Jesus - the Bread of Life

[0:00] Today's scripture is taken from John 6, verse 22 to 60, where Jesus draws people to see that he is the bread of life that satisfies. In John 6, verse 22, we read, On the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

[0:23] Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

[0:38] When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here? 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.

[0:54] Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him, God the Father has set his seal.

[1:07] Then they said to him, What must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

[1:18] So they said to him, Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna and the wildness.

[1:30] As it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

[1:46] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always.

[1:57] Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

[2:08] But I said to you, that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

[2:25] 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. 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.

[2:43] So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

[2:56] How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

[3:09] 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. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God.

[3:21] He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.

[3:32] Your fathers ate the manna in their wildness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

[3:47] If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for life, for the life of the world, is my flesh. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

[4:03] 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. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

[4:19] For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 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.

[4:38] This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

[4:53] When many of his disciples heard it, they said, This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it? This is the word of God. I'm going to pass over to Evangel now.

[5:05] Good morning, Watermark Church. It's so great to be with you.

[5:18] As Chris was saying, my name's Evangel. I've been in Hong Kong for about three and a half years. I pastor at Emmanuel English Church. I was born and raised in Toronto, in Canada.

[5:30] Fun fact about myself, my middle name is actually Jeremy, and my parents were going to name me Jeremy, but last minute, they thought that the name Evangel was a better name, so Jeremy became a middle name, so no offense to the Jeremy Tim at Watermark, but we could have been twins, but it looks like God had other plans for us.

[5:50] So yeah, just thankful to be here with you. Again, we're in John chapter 6, and we're exploring the I am statements of Jesus together.

[6:01] And I think it's such a timely series to be doing. With all that's going on in the world, with all that's going on in the city, it's so important to know who Jesus is in the midst of it all.

[6:17] So I just want to begin with prayer. Why don't you join me? Lord Jesus, we come to you, and we just pray that you would open the eyes of our hearts to behold your glory.

[6:31] Holy Spirit, would you do a deep and powerful work in each and every single one of us listening and worshiping this morning. In your name we pray. Amen. All right.

[6:44] So I want to start us off by asking two questions. Two questions. So the first question is this. How fulfilled do you feel in life right now?

[6:57] And second, what do you need to feel satisfaction in life? So how fulfilled do you feel in life right now?

[7:09] And what do you need to feel satisfaction in life? If the average person in Hong Kong were to answer this question, it might sound something like this.

[7:23] I'm very dissatisfied and discontent. I feel trapped. I can't see the people that I care about. I can't do the things that I enjoy. I'm worried not just about my physical health, but my mental well-being.

[7:38] I'm scared of being separated from my family if I get COVID or perhaps I have COVID and I am bored out of my mind in isolation. The only way I'm going to feel good about life again is if everything goes back to normal on April 21st.

[7:55] You know, no more restrictions, no more COVID, no more masks. How satisfied and fulfilled do you feel about life right now?

[8:06] And what do you need to find satisfaction in life? In verse 35 of today's passage, Jesus answers these questions saying, I am the bread of life.

[8:25] Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. And by calling himself the bread of life, Jesus claims he's what is needed for life to be fully and truly satisfying.

[8:39] Jesus uses the metaphor of bread for who he is and what he does for people. So bread is nourishment.

[8:51] It's a staple food for many people who eat it every day to keep their bodies alive. Bread is satisfying. When someone is feeling hungry, bread fills you up really quick.

[9:02] It staves off that uncomfortable feeling of hunger and leaves your body feeling content. So nourishment, satisfaction, contentment, these are all effects of bread that the Jews in Jesus' days would have immediately connected with.

[9:21] But Jesus is more than bread. He is the bread of life. He provides nourishment and satisfaction for the human heart. Jesus is using what bread does for the body to tell us what he does spiritually.

[9:35] He uses the longings and cravings our bodies have to help us understand about the deeper longings and desires of our souls. And that's very clear what Jesus is doing because he talks about himself being bread, but he doesn't say right after to literally eat him.

[9:54] Instead, he says, come to me and believe in me. Jesus says he's the bread, but he's doing more than what bread can do.

[10:07] Not only can Jesus satisfy hunger, he can also satisfy thirst. And the satisfaction that Jesus brings is so great. It never ends.

