7 I AMs of Jesus

The reading for today is John chapter 6 versus 25 to 40. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, Very truly, I tell you, you were looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the littles and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that's endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give you, For on him, God of the Father has placed his seal of approval. Then they asked him, what must we do to do the works God requires?

Genius answers. The work of God is to is this to believe in the 1 he has sent. So they asked him, what sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manner in the wilderness as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Jesus said to them. Very truly, I tell you. It is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but this is my father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Sir, they said always give us this bread.

Then Jesus declared. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go home and hungry. And whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe all those the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me. As I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. My father's will is that everyone who looks to the sun and believes in him shall have it turn a life and I will raise them up at the last day. Okay.

Welcome to this family matters service. I hope you've been enjoying the new evening service format and have enjoyed taking a look behind the curtain into some of the members of the congregation's homes. And getting a feel for how we're all doing in this strange time. In this this session now, what we've decided to do is to shelve the series that we've been doing in Luke for a while, and we're gonna come back to that Lord willing in weeks months, who knows? But for the next 7 weeks, we're going to be focusing on some of the great statements that Jesus made about himself and about his ministry in John's gospel.

They're often called the 7 I ams. And thanks to Sophie and Abry, who did the reading for us, And so if you could keep John 6 open in front of you, we're gonna have a look at this first 1 where Jesus says I am the bread of life. Now, the first thing to notice about this statement is that it comes after 1 of Jesus' most famous miracles. And the first point for this evening's meditation is this. It's a throwback miracle.

And the reason I've called it a throwback miracle is because John 6 is just so full of exodus language. So even the phrase I am is taken from Exodus 3 where God reveals himself to Moses. And what is his name? I am. Who I am.

This is the God without beginning and without end, he is the source of life, the unchanging it colonel God. I am who I am. Now if Jesus just used that phrase about himself once, we could chalk it off as an accident. But he does it all the time because he knows what he's doing. He is taking the name of the eternal God a on himself, and we're gonna see that in all of these I'm statements.

So chapter 3 of Exodus is behind John 6. But then think about the rest of the exodus story. Now, there's no time to do this properly and this isn't in the right order. But if you scan your eyes across John 6, look at some of the things that you can see and think exodus. So Jesus has crossed the sea.

He's gone to the other side. There has been an amazing sign Crowds of people have followed him. Jesus has gone up a mountain, its passover He's now in a type of wilderness surrounded by people and he's provided for them. So you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to see the connections, great signs, blood of the lamb, crossing water, big crowds, up and mountain providing in the wilderness. This is exodus, take 2.

And the feeding miracle in the first part of John 6 is really at the heart of this I am statement. It forms the backdrop. And it is an amazing miracle. Just the scale of it is incredible. And John really wants us to see that.

So if you have a look at verse 2 of chapter 6, there's a great crowd. In verse 5, Jesus saw a great crowd. In verse 7, it would take more than half a year's wages to feed this lot. In verse 9, how are 5 loaves and 2 fish gonna feed so many. And then in verse 10, Jesus said, make the people sit down There was plenty of grass in that place and they sat down about 5000 men.

It's a big crowd. I don't know if you've seen. I'm sure you have some of the images of the queues that are forming outside supermarkets at the moment. The the masses coming together to get the food. I saw an interesting picture from India where there was a a a a market and there was Indian folks queuing to get their provisions.

And the authorities, I think, had drawn chalk circles on the floor. It looked like a big game of naughts and crosses, you know, and they all had to stand 2 meters apart and then move up the circle and and then they could get to the get to their products. There's nothing like that going on here. They are crammed in There's not the thought of social distancing. It is a big, big crowd.

And although the disciples are doubting, whether it's possible to feed them. Jesus knows what to do. So have a look with me at verse 11. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

So just like he did, all those generations ago, I am provides for his people. The great I am provides. So this is definitely a throwback miracle. But it's more than that. It's actually a signpost to satisfaction.

This throwback miracle is designed to say something about Jesus and what he can offer us. Have a look at verse 25 with me. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, rabbi, when did you get here? 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.

A couple of weeks ago, I I got a call from from my wife who'd gone to Collects our shopping from the supermarket. And she'd done 1 of these click and collect things where you order it online and then you could pick it up. But she turned up to the place where you can get your shopping and it was all closed up. And so she went inside and she asked at the help desk you know, what's going on. And they said, really sorry, we weren't able to call you, but we've canceled all click and collect shops.

And this was on the day when Panic Buy was really taking off. And she was in the supermarket and the shelves were absolutely barren. Her shop had been canceled. And we live near a big big supermarket. It's a super store, really.

And she could. There was not a bottle of milk left in in the entire place. And it's interesting how in these recent moments you begin to long for simple things like bread and milk in a way that you've never done before. And you don't realize how much you need and rely on these basic provisions until you literally can't get them. Now the truth is for many people, that is always their reality, and we live in a world where we can just drive to the next shop and hope for the best.

