SPEAKER_00 0:01

Today, many struggle with their spiritual hunger and instead try to feed it with physical food. Today we look at Jesus' I am statement when he said, I am the bread of life. Psalm chapter 23, which we are very familiar with. It says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And today we're talking about the internal relief. We're talking about the soul, because that is what Jesus was trying to reveal to the people. In about, I think it was in 1997, I went to Germany for a discipleship training school, and this was run by Youth with a Mission. This was in a small town called Heinchen, and it was the eastern part of Germany. This was about eight years after the Berlin Wall had come down. So it was still uh economically depressed, I think we could say. And for breakfast, often we would have Schwarzbrot und Brie Kessel, which is the uh the black bread with brie cheese. Brie cheese is that very soft one that you can almost spread on top of the bread. And uh okay, not everyone liked it, but for me, I really enjoyed that bread. That bread is a solid bread. If you have four or five slices of black bread, it weighs more than a loaf of white bread here. Okay, this is a very heavy, solid, uh powerful bread. And although I didn't realize it at my time, it did change my life in a way. Because after that, my eyes were opened that bread could be something different than just the white loaf of bread that I'd grown up with. Um since then, I'm drawn to especially European breads. I like the French baguette, the tiapata, uh uh Gigi, I'm not sure where you are, if you're even in the room, but she baked some facasia bread just uh last week and shared it, and it was amazing. Um, she makes sourdough. So anyway, I love bread. And if you've ever baked fresh bread in your home, the smell of that fresh bread, it just makes you feel like you've gone to heaven already. It's so, so good. And so the people in our passage today, they were my kind of people. They were crazy about bread. And as we uh look into the scripture and into uh the passage today, let's maybe we'll just prepare ourselves first with prayer. Would you bow your heads with me? Precious Lord Jesus. Thank you for your love. Thank you that you have something better to feed us with than bread, something we need even more than bread. Lord, would you feed us today with your words of life? Open our ears, soften our hearts, Lord. Speak to us, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, so we I think we need it's good to just recap uh the context of the passage today. We should always be aware of the context. So, John chapter 6, where we're at, it begins with Jesus feeding the 5,000, plus women and children. And of course, Pastor Wei uh preached on this passage just last week. And after this amazing miracle, Jesus sends his disciples by boat to Capernaum. And then under the cover of darkness, after the disciples have gone ahead, Jesus makes his own way, uh, walking on water to reach the other side. And so the next morning the crowd makes their way to Capernaum because they can't find Jesus anywhere. And there were so many of them, they wouldn't have gone by boat, or certainly not all of them. And it was about a 13-kilometer walk by foot. And so on the way there, I mean, 13 kilometers, it's going to take a while. They were talking, they're talking about all that had happened, they're talking about all the gossip that they'd heard. Uh, and by the time they arrive at Capernaum, they're hot, they're dusty, and they've got one thing on their minds. Bread. Delicious bread. I'm sure they're talking about it the whole walk there, this amazing miracle that had taken place, and the bread that they'd eaten. And as we journey through the text this morning, there's something that we have to be very clear on and understand. The crowd desired physical bread, but Jesus offered spiritual bread. Can you repeat that with me, please? The crowd desired physical bread, but Jesus offered spiritual bread. And so as we dive into the story today, there's kind of three parts that emerge. And the first is the feeding of the 5,000. First, Jesus, he revealed this miracle of feeding the 5,000, plus women and children, as a sign. As a sign. Remember, signs are something that reveal a spiritual truth to those who have faith to see it and receive it. And so that is what happened, but the people, they were just after physical bread. Continuing on the passage this morning from John chapter 6, beginning in 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. 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. This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. Jesus, he had received those five loaves and two fishes, and he fed many thousands. And for those who had faith to see, they received provision from heaven by the hand of God. So for those with faith, this bread had a dual nature, right? Physical and spiritual. And this is something that can be said to be true when we partake of holy communion together. We're just taking this wafer and this wine, but as we take it in faith, we are also partaking of something spiritual. And so the feeding of 5,000, it was a miraculous sign to the people that Jesus must be the Christ. God come to earth to meet the needs of the people. And he tells them, Do not work for food that perishes in our passage today, but for the food that endures to eternal life. That's what he's saying to them. But the crowd, they were without faith. And what they heard instead was, work for physical bread that will never run out. Right? That's what they heard because they were crazy about bread at the time. They were seeking security for their bellies, not their souls. And so the people they asked Jesus, what must we do to be doing the works of God? They