I Am (Part 2) - The Bread of Life

hi Matt Chandler here pastor of the village Church just want to thank you for streaming this sermon on your device I wanted to just before we get going here just lay before you a deep conviction we have that this video sermon that we've prayed really stirs up your affections for Jesus and shapes you and mold you into the image of the son would just be supplemental to your relationship with the Lord and in no way would replace the church you should be plugged into or the pastor that God has put over your life to Shepherd and care for your soul and so please enjoy the next hour or so of this message we have prayed that God would use it in a profound way in your life blessings I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in Me shall not thirst well good morning if you would grab your Bibles and turn to John chapter 6 starting in verse 25 we'll read John 6 25 through 35 and while you're turning I'll introduce myself my name is Jamie enroller I am on staff at our plano campus but my time on staff at the village actually began here at the flower mound campus and so I know some of you some of the faces are familiar and in some ways this feels like a homecoming and so just know this I'm very humbled and honored to be with you this morning so John 6 starting in verse 25 will read the first or the next 10 verses together and then talk through those when they found him on the other side of the sea they said to him rabbi when did you come here 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 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 then they said to him what must we do to be doing the works of God jesus answered them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent so they said to him then what sign 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 Jesus then said to them 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 and 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 I came across an article the other day that listed 12 ways to have a crowded funeral any time I come across an article that has a list in it right twelve ways to do this or or five things to be sure are present in your life I'll always read that like I don't actually read the article I just scroll down and read the list to make sure I'm doing okay right and so if it's five ways to be a godly dad I'll click on the article skip the intro skip the body and just go down to those five ways and and be like okay I'm alright there I do that really well disagree with that I struggle there and so and then just move on right but this one was just particularly captivating to me twelve ways to have a crowded funeral there's something that's very provocative about that right because I read that I think okay crowded funeral almost equates to a meaningful life if there are a lot of people there to celebrate your life then that means that your life mattered it means it had an impact and I think about my funeral I'm like man I want the place to be packed like I want it to be standing room only I want it to be a perfect combination of laughter and memories and sadness and grief I want at least one person there who made a t-shirt with my face on it right I want a Coldplay song to play I want it to be a big deal and so I read through this article in the list things like sit on your front porch and not your back porch right invite people over for dinner get to know your neighbors and it appeals to this notion that we we want our lives to have meaning we want our lives to matter well we want our funeral to be crowded because we want our life to have been big to make a big splash and so I read through that list and I'm thinking okay what am I not currently doing that I need to be doing so that I do not miss out on what on life and so maybe for some of you you you come at that a little bit differently but but you think in your mind that these are the kinds of things that need to be present in my life for my life to have meaning for my life to carry weight and if I don't do certain things then life hasn't actually happened for me so if I never get married if I don't ever have kids if I never get that promotion if I never travel to that place right so in some ways waiting for life to come to us when all of those gaps are filled so look I'm not very old but but I've realized that as I grow older life grows more precious and the fear of squandering that precious life grows more haunting so the IM statement that we are considering this morning cuts to the very heart of these life issues Jesus is having a conversation with a crowd of people who are looking for life they are after life they're seeking life looking to define their life and they believe that they have found that life in Jesus he's a young teacher young miracle worker a young prophet and so if you were in the crowd on that day as Jesus is teaching if you were in the crowd having this conversation that Jesus is having here's what you would have at least heard about and maybe even seen firsthand that in the beginning of the Gospel of John Jesus has this conversation with Philip and says before I met you I saw you so he has some sort of divine knowledge some sort of divine power and then maybe you would have been at the wedding where Jesus turns the water into wine and you're sitting there and you're partying with your friends and you drink this wine and you're like wait this is the best wine why didn't they serve the best one at the beginning and someone comes along and says no no Jesus made that wine from water and there's this buzz and this excitement people freaked out about him so maybe you heard about the conversation that Jesus has with the woman at the well and in all the city is buzzing