BREAD OF LIFE

Split sermon by Steve Fuller

March 6, 2004

I have a real heavy question to start off with. What is life? We should think about that. What is life? I had to laugh. One of the definitions that I looked up and read said that life is “not dead.” Duh. Ridiculous. But another says “the condition that distinguishes plants and animals from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism.” That word metabolism is what I wanted to get to. Simply put, metabolism is the processing of food in our bodies to produce energy for life.

In the Bible, many times we read the word “bread;” and that actually means “food.” Often times, when it was talking about breaking bread, it was talking about having a meal. When the disciples broke bread, it meant that they had a meal together. And Jesus Christ describes Himself, in the Bible, as the bread of life. He is the food, the substance, the very energy that produces life. And so that is why He described Himself as the bread of life. Indeed, He is the Captain of our salvation. In just these few short sentences, I have switched from physical life to eternal life; and that often happens in the Bible. We need to be aware of that.

We have heard the definition of physical life; and what I’d like to do is turn to John 17, and let’s have a look at how God describes life. Here He is talking about eternal life—not physical life, but eternal life.

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

You see that is much, much different from our definition of what temporary life—or physical life—is.

I John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

To know God is eternal life. In fact, knowing God is the key to eternal life. Interestingly, that has a lot to do with being dead also; and I will explain that. I’ll have to ask the question: What is death? Most of us would say that death is the cessation of life. But what does the Bible say about death? We’ll look into that. Death appears very early in the Bible.

Genesis 2:15-17 Then the [Eternal] God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the [Eternal] God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

God told Adam that he would die in the very day that he ate of the tree of good and evil. Just one chapter later, in Genesis 3, we find that Adam and Eve are eating the forbidden fruit. But if Adam was to return to the dust, then what was God talking about when He said to Adam that he would die in the day that he ate the fruit? Clearly, Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden because of his disobedience. But how does this equate to dying, you might ask?

The answer to that question is revealed in God’s definition of death. The Bible doesn’t tell us how long Adam was in the Garden before his expulsion; but we can see, from Genesis 2 and 3, that Adam had a close personal relationship with God. He walked with Him and talked with Him, and I am sure that God taught him many things about right and wrong. But we find that, after his exile, you can search the Scripture as much as you want but you will never again see where the Messiah is having any conversation, or relationship, or interaction with Adam. That is a very sad thing. His relationship with YHVH Elohim was cut off at that moment. That is when Adam “died”—when he was cut off from God.

Because the Eternal thinks in a way that is fundamentally foreign to us (and you can read that in Isaiah 55:8), many have failed to realize how He views life and death. The Bible shows that God considers those who are spiritually separated from Him to be dead. Indeed, alienation from God and His ways are more certainly death than physical cessation of life.

Our life, as we know it, is just “plastic.” It is not real. It is a test. As usual, I have some scriptures to back this up. Turn to I Timothy 5:5. Here Paul is admonishing women who have become widowed, and in verse 5 he says:

I Timothy 5:5-6 Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. 6 But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.

How can you live and be dead? Obviously God is talking about two different types of life and death. It has to be, right? Here Paul states that this woman lives in pleasure even while she is dead. We want to look at what he means by that statement. If you’ll turn to Colossians 2:13, Paul gives us a hint as to what this is talking about.

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumsion of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

Here Paul states that a person who transgresses God’s law, one who is a sinner, is dead in that state. Although physical death is one consequence of sin, clearly Paul is not speaking of physical death in this verse.

Ephesians 2:1-2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.

So we see that disobedience has to do with being “dead in trespasses and sins.”

Ephesians 2:3-5 …among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead…

“Even when we were dead.” That was before we were together with Christ. That was before He had called us, before we knew about Him and His way of life.

Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

So, obviously then, we see that sin separates us from God; and there is certainly no life apart from God. Apart from God, you’re as good as dead. Now, we have to take in this Word; and we have to ingest it. We need His words to live. That gives us the energy for life.

For the most part, the rest of our text today will be in John 6, if you’ll turn there. This is a classic story about Christ and Him talking about how eating the Word—taking in the Word, ingesting the Word—is important in our lives. We start out with Jesus and the disciples going up on a mountain after they cross the Sea of Galilee, and it sounds like they wanted a little rest here. But we read in verse 2 that, as they got there, Jesus looked up and He saw a great multitude. That multitude—since it was 5,000 men plus women and children—I figure was at least 10,000 people. We read then that Jesus asked Philip:

John 6:5 “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”

Philip is kind of shocked about this, and he says that 200 denarii worth of bread would not be sufficient for them if everyone just had a little. I’ve heard that amount is probably over six month’s wages. Where were they going to come up with that? So, just to be helpful, Andrew says:

John 6:8 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish.”

