Satisfaction is Possible
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our Visible God series, which is about seeing God through the life of Jesus. We’re studying a book of the bible called the Gospel of John, which records the life and words of Jesus as it was written by an original source, an original follower of Jesus, and today we’re talking specifically about finding satisfaction in life. Finding satisfaction in life is a universal hunger, it’s something we all want. We want to come to a place where we’re completely satisfied with life. Are you there yet, are you at a place where you’re completely satisfied in all areas of your life?...Are you satisfied in your marriage, satisfied in being single, satisfied in your work, satisfied in all areas of your life? If you’re not, then why aren’t you satisfied?...What’s missing in your life, that’s causing you to not feel satisfied?...
See we not only have a universal hunger for satisfaction in life, we also have a universal problem. We have a universal problem where we feel like something’s missing in life, and your dissatisfaction in life is often linked to whatever you feel is missing. For example some people are dissatisfied with their self-image, they feel they’re missing certain body features or a certain personality...Some are dissatisfied with marriage, they feel they’re missing things form their spouse like being respected, appreciated, pursued emotionally and sexually by their spouse...Others are dissatisfied in being single, they feel they’re missing out on having a spouse, having kids, sharing 2 incomes, simply having a loving companion to share and do life with...Here’s one a lot of us are dissatisfied with, our jobs. Sometimes we feel we’re missing out on a job that pays more, has more success, stability, less pressure, better hours to be home more. Your dissatisfaction in life, is often linked to whatever you feel is missing. So what’s missing for you?...What’s missing in your life, that’s causing you to not feel satisfied?...In today’s text Jesus offers to satisfy our hunger. Finding satisfaction in life is a universal hunger, but Jesus offers to satisfy our hunger. So let’s turn to John 6:22-71 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle, turn a few books to the right you’ll find John. It’s John 6:22-71. Title of today’s message is Satisfaction Is Possible, and here’s the big idea. Satisfaction isn’t found in something, it’s found in someone...
Satisfaction in life isn’t found in something, it’s found in someone. It’s found in Jesus.
Context:
Here’s your context. In vs 1-21 John the author of this book of the bible, records two miraculous events in history. The 1st event is Jesus feeding 5000 hungry people, and the 2nd is Jesus walking on water saving his disciples from a massive storm. Now in both events Jesus is revealing he’s the same God who delivered Moses and the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. He’s revealing he’s the same God who provided manna for them in the wilderness, and delivered them from Egyptian slavery by parting the Red Sea. Just like he provided food and deliverance for the Israelites back then, he’s come to provide food and deliverance for us today. But he’s also come to satisfy our hungry souls. He’s come to offer us satisfaction in life, and so let’s check it out.
The Word:
John 6:22-71 states this, “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.’” Okay so they’re not seeking Jesus to genuinely follow him, they just want more food, they want another Hebrew Happy Meal. We see people do this all the time with Jesus. We do it too sometimes! We want the gifts, more than the Giver of the gifts. It’s okay to ask Jesus for gifts, but Jesus wants them and us to check our intentions for following him, even for being here this morning. I see 2 probing questions being implied by Jesus in this text, and the 1st is a question of intention and worth. He’s asking what’s your intentions for following him? Is it to receive gifts, or to receive him?...What’s worth more to you, the gifts you’ve been praying for, or Jesus?...If your intentions for following Jesus are to receive gifts, and if the gifts are worth more to you than him; you’ll be dissatisfied in your relationship with him if he doesn’t give you the gifts you wanted. For some of you this is why you’ve stopped reading your bible and praying. It’s because Jesus didn’t give you what you wanted, so you’ve stopped pursuing him. The gift you’ve been pursuing is worth more to you than pursuing him. But others will just stop attending church, they’ll take a break from Jesus, or if they’re a nominal, they’ll stop following Jesus like we’ll see happen with the people in the text. These people are all about Jesus, as long as he’s giving them what they want. Their hearts, their intentions aren’t in the right place. They want more food, not more of Jesus. The gifts are worth more to them, than the Giver of the gifts. Here’s how Jesus responds.
