Sunday Morning Bible Study

February 7, 2010

Introduction

Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision

John 6 started out with Jesus feeding the five thousand with just a few loaves and fish.

Jesus sent the crowds home and went up to a mountain to pray while the disciples got into their boat and started back across the Sea of Galilee.  A storm came up on the lake, and Jesus came to the disciples, walking on the water.

6:22-35 The Bread of Life

:22 On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone—

boat – ploiarion – a small vessel, a boat; diminutive of ploion, “boat”

Jesus and His disciples had arrived at Capernaum.

There were still people back where the picnic area was.  They realized that all the boats had left and wondered what had happened to Jesus, realizing that He hadn’t left with the disciples.

:23 however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks—

:24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

:23 from Tiberias, near the place – the other boats had come from Tiberias and had landed near the place where the multitude had been fed. (Show map of Tiberias and Bethsaida.)

Tiberias was a fairly new city that was built by King Herod Antipas in A.D. 22 to be his capital of the Galilee area.  He named it in honor of Tiberias Caesar.

:23 after the Lord had given thanks –eucharisteo –  to be grateful, give thanks

This is an odd thing for John to say.  Why didn’t he say that it was the place where Jesus fed the multitude?  Where the picnic was?

Instead he writes that it was the place where the Lord had given thanks.

Lesson

Contentment and Thanks

A theme through the various studies this week has been that of contentment.

Paul writes to the Philippians:

(Php 4:11–13 NASB95) —11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

In particular, the phrase “learned the secret” sticks out to me.  What is the “secret” of contentment?  Part of the secret is Jesus’ strength.  But there’s more…

On Thursday night we were looking at the Israelites complaining (Num. 11) in the wilderness about the manna.

On one hand, it probably got a little boring having the same thing every meal.  Manna this, manna that.

On the other hand, this was “bread from heaven”, and it tasted like “pastry”.

But the people complained with what God had provided.

As a result, many people perished at Kibroth Hattaavah, or the “graves of greediness”.

In contrast, we had Jesus feeding five thousand people with just a few loaves and fish.  And they were all filled.

Could the “secret” be learning to give “thanks”?

Perhaps this ought to be one of the reasons why we pray and “give thanks” at each meal.  To learn to be content with whatever God has provided.

:24 to Capernaum – Show map with Tiberias, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.

The people that had been trying to keep tabs on Jesus apparently get into the boats that just arrived from Tiberias, and they all head toward Capernaum.

Capernaum had become the “headquarters” of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.

John tells us this next passage happened in the synagogue in Capernaum (6:59).

They have excavated part of Capernaum and have uncovered the synagogue built on top of the synagogue of Jesus’ day.  It would have been about the same size as this.

Play “Capernaum Synagogue” clip.  It was about the size of our room.

:25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”

Notice how Jesus won’t mention that He had walked on the water.

Only the disciples would be privy to that information.

Instead, Jesus will deal directly with their hearts and why they have come seeking Him.

:26 Jesus answered them and said,  “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

:26 most assuredly – amen, amen – “truly”, “sure”

Jesus is going to speak a sincere truth to these people, something heavy.  He will repeat this phrase 4 times in this sermon (6:26, 32, 47, 53).

:26 signs – semeion – a sign, mark, token

Jesus had performed some pretty cool miracles that should have shown these people that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

But this wasn’t why the people were following Jesus.  They weren’t following Jesus because He was the Messiah, they were following Him because their tummies were full.

:26 filled – chortazo – to feed with grass

Jesus uses a term used to describe grazing animals out in the pasture.

They were not satisfied spiritually with the “signs”, but their “animal instincts” had been satisfied with the bread.

The crowd had originally began to gather around Jesus the previous day because of His “signs” (6:2)

(Jn 6:2 NKJV) —2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.

But now the people were following Jesus for the wrong reasons.  Now they’re only following Him because they liked the free lunch.

Watch what Jesus does over the rest of the chapter.  He’s going to make things very uncomfortable for them.

He’s going to say a few “hard things” that are going to make many turn away.

Will you follow Jesus even when it’s hard?  Will you follow Him even when you don’t understand what is going on?

: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.”

:27 labor – ergazomai – to work; to work for, earn by working, to acquire

:27 perishes – apollumi – to perish, to be lost, ruined, destroyed

:27 endures – meno – to remain, abide

:27 set His seal – sphragizo – to mark with a seal, in order to prove, confirm

Play “Mark VII Hammer” clip

Kind of like a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval”.  Or better yet, the “God Housekeeping Seal”

Jesus was “marked” by His signs.  It should have been obvious that He had God’s “Seal of Approval”.

God had even audibly spoken about Jesus when Jesus was baptized.

(Mt 3:17 NKJV) And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Lesson

What are you working for?

