First Baptist Church of Asheville Podcast
Sermon: The Bread of Life
It is always a good day when we get to celebrate a parent and child dedication. Today as we dedicated Maggie, Sophia, and Brooklyn, we recognize the gifts of children among us. They infuse our lives, our family, and this community with joy, energy, hope, and curiosity. But they also bring with them a significant responsibility to raise them to be wise, compassionate, and loving people. A great deal of this responsibility falls on their parents, the ones who are with them day after day, year after year. However, it's not just their responsibility. As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. And in this room are others who share in this responsibility. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, mentors. And our church family plays a crucial role in this village. We will show these children what it looks like to live in the way of Jesus. As I look around this room, I know there are many parents who, like me and Joe, can say our family is better and our child is better because of how this congregation has walked alongside of us and loved and invested in our daughter. The gift and impact of being a part of a church like this is one that cannot be measured. And so we are grateful for these sweet new lives that we dedicate today. There are so many seasons in parenting. Teething, first grade, soccer, middle school, drivers permits, each of these seasons only last a short while. Even the ones that feel like they will last forever. One of the great gifts, though, the church offers is its presence and support in the lives of these children and their families through every season of life, not just a segment of time. Maggie, Sophia and Brooklyn are beginning a faith journey that will last their whole life long. And we, as their church family, commit to walk with them and their parents, teaching them to depend on God, lean on each other, engage scripture and practice faith. What a gift it is for us to introduce these precious ones to Jesus, to invite them into the mystery and wonder of faith. So how do we do that? Our passage today is a story of a group of people trying to figure out who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him. Let's see what we can learn from it. This passage comes from the Gospel of John, a book that does good work in helping explore and explain who Jesus is. In the Book of John, we can find many names for Jesus. Word, Messiah, Lamb of God, Son of God, Son of Man. The Book of John also gives us seven ways Jesus describes Himself to His friends and His followers. The I Am statements. We heard one of them in our passage today. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry. And there are six others. I am the light of the world, the sheep gate, the good shepherd, the resurrection and life, the way, the truth and the life and the true vine. These descriptions help us understand who Jesus is and his actions tell us even more. And so John also offers us signs and wonders that Jesus did to teach about who He is and who God is. And two of these signs and wonder had happened earlier in this chapter. John chapter six begins with a familiar story of Jesus feeding a multitude with five loaves of bread and two fish. And somehow this small offering became enough to feed thousands with leftovers. And the second story happens later that night after this great feast Jesus had withdrawn and went off to be by Himself. And so His disciples got on a boat and sailed across the sea toward Capernaum. During the night a storm blew across the lake and tossed the disciples to and fro. And somehow in the chaos, Jesus comes to them walking on the water. Our text today picks up the next morning. Jesus and the disciples are on one side of the lake and the crowd that He fed is still gathered on the other waiting for Jesus to come back and teach them some more perhaps. They had seen the disciples leave but they thought Jesus was still nearby so they waited to see when He would come back. And when He didn't, they went out to look for Him. And when they did, they asked Him three questions. When did you get here? What does God want from us? What sign will you give us? They begin by asking, when did you get here? The crowd had been waiting for Him all night thinking He just was taking a break and will be back any time. Once they figured out that Jesus wasn't going to come back, they went to find Him. And when they did, they asked, when did you get here? Now, if you've read the Gospels, you know that Jesus wasn't always known for giving simple or direct answers. He often replied to questions with a question or a story or just by talking about something else, which is what He did with this first question. Jesus didn't tell the crowd when or how He had gotten to the other side of the lake. Instead, He talked with them about why they were looking for Him and let them know they were looking for Him for all of the wrong reasons. Jesus pointed out they were focused on the food He had given them the day before. And by only focusing on this bread, they had missed two important things. First, they had missed that bread is bread. It doesn't last. They had seen Jesus feed the multitudes and they had shared in the feast, but they would be hungry again. It wasn't the bread that mattered, but the one who gave it to them. William Barkley said they had received bread as bread, not as a gift of God. Yes, Jesus could feed them, but He could offer them so much more. Jesus had food that lasts as a gift waiting for them to receive. So then what does God want from us? The second question, what do we have to do to get this food that lasts? This time, Jesus answers the question simply and directly. Here's what you have to do, believe. That's it, nothing else. But as simple as it sounds, we know it's not as easy as that. What does it mean to believe? What does it look like? What will it cost us? What do we have to do? It's easier if we have a checklist, something to measure or step-by-step guide, but Jesus doesn't lay out a plan or process. Jesus says, believe. So then they ask their third question, what sign will you give us? So these people who just the day before saw Jesus feed thousands are asking for a sign. These people who ate until they were full need more? Wasn't that enough? But they point to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness who received manna, bread every day. Well, maybe if Jesus gave them food every day, they could believe they knew Jesus could do it. But Jesus reminded them it wasn't about the manna and it wasn't about Moses, it was about God. It was God who had led the people. It was God who gave them bread. And God had more to give them. The manna only lasted a day and then went bad, but God could give them bread from heaven, the true bread of God, bread that would last, bread that would give them life. I want you to go back with me to the wilderness where the Israelites first saw the manna. And when they saw it, they said, what is it? And now let's fast forward back to Jesus and this crowd. When Jesus offered them bread from heaven, bread that gives life to the world, they were done with their questions. They didn't ask anything else. They just said, we want it. Give us this bread. The bread from heaven wasn't manna of old. It wasn't something to sustain them for a day. The bread from heaven wasn't the miraculously multiplied food they ate the day before, a feast for a crowd who didn't know where they would get dinner. The bread from heaven was Jesus and he didn't want them to miss out. So he laid it out plainly. I am the bread of life. I will give you life. I will satisfy your hunger and thirst. Believe in me and I will give you all that you need for your life. This gift is ours offered to us today as well. This gift is a gift given to sustain us. This gift is ours to share with the world. This gift is an offering we give to Maggie and Sophia and Brooklyn and all the children of our church. We have and we will give them physical bread to eat. Meals when they came home from the hospital, dinners around the table on Wednesday nights, snacks during Bible study via Keras Camp and on youth retreats. But we can also give them the bread of life, sustenance that will last. We can teach our children and each other to trust in the steady, sustaining presence of Jesus. We are called to help our children and each other understand and embrace the fullness of life that Jesus offers. So let us come to Jesus with open hearts ready to receive the bread of life that truly satisfies. May it be so. [BLANK_AUDIO]