about that conversation or maybe you heard about him healing the officials son or maybe you even you were even there and you watched a man crawl into the pool lame and you watch Jesus have a conversation that man with that man and he walks away from the Pool of Bethesda healed and so what you would have been a part of if you were the crowd is you have been a part of this rhythm of seeing Jesus heal of hearing Jesus teach and each time that happened it's followed by belief followed by a crowd of people who say together there's life in him we found life and so when you get to chapter six the chapter that we're in now at the very beginning of chapter six what happens is it's there the crowd has grown to thousands it says five thousand min so another thousands of women and another thousands of children would have been present and they're listening to Jesus teach and they get hungry and so they're starting to make their plan about how they're going to go and get food maybe they have to go all the way back to their village or all the way back to their city and Jesus says no you have to go anywhere he grabs this young man he takes his lunch and he multiplies the bread and multiplies the fish and he feeds everyone in then some there's leftovers and the people freaked out they say this is the one that they prophesied about and Jesus has to slip out of the crowd because he knows that this crowd of thousands is about to come and take him by force to make him King and so what you have you have a crowd of people you have a megachurch of people that have left their homes left their jobs left their livelihood to follow Jesus they are ready to reorient their lives around this man to make him King because they believe that they have found life in him and by the end of this conversation that we just read the thousands are reduced to dozens there is a massive shift in the heart of the massive crowd and many of them leave Jesus that day and never returned verse 60 says that they respond to Jesus is teaching by saying these are hard words who can listen to them verse 66 says that many that day turned from Jesus and no longer walk with Him what happens like that's a devastating day for Jesus right I mean to look out among the crowd and by the end of the day to look at your 12 and that's it what happened Jesus looks at a people they're looking for life and he offers them a definition for life that they do not accept that's what happens that they're coming to Jesus looking for life and Jesus responds to that search for life and exposes the emptiness of the life that they're after we're going to look together right now and we'll see three things that Jesus exposes in the crowd he exposes their need he exposes their motivation and then with his I am statement he exposes their allegiance let's look together at verse 25 when they found him on the other side of the sea they said to him rabbi when did you come here 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 you know Jesus doesn't answer their question right he completely changes the subject they said when did you get here ins he says you're only here because you're looking for bread so in this conversation there's an event that the crowd references there's an event that Jesus references and if we don't know what event that is this could kind of feel like listening to two friends talk about a movie that you've never seen so what happens is is in Exodus God's people are in slavery and there's this tyrant named Farah who's enslaving God's people and murdering God's people and oppressing God's people and so God sends his servant Moses and sends his plagues and delivers his people from slavery with a mighty hand he brings them out through the waters of the Red Sea and into the wilderness and in Chapter 15 of the book of Exodus they sing a song called the song of Moses and they're saying God is our deliverer God is strong God prevailed over Pharaoh and his chariots and then in chapter 16 of the book of Exodus they sing a song about how God has left them because they don't have any food so they're they're terribly grateful for what God has done and so what happens is is that they get into the wilderness and they say we had food in Egypt and we have no food here and so God provides God sends bread from heaven called what manna and he sends enough bread enough mana for his people every day just enough for that day on the sixth day he sends enough for two days so that the people could rest on the seventh day which was the Sabbath and God sends this manna from heaven this bread from heaven God sends it for his people for 40 years every day they wake up God provided every day they wake up God provided so fast forward from that event in Exodus 16 follow me here fast forward from that event a couple thousand years and there are people prophesying about the Christ that is to come prophesying about the Messiah is to come and they say that when the Christ comes guess what's going to come with him bread from heaven there's more manna that's coming and so fast forward from that prophecy another couple hundred of years in what have the people just seen Jesus do multiplied the loaves and so they see that and they say okay this is the sign that accompanies the coming of the Messiah so they come to Jesus and start this conversation with Jesus but Jesus knows their heart and so they're not coming to him saying you provided the bread which means you are God become man sent to save us from our sins and save the world they come to him and say you got any more bread so look at 26 truly I say to you you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves 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 so this is where the conflict begins this