The Centrality of the Gospel in all Things
March 17, 2019

The Centrality of the Gospel in all Things

Speaker:
Passage: John 6:35-59

Have you had the experience of losing sight of what is primary because you’ve been distracted by what is secondary? Have you noticed that you’ve taken for granted that which is of most importance, in favor of lesser things? Or have you found yourself haplessly full of activities that take your time, work or play, that what is most important has been put to the side? 

Like children on a merry-go-round, we dizzy ourselves with secondary activities, pursuits, sports, work, food, drink, that we are nauseous when we dismount the ride. It’s hard to find our bearing, and we stagger towards our destination, drunk by pursuits that are competing. When what ought to be central becomes secondary, when we believe we’ve mastered what’s primary and think we have moved on, we are in danger of wrecking our lives.

Christian, how central is the death and resurrection of Jesus in the every day working of your life?

We are in the book of John, specifically, in chapter 6. There is an Exodus theme we see John unfurl before us. John has spread a table in his gospel, and there is so much in this chapter  that we have to eat slow! If I were to try and preach the entirety of our passage in one sermon, we would choke! It’s not unlike the gyro plate at the restaurant down Main St. When I first visited the restaurant, I tried to shove the whole thing in may mouth! It was by careful observance of our dear Cris that I learned it was best to start with a fork!

To continue with that analogy, Today, I want to present the plate! John wrote his gospel account so that his readers would believe Jesus is the Son of God. The miracles and encounters he included were pregnant with Old Testament and cultural allusions that pointed to Jesus. Our study in John 6 is 42 weeks pregnant— overdue, with what biblical scholars would call typology. We are going to look at Exodus 16, at our passage two weeks ago when Jesus fed the 5,000, and then Jesus’ explanation in the latter half of John 6. This is the 50,000 foot view, where we connect how all the law and the prophets point to Christ. Then, in a few weeks, we will dig deeper into Jesus’ words in John 6:35-59.

So, lets start in Exodus 15:22. Would you stand with me as I read. 

Context: God had delivered Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. They left Egypt through the miraculous opening of the Red Sea. They are on the other side of the sea from their oppressors, and then we read…

Exodus 15:22–27

[22] Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. [23] When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. [24] And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” [25] And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, [26] saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

[27] Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. (ESV)

Exodus 16

[1] They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. [2] And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, [3] and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

[4] Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. [5] On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” [6] So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, [7] and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” [8] And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”

[9] Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’” [10] And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. [11] And the LORD said to Moses, [12] “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”

[13] In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. [14] And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. [15] When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. [16] This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” [17] And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. [18] But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. [19] And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” [20] But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 

[Sixth day, gather twice as much // Sabbath — they disobeyed!]

[27] On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. [28] And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

[31] Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. [32] Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

Fast forward 1,500 years, and John records Jesus feeding the 5,000 in the Galilean wilderness. Turn to John 6.

John 6:1–14

[1] After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. [2] And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. [3] Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. [4] Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. [5] Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” [6] He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. [7] Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” [8] One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, [9] “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” [10] Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. [11] Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. [12] And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” [13] So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. [14] When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (ESV)

John 6:25–59

[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. [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.” [30] So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? [31] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” [32] 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. [33] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” [34] They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 

[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. [37] All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. [38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. [39] And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. [40] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

[41] So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” [42] They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” [43] Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. [44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. [45] It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—[46] not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. [47] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. [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. [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. [57] As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. [58] This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” [59] Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. (ESV)

[Pray]

Through the lens of Biblical theology, we are going to connect these passages as laid out in John 6. We are going to look at:

The Wilderness, The People, The Father, The Prophet, The Water, The Manna, The Centrality of the Gospel In All Things.

The Wilderness: 

The wilderness is representative of testing in the Bible. Exodus is our primary example. God brought his people out of Egypt. His people had spent 400 years as slaves in a land full of idolatry. Their eyes and ears had grown accustom to the worship of foreign gods. God’s stated intention in drawing them to the wilderness was to test them. We read that in the Exodus passage this morning.

Ex 15: There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, [26] saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

Ex 16:[4] Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

Understand that in testing God reveals to us what he already knows. 

Psalm 139:1–4

[1] O LORD, you have searched me and known me! [2] You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. [3] You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. [4] Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. (ESV)

John 2:25

because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

The wilderness is about clearing distraction, and restoration of relationship. God was forming for himself a people.

Hosea 2:14–15 [14] “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. [15] And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

John the Baptist baptized in the wilderness. Jesus was driven to the wilderness to be tempted. He retreated often to pray in the wilderness. The setting of Exodus 15-16 was in the wilderness. The setting of John 6, when Jesus fed the 5,000 was in the wilderness.The People

The people of Israel were the descendants of Jacob, who was named Israel. Recall the story of Genesis with me: God appeared to Abraham. He promised an offspring to him and his aging wife, Sarah. This was after her womb was closed, and she was passed the childbearing age. God gave her Isaac. Isaac married Rebekah. There’s a pretty cool courting story there - I wouldn’t suggest it, but still, pretty interesting. They gave birth to Jacob and Esau. Esau was actually the first born, but Jacob was Rebekah’s favorite. Again, another story we should be careful NOT to moralize and follow. However, God chooses whom He chooses. He has mercy on whom He has mercy. As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom 9:13).

