Sermon #2 in “What’s in a Name” series
February 11, 2024; Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL, James Jackson, Lead Pastor
Good morning. Please turn to John 6 in your Bibles.
Have you ever gone out of your way on a road trip because you saw a sign for something that looked cool? If you’ve ever driven out west, like to South Dakota, you started seeing signs for Wall Drug Store about 400 miles away. No joke. Wall Drug Store is world famous, not because it’s this incredible drug store (although it does have free ice water). It’s famous because there are signs for it all over the world. Here’s one a World War II soldier put up in France. This one is at the Taj Mahal in India. There’s even a Wall Drug Store sign at the South Pole.
Somewhere, Alexander Shunarrah is jealous.
Here’s another sign I’ll follow: the Krispy Kreme Hot Now sign. Whenever they are pulling them out of the cooker, they will turn on the sign to let everyone know the donuts are hot. Did you know that the Krispy Kreme app will tell you when the Hot Now sign is lit?
I’ll admit, when the Prattville Krispy Kreme first opened, I was such a sucker for that Hot Now sign. And the thing is, they’re not even that good. After the first 8 or 9 of them, you’re like, “What’s the big deal?”
Well, in the Scripture passage for this morning, we are going to see crowds of people that followed Jesus because they saw a sign. Some wanted to see what all the fuss was about, like going to Wall Drug. Others were following Jesus because they were looking to fill their stomachs like followingthe Krispy Kreme donut sign. But others were truly seeking Jesus. And once they gave their lives to Him, they were committed to growing in their relationship with him, and sticking with him even when things were hard, or when they didn’t understand Him.
Between now and Easter, we are looking at the I Am statements of Jesus. Seven different times in John (plus a bonus one we will get to in a couple of weeks), Jesus made an I AM statement. And so this morning, we are going to look at the first one., where Jesus says “I am the Bread of Life.”
And just in case I miss a blank, we are going to be talking about the difference between sort of seeking Jesus and Sincerely Finding Jesus. We’ll talk about how we continually feed on Jesus. And we will end up by looking at how to Stubbornly Stick with Jesus. Let’s read John 6, verses 47-50. We are going to look at the entire chapter, but these verses will be our focus. Please stand to honor God’s Word:
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
May God bless the reading of God’s Word. Let’s Pray:
Prayer: “Father, we are hungry today. We come here keenly aware of our physical needs and human desires. Make us aware of our deeper, more important hunger, and feed us today with the Bread of Life.”
So before we dive in to the passage, let me give you some of the context. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus was being followed everywhere He went by these huge crowds. John points out in verse 1 that the crowds were following him “because they saw the signs He was performing by healing the sick.” It is at this point that Jesus performs his most famous miracle, the feeding of the five thousand.
The people are amazed, and they say to each other in verse 14, “This truly is the prophet who has come into the world!” And Jesus realizes that they are on the verge of taking Him by force and proclaiming Him to be king, so he withdraws from them up to the mountain.
That night, Jesus directed the disciples to get into a boat and sail to the other side of the sea of Galilee. They must have asked Jesus, “Well, how are you gonna get there, Boss?” And Jesus is like, “Don’t worry; I’ll catch up.” And sure enough, when they are about four miles offshore, here comes Jesus.
The next day, the crowds realize Jesus has gone to the other side of the lake, and come seeking Jesus again. (v. 24).
So you could stop there and say, “Wow, what an amazing story about seekers coming to Jesus! Even if they had to cross all the way to the other side of the sea, they were seeking Jesus!
Well…. Sort of. They were “Sort of Seeking” Jesus
We’ve already seen in verse 2 that the crowd was seeking Jesus because they saw the signs of healing, and they wanted some of that too. Or in verse 15, when they tried to make him king, they were seeking Him in order to fulfill their own political agenda. And the next day, there were those who were looking for another free meal. Jesus calls them out on it. Look at verse 26:
26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
And then, they circle back to the signs again in verse 30-31:
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
So, to recap, some of the people were seeking Jesus for sustenance—they wanted another free meal. Or status—they wanted to attach themselves to Jesus to advance their political agenda. Or maybe they just wanted the same power Jesus had. In verse 28 they ask Him, “What can we do to perform the works of God? Dude—I know a magician never reveals his secrets, but if you could just teach us to do that thing with the five loaves and two fish, man—can you imagine how much money we could make if we opened up a catering business? “
Or they were interested in the spectacle: wow Jesus, how are you going to top it today?
You might say, well, no matter the reason they were looking for him, in the end they found him, right? So does it really matter what their initial reason was, as long as the result is that they find Jesus?
And the answer is no. Jesus isn’t interested in being your means to some other end. Remember, He is the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end. He is never going to be your path to prosperity, or your genie in a bottle, or your path to the White House.
