THE PRELUDE

THE MESSAGE

Have you ever had a mountaintop experience?  A mountaintop experience is a temporary, profound moment of spiritual clarity, divine revelation, or intense emotional and personal breakthrough.  Moses had such an experience.  He was drawn to the mountaintop and received the Ten Commandments from God.  John’s Gospel records Jesus repeating that mountaintop experience when he took his disciples up the mountain to teach them. On the mountaintop with Jesus, the disciples stood in awe as Jesus took five barley loaves and two fish, multiplied them, and fed over 5,000 people.  The feeding of the 5,000 was a profound moment of spiritual clarity and made it unmistakable that Jesus was from God.  It set Jesus apart from Moses, the dominant personality of the Jewish people.  The Twelve could see that, but the well-fed crowd saw Jesus as something else.  John said that Jesus, “15 Perceiving then that they [the crowd] were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself” (John 6:15).  To the people, Jesus appeared as perhaps a new Moses, able to feed them endless amounts of bread and fish.  Jesus did not want the people trying to force a change to God’s plan or see him as another Moses.

John wrote that after Jesus departed from the disciples and the crowd, “16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going” (John 6:16-21).  Seeing Jesus walk on the water was another mountaintop experience for Jesus’ disciples.  But Jesus walking upon the water was another sign that Jesus was not a new Moses.  God parted the Red Sea so Moses and the Hebrew people could walk on dry ground through the sea.  Moses needed God to part the sea because he and the Hebrews could walk only on dry ground.  That was true for them, and it is true for us as well.  Jesus walking upon a moving sea was not humanly possible.  So Jesus walking on the water dispelled any idea that he was a new Moses and just human.  Jesus was and is superior to Moses in all regards because he is also divine.

The next day after Jesus walked on the water, the crowds that had followed Jesus awoke with stomachs desiring food.  But they saw neither Jesus nor his disciples.  So they got in boats and rowed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. “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’” (John 6:25-26).  The crowd still saw Jesus as a new Moses able to fill their stomachs.  They worked that morning against the wind and waves to row their boats in search of Jesus that they might be fed more bread and fish.

Jesus told the crowd plainly, “27 Do not work for the food that perishes” (John 6:27).  The crowd had in mind that, “Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” (John 6:30).  They wanted bread from Jesus and were willing to physically follow him to receive it as their ancestors had followed Moses and received bread from him.  Jesus reminded the crowd, “It was not Moses who gave the bread, but my Father” (John 6:32a). Jesus also said, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died” (John 6:49).

That morning, the crowd rowed boats to find Jesus so they could be fed bread.  Jesus said, “27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27).  There is that word again that is so important: but.  “Do not work for that which perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27).  The message was clear.  Do not work only for food to keep your body alive.  Food is perishable, as is your body.  Do not work alone or only for food, as your ancestors did; they all ate and died.

But.  “But [do work] 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” (John 6:27b).  Jesus was revealing his identity as the Son of Man, someone on whom God the Father had set his seal.  Setting a seal on someone was symbolic: a sign of something greater.  To set a seal meant you were authenticating, authorizing, or otherwise granting someone the full backing of the sealer’s authority.  Whatever, or in this case whoever, bore the seal was the sender's true word.  Jesus was the true word of God the Father.  Whatever message Jesus gave the crowd, whatever words He spoke, were God's very words.

The crowd, now wanting food that was imperishable and led to eternal life, said to Jesus, “28 What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (John 6:28).   Said most simply, “What work does lead to eternal life, then must we do?”  “29 Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him [Jesus] whom he [God the Father] has sent’ (John 6:29). Here then was the key to understanding this passage.  The work that leads to eternal life is to believe in Jesus and God who sent him. Believe!

But here, belief is not intellectual assent, as one might believe that 4 plus 4 equals 8.  To “believe” as Jesus uses it here means so much more, far deeper, more transformative, and more trusting.  If we do not understand this point, we could miss the entire message of this passage. Let’s walk through this important point together.

While we have read from this passage in Chapter 6, this passage began in Chapter 5 with Jesus arguing with the religious leaders, telling them, “39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39-40).  The religious leaders did not believe in Jesus.  They were unbelievers.  They turned away from Jesus.  They worked for their daily bread, ate it, and would one day die.  There would be no eternal life because they never believed. Many people today do not believe. They will work for their daily bread, eat it, and one day die for all eternity separated from God.

Two other groups, however, followed Jesus.  There was a crowd of disciples and Jesus’ Twelve.  Both groups were believers.  The crowd of disciples believed Jesus was a prophet sent to fulfill the work of the prophet Moses promised.  They saw Jesus multiply the loaves and fishes, and they wanted him to do it again and again.  They had a belief in Jesus.  Jesus’ Twelve believed in Jesus, but differently than the crowd.  The Twelve saw Jesus as the prophet, the Messiah, the Son of God, and they had answered Jesus’ call to “Follow me.”