is where Jesus starts to expose certain things about their expectation about their heart and first Jesus attacks them at their need and says this your perceived need is not your actual need your coming thinking there's more manna on the way how great would it be if this guy fed us for 40 years that would be the life and Jesus says but that's not your actual need in Greek there are a few ways to talk about life and in English we only have one right so I can ask you two different questions with very different meanings but use the same root word for life I could come to you and I could in a panic say is he alive or I could come to you casually and say hey how's life same word but in Greek they have eight different words to express those different meanings of life one of the words for life in Greek is the word BIOS and it means physical life material material life essentially and so in in Luke chapter 8 Luke uses this Greek word to talk about a woman who had been sick for a decade and said that she had gone from one doctor to another doctor to another doctor looking for a cure and she spent all of her BIOS on medical bills Oliver what all of her life specifically all of her money Oliver livelihood all that she needed to be sustained physically there's another Greek word for life into the Greek words Zoe and it's not talking about physical life it's talking about a life that transcends the physical the quality of life and eternal life so Paul uses this word for life in Romans 6:4 when he says that we've been buried with Christ and raised to walk in newness of Zoe eternal life so John is writing about this account and he's got these two words that he can use and you have a people that are coming to Jesus looking for bread looking for something physically to meet their physical need and you would expect to see the word BIOS use but what Jesus says is don't look for food that perishes but look for the food of Zoe eternal life in other words you have a hunger that transcends your physical hunger hear me you have a thirst that transcends your physical thirst you have a Zoe need that you're trying to fill with a BIOS solution and it will fail you and so Jesus exposes their need he says look guys you are concerned with your stomach and I'm concerned with your heart and so I read about these people and I think men they still don't get it and as I sit in a seat of judgment over them I'm humbled by the reality that that's just the human heart right I'm right with them I mean I mean that's the deception of the human heart we know something's wrong we're not foolish you're not a foolish people any of you who are intellectually honest spiritually honest emotionally honest you realize that things are not perfect something's wrong you and I we look in the mirror we look out the window and we realize something has gone wrong the question is not do we agree that something's wrong the question is do we agree with God about what that is because I think often that human tendency is to minimize our problem and then to look for a solution to our problem that we can control and that we can manage and so maybe it manifests itself like this I need life I have a problem but my problem is the pressures of life my problem is the circumstances of life and so I will find my Zoe in a bottle or in a drug or my problem is that I'm just i need satisfaction and i'm just incessantly dissatisfied and so I will find my Zoe I will find my life and the pleasures of life and the lust of life and the flesh of life or maybe what I really need is I just need more affirmation and so I will make my Zoe all about the opinions of others and the affirmation of others and what Jesus is saying is that whatever you're looking to for life that's what you're feasting on that's your meat and your drink that's what you're looking to for sustenance and if you find your life and things that perish you will never be filled so that high is going to wear off that pleasure is very fleeting those compliments will fade and ultimately none of those things will fill you because you need a Zoe solution for your Zoe need and he goes on in 28 they respond to him they said to him what must we do to be doing the works of God jesus answered them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent so they said to him then what sign 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 Jesus then said to them 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 then they said to him Sir give us this bread always they still don't get it Jesus exposes their need and to that they respond by saying okay obviously you're talking about some sort of higher end version of manna like they think they miss what he's saying and they think okay there's some sort of manna to no that's gonna fall from the sky tell us what we need to do to get that and so Jesus exposes their motivation says you're not here for me you are here because of the benefits that you get from me not because of the relationship that you get with me that's why they say what work can we do because when you remove the relationship that's all they have left to do is work let's barter with God they wanted Jesus to be a mediator between them and God giving them goods from God they didn't want him to be the Messiah they just wanted him to mediate and Jesus says all you want are benefits from me you don't want a relationship with me you're not coming to me for sustenance you're not coming to me for relationship you're coming to me because of what you think you can get out of this and he exposes their motivation and that's what Chandler talked about last week right the danger especially in our context of just impersonal religion and impersonal religious activity there's a man who was