Sermon Central
-
I Am The Bread Of Life
Contributed by Dan Cormie on Mar 9, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Comparing the "Bread of Life" to the manna in the wilderness.
Dakota Community Church
March 9, 2008
I Am the Bread of Life
Last week we saw Jesus as the light of the world. In the light we are able to see, we stop stumbling our way through life. In the light we find growth and direction, we discover a God who loves and cares for us and has a plan and purpose for our lives, and in the light, because we can now see, we find responsibility. We can no longer claim ignorance where the plight of those in need around us is concerned.
This week we are going to look at another revelation of Jesus, the bread of life.
Begin by reading John 6:25-59.
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus declares himself to be the end of hunger and thirst. The search is over, the longing that drives humanity to work and sweat, and strive for more and more, for provision for self, is over in Christ. Jesus is the end of longing if we will come to Him for our satisfaction.
I tell you the truth; he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
The people wanted Jesus to provide for them the way Moses had provided manna. They wanted more of the feeding of the 5000 type miracles; they wanted an end to life as they knew it and a beginning with a Messiah who supplied all their earthly needs.
Jesus hears this desire and compares the plan of God to their plan.
The plan of man is temporary and ends in death, but the plan of God is eternal and results in life to all who will believe.
Let’s look at the manna and see if we can find the types of Christ that God was foreshadowing.
Read Exodus 16:1-35
Like the manna Jesus is:
1. Supernatural provision for all needs.
When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: ’Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’ "
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.
God provides everything we need in and through Jesus.
We add on to what we think is required, but this is not God’s doing.
Have you fallen into thinking that the abundant life comes through having Jesus AND something?
Are you a proponent of Jesus and worldly wealth?
What about Jesus and religious duty?
Jesus and tithing, Jesus and perfect attendance, Jesus and work at the soup kitchen, Jesus and career success, Jesus and family life, you name it, we try to add to the definition of what satisfies; but simple manna; "the bread that came down from heaven", is all that is really required.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Through our knowledge of Him; everything we need for life and godliness.
That is not how we want it. We want to do something or to force others to do something to make it seem like we have earned it.
Insecurity drives a need to feel better, superior or “over” other members of the Body. That is kingdom of this world thinking.
But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Do you see this? The disciples didn’t get it, the religious leaders didn’t get it, but this criminal gets the kingdom. He realizes that it is a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly one, he gets that the KING is going to die and the kingdom is going to be established through His death.
