Sermon Sneak Peek for August Second!

Excerpts from "Why Do You Seek Jesus?"

Sunday August 2, 2015

Have you ever asked a question and not gotten the answer you were looking for? I think we all have. 

Well, the text for this week sets up in much the same way as last week's. The crowd is looking for Jesus.

The fact is, that just because a person is asking a question, doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re looking for an answer. Especially if the answer goes against what they were looking for. 

The answers they already had in their heads were wrong. And Jesus let them know it. 

They weren’t seeking Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. They weren’t seeking Jesus as their Lord and Master and Savior. No, they were seeking Jesus only for the things He could do for them. 

They came looking for physical bread, but this time Jesus didn’t give them any. Instead, this time, Jesus turned the discussion away from physical bread to spiritual bread.

The people wanted to talk about food, and even went so far as to bring up the manna in the wilderness. But Jesus kept turning them back to Himself. That’s the theme of the passage. The pattern of the passage is very interesting, too. The people came to Jesus asking questions. As a matter of fact, they ask Him six questions. But their questions weren’t honest, seeking questions. And Jesus didn’t give them the answers that they were looking for.

Sadly, that’s the same thing that happens today. Many times, people are looking for a Jesus who will do things for them. But then as they seek Him for those things, He shows Himself for who He is.

Jesus had just filled their physical needs to overflowing less than 24 hours before. And it didn’t last. Jesus came to fill a much deeper need than that. He came to fill spiritual need

He calls us to seek Him for everlasting fulfillment—even if it costs us temporary fulfillment. Not the other way around. But that wasn’t what the people were looking for.

It’s like they knew that their motives had been exposed, so they didn’t have to beat around the bush anymore. Jesus, how can we do miracles like you do? That’s bold isn’t it? Jesus, I’ve seen you do miracles. I want to know how you do them, so I can do the same thing. And do you know what Jesus did? 

 It’s like they knew that their motives had been exposed, so they didn’t have to beat around the bush anymore. Jesus, how can we do miracles like you do? That’s bold isn’t it? Jesus, I’ve seen you do miracles. I want to know how you do them, so I can do the same thing. And do you know what Jesus did? He exposed their unbelief.

Jesus knew that the people did not believe in Him for who He is. They only saw that He could do really neat stuff. And they wanted Him to tell them how He did it, so they could do really neat stuff. But Jesus exposed their unbelief. And when He exposed their unbelief, He told them that it’s not about working miracles...

Now things are getting a little more confrontational. Things are heating up a bit.

 Now, they asked Jesus to show them another sign.  . “Jesus, I know that we’ve seen you heal lots of people.” “I know that just yesterday, we saw you feed 15-20000 people with five barley biscuits and two sardines.” “But that wasn’t enough—let’s see something else.” “Do another trick for us and we’ll believe you.”

 

They basically demanded, “Give us this bread.” Now, we might have the tendency to think they were starting to see Jesus for who He is and speaking to Him on the same level that He was speaking to them. But they weren’t. In other words, they were telling Jesus, “We want you to give us a continual supply of this bread.

He told them, “you keep wanting to know what I can do for you.” “you keep asking for the stuff that I can give you.” “but you need to know that it’s not about coming to me for what I can give you—it’s about coming to me because of who I am.”

The people were demanding to be given perpetual food. The will of God is that we would instead be perpetually given to Jesus. 

They have gone from asking Jesus questions directly to asking questions among themselves. They were completely shutting Jesus off in their unbelief. First, they tried to discredit Jesus. Then they tried to discredit His Word. This Jesus—He’s just a man. As a matter of fact, He’s not even a very special man. We know His momma and daddy. He didn’t come from heaven. And all of this stuff about eating His flesh and drinking His blood… how in the world can He do that?

And as they became more bold in rejecting Jesus, Jesus became more vague in the way He talked to them.

 

Believing in Jesus is more than just wanting Him to do good things for you. It’s more than just believing a set of facts about Him. No, believing Jesus is feasting on Him.

Just as you hunger and thirst for food, your spirit will hunger and thirst for Jesus.  A relationship with Jesus is intimate. It is life sustaining. It is continual. It is living and it is life-giving. And if you have that relationship with Jesus, it is forever. You will live forever—feeding on the Bread of Life forever.