a missionary several years ago and he was ministering in a desert region and in one of the ways that he would serve and loved the people he was ministering to is that he would go into the city to get clean water because the villages had no clean water and he would take the clean water from the city to the village and then leave that village and go to another village he would load up a wagon barrels and barrels full of clean water and he would take and distribute that to the people so that they could live and one day he leaves the city and takes the clean water to the first village and then he leaves the first village to go to the second village and he never makes it so the villagers wait a day passes two days pass and finally they send a party out looking for him and they find this man and his wagon full of water and he is dead and so they take him back into the city and take him to the hospital the doctor looks at him and he said he died of thirst with water all around him everything he needed to stay alive was within his reach but he failed to drink and listen friends if we are in this for the benefits of Christianity but not the Christ of Christianity then we will be that guy come to church give our money do religious things never drink motivated by guilt motivated by self-righteousness motivated by emotionalism motivated by friends and family motivated by Bible Belt culture and never drink never taste and see and look if this is us right if this is us then it will manifest itself in our lives in a very specific way if we are in this for benefits and not for Jesus then there will be a disparity between the public appearance of our relationship with God and the private reality of it talk a lot about God but I'm talk to God talk a lot about God's Word but don't read God's Word believing that what matters most is what everyone else says about us in the crowd instead of what God says about us in the quiet and look it may be easy for us to fool a lot of people but God is no fool he's no fool and so what will happen is that one thing the benefits of Christianity but not the Christ of Christianity wanting things from Jesus but not wanting Jesus that may change your schedule it may change my schedule but it won't change our heart relationships are what bring lasting change in your life right like I'm a huge Dirk Nowitzki fan I really am but I'm not different because of that like that hasn't changed me but my parents have my wife has my kids have the staff of the village church they have you see the effects of those relationships all over me how much true is that with Jesus the Christ that if you're in relationship with him it will change you you will become holy as he is holy you will conformed into the image of God's Son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers you will look like him but you don't get that by circumventing a relationship with him you don't it's impossible and so those things don't come wanting things from him those things come by wanting him so he exposes their motivation this is why you're here and then look at 35 this is where everything falls apart 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 the rest of this chapter is Jesus unpacking that statement so who go on from here to say you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood but the rest of this chapter is him unpacking that I am statement I am the bread of life and this is the turning point for the crowd this is the definition of life that they just cannot accept Jesus comes and says I have not come to bring bread I've come to be the bread I've not come to improve your life I've come to be your life into that they reject his definition of life because God says that what true xoay is is true Zooey is that Jesus is the I am the bread of life which means that he is both the means and meaning of life the means by which we live in the meaning of what life is all about but he didn't stop there he goes on to be even more polarizing than that he says whoever comes to me in faith will never hunger whoever believes in Me will never thirst here's what Jesus is saying Jesus looks at them and says I'm all you need I'm all you need like I am the thing that you are looking for to have me and nothing else is to have everything therefore turn from whatever it is that you're currently looking to for life into that the crowd responds that says nope not gonna do that like so for them they were fine as long as they got Jesus and the bread they loved that guy they wanted to make that guy keen but as soon as Jesus demands an ounce of allegiance from them as soon as Jesus says the thing that you're currently looking to for life the bread that you want it won't actually fill you turn from that and trust in me as soon as he draws a line in the sand the crowds in wave after wave walk away they say this is a hard teaching who can accept it I think maybe the most surprising thing to me in preparing for this sermon was finding out how long Jesus had been ministering at this point when this conversation happens you know you'd think it's John chapter 6 we're not very far into the book so surely Jesus has been doing this for about a year his entire ministry was about three years and some change and so surely at John six you're in maybe month 11 or something like that but in the reality is that John's gospel mostly covers the third year of his ministry so that when this conversation happens Jesus is exiting year two and entering year three which means some of those who are walking away had been with Jesus for over two years seeing him walked with him heard from him and they missed him um if I was not a pastor I would be a storm chaser I'm obsessed with storms I just love them specifically