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. -John 6:35
Jesus tells a group who’s following him that he is the bread of life. What the perfect food to pick. Something so universal, something that’s such a staple of life. Most foods, you can find someone who doesn’t like them.
Cheese is amazing. There are people who don’t like cheese. There are people who don’t like fish, or beef. There are even weirdos who don’t like chocolate. But everyone likes bread. It’s a universal staple.
Think about bread for a moment. A lot of restaurants you go to, they just give you a bowl of bread. You go to an Italian restaurant, maybe it’ll be breadsticks, maybe it’ll be bread with some olive oil. You go to a Mexican restaurant, they bring you chips and salsa. The tortilla chip is just bread that they then fried.
They don’t even charge you for it. Just “here, have some bread.”
Go to a Mediterranean restaurant, the meal will come with a pita. An Indian restaurant, it’ll be naan.
And that only works with bread.
Can you imagine going to a restaurant and they bring the table a bowl of broccoli? No! You can’t even imagine that.
Really, a lot of popular chain restaurants are known more for their bread than their actual entrees. No one is really going to Red Lobster for their week old fish and ocean roaches. It’s all about the cheddar bay biscuits. Olive Garden? The breadsticks are the real star of the show.
We love bread.
It plays a major role in so many of our favorite foods. Pizza. Cheeseburgers. Fried chicken.
Meatballs. Already a brilliant idea unto itself. A ball of meat, but we say “needs bread crumbs.”
We add bread to things that have nothing to do with bread. A salad. Mostly vegetables, let’s add bread crumbs. Soup. Mostly liquid, let’s add crackers and put it in a bread bowl. A bowl of ice cream. We look and say “the soup people were onto something. Let’s get rid of the bowl and replace that with a piece of bread.”
Most of our favorite desserts are just sweeter versions of bread. Cake. Donuts. All the best breakfast foods. Bread. Pancakes, waffles, french toast, bagels. We LOVE bread.
Rich people love bread, poor people love bread. Old people love bread, young people love bread. We love it so much that many years ago, people said “I wonder if we can find a way to drink this stuff.” And that’s how beer was invented!
Bread and language
Bread even impacts our language and sayings.
We judge the greatness of achievements and innovation by how it stacks up with sliced bread. We have indoor plumbing, we have cures to horrible disease, we’ve been to the moon, we have the internet. But no, when something great comes along, we compare that to the invention of sliced bread. When we eat together, we call that breaking bread. In many cultures, bread is a symbol of peace. We call money dough and the person who makes more money in a relationship is called the “bread winner.” If someone wants too much out of a situation, we say “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
Bread in the Bible
And then we consider it in the Bible. God feeds the Israelites with manna (which was bread) from heaven. Jesus references that in the Lord’s Prayer when he teaches us to pray “Give us each day our daily bread.” It is bread to which Jesus refers when the devil tempts him. He’s quoting from Deuteronomy but he says “Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Even the place where Jesus was born. Bethlehem in Hebrew means “house of bread.”
And it is bread at the Last Supper when Jesus institutes communion which he takes and breaks and says “this is my body, which is broken for you.”
Bread matters in our lives and the Bible.
Jesus is the bread of life
So in John 6, a great crowd has seen miraculous signs done by Jesus. He’s just fed multitudes. But the crowd wanted to be dazzled with greater signs and wonders but Jesus instead explains the significance of the sign when he felt the multitudes.
The manna from heaven was the bread which God gave to the Isrealites to sustain them on their desert wanderings. Jesus is the bread of life which God has given to sustain the human soul.
The people had followed Jesus because he filled their stomachs, but Jesus came to save our souls.
The people wanted to see a physical display of glory and power but Jesus came to fulfill the longings of the human soul.
And it’s for that reason that Jesus is the greater bread. The manna had to be collected everyday. Jesus is the bread which gives eternal life at the moment you believe in him.
But as the manna was collected daily, there is still a daily element to the bread which Jesus provides as he himself is the bread we need everyday for our spiritual sustenance. Without the bread which Jesus provides, we grow spiritually hungry and malnourished. We need to feed upon him everyday.
