Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Nourished by Faith: Embracing Jesus as the Bread of Life
Looking for nourishment that truly satisfies? Discover how John 6:27 holds the key to eternal sustenance rather than fleeting fulfilment. Through the powerful story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, we uncover the profound truth that He is the bread of life, sustaining us beyond our temporary needs. Dive into personal reflections and experiences that illustrate the abundant provision promised to those who serve others in faith. As we explore this chapter, you’ll be encouraged to align your daily endeavours with the pursuit of eternal nourishment and the teachings of Christ.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Morning everyone. Now can you just open your Bibles to John 6, 27. Our focus will be on that today and I just want to read a few sections of this, but starting in John 6, 26. Jesus answered them and said 26. Jesus answered them and said, most assuredly I say to you you seek me, not because you saw the signs, because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you, because God, the Father, has sent his seal on himself. And then he said to him what shall we do that we may work the works of God? And Jesus answered and said to them this is the works of God. And Jesus answered and said to them this is the work of God, that you believe in him who sent you. So believing in God is more importantly than actually laboring after stuff, than actually labouring after stuff. And the reason I say this is because there are three main questions for today that relate directly to your situation in life. What are you doing so that you have eternal life? What are you doing so that you have eternal life? How are you going about your daily work, at the office, at the home, at the school, during your daily work, so that it won't be said that you laboured for the food that perishes. I'll just give you a little insight, a little bit of a personal message about me. But before I do that, let's get the setting clear in our minds Now.
Speaker 1:The day before, in verses 1 to 15, jesus had crossed the southern side of the Sea of Galilee and fed over 5,000 people with barley loaves and a few fish. It was the sign that pointed to him as the bread of life. So we look in verse 35 when it says I am the bread of life. So we look in verse 35 when it says I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. In verse 41, I am the bread that came down from heaven. And in verse 48, I am the bread of life. Again, verse 51, I am the living bread that comes down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And in verse 55, my flesh is true food. That's what the miracle of the loaves and fish was pointing to. It was also pointing very specifically to the fact that Jesus will always be there for his disciples to take care of them personally. He shows this by seeing that the 12 full baskets are left over, one for each of his apostles. So the miracle had a public message for all and a personal message for his apostles. Now some people look at this scripture and think, oh yeah, well, okay, he manifested the, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and all he was doing was not wanting to waste the, the leftover food, but no, what he's saying here is that, well, this is this is the way I look at it from another perspective right, the thing is that he's, as followers of Jesus Christ, what we have to do is we have to serve others before we get served. So, in other words, they were there. It's a bit like all the volunteers in a church and they're putting on a soup kitchen or a barbecue for the whole congregation, for the whole congregation, and so all the volunteers, all those that are actually in service, they're actually feeding the congregation first, and then they will always have what's left over, because there will always be an abundance and it's left over for them.
Speaker 1:And I remember, just on a little side note, we had this lady by the name of Pastor Cynthia in our church when I was an associate pastor and she looked after a thing called King's Cafe, and so it was there to feed all the homeless and those who were struggling financially, and they'd do this once a week. And when she was doing this, for some strange reason, I can't remember, you know. So I don't want to say something and get it wrong, but I can't remember exactly what happened, but this particular time there was schnitzel and salad, right, and she had all of these trays and the people just kept coming. There was more and more people coming and so many people were were flooding through the doors and she realized in the natural that she was going to run out of, uh, the schnitzels, because it was one per person and there was plenty of salad for everything. So she was just there, praying as she was serving, and miraculously, there just happened to be more than enough for everybody that was coming in and there was a tray left over for the volunteers. That's the sort of thing that we're looking at.
Speaker 1:If we are serving the kingdom of God, we know that if we look after his flock, then he's going to look after us, then he's going to look after us. See, the masses that were in this element here. They missed what the actual signs were. Publicly, he was saying I am the bread of heaven. Just like God sent manna into the wilderness to sustain the lives of those as they were fleeing from the Egyptians, and he sent me, being Jesus, into the world to give life, eternal life. And personally, he is saying to the apostles serve me faithfully and you will never lack what you need. I will be there for you and for everything that you need, even in the hour of suffering and death. But the people didn't see the sign that way. They they missed it.
