The Bread of Life ~ Jesus As Bread

A few weeks ago we heard how Jesus took 5 loaves of bread given to him by a little boy and multiplied it so that it fed well over 5,000 people.  This miracle was not just to meet the physical needs of the people, it was to be a sign that Jesus was the Messiah.  The people of Israel believed that when the Messiah came he would provide bread for people to eat just as God had provided bread, or manna, for his people to eat as they made their way to the Promised Land.  So Jesus was making a statement that he was the Messiah, but he then went out of his way to make clear that he hadn’t come to just provide bread for people to eat, he came to be the bread of life.  Jesus said the bread from heaven he offered wasn’t some-THING to eat but some-ONE to trust and believe in.  Jesus said that he was this bread and that life would be found when we believe in him.

Today I want us to consider what Jesus as this bread of life means for us.  What does it mean for our lives today to accept Jesus as the bread of life and does accepting Jesus as the bread of life mean anything for our future?  Jesus himself gives us the answer to this in John 6:35.  As the bead of life Jesus satisfies our hunger and thirst, but we aren’t talking about a physical hunger for food or thirst for water, we are talking about our deepest longings and needs and the deepest longing or hunger we all have is for relationship.

We were created for relationships.  God created the world to be in relationship with him and so as men and women created in the image of God we have within us a unique hunger or need for relationship.  First and foremost we hunger for a relationship with God and we hear this in Psalm 42:1-2.  

There is within all of us a longing to connect with something and someone larger than ourselves.  Beyond relationships with one another, we have a longing or need to be in relationship with God.  When I was growing up my family was blessed to live in my Grandmother’s house at the beach and at night there weren’t any lights from a town or city so you could see lots and lots of stars.  I remember looking out my window or standing outside at night and thinking about the vastness of the universe.  With so many stars and so much space and so many people living on this planet and so many people who have come before me in history I wondered how my life could matter to God.  In the vastness of creation, did God even know my name or my situation?  I felt so small and insignificant and yet I wanted God to know me and I wanted to know God.  If you have ever asked these question or felt this way, then what you are experiencing is the hunger and thirst for a relationship with God.

Jesus taught us that God does know who we are and that he knows us personally and intimately.  Jesus said God knows every hair on our head and that He is with us always.  As God in the flesh, Jesus himself knew every person and he knew their deepest longings and needs.  Jesus knew when people needed healing or hope or forgiveness.  Jesus knew when people needed to be blessed and when people needed to be challenged and he knew when people needed patience, mercy and love.  As God in the flesh, Jesus came to restore for us a relationship with God and satisfy that hunger.

As the bread of life, Jesus also came to show us how to have healthy and strong relationships with one another.  We weren’t just created to be in a relationship with God, we were also created to be in relationship with one another and yet our sin and selfishness often strains and breaks those relationships, so Jesus came to teach us to love one another and forgive one another so our relationships could be strong.  Jesus spent a lot of his time teaching us to respect, honor and care for one another so that one of our basic human needs, a need for relationship, could be satisfied.

Jesus also helps satisfy our hunger and thirst for righteousness.  In his sermon on the mount Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.  A hunger and thirst for righteousness is a longing we all have for true justice and peace to be known in our world.  It is a longing for things to be set right so that everyone is treated with value, worth and dignity.  In many ways this hunger and thirst for righteousness is a hunger and thirst for the kingdom of God.  If we go back to the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 we see that Jesus showed us that God’s kingdom can be brought into this world if we will share who we are and what we have with God and others.  In other words, the righteousness that comes from God that we all long for comes through us when we are willing to give ourselves to God.  Our hunger and thirst for righteousness is satisfied when we choose God and when we choose to follow Jesus.