We need to commune with Christ everyday. Anytime you’re struggling spiritually, you feel like you’re just going through the motions, the first thing you should ask yourself is what your daily time with Jesus is looking like.
Going to him, praying, meditating on his word, serving his people, loving his people, orienting our lives around him.
Jesus is the eternal nourishment and the daily bread without which we will Spiritually starve.
The world wants to just satisfy your body.
If you can just have enough money, you’ll be secure and have what you need. Some people are drawn to intimacy and feel like that will sustain their soul. It’s looking to a physical desire. Some look to prestige and power. Those are still ultimately fleeting accolades that you can’t take with you. Dying people in a dying world honoring one another. Some people look to politics. The right party being in office. Men who are fallen and sinful, flesh and bones are our hope.
The world makes idols of what is fleeting and feeds the body. Jesus feeds the soul.
Jesus is the bread of life.
Where is your hope though? Is it in the material? Is it in today? Is it in what you have or who you are? Is it in what’s in front of you? Or is it in the eternal Lord of creation?
The crowd had said to Jesus: What must we do, to be doing the works of God?
Jesus says: I am the bread of life. whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst
We’re called to come to him. Coming to him in humility, coming to him realizing our needs, realizing our hunger.
And we are to believe in him. To trust in his gospel and his grace. We must recognize that we’re sinners in need of a savior.
That is what we do to receive the bread of life. We believe in Jesus. And he invites us to never hunger or thirst because he fulfills the longings of the human soul.
We face trials in life that our beyond our control. But we do have control over how we respond. In the Bible, in the book of James, he says, “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2).
We face trials, we face difficulties. It’s not that we find joy in the trials themselves. The point isn’t when a person breaks their arm, they should celebrate! But to find joy through what God is doing. What God is doing when things don’t go to plan.
Count it joy. It’s getting more at our thoughts than our feelings. The call here isn’t to put on a happy face when we’re struggling. It’s not to live a lie if we’re in a tough season. But through trials, through difficulties, that we should still find joy in God.
There are purposes as to why. James 1:3-4 says, “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.”
To be steadfast is to be resolute and unwavering, to persevere. Testing of your faith produces steadfastness. When we are tested, we have an opportunity to grow in faith. We have an opportunity to trust God, to trust his purposes, to trust his goodness.
And there we have part of the reason why we should count tests and trials as occasions for joy. Not because of the difficulties in themselves, but because they produce steadfastness. We grow in strength.
A person might ask, “Well if God is so good, why does he make us go through the trials at all?”
Several reasons. The most obvious, based on this text is that God uses trials to make us perfect, and complete, lacking nothing.
But this also gets at the purpose of life on earth. And that purpose is not to have a total life of ease without any difficulties ever. We live in a fallen world. And even as children of God, we are not insulated from the effects of the fall: from health problems, from broken relationships, from lost jobs, and disappointments.
We live to know God, and facing trials doesn’t hinder knowing God and experiencing him. In fact, trials are meant to enhance that relationship.
If following God meant that you didn’t face any trials, and everything was totally smooth sailing and the way we thought it should be, then God wouldn’t be God, you would be. If everything went the way we thought it should go.
We grow through tests and trials. Or at least, we have the opportunity to grow in trials. We can keep our focus on God, we can turn to him for joy. Without knowing the answers, we can place our trust in him when we’re struggling. Or we can sit down and feel sorry for ourselves.
We can grow in faith through being tested. We never grow if everything is always smooth sailing and status quo. It is in the struggles, when we are forced to rely on God and God alone and to trust him that we grow.
Some of us won’t. And I don’t say this to mock, but some people who either don’t really have a relationship with God or who don’t really have a strong faith, in the struggle, will be like plants that aren’t strongly rooted in the soil, and in a challenge, totally become uprooted.
God doesn’t test us so that we can fail. He tests us so we can be perfect and complete lacking nothing. So that through having a greater reliance and trust on him, we can grow in holiness.
God is trustworthy in our trials.