Speaker 1:And so in verse 15, jesus says withdraw again to the mountain by himself. Jesus will be there with you always. And later that evening the disciples get into a boat and head for Capernaum on the west side of the sea, leaving Jesus behind. The people see them go but don't know where Jesus is. And when a great wind threatened the disciples on the sea, about three miles out into the lake, jesus came to them walking on the sea, about three miles out into the lake. Jesus came to them walking on the water and they are frightened, but he identifies himself and they joyfully take him in the boat. Now Jesus will be there for you. Jesus will be there for you. Nothing can stop him, and what he gives is, above all, of himself. And I argued that Jesus, having him in the boat with them, was the end of that story Within the story, because John was really making the same point as with the 12 loaves of baskets that were left over. Jesus will do whatever it takes to be there for us in troubles. He may seem as distant and as inaccessible as a well-meaningful, helpless friend on the shore while you are about to drown three miles out to sea, but there's a difference he makes bread out of nothing and Jesus walks on water. He will be there for you. Nothing can stop him, and what he gives is, above all, is himself. Jesus is himself. And so it goes on.
Speaker 1:And in the morning the crowd can't find Jesus, and so, according to verse 24, they crossed to see to Capernaum, looking for him, and they find him in the synagogue. We know that because verse 59 says Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum, verse 25,. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him Rabbi, when did you come here? They were perplexed at how he had been left behind by the disciples and yet managed to cross the sea. But Jesus does not see their question as a hopeful sign. He sees it very bluntly and quite crucial. Verse 26,. 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, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. So their fixation is on the product, not the person.
Speaker 1:So, in a nutshell, what does this really mean? Well, this is how I look at it. It means that when Jesus fed 5,000 people with loaves and fishes, it was a sign, that is, it was like a beam of glory streaming out from the person of Jesus Christ. It was like a ray of light coming out of Jesus. And when the crowd saw the loaves and felt the pleasure of a full stomach and thought about it, it would be like having a king who could fill their stomachs like that every day. And it was thrilling, you know.
Speaker 1:But what they didn't do when they looked at the sign was to let their eyes run up the beam of glory, from the pleasure in their belly to the treasure in Christ. They didn't follow the rays of light back up to the beauty of the sun, up to the beauty of the sun. What they did was they fixated on the product of the miracle, not the person of the miracle, and so the signs ceased to be a sign for them. And Jesus said you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. They were excited about the bread as their pleasure, not Christ as their treasure. Now I'll say that again If you get excited about the pleasure, so that you're getting excited about the feelings, the sensation of being filled physically, but you're not excited about the treasure or where it actually came from, jesus is the treasure. It's not his gift.
Speaker 1:The gospel is written to reveal the glory of Christ, not mainly the glory of his gifts, and this is another reason we see that there's less gifts or signs or wonders mentioned in the Gospel of John than there are in the other Gospels, because the Gospel of John is focusing on revealing the glory of Christ, so that we would not make the mistake but would see Christ himself as our treasure. Our all-satisfying bread from heaven and the eternal life is what he is. So that's where Jesus turns in verse 27, where he will focus on the rest of our time. Now let me read that again in verse 27. And it said and see the importance of what he's talking about there Do not labor for the food that perishes.
Speaker 1:This is another way you could look at this is that, if you notice when that, um, they were being fed in the wilderness, okay, god was providing them enough food to sustain them for every day, but their lack of faith in the provision from their Heavenly Father got people hoarding the leftover manna and they were keeping it in case there was no provision the following day. And when they did that, what actually happened? The manna turned into worms. You need to trust in his word and know that it is him that is going to make a path where there is no way he is going to provide where there's no provision. Right, we want to focus on the treasure. Okay, god the Father has set his seal Labor for the food that endures for eternal life, not the food that will perish. Life, not the food that will perish. The last clause of that verse 27 is on him, god. This is where the focus has to be.
Speaker 1:God has authorized his son, as the son of man, to be the mediator of eternal life. He sent him. Jesus would give his flesh for the life of the world, as spoken about in verse 51, he would give life to others. God gave this authority to his son as a son of man. He put his divine seal, or the mark of authority, on him. It's the same thing we read in John 5, 19 to 27. For whatsoever the father does, the Son does likewise. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father has given all judgment to the Son. As the Father has life in himself, so has he granted the Son also to have life in himself, and he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man, because he is the son of man. So the seal of God is God's authorizing his son, as the son of man, to give eternal life to whom he will.
