Well, good morning, everyone. This morning, as Alex said, we're going to get back into John's Gospel after a break of eight or nine weeks.
And of course, I want to do that by way of some revision, so as we actually pick up the big picture of the story of John.
And you remember, we've cast the whole biography of John a bit like a courtroom drama.
And John is the barrister. And in chapter one, he outlines his case against or for Jesus.
Regarding Jesus. And he says in chapter one, several really key things.
So he says that Jesus is truly and completely God.
And he alleges that Jesus is truly and completely human at the same time.
God and man perfectly together.
And he alleges that Jesus has come into the world as the fulfiller of God's purposes and salvation.
He's come to give light.
He's come to give life.
He's come to give family privilege.
And he's come to do that for all who will receive him.
On his terms.
The flip side is that the rest, those who won't receive him on his terms,
he then confirms in darkness.
In death.
In alienation from God's family.
In spite of their religious lifestyle.
So John's biography about Jesus plunks Jesus right into the middle of a context where people are busy being religious.
And Jesus is saying that's not enough.
You can be religious and still only know death and darkness and alienation from God.
John's brief is to show that Jesus has come to turn that around.
In chapter two onwards, then, John systematically presents the supporting evidence for these claims.
And he builds his case like a good barrister does, step by step, with seven signs or miracles.
And the associated teaching that goes with each of those miracles.
Teaching that explains and illustrates the significance of the spiritual significance of the signs or the miracles themselves.
And as we track through that, then we're actually getting, and again, the best traditions of the law courts nowadays,
we're getting an identikit picture of Jesus built.
Piece by piece, it's becoming clear who this Jesus is and how he wants people to respond to.
And as he does that, John also introduces seven key sayings of Jesus,
which spell out the nature of the life that Jesus offers.
And this morning, as we jump back into John's gospel, we're jumping back into the context in which Jesus uses the first of these things.
Jesus says, I am the bread of life.
I am the bread from heaven.
It's a profound thing.
Hopefully we'll see what it means as we go through.
Alex has already sort of gone before me.
So just remember Alex's stuff if you've done me any sense of mine.
So let's just pick up the context there.
So the day before, we start verse 22 the next day, so I'm just going to the day before.
So what's the day before, verses 1 to 15?
Well, the day before, a massive, hungry crowd had experienced personally, not just theoretically,
but personally, an astounding miracle.
As Jesus not only fed the lot of them, 5,000, more than 5,000, could be twice that number if you count women and children,
but at least 5,000, fed from the lunchbox of some random young boy.
Not only that, but ending up with 12 baskets, ending up with far, far more than what he started with.
And everything about the context of that reminded the crowd of the story of Moses feeding God's people in the wilderness.
So quite correctly, if you look at verse 14, quite correctly, when the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.
So they got it right.
They recognized in Jesus the prophet, the Messiah.
But look at verse 15.
No sooner had they got it right than they'd get it wrong.
Their own agenda derails them.
Only thinking about the need for salvation or deliverance from the external enemy of Roman occupation, Roman oppression,
and being convinced that what they've just seen of Jesus marked him out as the guy who had the credentials to lead a rebellion against the Romans,
they then seized Jesus, or they then intend to seize Jesus and make him a king by force.
In other words, they're imposing their agenda onto what it means for Jesus to be the prophet.
The result?
Jesus just slips away.
It doesn't really tell us why, but I think at least we can say that Jesus wasn't remotely interested in their agenda of what it meant for him to be king.
Perhaps he withdrew with deep sadness that the crowds could not see their need to be delivered from something far more fundamental, far more profound than the Romans.
That is, they couldn't see the need to be delivered from their own sinful hearts, from their own alienation from relationship with God.
You can just sense the sadness that these guys are still working, operating on the outside in.
Well, the next day, verses 22, then we pick up the story, the crowd's still hanging around.
And I presume we're meant to understand that it's sort of 16 hours later, at least, if not more, and so they're hungry again.
They're hanging around, and they're looking for a repeat performance.
But Jesus is nowhere to be found.
Knowing that his disciples had gone to Capernaum, and probably undeterred in their plans to make him king, according to their terms,
they commandeered whatever boats they could find to take as many as possible across the lake to track down Jesus.
And when they drag him down in Capernaum, we know from verse 59 that in the meantime, Jesus had gone into the synagogue.
So presumably, it's a much smaller crowd that Jesus is dealing with in these verses.
But the pattern of their thinking is revealed in their opening question.
The question is, how did you get here?
When did you get here?
They were struggling to work out how Jesus could have gotten to Capernaum so quickly on foot.