“Do not labor for the food which perishes”???

Keep in mind, Jesus wasn’t saying that you should quit work.

He’s just saying that you ought to be working for the right things.

You still have to show up at work in order to provide for your family.

What is your real goal in life?

Physical food is short-lived.

Spiritual food leads to eternal life.

(Is 55:1–2 NKJV) —1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Illustration

With many discussing the possibility of a recession in 2008 and beyond, where are the people likely to turn for help? “When storm clouds gather over the economy, people often seek shelter in a glass of whiskey, a pack of cigarettes, or the green blaze of a roulette table,” says Thomas M. Anderson in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. “That’s why many financial advisors are telling clients to invest in sin as a bulwark against a possible recession.”

Tobacco, alcohol, and gambling have long been called “sin stocks” or “vice funds”—when the economy takes a downturn, historically these stocks have held up in the market. During the recession of 2000–2002, the Standard & Poor’s index showed that broader stocks tumbled 47 percent as casino and gaming stocks grew 115 percent.

"Investing: The virtues of vice," The Week (2-11-08), p. 33

Illustration

In the movie “Castaway”, Tom Hanks plays the character of Chuck Noland and learns what it’s like to lose everything.  He learns to survive.  He learns that some of the things he used to think were important weren’t.

Play “Castaway Trailer”

What are you working for?  What if you lost it all?

:28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

:28 work – ergazomai – to work; to work for, earn by working, to acquire

They’re listening.  Jesus has their attention.  They sound interested in learning to do the right thing?  What are the “works of God”?

They are thinking that they have to do something for God.

:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

:29 believe – pisteuo – to think to be true, to be persuaded of, place confidence in

:29 in Him – in Jesus. 

It’s not belief in just anything.  It’s belief in Jesus.

Lesson

Saved by Works (Faith)

There is one work that God wants you to do:  Believe in Jesus.

Doing good works are involved.  When we are truly saved, our lives will display good works:

James teaches us that our faith will result in good works:

(Jas 2:18 NKJV) But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Jesus said our lives should display good works:

(Mt 5:16 NKJV) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

But it all starts with believing in Jesus.

(Eph 2:8–10 NKJV) —8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

We are saved by believing.  Our salvation leads us to do good works.

The truth is that we are not good enough to enter heaven based on our own.

In fact our sin is what keeps us from heaven.

We need a Savior, someone who will take care of our sins.

Jesus came to save us from our sins by dying on a cross and taking the penalty of our sins for us.

All we can do is to acknowledge our need for God and trust in Him to forgive our sins.

All we can do is believe.  God will take care of the rest.

:30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?

:30 sign – semeion – a sign, mark, token

Paul tells us that Jews want to see a “sign” in order to believe.

(1 Co 1:22 NKJV) For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;

These people ask for a sign.

The rabbis taught that when Messiah came, He would duplicate the miracle of the manna in the wilderness (Wiersbe).

:30 work – ergazomai – to work; to work for, earn by working, to acquire

Hasn’t Jesus already done enough “signs”?

At Cana, He turned the water into wine. (2:11)

He healed the official's son (4:54)

He healed the man paralyzed for 38 years (5:9)

And now He has fed five thousand with a few loaves and fish (6:11).

Isn't anybody paying attention?

On another occasion, Jesus was asked to produce a “sign”

(Mt 12:38–40 NKJV) —38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The real “sign” is that Jesus died for us.

He died on a cross to pay for our sins.

And He rose again.

:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

The people are comparing Jesus and Moses.

Follow the thinking of the people:

It's the time of the Passover (John 6:4), so the people are thinking about Moses.

With Moses, the people had been fed in the wilderness, just like Jesus had just done.

The Jewish Rabbis actually taught that the manna came because of who Moses was, because of his “merits”

“there arose up three good providers, or pastors for Israel, and they are these, Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam; and three good gifts were given by their means, and they are these, the well, the cloud, and the manna; the well by the merits of Miriam; the pillar of cloud by the merits of Aaron; “the manna, by the merits of Moses”.’’ (Gill)

:31 manna – (Ex. 16)What happened with Moses was that the people got into the wilderness and ran out of food.  God responded by giving them this “stuff” every morning.  The people would go out in the morning and collect a days’ worth of this “stuff”.

The Psalmist tells us a little about the manna:

(Ps 78:25 NKJV) Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full.  (picture of angel’s food cake)

In Numbers we got another description of the manna:

(Nu 11:7–8 NKJV) —7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil.

What’s ironic is where they are quoting from:

(Ne 9:15–16 NKJV) You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, And brought them water out of the rock for their thirst, And told them to go in to possess the land Which You had sworn to give them. 16 “But they and our fathers acted proudly, Hardened their necks, And did not heed Your commandments.

