John 6:26-35. Life to the Full

In the 1930s William Somerset Maugham appeared to have everything. He was a famous novelist and playwright and was extremely well off from the royalties. He had a luxury villa on the Riviera with eleven servants. He received on average three hundred fan letters a week. He was feted by royalty and film stars who loved his witty carefree company. He claimed to be an atheist which he thought gave him a moral freedom to behave promiscuously. He wrote about his looking forward to oblivion after death. But this was far from the reality. In the April 9th 1978 edition of ‘The Times’ there was an article written by his nephew Robin Maugham who had visited his uncle shortly before his death, aged 91 years.

“I looked around the drawing room at the immensely valuable furniture and pictures that Willie’s success had enabled him to acquire. I remember that the villa itself and the wonderful garden I could see through the windows, a fabulous setting on the edge of the Mediterranean were worth some £600,000. . . He dined on silver plates, waited on by Marius, his butler, and Henri, his footman. But it no longer meant anything to him.

The following afternoon I found willie reclining on a sofa, peering through his spectacles at a Bible which had very large print. He looked terribly wizened and his face was grim.

‘I’ve been reading the Bible you gave me . . . and I came across a quotation, ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.’* I must tell you my dear Robin that that text used to stand opposite my bed when I was a child . . Of course it’s all a load of bunk. But the thought is quite interesting all the same.’

That evening in the drawing room after supper Willie flung himself down onto the sofa.

‘Oh, Robin, I’m so tired.’

He gave a gulp and buried his head in his hands.

‘I’ve been a failure the whole way through life. I made mistake after mistake. I’ve made a hash of everything.’ . . . ‘I wish I had never written a single word . . It’s brought me nothing but misery. Everyone who has got to know me well has ended up hating me. My whole life has been a failure and now it is too late to change. It is too late.’

Willie looked up and he tightened his grip on my hand. He was staring toward the floor. His face was contorted with fear and he was trembling violently. His face was ashen as he stared in horror in front of him. Suddenly he began to shriek,

‘Go away! I’m not ready. I’m not dead yet. I’m not dead yet , I tell you!’

His high-pitched, terror struck voice seemed to echo from wall to wall. I looked around but the room was empty.

This story about the most famous, wealthy, well-connected man of his generation reminds us that there is more to life than externals. At the eve of his life, Willie Somerset Maugham’s life was inwardly empty, and he was afraid to die.

Jesus has much to say about what God wants to see in each of us.

26 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’

28 Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’

29 Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’

30 So they asked him, ‘What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’

32 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

34 ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.’

35 Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:26-35

Jesus uses the crowd’s desire to be given more ‘miracle food’, to teach them they must ‘work for food that endures to eternal life’. The food Jesus is talking about is ‘eternal life’ which is a gift yet Jesus say that they must work . . for food that endures to eternal life’(v. 27). Elsewhere Jesus said,

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” Luke 13:24

“Seek and you shall find” Matthew 7:7

Jesus stresses that we all have a responsibility to try to enter God’s kingdom, and yet the final prize is a gift, that we cannot earn. No-one drifts into God’s kingdom, salvation comes to those who seek Christ and then remain committed to him. As the prophet Jeremiah said,

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” Jeremiah 29:29

Jesus Christ will never give his salvation to those who do not take him seriously, to those who are not ‘in earnest’ about their commitment to him (Revelation 3:19).

We have learned how popular Jesus had become. Massive crowds followed him and he has just fed 5000 men and their families supernaturally. He sent his disciples away to the other side of the lake by boat, whilst he went alone into the mountains. There was a fierce storm and the disciples in the boat were scared. Then they saw Jesus coming to them, walking on the water. When they came to the other side they thought they had finally managed to avoid the crowds - but they had boats too. The next morning Jesus and his disciples were rediscovered by the crowd. They then asked a question as if they thought they owned him,

“Rabbi, when did you get here?”

In fact the opposite was true, Jesus had created and therefore owned them. However they clearly did like Jesus, but this was primarily because of what he could give them. Can this be true of churches today? Can we be in our churches because of the like-minded friends and other benefits. Some preachers can be there because they enjoy being a ‘somebody.’ What this crowd had failed to understand was that Jesus had primarily come to satisfy their spiritual needs.

What must we do?

Jesus replies with some plain talking. The people needed to hear the truth, even if it made them feel uncomfortable.

“I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” John 6:26

The warning then given to the crowd is just as relevant to us today,

“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” John 6:27

Jesus is not advocating that we should not be working but that our prime focus must be on living to please God, who alone can give us eternal life. There are, in essence, two goals in life. The ‘material goals’ have to do with this world, with money, pensions, relationships, fame, popularity or the ‘easy life’. Jesus urges us to make it our goal to please him! Religious people can all too easily forget Jesus and focus on social affairs thinking that our good works will somehow impress God. The Bible is clear that without Christ nothing satisfies God.

A Christian who was working as a volunteer in a local food bank was chatting to a lonely lady who saw no way out of her problems. During the conversation the Christian mentioned her church which she had found very helpful. A senior administrator happened to overhear this conversation and strongly reprimanded the Christian.