That was their problem.
And you see what we've been told there very subtly?
The day before, they'd just witnessed Jesus as they'd seen and heard of him before, doing many miracles.
They personally had experienced the day before, but still, it doesn't occur to them that perhaps he could have got to Capernaum in some miraculous way.
They're just not thinking about Jesus.
They're just not thinking about Jesus in the terms that Jesus presents.
And likewise, in verse 25 through 65, then we see the pattern of Jesus' thinking.
So we see their thinking pattern.
And in these verses, we see the pattern of Jesus' thinking revealed.
And so verse, he just ignores them, verse 26.
He just ignores their question.
What a dumb question he's thinking to himself.
He just ignores it.
And instead, exposes their crummy motives and even their willful blindness.
And all of that, remember, in the context as they protest that they're seeking and following him.
I think John uses the wording very carefully in verse 24.
They go to Capernaum seeking Jesus.
But the question is, we keep bouncing against it.
What are they seeking?
Who are they seeking?
On what terms are they seeking?
And Jesus responds, truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me.
See, you get this play on this word.
You're seeking me not because you saw signs.
In other words, you're not seeing me as I'm presenting.
You're seeing me as you think I ought to be and as you want me to be.
First and foremost, the filler of a belly.
A pretty handy guy to have around when you find yourself stuck in the desert.
We know shops within Cooey.
And so Jesus says to them,
you are deliberately short-sighted in the things you think will satisfy.
Jesus accused them, as I said, of being interested in him only on their own terms.
Yeah, you could provide us with a free feed, Jesus.
Your remarkable powers are just what we need to galvanize the nation,
to rise in insurrection against these Romans and be done with them once for all.
Well, you're the sort of leader we need to get the good life that we deserve as the people of Israel.
And indeed, the life that God promised us.
So they were more than willing to sign up as his disciples at this point,
while ever he kept delivering their needs or what they imagined their needs to be.
Do you see what's happened?
They've taken this incredible miracle that they personally experienced.
They were caught up in.
They actually had a physical result.
Hunger was stopped and replaced with a sense of fullness.
They couldn't eat anymore.
And yet they still reduced that miracle to their own small-minded agenda
of immediate personal benefit.
We see nothing in these verses of the crowd being drawn to Jesus
as the Son of God.
As the Savior.
As someone who's altogether beautiful.
Desirable or even necessary for them.
We're not drawn.
There's no evidence that we've been drawn into a deeper desire
for a deeper relationship with Christ.
More accountability to him as God.
Or even a sense of rest and fulfillment in him.
So friends, I want to say to you this morning as we move into this passage,
that I think you and I need to see ourselves in this crowd.
Not just looking on dispassionately from the vantage point of history.
We need to see ourselves in this crowd.
These people want God as long as he delivers what they want and demand and imagine they need.
Failed to deliver?
Well, they'll simply move on to another source of supply.
And that's what we're told at the end of this chapter.
Verse whatever, 59, 60, 66 it is.
Many of the disciples turned away from him.
They stopped following him because they started to work out that he wasn't going to deliver the things they wanted him to deliver.
And so they just packed up their swag and moved on, looking for the next source.
Now, you say to yourself, well, isn't Jesus the provider of all our needs?
And I have to say, yes, he is the provider of all our needs.
And then you say, well, isn't it right then that we should bring our needs before him?
And I say, yes, it is.
It is right that we should bring our needs before him.
But here's the catch, you see, because it's possible, like these people,
to be so focused on what we imagine our needs to be
that we actually have focused on ourselves
and not focused on Jesus at all,
except to see him as the agency or the conduit
who will deliver what we want.
And so the result is that we don't see our needs
as Jesus defines them.
And therefore, we never pursue the solutions
that Jesus offers.
In fact, we think it's quite strange.
Why would Jesus push us down this track?
It just doesn't seem relevant to me.
And it doesn't seem relevant because we haven't identified our needs properly.
As the article in the front of the bulletin suggests,
young people in particular, the evidence is coming out now,
young people in particular treat God like a phone app.
It's a useful tool there to be used at your command
to get what you want,
but it's only one of a range of apps.
It might be a good app,
maybe even the best app you have,
but it's only a range.
It's only one of a range.
And it will provide this
where another app will provide that.
Oops, now we're stuck here.
That wasn't meant to be a pregnant pause, young people.
We often think like that ourselves, don't we?
As adults,
we're shocked when we see thinking like that in our children.
Where did our children get it from?
Perhaps we modeled it to them.
Perhaps we've been better teachers of our children than we realized.
We just didn't realize what it was we were teaching them.