Trials are not the time to distance yourself from God and His Church. That’s the last thing you should do! It is in the trials that you should more and more be living for God, trusting God, growing with God.
In facing trials, it’s important to have Godly people in your life. People to talk to, to pray with, to share your struggles with, to be encouraged by.
Again, it’s not if but when we face trials. It’s inevitable and just actively being aware of that is valuable. We can rejoice in the good times. But we can also rejoice in the struggles because God is working in us. It is in the trials that we are most enabled to grow. Muscle fibers have to be torn before they can grow back together and form stronger muscles.
If things are going really great right now, rejoice in that. There are trials in life, trials in families, there are trials in churches. God is trustworthy in our trials.
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Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to God as his Father.
In the Old Testament, there were appropriate forms in which to address God and Father was not one of them. The first Jewish person to refer to God as their “father” was Jesus. There are a few texts which refer to God as being the father of Israel. But that’s not how individuals addressed God.
Today, it’s so much a part of our vernacular. It’s so ingrained in our thinking of God as our heavenly father that it can be easy to lose sight of how radical a statement that Jesus is making to the Pharisees. Jesus refers to the God of creation as his father.
But Jesus was making a radical claim and a theologically loaded statement.
But what does it mean? Jesus is uncreated and eternal. He’s God and has always been God. John 1:1 tells us: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. How does Jesus have a father?
Let’s consider several aspects of fatherhood and what that means.
D.A. Carson brings up that when we think of fatherhood, we tend to just think of it biologically. A man and a woman procreate and have an offspring, and the man is the father of the child. I’m influenced on this subject by Carson, Michael Horton, and Louis Berkhof among others.
I want to give five reasons for how Jesus is the Son of God.
Incarnationally
In one sense, the fatherhood of God and sonship of Christ relates to the incarnation where the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is eternal and uncreated. But he was not eternally a man. In the union of Christ’s humanity and divinity, he was born.
Luke 1:31-32, where the angel Gabriel is telling Mary of the son whom she is to bear.
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David
And Jesus was indeed born, as we learn in Luke 2:7: unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord
In his humanity, Jesus was born of a virgin, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit through the will of God.In the beginning was the Word. Jesus always was, but he was not always human.
How can an eternal being be born and fully man is a divine mystery that we cannot fully understand. But he was born, and in that sense, he is the Son of God.
The word became flesh. That’s not saying Jesus simply took on a human body like he was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle, but that he became flesh. He became a man.
So he’s the son of God, incarnationally. But that’s not the only sense in which Jesus is the Son of God.
Ethically
You also have sonship in a moral sense in the Bible. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says:
love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High (Luke 16:35).
In that usage, he’s saying that, in one sense, it is acting like God which makes us like a son.
Follow me for a second.
Again borrowing from Carson. Prior to the industrial revolution, most people went into the same vocation as your parents. If your father was a farmer, you were a farmer. If your father was a fisherman, you were a fisherman. If you father was a blacksmith, you were a blacksmith.
You did what your father did. You were trained by your father. Some people still go into their parent’s line of work now, and that’s all well and good, but it’s not culturally assumed today that everyone will just follow in their father’s and mother’s footsteps.
But our heavenly father is perfect and righteous. We are not. But Jesus ties acting like our father in heaven to sonship. He does the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called Sons of God.
And that goes both ways. In Acts 13:10, Paul calls a magician named Elymas a “son of the devil.” Now Jesus is the one who truly is perfect. In his ministry in the world, he truly lived as God because he is himself divine. Fully man, fully divine, and without sin and he is morally the Son of God.
Royalty
Jesus is the royal Son of God.
In the Old Testament, the kings of Israel in the Davidic dynasty are sometimes referred to as God’s son. The king didn’t refer to God as his father. But he is proclaimed to be God’s Son. We see that in Psalm 2. Psalm 2 talks of the kings of the earth and their opposition to God. But then talks of a king whom God has called his son.
Psalm 2:7: I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
In the Old Testament, this is applied to the Davidic kings. We see this language in 2 Samuel 7 when the temple is dedicated.
