to for eternal life?

“and we have believed and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." Jn6:69.

Belief leads to coming to know that Jesus is “the Holy One of God."

We are living in times in which we may feel we are in a minority as believers. Jesus’ question to the 12 “will you also go away?"

carries another question implied in it - ‘will you stick with me?’

Eleven of those 12 did stick with Jesus and look what he did through them!

Jesus still looks for those who will ‘stick with’ him! He will work with such people, as he did with the apostles. May we be such people.

I came across a little story of an imaginary conversation between the Lord and the angel Gabriel.

Jesus had just returned to heaven after his cross and resurrection. Gabriel said, ‘Master you must have suffered terribly down there. Do they know you died for their sins, and was raised on the third day?’

‘No’, said Jesus, ‘Not yet. Right now only 12 men and some others in Jerusalem know’.

‘Then what have you done to let everyone else know?’

‘I’ve asked Peter, James, and John and the others to spread the news. They will tell others, who will tell others, who will tell others, and so on, until the good news spreads to the ends of the earth.'.

But Gabriel, knowing something of the nature of human beings, asked Jesus, ‘What is Plan B?’

Jesus replied, ‘I have no ‘Plan B’. There is no alternative strategy; I’m counting on them.’

Well, brothers and sisters, that’s an imaginary conversation, but the old, old story of Jesus and his love is not imaginary, but true - for all peoples, for all time. The story of Jesus who died and rose for our salvation; the good news of Jesus, “the bread of life”, who satisfies the conscience and feeds the hungry heart of all who will come to him, believe in him.

This story you and I can share as we may have opportunity. This story this church can guard and pass on. In all this we have the help of the Holy Spirit.

Series: John

Topics: #John