The Bread of Life We Really Need

A free meal can draw quite a crowd. But what happens when the food runs out and the real message begins? Today we're looking at why people loved Jesus for the wrong reasons – and what they really needed.

John 6:14-15 "Therefore when the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, 'This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.' So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone."

The crowd's response to this incredible miracle reveals everything about their hearts. After seeing Jesus feed 25,000 people with a boy's lunch, not one person said, "We should listen to what He says about repentance and the forgiveness of sins." Instead, they said, "Let's make this guy our King! He'll free us from the tyranny of Rome!"

They completely missed the point. They wanted to use God to accomplish their will, not submit to God's will.

Sound familiar? From a business perspective, one of the easiest things to do is draw a Christian crowd if you're going to preach a distorted gospel – that Jesus came to give you material prosperity, national security, relational unity, and your best life now. Preach a false gospel, and the crowds will come.

But as we'll see in the coming weeks, when Jesus addressed this same crowd and talked about what it really means to follow Him, John 6:66 says "many left him." They wanted nothing to do with the biblical Jesus.

They were loyal to Him as long as He was loyal to their wants. These same people who cried "King Jesus! King Jesus!" would, twelve chapters later, cry out "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"

Here's what Jesus tells this crowd in verse 35: "I am the bread of life." The point of this sign wasn't just to demonstrate His power – it was to point to a deeper hunger that only He can satisfy.

Throughout Scripture, the offer of salvation is identified with food. But it's not something you buy – it's something you receive. That's why Isaiah says, "Come, buy wine, buy milk, buy bread without cost" – because it's already been paid for.

Humanity is hungry, and they don't know what they're hungry for unless Jesus Christ tells them through His word and through His people. There are so many people you come into contact with every day who are searching and starving for what God alone can give them.

Jesus shows up and says, "I am the bread that satisfies – not the cravings of your stomach, but of your soul. What you're really hungry for is eternal bread that gives you life, not just in the here and now, but in an eternal sense. And it's not something you can earn or buy – you must receive it by faith."

The purpose of every sign in John's Gospel is so that we would believe Jesus Christ. John 20:31: "These things I have written so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, and believing you may have life in his name."

But here's the challenge: You cannot convince someone that they need the bread of life unless you have first partaken of it yourself. Have you come to Jesus? Have you believed in Him?

As Spurgeon asked, "Why is this story told in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Why is it the only miracle told in all four Gospels?" Among other things, to make quite sure that we should never forget how much God can do with little things that are brought to Him in faith (Boice).

You'd be better off with 50 people who say "I'll bring everything to Jesus" than a thousand people who are hesitant and not trusting of what He'll do. He's a satisfying God who uses our insufficiency to showcase His sufficiency.

Stay dialed in.