As the bread of life, Jesus came to satisfy our hunger and thirst for relationship and for righteousness, but as the bread life Jesus also came to save us.  Look at John 6:38-40, 47-48, 51.  This bread is Jesus and when we trust in what he has done for us, we are saved from sin and death.  It is our sin that separates us from God and the punishment of sin is death.  If we go back to the story of creation, while Adam and Eve were created for a relationship with God, their disobedience, or sin, destroyed that relationship and the consequence was separation from God.   The punishment or consequence of our sin is that we are separated from God forever and there is nothing that can do to change that, but as the one who came to give us life, Jesus took on the punishment of our sin, he died our death, so that we could live with God not just here and now but forever.  As the bread of life, Jesus saves us.  As the bread of life, Jesus satisfies our need for forgiveness.  Jesus forgives our sin and he defeats our death so that we can experience everlasting or eternal life.

The offer of salvation is given to us through Jesus and it is in choosing Jesus as our Savior and following him as our Lord that we experience the fullness of life here and now and the fullness of eternal life to come.  The apostle Paul tells us that salvation is found in Jesus alone – Acts 4:12.  And this salvation is a free gift and it is available to everyone today – we simply need to trust that what Jesus has done for us on the cross really is for us.

As the bread of life Jesus satisfies us and he saves us but he also provides for us a safe and secure future – John 6:37-39.  As long as we continue to believe and trust in Jesus then we do not need to fear the future either in this life or in the life to come.  Things may not always go as we have planned and there may be struggles we face in the days ahead, but God has promised to care for us and walk with us always.  If we go back to the Sermon on the Mount, we hear Jesus telling us that we do not need to fear the future because God will take care of us – Matthew 6:28-33.

For many people this is a difficult passage because we have in our mind what it looks like for God to care for us and yet God’s plan of caring for our future might be very different than our own.  It’s not always easy to trust God when everything seems to be going against us, but that is actually the time when true faith and trust shines through.  It’s easy to trust God when things are going well but real faith and trust in Jesus comes when things don’t make any sense and we still choose to walk in faith.  If every day we can see Jesus as our bread of life and know that he has come to satisfy us and save us, then we can be secure in our future here on earth.

The security God offers, however, isn’t just for this world, it is also for eternity.  In John 6:40 Jesus said everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.  Does that sound familiar?  It sounds like something else Jesus said.  At the end of John 3:16 Jesus said that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  When we believe in Jesus as the Messiah, or accept him as the bread of life, our future is secure.

But our security doesn’t come from just believing that Jesus died to take away our sin and restore us into a right relationship with God, our security comes when we are willing to daily feast on Jesus as the bread of life.  It is by daily walking with Jesus and daily trusting him to provide for us and daily loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength that we find security for the future.  If we go back to the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus told us that we don’t need to worry about the future he went on to say seek first the kingdom of God.  Jesus was saying that when we seek God first - all that we need and all that we are searching for will be provided and God will satisfy us.  A secure future here on earth or for all of eternity comes from a faith and trust in God that is lived out in our lives each and every day.

Jesus said, I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  So it is in eating the bread, it is believing in Jesus and accepting God’s grace and love and forgiveness through Jesus on a regular – ongoing – daily basis that secures our future.

Jesus is the living the bread, the bread from heaven, the bread of life and as this bread he satisfies all our deepest needs, saves us from sin and death and secures our future on earth and for eternity.  Let us receive this bread of life today and live.



Next Steps
The Bread of Life ~ Jesus As Bread

As the bread of life Jesus has come to satisfy us, save us and secure our future.

1.  Jesus Satisfy.  Read Psalm 42.
• In what way do you long for a deeper relationship with God?
• Where do you need to experience God’s grace and love?
• What relationship in your life needs the love and grace of God?
• What is one thing you can do this week to strengthen a significant relationship in your life (at home, at work, among friends, at church)?
• Where do you long to see God’s righteousness at work in the world and what can you do to help this happen?

2. Jesus Saves.  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).  Ask Jesus to save you from yourself, your sin and death.  There is no special prayer needed, just a heartfelt desire to experience the freedom and life that comes with salvation.

