John 6:25-6:35
Jn 6:25 And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
Jn 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Jn 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Jn 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jn 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Jn 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Jn 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Jn 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Jn 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Jn 6:34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Jn 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Now in life I’ve learned that the the trouble with receiving something on a regular basis.
• Is That we come to expect it.
• This the biggest problem in the world today
• We have been blessed to live in a land of plenty
• And as a result we have become completely unwilling to give thanks to anyone for anything.
In our text today,
• We find the crowd questioning Jesus about how He is going to prove himself
• And they ask this again after feeding 5000 people with just a few loaves and fish.
• They’d had a need for food and Jesus saw the need and met the need.
• They’d followed Jesus all the way around the lake
• And rather than recognizing the fact that they were being offered the solution to a REAL need,
• They were asking yet again to have their need met.
And Jesus reminded them of the importance of what He was offering them
• Through his teaching and then He continues to teach them
• Through His ability to meet their need for food.
When the masses demanded food, he reminded them
• Of the fact that he was directing them to Spiritual food
• Through His teaching about heaven.
• When these Jewish listeners were trying to grasp what he was teaching them,
• He made a historical connection for them by referring back to the Manna
• That God provided from Heaven for the Israelites
• When they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.
Again, showing that God had met their needs when they needed it.
• Jesus turns the discussion to things of a spiritual nature
• And they asked him to provide “this food” for them.
• Jesus then told them that He is the bread of life.
• If they would just believe in Jesus they would never be hungry...
• At least not in things of eternal significance.
It’s sad when we as wayward children put other “needs”
• Ahead of this need for the bread of life that’s made known through Jesus Christ!
• Jesus is the only real need that we have to live a life of eternal blessing,
• And at the same time we pursue cars, homes and all manner of possessions
• And in the process we neglect the importance of giving thanks
• To the giver of all good gifts
• We have been blessed by God in so many ways
• That we cant even count them all
• We are a lot like the people in our text today.
• We want Jesus to give us one more thing...
• To give us one more demonstration of his power.
• It’s almost as if they were viewing Jesus’ ministry as a magic show
• And they weren’t satisfied with the things he had already done
• To demonstrate who He was
• And what it was that he had really come to do in their lives.
• They wanted another demonstration of his power
• So “then they would believe”
• It seems to me that it was well past time for them to believe in Him
• And in the Father who had sent him.
• It’s well past time for us as well to show our gratitude to Him
• For the gifts he has already given to us.
• Maybe you aren’t feeling too blessed Today...
• Maybe you can’t see the gifts that God has given you...
• Maybe the pain of life has overwhelmed you to the point
• Where you don’t see how blessed you truly are.
• Like so many people maybe you have been so blessed,
• That even those blessings don’t look that good anymore.
We need to recognize God’s blessings
• And give thanks to him even when it seems impossible
• I want to encourage each one of you today to recognize the blessings
• That you’ve taken for granted.
• I want you to Focus on what you have
• Rather than on what you don’t have,
• And see if it doesn’t improve your attitude.
Here are A few suggestions:
Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you want.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something, this gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times. Because it’s During these times that you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
And Be thankful when you’re tired and weary, because it means you’ve made a difference.
It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.
• But, a life of true fulfillment can comes to those who are also thankful
• For the setbacks.
• As hard as it may be, find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
• And they can become your blessings.
• As we look around us at the land of plenty that we live in,
• It is my prayer that we will see through new eyes each day the ways that God has blessed us
• And never take God or those blessings for granted.
• This week as we celebrate Thanksgiving,
• May we see God for who He really is
And see ourselves as who we really are:
• People who have been blessed beyond measure
• People who NEED to give thanks to the giver of all good gifts.
• We have been given the bread of life,
• We know this bread and have had our only lasting hunger satisfied
• Now we may be truly thankful to the God who deserves our thanksgiving!