Speaker 1:Now the second clause in verse 27,. Labour for the food that endures to eternal life. Now let's see it in context, verse 27, do not labour for the food that perishes, but labour for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give you. What does this actually truly mean? The key is found in verse 28 and 29. Then he said to him.
Speaker 1:Now that question follows from what Jesus said. Then he said to him what must we do to be doing the work of God? Now, that question follows from what Jesus just said. He said labor or work for the food that endures to eternal life. And they asked how? What are those works? How do we work for the bread that gives eternal life? I mean I tell you what I'm looking at this and I'm thinking a little bit slow on the uptake here. I mean, sometimes you think to yourself is it that simple? The answer is yes. This is the work of God, that is, this is the kind of work you do to please God and get the bread that gives you life. This is the work that you do, namely that you believe in him who was sent, and this is where the Jews fall away, because they're entrenched under the law and when the Messiah comes to put them under grace, they do not see him as the Messiah. They do not see Jesus as the Messiah.
Speaker 1:Believing is taking Jesus as the all-satisfied, life-giving treasure that he is. They did not see that and they did not do that. They did not see that and they did not do that. So what does it mean, then, to labor for food that endures for eternal life? Well, it means believe in Jesus as the bread that God has sent from heaven For the life in the world. Believe in him who has sent, taste and see the goodness that is there. Here they are standing in front of the bread of life, jesus Christ, the infinite, valuable infinity, this beautiful, all-satisfying, all-lasting food that endures to internal life. Who gives internal life? And they ask what kind of work does God want us to do so that we can have the bread of life? And Jesus says, in essence, if you don't see the person standing in front of you, for who he is, no amount of work is going to make him your treasure. You don't need to do any work. You need to taste and see, eat and believe To all who did receive him, who believed in him, is part of what John said in John 1.12. Believing is receiving, believing is seeing him for the food that is necessary to be eaten.
Speaker 1:Now I'll just explain this in a different aspect from the way I personally saw this. Now, when I was in the wheelchair, I was doing what I believed, all the right things as a young Christian. I was there and I was immersing myself in the word of God and I was reading all the scriptures and I was going through them in such a way that I was devouring them. Block that I had is that, knowing myself who I am, where I come from, the things that I'd done and granted, some of the things I'd done are nowhere near as bad as what other people have done. But, like I said last week when I was talking about Charles Mingus, who made that famous quote, making the simple, complicated is commonplace. Making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that is creativity.
Speaker 1:Now, what I was doing is I was taking the scriptures, which I saw as simple, straightforward, and I was complicating them. So what I did was I was actually believing the word of God, I was immersing myself in the word of God and I believed that this would be there for everybody else to be able to enjoy the fulfillment of our Lord and Savior, because the Father had sent him. The drawback with me is I did not believe it for myself, because I, a bit like the disciples, if I had Jesus standing right in front of me, I would believe that he is the bread of life. I will believe that he is the Messiah, the chosen one, the son of God. But I was believing that he was here for other people who were not of the same sinful nature that I was, and so I was happy to pray for people, lay hands on people. I would give to the ministry and everything else. But I did not believe that I was able to receive a miracle, that free gift. I did not see that as a free gift. I saw it as me being unworthy of receiving it. Now we're all unworthy in the natural. We all fall short of the glory of God, it says. But none could come to the Father except through the Son. So if we believe that Jesus is the Son of man, that he died on the cross and rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father, then we can come boldly to the throne room of grace, stand before the Father and the desires of our heart shall be met. It is for everybody. It's not a matter of categorizing people. And this is what I was doing. See, I was under the impression that I was unworthy. I didn't qualify because of who I was.
Speaker 1:Now I'm not saying quit your job, stop working. We know because of the whole of the New Testament assumes and commends the dignity of work. Paul said in Ephesians 4.28, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work for with his own hands, so that you may have something to share with anyone in need. So I don't take Jesus to mean quit your jobs and I don't take him to mean don't bring home the bread from your job. When he says do not labor for the food that perishes, he does not mean that we shouldn't earn a living and use it to buy bread that perishes, so that we and our families can eat and just keep on working. We know this because Paul said to the freeloaders at Thessalonia if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat, which means the normal way to eat the bread that perishes is to work for it. So don't labour for the bread that perishes. It does not mean don't make money and use it to put food on the table, all right. But what it also doesn't mean is it doesn't mean that you're not worthy.
