I AM – 1
I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
… based on John 6:25-35
We’re going to begin this morning with a riddle.
So put your thinking caps on. What do the following 10 people have in common? See if you can pick out the common denominator:
Televangelist, Jimmy Swaggart
Astronaut, Jim Lovell
Supreme Court Justice, David Souter
Boxer, George Foreman
Singer, Connie Francis
Actress, Loretta Swit
Journalist, Bill Moyers
Wrestler, Hulk Hogan
Actor, Robert Redford
Pope Francis
What do those 10 people have in common? …
Okay, let me tell you … they were all alive on 22 February 2025.
But in the past 12 months every one of their names has been added to the list of famous obituaries. They’re no longer with us. They were …
just a year ago. But now we refer to each of them in the past tense.
In fact, there’s just one “being” in the entire universe who always appears in the present tense. He always is. And 3,500 years ago, when He spoke to a trembling shepherd by the name of Moses out in the desert,
He identified Himself with these words:
He said my name is, “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14)
Theologians tell us that God is the one & only totally autonomous being.
He’s the only one in the universe who doesn’t depend on some outside force for His existence.
God just is. God is eternally present tense. God says of Himself … “I AM.” God exists. He is. He always has been. And He always will be. (The Revelation 1:8)
I want you to keep that in mind as we consider an exchange that took place between Jesus & a crowd of people. He was talking to them about the patriarch Abraham, who had lived 2,000 years earlier.
And yet Jesus was speaking of him as if He knew him personally.
So, someone in the crowd objected & said wait a moment …
“You are not even 50 years old – & you have seen Abraham?” (John 8:57)
Jesus replied, “I am telling you the truth, before Abraham was born, ‘I Am’.”
(John 8:58)
Jesus was making a not too subtle claim to be the eternally existent God!
And Jesus’ audience, which was a good Jewish crowd, began to pick up rocks to stone Him because they thought that He was spouting blasphemy. (John 8:59)
This morning, I want to begin a 7-part series on “Jesus the ‘I AM’”.
And the reason it’s going to take 7 weeks is because there are 7 “I AM” statements that Jesus makes in the Gospel of John. So, here’s the 1st one.
Listen now to Good News from John to us who have gathered here for worship. Within our hearing comes the Word of the Lord …
When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Teacher, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles.
Do not work for the food that spoils; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.”
So they asked him, “What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?”
Jesus answered, “What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent.”
They replied, “What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
“I am telling you the truth,” Jesus said. “What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they asked him, “give us this bread always.”
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:25-35)
Jesus said, “Heaven & earth will pass away,
but my words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31)
May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification. Amen
Today we begin with “I AM The Bread Of Life.”
The key statement is in John 6:35.
“‘I am the bread of life,’ Jesus told them. ‘Those who come to me
will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty.’”
There are several aspects of His being the “bread of life” that I want us to consider this morning.
1st … The bread of life is food that doesn’t spoil.
Now this … “I am the bread of life” … statement comes on the heels of Jesus’ “4th recorded miracle” … the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus took a little boy’s lunch … “5 loaves of barley bread & 2 fish” (John 6:9) … & He multiplied it to feed 5,000 hungry men. (John 6:10) And if we add to that the women & children who were there … that’s quite a feast. (Imagine being there …
it had to have been one of those heart pounding moments.)
And then after the meal, Jesus & His disciples head off for Capernaum, which was on the other side of Lake Galilee.
The next day this same crowd comes looking for Him;
& they walk all the way around the Lake … they wanted more bread. They wanted immediate gratification. And when they find Him, Jesus tells them,
“You are looking for me because you ate the bread & had all you wanted,
not because you understood my miracles.”
The purpose of Jesus’ miracles was to point to who He really was. (John 20:31)
The miracles were not intended to draw attention to themselves. (John 6:2)
Jesus’ multiplication of bread was not about bread. The bread was a miracle pointing people to Jesus … again, the multiplication of the bread was to identify who Jesus really was. But the crowd totally missed that.
They were only interested in going to the “all you can eat buffet.”
Now Jesus was the one who originally recognized that these people needed to eat something. (John 6:5) He knew they were physically hungry.
And Jesus also knows that we’ve been created with an appetite, a built-in spiritual hunger, for God. And nothing short of God is going to fill us up.
Bread won’t. Steak won’t. Sex won’t. A luxury cruise won’t. A new car won’t. A FL vacation won’t. Shopping at Kohl’s won’t. Winning the lottery won’t.
Nothing.
All of that stuff that we work so hard for … is “food that spoils.”
In other words … it’s temporary. Oh, it might be initially pleasing …
but it’s not ultimately satisfying.
The Prophet Isaiah wrote …
“Why spend money on what does not satisfy?
Why spend your wages & still be hungry?
Listen to me & do what I say, & you will enjoy the best food of all.” (Isaiah 55:2)
As a boy I’d come home from school & go straight to the kitchen looking for a bunch of junk to eat. My Mom, who was preparing a wonderful dinner, said … “Rande, you’ll … (spoil your appetite).” When we fill ourselves up with stuff, with junk, it takes away our appetite for what’s truly good,
the “bread” that gives life.