3. Jesus Secures Our Future on Earth and for Eternity.
• Read Matthew 6:28-34.
o What worries do you need to take to Jesus?
o In what ways can you seek God’s kingdom first?
• Read John 3:16 and Romans 8:37-39.
o Give thanks for the love of God that cannot be broken.
o Every day find one way to live out your faith and trust in God: pray, praise, read, serve, give, love.

The Bread of Life ~ Jesus Is Bread

Last week we heard how Jesus took a little boy’s lunch and fed well over 5,000 people and then gathered up 12 baskets of leftovers.  The excitement and enthusiasm of the crowd getting a free meal was pretty strong and the people wanted to follow Jesus and even make him a king because Jesus was giving them free food, but Jesus knew that their intentions weren’t spiritual but physical.  They wanted a leader who would meet their earthly needs and so Jesus withdrew from the crowds and his disciples to have some time to himself.  The disciples got into a boat and headed off to Capernaum and then during the night Jesus walked across the water to join them.  In the morning the crowds realize Jesus and the disciples had all left so they get into boats and crossed over to Capernaum to find Jesus and this is where we pick up the story in John 6:25-35.

The people follow Jesus because they want bread; they want actual, physical bread or a free meal.  Jesus even said that the people were following him because he gave them bread to eat (John 6:26), but Jesus didn’t come into this world to give bread for us to eat here and now, he came to be the bread of life itself.  Through Moses, God provided people with bread from heaven that they could eat each and every day, but Jesus wasn’t here to provide people with daily bread, he was to be the bread that was going to give people life.  Jesus came to give us what we need to experience all the fullness and abundance of true life.

The bread of life which came down from heaven is the person of Jesus and it is only Jesus who has the power to satisfy us and fill our lives with any larger sense of meaning, purpose, love or joy.  This life comes to us when we are willing to listen to Jesus, learn from Jesus and then believe what he says.  That’s what Jesus says in John 6:45-51a.  So it is in listening and learning from Jesus and believing and trusting in Jesus that we experience life which is why reading God’s word and studying and reflecting or learning what God says here is so important- it brings us life.


Whenever I think about the power of Jesus teaching to bring life I can’t help but think about the first Bible Study I was in during my freshman year of college.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t join a bible study to listen to God or learn about Jesus, and I didn’t join to believe or trust Jesus deeper, I thought my life was fine just the way it was, I just wanted to make some friends.  I joined a Bible study because I was a lonely freshman at MSU and decided to attend the group to get connected.  Little did I know that the power of God’s word and the power of Jesus would change me.

We studied the gospel of Mark which is filled with the teaching of Jesus and the more I listened to Jesus and learned from the group, the more I found that my life was missing something.  I was empty inside and I found myself hungry for something more, or longing to experience what I saw as joy and purpose in the lives of the people in the bible and in the bible study.  It was like they were all eating something delicious and filling that I was missing.  They were all satisfied and full and I wasn’t.  The difference was that they had accepted Jesus as the bread of life, they listened and learned and believed in Jesus in a way I had not and so they were really living life and I was dying.

I kept listening and learning and asking questions and in time I was confronted with the claims of Jesus as the Messiah and the need we all have to come to Jesus and believe or trust in him in a way that goes beyond simply giving intellectual ascent to his life lived 2000 years ago and the truth of his teaching.  One of the first things I had to accept about the person of Jesus as the bread of life is that Jesus was God.  Jesus said, I and the father are one, but he also said that to know him was to know God,
to see him was to see God, 
to believe in him was to believe in God, 
to receive him was to receive God 
to honor him was to honor God.

Even the statement that Jesus makes here, I am the bread of life contains in it the statement, I AM, which was the name of God.  This would not have been lost on the people listening to Jesus.  Many times Jesus used the words, I AM and it was a direct reference to the name of God and it was a statement that Jesus was making that he was God in the flesh.  If Jesus was God then I had to accept his teaching on a whole different level and hear his words as words of truth.  I now had to accept that I was a sinner who needed God’s mercy.  I had to accept that on my own I could not overcome sin but needed God’s forgiveness and that if I wanted to experience life and life eternal I had to accept what Jesus did on the cross for me.