“You are not permitted to talk about such things here!”

This is worrying as the Thrussell Trust, which started the Food Banks was originally set up on a Christian basis. Any Christian organisation must have as its aim the honouring of the Lord Jesus by helping others recognise him through what they do. Yet how easily they can drift away from this Christian goal, take for example Christian Aid, YMCA and even some churches. Many of the major universities in the world, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Harvard were established to promote Christ, many hospitals both in this country and abroad were established as mission hospitals to promote Christ, St. Thomas’, St. Bartholomew’s being examples. How easy it is for churches and organisations to drift away from existing for Christ. Living with and for Christ is ‘spiritual food’, it is the road to receiving eternal life.

In 1844 a man named George Williams started a Bible study for displaced young men on the streets of London. These Bible studies became a movement known as the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). At the outset its mission was to share the gospel with young men. However, over the years the YMCA substituted its mission for one of its means: fitness centres.

One of Harvard University’s founding documents states:

“To … consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.”

Harvard’s purpose, at the outset, was to equip their students to share the gospel. They have now drifted a long way from this position.

Peter Greer and Chris Horst in their award-winning book ‘Mission Drift: The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches’ have written about this tendency. They say,

“Too often, as Christian organisations grow, the Gospel often becomes cursory, expendable, or even forgotten. Again and again, leaders have watched their ministries, businesses, and nonprofits professionalize, expand, and lose sight of their original goals. Even churches can stray from their calling.”

Just as groceries perish, so will all that we cherish and live for, if it is not for God. Many people have a defective view of what life is all about, Jesus longs for them to ‘lift up their eyes’ - they were stooping much too low in their ambitions.

Some in the crowd were beginning to understand what Jesus was saying and they wisely ask him,

“What must we do to do the works God requires?” John 6:28

Jesus replies without hesitation. His answer is what everyone needs to understand. It is so profound,

“The work of God is to believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:27

Wow!! Jesus is saying that to be committed to him, to trust him and follow what he teaches is the most important thing in a person’s life. Nothing is more important. What must we do to be given the ‘bread that endures to eternal life’? We must ‘commit ourselves to Jesus Christ’, nothing could be clearer. John has already made this clear earlier in his gospel,

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:36

Scepticism

The scene has now shifted to the synagogue in Capernaum (John 6:39) where Jesus is teaching. The crowd are clearly beginning to grasp what Jesus is saying and they don’t like it. The implications on their private lives are too great. So they demand more evidence!

“What miraculous sign will you give that we may see it and believe in you? What will you do?” John 6:30

This is extraordinary as they had just witnessed the feeding of the 5000! There is evidence that learned Jews expected that when the Messiah came he would convince people by a repetition of the miracle Moses had performed, when he produced ‘manna’ for the children of Israel as they travelled through the wilderness. They had been given manna six days a week for 40 years. The Jewish apocryphal book called 2 Baruch, which was probably written around 100AD, confirms the belief that Jeremiah had hidden manna and that this would be revealed when the Messiah came,

“And it will happen at that time that the treasury of manna will come down again from on high, and they will eat of it in those years because these are they who will have arrived at the consummation of time.” 2 Baruch 29:8

John also alludes to this manna, but this is given to believers in Christ who ‘overcome’. The church in Pergamon was compromising with the world, eating worldly food:

“To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna.” Revelation 1:17

The word ‘manna’ originally meant ‘What is it’. Just as the Children of Israel were in the dark about the nature of this original ‘Bread from heaven’ so they now failed to recognise the ultimate ‘Bread from heaven’ standing before them. They were demanding more signs but a lack of evidence was not their problem. Their problem was their stubborn wills. Jesus again suggests that they should recognise the source of this ‘bread from heaven’, God himself and his Son. Why think about ‘manna’ when its giver was with them and he can give them something far better – eternal life.

“I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who 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.” John 6:32-33

What a disaster it is that people will flock to churches where it is purported that healing miracles are being performed regularly. People are so ready to seek the wrong food. Instead we should be seeking to know and love the Lord Jesus for his own sake. New miracles are constantly required, yesterdays miracle is not enough. Jesus was scathing about pseudo-faith that centres on our keeping religious rules but not on living with and for himself. Quoting Isaiah he says,

“These people honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but the rules of men.” Matthew 15:7 and Isaiah 29:13

The crowd realise something is missing in their experience and they ask Jesus for this.

“Sir, from now on give us this bread.”

What were they asking for – a daily ration of some magic potion that would satisfy them into eternity? What satisfies is a relationship with Jesus himself. Jesus declares to us all,

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I have told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.” John 6:35-36

‘I am the bread of life’ is such a poignant statement. He was born in Bethlehem, which means ‘House of Bread’.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” John 1:14

We can only be fed spiritually by taking him in, into our lives. We do not ‘believe’ until we submit to his rule. A faith that is just intellectual and moral but that does not involve a love for Jesus is, according to the Bible, not a saving faith, it is not Christian belief. It will certainly not lead to a full satisfying life here and will not lead to eternal life with the Lord.

BVP

* Mark 8:36 KJV