I am the Bread of Life- Terry Gilpin

I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE

John 6:22-40

What is the world’s nicest smell. Freshly baked bread! If you are hungry, there is nothing that will tempt you like it. Over-fresh, warm, soft, crusty.

Of course, you can get all kinds of bread, especially in America – everything from Honey Wheat to Garlic Onion to Chocolate Cherry. There is a bread for every taste. But nothing beats plain, fresh, new bread just out of the oven.

For many bread is a side dish, a roll, that part of a sandwich that holds the meat in place. For most of the world bread is a big deal. In most places across the world it is the main course, perhaps the only course, and not a side line.

So, when the Lord said “I AM the Bread of Life,” he was painting a picture that could automatically be interpreted by his hearers.

I want to focus on the seven “I AM” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John.

• I Am The Bread of Life (Jn 6:35)
• I Am The Light of The World (Jn 8:12)
• I Am The Gate (Jn 10:7)
• I Am The Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11)
• I Am The Resurrection And The Life (Jn 11:25)
• I Am The Way And The Truth And The Life (Jn 14:6)
• I Am The True Vine (Jn 15:1)

To understand the deeper meaning of what He was saying, we must turn to John 8:58. There the Lord was speaking to the Pharisees. He had just told them that anyone who keeps His word “will never see death.” The Pharisees were appalled. Abraham, the greatest Jew, was dead. Was Jesus greater than he? Jesus replied that Abraham had seen His (Jesus’) day coming and had been glad about it. “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” The Jews were scandalized, recognising it as a clear claim to deity.

The real import of this is clear when we go back to Moses and the burning bush. When he ran out of excuses as to why he should not go to Egypt, he asked, “Who shall I say I say has sent me?” God’s reply was “Say I AM has sent me to you.” This was God’s ID.

As the “I AM,” the Lord has no beginning (not “I was”) and no end (not “I will be”). He is Jehovah. Of course we cannot grasp the concept of Jesus as the “I AM.” Which is why He reduced it to understandable word pictures – like bread, light, shepherds, doors, and vines.

1. THE MIRACLE (6:1-14)
The background to the discussion about Jesus as the Bread of Life was the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. It was a life-sized illustration of something that only God could do. Nicodemus agreed, “No man can do these miracles thou doest, except God be with him.”

The purpose of that miracle was to get their attention, to force them to focus on Himself, what He offered, and what He demanded from them.

2. THE MISTAKE (6:15-34)
Following the miracle, when Jesus saw that the excited crowd would come and make Him king of Israel by force, He walked off into the mountains alone, while the disciples headed by boat across the lake to Capernaum. Eventually Jesus followed them, walking on the water to also reach Capernaum.

The crowds eventually caught up with Him in Capernaum, and asked how had He crossed the lake without a boat (6:25). This was sensational stuff that fed their hunger for more miracles as proof He was the Messiah. Clearly they had completely missed the point of the miracle. In analysing the miracle, the people made three major mistakes about:

a) The Provision
What Jesus was offering and what they wanted were two different things. They thought bread was all they needed. Here was an opportunity to eat without working, to reap without sowing, to go out as in Moses’ day, and simply collect the manna in baskets. It was all too good to be true. Food represented survival and pleasure – surely what life is all about. So people today spend their lives in search of stale and mouldy “food that perishes” (6:27), instead of pursuing the food that endures to eternal life.

Jesus still asks, “What are you working for?” To make a living? To have a nice home? To be comfortable? All our glitzy possessions eventually corrode, decay, and lose their value. And at the end of the day we leave them all behind, and take nothing into eternity but our own soul.

b) The Provider
They saw the Provider as a sensational miracle worker, dishing out free lunches. He might even deliver them from the Romans. What they could get from Him was more important that the Person Himself.

We also err here. As new Christians, we presume Jesus’ main job is to take care of us, to give us an education, a satisfying career, good friends, good fellowship, and even a nice car. As time passes, our tastes get fussier – we need more comfort, less stress, more satisfaction, more security. We want Him to perk us up when we are down, remove our difficulties, and make living a whole lot easier.

When that doesn’t happen, we feel as if Jesus had walked away from us. We don’t realize He wants to give us Himself. As children we think our parents have only one task: To make us happy. Only later do we realize their task is to send us off into the world with what we will need and not always—in fact rarely—with what we want. So the Lord said to the people, “You came searching for bread. You should have come searching for Me.”

c) The Procurement
The people asked, “What shall we do that we might work the works of God?” (6:28). Their question said it all. Man craves to do something for salvation. All false religions have their answers to this question. “Fast!” says Islam, and it sets apart the month of Ramadan for that purpose. “Do penance, earn indulgences, say masses,” says Roman Catholicism. “Torture your body, perform feats of physical endurance,” says Hinduism. “Keep the law according to the tradition of the elders,” say the Rabbis.

