Thank God for Food

John 6:25-35

November 22, 2009 – ©Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes

Introduction

As the family was finishing dinner, the father noticed that his eight-year-old daughter had left six green beans on her plate. She usually ate her veggies so he said, “Eat your green beans.” She replied, “Dad, I’m full to the top.” “You won’t pop,” he said. “Yes, I will pop!” she replied. “Risk it! It will be okay,” he responded. “Dad, I couldn’t eat another bite.” Knowing that they were having her favorite dessert that night, pumpkin pie squares, he asked, “How would you like a double helping of pumpkin pie squares with two dollops of whipped cream on top?” “That sounds great!” she said, pushing her plate away. “How can you have room for a double helping of dessert when you can’t eat six green beans?” She stood up tall out of her chair and pointing to her belly said, “This is my vegetable stomach. This is my meat stomach. They’re both full. Here is my dessert stomach. It is empty. I am ready for dessert!” What we eat reveals what we hunger for. [PreachingToday.com, “Hungry for God?” (Phillip Gunter, pastor, Round Rock TX)].

On Thursday we will celebrate Thanksgiving. For Americans, Thanksgiving is food and family, but mainly food. It’s the only meal during the year when many people say a prayer of thanks – thanks for the food.

Seeking Food

The people that Jesus was talking with in John 6 were also focused on food. The beginning of chapter 6 tells the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five small loaves of bread and two small fish. The people had been given free food. They had eaten and been satisfied – at least for now.

They wanted Jesus to stay around and provide more food for them. But Jesus slipped away. He sent his disciples in the boat ahead of him to cross the lake. During the night he met them on the lake as he walked across the water. But in the morning, people realized Jesus had left and set out to find him. “They found him on the other side of the lake.” [Jn.6:25]. Jesus knew that they were hungry, and hoped he would feed them again.

Jesus also knew they missed the miracle – the sign of his multiplying the food. So he told them that they should be looking for more than just food to eat. It was a waste of time and energy to work for food that would satisfy them for only a while. They needed to see that the person who gave them the food was the “real” food, the true source of nourishment.

The signs that Jesus had done – changing water into wine, healing people, feeding 5,000 people, walking on water – were the evidence that Jesus was sent by God. All they needed to do was believe in him.

Yet the people were still thinking about food. They asked: “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” [Jn.6:30-31].

Jesus reminded them that just as God had provided bread from heaven for the Israelites to eat while they wandered in the wilderness for forty years, God was also giving them bread from heaven now – the true bread that “gives life to the world.” [v.33]. The people wanted this bread. Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” [v. 35].

Jesus was the bread of life – eternal life. Jesus was the one who could satisfy their deepest hunger and thirst. They just needed to believe in him.

Seek the Eternal Food

Over 2,000 years later, people are still focused on food, on our hunger. We feel that we need to have food available all the time. We want to satisfy our hunger instantly.

Thanksgiving Day not only focuses on food. It’s a sign that we only have 4 weeks to get ready for Christmas. So let the shopping begin! Spend more than we have on things that people don’t really need.

How many of you have ever gotten a present you didn’t need and didn’t want? Now, how many people do you think will get a present for Christmas this year that they don’t need or cannot live without? Not very many. Yet from Thanksgiving until Christmas we are busy with things that are temporary: food, presents, and holiday activities.

We are so busy that the only truly important thing in life is left out, forgotten. If we forget to buy sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner, it’s okay. But if we forget the bread – the bread of life, we forget what is most important. The only bread that satisfies our hunger is Jesus, the bread of life.

Jesus shows us in John 6:25-35 how to live so that we are continually thanking God for food – food that truly satisfies, food that gives life.

Thank God for Bread

1. Jesus tells us we need a new awareness.

We need to be able to read the signs. When Jesus fed the 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread and fish, he didn’t do it so he could go into the restaurant business. He didn’t do it so that world hunger could be eliminated.