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus is the “food” that doesn’t spoil.
He is the “food” that satisfies.
2nd … Jesus is the “food” that delivers sustenance.
There was an expectation in Jesus’ day that when the Messiah would come, He’d repeat the miracle that Moses did with the manna. (Numbers 11:7-9)
So, these people had just witnessed Jesus feeding the 5,000+,
& they did this mental comparison between Moses’ manna & Jesus’ miracle.
And in their estimation … Jesus comes up short.
Moses … daily food for 40 years, in the wilderness
Jesus … bread for a 1-shot meal
Moses … fed a couple million people (Exodus 12:37)
Jesus … fed 5,000+
Moses … manna had fallen from Heaven
Jesus … bread was passed around in baskets
So, the people were thinking that if Jesus wants to prove that He’s in the same league as Moses, He’s going to have to do a few more miracles,
to prove this wasn’t a “1-hit wonder” kind of thing.
Jesus says … “Wait a moment, you’ve missed the point entirely. I am the real bread. Moses’ manna was just food. It was useful for breakfast, or lunch, or dinner … physical nourishment, nothing more. It didn’t last. It was only temporary. But the ‘bread’ that I’m talking about will sustain your soul.
It represents the true presence of God.”
The word “gives” (δώσει) is a present tense verb … in other words,
it “keeps on giving;” it gives & gives & gives, day after day after day.
Moses’ manna … we need it today, but we’re going to need more tomorrow. Not so with Jesus’ bread, it sustains life forever. And it’s for “the world” …
whereas Moses’ manna was simply for the ancient Hebrews.
Now up until this point Jesus has been speaking of this new bread in the 3rd person. But then He makes His amazing statement, (& we can almost hear a drum roll), “I am (1st person) the bread of life that I’ve been talking to you about.” And throughout the remainder of this discourse …
35 times He uses “I” or “me.” Do you want nourishment for your soul? …
“Those who come to me will never be hungry;
those who believe in me will never be thirsty.”
In the literal Greek Jesus doubles up on the negative, “you will not go hungry never; if you believe in me you will not be thirsty never.”
Pastor/theologian Donald Barnhouse was holding a series of meetings in a community. True story. The local atheist challenged him to a debate.
Dr. Barnhouse said, “That sounds like a great idea. And to add a little color to it, here’s what I suggest we do. I’ll bring with me 100 people whose lives have been transformed by my message. And you bring 100 people with you who have been impacted by what you believe.” … The atheist bowed out.
I suspect we could do that also here. There have been times in each of our lives where we were “hungry & thirsty spiritually” …
& Jesus filled that void in our life that nothing else was able to fill.
Jesus is the bread of life who delivers true sustenance.
3rd … Jesus is the “food” that demands savoring.
“I am telling you the truth: he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread, you will live forever. The bread that I will give you is my flesh,
which I give so that the world may live.”
“This started an angry argument among them.
‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they asked.
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man & drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. Those who eat my flesh & drink my blood have eternal life, & I will raise them to life on the last day.
For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink.
Those who eat my flesh & drink my blood live in me, & I live in them. …
In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me.’” (John 6:47-57)
It’s not difficult to see that the major emphasis here is the verb “eat.”
It appears over & over & over again.
But what is a little harder to understand is what Jesus means when He talks about the “eating” of His flesh & the “drinking” of His blood. … Now some people understand this as a description of what takes place when we celebrate The Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist.
Our Roman Catholic brothers & sisters believe that the “eating” of Jesus’ flesh & the “drinking” of his blood is a literal thing. It’s the “Miracle Of The Mass.” The bread or the wafer actually becomes Jesus’ body, which is then eaten. And the wine becomes His blood. Jim knows this as the doctrine of transubstantiation.
But Jesus isn’t talking about His actual body & blood here.
His imagery of eating & drinking is not to be interpreted literally.
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man & drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves.
Those who eat my flesh & drink my blood have eternal life,
& I will raise them to life on the last day.” (John 6:54)
If Jesus is talking about the Communion celebration, if He’s talking about the Eucharist, then what He’s saying about the Lord’s Supper is that it’s a required religious activity that we have to participate in … in order to receive eternal life. But that stands in direct contradiction to everything else that the N.T. teaches.
Scripture is very clear that we are saved by grace through faith & not by works. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Jesus Himself taught that. “So the people asked him,
‘What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?’”
And Jesus answers … “take communion whenever Rande brings it to you” … No, that’s not what He says.
“Jesus answered, ‘What God wants you to do
is to believe in the one he sent.’”
What we have to do is believe in Jesus. “Eating” in this passage is a metaphor for “believing.” The words are almost interchangeable.
“All who see the Son & believe in him have eternal life.
And I will raise them to life on the last day.” (John 6:40)
“Those who eat my flesh & drink my blood have eternal life,
& I will raise them to life on the last day.” (John 6:54)
Eating Jesus’ flesh & drinking His blood means
putting our faith & trust in Him.