2 Samuel 7:13-14. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
But the kings are still ultimately sinful in their leading of the people. In Jesus, he is the true royal son who came into the world and preached of the kingdom of God.
Israel
Israel collectively is referred to as God’s son.
Jeremiah 31:9, God calls them his firstborn: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Reminder that Ephraim refers to Northern Israel. Exodus 4:22-23, Moses has been sent by God to command Pharoah to free the Israelites.
Moses is told: you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.
With Israel, they had the law and failed to keep it. Jesus kept it perfectly. Moses gave them the law on a mountain. Jesus gave the new law in the Sermon on the Mount.
They were in the wilderness and sinned. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and did not sin.
The Book of Hosea refers to Israel when it says “out of Egypt, I called my son.” That same verse will be applied to Christ in the Gospel of Matthew.
He is the greater Israel.
Image of God
Jesus is the Son of God in the sense that he is the image of God. The image of God goes back to creation.
Genesis 1:26: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Goes on to say in verse 27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
It’s not until the New Testament that Adam is referred to as a son of God. We see that in the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3:38. Man is created in the image of God. But humanity is also sinful and fallen.
Romans 5:10 says: if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
We don’t have time to quote the whole passage, but Paul is building an argument.
In verse 12, he says: just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned
Then he says in verse 17: because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
So what Paul is saying is that sin entered the world through Adam and that Jesus is a new Adam who is without sin and comes bringing grace. Jesus is the greater Adam and the truest example of the image of God.
Colossians 1:15 says: He is the image of the invisible God
Hebrew 1:2-3 says: in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature
In that sense, Jesus is the true son. I’m giving all of these examples, because Jesus as the Son of God means something. It’s not a haphazardly chosen title.
It points us to the gospel
The sonship of Christ and the fatherhood of God points us to the gospel.
We are God’s children, created in his image who had forsaken God through our sin.
Jesus is the perfect Son of God who was forsaken so we could be forgiven for our sins.
As radical as it is that Jesus addressed God as his father, he invited us to do the same when he taught the disciples how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount.
your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. (Matthew 6:9)
The Apostle Paul says in the opening salutations of all of his letters: grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The fatherhood of God is bestowed upon the people of God because Jesus is the true Son of God.
Jesus is the son of God who allows us to be adopted as God’s children and to approach God as our own father.
John 1:12 says: to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
The adoption language is used by Paul at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:3-5)
That’s the Good News of the Gospel. The Son of God allows us to call God our father.
22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 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. 27 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.”
Prayer
Our heavenly Father,
You are sovereign over creation, over all that has happened, and all that will happen.
It says in your Word:
8 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginningand from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
Lord God, you work all things according to the council of your will. May we rejoice in that .Nothing happens that is outside of your sovereignty. Nothing happens that you have not allowed. You have declared the end from the beginning. You have eternally known of your gospel for our salvation. You are sovereign over our lives. All of the good and the bad that happens is within your perfect will. All of our successes and failures you know. The days of our lives you know the number of. Lord, may we trust in that and in you. May we honor you, may we follow you, may we know you. Lord, on this weekend as we celebrate our independence, we do thank you for the freedoms we enjoy in our nation.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
We’re resuming in the Gospel of John this morning. And we begin another speech from Jesus. Just to remind us of where we’ve been in John. We looked at Jesus feeding a multitude of thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish.
Today, Jesus will interact with many who were in that crowd, who saw that miraculous sign, who ate that bread. They ultimately missed the real significance of what Jesus had done. We’ll see that this week, and in the following passage where Jesus says that he is the bread of life.
For our passage this week, it’s a microcosm of a major issue within American Christianity today.
And so I begin with a question.
If you’re a follower of Jesus, why are you a follower of Jesus?
And with that, we’ll jump into our passage. The first few verses set the scene for the conversation which follows. When Jesus feeds the multitudes, that story ends with the crowd wanting to make Jesus their king, Jesus withdrawing up the mountain, and the disciples setting sail in the sea. The crowd knows that Jesus hadn’t left with the disciples.
Verse 22: On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.