wanted to know how how we can get fed again? We walked hot and dusty for hours, 13 kilometers to get here. What do we need to do to get the bread again? But Jesus' answer brings us to the second section of our passage. Believe in him whom he has sent. And so at this answer, the crowd begins to question Jesus' identity because they're starting to realize here that he is claiming divinity. And so the second part of our story is about manna from heaven. If you remember, uh, well, the Israelites wandered for 40 years because of their lack of faith and disobedience. God did provide for them each day. He was teaching them to depend upon him. And so manna appeared each day on the ground, and it were, it was like these, it's described as these sweet flakes. And so each person, each day, they would gather two kilograms of it, and they would grind it up, and they'd be able to make their bread with it. And when they baked the bread, it tasted like olive oil. It was this uh it's quite nice. If they tried to gather extra the next day, it would spoil. But there was the exception, if you remember. The day before the Sabbath, they were to gather a double portion. They were supposed to gather four. It must have been amazing. There's so much of it. Think of the huge crowd of Israelites. They're supposed to gather four kilograms of this, and then they had for that day, and they'd prepare for the Sabbath so that they would have rest on the Sabbath. So each day they would gather it up and they would grind it, and they would make a flour out of it, and a bread, and they would bake the bread. And so here's how our passage continues. It says, So they, the crowd, 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 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. Wow. The crowd hears these words. The bread from heaven, the living bread. And what is their response? They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. I don't think they were talking about the spiritual bread, I'm afraid. 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. The crowd's response, Sir, give us this bread always. They still lack the faith to recognize the miracle as a sign that it's something that reveals a deeper truth to those with faith. They remember God providing manna in the wilderness, but they still they're still regarding it as bread for their bellies. And the crowd saying, God provided bread for our ancestors. Yesterday you provided bread for us. Are you going to provide bread for us today or not? They were just crazy about physical bread. And Jesus responds, it gives again opportunity for those with faith to recognize a spiritual truth. It wasn't Moses who gave them bread, it was the heavenly Father. And Jesus is God's provision of heavenly bread today. He is the promised Son of God. But they don't understand it still. And they say, Sir, give us this bread always. And so Jesus, he answers them to make it as clear as possible. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. And at this point, the people they begin to get irritated. They want bread. But Jesus keeps talking about God the Father and revealing himself as the Son. And so it's here we move into the third part of our passage. On many of my missionary journeys, I would travel with teams and we would fly to different places. And there's one time we were going through Qatar as a point of transit. We came into the airport, we spent a few hours there, we continued on. So this one trip, we flew into Qatar. And before we boarded the flight for Qatar, my friend was bringing a guitar. And so he came and he gate-checked it. If you don't know what gate checking is, you bring it with you, and then as you're giving your ticket to go into the flight, uh as you board the plane, you hand it off to the uh airline, uh the flight steward or stewardess for them to put it in a closet or somewhere because bad things happen to Qatars if you put them in the cargo hold. And so he did this, and we had our flight. And if you're not familiar, Qatar, it's it's next to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and it's in that area. And so uh we flew from England and we landed in Qatar. And as we landed, he spoke to the flight assistant. Hi, can I get my guitar? And they answered him, yes, this is Qatar. He said, No, I I my guitar, yes, yes, Qatar, yes, yes, yes. And eventually he managed to get the point across, but there was this communication breakdown, right? They both thought they they heard and understood, but there was a communication breakdown. And that's what's happening in the passage today. There's a communication breakdown. Jesus is trying to use bread as a way to speak to them about something else, but the message is just not getting across to them. And so we come to this third part of the story about the cross. And this is in uh beginning in verse 41. So the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he say, I've come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. And so two things, they're finally, I think, sinking into the crowd. First, Jesus is not going to be giving them any bread this time. And along with this realization comes disappointment and irritation. They had walked the 13 kilometers to be there, and it took several hours, and half that time they'd just been talking about bread. But the second thing that's becoming very clear to them is that Jesus is claiming divinity. He just keeps on hammering this home by saying that he has come down from heaven. He is the bread from God. He is the bread of life. And there's also something, we'll just take a little segue here. There's something that they're a bit confused about as well. In verse 51, it says, I'm the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. You and I, we know he's speaking about