Speaker 1:So let me put it this way what changes when you believe in him who God has sent? What changes when your taste and discovery that Jesus is the all satisfying bread from heaven, whereas in verse 27 it says food that endures is eternal. So two things change. A new chapter is added to the working life, namely eternity. You'll live joyfully forever beyond the grave. And secondly, a new treasure is added to your heart, a million times more precious than any amount of money or what money could buy. Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart be. Also Matthew 6, 21.
Speaker 1:The bread of life is the treasure of your hearts, and there's an important thing to remember about this is you've got to put this in the right perspective. So your eyes are open and you see Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen son. You taste and know that he is the bread of life you eat. That is you believe, and the result you stay in your job most of you do anyway but in 1 princeton 7, 24, something about everything changes. It has to be the food that perishes not longer dominates your mind. Christ dominates your mind as the supreme treasure, and if you're, if these things look bleak or things aren't looking too good on the horizon, you've got to understand that we have to a saviour in Jesus Christ. Yes, we have to work, because faith without works is dead, and that means that we've got to put in an effort. We've got to put in something that we do.
Speaker 1:But don't get mixed up the bread of life, okay, and the natural bread, because we need to earn a living, because the more we make, the more that we can give, and the more that we give, the more that he can give, give and it should be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, running over. If we give sparingly, we reap sparingly. If we give abundantly, we reap abundantly. So the main purpose of this do not get confused with the bread of life and the natural bread, because you need both of them, but your focus has to be on him who was sent from God. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and nobody comes to the Father except through him. That was my stumbling block. I was not able to get over the fact that, yes, I was happy doing the natural things and everything. To get over the fact that, yes, I was happy doing the natural things and everything, but I stopped short of knowing that he was my pathway to healing because I, just like everybody else, I was unworthy, but by grace, through faith, we are saved. So don't get the concept of this mixed up. And this is what happens when people get scripture and they take it out of context.
Speaker 1:The most important thing to do is when you read scripture. If you're given a particular scripture like let's have a look at, like let's have a look at, I'm looking for a really good example of this, let me just see this. Okay, if I was just to read this, most assuredly, I say to you Moses did not give 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. Now, if you just read that, you're just saying, well, realistically, jesus is just representing God, he's not anybody important. But you read other scriptures where it says well, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, I am him and him is me. That doesn't really make sense.
Speaker 1:Okay, there's the Trinity the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are all individual entities in their own right, but they are also one. Okay, three core string can not let these be broken. Okay, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So the thing is, one on their own can achieve certain things, but all three together can give us eternal life, and so we need to make sure that we put things in perspective. If your whole focus is worrying about your finances, that's wrong. If your whole focus is worried about just healing, that is wrong. If your whole focus is relying on getting people born again, that is wrong. It is a complete package. We need to do it all together.
Speaker 1:So, whatever it is that you are desiring in your heart, find the scripture that lines up with that and know that it is for you as much as it is for everybody else. Okay, he came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. He did not come to just do miracles, signs and wonders in his time, because it also says in his words the greater things shall we do than he did. And so if you go through the New Testament, you have a look at every single sign and every single healing that Jesus did. Then we know that we can have that and more. All right, I hope this makes sense.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I find it hard to explain myself and try and get the right concept around the scriptures that are there, but the main purpose is whatever you're dealing with today in the natural, take it to God and get the supernatural inside you. It's the same. With the word of God, you can have all the knowledge that you want, because that's head knowledge, but once you get it into your heart, that's when the revelation comes of it. All right, god bless you. We'll see you next week. Now, starting next week. Right, everybody's in the theme of Christmas, but we're going to be in the theme in relation to leading up to the birth of our Lord and Saviour. So that's it for the Gospels Matthew, mark, luke and John, and then we'll go on to other things as we explore and expand on the word of God and showing and letting everybody know the purpose of keeping Christ in Christmas. God bless, and talk to you next time. Bye for now.
