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Jesus, the Living Bread Sunday Night Message by Ludwig Opager 7 September 2014
Matthew 4:4, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
This verse is carved into a china cabinet I made for my wife for our 14 anniversary in 1975.
It reminds me of what is important whenever our family gathers around the dining table to eat a sumptuous meal.
John 6:27, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
When Jesus Christ instructs us to labor not for the meat which perishes it is easy to conclude that what most people labor for is indeed the meat that perishes.
Adam and Eve labored in the Garden of Eden dressing and keeping it for that was God’ will.
They did not need to be told to labor not for the meat which perishes for all their needs were supplied.
But upon believing a lie from Satan they moved from God’s provision to the world’s provision.
And ever since God has been instructing his creation that a return to the Garden is possible.
And the return to meat which does not perish can only happen by eating of the bread which cometh down from heaven, a bread called Jesus.
So Jesus Christ tells this important truth to the multitudes that had gathered on the shore of the Sea of Galilee for Jesus Christ always gives us that which edifies unto life eternal.
He does not waste time on the frivolous but always instructs for our eternal benefit.
His teaching asks the question.
What profit is there in gaining all the bread of the whole world and all the fish of the sea and in so doing lose that which endures unto everlasting life?
This is the same message Jesus proclaims in the gospel of Luke when he says to strive to enter at the strait gate, and again in Luke when he says that every man presseth into it, and when he tells us to seek and ye shall find.
He not only says these important words but he states that he has the full endorsement of God.
Anyone can say these words but when they come from Jesus they come from God.
He reminds them that he has the seal of God upon him.
He tells them "for him hath God the Father sealed."
Sealing means identification and attestation or ratification.
God sealed the 144,000 of Revelation and that seal identified them as God's own messengers as distinguished from apostate Israel.
The mark of the beast in Revelation will be the seal that identifies and attests that the lost belong to the Antichrist.
The king's ring in Esther was used to attest or ratify the kings writing that it was indeed the kings and no man could reverse.
So too Jesus was sealed by the Father at his baptism.
He was identified by the Father as his beloved Son and his perfection was accredited when God said that in him I am well pleased.
The Father sealed him with the Holy Spirit as he also seals us as his own.
By this statement he claims authority to act for the Father.
He is divinely authorized to give them the priority of life.
And they and we are fully expected to obey his commands.
But not understanding, they in John 6:28,29 asked, …..What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
So after telling them to labor not for the meat that perishes Jesus now tells them to labor for the meat that does not perish.
What are these labors? What are these tasks that we must do, they ask?
What are these works of God, works that he requires, works that they assume to be God's requirement for obtaining spiritual food.
They labored and did tasks in order to gain the daily bread that eventually molded so they reasoned that they too must labor in the same way for eternal life.
The Jews were doers, their religion was a religion of doing.
Moses told them to observe to do all the words of the law.
So it was natural to ask, "What must we do?"
How can we gain favor with God?
What good works must we do?
What pleases God?
We must have to do something to show off to God!
We must have to earn his favor, do we not?
But Jesus simply tells them that the work of God is to believe on the one whom God has sent.
That is what God requires.
Not a work of the hands or the feet or the body but a work of the heart; faith and trust in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of man.
God had told them many times that he would send a messenger and this messenger now stood before them.
He tells them that the work of God is to receive him, to trust him, to recognize that they have nothing to offer God, that they have sinned against a Holy God and that they must leave the work to Jesus.
But man would rather "do" than "believe."
Doing panders to his pride, it provides him with a platform where he can boast and glory about his work.
If man were to accept another's work he must admit his own work as useless and without merit or usefulness.
He must admit that all of his works are as filthy rags and that any works he performs are hopeless to gain entrance into eternal life.
He must therefore labor to find another who will work for him, one whose works he can appropriate as his own and be saved by another.
Jesus says that he is the one that God hath sent, he is the one on whom they are to believe.
The desire of his heart is not to attract people to what he gives, but to himself.
Not to the things that people can get out of Jesus Christ but to Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God.
He wants nothing more than to have them exhibit faith and trust in him.
But note their continuing unbelief and blindness as we read in:
John 6:30,31, They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
You have shown us some signs, Jesus, but can you do a greater work than this?
Moses gave our fathers bread from heaven for forty years.
Can you match that?
Are you greater than Moses?
Are you that prophet?
Yes, Jesus, you have given us bread and fishes one time.
You have given us earthly food, but Moses gave us heavenly food for forty years.
Are you greater than Moses that we should believe?
Show us and we will believe.
Feed us in a more lasting way.
Can you feed us more than 40 years with heavenly food?
Can you outdo Moses?
This reveals a weak and adulterous generation because it seeks after a sign which indicates a lack of faith and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
They looked for that which they could see.
Temporal things, things that perish even if they lasted 40 years.
The signs that Jesus gave were given so that his deity would be evident and that he was worthy of all belief.
Seeking signs shows the Jews unbelief and evil hearts.
Jesus confronts them with their error and with their unbelief as we read in:
John 6:32,33, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
As is the usual case Jesus draws them to think beyond the material, to the spiritual, beyond the temporal to the eternal.
He corrects their error.
Moses did not give you that bread from heaven.
The manna did not come from the hand of Moses.
Think! Use your head.
Who told you Moses did that?
Search the scriptures for yourself.
You can read, you can listen.
Why do you accept such things?
Moses was simply an instrument in the hand of my Father and Moses would be the first to admit that.
He would not exalt himself as you exalt him!
Don't look at the instrument that God uses and marvel at the instrument!
Don't look at God's creation and stop there.
Marvel at God, the creator and not the creation.
He corrects error here for He will not let error go uncorrected.
The manna, which came in Moses day by the hand of God, was simply a type of Christ, the Christ who now stood before them.
But the lesson here is that the same Father, who had in Moses day, provided the manna, is now providing the true bread, the spiritual bread, the heavenly bread, the eternal bread.
Manna came down from heaven and Jesus also came down from heaven.
But unlike the manna which perished and the people that ate it that perished, Jesus is the eternal bread, the bread that lasts, the bread that satisfies eternally and the bread that gives life.
Manna was meant for Israel only, but this bread that comes from above, gives life not only to Israel but to the world.
All those who eat of this bread will never die.
He wants them to get past the bread and the fishes that they so desire and realize that the ultimate end of life must be spiritual, not material possession.
Jesus wanted them to know that the seal of God's approval was on him and that they could trust him as the nourishment of their souls.
John 6:34, Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Remember the Samaritan woman who said, "Sir, give me this water."
She continued to dwell on the material, the physical.
Here in this instance the same thing occurs.
They only can think about that which they see.
No spiritual discernment.
They want this magic bread.
This would be a marvelous thing.
Bread that would give them eternal life.
A literal fountain of youth.
So Jesus plainly says in:
John 6:35, And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Jesus is himself the gift of which he is the giver.
He has come to give himself that men and women, boys and girls, may live by him.
He tells us in plain language, in terms that are familiar to anyone who eats, that he is the bread of life.
Simple uncomplicated language.
He is that which men long for in their own way, which men have hoped for in their own way.
He is that which men have sought for in their own way.
He is the giver of eternal life but it is only given in his own way, by receiving the gift by believing on him.
To partake of the bread of life they must come to him, they must believe on him.
And later in this chapter Jesus amplifies this with strong language in:
John 6:54, Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:27, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. |