I AM: Bread of Life

At some point, we must face the reality that the things we often chase in this life leave us unsatisfied and wanting more. Achievements, possessions, and desires seem to promise everlasting life but drain the life from us as we cling to them for something they can’t provide.

We get caught in a cycle of getting what we want, finding it unsatisfying, and moving on to the next thing.

But when Jesus taught the crowds in John 6 that He is the bread of life, He made the radical claim that He can satisfy in ways that the things of this world cannot. This satisfaction is on offer to all who are willing to take it, but taking it means first yielding our envy and selfish ambition to Jesus. Although submitting these things can be difficult and painful, Jesus offers life that truly satisfies on the other side.

You can take interactive notes here. At the end of the message, you can email the notes to yourself.

 We’re gonna move into the teaching, but before we do that, Lisa’s gonna read our scripture Yeah. For the teaching. So the scripture today is John 6 35. I am the bread of life. Jesus told them, no one will who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

Thank you so much, Lisa. That was beautiful. If you guys have your Bibles, go to the book of John. If you have your phone, whatever it is, we also will have it on the screen today. We’re gonna be in John chapter six. For the next seven weeks, we’re going to be looking at the seven I am statements of Jesus in the Book of John.

And we thought this would be appropriate for a couple reasons. One before a Sabbath series which again, we’re still highlighting every week, but before we did that, we were learning about the life. Moses, anybody remember Moses? And we specifically looked at Exodus three. How does God introduce himself to Moses?

He says, I am who I am. And so we talked about that a little bit and we talked about the significance of it. But I also know, it means that he’s always was always, is always will be. , but it’s also okay, that’s great, but what does that really mean? And what I love about Jesus, when he comes onto the scene, he’s really introducing himself as God By saying that same phrase I am, and John notes seven different times when Jesus says I am.

And what I love about Jesus is he fills in the blank and says, I am. And one way to know that is I am the bread, the gate, the good shepherd, and there’s seven of those and that’s gonna help us learn more. Jesus. The second reason I think it’s appropriate for us to do this series now is for the next few years we are going to be very methodical about our teaching series.

I like to think we’ve always been right, pastor Kayla, but now, like we’re very intentional. And so if you’ll notice, we’re gonna go through nine different practices emulating the lifestyle of Jesus. So right now is Sabbath. The next one is s. So we’re excited about that. But between those series, about the lifestyle, about Sabbath, scripture, fasting, those sorts of things, we want to really just pick a New Testament text and then sometimes an Old Testament text go back and forth and lean into the love of Jesus and the leadership of Jesus.

We really pray that you encounter today his love that he has for you and his leadership. And I love how Pastor Caleb said it. He’s gonna prompt you to do things you don’t naturally want to do, and that’s how we’re gonna end our lesson today. It’s gonna be great. The third and last reason that I think we’re, it’s great for us to go into this Im series is we’re studying John, and it’s a perfect time.

I, as we’re leading up to Easter, Easter is all about Jesus. Amen. And it’s always been every week, every day is about him. And I think it’s a great way to really prepare our hearts as we approach Easter. And on Easter Sunday, we’re gonna look in the Book of John when Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life.

And so the seven I am statements are, he’s the bread, the light, the gate, the good shepherd, the resurrection in life, the way truth in life, and then the vine Are you in John chapter six? I’ve given you a lot of time, so go ahead and so we’re gonna actually pray now and open our hearts to the spirit of God.

Father God, we just ask you to use this passage in John six to satisfy us. Satisfaction is so hard to come by and I think it’s only because it’s never found outside of you. And so God, we just bring all of our fears, our anxieties, our guilt, our shame. That’s your. And we thank you, Jesus. The invitation today is not to make yourself better, to pick yourself up off your bootstraps.

It’s the opposite. It’s to surrender our life to you, Jesus. And may we find in the free fall of giving ourself up, we find life in you and life in abundance. In Jesus’ name I pray, everybody says, amen. How long can you keep water in your. . When I was a child, it was my favorite way to water our horse.