I’m sure Andrew was just trying to be helpful. That was absolutely just a drop in the bucket. But, with that, Jesus had everybody to sit down; and then He worked a miracle right in front of their faces. I think it is important too that, when we come down to verse 11, He says:

John 6:11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks…

Even Jesus Christ gave thanks to His Father for food, and that is something (just as an aside) that all of us ought to be careful to do. We ought to always be thankful for all of the things that we have, but remember before meals to be thankful.

Then, in verse 14, the men that were there—when they saw this miracle that He worked out in front of them—I am sure they were just astonished. And it says of them:

John 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign [or, the miracle] that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

That is really a big understatement—“the Prophet who is come into the world.” They didn’t understand exactly who He was, but Jesus goes on here to teach His disciples who He is.

Verses 15-21 here is a section where Jesus walks on the sea. I think it really interesting. I think that He did this, when He worked this miracle, just so His disciples would see that He could do anything. When have you seen someone walk on water? They were in the middle of a storm, and He was doing that to show His disciples that He could do anything.

In fact, just a little aside here, something that I thought was interesting. Turn over to Mark 6, which is a parallel account. There is something that I saw here that I thought was interesting. This just shows you how attuned Jesus Christ was to His disciples and what was going on, and how truly amazing He was.

Mark 6:47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land.

Now, keep in mind that this is in the evening. “When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was on the land.”

Mark 6:48 Then He saw them straining at rowing…

He saw them, at night, out in the middle of the lake? How could He do that? Of course, the only way that He could do that was that He was God. He could see them rowing out in the middle of the lake.

Mark 6:48 …for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them.

He was just walking out there on the water, checking up on them. They were His children, and He cared about them.

Mark 6:48 He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.

Then they saw Him, and they cried out. They were troubled and afraid. As we go on with the story, let’s go back to John’s account in John 6:19.

John 6:19-20 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. 20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

When we read this “It is I,” actually that does not read that way. Some translations say, “I am He.” and the “He” is italicized. But He just tells them, “I AM.” “I AM; do not be afraid.” You see the interpreters missed a very powerful phrase, where Christ was walking on the water; and He was telling them, “I AM the ETERNAL.”

Christ is the “I AM.”

John 6:21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

So we go on down to verse 27, where Jesus is teaching His disciples while lecturing the crowd. I find, in reading the rest of the chapter, that they had traveled; and they had actually come to Capernaum. That is where people were familiar with Jesus Christ. He was at the synagogue at Capernaum, and He was teaching the Jews there in the synagogue; and we read in verse 27:

John 6:27 “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him [the Son].”

Can you imagine what the Jews were thinking at that time, when He was saying those things? They were not thinking spiritually. We need to keep in mind, when we read things, that there are spiritual applications and physical applications. It is important that we are not like the Jews—sitting and scratching our head and thinking, “What could He mean by that?” We need to pray and ask God to show us spiritually what He means by these things.

I just wanted to mention that, in this world, we work very hard. We are diligent to provide for our physical needs, for our physical life—food, clothing, a nice home, etc. for our family and us. This and many other activities distract us from seeking that spiritual nourishment that we need. Indeed, that we have to have.

I’d like to turn over to Deuteronomy 8 now. The children of Israel were an example for us, and it is important that we take these things to heart. In Deuteronomy 8:2-3, God emphasizes this point to us; and He says:

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 “And you shall remember that the [Eternal] your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger…

Now, you have to think about this. Put yourself where they are. The children of Israel are a great, huge amount of people, and they were out in the wilderness. There was no way to get food. They were out there, and God let them hunger. They had no communication with God. They had communication with Moses. But He let them hunger because He was testing them, and that would be a frightening thing. It would be a frightening thing if you were out there with so many people, and there was no food available. God would lead them into situations where they would hunger.

Deuteronomy 8:3 …and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the [Eternal].”

This is the very verse that Jesus quoted to Satan—emphasizing the importance of spiritual food. That is, of the spiritual over the physical. God’s Word is just as essential to spiritual life as food is to physical life. As Tom Coulter was saying in our first message, we have to study this Word. It corrects us, and it is our guide for life. We see that what goes into our mind is far more important than what we put into our stomach.