The crowd had not seen Jesus walk on water, nor is there any indication they were aware that had happened. It’s morning and the crowd is looking for Jesus. Quite possibly they still harbor the hope of making him their king and leader.
Verse 23, other boats start to come to where the multitudes are: Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
Tiberias was on the other side of the lake and a group of boats had come over and that appears to be the means through which some of the crowd were able to rejoin Jesus.
Verse 25, the crowd is reunited with Jesus and they address him. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
Jesus responds to the crowd but he doesn’t answer their question. Nor does he tell them of his most recent miracle when he walked on water and calmed the storm. Certainly those would have been incredibly impressive events for the crowd to learn about. But they’ve just experienced Jesus feeding them, and Jesus has a rebuke for the real motivation of this crowd.
Verse 26. Jesus says to the crowd: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
How can Jesus say that? The people had been highly impressed by Jesus multiplying the bread and the fish.
John 6:14: When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
And in the following verse, Jesus withdraws because he knows they want to make him king. Following Jesus is not about merely liking Jesus. It’s not about merely being impressed with the things Jesus says or does. It’s about being a follower of him. The bread was not about bread. The signs that Jesus did pointed beyond themselves. And the feeding of the multitudes in their hunger pointed to Jesus as being the one who feeds a world that is starving in sin. The people came to Jesus because a physical need had been met and Jesus says that is the reason why they’re seeking him.
They weren’t seeking Jesus to find out if he’s really the promised the Messiah, they’re not seeking Jesus to hear his teachings and learn from him. They’re coming to Jesus because he satisfied a need.
And that was a blessing. But the issue is if they want to make their loyalty and devotion to Christ contingent upon him continuing to fulfill their needs. That’s a temptation of the world. That’s a temptation for why many come to Christ.
Jesus gives the parable of the sower. A sower sows his seed. Some fall on the path and is eaten by the birds. Some fall between the rocks, grows a little bit but ultimately withers because it does not have sufficient water. Some seed falls among the thorns and does not have sufficient space to grow. And then you have the seed which falls in the good soil and grows and flourishes.
When Jesus explains the parable, he tells of how the seed is the Word of God. For some, they’re led astray. For others, they don’t have strong roots and fall away in times of difficulty. For others, they don’t have roots and the cares and pursuits of the world distract them.
Finally, Jesus says of the fourth group in Luke 8:15:
15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Jesus knows that many of these people are not in good soil and are more enamored with the spectacle than the savior. They’re more focused on what Jesus does than who he is. They’re more interested in what he can do to meet their physical needs than their spiritual needs. Why are you a follower of Jesus?
There are all sorts of reasons why people turn to Jesus, look to religion. For some, it’s because of a health crisis; for others, it’s a health problem. For some it’s despair. And God uses that. And God meets us where we are.
But if we turn to Jesus just because we’re in difficult circumstances but don’t have beliefs about Christ which are grounded in the reality of who he is. If we come to Christ and are not rooted in the truth of what he did, we will be led astray.
Jesus is the savior of the world who came into a starving world to provide the eternal nourishment that humanity needed. That was the true point of Jesus feeding the multitudes. He’ll say that specifically next week when he tells them: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
(John 6:35)
Jesus had fed them but they missed the point of it. The feeding of the multitude was a sign which pointed beyond itself to who Jesus was and it pointed to the ultimate sustenance of the human soul which Jesus brings.
Why are you a follower of Jesus? It’s a serious question to ask yourself. To examine your heart.
You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Worshipping the gifts over the giver.
There is a modern-day temptation of the prosperity gospel movement.
If you’re not familiar with that term. The prosperity gospel is a movement that has its origins in America about a century ago and came to greater prominence after the Second World War. It has largely grown out of Pentecostalism and the Word of Faith movement.
It is the idea that it is always the will of God for genuine believers to be materially blessed and physically healthy. It’s essentially preoccupied with material blessings.
You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
I’m not saying that this first century audience had a 20th and 21st century notion of a health and wealth gospel. But they’re drawn to Jesus because of him fulfilling a physical need. There are elements of what they believe which are picked up in the prosperity gospel movement.