I love tornadoes I get that they cause a lot of damage and destruction and some not making a light of that but there's something about me that's just captivated by them captivated by their power and and I just I love them always have right out of high school I worked for a company traveling around the state of Texas and into some other states and and they gave us a company truck and it was this huge white truck that had a massive gold Texas star on the hood amen and so they gave us this truck to travel around in one weekend we are driving on Interstate 40 into Oklahoma City and we're getting near Oklahoma City and I look around and I just noticed that the weather is kind of changing a little bit it had been gray and the sky was changing just some sort of like pinkish purple just eerie color and and I noticed that the wind was picking up and they started hailing and and then I noticed that we were actually the only vehicle left on the road that everyone else had pulled over and turned their hazards on so I thought okay I turned the radio on and there's a weather broadcast that said hey a tornado has touched down it didn't say hey it said it's very casual in Oklahoma so said a tornado has touched down by Interstate 40 in between mile marker 90 and 91 I look up and we past mile marker 88 so I look over at my buddy nos at Amen you think we should you know pull over under a bridge or something or I don't know maybe we should just go see it and so he just starts crawling into the back and covered himself with pillows and praying so like an idiot I just punched the gas I was like let's go just flew down the interstate and things got really hectic the wind picked up and and things were flying in the air and the hail was just pelting this vehicle that I didn't have to pay for and so we're just driving and driving and driving in and my eyes were peeled open looking for this thing because I knew we were close my truck is moving on the road then all of a sudden we punched through the storm nothing I look at my rearview mirror and and I see the storm behind me but but but nothing so he drive on into Oklahoma City and do what we were there to do and then that night went up to our hotel room and I turned on the TV and watched the news and they're showing this feed from the storm earlier in the day and it's this picture of the tornado tearing through this open field and you can see interstate 40 in the background and I kid you not as I'm watching I see this white truck with a gold star drive right by missed it I was right there felt all of the effects of this storm was moved by the wind emotionally affected by the power of this thing and completely missed the source that's where the crowd is they wanted Jesus to be a meal ticket they wanted Jesus to be a politician they wanted Jesus to be an entertainer they wanted Jesus to be a healer they wanted Jesus to conform to their own image in their own expectations and they were around him they were affected by him they experienced him were impassioned by him in with him and missed him and as a result they missed life in frenzy sincerely I'm afraid that that may be where some of us are maybe you've been at this a long time been around this building even for a long time and Jesus comes and he says I'm the bread of life and so turn from whatever it is that you're finding life in and my fear is that we will look at the bread that's in our hands and we will look back at Jesus and we were closed our hands around that thing and say I have all the life that I need right here all of it I have all that I need in my job I have all that I need in this addiction I have all that I need in this relationship I have all that I need in my dreams I have all that I need in this sin and if you're telling me Jesus that to get you I have to give up this I don't know how I might walk away because that's not the life that I'm interested in and if that's you then let me plead with you with this that Jesus is the only bread that will break for you of all the breads that are out there Jesus is the only one that breaks for you of all the breads that are out there every other bread will break you try it it will perish it will leave you wanting it will leave you broken but Jesus comes along and he says I am the bread of life and he finds us starving to death with a stomach full of Savior substitutes eating to become hungry again drinking to become thirsty again looking for life and never finding it in Jesus comes he says I am what you're looking for I am all that you need I am enough for you and then he goes to the cross and the bread of life is broken for us dies in our place bears the penalty that was ours to bear raises again in victory over sin and death so that hungry sinners might feast on grace that thirsty sinners might drink cups of forgiveness and cups of love and cups of allegiance to Jesus and in as much as the manna from heaven came down and fed our fathers in the wilderness Jesus is the bread of life come from heaven and he is enough for you and me every day that's what the disciples knew not the false disciples not the crowd that there are two groups having this conversation one of the groups is the crowd and one of the group's is the twelve and the twelve don't respond the way that the crowd does look at verse 66 after this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him so jesus said to the twelve do you want to go away as well Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God in their response you see the difference between true belief and false belief what does false belief say about Jesus's words it says these words are hard who can listen to them see false belief is hardened by the Word of God false belief is hardened by the