There is something about bread and its ability to satisfy you.
It’s not just a full belly!
It’s that sense of security and comfort that comes from the smell of warm bread and the fullness of the soul. There is something about a piece of warm bread that satisfies the heart of a person.
Maybe that’s why Jesus said what he did to the crowd who had gathered around that day some 2000 years ago. Jesus had come to them with compassion and healed their sick. After a day filled with people he took a little boys lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish, blessed it and broke it and then fed the crowd of 5000.
Then he said, “I am the bread that gives life.”
Jesus transforms existence into life
Today we have gathered to celebrate the life of the one who gives life – Jesus
Just who is this man?
This the man who would not be their King after he fed the 5000 and claimed to be the bread that gives life – yet he walked on the water and commanded the wind and waves to be still.
We celebrate him today as the man who was came into Jerusalem in Triumph with the crowds shouting “hosanna to the highest”. The honored him as if he were on a white stallion rather than a gray donkey. Today, Palm Sunday, he was the king of the Jewish nation and in five days he would be set upon as a murdering and seditious criminal to be crucified with the same people shouting against him.
He would not answer a Governor’s questions but he will forgive a thief his sins and invite him to join him that same day in Paradise. He accepted the soldiers scourging and endured their mocking and then offered his forgiveness to the same men who nailed him to the cross.
This is the same man who said, “It is finished” and then “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” as he died.
Who is this man, Jesus?
Recently there has been a movie in the theaters called “The Passion of the Christ”
I suppose that if you’ve been on the new planet called Sedna you might be excused for not knowing about this movie.
The power of this movie has been evident all around us.
I believe it’s power lies in the implicit question it raises, “Who is this man – to me?”
American Daily
Another testimony from the American Daily.com website revealed a man who had been mightily touched by this film. His take on how the film touched him was that,
"Too often, He (Jesus) can become an abstraction in our lives. We sing, worship, and pray about what we don’t understand. It leads us to a part-time Faith, only shown on Sunday morning and always absent when we make the great decisions of life. If you’ve not already, I would urge you to do something difficult. I ask you to see the Passion of the Christ so that in your heart you can know what Jesus Christ did for you."
Let’s talk about Jesus today… Let’s see him today the way he described himself
Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life.”
John 6:35-40 (NCV)
35 Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life”
In Jesus own words he said that he is the one who satisfies. He said the he was the bread that gives life.
He said those who are sustained by it will never go hungry and never be thirsty (v. 35).
There is a difference between being alive and existing from day to day.
Being alive is to be joy filled in all circumstances. It is to love with passion and to taste with vibrancy the sweet and sour flavors of living.
Existence places one foot ahead of the next and plods from one day to the next – without end, without hope, and without meaning.
Being alive plays in the water on the beach, explores the possibilities of new ideas, stands up for right against wrong, demands action because there is purpose, and marches ever forward to the goal of God’s good.
Existence fills in the potholes with whatever is nearby and available. It wallpapers over the broken heart and despairs that there is no way to stop the pain.
The pain is intense and very real
Let me read a story written by a despairing father about his lost daughter.
“Four years ago my daughter died. She was 26 years old. She died from suicide, having stood bravely in front of a speeding Amtrack train in a suburb of Fresno, CA. She was identified by a single rose tattoo on her hip ... which she acquired in Georgia only a few months before. This event was preceded by a year or so of increasing depression and two unsuccessful overdoses. She was a beautiful young lady ... and before this year so filled with talent, ambition ... and an outward zest for life. Deep down inside, all of us knew it was coming ... all of us: her mother (my ex wife), her brothers, sisters, other relatives and some few friends. But in the end, we were all helpless to stop this train.”
Life with a purpose – is satisfying.
We will never hunger and never thirst – sustained and satisfied
Jesus has laid claim to your life
Jesus said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven”
John 6:41-51
“I am the Bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:41–51).
