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December 2019

John 7: 32 – 44: ”Streams in the desert.”

John 7: 32 – 44: ”Streams in the desert.”

“32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.33 Jesus said, ‘I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.’35 The Jews said to one another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, “You will look for me, but you will not find me,” and “Where I am, you cannot come”?’37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, ‘Surely this man is the Prophet.’41 Others said, ‘He is the Messiah.’Still others asked, ‘How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?’ 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.” NIV

I suppose it is better to ”whisper” about Jesus (32), than to not speak about Him at all. The mention of ”whispering” here reflects the generally tense atmosphere in Jerusalem at that time. It was a dangerous period. Tension filled the air. There were people who were impressed by Jesus, but it wasn’t safe to express such sentiments. At least, that’s how many felt about it. So they kept their voices low.

Do you see a strong contrast with Jesus standing and raising His voice (37)? At the right time, He spoke His message loudly and clearly. He was prepared to die for it. He would die for it.

He spoke of a wonderful offer (37) – the satisfaction of spiritual ‘thirst’ (contrast with John 6:35). ‘Coming’ to Jesus and ‘believing’ in Him are two sides of the same coin (38). In Christ alone can the profound spiritual longings of the human race be assuaged. If you feel at all ‘thirsty’ now, you know who to go to.

But He also spoke of a glorious opportunity (38). Jesus can make us a blessing to the parched, dry, barren world around us. We receive from Jesus the Holy Spirit (39), when we come to Him/believe in Him, and then the Holy Spirit flows out from us in ”streams” (or ”rivers”). Remember these words were spoken in a hot, dusty culture where people really valued water and knew the seriousness of water shortage. A believer has an out-going, out-flowing life. This life brings life wherever it goes (see Ezekiel 47:1-12). And it doesn’t merely trickle; it ”streams”; it rushes like a river in flood. Jesus, by His Spirit, makes the believer like running water in a barren land. We are totally necessary to this world, and we need to ensure that we keep the outward focus.

But however loudly and clearly we speak about Jesus – repeating His offer to the world – and however refreshing our Spirit-filled lives may be, there will still be those who persecute and oppose (32, 44). There will also be those who are dull and lacking spiritual perception (35, 36). And we will find a divided response (40-43). The gospel has always had to face these differing realities, and will do so for as long as time lasts.

(By the way, contrast verse 27 with 41b, 42. Not everyone thought the same way. But even those who could say that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem didn’t seem to know that He had!)

Prayer: Help me Lord Jesus to keep bringing my thirst to you, looking to you alone for true satisfaction. And I pray you will keep on flowing through me by your Spirit, and affecting the world for good. Help me to keep moving in you, regardless of the responses of people. Let my life water the society in which you have placed me.

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John 7:25-31: ”Immortal until…”

John 7:25-31: ”Immortal until…”

“25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, ‘Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.’28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, ‘Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.’30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, ‘When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?’ NIV

Someone said, ”I am immortal until all God’s will for me is accomplished.”

”At this they tried to size him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come” (30).

Jesus’ ”hour” (or ”time”) is a repeated theme in the fourth gospel. We have seen previously how He had opponents who wanted to kill Him (1, 7, 10, 11, 13, 19), and the people of Jerusalem were aware of the threat hanging over Him (25, 26). The fact of the matter is that, no, they hadn’t changed their minds about the Messiahship of Jesus. They hadn’t become kinder, softer and gentler in their approach. They had not modified their attitudes. But the Divine Hand was restraining them. Jesus could not die before the clock struck the appointed hour. There was a date written into the diary, and it could not be brought forward (or put back). It wasn’t that they didn’t try. They obviously did. But they were not permitted to succeed. Many people wanted to do away with Him, but nobody could.

This should encourage us I believe. Here are some key lessons:

  1. There is a time to die, just as there is a time to be born (Ecclesiastes 3:2)
  2. You can’t die before God’s appointed time.
  3. No amount of persecution or opposition can change this. This should help our perspective as we have to navigate increasingly (it would seem) dangerous waters in our contemporary world.
  4. No amount of animosity can prevent ”many” from believing (31). Although there was a widespread atmosphere of scepticism (as well as hostility – verse 27), there was nevertheless a great turning to Jesus. (It seems there was a prevalent Jewish belief at the time that, when the Messiah arrived, no one would know where He came from. But in fact His birthplace was foretold in the book of Micah 5:2-4. However, they didn’t truly appreciate His Heavenly origins.)