You’re from Queen Creek if you have a horse story. So growing up I would cup the water and I’d have him drink out of it. And as a seven year old, I was always terrified when he’d show his teeth. Isn’t that terrifying? When the horse just is by the way, I have these, and I would just always think one day I’ll be like this, like feet, my fingers are gone.

But it was like one sip and he had all the. But if you try to do that without a horse, even without a horse, you are the water. No matter how hard you try. Eventually that water seeps through. Even if you have the tightest grip in the world. The water will find a way to seep out, and the older you get, the more you realize that is actually a perfect metaphor for life.

Despite your greatest attempts of staying young, we all get old despite our greatest attempts to maybe live life forever. , our life is out of our hands. It seeps away. The ending is inevitable. And I think that’s not only true for the duration of life itself, but it’s also true for our desires in life.

Desires for things like accomplishments. We have, we do the accomplishment. We think now life will be good and quickly soon thereafter, life isn’t as good as we thought. So then we chase another accomplishment. Or maybe for you it’s. Maybe it’s a monetary number. If I get there, then I’ll be safe. But you get there and you don’t feel safe, right?

It always, your desires, even when you grab ’em, they seep out of your hand. It’s all like water seeping through our hands. Welcome to church. And you’re thinking, are we in the book of Ecclesiastes again? . If you guys were here last year, we talked about Ecclesiastes and week after week, we just kept. life is like a vapor have fun.

And it was like, how is this encouraging? But I promise you today’s message is, it does have a happy ending because of Jesus. It’s a happy ending because Jesus comes onto the scene 2000 years ago in Jerusalem and he has the audacity to say, life doesn’t have to feel like it’s just water sleeping seeping through your hands.

He says in me, you can live a satisfied life. That starts, and goes on for eternity. And that claim that auDA au Dash’s claim is found in John chapter six. So allow me to give you some context before we dive into the main verse being verse 35, about how he is the bread of life. There are two things that happen.

That gives you context right before John six, when we start in verse 25. First Jesus feeds 5,000. That at the beginning of John six, now 5,000 men. So it’s likely that he actually fed 20,000 people. Now, there’s one really significant thing to see. There’s a few what does Jesus start with?

Five loafs and two fish from a little boy, right? And then he feeds the whole multitude. But here’s what’s amazing. I start a little bit about my God, and we can do a whole sermon. He leaves. He not only feeds all the thousands of people, but there’s how many baskets left over 12. So that’s a sermon right there, right?

God will serve your needs. He’ll serve beyond your needs, right? We serve a God of abundance who is over and beyond, but also we have to recognize why 12 In the Hebrew literature, you would quickly realize the Hebrews love the number 12 because it represented all of. How many tribes are there in Israel?

12. The 12 tribes represent the whole multitude of God’s people. So he is saying, look, as I’m feeding you thousands of people, I am leaving 12 baskets over. So you know, I’m not just here to feed you. I’m here to feed all of Israel, which is in. Now that’s in Matthew 14 as well. This feeding of the 5,000.

What I love about Matthew is in Matthew 14, he shares the 5,000. He has three little stories and then he also again in Matthew 15 shares how Jesus feeds 4,000. Now we have to ask ourselves, we already learned the story. Jesus fed thousands. Why is Jesus feeding thousands again? So again, this isn’t in the Book of John, but it is in.

Lean in. Here’s what’s incredible. This time in Matthew 15, he feeds 4,000 and there’s two differences. The first difference, Jesus was in a Gentile environment, so he fed 5,000 in Israel. Then he feeds 4,000 among the Gentiles. But here’s what’s significant. How many baskets does Jesus leave over? Seven.

Cool. Huh? No. Okay, so what? What is. Seven means two things. One, it represents the Gentiles. They would be referred to as like the seven Kings, the seven nations. This is Gentile land. So he’s saying, not only will I fill all of Israel, I will fill all of the Gentiles. Seven also has a number of completion that’ll preach.

Jesus says, I’m not only here to feed you. I’m here to feed and satisfy the entire world. So that’s context number. Context number two, Jesus. Then in John’s Gospel, he now walks on water. Now in chapter six verse four, we see the context that all of this is happening in this chapter near the Passover Festival, which the Passover Festival we learned in the Moses series.

