I Am The Bread of Life

Jn 6:30-40

As we discussed last week. Context is very important to understanding the words of Jesus as he meant them to be understood. When and where he said things were often almost as important as what he had to say. Will will see that again in today’s lesson.

In the verses just before this episode, Jesus had fed 5000 people. They continued to follow him in hopes of new miracles and better yet, free bread. They quoted scripture of Moses giving the people manna as if saying, “look, this is what you are supposed to do for us.”

In our text, Jesus turns their greed into a lesson on his deity.

PRAYER

I. Bread was life

A. Bread was the staple of life.

1. Up until the invention of refrigeration, bread was the one thing that everyone could count on for survival.

2. As long as people had bread, or the ingredients to make bread, they know they would never starve.

3. The French Revolution and many a riot started when people ran out of bread.

4. In ancient literature, bread was synonymous with food because it was what most people considered as food.

5. In his book God's Psychiatry, Charles L. Allen tells this story: "As World War II was drawing to a close, the Allied armies gathered up many hungry orphans. They were placed in camps where they were well-fed. Despite excellent care, they slept poorly. They seemed nervous and afraid. Finally, a psychologist came up with the solution. Each child was given a piece of bread to hold after he was put to bed. This particular piece of bread was just to be held--not eaten. The piece of bread produced wonderful results. The children went to bed knowing instinctively they would have food to eat the next day. That guarantee gave the children a restful and contented sleep."

B. Bread in the Bible

1. Even in the Bible this played out at the Israelites fearing they would starve in the wilderness beseeched God for help.

2. He sent them manna.

3. A bread like substance.

4. The Hebrew means “what is it?”

5. It was as much as from the fact that they didn’t know exactly what it was as the idea of waking up one morning and seeing this bread laying all over the ground.

6. God gave them the bread of life for their survival.

II. The Bread of Life

A. The crowd and bread

1. As we read our text, these people were look for a cheap meal and even turned God helping the Israelites to survive into a argument for Jesus to give them free bread.

2. They were looking for a meal.

3. A meal that would only care for them until it was time to eat again.

4. They would always be hungry.

5. F. B. Meyer, in his little volume Blessed Are Ye, illustrates this truth by using an interesting analogy. He says that during the great famine of China, the people made "bread" from a kind of edible earth. But this ingredient was devoid of any nutrients, so those who ate the loaves starved. Those who depended upon it for food will have their stomachs filled, but they'll eventually die.

6. Jesus tells them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry.” Vs 35

B. Jesus and the bread.

1. There are certain ancient superstitions associated with bread. Some people thought that if a fresh loaf were tied to the head of a mentally deranged person, his sanity would be restored. Others were convinced that the smell of baking bread would bring relief from a cold.

2. We know, of course, that these ideas are ridiculous.

3. Christ is a kind of bread that does work wonders!

4. He is more than a spiritual meal.

5. Without him, we can eat our “food” of religiousness but there is no spiritual nutrition to it.

6. We will starve to death without the bread of life.

7. Once we have the bread of life, we will never know spiritual hunger again.

C. Share the bread

1. When I mentioned earlier about the French revolution, Mary Antoinette upon hearing that the people were without bread, remarked “Well, let them eat cake!”

a) It was that callous attitude and unwillingness to share the basics people need to live that eventually cost her and her family the throne and their heads.

2. Marius, a Roman head of the Senate, stopped a full scale riot, by opening the wheat storage areas to the people of the city for no cost for a week. Then offered the wheat at cheap costs. When the people got food in their bellies, they were less willing to die in a riot than when they felt they had nothing to lose.

3. we MUST share the Bread of Life with those around us.

4. In getting the bread to the hungry, we cannot forget what our objective is. The Bread of life.

5. Christ, the perfect and fulfilling bread.

6. He is the hope of man’s survival.

7. He should be synonymous with spiritual food just as bread was for physical food.

8. The Jews never got that message. They just wanted another free meal.

9. What are you looking for? The “worship experience?”

10. Are you here today just to feel good about being religious or are you looking for the Bread of Life that will fill your spiritual hunger forever?