So, take heart, whatever is going on in your world. You are immortal until all God’s will for you is accomplished…and then you will find you live for ever anyway.

”The church is the only society on earth that doesn’t lose a single member by death. They just transfer to another branch!” David Pawson.

Prayer: Lord God, it gives me comfort and strength to know that my life is in your Hands.

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John 7: 14-24: Enough to be like the Master.

John 7: 14-24: Enough to be like the Master.

“14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having been taught?’16 Jesus answered, ‘My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?’20 ‘You are demon-possessed,’ the crowd answered. ‘Who is trying to kill you?’21 Jesus said to them, ‘I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.’ NIV

This passage contains words which say clearly that if someone is a genuine seeker they will find (17). Authentic seeking has at its heart a willingness to change, to obey, to be different. I don’t just want to know about Jesus; I am also prepared to follow Him. And in the doing of God’s Word I find that it is self-authenticating.

Here are a minimum of five things that, being true of Jesus, will also be true of His disciples (John 13;16):

  1. A disciple will operate on a different timetable (14). Do you remember what Jesus had previously said to his brothers? (6). He marched ”to the beat of a different drummer.” All Jesus’ movements were according to a Divine table. May it be so for you and me. Let God the Father organise your schedule. Allow Him to fill in your diary. Then, like God the Son (and through Him) you can walk in companionship with the Holy Spirit. The world can offer no adventure like this one.
  2. A disciple will arouse curiosity (15). ”The Jews were impressed, but puzzled: ”How does he know so much without being schooled?” ” The Message. At times a Christ follower will ‘amaze’ others. People will wonder how we can be how we are; how we can do what we do; how we can speak as we speak. We will lives of ‘ever-increasing glory’ (2 Corinthians 3:18) and they will inevitably stand out. There will be a whiff of the supernatural which cannot be naturally explained.
  3. A disciple will speak Christ’s word (16). The great evangelical Anglican leader, John Stott, wrote a book entitled ‘Our guilty silence.’ There is a danger that in today’s atmosphere we focus on being and doing and not speaking. Now the church certainly must live the gospel. It is right that we should serve others in Jesus’ Name. But we also have a message to communicate. So let’s prayerfully apply our minds to the task – think through how to express the essential truths of the gospel in terms that are relevant and meaningful to our contemporaries. It’s good that people speak about Jesus, but we need to beware that we do not lazily trot out well-worn cliches and incomprehensible jargon. Let’s find fresh ways to speak the timeless and unchanging truths our world so needs to hear. This is not about reinventing the message. We have no right to tinker under the bonnet of truth. But we can be creative in how we say what we need to say.
  4. A disciple lives for the glory of God (18). He speaks God’s revealed truth whether it makes him popular or not. The response will not sway her, be it positive or negative. But people wanting their own kudos will tailor the message to ensure they get precisely what they want. ”A person making things up tries to make himself look good. But someone trying to honour the one who sent him sticks to the facts and doesn’t tamper with reality.” The Message.
  5. A disciple can expect to suffer (19, 20). In fact disciples can expect both interest and curiosity on the one hand (15), and profound negativity on the other. Don’t be surprised if you are verbally abused, and even if your life should be in danger. It goes with the territory. Jesus pointed out the hypocritical position of his opponents. They would circumcise someone on the Sabbath day – actually wound them, but for a good purpose. So why were they persecuting him because he had done a good and beneficial thing on the Sabbath day when he healed a man? (John 5:1-16). Don’t be surprised if some of the stuff the world throws at you seems to be irrational and nitpicking. It all came the way of Jesus in the first place.

It is enough for the disciple to be like his Lord.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for your example and your power. I want to be like you.

It is an honour to follow you.

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John 7: 1-13: Family matters

John 7: 1-13: Family matters

“After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.6 Therefore Jesus told them, ‘My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.’ 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, ‘Where is he?’12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, ‘He is a good man.’Others replied, ‘No, he deceives the people.’ 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.” NIV

It is a dangerous thing to be a Christian in this world (7, 11, 13).The world hated Jesus, and it will hate those who walk in His steps and speak His words; those who expose it; who show it up for the dark and dismal place it is. People do not like conviction of sin. 

”The world has nothing against you, but it’s up in arms against me. It’s against me because I expose the evil behind its pretensions.” The Message.