It’s remembering what God did to deliver his people. What are the two things they think about most about that Exodus story? One manna bread from heaven. So Jesus goes, you remember that bread from heaven story? I am doing that now. I multiplied bread as if it was from heaven. To show you, I am the true and.

Story of Exodus. But the second thing that happens in Exodus is what? They walk through the water and what does Jesus do to show his divinity? He goes, yeah, y’all had to have the water parted. I just walk on top of it. What is Jesus saying? You know that whole story of the Passover, that Passover points.

and Jesus is the picture of the Passover. He’s the ultimate fulfillment of the exodus. He’s the ultimate fulfillment of you and I being in bondage to sin. But we are now raised to life. We are brought away from Egypt into the Promised Land because of the person work of Jesus. Okay, now let’s look at verse 25.

That’s just the context. That was like free. Okay, so let’s look at verse 25 now, John chapter six, when they, the people that Jesus had. Found him on the other side of the sea. They said to him, rabbi, when did you get here? Because they were doing the math. They were watching this bread giver. You didn’t get on a boat.

How were you on this side? We’ve been looking for you cuz we’re hungry again. Verse 26. Jesus answered. Truly, I tell you, you were looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. A sign is saying, this is a, there’s a greater purpose to the bread. And he’s saying, you’re missing the greater purpose.

You just want more. Don’t work for the food that perishes, underline that phrase, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the son of man will give you because God the father has set aside his seal of approval on him. Verse 28, what can we do to perform the works of God? Notice how they quickly ask, how can we earn this?

Verse 29, Jesus replied, this is the work of God, a k, a. This not your work. It’s God’s work, so don’t think you can. That you believe in the one he has sent, which is Jesus. What sign then are you going to do so that we may see and believe you, they asked, what are you going to perform? So they’re not getting it.

They’ve already seen an incredible sign and now they’re asking for more. Verse 31, our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness just as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus. Truly, I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said, sir , and went from, okay, sir, whatever you say, just give me the bread, give us this bread. Always in verse 35, I am the same phrase here that we remember from Exodus three. I am. The bread of life. Jesus told them, no one who comes to me will ever be hungry and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

I want us to zero in on those two verses, verse 27 and verse 35, verse 27. Don’t work for food that perishes. Verse 35. I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry or thirsty again. What is Jesus trying to get them to? There is a difference between existing and living. There’s actually a Greek word here.

If you understood the Greek, what he’s doing, there’s two ways to say life in the Greek. Number one is bios, which is where we get biology, right? The study of life. And this has a understanding of existence. If you want to continue to exist, what do. Bread and water and shelter. Just basic needs, right?

So those are good ways to make sure you exist longer. But Zoe is less about quantity of life, it’s more about quality of life, and this is the word he uses here. Zoe, is life and abundance. Some of us would say purpose, meaning like you can’t wait to wake up in the morning, right? It’s like when me and my wife are at the beach, I say, this is living right?

This is. And Jesus is saying he is the only way to that Zoe life. The life full of meaning. And so working for food that perishes gives us the illusion. They try to label it as Zoe, but it’s just bios every other way to life will spoil, it will fade and it will let you down. But not Jesus. This reminds me, David Foster Wallace.

He is not a Christian. He. Really well known author just after he passed away in an untimely death in 2008, they published his commencement speech that he had given a college in 2005. And it really like nails this existential crisis on the head that we all feel if we don’t run to Jesus. It’s not on your screen, so just listen in.

I decided to add it this morning. Okay, so here what it says. He says, if you worship money and things, if that’s the work, the food you. If they’re where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough. You will never feel like you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you’re always gonna feel ugly.

And when time and age start showing you will die in million deaths before they finally plant you. Worship power. You’ll feel weak and afraid and you will need even more. over others to keep that fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart and you will end up feeling stupid. A fraud always on the verge of being found out.

This was a man who experienced a lot of success and he had to say all of this food just perishes. Sadly, I don’t know if you ever found the true meaning to life, but I’m here to tell you today, there is a food that will. Perish and his name is Jesus. Every other plan, every other route in life leads to the same dead end, a feeling of emptiness, regret and dissatisfaction, and it’s super depressing.