The great Christian theologian Augustine wrote … “Believe & you have eaten.”
But why does John use such a graphic picture to describe believing in Jesus? … It’s why the Roman Catholic Church believes what it does. What Jesus wants to communicate is that He’s got to be ingested. He’s got to be taken in just like food. Jesus has got to become a part of our very self.
The problem today is, for many “church” people,
“believing” has become so watered down that it means nothing more than agreeing on some basic theological facts:
I believe Jesus was the Son of God
I believe He was born of a virgin
I believe He lived a righteous life
I believe He died on the cross
I believe He rose from the dead
I believe He forgives sin
In fact,
we can even go beyond those beliefs to some basic religious routines:
I believe we should go to Church
I believe that we should pray
I believe we should occasionally read our Bible
I believe we should tell God we’re sorry for our sin
I believe we should give our time, talents & money
But we never really “ingest” Jesus into our life.
Have you ever done that? … Have you made Jesus a part of your life? …
For those who haven’t it’s like going to a restaurant & simply reading the menu. We have to place our order … we have to eat the food. That’s what Jesus is trying to communicate here. And not only must He be ingested
… He must be enjoyed. He must be savored/appreciated.
Think for a moment how we use “eating” as a metaphor.
We talk about “devouring” good books, “drinking in” music, “swallowing” wild stories, “chewing over” important matters. Some doting grandparents (not me, of course) talk about “eating up” their grandchildren.
It’s metaphorical language. This is the sense in which Jesus wants to be “eaten”. He wants to be regularly enjoyed. Actually, the verb He uses is present tense, (φάγητε). It’s a continuous action taking place.
It’s to be done again & again … day after day.
I remember my grandfather saying after he’d eaten a good meal …
“I could get into the habit of this.” That’s exactly what Jesus is suggesting here. He wants our “eating” of Him to become a regular habit.
Which brings us to today’s important question … does this describe your relationship with Jesus Christ? … Is your “Christianity” more than just a list of beliefs? … Is Jesus a part of your daily life? …
Have you “ingested” Him? Are you daily enjoying Him?
Or perhaps junk food, food that spoils, has crowded Him out.
We’re now in the season of Lent. This might be a good time to give up “Twinkie” type activities & replace them with “bread of life” encounters? …
There’s 1 final point here.
Jesus said … “This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven;
it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died.
Those who eat this bread will live forever.” (John 6:58)
Jesus is asking, “Do you want manna, food that spoils? Or do you want me?”
“Many of his followers heard this & said,
‘This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?’” (John 6:59)
The word “hard” (Σκληρός) means, that this is “heavy stuff.”
“We’re not sure we like what you’re saying.”
And as a result, many of His “so-called” followers left Him at this point.
(John 6:66)
So, do you want the “bread of life,” or do you prefer food that spoils? …
The truth is, we don’t really want the bread of life unless we’re hungry for it. So, are you hungry for Jesus? … Do you want more of Him now than you did on 22 February 2025? … I truly hope so.
Jesus is the bread of life. Only He can satisfy. Material possessions,
physical cravings, temporal pleasures, worldly achievements can never bring us true peace & contentment. They just don’t last;
they’re gone in an instant. (2 Peter 3:10) They’re temporary/manna.
J.C. Penney was a man of advanced years before he committed his life fully to Jesus Christ. He had been a good, honest, hardworking man,
but he was solely interested in becoming a success & making money.
“When I worked for $6 a week at Joslin’s Dry Goods Store back in Denver
it was my ambition to be worth $100,000. When I reached that goal,
I felt a certain temporary satisfaction, but it soon wore off
& my sights were set on becoming a millionaire.”
J.C. & his wife worked hard to expand their business, but one day Mrs. Penney caught pneumonia, & it claimed her life. It was then that J.C. realized that money was a poor substitute for what was important.
“When she died,” he said, “my world crashed about me. To build a business, to be a success in the eyes of men, to accumulate money …
what was the purpose of life? What had money meant for my wife?
I felt mocked by life, even by God Himself.”
After several more trials, J.C. Penney was financially ruined &, naturally,
in deep distress. That’s when God could deal with his self-righteous nature & his love for money. After his spiritual conversion, he testified …
“I had to pass through fiery ordeals before reaching glimmerings of conviction that it’s not enough for me to be upright & moral.
When I was brought to humility & the knowledge of dependence on God,
a light illumined my being.
I cannot otherwise describe it than to say that it changed me as a man.”
J.C. Penny came to a place in his life when he realized that uprightness, morality, honesty, success, & wealth could not ultimately satisfy.
Only Jesus Christ, the bread of life, would bring him eternal satisfaction. 2,000 years ago, after Jesus made His claim, the crowd around Him prayed … “Sir, give us this bread always.”
When that becomes our personal prayer of faith, Jesus promises to satisfy our spirit so that we will never ever hunger or thirst spiritually again.
And He will raise us to life on the last day … Halleluiah!
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”
MARANA THA