During that time of my life I read a great little book called Basic Christianity, by John Stott.  I pulled it off my shelf this week and was amazed because I think I have most of the book underlined.  While much of the book is highlighted there is only one spot that has a star and this is what it says:

We have not ourselves achieved [forgiveness] by our own effort; we have received it from [Jesus] as a gift.  Sin caused an estrangement; the cross, the crucifixion of Christ, has accomplished an atonement.  Sin bred enmity; the cross has brought peace.  Sin created a gulf between man and God; the cross has bridged it.  Sin broke the fellowship; the cross has restored it.  To state the same truth in different words, as Paul did to the Romans, “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (John R.W. Stott)

It is the person of Jesus Christ, the son of God or God in the flesh, who took on my sin and was willing to suffer the penalty for that sin by dying on the cross so that I could be forgiven and brought back into a relationship with God.  It is Jesus himself who brings us life and life eternal and so as the bread of life Jesus didn’t come to give us bread to eat, he came to be the person who would bring us life and life eternal and this life is ours when we believe and trust in Him.


So the bread of life is the person of Jesus and when we accept Jesus we are filled with power.  We are filled with the power of God that satisfies, saves and gives us a secure future and we will explore this more in a few weeks, but for now let’s just remember that Jesus brings power to our lives.  Last week we saw the power of Jesus to multiply bread and feed thousands.  Through that miracle we saw the power of Jesus bring God’s kingdom into the life of a little boy who was willing to give what he had to Jesus and through that miracle we saw the power of Jesus fill the multitudes.

We also see in John’s story here the power of Jesus to walk on water, or the power that Jesus has over nature.  If we listen and learn from Jesus we see that he has power to forgive and power to heal and the power to bring hope into hopeless situations.  Jesus also had the power to create community and power to bring God’s purpose into people’s lives and power to help us feel love and power to help us love others.  There is simply a power in Jesus that we experience as we approach him and that power is available to us.

Going back to my time in college, the power Jesus gave me when I came to him was a power that filled my life with a sense of meaning and direction.  Knowing that Jesus was God and that he had come to save me suddenly gave my life a new sense of direction and purpose.  I wanted to live for something greater than just making money and travelling to all the beautiful places in this world (those where my greatest ambitions at that time).  I wanted to do something more.  I felt a power to do something more and so I began to explore new directions in life.

At this same time I also needed the power of forgiveness in my life.  I was confronted with the reality of my sin and how my sin had not only created a gulf between me and God but it had broken down my relationships with others and I knew that on my own, I couldn’t fix this, I needed the power of Jesus to forgiven – and he did.  When I spoke to the person of Jesus in prayer and finally confessed by sin and asked for God to forgive me, there was a power of forgiveness that brought healing and hope to my life.  My life was different in those moments and it is that kind of power that God wants to offer to all of us.  This week I have been reminded that I still need this power.  There are still things in my life that break God’s heart and break my relationship with God.  There are still things in my life that stress and break my relationships with others and on my own I cannot change these things – but the power of God can.  The power of God can.  I still need the power of God that comes through Jesus.

I don’t know what kind of power you need from Jesus today, but as the bread of life there is power in Jesus and Jesus wants to share that power with all of us.  To experience this power all we need to do is come to Jesus and ask and while that power is freely given, there is price to pay.  I know that doesn’t seem to make any sense, it is free and yet there is a price to pay, but it’s the truth because accepting Jesus isn’t always easy and again we see that in John 6:53-60, 66.