And how do we battle that depression today? We just look for another menu for more food. And Jesus is saying all of those, or what I would call false Zoes, they’re false promises of the good life. And so as I was thinking through, what are some examples of false? False idols that give us this feeling of satisfaction, but they always leave us worse than before.

I think James three 16 is a good template. So James and his wisdom, he says, for where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice. So let’s look at both of those. Number one, the false zoe of envy. To put simply what is envy? Envy is desire plus resent. . So this is typically our first response when we feel like we’ve been dealt a really bad hand.

And so it’s, I want fill in the blank, and I hate you because you have it. That’s envy. So it’s not if your neighbor has something, it’s not okay, good, I want that too. It’s no, I want what you have so that I have it. And you. Wednesday morning I woke up just really anxious. You guys ever do that right?

Because we’re human. And I was just like, I don’t know what it is. I did all the right things. I woke up, did my bible time, did my prayer, studied for this message, and I didn’t touch my phone till 10:00 AM I have all these rules, especially when I’m just waking up with an anxious spirit and it just wasn’t going away.

And so I text my wife, I said, babe, I’m just not doing well today. And she’s go to a. Now, here’s the thing. Me and her, we, I’ve always talked about like my dream scenario, my Sabbath, as you would say, is actually to go to the movies all alone. Anybody else have this weird desire in life?

Great. Just me now. So I was like, are you serious? Can I go on lunches? Yeah. And so I went and did the most manliest thing possible. I watched Creed three and been working out ever since. And but conveniently I ordered those loaded nachos with chicken at fat cats. Yeah, it’s a good deal. , like it’s a whole pizza size and it’s just 12 bucks.

Like it could feed your whole family or just one person watching, so they’re doing the workout scene. I’m like, oh yeah, I can’t wait to go home and work out as I’m indulging in the jalapenos and sour cream and ch, praise the Lord. So anyways, I’m enjoying this movie, but what the movie is all about is envy the whole movie.

Now, if you haven’t seen the. It’s not a spoiler alert because they’ve already put it on a preview. The whole point is Creed leads a successful life, right? He does the boxing thing and yada has all the money, all the great things. But what happens? His friend that they used to hang out with, his friend at age 12 was a better boxer than him.

But then this guy at age 12 went to jail. Okay? 18 years later, he comes out and he is I want a box now. There’s nothing wrong with that. At this point in the story. He’s not a villain. He just. To get up and train and learn from Creed, but then you find out along the movie, this guy doesn’t just want a box.

He want, he wants creed’s life. So he’s gonna do everything possible to take his title away, to take his reputation away and give it to himself to do all these, he wants to not just lift himself up after prison. He wants to tear creed. and it’s now out. So go to the theaters to see how it ends. . But that, what’s that whole movie about envy and what do you learn from it?

Envy can give you a lot of power in, you should have seen this guy. He was jacked, right? Working out in the prison. I can’t wait. I’m gonna wait. And he is great. But then you learn, this is a spoiler alert. Hey, it’s not the life you wanna live. That’s gonna tear you. Envy will destroy you. You think it’s about boxing?

No, it’s about the biblical principle of envy. All right. How do I know? I’ve experienced that kind of envy. It is a false Zoe. It is a prompt cuz it does give you energy and power, but it always goes sour that was just right there. I haven’t rhymed in a while. It’s been too long. Now write this down.

When envy has gripped my life, I mourn when others rejoice and I rejoice when others mourn. That kind of food, perishes and spoils, and it never gives you what you think you’re gonna end up alone, exhausted and filled with regret. And the reality is, outside of Jesus, envy seems to be one of our only options to run to.

Thankfully Jesus comes down in the flesh and says, I have a better way. Especially for you if life seems unfair. Envy seems to be a promising solution, but friends envy, thrills and then it kills envy, fascinates, and then it assassinates Envy is quote verse 27, working for food that perishes. But there’s another route many of us take and it’s almost the opposite, or it can go along the same whatever the false zoe of selfish.

Selfish ambition is the twin desires of winning and being noticed for it. To put more bluntly, it’s about domination and then attention for your domination. This is running rampant in our culture, especially the attention part being better than others part. James k a Smith and his memoir of Santa Augustine, which I just have been lately telling everybody to read.