A horrible consumerist view of God.
So Jesus challenged the crowd then,
and he says to you and me today as well,
you're short-sighted in the things you think will satisfy.
You should put your energy into pursuing real heart satisfaction.
So Jesus recognizes here the efforts and energy
they're using in chasing after the good life of peace
and security and satisfaction.
He acknowledges that.
He said, yeah, I can see you guys are chasing the good life.
But he exposes
their pointless fixation
with physical appetites,
the outside-in approach
to finding the good life.
Looking at their desires
and the material blessings,
things that push them
to the deeper,
more urgent level of spiritual need
when they understand properly
the failures of these things.
And Jesus wants them to look for
real heart satisfaction.
That's where the idea of bread comes in.
Just as bread is the basic staple
and source of physical life,
nourishment and health
and growth into maturity,
so Jesus pushes them
to desire him as their bread.
Put your effort into pursuing me
and you'll find the truly satisfying life
which will sustain throughout eternity,
says Jesus.
Augustine famously said of the Lord,
you have formed us for yourself
and our hearts are restless
until they find rest in you.
He was echoing Jesus' words here.
If you want that which gives you the good life,
it will satisfy you.
And everybody does.
I recognize it,
in you,
says Jesus,
as he speaks to the crowd.
Well,
the good life of
rich,
satisfying nourishment
which every person on this earth
ultimately longs for
and seeks after
is not just a reality,
but get this,
what Jesus says,
he says to the crowd,
it's not just a reality,
but it's actually a gift,
a reality that comes to you
as a gift
to those who will accept it.
It's a reality
guaranteed by God.
That's what it means
when it says that
God has set a seal on Jesus.
In those days,
a seal was essentially
like a signature.
It authenticated a document.
So Jesus is saying,
look,
I come to you
as the authenticated one,
the only accredited outlet,
if you like,
for the real satisfying life
we are created to enjoy
in relationship with God.
Jesus comes,
he says,
with the authority
and the power
to deliver this life.
He truly is the bread,
the satisfying bread,
if only they will ingest him.
John's made that point
repeatedly in his biography.
And in the end,
there only is one point.
If you want to read,
if you're not a Christian
here this morning,
there only is one point
to get through John's biography.
He makes it over and over
and over again,
like a barrister
building his case.
It just revolves around
this one thing.
Jesus says,
if you want life,
I'm the person
you're looking for.
There's so many other places
that offer life,
but I'm the only accredited
outlet
for satisfying
true life.
Jesus says in his own words,
I am the deeply satisfying
life you long for.
And hopefully you're seeing
the progression in the text.
You know,
you are,
you should be,
and now we've got to
Jesus' main point,
I am.
I am the deeply satisfying
life you long for.
Recognizing that Jesus
is speaking about
spiritual bread,
spiritual nourishment,
spiritual life,
the crowd now respond.
Verse 28,
and that's such a sad response.
Sometimes commentators
suggest this is the crowd
searching for truth.
I don't think that
for a moment.
I think this is just
an expression of unbelief
thrown back in the face
of Jesus.
Jesus says,
look,
I am the life
you're looking for
and I will give this life
to you as a gift.
What does the crowd say?
Tell us what we have to do
to earn it.
Tell us what we have to do
to make God happy.
It's an expression
of stubborn unbelief
in which they push back
Jesus.
Why?
I can only assume
because they're determined
to keep control
through a typical
religious response.
If you tell us
what we need to do
so that God will be happy
so that in turn
he will deliver
the good life we want.
So my friends,
the crowd are actually
refusing the terms
that Jesus just offered them.
He's offered them
deep spiritual life
and heart satisfaction
and they're rejecting it
determined to keep
salvation
and the good life
under their own control
and in their own agenda.
You see,
in stating
that he gives
the good life
of satisfaction
as a gift,
I take it that Jesus
expects them
to recognize
and acknowledge
the need for the gift
because they've tried
really hard
to find the good life
through religion
and through other things
and it's failed them.
And he would expect them
therefore to be more
attentive to
a viable alternative.
But no,
they're committed
to the same old path.
And remember back
in chapter 5,
Jesus has already
had the similar argument
with the Jewish
religious leaders.
They too should have
realized
their rebellious hearts
meant they were
hard-wired
to reject the good life
of obedience to God
and replace it
with a cheap,
unsatisfying
substitute
of their own making.
They weren't looking
for Jesus
in the Old Testament.
Why not?
That's the Jewish
religious leaders.