the cross, that he was going to die on the cross for our sins. But they were not so clear about what he was speaking about at the time. The next verse it says The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? They didn't understand that Jesus was talking about a spiritual truth, not a physical one. And this misunderstanding, it even continued into the time of the book of Acts as well. The people thought that Christians were cannibalistic because they were eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood. There was a misunderstanding, a communication breakdown. All through the gospel, we see Jesus using the natural as a way to point to the supernatural. We see he uses natural things to reveal spiritual truths. But even the disciples, they were having trouble perceiving the spiritual truth that Jesus was sharing. Church, inside each one of us, there are two hungers that coexist a natural one and a spiritual one. Inside each one of us, two hungers coexist: a natural hunger and a spiritual one. We're all aware of our physical hunger and we know how to satisfy it. We're especially good at that in Singapore with our food culture and all the things available. But we're not so certain about our spiritual hunger. We know it's there, but we're not exactly sure how to define it and how to satisfy it. Why is this? Even we who have been coming together in church for so many years, we we struggle with this. I would suggest first advertising deceives many people with a promise that we can purchase internal satisfaction. And so you can see these advertisements on the screen in front of you. What kind of bread are they promising? If you look at the top left, what is the bread? What is the thing they're offering? Well, it says that if you listen to the right music, you're going to be happy. And by listening to the right music, you're going to have something that others want. You'll be you'll be set. Life will be good for you. If you look at the bottom left, we see that a mobile phone makes us sophisticated. It makes us important. And with the right one, we can take selfies that when we post them, we're going to be desirable to everyone. People will be envying us. Right? Advertising has messages. Look at the top right image, if you would. Turn to your neighbor right now and just tell them what you think this image is communicating. Go ahead. All these things are communicating some message, right? And then finally, we have the image on the bottom right, and it says that if you drink the right beverage, you are going to be intriguing, you'll be confident, you'll be fashionable, you'll be perceptive. Advertising tells us who we should be. And then it promises that the product will satisfy that desire. So why do we have trouble satisfying our spiritual hunger? There's other things that are just shouting out to us any hunger you have, it's alright. This will satisfy. And so many times we've substituted the bread of life for false bread. We try to satisfy our internal hunger with money, with possessions, with influence, with power, a new phone, a new car. Oh, I'm feeling empty inside, maybe a new outfit. I just need to do some shopping for some clothes. We try to fill it with sushi and hot pot and dinner buffets. Playing golf, watching Korean dramas, playing mobile phone games. This is the wrong kind of food to satisfy internal hunger, spiritual hunger. It's false bread for spiritual hunger. Spiritual hunger can only be satisfied with spiritual food. And so, church, I believe that scripture is challenging each one of us even this morning. And I want to ask you, what have you been asking of the Lord? In the quiet in your own prayer times? What have you been asking of the Lord? Have you been asking for spiritual bread that's going to satisfy your internal need, your spiritual need, or have you been asking for other things? Physical bread. In your prayers, do you only ask for physical needs? Finances, health, relationships, and these things? Or are you asking him, Lord, would you satisfy me on the inside that whether I have these things or not, I'll be content? Lord, would you provide for me a joy that the world cannot take away? Would you provide for me a joy that when I go back into work tomorrow morning, my boss and my co-workers cannot touch that joy. Whatever comes, nothing can take it away because it's of you. There's nothing wrong with praying for our physical needs. We do, of course, lift everything before the Lord in prayer. But friends, we must recognize and tend to our spiritual hunger. And the way we do that isn't through more things. It isn't through the promises of advertising. It's by spiritual food. It's by coming to the Lord in prayer, feeding on his word, meditating on him, and listening as well. First Timothy chapter 6, verses 6 to 7. It says, But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. Jesus is the bread of life. He is our spiritual food. And so I just want to leave you with this challenge this morning. Will you recognize your hunger today as spiritual hunger and not confuse it with physical hunger? Would you recognize today your spiritual hunger? And would you choose to eat spiritual food to satiate your spiritual hunger? Because, church, I want to tell you the Lord, the Lord is in this place. We come week after week. Sometimes we come with our hearts prepared. Sometimes we come with our minds busy with so many things. But the Lord is so good to us. Because every week that I've come here, he's been here, his presence has been here. Church, the Lord is very willing. He loves to feed us. And I'm sure he is very ready to feed our spiritual hunger today. And if you ask it of him, he will do it. We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at ycanglican.com. Have a blessed day.