He said the following quote, we have traded us, our generation today. We’ve traded the hope of immortality for a shot at going viral. We’re all recognizing this water is gonna run out of our hands, so we might as well do something crazy and get notice before it all fades to. . So someone that’s really riddled with selfish ambition, they have no problem sacrificing their family, no problem sacrificing their morals just so they can be the best and have a crowd say good job.

It’s very sad to meet someone with selfish ambition. If you meet someone who’s like that, they typically churn every conversation back to their own success. They actually avoid anyone who doesn’t further their agenda. You might see you were friends with someone and then all of a sudden they cut you off.

It was nothing they did, but you no longer serve their agenda, so they just cut you out. Selfish ambition, what it does is it renders you incapable of grace. You can’t have grace for others. You don’t have grace for yourself, and it also makes it impossible to have a spirit of. Selfish ambition gives you that lie, I have earned this.

I’m where I’m at because of how strong I am. You are a loser because you’re a loser and I’m a winner. That’s a miserable life to live. And Jesus is probably speaking to a crowd full of people with selfish ambition. Cue the famous Thomas Merton line. He says, the following people may spend their whole lives climbing The ladder of success only defined once they reach the.

That the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. We spent our whole life getting there and realizing it was pointless. Selfish ambition, much like envy is working for food that perishes. It’s actually another book wreck. I read Freedom of Self Forgetfulness by Tim Keller every single year. One line that is so helpful for me, he says, true gospel humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation with myself.

In fact, I stop thinking about myself all together. Why only in Christ will you find meaning? Only in Christ will you find energy and joy? Selfish ambition can get you some to some pretty impressive places, but in the. , you will say it was all a waste. If the solution is within us, we will look to envy our selfish ambition.

But what if it’s not? What if the solution is entirely outside of us? That’s the point Jesus is trying to make. Look at verse 47. We’re gonna skip ahead a little bit. I encourage you to read this whole passage this week, verse 47. Truly, I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. It’s that simple. Just.

48. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna and the wilderness and they died. That water was great, but it seeped through the hands. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you didn’t understand it yet, Jesus saying, I’m gonna make it really clear, it’s me.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Write this down. What is Jesus trying to do? He’s saying the bread was a pointer, but Jesus was the point. The manna in Exodus, great story that points to a God who provides the feeding of 5,000 men and their families.

That’s not just about bread. It’s about Jesus who is the giver of that good.

We have a puppy. Okay. . And I’m told they’re in the puppy stage. It seems to be like 10 years at this point, but whatever. And the reality is with this puppy, we’re trying to train them. We, my wife is trying to train them. And what I’ve noticed when I try to jump in there, I always go here you’ve ever done?

Go there and what does the dog do? Just looks wherever the pointer is no Sorry, this is going somewhere, right? No, there. And they just look at this one, it’s no, this is what Jesus is doing. I’m doing this, and you just keep looking at the pointer and you’re missing the whole point.

Finally, my dog was helpful in my life for a good illustration. Do you know I tried to get rid of him. I took him to my dad’s house. It lasted two weeks. Now we’re back. Pray for me now. We think it’s about the pointer while we miss out on the whole point, these men and women, they were fueled by envy and selfish ambitions.

So they thought they found a God who can keep giving them earthly bread so they can get ahead of people. And Jesus is saying, I’m gonna stop giving you bread to show you. Stop looking. I am the bread. The bread is right in front of you. So now the question we have to ask ourselves, if he is the bread, how do you, when I eat it, how do we par?

They asked Jesus that again in verse 28, and it says, what can we do to perform the works of God? They’re saying if we, okay, we want this spread, how do we get it? What do we need to earn? Give us a plan. Jesus replied, this is the work of God. It’s not what you can do. It’s not your performance. It’s God alone that you believe in the one he has sent.

So what does this mean? How do we get this satisfaction? Believe. Just believe in. Believe that he is the one who satisfies. Listen, write this down. Satisfaction in Christ is received not achieved. That’s good. Notice Jesus doesn’t give them a set of rules to abide by. He doesn’t give them a dollar amount to give.