Now let’s not get hung up on Jesus talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood because he isn’t talking about cannibalism.  He’s also not talking about communion because when Jesus says to eat and drink here the words he uses tell us that it is a once for all time action.  What Jesus is saying is that if we want to experience life and power then we need to take the fullness of Jesus life and life blood which is his spirit into every corner of our heart and lives.  We have to reorient our hearts and lives on the person of Jesus and this can only happen if we are willing to die to ourselves – and that’s the price.

The price of accepting Jesus as the bread of life is our lives, or living our lives for ourselves and with our own self-interest at the center of all we do.  As Jesus said, we have to be willing to die to ourselves or take up a cross if we are going to follow him and that is not easy.  We live in a world where we are told that it is ok to live for ourselves and to place ourselves first.  We live in a society where being humble and confessing our sin or acknowledging our need for help is seen as unacceptable.  Taking hold of Jesus means letting go of ourselves in every way and that is just as hard and difficult a saying today as it was in the days of Jesus and many people still turn away from Jesus at this point.

There is a price we have to pay to accept that Jesus is the bread of life.  We have to be willing to let go of so many things in this world that we trust in and lean on and we have to let go of so much of ourselves that it unsettles us at times – but if we are willing to pay the price we will experience the fullness of life.  Let’s go back to that little boy who gave his lunch, he gave up everything he had, gave it all to Jesus, but he got so much in return.  If we are willing to give up everything we have and allow Jesus into every corner of our heart and life – we will get so much in return because then and only then does Jesus become for us the bread of life.
 

Next Steps
Bread of Life ~ Jesus Is Bread

1. The bread of life is the PERSON of Jesus.
• Take some time to listen and learn from Jesus by reading one of the four gospels.
• What teaching of Jesus offers the most comfort to you?
• What teaching of Jesus challenges you the most?
• In what area of life do you need to trust Jesus more?
• Commit to joining a Sunday school class, small group or Bible study to listen and learn with others.  (See Cassie Marsh-Caldwell for information on groups.)

2. The bread of life is the POWER of Jesus.
• Identify ways in which Jesus brought power to people’s life.
• Where in your life do you need to experience the power of Jesus?   Ask Jesus for this power.
• Where do you see the power of Jesus needed in your family?  Ask Jesus for this power.
• Where do you see the power of Jesus needed in the life of those you know and love?  Ask Jesus to give them His power.
• Where do you see the power of Jesus needed in our community and world?  Ask Jesus to send His power.

3. The bread of life comes at a PRICE.  To eat his flesh and drink his blood means to take the fullness of Jesus into every corner of our heart and life.
• What dark corners of your heart needs the love Jesus?
• What areas of your life need the truth of Jesus?
• How does the purpose of Jesus need to give direction to your future?

Jesus, teach me to die to myself so that I might experience the fullness of life that only You offer.  AMEN

The Bread of LIfe ~ Jesus Provides Bread

John 6:1-15

When Jesus provided food for the people on this hillside, it wasn’t just out of compassion and a desire to meet their need, Jesus wanted to make a statement, look at John 6:6.  Jesus had something in mind when he made the choice to feed the people.  He didn’t have to feed them and no one had asked him for food, Jesus brought up the idea because he had a plan.  Jesus wanted to do something that would reveal to the people his identity as the Messiah and he wanted to do something that would teach them about the kingdom of God, so Jesus provided bread.

For the Jewish people, providing bread in the wilderness was going to be a sign of the Messiah.  The people believed that the Messiah was going to be a great leader like Moses.  In Deuteronomy 18:18 God said to Moses, I will raise up for them a prophet like you.  So the Messiah was going be like Moses and since it was through Moses that God gave the people bread in the wilderness, the idea emerged that the Messiah would be someone who would provide bread for the people.  When Jesus took 5 loaves of bread and distributed it to thousands of people and then 12 baskets of bread were collected after dinner, it was a sign that Jesus was the Messiah.  The bread was a sign that Jesus was prophet like Moses who had come to lead God’s people and set them free, which Jesus did.  Jesus didn’t set people free from slavery in Egypt or even the oppression of Rome, he came to set them free from sin and death.