Jesus tells them,
you weren't looking for me
because you don't
see any need for me.
they thought
eternal life
was to be gained
simply by
going through the motions,
by reading the Bible
and keeping all the
religious festivals
and doing all the
religious things.
That's what Jesus
said to them.
You think in doing
these things
you have eternal life?
Well, he said,
no.
And Jesus pushes
back again
on this crowd
and said,
I'm offering life
much easier
than you think.
Verse 29.
So Jesus comes
back again.
You can see this
tussle,
this to and fro.
Jesus says,
it's a gift.
They say,
tell me what to do.
Jesus says,
it's real easy.
You don't have to do
anything.
You just have to believe.
He rejects
the religious
determination
that they will
please God.
He says,
no,
you won't do that.
He says,
what do you need
to do to get
this life?
He's believing,
believe in me.
I'm the one sent
by the Father
to be your bread.
Now,
I take it this answer
would have been
shocking to the crowd
because Jesus
is totally at odds
with their way
of thinking.
They're talking
about this life.
They want to earn it.
And Jesus says,
well,
you can't earn it.
What you have to do
is accept it.
And I am that life.
I am God
giving himself
to you.
to be your life,
to be your nourishment,
to be your future.
But now they hold back
and push back
for a religious option
of something
they can do
to cure
God's blessing
without having to accept
God himself
in Jesus.
And my friends,
it sounds so much
like us,
doesn't it?
I've used before
the notion
that we run
all the time
and we're not alone.
We commonly run
it as Christians.
We run
what I call
formulaic living.
If we do
A, B, and C
for God,
then it's only
right and proper
that we expect
God to do
X, Y, and Z
for us
in return.
And so when we have
a contract like that,
we get what we want
but in a sense
don't have to give up
our independence
or our sense
of entitlement.
And we don't have
to treasure God.
We don't have to
delight in him
generally.
We just recognize
that we need him
to complete
his part
of the formula.
We recognize
we need him
to resolve
the problems
which block
our happiness.
Jesus said,
I'm offering you
a way,
I'm offering you
a life that's
way better
than anything
you dare to think.
I'm offering you
the gift of God
himself,
verses 33,
35.
Again,
the crowd
hold their line.
And it's a real
struggle that's
happening here.
They hold their
line determined
to keep control
and determined
now to manipulate
Jesus into doing
what they want.
And how do they
do that?
Well,
the question is
credentials.
Remember the day
before?
They'd just seen
him and experienced
the miracle he's
done.
What do they do
now?
They say,
well,
I say Jesus,
that was all
very impressive.
You fed 5,000
from a schoolboy's
lunchbox.
Very good,
but not enough.
If you really
are the prophet
of God,
if you really
are,
who you
say you
are,
then we
want to see
something bigger
and better.
It's pretty
aggressive,
demanding,
manipulative
stuff.
They're really
saying to
Jesus,
they're really
putting pressure
on Jesus
to do what
they say
needs to be
done for
Jesus to
prove himself.
Claim to be
bigger and
better than
Moses?
Then we expect
bigger and
better miracles.
What did
Moses do?
He fed
the people,
the whole
of the
people of
Israel,
not just
for one
meal on
one day,
Jesus,
but how
many times a
day?
Twice?
Is that right?
All right,
regularly,
six days a
week for
40 years.
I suddenly
realized I
didn't know
myself there.
No,
I was actually
just testing you
guys.
I do know.
And Jesus
holds his
line,
correcting
them and
pushing them
back to
recognize and
accept him
as the
bread from
heaven,
the bread
of life
who alone
satisfies the
real hunger
of the human
heart.
And once
again,
you see,
this interaction
shows how
earthbound and
full of
unbelief they
are.
They actually
ascribe manna
to Moses,
for goodness
sake.
And Jesus
just in
passing corrects
them,
but it's a
pretty serious
correction.
Listen,
you idiots,
it wasn't
Moses that
gave you
manna,
it was God.
And that
manna was
stuff that
perished,
it was only
a temporary
fix.
I'm telling
you that I'm
giving you
a bread,
I am a
bread that's
far,
far better
than anything
you've ever
experienced in
manna.
That was the
focus of your
salvation picture
for the people
of Israel,
this manna.
Well,
I'm telling
you,
I'm now
going to be
the focus of
God's
salvation
picture with
a complete
permanent
fix.
I am
the bread
of heaven,
the bread
from heaven.
I am
among you,
God is
among you,
giving you
bread from
heaven that's
far,
far better,
way better
than you
could ever
think or
imagine.
In me,
God has
given you
himself as
the source
of true
satisfying life.
If only you
would ingest
me,
he says,
Jesus,
take me
into you
like bread,
I will
nourish not
only your
body,
but your
soul.
