The Bread of Life, Part 1

Read John 6:22-32

 

We're going to take this passage in two parts. Starting with the setting of the passage. Christ is in a synagogue in Capernaum, which is on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee from where the feeding of the 5,000 occurred.  This is the day after the feeding of the 5,000. The best guess is that the people who had been at the feeding of the 5,000 found out where Christ had gone and followed him back across the sea.

So, all these people have come to Christ, probably looking for miracles, maybe another free meal, and he calls them on it. In verse 26, we see the people trying to find out how Jesus had crossed the sea (he wasn't with them), but Jesus doesn't answer their question. Why? Well, because he knew that the real issue that needed to be faced was the fact that they had followed him looking for more. If we look back at verse 2 in this chapter, we see that the people had followed Christ because of his miracles. Now, in 26, they're following him because they wanted to be fed again.

So, Christ begins to deal with their hearts. He calls them on what's in their hearts, basically saying "if you cared as much about knowing God as you do getting another free meal, then I would give you salvation." Think about how we can be just like this. We get so caught up in earthly things and worries and forget to use our energy towards seeking God. What are some of the things that you seek after and forget to give you energy towards God.

However, when Christ gives them this command about seeking after God, the people hear instead that they think Christ is telling them to work for eternal life (verse 27). They completely missed what Christ was saying. We know this because if you look at verse 28, they ask Christ what works they had to do to do the work of God. They completely missed the best part of what Christ said....they eternal life is a gift from Him!!!!! Christ wasn't saying work for eternal life, he was saying don't work so hard for earthly things; focus on eternal things.

           

Look at verse 30. Do you seen anything wrong with this verse? They're asking Christ for a sign and it's the day after the feeding of the 5,000 and we know that many of them were present!!!!! So, how do they explain away this feeding? They claimed that Moses fed the whole nation of Israel for forty years with manna from heaven and he wasn't the Messiah. The problem here is the people's unbelief. Christ had given them plenty of signs, after all this is the third year of His ministry.

We will finish up this chapter next week, but here's some final thoughts for you.

Why does man insist on receiving or seeing a “sign” before he will believe? How do visible means of portraying God lead to idolatry? Give examples, both from the Bible and history and life.  What has God often done to ensure that His people do no fall into the trap of idolizing various objects?

John 6:1-21

Read John 6:1-21

Please note the time of year in verse 4. We've jumped another year and are into the third year of Christ's ministry. This is the beginning of the end, I guess you could say, or for us, the beginning of eternity. This is where John spends the majority of his focus.

So, let's pick up with the next Passover. This time, rather than being in Jerusalem, Christ stays in Galilee and ministers to the people there. I believe he did this to prove a point that it's not about where you are to worship so much as your heart. Anyways, this is the big miracle and the only one that all four Gospel writers included in their accounts. This is the feeding of the 5,000. Obviously this is an important miracle if all four writers made the effort to include it. But why? Well, this miracle was performed int he presence of many more people than any of the other miracles that Christ performed. This was a miracle of creation, while all of the other miracles, with the exception of turning the water into wine, were miracles of restoration.. This was also a picture of Christ and foreshadowed Christ as our Bread of Life, who was broken for us.

So, here's a little background. This miracle was just following an exhausting preaching tour of Galilee and took place right before the Passover Feast. It was time to rest.

(Just a quick side lesson that we can take from Christ here. First of all, there's nothing wrong with needing to take a break in ministry. Secondly, even as he was resting, we see Christ was ready to serve the Lord. And lastly, Christ was not only ready, he was willing to stop his rest in order to serve. Just some food for thought) 

Anyways, this miracle, as I mentioned earlier, was taking place near the time of the Passover. John includes the time of the miralce on purpose. John really wasn't too terribly concerned with timing, so when he takes the time to mention is in his account, take note. He records this time in order to mark the timing in Christ's minsitry. In addition, he was probably emphasizing the fact that Christ is the ultimate Passover Lamb.

