Jesus Who? - Week 6 - Pastor Nick Grim
Last week we were in John 5 and we discovered that:Jesus is the Healer and giver of Life
1. God has a message for you not the person that is not here.
2. Let God speak to you not me.
3. If God asks you to live differently today do something about it. Remember that little changes are what creates growth in Jesus
Have you ever gone to an event and didn’t want to eat because of the cost?
John 6:1-7 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
Do you ever sit back in a situation and wonder if your just being tested?
James 1:3 Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
—Like when your kids are getting out of hand, or you were the kid that was getting out of hand / When you have a loss of job / Your spouse and you are fighting / when your feeling hopeless
Hopelessness has purpose—to provide the opportunity to trust Jesus.
John 6:8-10 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.
Hopelessness can make us resort to relying on the tangible.
John 6:11-15 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
People know that Jesus is worthy to be King, so why did Jesus not want that to happen yet?
John 6:25-29 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
What does success look like to Jesus?
How often are we looking for instant gratification from Jesus?
John 6:30-31 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, 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 from heaven to eat.’”
Devotion will have people question Jesus.
—He just did a miracle and turned 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish into 7 basket fulls after everyone has eaten
John 6:35-40 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Do you want bread or the bread of life?
Do you want temporary or eternal?
Being devoted to Jesus means giving up momentary pleasure for eternity of Joy.
John 6:41 So the Jews grumbled about him
Being devoted to Jesus means people will dislike you by association.
—Christians are always the ones that are getting attacked.
John 6:44-51 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever 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 that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Being devoted to Jesus defies logic and our own understanding at times.
John 6: 53-59 So Jesus said to them, “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 you. Whoever feeds on 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. Whoever feeds on 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 whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
Jesus defined that he is the only way because he is the bread of life.
Leviticus 17:10 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people
(The disciples had a really hard time with this)
John 6:60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?
John 6: 66-69 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Jesus desires devoted followers.
When we feel like we are hopeless, be devoted.
When we feel like we are just one of the crowd, be devoted.
When we feel like we are being attacked, be devoted.
When we feel like we are living a life that is unfair, be devoted.
When we feel like we can’t understand the why’s of the world, be devoted.
When we feel like we are the only ones following Jesus, be devoted.
Why? No other reason than if we left to whom shall we go?
Jesus only desires the devoted.