Sunday Service (M868) | Mount Zion Church | 5 May 2019 | I AM The Bread of Life | The Great I AM Series | John 6:47-51
Gospel of John recorded 7 “I AM” statements of Jesus Christ. Jesus said: I AM the bread of life; I AM the light of the world; I AM the door; I AM the good shepherd; I AM the resurrection and the life; I AM the way, the truth, and the life; and I AM the true vine. Each statement brings us into a deeper and stronger relation with Jesus as we know more about His love also His plan for us. Now we are going to have a deeper look about the bread of life. Jesus Christ introduced Himself as the bread, something that people can easily find every single day and also can be eaten! This statement happened just after the miracle of 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. There is something very important that we need to know about Jesus, accepting Him as a living bread, and how we can eat it accordingly.
47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” John 6:47-51 NKJV
WE NEED SOMETHING TO EAT
Jesus know exactly that we must eat something to survive! After lots of teaching and ministry, the great multitude keep following on Him because they saw the miracles of healing. Jesus was moved with compassion because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. He began to teach them many things until the day was far spent and they were in a deserted place. The disciples just wanted to send them away, but Jesus said that they must give them something to eat Mrk.6:34-37. The miracle of 5 loaves bread and 2 fish was initiated by a compassion in Jesus’ heart to give something for the great multitude to eat! Jesus didn’t want to just send them away with empty tummy. However, that miracle was very impressive so that people keep following on Him, even they want to make Him king Jn.6:15! They were searching Jesus everywhere carefully until Jesus said:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, NOT because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him. John 6:26-27 NKJV
That great multitude were keep searching Jesus only because of the food! Jesus rebuked them because their only focus was at the food which perishes. They just acknowledged Jesus as a great prophet who is come to the world and not as the Son of God Jn.6:14. It will be very dangerous if people just follow Jesus as a miracle-maker and not as the Son of God. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit Rom.14:17. Jesus came down from heaven to earth to save us from sins Mat.1:21, to give the everlasting life Jn.3:16, to bring the real freedom Jn.8:36. Anyone accepting Jesus just as a temporary helper will definitely diminish Him since He came to bring something eternal! The Son of man will not only give a perishing bread. He came to give the food which endures to everlasting life.
That’s why Jesus introduced Himself as the bread of life. We need something to eat, not only for this temporary life in the earth, we need something more than that, we need something that endures to everlasting life. Jesus introduced Himself as something that we need to always find again and again. Jesus introduced Himself as a basic meal that people in Israel will always try to find, not only one time or two times, but every time they want to fulfil their hunger! Jesus is the bread for our inner man, Jesus is the basic meal for our spirit, He is the bread that will give the real life for us. We must aware and realised how our inner man is always exposed to spiritual exercises, challenges, temptations, not in weekly basis but so many times in every single day! We definitely must have something to eat. He is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.
EATING IS BELIEVING
27 Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” 28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:27-29 NKJV
Jesus was impressed with their effort to find Him. They already came along the way, waited for other boat came from Tiberias, jumped into the boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. And then Jesus asked them not to labour only for food which perishes, but also for the food which endures to everlasting life. The first question that proceeded from their mouth was what they must do to get it.
Eating spiritual food is totally different with the physical food. While we still need to have the same passion to fill our hunger, we also must understand how we can eat it accordingly. The only thing that we must do is to BELIEVE in Jesus and whatever He said. It was very difficult for people at that time to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. It was out of their expectation since they were expecting the Messiah will come in all royal glory of God’s kingdom. They were astonished at all miracles that happened through Jesus, but they still could not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They keep asking for other signs so that they can believe Him. They did not want to accept Jesus as the One who came down from heaven!
41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves.” John 6:41-43 NKJV
The opposite of believing is not only doubting but murmuring! They just wanted to accept Jesus as the son of Joseph, but not the Son of God. They just want to accept Jesus for all blessings and miracles that He brought, but not His teaching. Eating the bread of life will means believing Jesus and everything that He said. Even Jesus said the bread that He shall give is His flesh, which He shall give for the life of the world Jn.6:51.
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. John 6:53-55 NKJV
Jesus introduced Himself as the bread of life so that we may eat Him, believe in Him, even eat His flesh and drink His blood! Jesus was talking about the whole thing that we need to do as His followers. Not only just walking together with Him but we must eat His life, His teaching, His ideology, His perspective, and everything that we can find in Him! Jesus’ teaching is not only good to know or good to hear, but it is also good to eat, good to do, good to follow, also good to live in. Jesus taught about forgiveness, about holiness, about doing the second mile, about commitment, and there are so many topics that Jesus brought to the disciples. We must eat it together with His blessings and His miracles as well.
The great multitude was very happy to eat the bread and fish as many as they can eat. They were keep following Him. Unfortunately, there was not second miracle as they expected. The first miracle was the bread and the fish, and actually the second miracle was the teaching about the bread of life, the ultimate bread that people can have.
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” 66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” John 6:60, 66-68 NKJV
It became very difficult for the great multitude to understand what Jesus said because they just expected another miracle of food, the immediate and not the ultimate one. Jesus told them about the bread of life that came from heaven, but they just want to get the normal bread that easy to it. They just went back and walked with Him no more! They did not want to eat the bread of life. Everyone went away except the twelve! We must learn and follow the example from Peter who acknowledged and believed that Jesus’ words are the words of eternal life. His teaching are the words of eternal life. Jesus said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away Luk.21:33.”
CONCLUSION & CHALLENGE
What it’s all about?
This is about the ultimate bread and not just about the immediate one. Jesus gave us the bread of life, the bread that will give eternal life for us. We need to eat this bread not only daily but 3 times in a day even more. We must always have Jesus as our basic meal. We need Jesus not only once in a week. We need Jesus not only in the bad day. We must eat Jesus regularly, in every seasons of our life, so that we can have a good stamina for our spiritual life. Eating the bread of life also means believing Jesus in all of His words and teaching, not only read and know about Him, but also eat Him.
Insights and impressions:
The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever 1Jn.2:17. Eating the bread of life will definitely makes us abide forever with God. How much we already eat this bread of life? People may eat some of it, or people may eat it occasionally, but that’s not what a bread was meant to bake. At the day of Jesus, the bread was made so that people can eat it every time they hungry. We must eat Jesus’ words completely so that we can have His life in us.
Next steps:
We may love to read the Bible but that’s not the only reason the Bible was meant to be. We must read it and eat it. Eating is believing. Eating the bread of life means that we must do what we get from the Bible. We may try to live and do everything with our own way and understanding, but it might be different with what God said and not aligned with the value of God’s kingdom. Let’s learn to eat and to believe so that we can have that eternal life, we abide in Him, and He in us. AMEN.