John Gunter: We are beginning a new series this morning. I'm sorry to leave the last one. I really enjoyed it. Hope you did as well. And the promises that God gives us to to not leave us alone, that God goes with us wherever we go.
This series is gonna be a little bit different. And again, on the screen there, encounters with Christ. Something happens when we encounter Jesus in our lives. And so, for the next six weeks or so, we are going to visit some of those stories within scripture to see how lives are changed when Jesus enters the picture. How many of you, since encountering Jesus, life has gone exactly the way you thought it would go?
Everybody. Oh, let it be shown live that everybody's hand is up. Of course not. A lot of times, God works in the way God wants to work. Isn't that just frustrating?
Can we tell God that this morning? Lord, I wish you just follow the plan that I have set before you. Right? But often, that it it is completely different, and it speaks to the desires we have. Sometimes good desires, but maybe in the wrong direction.
Sometimes we are selfish. Sometimes we desire a certain path or desire a certain timeline. That's that's John Gunther right there. I want it, and I want it now. Yes?
But God works in the way God wants to work, and so that's what we're gonna talk about. The scripture this morning that we're gonna focus on is from John chapter six, and we're gonna start in verse 26. John chapter six starting in verse 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. Jesus had fed these people physically.
They had had seen a sign. They all have plenty to eat, and Jesus said, because you ate your fill, now you are following. 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. And so, as Jesus went around doing these things, he gets a following.
And I don't know what it's like to be famous. I I I know when the the lottery gets humongous, and I start playing out in my mind all the things I would buy with that money? I'd still be here, by the way, so you can't get rid of me, even if I win the lottery. But I start playing out, you know, you know, what that looks like. You ever looked up what to do if you win the lottery?
Like, the first advice that is given is that you need to change your phone number. If you have social media, you need to delete it. You need to become scarce. Because what happens when you have money or fame is you start getting a lot of new friends, very easily. People love you.
They wanna be around you, and it's all for great motives. Right? No. It is out of, what can I get from this person? And so as Jesus traveled the countryside doing different signs and things, and people experienced that, alright, he drew a crowd.
He was a celebrity. And so Jesus said, because you ate your fill of the loaves, that's why you're here. Well, is it wrong to be thankful or to follow a man because he fed you? I I I hope, you know, people say thank you, you know, if you buy them lunch today. No.
But Jesus is pointing to a deeper issue. Their desire in all of this is not to follow God, it is to, what can I get? What what can I receive from this? And so they desire, you know, provision and food. Jesus desires for them transformation.
Two completely different things that that Jesus is speaking to. I like to think about it this way. A lot of times we operate on the surface level, don't we? If if you're part of a small group, I love the questions and I love getting in our groups, and Courtney is here today so I can pick on her. But sometimes I will ask a question that says deeper.
And when Courtney's been in our group, if I ask one of those questions, she said, that's a level three question, John. I need a level one right now. But sometimes, all we do is operate on the surface. Right? God is trying to transform us and change us, and we're like, I just kinda wanna exist up here.
That doesn't mean that Cornel always wants to exist up here. Okay. I'm not not saying that. Let me put that out there. But Jesus desires transformation from the inside, while a lot of times our desires are leading us somewhere else.
In Deuteronomy eight three, and he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. And so you see in that that verse right there, the same kind of, alright, surface level, I'm being fed, but there's a different level that man lives by every word. You you really want to be sustained. It's not about just what you put in your belly. Man lives by every word that comes from God.
I love that he fed you with manna which you did not know. Remember the the word manna? The translation of that is kinda like, what is this? That's a translation that we don't know what to call this. Thankful for it, we're able to eat it until we've eaten it so long, we we don't want to eat it at that same Tex Mex anymore, we want the other one.
But God is giving them food, and they're getting, alright, provision. They're being sustained, but God, again, wants to transform from the inside. We skip down in John six to verse 30. So they said to him, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you? Are you hearing what Jesus is seeing now?