So the opening verse of chapter 7 shows that it is fine to act wisely to protect yourself, so long as that does not conflict with doing God’s will. Jesus was willing to die, and He knew that He would, when it was the right ”time” (or ”hour”). This is a repeated theme in John’s gospel. (We will come across it again in verses 6-9). Jesus wanted all His movements to be according to a divine timetable. He wanted all He did to be in the will of God – not just His dying, but also His living. It seems that He could not have been too far behind His brothers in leaving for the ”Feast” (8). Even so, He was on a different timetable to them. Frank Laubach tells how he got to a place in life where regularly, during the day, he would ask God that he might do His will in what came next. To look to the Father in this way became a habit and pattern in this missionary’s life. Jesus was not going to take His orders from his brothers, however much He loved them. He was not under their authority.

”Live on God’s schedule and you will always have God’s help.” Warren W. Wieners be: ‘With the Word’, p.693.

There is encouragement here for all those who have family members who don’t understand them; who are out of sympathy with them because of their faith. Jesus’ brothers did ”not believe in him” (5). What they said to Him sounds hurtful. There is no indication in the Bible that Jesus ever ‘wanted’ to be ”a public figure” (4). They just did not ‘get’ Him at all. But it looks like later on, at some point – probably after His resurrection – his brothers came to faith (Acts 1:14). So don’t give up. Don’t stop praying for your family. Don’t lose heart. Keep living a life of dedication to God, and keep on shining His light into their darkness. It’s the kindest; most loving thing you can do for anyone.

There is, in this passage, another reminder that Jesus divides people (12, 13). So it will be until the end of time. This is one big reason why it is dangerous to be a believer.

”But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ”You are my God.” My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.” Psalm 31:14, 15.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be both courageous and wise. I don’t want cowardice to force me into hiding when I should be highly visible in my witness. But I do need the wisdom to know when to take a lower and quieter profile. Help me to know your will and timing in everything.

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John 6:60-71: How to empty your church.

John 6:60-71: How to empty your church.

“60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, ‘Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you – they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.’66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.67 ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve.68 Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.’70 Then Jesus replied, ‘Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!’ 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)” NIV

A while ago I saw an extract on the news, of an interview with the then England football manager, Sam Allerdyce. He explained that he had developed a certain toughness through the years and gave every impression of a man relishing the challenge. He said with a smile, ”Bring it on boys!”

Leadership is tough, and it is an art to be able to have the hide of an elephant and yet retain the heart of a child. It’s a delicate balance to be able to combine softness and strength. A lot of us are not made of the sort of stuff that smilingly says, ”Bring it on.” We’d avoid it if we could.

But as a preacher you must be prepared to speak the ‘hard’ truth (60). You don’t have to be hard in your manner; but you must not put the hard truths of the gospel in a blender and mush them up.

As a leader you have to be prepared to face grumbling and offence (61). You won’t always be understood and you can’t always be popular.

In John 6, Jesus preached a message that emptied the church – well, almost. At the end of it He only had twelve left in His congregation. (Actually, He knew it was just eleven: verses 70, 71). But was He a success in God’s eyes? Of course He was! We can be too obsessed with growing numbers. The black and white stats don’t tell the whole story.

Methodist missionary to India, E. Stanley Jones tells this story:

”A Brahman came to me confidentially one day and said, ”Your addresses have been very much enjoyed, but there is one thing I would suggest. If you will preach Christ as a way, all right, but say that there may be other ways as well. If you do this, India will be at your feet.” I replied, thanking my brother for his concern, but said: ”I am not looking for popularity, and it is not a question what I should say. It is a question of what are the facts. They have the final word.” I should be glad, more than glad, if I could say that there are others who are saving men, but I know of only One to whom I dare actually apply the term ”Saviour.” But I do dare apply it to Christ unreservedly and without qualification.” ‘The Christ of the Indian Road’, pp.48, 49.

As faithfully as you may preach the good news, the anointing of the Spirit bringing a life-giving word is no guarantee of belief (62, 63). As we saw previously, the mystery of God’s Sovereign grace is at work in every conversion (65). And there were those who believed, few though they were in number. They were not perfect. They included in their ranks Peter, with all his flaws. But he was ever big-hearted Peter; quick to say the right thing on this occasion. Does he not speak for us all? (68, 69). As E. Stanley Jones observed, there is no one like Jesus.

Prayer: Toughen me up Lord to always do and say the right thing; the required thing, in any given circumstance. But please, also, keep my heart so soft towards you, and to every person I meet.