But the Messiah wasn’t just someone who was to provide bread like Moses, if we look at Isaiah 25:6 we see that the Messiah was also one who would provide a rich meal for all the people.  Once again, the Messiah was going to be someone who would provide a meal of abundance on a mountainside, so when Jesus makes the decision to provide bread, he is making a clear statement.  Jesus didn’t feed the people out of a sense of duty or compassion, he fed them in a miraculous way to let them know that he was the Messiah.

It is important for us to acknowledge and accept the truth that Jesus is the Messiah.  While many world religions acknowledge Jesus as a good teacher or even a prophet like Moses or Isaiah, Jesus himself said that he was more than that.  He was THE prophet that came from Moses and he was THE king that came in the line of David and he was THE LORD Almighty or God in the flesh who came to this world to show us the life God wants for us and to make that life possible.  It’s important for us to accept this truth about Jesus because it is accepting Jesus that opens the door to deeper faith and it is trusting Jesus that makes it possible for God to share his power with us.  When we acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and when we accept him as our savior and lord it allows God to have his way in our lives and it brings the power of God’s kingdom into our lives and into our world.  That’s what we see in John 6.

Jesus doesn’t just reveal himself to the people as the Messiah, he taught them that the kingdom of God and abundant life comes when we are willing to give our lives to him.  Look at how Jesus provided bread, he didn’t make it fall from the skies and he didn’t go out and make it himself or gather the money to buy it, he took what was given to him and multiplied it.  A boy was willing to give himself to Jesus, he was willing to trust Jesus with what he had and so Jesus took that gift and used it to bring the power of God’s kingdom into that little boy’s life and into his world.

Imagine what it must have been like to be this little boy.  You have 5 loaves and 2 fish – it’s not much, maybe what you would eat for the day, but you give that to Jesus and then begin to watch as that food first fed a group of people and then another group, and then another and then another and then you stand there watching the entire hillside eating dinner from what you gave.  Think of the power and excitement that little boy must have felt.  Think about the joy and the enthusiasm he must have experienced when he watched them gather up the leftovers.  What he felt was the power of God’s kingdom entering into his life.  This is what God wants each and every one of us to feel and we can feel it if we are willing to give ourselves to Jesus and share what we have with God and allow God to use it for his will, purpose and glory.

The kingdom of God comes into our lives and into our world when we are willing to give what we have to God.  When we give our time or money or talent or love to God and allow God to use it, God uses it to build his kingdom.  We have seen this right here.  We gave what we had and were able to build a parsonage in Sierra Leone.  Youth challenged us to give clean water and over the years we have helped build wells and even send a water truck to help build and repair wells.  A few weeks ago children encouraged us to give to people on the other side of the globe whose homes and communities were destroyed because of an earthquake and so we gave and our giving helps build God’s kingdom.

What I love about the example of the children at VBS is that they are a clear example of how giving fills us with the power of God’s kingdom.  Many of those children gave their allowances and birthday and Christmas money and when they gave they were filled with great joy and together they literally screamed with delight as they saw how their giving multiplied and grew.  It’s like the little boy and his lunch.  He must have shouted for joy as he saw his gift multiply and grow and he knew he was part of something great.  Our VBS offering is part of something great as we help restore and rebuild communities.  Our giving brings God’s kingdom into this world but it is always my hope and prayer that our giving will first bring the joy and power of God’s kingdom into us.  It’s my prayer that each week when we come together to give that we would be filled with great joy because sharing who we are and what we have ushers God’s kingdom into our lives and into our world.