Yes, God fed them in the wilderness under Moses, but the people still acted proudly and didn’t follow God.

The Jews loved to call themselves followers of Moses.  

:32 Then Jesus said to them,  “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

The truth is Moses wasn’t the one that gave the Israelites the manna.  It was God that gave them manna.

:32 the true bread –

The manna was just a picture of the real thing.  It was a picture of Jesus.

It was a picture of God meeting the true needs of His people.

And even though there were times when the Israelites complained about having manna all the time, the truth is it tasted GOOD!

(Ex 16:2–4 NKJV) —2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.

This “manna” was given to the people because of their need.

(Ro 5:8 NKJV) —8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Ex 16:13–14 NKJV) —13 So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.

It was “small”.  When you first start hearing of Jesus, it may not seem like it's all that important at first.

(Ex 16:15 NKJV) —15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.

What is it?  When you first begin to learn about Jesus, you don’t really always understand what’s happening.

(Ex 16:16 NKJV) —16 This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ ”

He can meet each man’s need.

(Ex 16:17–18 NKJV) —17 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. 18 So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.

When you come to Jesus, He will meet all your needs, even if you're just starting with a little.

(Ex 16:31 NKJV) And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

Wafers made with honey.  Mmmmmm good!  Honey Nut Cheerios!

It reminds me of those “Honey Nut Cheerios” commercials where people are saying they are going to have to do some horrible sacrifice to get their cholesterol down.

(Ps 34:8 NKJV) Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

:33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Regular bread only sustains life.

Jesus as the “Bread of Life” actually gives life.

Jesus came to give life not just to Israel, but to the whole world.

Jesus is going to get a little confusing.  He is going to be speaking metaphorically but the people are going to think that He’s speaking literally.

Many people today are still confused with the things that Jesus said in this passage because they are taking Jesus literally when He is speaking symbolically.

Here’s a verse that helps with the passage:

(Jn 6:63 NKJV) —63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Jesus will be talking about “eating His flesh” since He is the Bread of Life.

But He’s talking “spiritually”, not “fleshly” or literally.

Many unbelievers like to joke about Christianity being about some sort of cannibalism, eating the “flesh” of their “god”.

To make it more complicated, the Catholic Church even gets confused, saying that at communion you are literally eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus, that somehow when the priest says the special words, that the bread and wine are actually and literally turned into flesh and blood.

:34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”

The crowd likes what they hear.  Just like the woman at the well wanted “living water” so she wouldn’t have to come to the well, they want this “bread” so they can quit work and still eat well.

:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

:35  I am – ego eimi – also seen as a Greek translation of God’s name “Yahweh”.

This is the first of seven great I AM statements recorded by John.  He is not just claiming to be “Yahweh”, but He’s showing us what that looks like.  Here He says He is the “Bread of Life”.  He is true satisfaction.

(The other six are John 8:12; 10:7–9, 11–14; 11:25–26; 14:6; 15:1, 5)

Lesson

True Satisfaction

Next time you are feeling that emptiness, what is it you reach for?

Sex, drugs, alcohol?

Something more tame?  How about a video or an ice-cream sundae?

Don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not saying that watching a video is wrong.  But sometimes we’re just trying to cover up an emptiness that only Jesus can fulfill.

Sometimes we don’t feel good about the way we look, so we try to cover things up and try to be somebody we aren’t.

Illustration

Play “Evolution” clip from Dove.

I’m not trying to say that women shouldn’t wear make-up.  But don’t be afraid to face the possibility that sometimes we’re trying to find satisfaction outside of Jesus.

Where are you looking for your “satisfaction”?

Lesson

Come and Believe

Two words that Jesus puts together in

1.  Come

It implies movement.

It implies moving from where I am, to where He is.

It implies getting closer to Him.

It means daily getting up, going out, and getting the manna.

And maybe even more than once a day!

The Psalmist wrote:

(Ps 119:164 NKJV) Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.

Are you coming to the Lord regularly?

2.  Believe

It implies trust.

It implies rest.

This is a step closer than just “coming” to Jesus.

It has a slightly different result too.

We could translate the passage, “he that is continually coming to me shall never hunger, and he that continually believes in me shall never ever thirst.”

It’s not just arriving for your appointment with God, but it’s doing business with Him.

It is turning your life over to Him.

It is trusting Him with the things that burden you.

It is trusting Him to speak to you and give you guidance.

Illustration

Broken toys

As children bring their broken toys

With tears for us to mend,

I brought my broken dreams to God,

Because He was my friend.

But then, instead of leaving Him

In peace, to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help

In ways that were my own.

Finally I took them back and said,

“God, why are you so slow?”

“My child,” He said, “what could I do?

You never did let go.”

Are there things you need to let go?