He doesn’t give them an IQ test to pass. In many ways, that’s much easier than what he’s calling us to do, cuz what is he calling us to do? Surrender ourself? I can’t, but God you can. That’s belief. Jesus says, deny your. And trust completely in Jesus, which is why we’re doing Sabbath. It is a day of the week.

We say, okay, God, I’m not gonna rely on any of what I do. I’m trusting in you and you alone. And so Jesus says this, but notice this master communicator. They hear, okay, the job is to believe. Sure, I’ll do it. But then he puts their belief to the test in verse 52 52 at that, that Jews argued among themselves, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

He just said, I am the. They’re thinking, how do we do this? So Jesus said to them, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink of his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on that last day because my flesh is true food and my blood is true.

Drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks. My blood remains a me and I at him. And I would read this passage all the time. I would say. It sounds like cannibalism. What are you doing here? There’s a bunch of people. This church might explode and Jesus sees an opportunity. It says, great. I’m gonna scare the trash out of all of them right now and say, look at me.

Eat me, drink my blood. And now you have life I put on the side of my Bible. Jesus. Why did you get weird on them? This is offensive. I want to be like, okay, Jesus, stop. Tell them it’s a metaphor, right? This is a metaphor. What are you doing here? And yet Jesus doesn’t, he doesn’t say, here’s what I mean.

I go and I die on the cross. And when I raise again, now when you believe in me, and we commemorate it by taking the bread and taking the cup, it’s a symbol of his bo, my body and my blood. Like he doesn’t do any of that. What does Jesus do instead? He offends them on purpose. He is withholding information on purpose.

If submission to Jesus is beneath you, then satisfaction in Jesus is beyond you.

What do I’m so sorry. We have a bad night today in verse 29, he tells them to trust and follow his leadership. Some of the crowd we’re thinking, okay, sure, you keep giving us. And you keep staying rational, I’ll follow you. So to make sure they were getting the point Jesus told them to do. The thing that sounds weird and that they would never want to do

to follow Jesus is to follow him even when it doesn’t make sense. If we say yes, I’ll follow you. I believe you. As long as I like what you say, you’re not following Jesus. You’re still following. There is a gap there, and Jesus wanting what’s best for these people wanting to be satisfied. I said, the only way you’ll reach that satisfaction, you let go of that gap.

You say, no, Jesus, my yes is on the table. The invitation here is to give yourself for God’s use on God’s terms in God’s time. Say it again. For God’s use on God’s terms. in God’s time. Is your relationship with Jesus like that? Is Jesus constantly teaching you something new? Are you constantly rearranging your life because he told you to?

Do you find him reassuring you with his love, or are you always in control? Are you always saying, okay, Jesus, I am keeping you at a distance and I will follow As long as it gives me what I think I need and as long as it makes sense to how I think it. It’s look at verse 66. Verse 60. By the way, many of his disciples heard this.

They say, this teaching is hard, and they started to walk away. Verse 66, it says, from that moment, many of his disciples, not just the crowd, people who had said, I’m gonna follow you, Jesus, they turned back and no longer accompanied him. So Jesus said to the 12, so he is losing his whole crowd. Now he looks to his crew.

He says, you don’t want to go away too, do you? He’s given them an out Verse 68. Simon Peter replied, Lord, to whom would we. You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God. What is Peter saying? He’s saying, I don’t understand you, but where else would I go?

Every other bread perishes, every other way spoils. So I know that you are God, and that means your ways are higher than my ways. Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. So when push comes to. Because I have tasted and seen that you’re good. I’m gonna take refuge in you. Even when you get weird, even when you tell me to do something I don’t wanna do.

Ultimately this bread is pointing to the cross and we have the invitation every week to say, okay, God, I am surrendering to you. You were Lord, and I am. Not every other way falls to the side, but Jesus you are. And so this is actually how I think is most fitting to respond cuz we want to be a people that says submission to Jesus.

Look, if submission to Jesus is beneath you, then satisfaction is beyond you. No. So for us, we’re gonna submit to you Jesus. And we know that submitting to you ultimately leads to being satisfied in you. And so what I, how I want us to respond to this text is to actually partake in communion. And so in just a moment, I’m gonna invite you to come forward while I’m still up.

