“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. 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. 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. 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.” 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.” 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 in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then 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. 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.” 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. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” —John 6:22-38
You Come For
Jesus at the beginning of John 6 feeds the 5000. He takes two fishes and five loaves and miraculously feeds 5000 people, not counting women and children. This is a public miracle, witnessed by all of these people. Jesus perceives they were getting ready to take him by force and make him their king in verse 15, withdraws to the mountain by himself.
John 6:26 “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
The Bread of Life Meets Our
They recognize him as a provider. In fact this is one of God’s identities - He is our provider - Jehovah-Jireh, Our God Our Provider.
You are searching for me because I met your needs. You ate your fill and now you are hungry again. Jesus is going to point out the obvious. When it comes to God meeting your need for food, you will become hungry again.
You Come To
He says do not work for food that perishes. In other words, the food you are working hard to get has to be more than temporal. You need something that will last. He doesn’t tell them to stop working, he tells them to change their goals.
Eternal Bread is
God doesn’t need your service and you don’t need to serve Him to get into heaven. It’s not by works that you are saved, it’s by faith-alone in Christ alone, by grace alone. Period.
“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. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” —Matthew 6:19-21
You Come
When you come to Jesus, there must be a hunger inside of you. This is not a hunger for more provision. This isn’t about a hunger to serve either. He’s already told them that our work is to believe in Him, that’s hardly manual labor.
We come hungry for Him. Just Him. Not for his provision, not for his atta-boy, not for his promises, but simply for Him. When we have that hunger, that’s when we will get satisfied.
Eternal Bread
“Religious complacency is encountered almost everywhere among Christians these days, and its presence is a sign and a prophecy. For every Christian will become at last what his desires have made him. We are all the sum total of our hungers.” —A.W. Tozer
Four Ways We Hunger For Bread -
- Prayer
- Fasting
- Time in His Presence
- Communion
“If there is a man anywhere who is hungering for God and is not filled, then the Word of God is broken. We are as full as we want to be.” —A.W. Tozer