This week Pastor G continues his ten-part series called “Hello My Name Is Jesus.” Today he digs deeper into the context surrounding when Jesus introduced Himself as “I Am The Bread Of Life” and “I Am The Bread That Came Down From Heaven.”
If you missed the previous week’s message in this series you can use the links below. Mahalo!
MESSAGE NOTES
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. ~ 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. ~ Galatians 6:7
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? ~ Romans 5:20-6:2
It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” ~ Matthew 4:4b
Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” ~ John 6:26-27
Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” ~ John 6:28-29
So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe 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.’” ~ John 6:30-31
He rained down manna upon them to eat. And gave them food from heaven. ~ Psalm 78:24
Jesus then said to them, “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.” ~ John 6:32-33
Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” ~ John 6:34
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. ~ John 6:35
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh…. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever. ~ John 6:47-51, 53-58
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ~ John 6:63
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. ~ Psalm 63:1-5
… Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God. ~ John 6:68-69
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” ~ 1 Corinthians 11:23-25
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. ~ Isaiah 53:5
GO DEEPER
ALOHA GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
READ: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 and Galatians 6:7
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) What is it about yeast that lends itself to a metaphor for sin? Sometimes Jesus’ teachings are referred to as yeast as well. Is this a contradiction? Are Jesus’ teaching sin? Explain.
2) Why does Paul refer to Jesus as “Christ our Passover?”
3) How does “what a man sows he shall also reap” relate to the metaphor of yeast as both sin and righteous teachings?
READ: Romans 5:20-6:2
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) What is the Law? According to Paul, why was the Law given to us? Why would God want transgression to increase? How would you explain Christian freedom that includes Christian accountability with respect to sin and grace and their relationship according to this passage?
READ: Matthew 4:4b and John 6:26-29
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) How can we “eat” the Word of God like we would eat bread?
2) What does Jesus mean when He tells us to work for the food that endures to eternal life? How do we work for that? How do we know when we have received it?
READ: John 6:30-31 and Matthew 12:39
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) What is the difference between a “sign” and a “miracle?” Is there a difference?
2) This group of people speaking to Jesus just received the miracle of the loaves and fishes the day before. Was that a sign?
3) If that was a sign, why are they asking Jesus for another sign the very next day? Why do many people want to see signs before they are willing to believe?
READ: John 6:32-35
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) What does Jesus mean He is the bread of life? Jesus says if we come to Him and believe in Him we will never hunger or thirst again. How is that possible?
2) Assume you are speaking to a non-Christian friend and they have just read this passage and they say to you “I don’t get it.” How would you explain it to them?
READ: John 6:47-58
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Why do you think Jesus chose to speak in this way about eating His flesh and drinking His blood? Surely He knew how awful it sounded to the people who didn’t understand it was a metaphor.
2) Why risk alienating so many of His supporters with such uncomfortable imagery? Why not just tell them right away it was not meant o be taken literally? Does it ever surprise you how little Jesus’ audience seems to understand metaphors?