words of Jesus and so listen friends that could be happening even now there could be some of you sitting under this word and in your heart is hardening because of something in your life because of something that you're thinking because of something that you believe in your heart is hardening may that be a warning to you because true belief hears the words of Jesus and say your words are life there's life in them and true belief is softened by the words of Jesus true belief is broken by the words of Jesus true belief is sustained by the words of Jesus and then false belief Bailes when the allegiance is demanded when Jesus draws the line in the sand and says I am all you need false belief looks at all of the other things and walks away Martyn lloyd-jones said this he said anyone who has any conceivable alternative to Jesus Christ is not a Christian but that's not what true belief is true belief doesn't have it all figured out true belief doesn't still doesn't not wrestle true belief doesn't have all of their questions answered but true belief just simply and basically in a raw way comes to Jesus and says where would we go if we left from this spot right now where would we go like who has the words that you have who has the ministry that you have there's nowhere for us to turn to but you Jesus and that's true believe four years ago I sat right there at an acts 29 conference I was ministering in another Church at the time and just really believed that God was going to one day move me from that church into some other work and known for a while he wants me to do ministry for my life but but wasn't sure what that looked like and so I came into that conference believing that God was gonna tell me what my life plan was it almost came in believing that God owed me that could I've been doing this for so long so I walked in and I just hung on every word from every pastor and thought okay God at what point like just am I going somewhere my moving and my planting am I gonna revitalize want me to do and I'll and I'll do it so I hung on every word and that expectation built in that anticipation built to the point where I really thought that at any turn he could just audibly speak to me and I would know and then the conference ended and I hadn't heard anything so I went to dinner that night with the guys that I had come with and I was just anxious and I just I couldn't eat and it was stressing over it and so I look at him and I said guys I've just got to go pray he said well we'll come with you I said no I need to do this alone this needs to just be me and God and so I dropped them off at the hotel and I just drove and prayed whatever it is God just tell me whatever you wanna do just just talk to me and I wasn't hearing anything so I thought okay well after all this driving maybe I just need to find a church somewhere and go and pray and as I look around I realized that I am not far from lakeside Baptist Church in Duncanville Texas where in 1987 my dad became the pastor the year I was born I grew up in that church and I was close and I thought okay that's it right like that's what God's doing like I'm gonna go and there's gonna be some old man there dressed like Moses who's gonna give me some tablet with my life plan on it was confident in that and so I drove and I passed all of these things that that I hadn't seen in so long the restaurants and schools and I drove and guys as I pulled into the parking lot there was a car it's like a Honda Civic something that Moses would drive just sitting right in front of the fellowship hall it's like okay that's it's right I get on my car and I go and I'm not gonna fellowship hall doors and no one comes and so I'm not Carter and no one comes and so I bang on these doors at 11 o'clock at night and then all of a sudden the church janitor walks down the hall and he pierced through the glass and he says can I help you I said yeah I mean I'm just here to hear from God can I come in and he goes no he turns around and walks away so I was like okay god bless and I'm like okay well well surely the sanctuaries open and so I go around to the sanctuary doors and pull on them knowing that one of them's gonna be unlocked and they're locked and so I just turn around and I go to the steps of the church right outside the sanctuary and I just sat down come on God I'll go just talk to me and as I'm sitting there I look down at the steps and I think to myself all of this is just so familiar I've sat on these steps before countless times after church after VBS after Ilana's after all those things you do growing up as a pastor's kid I look over and this is grass the area and that's where my brother and I used to play football together and I look over to the side of the church and that's where my friends and I used to try to climb on the roof of the church look across the street and there's the parsonage there it's for my family live it's where I spent the first ten years of my life so I learned to walk that's where I learned how to pray it's the place where I first spoke the name of Jesus and I look behind me at these sanctuary doors and I remember that behind those sanctuary doors is the first place that I heard God's Word preached it's the first place that I heard the gospel it's the first place that I ever lifted my hands in worship to Almighty God it's the place where 20 years before that moment I was baptized with my brother by my father and began to publicly follow Jesus as his disciple it's as if God just said hey I'm the bread of life you don't have to be thirsty you don't have to be hungry just trust me your life Jamin is not your plans it's not you having it all figured out your life is me I am your life plan as if he said look I didn't bring you out