[10:18] It's permanent. How Jesus satisfies is much greater and more essential to what people need than what bread can provide.

[10:32] Let me try to reword this in a different way. Jesus is saying, supreme satisfaction in life is found by coming to him in faith to nourish your heart.

[10:45] Supreme satisfaction in life is found by coming to Jesus in faith to nourish your heart. What Jesus is saying here reveals something fundamental to who we are as people and what we need.

[11:01] people are more than physical beings who need food. People are more than emotional beings who need to be understood and empathized with.

[11:12] More than all of that, more fundamental, people are worshipers with hearts that long and desire for someone or something to love and devote ourselves to.

[11:29] And Jesus is saying, only I can fully and permanently satisfy you in this way. But he actually tells us more than that as well.

[11:41] Not only does he tell us he satisfies us, he tells us the effect of finding satisfaction in him. So in this long discussion with the Jews, Jesus reveals to them more about what he does as the bread of life.

[11:57] So in verses 54 to 56, he says, whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

[12:12] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. In verse 54, feeding on Jesus or finding satisfaction in Jesus means eternal life.

[12:28] not only is it the solution to the desire of our hearts but to all of our physical needs and desires because the result is that Jesus will raise this person up on the last day meaning he's going to raise this person back from the dead to live forever.

[12:47] Verse 56 tells us feeding on Jesus puts him and us into intimate relationship with each other. one where Jesus abides in us and we abide in Jesus.

[13:02] So eternal life, satisfaction, relationship with God, these three things are interconnected. Ultimate satisfaction is found in intimate relationship with Jesus.

[13:17] Relationship with Jesus means eternal life. Eternal life is lasting satisfaction and fulfillment through relationship with Jesus. Supreme satisfaction in life is found by coming to Jesus in faith to nourish your heart.

[13:36] so Jesus truly satisfies. So this is a truth that many Christians would know and many of you would agree.

[13:52] Yeah, Jesus satisfies. The question is how true is this in your own day-to-day experience? Whoever comes to me shall never hunger, whoever believes in me shall never thirst, there's often a disconnect between what Jesus promises here to what we experience in life.

[14:15] Because in life it seems like we're constantly striving for something else. We're feeling unsatisfied with our circumstances. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus does satisfy the desires of your heart fully and supremely.

[14:37] God himself came down from heaven to give this life to the world. This satisfying life is available for you here and now to enjoy, but the question is are you going to Jesus to receive it from him?

[14:53] to come to come to him to come to him correctly in faith. The first thing we need to do is to come to Jesus with the right priorities.

[15:10] The second thing is to trust Jesus alone for satisfaction in life. faith. And the last thing is to keep going to Jesus in faith again and again and again.

[15:23] So whether you've never come to faith in Jesus, whether you're not a believer or you're still seeking, or whether you need to go to Jesus in faith again, what Jesus says in this passage is so relevant to all of us.

[15:38] So we're going to explore what it means to come to Jesus in more detail. the first thing is to come to him with the right priorities. So I want us to ask, you know, why are you coming to Jesus?

[15:55] Why are you in this Zoom service this morning? So why are you coming to Jesus and what do you want Jesus to do for you? What result do you want to come out of after having worship together with the Watermark family today?

[16:12] verse 26 tells us crowds of people were coming to Jesus because he had just performed an amazing miracle to multiply bread and feed 5,000 men and their families.

[16:27] The crowds were coming to Jesus though because they wanted him to satisfy their bodily needs. They were also coming to Jesus because they wanted Jesus to give them political freedom.

[16:38] After witnessing Jesus' miracle, the crowds in verses 14 to 15 want to force him to be their king.

[16:53] They believe that Jesus would be the one who's going to free them from Roman rule. So in verse 24, when they don't see Jesus, they continue to pursue him with extreme dedication and zeal.

[17:06] They were willing to cross the sea to come to Jesus. And when they find him, this is what Jesus says to them. Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life.

[17:23] Jesus is telling them redirect your priorities. Now all the effort you've just spent to meet your physical needs should be directed to satisfying your spiritual need.

[17:35] But the crowd in this passage misses the point. Instead of asking about the eternal life Jesus told them to seek, they asked him about the work they needed to do.