Go ahead and show us another sign. What can you give us that I will believe you if you do another thing? Dance for me. Right? I'll believe you if you do this.
Then what side 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. So I think they're doing a couple of things here. They're pointing out, alright, we we have those fathers that we read about.
Those are our fathers. But also, it's like, they experienced a sign, what can you do? Moses was able to lead the people and they experienced this. If you're such a great person, what do you have for us? And so, they're not necessarily rejecting Jesus outright, but they are challenging him.
They are showing that what I desire is, alright, give me give me something physical so that I can I can see this and believe? I don't know what kind of belief it would be. How many of you are skeptical people? That if I somehow we experienced a miracle this morning, you'd spend a lot of time later on going, okay, how did they do that? Because I know it couldn't have been a miracle.
It had to be this or that. Right? We're we're skeptical people. And so even saying that, if you'll do this, then I'll believe, is is really probably not truthful. Because then it would be, okay, well, that was great.
What next? What else can you do? In Exodus sixteen four, then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether they walk in my law or not. You see, there there's a limit on on what even God wants them to do. Why?
What is our tendency? How many of you have too much stuff at home? Praise the Lord, my wife's not here, she'd be pointing at me right now. I have stuff, I have tools I have bought that I have never used. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I've even tried to to permanently loan some to my buddy Heath because I feel so bad that I have things that I have not used. Because our tendency is to to hoard and to store up, so that we are not dependent on someone else. We don't need anything. Then our faith, our dependency is on ourselves.
And so, even in this story in Exodus, God says, you get just enough for today. Why? Because then you have to depend on God again. You don't have enough. You can't look at that bank account and go, oh, yeah, I'm good for three months, six months.
Then I have to depend on God. In John six verse 32, Jesus then said to him, truly truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, sir, give us this bread always. So, don't be mistaken, they are still operating on the surface. Their desire is to receive something better.
You have this awesome bread we can have, we'll take it. Please provide for it. But they are not ready, they are not willing to receive someone better. They are willing to receive something better, the better bread, they are not willing or able at this point to receive someone greater. And so their minds are still fixed on what does my stomach need at this point.
Isaiah 55 verse two, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. How many of us chase things that satisfy only for a short period of time? Yeah. One of my favorite quotes, I wish I would have remembered to be able to quote it perfectly, but one of the books I had for Lipscomb, one of the quotes that just just jumped off the page at me was that that people are very good at understanding their desires or or or saying, have this desire.
One of those is, I want to be happy. The problem is is that we don't know what brings true happiness. And so, keep chasing that thing we think in the moment will bring us happiness. And that's what the scripture is getting at. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which is which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Go deeper. Listen up. Pursue that which actually satisfies, not something that just brings temporary enjoyment. Back to John six and verse 35, 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. And so their their desire, what they request of Jesus is give us this bread. His answer to that is, here I am. I am that bread. I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. I've got to think there were some heads that dropped in the moment. He keeps talking about that bread. I'd really like to have that bread. How many how many of you get excited before you go to the roadhouse?
Karen, don't don't even bring it up. Okay. Karen fell outside the roadhouse. Yeah. They're thinking still on this on this, oh, I'm hungry.
John's talked about food so much this morning, could he wrap this up so we can get out of here? I've got lunch plans. And he says, okay, you want that bread, you're requesting that bread, here I am. I am the bread of life. If you want to never hunger, if you want to never thirst, here I am.
Come to me. But they are, again, thinking on the surface level. Psalm thirty four eight, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Again, the blessing is not in this I am satisfied for a moment.
The blessing is in knowing Christ. Logan is the funniest. I can say this because he's not here. I do think about every once in a while, if he ever goes back and listens to some of these sermons, things I said when he was in children's church, I might be in trouble. But Logan is one of those that when we finish a meal, he'd really like to know the schedule for when the next one is coming.
Anybody else like that? Yeah. When we're on vacation, we go to Arkansas and we sleep in, and we eat our first meal about eleven, he gets real concerned that we have missed one of our meals and we need to make up for it. You know, how are we going to adjust the schedule so that we can get all three in? And he is my son, we don't need a blood test to determine that.