   The crowd said to Jesus, “30 Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?” (John 6:30).  Ugh!  “Jesus, what sign can you do, what work can you perform, that we would believe you?” The crowd of disciples believed in Jesus but not as one sent by God to lead them to the Father.  They wanted more signs, probably more food.  Jesus tried again, saying, 33b “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32b-33).  “34 They [The crowd] said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always’ (John 6:34).

The crowd’s response, “Sir, give us this bread,” signals to John’s original readers that the crowd misunderstood: they thought Jesus was speaking of physical bread.  We see Jesus correcting the crowd’s misunderstanding in the next 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. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe’” (John 6:35-36).  These verses hold the key to understanding what Jesus has been talking about and what is about to happen.  Understood properly, picking up that key is a mountaintop experience of great spiritual clarity.  The key, of course, centers on the word “believe.”  And I hope that I can adequately illuminate its importance.

We have heard the word believe time and again.  Jesus used it here with the crowd of disciples.  John’s Gospel contains the most treasured verse of the New Testament with the word believe: “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  But what does believe mean when it comes to our relationship with Christ?

We said earlier that the religious leaders did not believe in Jesus and turned away from him.  We know people in our own lives who do not believe in Jesus.  So we know what unbelief looks like.  Knowing what unbelief looks like leads us to think that the opposite of unbelief must be belief.  But.  There is always a but.  But the opposite of unbelief is not belief.  Why is that? Because even Satan, unclean spirits, and demons believed in Jesus as the Christ but were not saved, as John 3:16 promised.  Draw that in for a moment.  Even evil believes; perhaps a stronger word than believed could be used with Satan and his minions: they “knew” who Jesus was.  They had no doubts whatsoever that Jesus was the Son of God, but their belief did not lead to salvation.  So the opposite of unbelief is not belief.  Scripture calls for a dimension of belief in Jesus beyond simply acknowledging who Jesus is.  What is that added dimension?  I think the best word to describe this added dimension is the word surrender.  The belief Jesus was speaking about leads to surrender.

Surrender.  What does it mean to surrender?  The word is most often used in the context of an armed combatant dropping their weapons and giving themselves over to a superior combatant.  I think I can safely say that none of us have experienced surrender in that way.  So it may be hard for us to relate.  Perhaps we should look at surrender in a way we can all relate to.  Some of you have personally surrendered in life.  And if we have not personally surrendered, we have a loved one who has.  Some of you have had life-threatening illnesses.  Perhaps it was a heart condition, cancer, or injuries from an accident, to cite a few examples.  All of us have had a loved one with a life-threatening condition.  What do we do when faced with this reality?  We seek medical help.  We seek out a surgeon or other physician.  We listen to what they have to say about our condition and a course of treatment.  And then we believe.  We believe that they can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And so we surrender our bodies to them. In that surrender we place our life in their hands.  We allow them to put us to sleep.  To cut into us with sharp instruments to remove cancers or correct defective blood vessels.  We surrender to allow them to use the right doses of lethal toxins and radiation to kill cancers without killing us.  We surrender in trust because we believe they can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. That is a picture of belief we can all relate to and have experienced or witnessed.

When we apply that illustration of belief, belief unto surrender to Christ so that he can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, we see that Satan, unclean spirits, and demons, while they believe, are not saved because they will not surrender to Christ.  Watch how this played out in John 6.  When Jesus addressed the crowd of disciples, “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. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe’” (John 6:35-36).  The crowd of disciples had not surrendered to him.

  When Jesus pressed on.  “53 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 on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:53-55).  “60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’” (John 6:60).  “66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66).  People who believed in Jesus, who claimed themselves as his disciples, were likely baptized, left Jesus, and never returned. They believed but would not surrender to him.  They, like Satan and his minions, believed in Jesus but would not yield themselves to him.

Jesus then turned to the Twelve: “67 You do not want to leave too, do you?”  68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:67-68). The Twelve believed unto surrender and knew that Jesus could give them life they could not give themselves. What a beautiful ending.

But.  To make sure his readers understood belief unto surrender, John added this postscript. 70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him) (John 6:70-71).  Judas' belief in Jesus was like that of Satan’s belief.  He believed but never surrendered.  Judas believed in Jesus, yet he came to betray Christ rather than surrender to him.

Where does this leave you and me?  Using bread, Jesus revealed that he is the bread of life, who had come down from heaven to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  He came to give us abundant life now and eternally. But that blessing was only for those who believed, surrendering to Him.  I think all of you here today believe in Jesus Christ.  But I leave you with this question: “Do I believe unto surrender?”