[17:53] Why are you coming to Jesus? And what do you want Jesus to do for you? See, the point here isn't that we shouldn't go to Jesus with our physical needs.

[18:04] The point is that we need to come to Jesus admitting that our greatest need is for him to satisfy our hearts and to desire that above all else.

[18:14] Jesus does care about physical needs. He just performed a miracle to feed the 5,000 people. But the reason Jesus satisfied their physical needs was to point them to the greater need of their heart.

[18:30] You know, we're so much like the Jewish people in this passage. So much more than we would like to think. You know, a couple weeks ago, I was caught up in the whole grocery store fiasco.

[18:47] I hope your experience was better than mine. But, you know, in my area, I live in Mong Kok, right in the heart of the city, on Dundas Street, where there's a Paisanos and all the busiest stores and shops are usually there.

[19:02] And lines were ridiculously long. They were out the door. Each person had like a shopping cart full of food, which added to the waiting time. And the one thing that I found hardest to find was bread.

[19:16] And I needed to find bread, not so much for myself, but for my son, Emery, because he loves to eat bread. It's sort of his staple meal for his breakfast time.

[19:28] But everywhere I went, it was sold out. Even 7-Eleven, 7-Eleven, they usually hike up their prices. Even 7-Eleven was sold out of bread. And this whole experience just caught me thinking, just how focused our lives are on pursuing immediate needs and desires.

[19:47] And it's here that Jesus says to us, do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. Our need for physical food never ends, because no matter how much more of it we eat, it can't give us what we truly need.

[20:04] It can't give us that satisfaction, that eternal life. Our needs go so much deeper than that. Why are you coming to Jesus?

[20:15] What do you want Jesus to do for you? Our ultimate answer needs to be that Jesus, you would satisfy the longings of my heart. Our priority needs to be on that.

[20:28] But in a society that's so focused on material needs, it's easy for Christians to get our priorities reversed. On the outside, we might be very zealous.

[20:39] We might be like this Jewish crowd who's crossing the sea to find Jesus. We're so passionate to attend church, to be involved in those things. But actually our motivation is wrong.

[20:53] Our priorities are wrong. we're actually trying to satisfy a physical need. And when we follow Jesus like this, we don't find what we truly need.

[21:06] And it's here where the answer to finding satisfaction in our lives starts with repentance. It starts by turning the priority of your life away from material satisfaction towards spiritual fulfillment.

[21:21] you know, what are you seeking in life that has priority over satisfaction in Jesus? And are you willing to make your spiritual need your priority?

[21:37] Are you willing to turn away from whatever it is that's not supposed to be in that number one place and allow that goal of finding satisfaction in Jesus to become preeminent?

[21:48] you've got to come to Jesus with the right priorities. The second thing we need to do is to trust Jesus alone for satisfaction in life.

[22:03] And to help us to figure out where we are at with this point, I want us to think about where are you going for satisfaction in life? See, the Jewish people believe they have the answer to life.

[22:17] Their ancestors ate this supernatural bread that came from God called manna in the desert. And the Jewish people believed that they would get life, they would get what they were looking for by following the traditions of their ancestors.

[22:32] In verse 49, Jesus tells them that they were looking in the wrong place. Their ancestors did eat this manna in the wilderness, but they ended up dying. What the Jewish people sought after couldn't give the life they needed.

[22:46] it would result in death. And it's here that Jesus makes a very exclusive statement. He says, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life.

[23:01] Jesus is saying, there is nothing else out there that can give you life. The only place you can find life is in me. Coming to Jesus in faith means believing there is no way and no place to find the satisfaction you need.

[23:16] It means recognizing no other pursuit can give you life. It means admitting that if you aren't coming to Jesus, you don't have life. The Jews in this passage did not trust Jesus alone for satisfaction.

[23:30] They weren't able to even see their spiritual need. In verse 52, they were confused about what that actually meant and about what Jesus was trying to tell them.

[23:40] They were so focused on their material needs they didn't see their need for Jesus. Trusting Jesus starts with admitting your need for Jesus.

[23:51] If you're not a believer this morning, the only way you can truly find satisfaction in life is by trusting him for it. Pursuing anything else other than Jesus might temporarily satisfy the desires of your heart, but that feeling is temporary.