Moving onto the story. Christ is ministering to these people (5,000 men alone!) and he stops and asks Philip where they could buy enough bread to feed them. Now, Christ already knew what he was going to do, so why did he stop to ask Philip? It was probably to test Philip's faith and trust in Christ. However, we see in verses 7 and 9 that both Philip and Andrew still aren't quite getting it and still thinking of Christ as a regular man. They forgot that they were working with God and focused on their circumstances instead of who they were with.

                    

So, let's look at the Miracle itself. After testing Philip and Andrew, Christ takes the bread and fish and performs this incredible miracle. And in this miracle, Christ reveals His sovereignty. Christ knew what he would do and that he was totally in control despite the circumstances around him.

In addition, we see that this miracle required man's obedience. Look at verse 10, can you imagine what was going through the disciples' minds when Christ said "make them sit"? They must have thought "why? We don't have anything to give them. We're going to have a mob here!"

We also see God's orderliness here. This might seem a simple point but, we see the people being seated into groups. This way, Christ was able to monitor who was being served and still needed food to prevent a riot.

This miracle also reveals Christ's omnipotence and the fact that he took what seemed like a lunch only enough for a boy and used it to accomplish His purposes. This miracle also shows the blessing that comes from serving. The disciples obeyed Christ and served the people and in the end there are left 12 baskets of food left, enought for each disciples.

Lastly, this miracle reveals Christ's sufficiency, but we will talk about this more specifically this week. We will also talk about the other miracle (walking on water) mentioned in this passage.

   

A Sermon on Deity

Read John 5:17-47

So, because of the Jewish Leaders' persecution of Jesus after healing the lame man, Christ stops and gives seven proofs of his right to heal the lame man on the Sabbath and four witnesses of his right, ultimately pointing to the fact that he is God.

Let's look at Christ's Deity shown in His...
                      1. Service
                      2. Will
                      3. Intelligence
                      4. Power
                      5. Honor
                      6. Power to Give Life
                      7. Sovereignty to Send Men to Heaven/Hell

           1. Christ's Deity as shown in His Service (verse 17-18)
 The phrase "my father" that Christ uses here means more than what we mean when we say "God our Father." Christ is literally saying that He is God's Son, and the Jews recognize this. Christ saying "and I work" shows that he does the same thing as his Father. In other words, Christ is saying that he does the same thing that God does.

           2. Christ's Deity as shown in His Will (verse 19)
When Christ says that he can do nothing by himself, he isn't saying that he is helpless. Rather, he is saying that He can do nothing of his own self. Or, you could say that He and the Father are of the same will (verse 30). If we look at other passages of the Bible, we see in Luke 2:49 that Jesus explains that His Father's business is His priority, in John 4:34, Christ says that He is sustained by doing God's will, and Luke 22:42, Jesus explains that His Father's plan is more important than His physical desires. All of this says that Christ and God share the same will.

            3. Christ's deity as shown in His Intelligence (verse 20)
When Christ says that the Father shows him all things, he is meaning that there are no secrets between them because they have equal knowledge. Another thought on this, why would God discuss "all things" with a man? He isn't going to do that! He would only reveal His will completely to Christ.

            4. Christ's deity as shown in His Power (verse 21)
 Christ is basically laying out here the fact that he has the same power and right to heal and raise whom He will. He has all of the same rights and privileges of the Father. They key phrase that is used here is "to whom he will." In other words, we might have the ability to harm someone, but we don't have the right to do that. Only Christ as the power to do as he pleases.

            5. Christ's deity as shown in His Honor (verse 22 and 24)
Because Christ is the judge of all men, he deserves the same honor and glory as the Father does. In other words, he is equal with God.

           6. Christ's Deity as shown in His Power to Give Life (verses 24-26)
Christ demonstrates here that he is equal with God in His power to save the lost and to provide eternal life.

          7. Christ's deity as shown in His Sovereignty to Send Men to Heaven and to Hell (verse 27-29)
Verse 27 seems to echo verse 22 here and we see that because God has given the Son the ability to judge, that all should honor Christ. In addition, the Father has committed all judgement to the Son because is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. In other words, because he walked on earth as a man and lived a perfect life, he is the only one who has the right to judge all.