Jesus fed the crowd so that they could see that God had sent him. The purpose of the signs Jesus did was to show them that God had come to earth to provide not just for their temporary hunger, but for their eternal hunger.

There is more to life than our immediate needs. We need to become aware of the presence of the eternal God, who satisfies our deepest hunger.

What has God done in your life this week, this month, this year that show you that God cares about your eternal soul, not just today’s wants? What has God done to satisfy your hunger?

Has God:

o Restored a broken relationship?

o Brought healing to your body, mind or spirit?

o Brought you a friend who cares about you and prays for you?

o Drawn you into the Bible with new understanding?

Jesus wants to show us how much he loves us and cares for us. We need a new awareness of how God is working today.

2. Jesus tell us that we need a new heart.

We need a heart that loves God more than the world. God spoke in Ezekiel 36 to his people, saying: “I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.” [Eze.36:26-27].

When we believe in Jesus and become aware of how much he loves us, our heart responds with love for God. And when we love the Lord our God with all our heart, our soul, our strength and our mind, then we desire to live God’s way, not our way.

Then we begin to love what God loves more than the temporary, superficial, unsatisfying things of this life. We stop focusing on food, things, being better than others, having more than others, winning every race or argument, or doing what others expect of us.

Instead, we begin to hunger for the things God wants for us. We begin to see that believing in Jesus satisfies our hunger and energies us to live for him.

Jesus tells us that we need a new awareness of what God is doing in our lives and we need a new heart that loves God and the things God loves more than the world.

3. Then we will understand what it means to be truly thankful.

The Apostle Paul , said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” We don’t give thanks for all circumstances, but we do give thanks in all circumstances. In everything that happens, we can give thanks.

Why? “Because God is with us! God is always with us, in every circumstance. And if we will open our hearts to him and hold on to him in faith and hope and love, God will see us through. God will sustain us, deliver us, save us.” [James W. Moore, When You’re a Christian (Nashville, TN: Dimensions for Living, 1997) 53].

I ran across a story of a man, named Roy, who thought the hardest part of his day would be driving the unfamiliar “loaner” electric wheelchair. He was headed into downtown Glen Ellyn, Illinois, for a haircut. But his day got much worse. As he was crossing the railroad tracks on Main Street, one of the chair’s wheels became lodged in the track. As he struggled to free the wheel, something went wrong with the chair’s electrical system, and the chair refused to move.

Suddenly the light began to flash, and the signal bells started to ring. The gates in front of him and behind him began to lower. The first person he saw as he frantically looked for help was Mark, who had been running an errand when he saw that Roy was in trouble. He ran to his side and began to struggle with the chair. At almost the same moment, Don had stopped his car at the gates and saw what was happening. He jumped out of the car and helped Mark pull the chair free from the track and drag it out of danger. The three men looked up, just in time to see the train was less than twenty yards away. As the train went by, Roy looked at the Mark and Don and said “Thanks! The only reason I am here today is because these two guys saved my life.”

Jesus Christ came to save our lives. We too need to say thanks. [PreachingToday.com, “Man Thanks Those who Saved His Life”].

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter where we come from. We all need a day to say thank you to God for saving us. We need a day to stop all the busyness of dealing with the temporary things of life and focus on the eternal God who provides them.

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Let those whom the Lord redeemed proclaim that he saved them from trouble, and gathered them from east and west, from north and south. Let us thank the Lord for his steadfast love.” [Ps.107:1-3, 8].

o Ask God give you a new awareness of how God is working in your life.

o Ask God give you a new heart that loves God more than the things of this world.

o Ask God show you how to live every day giving thanks to God in all things.

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. Make it a day to bow our heads and thank the Lord for all he has provided.

This Thanksgiving, as you sit down to eat, remember Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” [Jn.6:35].

Thank God for Jesus, the bread of life. Amen.

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This sermon is copyright ©2009 by Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes, Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church, Chicago, Illinois.