[24:09] Like physical bread, it can't truly satisfy your spiritual hunger. Even when people say, no, I'm satisfied with life, the reason is usually because they've achieved one goal they were seeking after and they're making good progress at the next goal they're doing.

[24:29] And the pursuit, the seeking never stops because our desires aren't actually satisfies. Only Jesus can permanently satisfy us. people say, they're not going to be.

[24:44] And it's easy to sort of think, you know, the passage here is about unbelievers, it's about Jewish people, that's not me, maybe it is you, but in this same passage, it wasn't just the Jewish crowd, it was the disciples themselves who struggled with this teaching.

[25:03] People who professed to follow Jesus said, this is a hard saying, who can listen to it? The disciples here also found it hard because their hearts were also not in the right place.

[25:20] Where are you going to for satisfaction in life? Is it in Jesus alone and nothing else? Many times a believer will say, yes, Jesus satisfies, but in our hearts we don't believe that Jesus is all we need for satisfaction in life.

[25:39] Many times we believe to be satisfied in life, we need Jesus plus something else. Jesus plus a stable career.

[25:50] Jesus plus an ideal family. Jesus plus flexibility in work hours. Jesus plus enough time to enjoy our leisure activities.

[26:01] Jesus plus no mortgage. When the pursuit of your heart is divided between Jesus and something else, you aren't able to receive the spiritual nourishment Jesus offers us.

[26:14] Following this Jesus plus formula is like drinking down a watered-down protein shake or stuffing yourself with junk food before dinner.

[26:26] You're not going to get the nutrients you need to really be able to enjoy life. where are you finding satisfaction in life in addition to Jesus?

[26:47] Your lifestyle reveals where you believe you can truly find life. Ask yourself, what do you find yourself addicted to recently?

[26:58] what do you find yourself not getting enough of? Your answer to these questions may reveal other things that you're seeking in addition to Jesus for life.

[27:10] are you willing to trust Jesus enough to put all of that seeking attention onto him and him alone? Because satisfaction in life is only found by coming to him.

[27:26] In Jesus' words, it's not just good advice, it's not just one way to find satisfaction, it is good news. The good news that the Son of God has come down to heaven to people who are dying in sin to give us his eternal life by dying on a cross.

[27:40] satisfying the desires of our hearts permanently. Whoever comes to Jesus shall not hunger, whoever believes in him shall not thirst. This is such good news to people who are unsatisfied and discontent with this life.

[27:59] The question is, do you believe it? This brings us to the last point for this morning. We need to go to Jesus again and again.

[28:12] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me. Jesus, in these final couple of verses, tells us two key things.

[28:27] First, he uses this metaphor, this analogy of feeding and drinking to help us understand how we're supposed to come to him. Feeding and drinking is something you have to continually do.

[28:39] Jesus is not saying you can just eat of me once. He's saying you need to continually eat of me. You need to continually come to me in faith. The second thing Jesus tells us is that we have to come to him in the context of relationship.

[28:54] Those who feed on him, those who come to Jesus abide in him and he in them. Eternal life means relationship with God. Satisfaction of the heart doesn't come from just doing things for God.

[29:07] It comes from cultivating a relationship with God. You know, why do we eat food every day?

[29:19] It seems like a very funny question to be asking. Well, because you can't live without it. Why do you go to Jesus in faith every day? Well, because we can't truly live without him.

[29:32] going without physical food affects us negatively. When we get so caught up in our work, for example, that we skip a meal, the effect is we start to feel faint, tired, it's hard to concentrate.

[29:50] As our hunger grows, it affects our mood, we're more agitated and impatient. The effect is so noticeable that a word has been created for it.

[30:00] We call this being hangry. Hangry. Christian, when you're not going to Jesus to nourish your heart, you get spiritually hangry.

[30:14] You become selfish and uncaring towards others. You feel increasingly unsatisfied and restless with life. You lose self-control and give in to past addictions to fill that void.

[30:27] Life feels tiresome. Ministry feels burdensome. But the good news of the gospel is that you have this relationship with Jesus and you don't have to stay this way for one second longer.

[30:43] Christ abides in you. He wants to satisfy your hungry heart with his glory. So much that you're unable to stop loving others.

