October 19, 2003

Service Theme – "Our God Feeds Our Souls"

John 6:32-35

"I am the Bread of Life"

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – This morning we’re going to be a little more interactive than usual. I’d like you to share with the rest of us the answer to this question: (NEW SLIDE) what do I hunger and thirst for and why? Whenever you’re ready, please share your answer with us. What do I hunger and thirst for and why?
    2. Context – As we’ve shared, there are many things we hunger and thirst for. But there’s only one thing we truly need to satisfy that hunger and thirst, so let’s read John 6:32-35 to find out what that is.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. (NEW SLIDE) John 6:32-35 (from the New Living) – Jesus said, "I assure you, Moses didn’t give them bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 "Sir," they said, "give us that bread every day of our lives." (NEW SLIDE) 35 Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst."
  1. What Do We Hunger and Thirst for?
    1. The crowd had gotten a free lunch courtesy of Jesus and a little boy with some bread and fish. Then Jesus and His disciples crossed the lake, and when they came back the crowd was waiting for them. Why? Because the crowd wanted another free lunch. That’s why they were arguing with Jesus. They challenged Him to do what they claimed Moses did for the ancient Israelites in the desert – give them food. That’s where we picked up the discussion. The crowd wanted a free ride, while Jesus wanted to give them true freedom.
    2. We’re a lot like that crowd. There are many things we hunger and thirst for that don’t satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts. Even those of us who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ hunger and thirst for things that would hurt us. We hunger for money, for power or control, for approval, for things. We thirst for diversions that will take our hearts and minds off of the pain we struggle to deal with. (NEW SLIDE) But what we really long for, what our hearts cry out for, is something permanent, something that will satisfy those longings that grip our souls. What we need is the true bread from heaven.
    3. But how can bread help us? Too often we allow ourselves to focus solely on the physical world, forgetting that there is a spiritual reality that touches our hearts on a much deeper level. Yes, we need food and clothing and shelter to survive. Yes, we need money and a car and a job to make it in this world. But the deepest longings of our hearts have nothing at all to do with physical needs. They are there because we have God-sized holes in our souls that we need Him to fill. Only the true bread from heaven can fill those holes.
    4. Look at what verse thirty-three says: (NEW SLIDE) The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. The true bread of heaven is someone sent from heaven to give us life. Now I know this is basic theology, and I know that some of you are probably thinking, "Hawes, tell us something that we don’t already know." Last week we talked about how we tend to intellectually know something instead of letting it capture our hearts, and that this always shows in what we do. It’s the same principle here. We say we know the very basic truth that the true bread of heaven is someone sent to give us life. Yet we fail to allow this truth to fully impact our lives. We keep it boxed up in a safe corner where we can keep our eye on it. Why? Because we’re afraid of change. We’re afraid of what God may lead us through in order to make the truth of the bread of heaven a reality in every part of our lives. And yet Jesus said that the bread came down to give life. Full eternal and spiritual life. Spiritual life so powerful that it will transform every single part of our lives.
    5. Again we’re a lot like the crowd. The crowd didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about because they were still focused on the physical. "Sir," they said, "give us that bread every day of our lives." Again, they wanted a free ride. They wanted to get fed every day so they wouldn’t have to work or beg or do whatever else they were doing. We know this because verse forty-one tells us they were murmuring about what He said. But Jesus tried to refocus them on the truth, to get them to see that there was more to life that what they were seeing. He said, (NEW SLIDE) "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst." What exactly was He talking about?
    6. What Jesus was talking to the crowd about back then is the same thing He is speaking to us this morning. He is the only one who can fill those holes in our souls. He is the only one who can satisfy those deep longings in our hearts. When we hunger and thirst only for Him, He will meet those needs. When we hunger and thirst only for Him, we don’t need money or power or control or approval or things to fill us. Yes, we still need money and some things to live on, but we don’t need them to fill those deep longings of our hearts. (NEW SLIDE) When we feed on Him spiritually, allow Him to be our only source of spiritual truth and inner strength, He will fill us. He will give us strength and peace and hope beyond our ability to explain. If.
    7. We have a problem with this truth. As I said before, we know it intellectually but we haven’t let it fill our hearts to the fullest. On the one hand, we have Jesus crying out to us, "I am the bread of life! Let me fill you and make your life better than you could ever dream!" On the other hand, we have sin. Yes, we can call it sin, because sin is the only thing that can separate us from Jesus Christ. Maybe it’s a sin of overwhelming fear. Yes, fear is a sin when it keeps us from doing God’s will. Maybe it’s a sin of unbelief, or of mistrusting God, or of an unwillingness to follow His will. Maybe it’s something deliberate, an intentional disobedience to a command He’s given us. Or maybe it’s a refusal to change. Whatever it is, if we aren’t allowing the bread of life to fill our hearts and lives, it is sin. Bottom line.
    8. You know what the worst thing about sin is? It’s bad enough that sin makes us miss out on the many blessings God has for us. It’s bad enough that sin makes us miss out on the healing that God wants to begin to work in our hearts and lives. (NEW SLIDE) The worse thing about sin is that it separates us from God. God cannot have anything to do with sin because He is holy. He loves us enough He sent His Son to be the bread of life to remove sin from between us. I know many of us in this room know this stuff already. We have a lot of knowledge about the reality of sin, how God deals with it, and how we can be forgiven. BUT WE DON’T KNOW IT IN OUR HEARTS! If we knew it in our hearts we’d actually do something about it! If we really believed that Jesus is the bread of life and can fill our deepest longings and needs, we’d do something about it. We’d get off our duffs and onto our knees and cry out to God, "Save me! Forgive me! Cleanse me! Heal me!" If we only believed. If we only believed.
    9. (NEW SLIDE) We’re a lot like that crowd. So focused on the physical we forget about the spiritual. So focused on the longings that we forget the Healer. So focused on just spiritually surviving that we forget to live! Jesus said, "I am the bread of LIFE!" He came to fill our deepest hungers and thirsts so that we can truly live! As Paul writes in (NEW SLIDE) Galatians 5:1, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Jesus came to set us free, but we haven’t figured that out yet. We keep letting ourselves be burdened by sin! We keep letting Satan fool us into believing that his answers to our longings and needs are much better than God’s! We haven’t defeated sin in our lives! All the talk about defeating the cycle of sin is just talk because we don’t do it. All the talk about being alive in Jesus is just talk because we refuse to die to sin. We’re all guilty! When are we going to get a clue? When are we going to get a life, the life Jesus is calling us to? When are we going to taste the bread of life and find that He is good and fills our every need? When are we going to allow His truth to transform our hearts and minds? (NEW SLIDE) As Romans 12:2 puts it, Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. When are we going to confess our sin and truly repent, change our thinking and actions, make ourselves accountable to other believers for our repentance, and truly LIVE! When are we going to get past our pride and our prejudices and receive God’s gift of the bread of life, on His terms, and receive life?
  1. Conclusion
    1. If you sense that God has been speaking to your heart this morning, come forward to the altars and receive the bread of life. Put everything else aside, all fear and pride, and come forward and receive life from the living bread at these altars of prayer. And maybe God has put someone else on your heart who needs the bread of life. Whether they’re here or someplace else, come forward and pray for them that they will receive the bread of life. (NEW SLIDE) Come forward and ask Jesus to be the only bread you feed on, to get rid of any other breads your soul has been feeding on, to forgive and cleanse you, and give you a new start.
    2. If all is well between your soul and God, then intercede for those who need the bread of life. Or come forward and pray with those who are up here. This is a sacred moment, and we all need to be in prayer, either for ourselves or for others who need the bread of life.
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