1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. In His grace, Jesus promises that all who come to Him in faith will live abundantly and eternally. The message from God’s Word today this 10th Sunday after Pentecost is taken from John 6:22-35, it’s entitled, “The Bread of Life Satisfies.” This sermon is based on Jesus’ promise in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
2. This is quite a promise. Hunger and thirst are universal experiences. We all experience both every day. No matter how many times you go back to the buffet, and no matter how many times you refill your cup, satisfaction never lasts. Keith Richards’, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” (which has been named the second greatest song of all time) and Angelica Hamilton singing “I Will Never Be Satisfied” in the hit musical Hamilton (which has been viewed more than 35 million times) capture the idea. Those songs are about more than food and drink, of course. They notice we are always hungering, always thirsting, always searching for more. We human beings can’t get no satisfaction.
3. Now, what is the context of Jesus’ teaching here in John chapter 6? Jesus uses a picture of food because he had fed over 5000 people a short while earlier with 5 loaves of bread and two fish, and now he was being approached by men who wanted him to provide them with more meals. They saw Jesus as a Bread King. These men were focused on the result of Jesus’ miracle: their bellies were full. Sadly, they missed the real point of Jesus’ sign. They stood before one who was eager to provide them with things far more valuable than a Happy Meal. Their attention was fixed on earthly things instead of on that which would bless them eternally.
4. As I said before, the previous day Jesus fed the people by multiplying the loaves and fishes. They had eaten “as much as they wanted” as John 6:11 tells us. But as it always does, their hunger returned, which led them to seek Jesus again. But, this time Jesus offered more than loaves and fishes. He offered food that doesn’t perish, but rather “endures to eternal life” (6:27). This food comes from the one who was sealed by the Father (ἐσφράγισεν), which may be a reference to Jesus’ baptism (John 1:32-34) or a reference to His resurrection. The people liked the sound of this food and, not surprisingly, asked how to get it. This is when Jesus spoke the promise for this week’s sermon: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst” (6:35).
5. Jesus offered more than loaves and fishes. He offered food that doesn’t perish, but rather “endures to eternal life.” We’re constantly searching. We’re searching for a happier home life. We’re searching for medical treatment that will work. We’re searching for more recognition, more vacation, more income, more security, more something. The search never ends because, no matter how satisfied we are for a moment, the moment always passes.
6. The problem, of course, is all the things we search for are perishable. But, perishable things won’t satisfy our deepest needs and longings (John 6:25–27). Simple bread won’t do for us. We need not a meal out but an upscale meal out, not Mac n Cheese but Red Lobster. We’re not satisfied with a roof over our heads. We need a house on the shores of Lake Michigan. We need—yes, we need!—Martin Luther High School to win state this Fall and our favorite to be a starter. We need all A’s, a date with the cutest girl in school, a greener lawn, a retirement place on a lake in Northern, WI, a retirement that provides a big chair, NFL Network, and Europe, Hawaii, and Australia. These things that don’t last can satisfy a need and many a want for a brief time, but they wear off, wear out, go out of style, get lost, get stale, break, or otherwise fail to maintain satisfaction. St. Augustine said to God, “You have created us for yourself; our heart knows no rest except that it finds its rest in You” (Confessions, book 1, ch 1).
7. Yes, perishable things won’t satisfy our deepest longings. I think about this every year when baseball season begins again. No matter who won the World Series last year, even the champions are driven to defend the title. One season’s success is never enough.
8. Remember Jesus’ parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:16–21? The man’s fields had brought forth enough crops to set him up for many years, and they did give him pleasure for a while. Yeah, one day. And then God came to him and said, “Fool, this night your soul is required of you!” You can’t take any such perishable things with you when you die. Have you ever seen a hearse pull a U-Haul? 1 Tim 6:7: “We brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.” Job 1:21: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.”
9. “Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.” When Jesus promises He can relieve hunger and thirst for good, He is talking about more than food or drink. Martin Luther calls it a “spiritual hunger” (Luther’s Works 23:43). To satisfy it, Jesus offers something which doesn’t perish—namely, Himself. He alone is imperishable, for He alone has risen from the dead, never to die again. Romans 6:9 says, “We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” In His grace, Jesus promises that all who come to Him in faith will live abundantly and eternally. In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” That doesn’t mean we will always be satisfied with everything in this life. Instead, it means our desires will be shaped and met by the only One who can satisfy. Psalm 37:1–4 says, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
10. One must not pursue only the things of this world. Lk 12:15: “And [Jesus] said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ ” Mt 4:4: [Jesus said,] “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” One must, instead, pursue earnestly the things God sets before us. Rom 14:17: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Mt 6:19–20: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Rom 8:6: “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
11. So let us look instead to the things that last forever, knowing God will provide the things of this world that we really need. God promises to supply our earthly needs. Mt 6:25–26, 33: [Jesus said,] “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? . . . But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Our pursuit, then, should be of the things that do not perish that are found in the preaching of God’s Word, the gift of His body and blood given to us in the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of our sins, and the announcement that our sins are forgiven in the Holy Absolution when we confess our sins before God and one another (John 6:27–29, 35).
12. Jesus, the Living Bread, came down from heaven and has secured life and all its necessities for us. That he did by laying down his life on the cross for us. That, you see, has secured both heaven and all that’s truly good for us in this life, because Jesus’ death has reconciled us to God, the giver of all good gifts. Rom 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
13. Let us hold fast to Jesus, who is the one thing needful now and forever, the one thing that lasts. Jesus suffered and died to atone for our sins. He rose from the dead and has assured us that because he lives, we shall live also (Jn 14:19). He has gone to prepare a place for us. Eye has not seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him (cf.1 Cor 2:9). There, we will feast forever on the Bread of Life he gives us.
14. The first thing the Bread of Life promises is satisfaction. Come to Jesus with confidence He can and will satisfy. Amen. Now, the peace that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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