It’s not the only place where we find this attitude in the New Testament.
Paul addresses a similar issue within the church at Philippi. Philippians 3:19-20:
18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.
They’re not looking to take up their cross and follow him. They’re not looking to die to themselves and their sinful ways. They’re there because of a free meal. The theology that looks merely at the material blessings of God has many problems.
First, it’s not the gospel.
The gospel is the message of Christ crucified and his redemption of sinful people for the glory of God. He died to save souls. The purpose of life is knowing and enjoying Jesus Christ forever. The purpose of life does not revolve around material blessings.
Secondly, prosperity theology teaches things that are not Biblical.
It undermines the doctrine of suffering. The Bible does not hide from suffering. Prosperity theology believes that it is never the will of God for a person to be sick, to die from cancer, to struggle with depression.
The Bible teaches that the Christian life does involve suffering. God uses it and works all things together for good for those who love him. Romans 8:28.
God uses suffering to work his purposes. Story of Joseph. We referenced it last week. Joseph is betrayed by his brothers, but through that betrayal, it brings Joseph into Egypt which allows him to be in a position years later to save his family during a time of famine.
But we also see God’s providence and goodness through that evil.
Genesis 50:20: As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
God uses suffering to sanctify and perfect his people. James 1:2-4: 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Notice that James says to count it all joy WHEN not IF you meet trials of various kinds.
To quote my professor D.A. Carson, if you’re not suffering, just keep living.
Romans 5:3-4: we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope
God uses suffering so that we can have a positive influence on others.
Wonderful passage. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
God uses suffering to remind us that our ultimate need is in him. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9: 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
And we could talk for hours on many more passages. God allows suffering. In his sovereign will, God allows it. It is talked about constantly in the Bible and especially in the New Testament.
And you have televangelists and authors of popular Christian books who say the opposite of that. They’re teaching an idea that is not Biblical. Yes, God does ultimately promise healing, in heaven. But there is no promise given in the Bible that all true believers or faithful Christians will always experience healing in this life.
Third problem with prosperity theology. It turns God into your genie.
God does not primarily exist to fulfill to give you everything you want. A lot of times the things we want are not good.
If you have a child and just gave them everything they ever wanted, would that be loving? Of course not. Because a lot of things kids want aren’t good for them. Prosperity theology views giving not primarily as a way of giving back part of what God has given for the purposes of his kingdom, but as a way to receive material blessings back as a result of your generosity. Prosperity theology views prayer as a way to force God to give you what you desire. Prosperity theology believes that faith is rewarded by leading to prosperity.
Fourth, while turning God into a genie and believing in a theology where good things happen if you’re good enough or have enough faith, what that essentially teaches a person is that they’re in control of their own lives and destiny.
Not Biblical. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign.
Fifth, prosperity theology actually distracts us from true riches.
Ironically, God actually wants to give us so much more than what prosperity theology focuses on. But if we just focus on this world, on materialism, on what’s physical, we lose sight of that.
Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
Sixth, prosperity theology distorts the teachings of scripture and takes the Bible out of context
It cherry picks the Bible.
We’re going through the Gospel of John. Prosperity gospel preaching churches don’t go verse by verse through books. Because they have a theological belief system that is not supported by the whole of scriptures and so they pick and choose what fits their system.
You don’t have great scholars or theologians of prosperity theology. Because honest reading of the Bible tears it down.
Seventh issue with prosperity theology is that it relies heavily on special revelations from God.
I know I’m hammering on this topic this morning. But it’s a highly influential, unbiblical movement that influences Christians here in America and across the world.
Many of the best-selling Christian books are written by prosperity teachers and preachers who do not teach or preach the Word but preach a worldly message. Many, I would say most, televangelists fall into this camp.
Our world eats up prosperity theology because it tells us that it’s all about us. It co-opts the gospel and replaces it with worldliness.
You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Why are you a follower of Jesus? Is it because he is the way, the truth and the life? Is it because he is glorious? Is it because he’s worthy? Is it because he’s the savior of the world? Is it because of the gospel. That you were dead in your sins and that the only way to redemption was through his life, and death and because of the shedding of his blood?