So, not only does Christ give these seven proofs of His deity and equality with God,, but he also stops and just to really back himself up, provides four witnesses of His deity as well. (In standard Jewish court, two witnesses were all that were required, so Christ was in overdrive here.)

Witness #1: John the Baptist (verses 32-35)
John was a witness and testified that Christ was the true Messiah.

Witness #2: Christ's Own Works (verse 36)
His miracles, specifically the seven John records, that demonstrate different aspects of Christ's deity.

Witness #3: The Father (verses 37-38)
God showed Himself and His "endorsement" of Christ at Christ's Baptism.

Witness #4: The Word of God (verses 39-47)
When Christ says "you search the Scriptures," he's basically pointing out the obvious and saying, "come on, you should know this!" They were searching the Scriptures for doctrinal and practical truth, but missed the real deal. People do this today. They can know the Bible, and yet never really know Christ.

    

The Pool of Bethesda

         
          The past blogs have been about Christ's first year of ministry. However, John obviously left out a lot of Christ's life. For example, we just ended in John 4 with Christ ministering in Galilee a few months after the Passover in Jerusalem. Now, we're in John 5 and Christ is back in Jerusalem for the next passover. So, before we go onto John 5, let's reference the other gospels to know what was going on in between. So far, we know that Christ performed his first miracle at the Cana Wedding in A.D. 29, he has cleaned out the temple in A.D. 30, he has met with Nicodemus and the woman at the well and has performed his second miracle by healing the nobleman's son.

          So, here is what else was going on after all of the above. (Side note, remember, the phrase "after this" represents a gap of time) Christ went from Cana to Nazareth where he was rejected in His own town. He then moved onto Capernaum where he officially called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be His disciples. He healed Peter's mother-in-law, he led the four disciples on a preaching tour of Galilee, he healed a leper, a man who was sick from palsy (the guy lowered through the roof), he called Matthew to be His disciples, and "after this," Jesus comes to Jerusalem, beginning his second year of ministry.

So, now read John 5:1-18. At this feast, Christ makes the effort to reveal his deity to his followers. This is the third miracle that Christ performs. This is near the sheep gate of Jerusalem. There were twelve gates that led into the city of Jerusalem and the sheep gate was one of them. This was the one that the sheep were led through to the city to be slaughtered for sacrifices. There was/is a pool close to this gate called Bethesda. This word means "house of mercy." This pool had a sort of awning type structure built over to protect the lame and the sick who came to the pool to be cured of their problems. This pool was cut from a solid rock, is about 55 feet long and 12 feet wide with a flight of steps that go down into the water. It was common tradition that when the water in the pool stirred, it was an angel stirring the water and the first person to get into the water would be healed. This is why the sick and lame would gather around the pool and wait there.

           Christ is at the pool and while there, he speaks with a lame man, who tells Christ his problem. Notice that Christ doesn't rebuke him for his spiritual ignorance here. Instead, he shows his own power, his compassion, and ultimately, his deity. Because this miracle takes place on the Sabbath, this miracle shows Christ's power over time here, proving to the Jewish leaders that he is all-powerful and not held to the time constraints of man.

            We can also learn about salvation here. If you look at the man and have him represent the condition of the world, it creates a beautiful picture of salvation. First of all, the man was physically weak and couldn't even save himself if he wanted to, just like we can't save ourselves either. Secondly, he was lame and couldn't go anywhere for salvation, and we can't go anywhere but to Christ for our salvation. The man couldn't even use his hands to pull himself down to the pool and we can't use our works to save ourselves. The man was waiting at the pool, hoping for a miracle, and many in the world are still waiting for a Messiah. Following along the same lines, the man did not recognize Christ for who he was and many in the world have not recognized Christ even today. Lastly, the man needed help. He didn't really need the water; he needed Christ, just like we don't need anything else in the world but Christ.