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John 6:52-59:

John 6:52-59:

“52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’53 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live for ever.’ 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.” NIV

We should not be surprised to find that Jesus’ teaching divides and offends certain people (52). We cannot, and should not, try to make palatable that which the natural man innately finds distasteful. Certainly we should not aim to be offensive. There is no virtue in that. But it is not for us either to sandpaper down the rough edges of the of the cross. It says in ‘The Message’, ”But Jesus didn’t give an inch.” Neither should we. If you never have an adverse reaction to the gospel you share, just check that you are preaching the Biblical gospel. Neither should we be surprised, by the way, if what we teach ‘in church’ (59) sometimes meets with painful opposition.  There may be ‘disciples’ (66) who don’t much like the sermon. The truth sets free, but first of all it can make people miserable, angry and uncomfortable. (Notice again here that Jesus was being taken literally when His intention was to be understood spiritually.)

Whenever Jesus says, ”I tell you the truth” in this fourth gospel (and He frequently does), He is underlining the importance of what is to come. It’s like, ”Listen up folks. This really matters.” Jesus was not advocating cannibalism. But He did have a teaching style that involved being provocative at times. He would say shocking things and get people to think. When you ”eat” and ”drink” you take into yourself that which is outside yourself – and we have to do that with Jesus.  We have to receive Him into the ‘inner person’. I mentioned in yesterday’s piece that there is the idea in the Greek language of enjoyment. ‘The Message’ captures this in these words: ”The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” If you’re looking for reality, you will find it in Christ alone. Feed on Jesus Himself and you will find yourself consuming great big mouthfuls of reality; swallowing down huge gulps of authenticity. You’ll be fully alive because of Who Jesus is in His Person and because of what He did for you at the cross, and that new, fresh quality of life will continue forever.

Furthermore, His death is indispensable for us to have ”life”. ”Flesh” and ”blood”, mentioned in separation, as here, point to death – violent death. It cost the Lord Jesus dearly to save us. It’s the Bible Jesus we are called to feed on – not some version of Him (and therefore an idol) we have constructed in our own image. It’s the Jesus of the cross who is our true life. Let’s feed on Calvary truth and all that it means. Devour it. Hunger for it. Settle for no substitutes.

There is no basis here for the belief that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of our Lord at the communion service (‘transubstantiation’). Jesus did not teach that. He did however make it clear that we can feed on Him (the One who died for us) by faith, and be eternally nourished and satisfied in Him.

Remember, as long as Jesus is outside your life He cannot free you from your sins. You must ”eat” and drink” and ‘feed’. (Look at the repetition of ”eat” and ”drink” in 53, 54, 55. This imperative is hammered in). Open up all you are to all He is, and all that He has done on your behalf.

Prayer: Lord, let there be no compromise in the way I live, or in the message I communicate. However tempted I may feel, I never want to dilute your gospel to make it more acceptable to the hearers. ”Great is thy faithfulness”. O Lord, grant that I may have a great faithfulness towards you and your truth.

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John 6:35-51: The word of a Gentleman.

John 6:35-51: The word of a Gentleman.

“35 Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.’41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ 42 They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I came down from heaven”?’43 ‘Stop grumbling among yourselves,’ Jesus answered. 44 ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: “They will all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’ NIV

David Livingstone was battling with doubt and loneliness in the jungles of central Africa. Then he came across (37). He wrote in his journal, ”That is the word of a Gentleman of the most strict and sacred honour. He would never break His Word.”

Although it is true, as we saw yesterday, that Jesus fully satisfies (35), not everyone will believe (36). (By the way, there is the idea of eating with enjoyment in verses 50, 51. It is both delightful and satisfying to feed on all that Jesus is.) But we should not be surprised at any lack of response we experience. Jesus met with negativity and rejection. Again, as we observed yesterday, people can be so wilfully blind and obtuse (41, 42).

The mystery of the sovereignty of God is at work in every conversion (37, 38, 44, 45). We come to Jesus and believe in Him. This is our choice. But the deeper truth is that we only make this movement towards Christ because of the Father’s drawing power.

All who come to Jesus find Him to be ‘the bread of life’ (48) who gives life. ‘Eternal life’ (47) is a new quality of life: the life of heaven begun here on earth. But it is also quantity of life; never-ending life; resurrection life (39, 40, 44, 50, 51). It is the best life available and the longest life imaginable

Jesus reveals God (46). He is ‘the window into God’ (Michael Green). He shows us what God is like in terms of a human life.