[30:54] Where you feel so satisfied, life is enjoyable in any situation. where you're so content you don't feel a need to indulge in other things. Where your heart is so nourished that you're energized to serve others and tackle whatever challenges come in life.

[31:11] The question is, are you willing to go to Jesus in faith again, right here and right now? Do you believe Jesus is the bread of life that God the Father has sent into the world?

[31:24] Do you believe it's found in him and in him alone? The Apostle Paul describes his experience of finding satisfaction in Jesus like this in Philippians.

[31:39] I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. Whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

[31:57] This is the life that's available to all who believe in Jesus and continue to come to him in faith. Something that I know a lot of churches are doing during this time of Lent is finding time to pray together each day.

[32:19] It's something that EEC has been doing and our prayer time is every night from 830 to 845. The purpose behind this was actually to encourage the church in this time when we're separated from each other physically to go to Jesus in faith.

[32:40] In my mind, I knew it was a good thing to do. It was myself and the rest of the leaders who came up with this initiative. things go as planned when it comes to your real life situations.

[32:59] There's a couple of nights where it's almost 830 and I'm just completely exhausted. My son Emory isn't having a good night. He's been crying for a good hour and I just calmed him down.

[33:11] My wife Evelyn, who's pregnant with our second kid, is having a bit of trouble with the second one. It's a bit more painful for her. She's incapacitated sometimes at night.

[33:22] I'm expending energy doing a lot of the house work. It's five minutes before 830 and I'm just thanking God. I don't have any mental or physical energy to do anything right now.

[33:36] I just want to sit in my couch and do nothing. In that moment, I just felt the Holy Spirit encouraging me.

[33:47] Do you trust that if you come to me in faith, right here and right now, I'll be able to give you what you need? I found that as I've chosen to trust Jesus, he's been faithful each night to encourage my heart in just the right way.

[34:06] I don't come out of every prayer time feeling like I'm 100% recharged physically. I don't have to sleep for the rest of the night. Sometimes I do feel better physically, but sometimes I feel more tired than before.

[34:21] It's later on in the night. But I've never once regretted deciding to trust Jesus enough to seek him in prayer. In fact, most of the time, I regret not doing so sooner because the satisfaction that he offers to my heart is well worth the sacrifice of my physical energy because that's what I truly need.

[34:46] Now, if you're hearing my sharing and you're feeling guilty for not praying, then you've missed the point. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty to pray more to Jesus or to join the prayer meeting that's coming up on Thursday.

[35:03] What I'm trying to say is that Jesus has this free five star all you can eat spiritual buffet that's open 24-7 for us to enjoy for as long as we want.

[35:15] I've been going with my church community and it's been great and I encourage you guys to go and just feast on Jesus with your spiritual community as well at Watermark.

[35:28] We're living in a city that's filled with people who are increasingly unsatisfied and I just want to challenge you guys as a church. What impact would you guys have if you lived fully satisfied in Jesus?

[35:41] So satisfied that you're thinking about serving those around you. So content that people can't help but notice and ask what's your secret to being so content about life in Hong Kong right now?

[35:58] So I just want us to enter into a time of reflection. I just want us to think about two questions. Why are you coming to Jesus?

[36:09] where are you going to find satisfaction apart from Jesus? To maybe help you think about this more concretely, why are you on the Zoom this morning?

[36:24] And after you log off from this Zoom, what are your plans for the rest of the day? What are the plans for the rest of the week? I'm just going to open us in a time of prayer as we reflect.

[36:40] Holy Spirit, would you speak to our hearts? Would you take this truth that we've been reading about and trying to understand more and would you apply to our hearts right here and right now?

[36:52] Holy Spirit, would you just come? encourage everyone to just close your eyes and to know that Christ abides in you.

[37:03] And he's speaking to you right here and right now. Let's just take a moment to listen to listen to what he has to say to us. everyone can hearikit there could be совет about positive and for p Holy Spirit, I just pray that as you speak to us, God, that your voice become clearer and clearer.

[37:52] I just pray that you would just move us, Lord, to turn our hearts fully to you. I pray that each of us would experience in a deeper way just how much you are able to satisfy our hearts and that we would want more of that in our life.

[38:08] Lord, we thank you and we just pray these things in your name. Amen.