After all of this, Christ was persecuted for helping a man and changing his life! This is a good reminder that sometimes we will also face persecution for sharing Christ and changing people's lives. Isn't it reassuring to know that our Savior has walked the road before us?

Christ's Ministry in Samaria and Cana

Read John 4:31-54.

 Let's look at the disciples....

            

          In this passage, they miss the opportunity to see a woman converted and to see Christ in action, modelling how to witness to a non-believer. Where were they, you ask? Well, they were off looking for food because they thought that's what Christ needed most at the moment. Sometimes it's easy to get distracted by the physical things in life. Now, did they know what was about to happen? Who knows? But, they missed it all the same.

       Verses 32-33 show us the spiritual immaturity of the disciples at this point in time. Even though they were Christ's disciples, they still didn't quite get it. They hadn't yet learned the reason for ministry. They still didn't understand that as they gave more of themselves to God, they would be blessed in return. The cool thing is, if you look at the later epistles, they had grown spiritually in the Lord.

     Okay, Christ doesn't leave them in this spiritually blind and immature state. He takes the moment to teach them. In verse 35, he rebukes them and begins to teach them about spiritual vision. In verses 36-38, he teaches about the blessings of witnessing.

    Now, let's look at the Samaritans in verses 39-42. First of all, these people are desperate!!!! They believe the message of a woman who the majority of them looked down on as well. These people were hungry for Christ. This is a great example of how God uses the weak to draw the mighty to Him. In the end, we see that the Samaritans were so hungry and are so filled by Christ that they beg him to stay with them.

    We're going to switch gears a bit and look at another miracle. This is miracle number two. Christ has decided to move on from Samaria, where a spiritual revival has taken place and moves onto Galilee, a spiritual wilderness, where he received no honor or welcome. This doesn't phase Christ and he continues to minister to those willing to listen. As Christ comes to Cana, it seems almost as if John is comparing and contrasting the first miracles with this one. Take a look at the water into wine miracle and compare it to this miracle and see what kind of similarities there are. We will look at this week the individuals of the passage, so for now, just enjoy this miracle of Christ and see what you can take from the passage.

Christ and the Woman at the Well

Read John 4:1-43

Christ is on the way to Samaria. Why? He's left Jerusalem because, just like in John 2:24-25, Christ as fully God (deity, right?), knew what was going on around him. He knew of his growing popularity among the common people. He knew of their desire to make him their political King. All in all, the people still didn't get who Christ was, so it was time for him to leave Jerusalem.

So, onto Samaria. Samaria is located between Judea and Galilee. Just a little background, Samaria was used after the nation of Israel split into two parts (Israel and Judea), to be the capitol of the northern kingdom of Israel. The people of Samaria were not even around until after the captivities. During the Assyrian captivity, the Assyrian king conquered Samara (the capital of Israel) and repopulated it with heathen people, who eventually intermarried with the Jews left behind and eventually adopted many of the forms of Jewish worship. The Orthodox Jews looked down on these Samaritans and would avoid them at all costs. Until now, when we see Jesus, an orthodox Jew, go directly through Samaria.

Let's talk about the Samaritan woman. She had many strikes against her. First of all, she was a Samaritan. Second of all, she was a woman--women were not valued at this point and Jewish men did NOT talk to women in public. Thirdly, she was an adulteress--the lowest of the low--this is why she was going to the well in the hottest part of the day--everyone hated her, even her fellow Samaritans.

We've seen how far apart and sinful Samaritans and Jews are. So, what can we learn about Christ from this passage?

Well, we see his humanity. Christ had grown weary (vs. 6) and he looked like any other Jewish man--she recognized him as a Jew (verse 9). We also see his deity. He offers her eternal life (verse 14), he is omniscient (verses 16-18), and he claims his deity (verses 25-26).We also see Christ's dedication and urgency to do God's Will. Verses 34-35 show us Christ's heart and a deep, determined desire to do God's will. In fact, as we know, Christ was willing to sacrifice all. Lastly, we see Christ's concern for His disciples. He wanted his disciples to have the same burden for souls as he did. Thought here, if we claim to be Christians, then we claim to be imitators of Christ and need to have his same burden.