And He is also the redeemer.He gave His life for our life (51).

”Jesus lays great emphasis on his resurrection as completing his work for those who come to him. It is not enough to impart eternal life. That would bless the spirit, but leave the body untouched. And he cannot rest until the whole of our complex nature shares in the emancipation and fullness of his salvation. A transfigured manhood and a glorified body must be the crown of his service to his own. By his mighty power, he will raise them up in the likeness of his glory, that they may share his royal and exalted state. Nothing less will satisfy him, or undo the ruin that sin has introduced. Let us feed on Christ, by meditation on his words and by communion with himself, of which the sacred Feast of the Lord’s Table is a perpetual reminder.” F.B. Meyer: ‘ Devotional Commentary’, p.463.

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John 6:30-36: None but Christ…

John 6:30-36: None but Christ…

“30 So they asked him, ‘What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’32 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’34 ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.’35 Then Jesus declared,  ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.” NIV

In this passage we meet with one of seven ‘I am’ sayings made by Jesus in the fourth gospel (35). Many commentators take these to be staggering intimations of divinity, reflecting God’s self-revelation in Exodus 3:14. He seems to draw on that rich Old Testament theology.

Don’t you greet verse 30 with a sense of incredulity? Yet it shows how spiritually obtuse we, the human race, can be. These people had been seeking Jesus off the back of the miracle of the loaves and fishes (22-24). They had been so impressed by it, so how could they now ask this?

They were possibly thinking that Moses showed his credentials in the miracle of the manna. Jesus corrected their thinking about it, saying it was not Moses who provided that ‘bread from heaven’, but God the Father. And it was only a type, or shadow of Christ, who was to come (and, who, of course, had now come (30-32).

The ‘bread of God’ is ‘he’, not it (33, 35).

True satisfaction is to be found in Jesus.

Real life is to be found in Jesus.

This life/satisfaction is for ‘the world’.

BUT only those who ‘come’ to Jesus; who ‘believe’ in Him, will receive it (35, 36). In fact, to believe in Jesus gives definition to what is meant by coming to Him.

The crowd had come to Christ in a physical/geographical sense. They had made an effort to seek Him out. But they didn’t really want HIM – only what He had to offer materially. Like the woman at the well (4:15), they took Jesus literally, whereas He intended to be taken spiritually.

”Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?’ (Isaiah 54:2a). That question still comes to us across the centuries with startling force and relevance.

Augustine said, ”Thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts find no rest until they rest in thee.” 

There is in every heart a ‘Jesus-shaped hole’, and try as you might, you will not be able to fill that vacuum with anyone or anything else. What keeps you from coming to Him and believing?

Prayer: As the old hymn says, ”Now none but Christ can satisfy; no other Name for me. There’s love, and peace, and lasting joy, Lord Jesus found in thee.” There is no one like you Lord, and I love you, and am deeply grateful.

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John 6:22-29: The ‘work’ of faith.

John 6:22-29: The ‘work’ of faith.

“22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realised that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realised that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’26 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’28 Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’29 Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’”NIV

One commentator said about (25), we know the real question is not ‘when’ but ‘how?’

”You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs – and for free.” The Message.

Jesus meets material needs. This is a truth about Him. He cares about our physical condition. But human nature being what it is, we can seek Him for self-centred reasons. Prosperity teaching ‘prospers’ (to the extent it does), because it appeals to selfish motives. However, if we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness ”all these things will be given…as well.” Jesus knows what is ”in a man”. (JOHN 2:25). He sees just where we are coming from (26). We can seek His blessing without wanting His rule. If we just go after what Christ can give us materially, but don’t want Him we will miss out on His best.

Verse 27 is all of a piece with chapter 4: 13. We can ‘eat’ at the world’s heavily laden table; we can ‘drink’ from it’s water supply, and yet go away totally unsatisfied. There is a level of consumption that whilst doing something for the body, does not reach the soul, the spirit. We may ‘work’ hard to fill that God-shaped hole, but our labours will get us nowhere. Everything the world system has to offer ‘spoils’, but what Jesus gives ‘endures’. It is a life that is ‘eternal’ (27)

”Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides.” The Message.

There is one ‘work’ we need and that is to put our trust in Jesus (29). This is a ‘work of God’. When anyone is converted and becomes a disciple; when they really believe in Jesus, that is something God Himself has done. So no Christian can ever boast about it.

Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus that you fully satisfy.

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