But for some people, they are always in that state, not knowing where the next basic need is coming from. And in a way, that helps us to sympathize with these crowds, I think. They are, by no means, here is an example, But on a human level, you can imagine they're living in a culture where where it's very much, you know, hand to mouth. You you you can't just buy a box of bread and put it in your chest freezer. And so having somebody around who can provide what you need.

It's it's great. It's like a click and collect service, you know, you know what you want, you go to Jesus, and he can give you what you want, you'll be very full and he'll do it very quickly. But that I think is the only level on which we can sympathize with them. Because actually they have really, really missed the point here. In verse 14, they kind of understand what's going on.

Jesus is a great prophet, but they're still very very far away from properly understanding him. In verse 30, they're basically saying look Moses gave manner to our fathers and they believed what sign will you do so that we can believe in you? Now look, either either they've forgotten what Jesus has just done, the amazing sign he's just performed, or they cannot see the connections They can't understand what's going on around them. They can't see who's standing in front of them. And they can't work out what they need to really fill them.

They're like the blind man who is healed in 2 stages, they can see something, but they're still clouded by unbelief. And yet the wonderful thing is Jesus is ready to help them. And the way he helps them is by showing him what their real need is and how he can help. Have a look at verse 27 to 29. 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. Then they asked him, what must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered the work of God is this to believe in the 1 that he has sent. And then down to verse 33, for the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and give lives to the world.

So they said always give us this spread. 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. Jesus is saying look, you're in the right place, but you're after the wrong thing. You don't see that you have a greater need than bread.

Stockpiling is not the answer to your problem. Your soul is hungry. You need someone who can satisfy your soul and only I can. And that is why this miracle and even the miracle thousands of years ago in the wilderness are not just 2 dimensional closed system miracles that are just about providing a physical need. They are always pointing to the great I am, the 1 who satisfies us and provides for our souls.

And Jesus is saying look, what happened in the wilderness was about me and what just happened with the 5000 was about me. I am, the great I am, the lord, your provider, the 1 who can satisfy your soul. 1 tweet I've read recently captured this perfectly. It said every blessing through Jesus is a deficient gospel. Every blessing in Jesus is truly good news.

Every blessing through Jesus is a deficient gospel. Every blessing in Jesus is truly good news. You see, if all Jesus is is a pipe by which God's blessings come to us. He's he's just there to channel the blessing of God to us. Then he becomes like a click and collect service at Tesco.

He's just 1 of the places we can go to get good things from God. But if every blessing is in Jesus, That means that he himself is the source of life. He is the gospel. God is the gospel as 1 preacher famously said. God is the gospel.

And that is good news because once we're united to him, Once we believed in him verse 29, we have come into the bakery of God. We are able to feast on the bread of life. To this 1 who gave his body the bread upon a cross for us and who rose again to bring us into the life of God. Jesus is the gospel. Every blessing is in Him.

He is the satisfaction for ourselves. And so, Cornerstone Friends, at this time, we we are in a kind of wilderness, aren't we? It feels a little bit like we're in we're in our own wilderness. And the big battle of our hearts at this time is to keep feasting on Jesus. To keep coming to him the bread of life and to be renewed by his provisions, not just physically, but spiritually.

So we need to keep watch over our hearts at this moment because there are all kinds of things competing for that position, aren't there? Things which promise us satisfaction. I mean, you take something like exercise. It's it's about the 1 thing we can do at the moment, isn't it? And it's a good thing to do.

But exercise can become a means of escape. Can't it? We just wanna get out. We wanna run. We wanna hit the bike.

We wanna escape from life. And we and we think it will satisfy us and make us feel good or alcohol. You know, it's interesting we haven't got many evening meetings at the moment. And so there might be more of a temptation every evening to crack open a bottle of wine to get the beers out, not because we're addicted to it, but because it becomes something we're dependent on, we need it to bring us into a place of rest or satisfaction so that we can unwind. Or technology.

I mean, praise God for technology at the moment because we can share the bread of life on it. But it can also be a big distraction, aren't it? It makes us feel connected to the world. We need to know what's going on. There are harmful things which which promise satisfaction for a moment, but it's food that spoils.

It turns to ash in our mouths. And so we need to keep coming back to this promise. And embracing it, seeing the false satisfaction for what it is and feasting on Jesus, the bread of life, the great I am. And I hope you're able to do that through this passage this evening. Let's share an prayer together.

Dear lord, we thank you so much for the Lord Jesus, and we thank you that he is the bread of life, the 1 who fills us, the 1 who satisfies us, the 1 who gives us eternal life and we pray that you would help us in this wilderness time to keep feasting on Jesus and we ask it in his name. Omen.