here to reveal something that you don't know but to remind you of what you've always known I'm enough he's enough and so as I sat there in those memories flooded in all I could do is confess to God God you started all of this and recounts countless moments from that time in my life till now where God sustained me where he guided me where I needed direction rebuked me when I tried to find life outside of him picked up my face when I was downcast and reminded me time and time again that he and he alone is the bread of life and so where I found myself on that night on those steps is where I find myself on this day on this stage where would I go where would I go that's what Peter says where do we go Jesus what rabbi would teach us like you we heard you teach in the temple who has authority like you we saw you walk on water who has power like you we were there when you calm the storm who has mercy like you we heard you with the woman at the well who has courage like you we saw you before the mob's we saw you on trial we saw you speak truth in the face of your accusers who has faith like you we heard you weeping in the garden where you said not my will but yours be done who has love like you we saw you beaten we saw you mocked we saw you nailed to the cross board and driven into the ground who has grace like you we heard you speak forgiveness over your enemies who has victory like you we saw you walk over death's dead body on the way out of the grave so that death has no sting and death has no victory who has a rule like you you ascended to the right hand of the Father and everything is in subjection under your feet and who Jesus who has an ending like you you will burst through the clouds and you will bring final and complete defeat over your enemies final and complete restoration of all that was lost so where we go I mean I could make my life about my job or I could make my life about my kids or I could make my life about my body or I could make my life about my dreams or I could make my life about my hobby or I could make my life about anything else and end up just as empty as I started or I could come to the bread of life and never thirst again where we go there is no life outside of Jesus there's not so that's my prayer for us today is that we would arrive at that place no matter what's the circumstance you're going through no matter what level of health you believe you're walking in that all of us would have as that foundational confession of our heart Jesus where would we go life is about you Jesus and so what I would ask in closing is I would like to lead us in confessing some things together if they apply to you and so if you'll just listen with me for a minute you can go ahead and bow your head and close your eyes and and as you're doing that would you just open up your hands like this that you would bow your head and close your eyes and just leave your leave your hands open before God if your bread is a relationship an idolatrous relationship an adulterous relationship a codependent relationship if that's your bread would you confess that that's a Savior substitute and as a sign of surrender with your hands open would you just say to God that you and you alone can sustain me Jesus as great as that guy is as great as that girl is they are not you they're not the bread of life and so just confess to God that you can take this imitation and give me yourself the real thing friends if your bread is a substance if it's a drug if it's a drink if it's a food would you confess that it's left you empty and hungry and wanting and as a sign of surrender would you open up your hands and say to God you can have this you can have this I want you Jesus I want the better bread listen to me friends brothers and sisters hear me if your bread is the approval of people the opinions of others would you confess that the compliments are fleeting and the criticism is crippling and as a sign of surrender with your hands open to God say I don't need a thousand empty words that I can't keep I need your words over me that will never change if your bread is empty religious works but there's no real relationship and your hands are open would you confess to God that who you are in the crowd is not who you are in the quiet and as a sign of surrender with your hands open would you confess Jesus I want to know you to not have you is to have nothing to have you is to have everything so I want to know you Jesus and my prayer is that together our hearts would say as st. Agustin once said you've made us for thyself and our heart is restless until it rests in you God Jesus doesn't come to his disciples and say you better not leave he didn't command them he asks them are you going to walk away too and so maybe for some of us this morning he's asking Jesus we love you we thank you for your goodness in your grace confess Jesus you are life you and you alone and I don't want to leave that I don't want to treat you like a fool I don't want to pretend I want to sincerely and genuinely be sustained by you I know you're eager to do that and so we give this to you God whatever this bread is that that's in our hands whatever it is that's currently failing us whatever it is it's failing to sustain us we give that to you what a rich trade for us to give up this thing and to get you in return how merciful are you to offer that to us so we as a people want to take you up on that life is about you life is found in you Jesus you are the bread of life we believe that help us amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 45,987

Rating: 4.757576 out of 5

Keywords: The Village Church, Jamin Roller, I Am

Id: 8lhuBmRQjQ0

Length: 47min 25sec (2845 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2016