Vs. 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.” Notice he describes 2 different kinds of food. It’s food that “perishes,” and food that “endures.” If you have kids, teenagers, or eat like me, your groceries will perish real quick. Groceries last like 3 days in my house. They either vanish from eating them, or spoil from not eating them, but either way they perish. You know what doesn’t perish? Jesus...Jesus doesn’t perish, and he proved it when he rose from the dead on the 3rd day, which is exactly his point! His point is that he’s the food that doesn’t perish, he’s the food that endures to eternal life. His point is that we should pursue him, more than the things that’ll perish. He isn’t saying we shouldn’t work for food or that we can’t enjoy some perishing things in this life. He isn’t saying we shouldn’t have hopes, dreams, desires, or that we should all just go live in a cave with our bibles. He’s simply saying we should live our lives in greater pursuit of him and food that endures, rather than things that perish, food that perishes.
So The 1st probing question was about intentions and worth, but the 2nd probing question is about our priorities. Jesus is asking are the things you’re losing sleep over, the things you’re working so hard for in life really worth it? Are you working for things that perish, food that perishes, or food that endures? So many people are losing sleep, working hard killing themselves pursuing things that’ll perish and never satisfy. We’ll pursue money, but eventually our money will perish when we perish. We’ll pursue having a supermodel body and beauty, but we can’t fight the aging clock. Our body and beauty will perish like our money. Money, working out, and staying healthy aren’t bad things to pursue, but some people treat them like they’re the food that endures. Jesus is saying don’t make your perishing things, sacred things...Don’t make your perishing things, sacred things. Don’t make them more sacred than Jesus. Satisfaction in life isn’t found in something, it’s found in someone. It’s found in Jesus. He’s the food that never perishes.
Again vs. 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.’ 28 Then they said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ 29 Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’” So the people came not for Jesus, but for more food, and they get all excited when Jesus starts talking about a food that endures. They’re like “You want to give us an endless supply of Hebrew Happy Meals? I’m in! Sign me up! What kind of labor, what kind of work do we need to do for it?” Jesus tells them they need to believe. He tells them it isn’t about something they need to do, it’s about someone they need to believe. It’s about believing in him. If they want to receive the soul satisfying food he’s offering, they need to believe in him. Jesus reiterates this point even further in vs 35.
Vs. 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.’” Jesus tells them straight up “I am the bread of life!...I am the bread of life, the food that endures, and if you believe that I’m God, I’ll satisfy your hunger and thirst beyond the perishing manna and food I gave the 5000.” They came seeking food that perishes, but Jesus is offering them food that’ll never perish which is himself. But the reason we have a universal hunger for satisfaction is because we’re like the people in the text. We keep trying to satisfy our hunger with things that perish, with food that perishes rather than with Jesus. The human soul’s hungry for satisfaction because our sin has separated us from the God who can satisfy us. Our souls weren’t meant to be satisfied by perishing things, they were meant to be satisfied by God’s imperishable love for us. Blaise Pascal sates, “There was once in man a true happiness, of which all that remains, is the empty print and trace. This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him…though none can help. This infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite, and immutable object; which is by God himself.” In the words of St. Augustine, “You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” City Awakening our soul isn’t craving something, it’s craving Someone! It’s craving to be reunited with our infinite God who’s able to satisfy the infinite hunger in our souls! Jesus is saying he’s that God! He’s the bread of life who can satisfy our infinitely hungry souls.
This is the great news, the great work of the gospel Jesus wants us to believe in. The Gospel is that Jesus is our God who came to die for our sins on the cross. He came to remove the sin gap between us and God so we could be reunited with God. The imagery of bread is a great picture of the gospel, because you need to break bread to feed your physical body, just like Jesus needed to break his body on the cross to feed our spiritual bodies. Jesus is the food we need for our starving souls. He says if we believe in that gospel, we’ll be restored with the only God who can satisfy our hungry souls. We’ll receive the food that endures. But we need to be careful not to think if we believe this, then God will just give us everything we want, all the gifts we’ve been praying for. That’s the mistake a lot of people make, they think if they believe in Jesus he’ll give them whatever they want. But like I said before, that’s no different than the people in the text! The people in the text want the gifts more than Jesus and they’re missing the point. The point is that Jesus IS the gift! Jesus is the gift! John Piper states, “Indeed there are ten thousand gifts that flow from the love of God...But none of these gifts will lead to final joy, if they have not first led to God.” If being reunited with Jesus isn’t our greatest gift, then we’ll always be dissatisfied if we don’t receive the smaller gifts we’re praying for. We’ll be dissatisfied like the people in the text are dissatisfied. They weren’t satisfied at the feeding of the 5000, they’re not satisfied now, and in vs 41 some of the Jews start grumbling. So Jesus responds in vs 51 saying this.
