Apostles Church

John 6 I AM the Bread of Life. Context: Jesus performs the miracle of feeding 5000+ with 5 loaves and 2 fish. This sign indicated to the people that he might be the object of their messianic hopes and they wanted to make Jesus their Warrior King. He withdraws (different kind of Kingship – not one where he destroys others to gain power but is destroyed  himself, made powerless to save others). Next day they find Jesus wanting more bread; Jesus talks to them about the Bread of Life.
What is the Bread of Life? Bios (physical existence) and Zoe (more than mere existence). Jesus uses zoe to speak of eternal life – quantity of life, a life that outlives death; fullness of life that exists beyond our physical lives, a life that banishes death, overcomes death, raises up what has died. Humanity fears death – this bread of life answers our fear of death (there is a way to have life unending – not physical life, but life that continue even when physical life is over). But ZOE means more than quantitative life; it means a quality of life; fullness of life, radical, ultimate life now. Xenephon: “Here lies Similis alive now (bios) for a number of years but really living (zoe) for seven. There is a fear stronger than the fear of death – it is the fear of not really living. The fear of not having a rich, full, abundant, radical and ultimate kind of life. All of us who are sound in mind want zoe – we are not content with mere bios. Illus: Lonesome Dove. Illus: Thoreau in Walden – I wished to live deliberately and, not, when I came to die discover that I had not lived…I wanted to live deep and the suck the marrow out of life.” Illus: Bucket List. Before we die, let’s truly live. **Bread is typically linked to bios, but Jesus says there is another kind of bread, that brings zoe. We are all hungry and thirsty for this life and we all believe there is something that will bring us into the experience of it. There is something that is bread for you, something you are pursuing, chasing, running after that you believe will bring you “The Life.” It is what you are living for. It keeps you going and it is what you hope will satisfy, delight, because bios is not enough. Illus: So, the bread of life is something that God gives us that will bring us ultimate, full, rich, satisfying abundant life.
Where can we find this bread of life? It is not in this world. Jesus teaches us that there are some options out there, places you will inevitably look to find zoe, and he cautions us to not labor for the bread that perishes, spoils. Some people spend their entire lives laboring to secure bread that perishes. Jesus warns us, if it is not the bread that God gives, it will spoil and it will fail you. There is bread that we pursue and consume in hopes of being satisfied but it turns to gravel in your mouth. Temporal delights with limited capacity to satisfy. Jesus says there is a True Bread, true food and true drink; everything else is false food and false drink that cannot give us zoe. Proof: look at how fickle we are.  Pascal: The consciousness of the falsity of present pleasures, and the ignorance of the vanity of absent pleasures, cause inconstancy. John Mayer – Something’s Missing.  CS Lewis – made for another world – and we might add made for a Person of another world. John 6:32-33, 51 True Bread from Heaven. The bread of life is a Person (he) not of this world. God the Son, who has come to us from the Father. Jesus’ description of himself: **Living: Jesus has existed for all eternity in a dynamic face to face relationship with God the Father and possesses zoe from the Father. The picture is an eternally happy and satisfied God, a God fully alive with radical, abundant, immeasurable life eternally sharing that life with God the Son so that Jesus, the God-man, has a quality of life, a fullness, abundance unsurpassed by any other and willingly shares that life, imparts that life to all who come to him. The Point: Only the God of Life can give Life. Only the Infinitely Satisfied One is sufficient to satisfy us. Inanimate objects cannot (that which is inanimate cannot animate us). Other humans cannot – they are just as hungry as us. But the God-man, Jesus, the one who has fullness of life in himself, can. **Broken, 51, 53. Jesus says the bread he gives that gives life to the world is his own flesh and own blood. Jesus, “If I am going to give you life, zoe, it will cost me my death.” For bread to be of any value, it has to be broken, it has to be decimated. And for Jesus to give us life, he had to be broken, decimated. The testimony of scripture and our own conscience is that we are sinners, rebels who have resisted God and preferred lesser things over him. We are rebels who are under God’s judgment and have the sentence of  death upon us. We deserve to be broken, decimated, crushed by God. But God, who is rich in mercy sent his Son and the Son came, and he was broken, decimated, crushed for us. His flesh was torn, his blood spilled, taking the sentence of death upon himself and dying under the Father’s wrath so you could live, have zoe, with the Father’s acceptance. The true bread that can give you radical, ultimate, abundant, full life is broken bread, a person who has died for you, so you could have life in him. Jesus did not come primarily as a teacher to give you instructions on how to have your best life now. We do not need a Teacher, we need a Savior. We do not need instruction, we need substitution. We cannot have life from God when we are under the sentence of death before God. Jesus has come and substituted himself in our place, taking the sentence for us, being broken, crushed, decimated so we could have the sentence of death removed and have life bestowed on us, forgiveness, freedom, and friendship with the God of Life. So this bread of life is not anything in this world, but someone not of this world who was broken for the world.
How do we get this Bread? 6:27-28. Contrast between working and receiving. Don’t labor as if the bread is something earned; receive this bread as something given. You cannot work to earn this bread. The work that is required is to acknowledge that no work will earn it. You must understand this bread is a gift received by faith. 6:35 “come to me; believe in me.” To come to Christ means to give up on false breads and to believe in him is to acknowledge him as the true, living, broken bread who is your only hope to be saved and to be eternally satisfied. A Receiving of this Bread by coming and believing (moment). But there is also a feeding on this bread (movement of our lives). 6:50-53 Aorist tense eat and drink – one time completed action – this is metaphorical language for receiving, total appropriation of Christ, taking in all that he is for us by coming to him and putting our trust in him. But 6:54-58 the tense changes to present – continual feeding on Christ –Illus: Food turns to energy when it enters the body and is digested and converted to fuel for your body. You have to eat the right things and eat often if you want your body to function at the highest levels; spiritual equivalent. IF you want Life, if you want zoe bursting forth from your life with energy, power, vitality, fullness, you have to take in this bread, Christ continually and digest all that he is for you; feed on him - verb denotes munching, eating with enjoyment. Continually coming to him, enjoying him, constantly taking him into our lives through prayer, encountering him in the Scripture and in the lives of others who know and love him. There are no steps, no mechanics, no formula. Zoe is not found in seven steps, any mystical secret, it is found in a person. Close: Wallace Stevens: what wine, bread…Sharing bread.