“The Unfelt Need”
John 6
· How is everybody doing here tonight?
· Well, I want to thank all of you who came out tonight for allowing us to serve you a meal prepared by the hands of some wonderful people. Amen? Yes.
· Well, in honor of Thanksgiving Day today, I thought I’d start out with some trivia for you all.
· Ok, who can tell me where turkeys originally come from? I’ll give you a couple options: Are they originally from Turkey, Europe, South America, or Antarctica?
· If you answered Turkey, you are—wrong! They come from South America. They weren’t introduced into Europe until the 1500’s.
· Ok, Question 2: Can Turkeys fly? Options: Only the domestic ones, only the wild ones, all turkeys can fly, or no turkeys can fly?
· If you said no turkeys can fly, that would be—incorrect. Actually the wild ones can fly—up to 55 mph over a short distance. Now that’s what I call fast food. Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Remember to tip your waitress.
· Ok, on to question 3, and this one is really, really trivial (Please don’t remove any really important knowledge to replace it with this one): How high must a cranberry bounce before it is harvested? Hey, I didn’t make these up, I found them on the Internet, and if it’s on the internet, it must be true, right? Ok, your options: A. 12 inches, B. 8 inches, 3. 36 inches, or D. 4 inches
· If you answered 36 inches, you might want to check that someone didn’t give you a Super-bouncy ball instead, because 4 inches is all a cranberry needs. That’s a super-berry if it’s bouncing that high.
· Ok, one more question: What President, and in what year, made Thanksgiving a national American holiday? Was it: A. George Washington in 1787, B. Abraham Lincoln in 1863, C. John F. Kennedy in 1964, or was it D. Barack Obama in 2009.
· If you answered D. Barack Obama, you are a tad off on your American History. This was not a part of the change. No, the correct answer was B. Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
· Now that we’re all dumber for having learned all these trivial things, let’s go home.
· Ah, no, that’s not all there is. There’s much more, and you’ll see that this trivia will play a part in the real message—just hang in there with me.
· Ok, the real message I want to share with you today comes from the Gospel of John, Chapter 6.
· This is the Chapter in the Gospel of John which speaks of one of Jesus’ most well known miracles—the feeding of the 5,000.
· Now, each one of the first 4 books of the New Testament contains this story in it, which speaks a great deal about how amazing this miracle was. It was obviously so impressive that it was etched into the minds of all 4 of the writers of these books—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
· However, the reason I picked John’s account is that John goes a little bit more in-depth than the other writers on this particular miracle.
· All of the other writers make mention of this miracle, and then they continue on with their account of Jesus’ ministry.
· But John stops and records for us the message that Jesus gave after the feeding of the 5,000. It’s as if John wants us to know the real reason why Jesus did this miracle—and we will see this, hopefully, as we go along.
· This is not one that John glosses over. Chapter 6 is the longest chapter in the Gospel of John at 71 verses. The other writers give somewhere between 7 and 14 verses to this account. John gives a total, between the story of the miracle itself and the message Jesus taught afterward, of 65 verses. That sounds like it really had a profound impact on John. The importance of this miracle and Jesus’ message was still running through John’s mind the many years later when he writes the story down for us to read.
· So, we know that this is an important message, and I would argue a very relevant one at that—I hope you’ll agree by the end of the message today.
· John 6 begins with the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish—not exactly enough to feed an army.
· But Jesus takes it, thanks God for it, breaks it, and hands it to his disciples to hand to the people who are seated there.
· So they hand it out, come back and get some more, and hand it out, verse 11 says, “as much as they wanted.”
· By the way, this was 5,000 men—that didn’t even count the women and children.
· So everyone eats until they are full, and Jesus has the disciples gather up the leftovers—12 baskets full of leftovers. This truly had to be a miracle.
· This couldn’t be a fabrication where everyone really only had a small bite of fish and a crumb of bread—they ended up with more at the end than the beginning.
· Some of the people must have had eyes bigger than their stomachs, because they collected all the leftovers.
· So Jesus performs this miracle, and all the people see it, and their minds automatically tune into one thing—their stomachs!
· This was a farming culture, you had to farm and harvest to survive. You were lucky if you got a day off other than the day each week God commanded them to take off.
· Could you imagine that? You’re working day-in, day-out to try to scrape together enough to feed your family dinner tonight, and then one day you meet a guy who can make bread and fish come from nowhere!
· What would you do? Crown him King! Free food for everybody! Everybody’s on vacation!
· Their minds become fixed on their stomachs—their felt needs.
· I’ve got an empty tummy, and you can fill it with bread for free—I like that plan.
· And that’s the same today, right? I need a car, and you can give me a free car and a lifetime Shell gift-card? I’ll take it! I need a job, and you can give me a work-from-home making 2 million a year? You got a deal!
· Jesus, knows what they want to do however, so He retreats from the crowd and they eventually disperse for the night, happy and with full tummies.