I’m hoping that I’m preaching to the choir on this. For those of us who love the Word of God, who have reverence for the scriptures, the prosperity gospel must be seen as a counterfeit gospel.
But here’s my challenge. Because while we might not buy into a health and wealth gospel, we have so many blessings in our country that there can still be a temptation into falling into the trap of thinking that we’re good and that our lives should be good. We should have good families. We should have happy marriages. We deserve to not really suffer.
It’s a constant temptation. But the Bible makes no such promises.
Why are you a follower of Jesus?
The Biblical message is not that we should follow Jesus so that everything will be easy. It’s that when you follow Jesus, you’re taken from death to life. It’s not a promise of ease but it’s a promise that the difficulties have a purpose. It’s not a promise of getting what you want, but it’s a promise of all things working together for your ultimate good.
People wanted to follow Jesus because he took care of a physical need, but Jesus came in order to tend to our spiritual needs.
Final verse of the passage. Jesus has given his rebuke to the crowds. He’s exposed their heart and the real reason they’re following him.
27 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.”
Jesus tells them to work for the food that endures to eternal life and that is the food which Jesus came to bring.
Not only did Jesus come to bring it, but it can come only through Jesus. As the end of the verse reminds us that it is Jesus upon whom God has set his seal. Jesus is the one who has come to bring eternal life to a sinful world. And he offers that life to you today if you believe in him by faith. Know that you are a sinner and that Jesus has come to forgive you of your sins and reconcile you to God.
Why do you believe in Jesus? Why do I believe in Jesus?
Jean Valjean had stolen silver from the Bishop and the local authorities had caught him red handed. On his own merits, there was nothing Valjean could do to rectify the situation. He didn’t have the money to pay for it. He was guilty. But then something amazing happened. The Bishop tells the officers that the silver was a gift. He reminds Valjean that the ex-convict had even forgotten to take two silver candlesticks with him. The sacrifice for Valjean was not made by himself but by the Bishop .
He let him go.
Once the officers leave, it would be completely reasonable for the Bishop to say, “Ok, I got you off the hook. Now give me my stuff back.” But he doesn’t. He gives it to Valjean but with the expectation that he use those stolen items to restart his life as an honest man.
This is a life changing event for Valjean. And it’s a great metaphor for grace. Merely canceling the debt of the condemned man would have been mercy. But the bishop rewards him. That is grace.
In the book, over 70 pages are spent developing the Bishop’s character and describing his devotion and piety. In film and musical adaptations, he is always portrayed as a minor character but he profoundly impacts the life of the book’s protagonist. For Valjean, there is his life before encountgering the and everything changes after he experiences true love and grace. In the musical, with limited time, I feel that they do the best job they can to show the Bishop’s grace but it is tough to truly capture the full weight of the transformation that the encounter has on Valjean.
There are so many great themes in Les Miserables which have led to the popularity of this story over the past 150 years. And the Bishop’s grace to Valjean is not the only example of sacrificial love we see in this story. It’s seen in how Fantine desperately tries to do everything she can to support Cosette. It’s seen in how Eponine helps Marius find Cosette despite the fact that Eponine is in love with Marius and she’s sacrificing her own joy (it’s not exactly the same in the book).
But the most moving example of sacrifice is seen in the Bishop. I feel that part of the appeal to this story is the way in which it depicts the gospel. Becasuse we are all condemned with a debt that we cannot possibly pay. While we deserve exile and punishment, a priest has personally sacrificed and taken are debt for us. And for people who know this truth, just as it is with the Bishop and Valjean, this grace is meant to transform our lives. It’s not the end in itself. There is a reason behind it.
BUT REMEMBER THIS, MY BROTHER SEE IN THIS SOME HIGHER PLAN YOU MUST USE THIS PRECIOUS SILVER TO BECOME AN HONEST MAN BY THE WITNESS OF THE MARTYRS BY THE PASSION AND THE BLOOD GOD HAS RAISED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS I HAVE BOUGHT YOUR SOUL FOR GOD!
Originally published December 24, 2012
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