And take the elements. Typically, we just have you take the elements there and sit back. This time we ask you to take the bread, take the cup, and go back to your seat and wait, and we’re gonna partake together. But we’re asking everybody who believes in Jesus. This is an invitation for you to come. At this point, let’s do it now for those who are willing and able, let’s stand, let’s start coming forward and grabbing in the elements.

Now as we gather that line around and we’re starting to respond to this message cuz Jesus is saying, eat my flesh, drink my blood.

What I want us to do is to reflect on two questions, cuz I think this is the reflection Jesus is calling us to reflect on in this. So the first reflection is number one, I to fool to be fed by Jesus. What’s happening here? The crowd’s stomach. You guys can take a seat, by the way, if you have the elements, the crowd’s stomach was so full of earthly bread that they didn’t have the appetite for eternal bread.

That this is one reason why we’re calling us a Sabbath. Why some of us, before we partake in elements we need to acknowledge to God desires in our life, distractions in our life that we are overindulging in. And because we are indulging in food that perishes, we are missing out on the beauty of the goodness of God.

Do you spend time alone with him? Or have you filled up your time?

Do you eat his word or are you too full on real food? The invitation? Maybe we’re over consuming media. We’re avoiding time alone with God, ambition, money, whatever it is, this is an invitation to maybe say, you know what, God, I am laying that down. I have been too fooled to be fed by you, and I am saying no.

The second question is, am I too stubborn to be led by Jesus? I almost put, am I too smart? Cuz I think that’s how we paint it, but it’s just being stubborn. Jesus was the smartest person to ever lived this planet. So it’s not that you’re smarter than him, but we’re stubborn. Notice how the crowds, they wanted to eat the bread as long as it made sense to them.

I wonder how many of us God is calling you to do something and you just keep telling ’em. No. He’s smarter than you. Quit being so stubborn. Give in surrender. He’s the only way to satisfy His way is better. Are you too fool to be fed or are you too stubborn to be led? But here’s the grace. All you have to do is acknowledge it and say, Jesus, I need you, and you are primed to partake.

You don’t have to go run the marathon. You don’t have to approve yourself. Just say, okay, God, I laid down this and I surrender to you. So I want us to do that. This bread. We’re gonna start with the bread. What this bread represents is forgiveness of our sin in the past. It actually also represents, it satisfies our desires.

Every desire we have is fulfilled in Christ in the present. And also what’s pretty amazing is this bread secures our destiny in the. That we will have a resurrected body with Jesus for eternity. So let’s all, let’s give you a moment to lay down. Acknowledge those two questions. Am I too full to be fed or too stubborn to be led?

Lay that at his feet.

Let’s partake in the bread together

in the same. His blood gives us power. What his blood does when it was represented in this cup, it’s just grape juice. Don’t worry, this blood represents you are saved from the penalty of sin. Not only that, the blood represents you are saved from the power of sin. You don’t have to keep going back to that addiction.

You don’t have to keep. Back to that sin cuz Jesus, when you receive him, has broken free those chains. So you, when we partake in this come we’re saying, okay, Jesus, because of what you’ve done on the cross and resurrection penalty for my sin is gone. I could be with God forever. The power of sin is no longer here in my life.

I don’t have to say yes to every temptation. And the other great news is, in the future, the presence of sin will be gone. Oou partake in this cub, we are actually remembering a feast that’s to come. When Jesus comes back again, he says, we’re gonna have the greatest party of all time. It’s called the marriage supper of the lamb.

As you partake in this cup, it’s real small, okay? But in the new kingdom, when we have resurrected bodies, this cub’s gonna be pretty large, and we’re gonna celebrate as we partake in that cup, in that one. I don’t even want it. Sins not even around. There’s no more weeping. No more crying, no more tears because Jesus has conquered the grave.

Jesus has conquered death itself, and we can live forever in the kingdom because of his grace. So as we partake in this cup, maybe remember what he’s done for us in this moment, what he’s done for us in this past, but also may we anticipate the beauty of what this cup will give us in the future. Let’s partake.