Manna From God
The manna God provided for the Israelites during the Exodus is a picture of Jesus as the “living Bread.” When God’s people traveled through the wilderness, they had to depend on God to provide their food supernaturally.
Manna Provided Daily
Manna was gathered one day at a time God provided the food in a way that would also teach the people something about their relationship with Him. Every day God gave enough food for that day. No one could gather more than a day’s supply. There had to be a continual, constant dependence on God; He was the only source of sustenance.
Jesus said, “Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.”
John 6:51 (NCV)
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give up so that the world may have life.”
“Eat the flesh of the Son of man” (John 6:52–59)
Many see in those words a reference to the Communion service. “This is My body, given for you,” Jesus would say as He instituted the memorial service. This is “My blood which is poured out for you.” But to “eat” and “drink” the body and blood of Jesus means far more than to participate in a shared memorial, as the rest of our passage suggests.
It is far more than a ritual – it is the reality of Jesus in your life
“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me” (v. 56).
“He who feeds on this bread will live forever” (v. 58).
“The words I have spoken to you are spirit,” Jesus said (v. 63).
Jesus was using body and blood to represent everything needed to sustain and support life.
Our lives will be supported so completely that we never will hunger or thirst. Our spiritual lives will be sustained so completely that they will endure until Jesus raises us up on the last day.
Jesus is the one who transforms existence into life
Life is what we have to have
It’s simply a matter of urgency
If there were suddenly no air in this room…
If there were suddenly no life in the world…
The fact is that there is no life in this world with out Jesus
So why don’t people grab for the bread to eat of it? Why don’t they come to Jesus?
Answer: It’s not urgent enough – Yet
There is no life but the life has been sucked out of them so slowly they haven’t noticed
Like the frog in kettle that gets boiled alive – because he’s cold blooded and the temperature goes up so slowly he never notices till it is too late.
People come to Jesus when the pain is great enough, or they see the need in themselves. Sometimes it’s for their kids – and they discover its for them.
Do you want your existence transformed into life?
Let me just ask you…
Do you want to energize your relationship with God?
Do you want to find out how to build your faith?
Do you want to learn how to resist temptation?
Do you want to change your thought life?
Do you want to know that God is really here in your life - not just in theory - but in a LIVING, BREATHING, PRESENT CERTAINTY?
Do you want to be a different person?
Do you want to be the person your dog thinks you are?
Do you want to live a transformed life that is sustained and satisfied?
You must eat of the bread of life every day…
It sounds pretty mystical and spiritual doesn’t it!
It is simply a matter of being in conversation with Jesus. Hearing his voice, carrying his burdens while giving him yours.
In fact it sounds pretty tough if not impossible. Let me tell you about Buddy Owen’s Experience.
I heard him at Promise Keepers last summer.
He said, "I’d make the commitment - I’d get up an hour before the family would get up, before the sunrise - stub my toe on the coffee table. I’d get on my knees at the couch. Then I’d go through a laundry list of prayer topics, trying to remember how to pray for missionaries overseas."
"I’d pray for neighbors, missionaries, people, and I’d look at my watch and I’ve only been there for five minutes! I’ve got a whole hour to go! And I’ve got to pray for an hour?"
“So I’d pray with more ’fervency’, and more ’wailing and gnashing of teeth... I was struggling not to fall asleep - then I’d try to keep my thoughts together and keep my mind from wandering - it was like trying to herd cats."
Does any of this sound familiar to you?
He went on to say "As far as my Bible reading goes - I remember being told ’You have to read through the Bible in a year’ so I made a commitment to read through the Bible in a year "Okay, I’m going to read from Genesis to Maps".
"So I’m starting in Genesis - and only have so much time - and I’m skimming along, and I’m reading fast. Then there were the ’begats’. So and so begat so and so... So and so begat so and so..."
"They say you can recognize the Bible of a godly man because of the tearstains on the pages – Buddy Owens said that his Bible had drool stains on the pages."
What about you?