· The next day however, after sending the disciples across the Lake and meeting them halfway—oh yea, by the way, He walked on the water to meet them—the crowd notices that Jesus is gone.
· So they get frantic and make their way across the lake as well, hoping that Jesus is just finishing up breakfast or something like that.
· I wonder what they were thinking on the way over, “Ok, it was fish and bread yesterday, what’ll it be this morning? Bacon? No, no, we’re Jewish. Hmm, whatever, as long as it’s not leftovers.”
· Ok, so they all begin to make their way across, and they know that Jesus didn’t take the boat with the disciples, so when they make their way over, they ask Him, “How’d you get here?”
· His response is in verse 26, “’Truly, truly I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.”
· So, He completely ignores their question, and gets to the heart of why these people were following Him so closely.
· He continues, verse 27, “’Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man (that’s Jesus) will give to you, for on Him, the Father, God, has set his seal.’”
· So, they come to him, looking for more bread for their bellies, and He says, “there’s something more important here than your physical hunger.
· There is a more important need than for bread.
· I don’t want you to come to me just to get the goodies.”
· They respond in verse 28, “’What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’”
· Meaning, “Ok, you say that there’s something more important here—what is it?”
· Jesus answers them in verse 29, “’This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’”
· Jesus here redirects their focus—the need isn’t to do anything! The need is to trust in the One whom God has sent—Me!
· Then the people come back with this response, in verse 30, “’What then do You do for a sign, so that we may believe in You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them Bread out of Heaven to eat.”’”
· Now, I’m not sure if Jesus ever got completely annoyed with these people as I would have—“What do you mean, ‘What work will I perform?’ I just fed you 12 hours ago from almost nothing! How short is your memory?”
· Their response is more or less, “Come on; Moses fed us for 40 years as the man of God. You’ve only given us one meal. Keep it coming, pal. Hand over the food from Heaven.”
· What they keep wanting is physical satisfaction, and what Jesus keeps pointing them toward is their deeper need.
· He continues this in His response, verse 32, “’Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of Heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of Heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.’”
· But they still don’t get it, as shown by their response in verse 34, “’Lord, always give us this bread.’”
· They continue to make it about physical nourishment, so Jesus finally has to come out and say it plainly, verse 35, “’I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
· He comes out plainly and says it now, “You think that it is all about filling your bellies, but there is something more here! You have a deeper need than bread for your bellies! You need the bread of Life! You need to come to Me! You need to believe in Me!”
· Now, I’m sure you might be asking, and I’m quite sure they were asking themselves, “Why? Why believe in You? Why should I believe in You, Jesus?”
· There are a million things out there to believe in, why believe in Jesus? What need do I have for Jesus?
· Well, a man named RC Sproul answered this question far better than I think I ever could. Right now, I’d like to play a clip of him answering the question, “Why Jesus?”
· Christ The Only Way--R.C. Sproul
· So, now it gets personal. There are two options before you now that you have heard this news of Jesus Christ dying on your behalf to pay the penalty you would receive from God.
· There is no room to say, “Oh, that’s nice” and go on with life. That is not an option.
· You can do like many did to Christ at the end of this Chapter, verse 66, “As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
· So, you can leave this message behind as “just another religion.” But then you will have to face God on your own, naked, before Him on your Judgment Day.
· No one to cover your sins, and no one to step in and save you. You have rejected your opportunity of salvation while here on this earth.
· In verse 37 of this sixth Chapter of John, Jesus says something profound, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
· In verse 44, He says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
· If you are here today, and you are feeling drawn to Jesus Christ, and God has opened your eyes to see Jesus’ death on your behalf as truly beautiful, then do as He says, “Come to Me.”
· Maybe you have been thinking you could earn your way to God. You’ve thought that you could make up for your bad works with good works, but you’re beginning to feel the crushing weight of your sins against God.
· Jesus has a word for you as well, Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” All of you who have been earning your way to Heaven, Come to Me!
· Verse 29, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
· That is our deepest need—rest for our souls. Rest from fighting against God. Rest from trying to work enough to pay off our bad deeds. We need rest!
· That is what Christ offers! Rest for your soul! If you are feeling drawn to this rest, don’t withdraw! Come to Him! Come to Christ!
· “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” He says!
· If you are here today, and you are in need of this rest, and you are feeling drawn by the Father to Jesus Christ, Come to Him!
· Call out to God for mercy! Call out to God for forgiveness!
· Call out to Jesus and put your trust in His works!
· He has pleased God for us! He can grant us rest!
· He is our Savior!
· Trust in Him! Turn from this burdened lifestyle of sin, and trust in Him!
· Call out to Jesus to save you!
· Get on your face before Him tonight and confess your sins to Him.
· Ask Him to cleanse you from all of your sins, and to grant you everlasting life in fellowship with God and in loving harmony with Him.