Vs. 51, “‘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.’ 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ 53 So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’” The Jews are like “This guy’s sounding like a Stephen King movie. What’s he mean eat his flesh and drink his blood?” It’s a valid question they’re asking, and I’d be asking that question too, or running! I’m not ending up in a Chucky movie, so I’d probably run. But Jesus isn’t talking about literal cannibalism here, instead he’s talking metaphorically like he was with the bread. He’s talking about his flesh and blood being sacrificed on the cross for our sins. Yet some of the people didn’t get it, they took offense to it, and ended up walking away from Jesus. Listen to what it says in vs. 66.
Vs. 66 states, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” They’re like “We don’t really like this side of Jesus. We liked Hebrew Happy Meal Jesus, so we’re out.” We get this today don’t we? I mean some people treat Jesus like he’s a salad bar. They take what they like, skip what they don’t like. They’re all about Jesus until he says something they don’t agree with. One of the things you’ll hear us say at City Awakening is we’ll read the bible and let the bible read us, meaning we don’t want our worldviews to change the bible, we want the bible to change our worldviews. It’s because we believe the bible’s the true word of God. But some people are like the people in the text. They read or hear something they don’t like and they’re out. In fact this is one of the main points of this part of the text. It’s that there’s a separation happening between those who are genuine followers of Jesus and those who aren’t.
Again vs. 66 states, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ 68 Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’ 70 Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.’ 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.’” Peter says “To whom shall we go,” meaning there’s nobody else, there’s no other way to have reconciliation with God and eternal life except through Jesus. He says WE have believed, meaning all 12 original disciples believed except Judas, and Jesus knows this. Regardless there’s a separation happening in the text between those who are genuine followers, and those who aren’t. After feeding the 5000 there were a lot of wanna be disciples. Some were interested, but not committed. Some appeared legit, but weren’t. Some were legit, and didn’t quit. I guess you can say their faith was too legit to quit! They still followed Jesus by faith, even though they didn’t understand everything about Jesus.
Look the reason a lot of us aren’t satisfied in life is because we’re seeking bread that perishes instead of Jesus. We’re so consumed with things like beauty, money, nice cars, infinity pools, success at work or in ministry, that we don’t delight in the bread that never perishes. We don’t delight in Jesus, who’s the Giver of our gifts, who’s the greatest of all our gifts. Our souls are infinitely hungry, and they’ll never be satisfied apart from his glory. The entire universe shouts of his soul satisfying glory! John Piper states, “God shouts with clouds. He shouts with blue expanse. He shouts with gold on the horizons. He shouts with galaxies and stars. He’s shouting, “I AM GLORIOUS!” Open your eyes! Do you see it? Do you love it? You were made for it.” You weren’t made for food that perishes, you were made for the glory of Jesus who never perishes. We should be satisfied in him and him alone as our greatest gift. If we’re not, it’s possible our hearts have turned a godly desire into an ungodly idol. It’s possible our hearts have turned to seeking food that perishes, instead of Jesus who never perishes.
The Big Idea:
So here’s the big idea. Satisfaction in life isn’t found in something, it’s found in someone. ...Satisfaction in life isn’t found in something, it’s found in someone...If you’re not a Christian this text answers the reason there’s an infinite hunger in your soul, and Jesus is offering to satisfy that hunger. But you need to believe in the gospel, believe Jesus died for your sins on the cross. He’s the only God who can give you eternal life, and who can satisfy your hungry soul. If you’re a Christian and you’ve slipped back into dissatisfaction, back into sin, back into pursuing things that’ll perish over Jesus...then let this text be a reminder to put your focus back on Jesus, back on food that’ll never perish. Let it be a reminder that your satisfaction isn’t found in something, it’s found in someone. It’s found in Jesus...Let’s stand and worship him as our greatest gift!
Blaise Pascal sates, “There was once in man a true happiness, of which all that remains, is the empty print and trace. This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him…though none can help. This infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite, and immutable object; which is by God himself.”
St. Augustine, “You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
John Piper states, “Indeed there are ten thousand gifts that flow from the love of God...But none of these gifts will lead to final joy, if they have not first led to God.”
John Piper states, “God shouts with clouds! He shouts with blue expanse! He shouts with gold on the horizons! He shouts with galaxies and stars. He’s shouting, “I AM GLORIOUS!” Open your eyes! Do you see it? Do you love it? You were made for it.”