See,
manna was
only ever
temporary for
the physical
body.
Jesus says,
I'm total and
permanent fix
to the basic
and deepest
longing of the
human heart.
As you
ingest me as
the basic
ingredient of
life,
I will
nourish your
soul.
I will
reconnect you
to the
eternal
community of
Father,
Son,
and Spirit,
which was
what you
were made
for in
the first
place,
and the
context in
which you
will thrive
and grow
and be
healthy.
And I
am the
bread for
the whole
world,
says Jesus.
Verse 34,
they said,
Sir,
give us
this bread
always.
Now,
what do you
think?
Believing
statement?
Or another
expression of
unbelief,
shallowness.
Yeah,
not much
belief,
I don't
think.
It's a
shallowness.
It's like
the woman
of the
Samaria
at the
well.
Senses
there's
something in
it,
but doesn't
really have
a clue.
Unbelief
again.
Genuine
but shallow.
They respond
as their
sin-distorted
selves,
anticipating
having
something to
make life
better for
them,
rather than
expressing any
sort of
connection with
Jesus as
the Savior,
as a person.
But none of
that unsettles
Jesus.
And so the
last point I
want to point
you to this
morning is,
Jesus says,
I'm offering
life which is
real and
secure in
spite of your
persistent,
unreasonable
unbelief.
Verses 35 and
40.
I should say
that lots of
commentators
launch into
these verses
with doctrine
of election
and predestination
and stuff like
that, which is
all true, but I
just don't think
that's the point
of the narrative.
I think Jesus
is just saying,
look, what I'm
talking about here
is real and
secure and it's
not under threat
because of your
unbelief.
It will happen.
It's a reality
that will happen.
And Jesus says
this to the
crowd knowing
that he is the
one the crowd
are hungering for,
they just don't
recognize it.
You know,
sometimes we
experience that.
We get really
hungry and we're
longing for really
good food, but
then what happens?
We see Coke in
the fridge and we
get sidetracked by
our addiction to
sugar.
And so we settle
for something that's
absolute crap.
it's a bit like
that here.
Jesus knows that
this crowd are
longing for him.
They need him.
But their sugar
addiction is just
meaning they can't
see him or won't
see him.
They just want the
quick fix of
something that's
familiar and
comfortable to
them.
Jesus points out
something very,
very clear in
verse 36.
The only thing
between people and
true satisfaction of
deep longings is
the response to
Jesus.
In this case,
the response of
unbelief.
The question for
the crowd, you see,
ultimately, and this
is the question for
you and me today as
well.
The question for the
crowd ultimately is
not, do they
understand?
will they accept
Jesus and the
life, the eternal
life, the good
life that he offers
on his terms?
And that's exactly
the question you and
I will be divided on
today.
Okay.
But Jesus says in
spite of massive
unbelief, he will
deliver perfectly his
father's salvation
purpose.
Every single person
that the father
intends to save and
bring into eternal
life will be saved
and brought into
eternal life.
Every person that
God intends to
give life to as a
gift will come to
Jesus in trust
because the father
will powerfully
draw them to
Jesus.
Every single person
that is drawn to
Jesus will be kept
totally safe and
secure until finally
they're raised into
a full experience of
eternal life.
And eternal life,
remember, is not
just life without end,
which we might think
about, but it's
actually a life of
total satisfaction,
complete joy,
absolute security.
All of that's
involved in eternal
life.
It's the life we
were created to
enjoy.
We don't enjoy
because of sin.
It's the life we
long for.
What keeps you from
having it this
morning if you're
not already a
Christian?
Well, your
response to
Jesus.
Simple as that.
And you get two
options.
You can say, well,
this doesn't make
any sense.
Or you can come to
Jesus and say, well,
look, Jesus, I don't
fully understand, but I
want to understand.
I know I'm longing
for this life.
You're telling me that
life is to be found in
you and not in some of
these other places I've
pursued all my life.
Well, Jesus, I want to
really pursue that with
you now.
open my eyes, break my
addiction to crappy
sugars, and help me to
see what's really new.
It's a wonderful picture
of God's goodness and
generosity for his
people.
But look at the
response, verse 41.
I'm just going to leave
it hanging.
We've got two more
weeks to deal with this
passage.
I'm just going to leave
it hanging this morning.
Look at the response in
verse 41.
They've heard of the
goodness of God in
Jesus, wanting to give
them this good life, that
satisfying bread as a
gift, not that they have
to earn or work for, but
just believe and take and
accept as a gift.
And they grumble.
Nice.
Thank you.