When we give our time to help children and youth – we bring in God’s kingdom.  When we give to those who are hungry or needing homes – we bring in God’s kingdom.  When we pray for unity in our nation and safety in our communities and reach out for racial reconciliation, we bring in God’s kingdom.  There are so many different ways we can give and all of our giving can bring about the kingdom of God.  I was at a restaurant this week with a friend and saw someone give in such a way that it brought the kingdom of God into that restaurant.  An older white woman came in alone and when she arrived a young African American waiter came up and gave her a hug.  They embraced and talked and then he went and sat in her booth for a while taking time to talk.  I said to my friend – that is what our nation needs – people just reaching out across racial, economic and social boundaries to care for one another.  He gave his time and love and right there in a booth God ushered in his kingdom.  It was exciting.

Jesus knew what he was doing here.  He used a little boy’s lunch because he wanted to teach us that miracles happen and God’s kingdom comes into our lives and into our worlds when we are willing to share what we have with God and others.  What can we share this week and how can God use that gift and our lives to bring in His kingdom?  What can we do to make a difference and bring the peace, joy, justice and love of God and God’s kingdom into our world?  The reality is that there are probably dozens of opportunities we have every day to share what we have to make a difference and I want to invite all of us to open our eyes, ears, hearts and lives to share in ways that bring in the kingdom of God.

There is one more lesson about God’s kingdom that Jesus teaches us here and it comes when the meal is over.  After everyone has been fed, it says they gathered up 12 baskets full of leftovers.  In the kingdom of God, there isn’t just enough to go around, there is more than enough.  There is a surplus, an abundance and it is significant that these leftovers filled 12 baskets.  12 is an important and symbolic number for the people of God.  There were 12 tribes of Israel and there were 12 disciples so 12 is a symbol of God’s people.  That there were 12 baskets of leftovers not only means that God is part of what just happened but a statement that once all of God’s people had their fill they were to then turn and share with the world.

If we go back to that passage in Isaiah, it says that on the mountain of the Lord will come a feast for all people.  So not only is there abundance in God’s kingdom, but this blessing is for all people.  The abundance of God is for all people.  The abundance of God’s grace and mercy and love is for all people and it will be through God’s people that the world will experience this abundance.  Jesus took the gift of one child and used it to feed everyone gathered there and the 12 baskets of leftovers is a sign that God’s people are now to share the abundance of God’s love with others.

Jesus never wanted his followers to simply be content to receive what God had to offer, he always wanted them to share it with others.  Jesus could have made the meal go just so far, but he didn’t, there was extra so that more could experience it.  The grace and love and power of God is not just for us – it is for everyone, there is an abundance that we need to offer the world.

In communion, we come to share in the bread of life – which is Jesus.  As we share in this bread we experience the joy of forgiveness and acceptance and feel like we are part of something special and holy and something larger than ourselves, but in this meal there is also an abundance.  Not of bread but of grace, power and love – which is the food our world really needs.  We come to experience the blessing of God in order to go out into the world to be a blessing of God to others.  In many ways, we are the leftovers that God can use to feed a hungry world, but only if we will share who we are and what we have with others.

Jesus provides bread as a sign that he is the Messiah and to show us that God’s kingdom comes when we are willing to share what we have with others.  Jesus provides bread in abundance to remind us that the kingdom of God overflows with God’s blessing and we are to take that surplus, those leftovers, into our world.


Next Steps
Bread of Life ~ Jesus Provides Bread


1.  Jesus providing bread was to be a SIGN that Jesus was the Messiah.  Read Isaiah 25:6-9 and identify all the ways this passage points to Jesus as the Messiah.


2.  In what ways did the life of Jesus reflect the life of Moses?
• Danger at birth
• Spirit of God was seen when they were called by God
• Provided bread in wilderness
• Led people out of slavery
• Led people into a Promised Land.


3. By using a little boys lunch, Jesus showed us that the kingdom of God enters our lives and world when we are willing to SHARE.
• Identify something that you can share with God this week.
• How many ways can you share yourself with God and others.
• Think back to a time when sharing something filled you with great joy or helped you experience God’s power.


4. In the kingdom of God there is SURPLUS.  Identify the areas where God has blessed you in abundance.  How can you offer that abundance (those leftovers) to someone else?