So, a few final thoughts that we can take from Christ about Evangelism. He gives us the ultimate model for how to witness.

1. He stirred her curiosity (verse 7)

2. He made her face her need (verses 13-15)

3. He made her see her sin (verses 16-18)

Some final thoughts about Salvation that we can take from this passage:

1. Salvation is a gift

2. Salvation brings everlasting life

3. Salvation is for whoever will believe

4. Salvation is not related to race, wealth, or intellect





A Radical Idea

 Read John 3:1-21

This is one of my favorite chapters in John. I guess because often I identify with Nicodemus and am convicted when I read this passage, asking myself, "would I feel the same way as him? Would I come to him in the same way?"

Just a little background to get a better grasp on the chapter....

Christ has just cleansed the temple of the money changers and animal sellers. It is the spring of A.D. 29 and it is around the time of Passover.

Nicodemus is an interesting character. He was a member of the Sanhedrin ("a ruler of the Jews"). When he comes to Christ, he displays both cowardice and courage. We see his cowardice in the way that he comes to Christ at night. He came to Christ in secret because he didn't want anyone else to recognize him. He had a lot to lose if he was caught talking to Christ. He could lose his place on the Sanhedrin (a group of 70 of the best and brightest Jewish rulers of Israel), he could lose his financial wealth, and he could lost his place of honor among his peers. Not to make excuses for him, but I can see where he was coming from.

We see Nicodemus's courage by the fact that he still became a follower of Christ despite what he would have to overcome. If you jump to John 7, we see Nicodemus defending Christ to the Sanhedrin. And in John 19, he helped to publicly ask for and bury the body of Christ. These show us just how much salvation in Christ and change a person and their values. But more on that later.

So, Nicodemus comes to Christ and says that he recognizes that Christ's miracles show that he comes from God. Christ's miracles were radically different from anything they had ever seen before. Maybe Nicodemus was recalling the passages of Scripture that he knew so well and recognizing them coming true in Christ.

 However, obviously Christ knows Nicodemus still doesn't quite believe, because he gives Nicodemus this line about being "born again," referencing why he, Christ, was on earth. You can imagine what went through Nicodemus's head at this point. "Huh? Maybe this guy has lost it."

Well, we can see the importance of Christ's use of this phrase in this passage in three ways, and eventually, Nicodemus gets it too:

1. This was the first message that Christ discussed publicly, i.e. not with his disciples.

2. Jesus uses the phrase "truly, truly" to emphasize the importance of what was said.

3. Jesus is giving the answer for how to get to heaven.

So, what's the nature of this "new birth"? Well, it is not a physical birth. That's what Nicodemus thought Christ meant at first. Which is why Christ follows up with this phrase about being born of water and then of the Spirit (and yes, we have now managed to bring the subject of "birth" up in our blog as well). Water represents the physical (I'm not going to go into the details) and Spirit is spiritual. This can be tied to Romans 8:8, which tells us that the flesh cannot please God and we HAVE to have this new birth of the spirit to be with God.

This birth is NECESSARY. There is no other way to heaven! Not only that, but it is IMPERATIVE. Christ doesn't say, "if you want to" or "if you feel like it." He says "You MUST be born again." However, Christ does provide for this new birth. 3:14-18 explains that Christ would die on the cross for man's sin so that man can be born again. And the best part, there's only one requirement. We have to believe in Christ. "To believe" literally means "to trust, to rely upon, to commit oneself to totally." That's it! Simple, right?

And of course, we have the most known and "googled" verse in this passage that makes it clear that this message is for everyone (John 3:16). All they have to do is "be born again."

               

A few final questions:

1. Have you been like Nicodemus before this passage, or after? Have you been courageous or cowardly about Christ?

2. Practically, what would being courageous for Christ look like today?

3. How often do we let our knowledge of the Bible and Christianity get in the way of the simple fact that all we have to do is be "born again"?

4. If you were in Nicodemus's shoes, how would you have approached him? How would you have reacted to this radical idea of being "born again"?