John 6:28-29 Then they [the Jews in the synagogue] said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

This has always been the focus of God. Mankind has been the focus of God. I think, at this point, Jesus was teaching His disciples more than He was [teaching] the Jews there because He knew they couldn’t understand and that they weren’t thinking spiritual. So Jesus was trying to teach them that He was the bread of life, the Captain of our salvation.

John 6:38-39 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

This word “it” at lot of times can be “he” or “him.”

John 6:40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Those three verses are very, very encouraging to us. Not only does He promise to raise us up, but He is very forceful. The word “I” in these last three verses is very emphatic. In fact, to show the emphasis in English, some translations read, “I Myself.” That is, “I Myself will raise him up at the last day.” That is very encouraging. He personally promises to follow through, fulfilling the Father’s will—to guard and protect those given to Him to the very end.

John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out [or, turn away].”

He is very emphatic here, that He Himself is going to be in charge of that. He is the Captain of our salvation.

Now, all this wonderful teaching and encouragement and outright loving concern unfortunately is wasted on the Jews at Capernaum—the town where they were familiar with Him.

John 6:30-31 Therefore they [the Jews] said to Him, “What sign [or, miracle] will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

It sounds like they were wanting even more. “Work us a bigger miracle.” And they are looking for something physical. They are looking for a free ride, is what they are looking for. They obviously didn’t believe that He was the Messiah. They understood that He was talking about something wonderful as He was preaching to them, but they were still thinking about their bellies—about physical life.

John 6:41-42 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said…

This is where they were familiar with Him, and so they couldn’t believe. They couldn’t believe who He was. Even though He worked miracles—and they were well aware of that—they still couldn’t believe, because they said:

John 6:42 “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

So, no matter what He would do, they were not going to believe on Him. They obviously didn’t see Him as their Messiah, but certainly just as a man. But look at verse 44—a very important verse that we are all familiar with.

John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

There is that promise again. But we see that these men, and—no matter what was done, no matter the wonderful miracles that they saw—not even Jesus Christ Himself could convince these men because God had not drawn them to Him. (I don’t think He was trying. I think He was aware that they wouldn’t know at this time, but He was using all of this to teach His disciples.)

When we look at this “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,” this word “draw” is dragged—like someone was dragged with a rope. (Or, maybe in a more modern story, they were drawn in by a tractor beam.) They were inexorably drawn to Jesus Christ. So we see that this is a forceful process of an individual. It is not a polite and hopeful invitation. You see a lot of ministers say, “If you’ll just come.” And they do all this pleading and everything from the pulpit. It just doesn’t work that way.

Each is in his own order. We see then that we are dragged from our lives to Jesus Christ. Then Jesus Christ, of course, is the Messiah. It is His job to prepare us and to be the Captain of our salvation. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have a job at all to do. If a feast were brought before us, wouldn’t our job be to nourish ourselves? We are to take in this Word, and nourish ourselves with that, and so live in Jesus Christ.

A month from now—when we are before the Father at Passover services, and we are to confirm our commitment to eat His flesh and to drink His blood—that was something that the Jews couldn’t understand, that He would say that.

John 6:53-54 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, 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 eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

The Jews there were completely confused at this point. Eat His flesh, and drink His blood? They saw Him growing up, and they knew there was no one who was more strict about the laws of eating than He was. And yet He’s talking about eating flesh and drinking blood? Eating human flesh and drinking blood of any sort was strictly forbidden. So they were confused by that, and a lot of them turned away that day. It says that they walked no more with Him.

They will receive their chance later on. But to us, we are to understand those things; and, if we don’t understand something that we read in this Bible, we need to go to God. Go to Him, and ask Him to help us—to give us spiritual understanding and reveal these things to us. It is very important that we take in this nourishment. We need to realize that we need this—Jesus Christ in us. He is the Messiah.

Even over in John 11, where it talks about the death of Lazarus, and Martha and Mary—where He went to the grave, and they were upset about his death. Jesus groaned within Himself, it says. He was not groaning because of their grief. He groaned because He could not teach them. He was attempting to teach them that He was the resurrection. He is life, Himself. He could grant that. And they just couldn’t seem to get that.

As we think about the importance of life, and spiritual life—what we need to realize, and what I want us to know, is that Jesus Christ is the bread of life. He is the resurrection. He is eternal life.

Transcribed by plh, July, 2004