"How many of you made the commitment to pray for an hour, or to read through the Bible in a year?"
"How many of you have ever made the commitment to pray through the Bible in a year, or to pray an hour a day?
How many of you failed? You don’t have to answer that – just Stop torturing yourself!"
Read and Pray to Eat of the Bread of Life
Reading and prayer are not two separate activities.
Bible reading and prayer were made to go hand-in-hand. Reading and Prayer - two parts of a conversation
Read for satisfaction – not for bulk
Reading for volume is like a blueberry pie eating contest… It’s not really satisfying – in fact it’s kinda disgusting. Cramming bread down your throat is not the point!
READING FOR Satisfaction is like taking freshly baked bread, cutting it, O, so carefully, with a sharp knife, preparing it by putting it in the toaster for just the right amount of time, and then slathering on the real butter, made from real cream, and then letting it melt into the bread. Now take a bite while
it’s still warm. That’s satisfying!
Select the Bread Carefully
▪ The Bible is a collection of 66 Books. You don’t have to begin at the very beginning and go all the way to the very end - all in order.
▪ You might want to begin starting with Matthew and go through the New Testament. Perhaps with Galatians or Ephesians
▪ Or perhaps begin where your pastor taught last week
Ask God to make this a fine meal
(It is only the Holy Spirit within me that helps me to understand God’s word)
1 Corinthians 2:14
"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Slow down – Chew your food!
Like your mother used to teach you – chew your food!
Read for satisfaction, not for bulk.
▪ You don’t have to cover a certain amount of material in a certain amount of time.
▪ What does the place look like?
▪ What does it sound like?
▪ Who is the audience (speaking to a group, a person)?
▪ What is going on in the verses before and after (the surroundings, the scenery).
▪ Read it as a personal letter from a person who loves you.
▪ READ SLOWLY - explore it!
▪ BREAK THE RULES - MOVE YOUR LIPS, you may even want to read it out loud!
Enjoy the dining experience
Stop and think about what you are eating.
What is God wanting you to get from this piece of bread?
Colossians 3:16
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
Now: Tell God what the bread means to you – this is your prayer!
▪ This is my prayer - this is where my reading and thinking turns into real prayer.
▪ Talk with God about what he’s been saying to you in this place.
▪ Tell God what you’ve been feeling.
▪ Tell God what you’ve been hearing through this passage(s).
▪ Talk with God about what you’ve seen.
▪ Tell God where I’ve been - what scriptural scenery I’ve seen.
▪ Sometimes my prayer is a prayer of gratitude.
▪ Sometimes it’s a prayer of confession.
▪ It might just be a sung prayer of worship or praise.
Share the bread with someone else
Bread is meant to be shared. It’s not expensive and a little goes a long way. It’s better when it is shared!
Life Transforming
Buddy Owens said that his life really changed.
He said he struggles FAR less with temptation (he’s not over it - but it’s gotten a whole lot better)
He’s replaced old thought patterns with new ones.
His children noticed that he became more patient than he used to be.
His passions became godly passions.
He began to see circumstances through the lens of scripture.
His motivations changed.
The last thing that changed - he noticed he began having conversational prayer and scripture with God - his spiritual life changed.
His times with God became wonderful - everyday memories.
The time alone with God became something far more enjoyable.
The time with God started growing into a friendship with God instead of a compulsion of mere duty.
"God wants us to know him through faith
- too many Christians focus on doing instead of being - we should focus on our faith - building our faith in God instead of mere doing our Christian. If we focus on our faith - the doing becomes naturally."
Closing Communion
John 6:35-40 (NCV)
35 Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you before, you have seen me and still don’t believe. 37 The Father gives me my people. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them. 38 I came down from heaven to do what God wants me to do, not what I want to do. 39 Here is what the One who sent me wants me to do: I must not lose even one whom God gave me, but I must raise them all on the last day. 40 Those who see the Son and believe in him have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day. This is what my Father wants.”