Let’s say a church decides that the way to get people to come to their church is to have a huge blowout Christmas pageant. They pull out all the stops—live animals in the nativity, Gabriel coming down on a zip line, indoor fireworks when the angels appear to the shepherds, No expense was spared.
The question is, what do they do next year? Do they get into this endless cycle of trying to figure out how to top the last Easter service, or 4th of July, or Christmas cantata, or whatever, they are going to run out of budget money really quickly, and it still won’t be enough to bring people to Christ. I mean, at the end of this chapter, we’re going to read that “many people went away from Him and were no longer willing to follow Him.” Do we really think we can out-Jesus Jesus?
So it’s a good time to ask you—are you sincerely seeking or sort of seeking? If you are sincerely seeking, you will find Him—Jeremiah 29:13 promises that you will seek Him and find Him when you search for him with your whole heart.
Sincerely Finding Jesus (v. 35)
So how do you do that? How do your search with your whole heart? Let’s look at what Jesus says in verses 35-40:
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; [there’s our “I AM” statement] whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Two words that pop up over and over again in this passage and actually throughout the gospel of John: Come and Believe. To come to Jesus means to deliberately, thoughtfully, intentionally place yourself in His proximity. It’s more than coming to church. Lots of people will tell you their mother “dragged them to church every time the doors were open.” Jesus doesn’t say “be dragged to me.” He says come—Intentionally place yourself in my presence.
And then Jesus says “believe.” Believe is the Greek word pisteuo, and it means to entrust or to place your confidence in. It is more than just intellectual assent. The book of James says that even the demons believe in Jesus. No—pisteuo is belief that translates to action.
Think of a piston in a car’s engine (I’m not saying piston comes from pisteuo—they just sound alike. But a piston is what makes a car move forward. Gas and air flow into the cylinder. The piston compresses pushes it up and compresses it. A spark ignites the gas and air mix, which forces the piston down again, turning the crankshaft. It does this 187 times a second. So think of belief—pisteuo as moving you into action.
Learn (v 45)
Skip down to verse 45:
45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life.
Continually Feeding on Jesus (v. 53-58)
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread[c] the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
One of the highlights of our trips to Israel—for me anyway—is seeing the church of the Multiplication on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It marks the spot where Jesus was thought to perform the Feeding of the 5000. There’s been a church there since at least around the 6th century, and a few years ago, archaeologists uncovered a beautiful mosaic floor, showing the five loaves of bread and two fish.
But if you look closely at the mosaic, you see a problem. There are only four loaves. Where is the fifth one. Did the artist just not know the story?
This mosaic was laid in front of a bare rock outcropping, because people believed it was on that rock that Jesus blessed the five loaves of bread and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to give to the people
Stubbornly Sticking with Jesus (v. 66-69)
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Conclusion
In his book A Gentle Thunder, Max Lucado shared this story about a beggar who went searching for bread:
A beggar came into a bakery and said to the baker, “I want bread,” he said.
“How wise you are,” the baker said. “Bread is what you need. And you have come to the right bakery.” And he pulled his cookbook down from his shelf and began to tell him all he knew about bread.
He spoke of flour and wheat, of grain and barley. His knowledge was impressive as he cited the measurements and recipe. But the beggar wasn’t impressed. “I just want bread,” he said.
“Well then” said the baker. “Follow me, and I’ll show you our bakery.” And the baker guided the beggar through the huge, ornate bakery. He pointed out the rooms where the dough is prepared and the ovens where the bread is baked. “We are the biggest bakery in town,” said the baker. “No one has such facilities. We have bread for every need. Then he showed he beggar a vast auditorium with stained glass windows, comfortable chairs, and state of the art sound and lights.”
The baker went on, Once a week my workers gather, and I read to them the recipe from the cookbook of life. You know, I don’t mean to brag, but people come from miles to hear me speak, not to mention all the people that tune into the livestream.
The baker could tell the beggar was hungry, and he thought he knew just what to do.” He said, “Would you like to subscribe to my podcast?”
“No,” said the beggar, “I just want some bread.”
“I am so glad you came through our doors” said the baker. And as he led him to the front door of the bakery, he opened the door and led him out on to the sidewalk. “My friend, Up and down this street you will find many bakeries. But take heed; they don’t serve the true bread. I know of one who adds two spoons of salt rather than one. I know of another whose oven is three degrees too hot. They may call it bread,” I warned, “but it’s not according to the book.”
The beggar turned and began walking away. “Don’t you want bread?” I asked him. He stopped, looked back at me, and shrugged, “I guess I lost my appetite.”
I shook my head and returned to my office. “What a shame,” I said to myself. “The world just isn’t hungry for true bread anymore.”
Let’s pray together.
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