But I understand it because often that that is what drives our life. Those desires, what's next? I I I need to feel sustained, I need to feel fulfilled, and and of course, as we talk about something like food, we all know we we need it. Right? That is something that that we need in our life, but it can be something that we're just pursuing and not depending on God.
And so Christ satisfies, not by just filling our hands, though I believe God provides, but Christ satisfies by giving himself for us. That when we take of communion as we just did, it's not just about how much get to eat. It's about knowing that Jesus did all of this for me, that he did all of this for you, and that it is much deeper than any physical need. Because our hunger should be the source of that hunger should be our our our separation from God, that we have a a desire to be close to God in everything that we do. That should be the hunger.
That should be the the driving force that I want to be with God. That should be what satisfies us. Not all the things we can buy, not all the things that that just, again, temporarily sustain. It's my father-in-law. I've spent some time with him this weekend, and when we go on vacation together, he'll he'll go into a Bass Pro or something like that, and and I'll say, Steve, what are you gonna buy today?
He said, I'm not sure. They'll have to tell me inside. You ever shopped like that? I don't even need anything, but I'm open to it. Right?
I'm open to what you have. Again, and that's okay. I'm not saying you go buy something today, you're living a sinful life. Right? But what can drive us, what can lead our lives is those those little desires.
Instead of hungering and thirsting for Jesus, as he says, I am the bread of life. And so Jesus satisfies because he gives himself fully. Jesus bore all of our sin, as as Valentin so eloquently said during communion, that we are the ones deserving of that death. We are the ones Jesus didn't live a life of sin that he needed to be punished. Right?
But Jesus bore our sin for us because that is how much God loves us, that he's going to fulfill or he's going to fill us with all the needs we have, and that need is him. In John six fifty one, 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. That is how Jesus sustains. Do you want that, church?
Do you desire Jesus? Or are we following something else? First John four verses nine and ten, in this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. That is the love of God.
That is all we need. Jesus didn't just come to to feed people physically, but to feed them with something that would not only save their bodies, but save their souls. And that is what is offered to you. That your encounter with Jesus has to be something that changes your life. Your encounter with Jesus you you can't walk away from an encounter with Jesus unchanged if your heart is open.
And so as we go through this series, everything is going to be framed in this way. Jesus has done all everything that you need. He has fulfilled every need that you have. Will you come to him? What is your encounter with Jesus going to mean for you?
That's the invitation. We're going to offer that right now. That every week, as we read about stories of people who come into contact with Christ, we're going to ask the question, how about you? Have you submitted your life to him? Have you submitted yourself to his will?
Are we still out chasing something else? Anybody have some desires right now? I'd really like this to happen. I'd really like How many of you would love to have a church building where we had everything we needed? Yeah?
That'd be fantastic. And if all we do is focus on something like that, we're going to forget the blessings that are right in front of us. I am thankful for the place we have to meet right now. Are you? I know some of you are freezing your tails off right now, but I am comfortable, even in a vest.
And I am thankful for a comfortable place to sit. You know, when when Jesus stood in the synagogue, a lot of times what the people did was the the reader of the scroll would sit and everybody else would stand. We even let you guys sit in And so, I point those things out just to say, notice what God has done for you. Look around, be thankful, be joyful, let your life be driven not by the desires of this world, but by what it means to follow Jesus. And if you haven't begun that walk this morning, why not now?
We're gonna walk with you, and let me tell you right now, starting from from me, the elders, deacons, there's not a person in here perfect. Amen. And our goal as a church is to walk side by side. We are not here to to sit and cast judgment on you. We are here to sit and wrap our arms around you, to walk with you, to encourage you in our imperfection.
Because that's what you're gonna find here. You thought you walked into the perfect place this morning? Sorry to disappoint. We are imperfect people trying to follow a perfect savior. Would you follow him this morning as we stand as we seek him?