The Lord had told them His food was free, “the bread that I will give” (6:51), but they insisted on doing and working for it. In reply, Jesus said only one work was required, “believe on him whom He hath sent” (6:20). That was all.

3. THE MESSAGE (6:35)
“I am the Bread of Life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (6:35).

The background to this sermon was the feeding of the five thousand. We all need, use, and enjoy bread, which is why Jesus pictured Himself as the Bread of Life. Even the making of bread paints a picture of the Lord. The grain grows up, is cut down, ground into flour, and finally baked in the heat of the oven. So Christ was subjected to the full fire of God’s judgement, that He might be the Bread of Life to us.

Jesus had several things in mind when He offered Himself as “the Bread of Life” to a hungry world. Like bread He is:

a) Essential
Bread addresses man’s most basic need. Take bread off the shelves, and people starve. It is acceptable to both king and commoner. Sushi may be fine for some each evening, but everyone eventually falls back on bread.

Marie Antoinette in 1790, when told the peasants had no bread, is supposed to have callously replied, “Let them eat cake.” But the Gospel supplies what is basic and essential.

As bread is basic to physical life, so the Living Bread is essential for spiritual life. St. Augustine said every person has a God-shaped vacuum in his soul. We can attempt to fill it with other things, but only Jesus can fill it.

A missionary in China was one day asked, “Every time you speak you always speak of Jesus Christ. Why?” He replied, “Let me ask, What did you have for dinner today?“ “Rice.” “And yesterday?” “The same thing.” “And tomorrow?” “Rice. It gives me strength. I must have it, it is my very life!” “What you have said of rice, Jesus is to our soul! He is the rice or Bread of Life.”

b) Vital
It is “the Bread of Life.” There is lots about life we cannot guarantee. We do not know what will happen to the country, or the economy, or a thousand other things. But, I do know that every sinner who comes to Jesus by faith, repenting of his sins and accepting Jesus as Saviour, will be saved, and will live forever in Heaven!

c) Personal
“He that cometh…” True, the offer extends to the world, but people come to Christ one by one. People don’t eat or get born by proxy. So in the spiritual realm, people are saved one at a time.

d) Conditional
“He that cometh.” To receive this bread means to believe in and submit to Jesus Christ. Later the Lord said, “whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life” (6:54). The meaning of verse is that to have everlasting life one must receive Jesus. Tha means all of Him – His teaching, His redemptive work, His commandments – into the innermost core of his being. His terms are, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

Imagine a plate of chocolate biscuits. You say “Yes, I would love one,” but you just sit there and smile. I say, “I thought you wanted a biscuit!” You say, “I do!” I say, “If you want it, you must reach out and take it!” Only when a person eats food will it do him any good. So we need to respond to Christ’s claim to be the Bread of Life.

It is the same with salvation. Jesus has done it all – He died, He rose, He lives, and now calls me to come to Him. To be saved, I must come. “He that cometh.” Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (6:47). To be saved, you have to “believe” in Jesus. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (6:37).

e) Universal
Jesus described Himself as “the bread of God which cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world” (6:33). His promise, “he that cometh…and he that believeth”(6:35) is unconditionally open to all. This is why there are so many invitations to “Come unto me …” The closing invitation of the Bible is “Come! Come! Come!”

The making of bread has not essentially changed for thousands of years. The bread I hold today is much the same as it was in the days of Jesus. It is made up of flour, water and yeast. Different seasonings like salt, sugar, and spices can be added, but, the essential ingredients have remained the same for thousands of years.

f) Eternal (6:37-40)
“Him that cometh to me I will I no wise cast out” (6:37). Those who trust Christ need never fear being cast away. He guarantees perfect and absolute security. He didn’t save us to lose us along the way, He saved us to take us home to be with Himself.

Many think they are responsible for maintaining their salvation and that if they let down their guard they will lose what they have and have to get it all over again. Not so! When the Almighty gives it, He gives it forever!

As World War II drew 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 did not thrive. They seemed nervous and afraid. Finally, a psychologist ordered that each child be given a piece of bread to hold after he was put to bed. It was just to be held –not eaten. The results were immediate. The children went to bed knowing instinctively they would have food to eat the next day. That guaranteed a restful and contented sleep.

TO THINK ABOUT
Jesus began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life. He ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.