God’s chosen people continued through Jacob. He had 12 sons between Rachel and Leah. Jacob, taking after his mother, also played favorites. Because he loved Rachel, not necessarily Leah, he favored Joseph and Benjamin. God gave dreams to Joseph, foretelling what would happen. His brothers grew jealous and beat him, and sold him into slavery to Egypt, telling Jacob that a lion killed him. This, God ordained, in order to preserve and save His chosen people. He sent Joseph ahead of his brothers. This led to preserving Israel when a severe famine hit. Jacob and his sons made their way to Egypt and were granted asylum by Joseph who rose from slave boy to second in command in Egypt. 

Fast forward a few years. Pharaoh dies and a new one rises who does not remember Joseph or Isaac. The people of Israel become slaves in Egypt. Exodus were redeemed out of slavery under Egypt. At first they rejoiced! They saw the miracles of God, through Moses the prophet. They danced and sang by the Red Sea, until they were pursued by Pharaohs army. They were happy until hardship threatened them. They were delivered and led across the Red Sea, as on dry land. But as they were led into the wilderness, they complained. They complained of no water, and no food. They grumbled against Moses, and preferred slavery and food-pots over freedom and relationship with the true and living God.

The people in John 6, Israelites, who were under the rule of the Roman Empire. They’d heard and seen Jesus do miracles, so they found him in the wilderness. They wanted political autonomy, but not a king, or a prophet who would give orders. They grumbled against Jesus. They wanted their food, and their kingdom, according to their desires. They demanded a sign - another feeding, that would allow them to stuff their pockets to their heart’s content. They preferred food and prosperity over God’s own Messiah. They wanted his gifts, but did not accept his word. They wanted food, not the Word of the Father.The Father

In Exodus, The LORD is a deliverer, a father, a healer, and provider for His people. He delivered Israel from Egypt. He shielded them from the angel of death, as the blood of the lamb was upon their doorpost, and he passed over their homes, and visited the Egyptians with death to their first born. He gave water to drink, and manna to eat, and covered them in quail. He healed them when they sinned against Him, and they were bitten by snakes. The last provision of meat was a bit of divine vindication, as the people were complaining against Moses and Aaron because of the menu. Moses and Aaron exclaimed: Your grumbling not against us but against the Lord! (Ex 16:6-8) Thus, God made it rain quail until it came out their nose. They were judged because of their grumbling, and many of those who grumbled, especially the strong, were consumed in fire.

In John, the passover was at hand. Remembrance of God’s deliverance from Egypt was strong in the heart and mind of the people. If they had a Prophet, a king who could heal them and feed an army, then they could have their best-life-now! They attributed the manna to Moses, in an attempt to incite Jesus to feed them, and belittled the Father. The people ignored the Father under Moses, and they ignored him on the hill with Jesus.

The Prophet

Moses was the prophet whom God chose to speak through. He was the first mediator - but a mediator of the Law. He delivered to Israel the statutes which revealed God’s perfect character to man, and what was right in God’s eyes. He spoke to the people on behalf of God, and interceded with God on behalf of the people. He was grumbled against by his people. They did not listen, no matter how God had proven himself true. Their disobedience kept the generation Moses delivered in the wilderness 40 years, and they did not enter the promised land. However, Moses prophesied of a greater Prophet, a greater Deliverer, in Deuteronomy 18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

The people in John 6 recognized Jesus was this Prophet. They stated as much in John 6:14: “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” This Prophet, Jesus, would heal the sick and lame, cast out demons, feed the thousands, and raise the dead. However, they did not listen. Like Moses, in large part, the nation of Israel rejected the words of Jesus. Unlike Moses, this prophet descended not from a mountain, but from God himself. This was the greater Prophet, in whom God’s law proceeded from His mouth. Where Moses would exhort the people to believe God, Jesus would exhort the people, Believe in me… the One whom God sent!

The Water

Why water? It’s not in John 6!? It is in John 4. And, the response of the people in the wilderness is the same as the response of woman at the well: “Give us this water always!” It’s a plea for possession of a resource. The aim of both Israel in the day of Moses and Jesus is the same: we want physical prosperity. We want ease of life. We want food and drink and to stuff our pockets with life’s good things; this, with no regard to relationship.

Exodus 15, they find 12 springs, one for every tribe of Israel. In John 4, Jesus is at the well of Jacob, the father of the 12 sons. Jesus is the source. 

The Manna

In Exodus, the people of Israel need food. This was not unknown to the Father, was it? Would the Sovereign of the Cosmos look down on the earth, and to His bewilderment and surprise, find His chosen people had starved to extinction? No! 

So, he gave them manna. When the people saw it, they asked, “What is it?” It is from this question, we understand, that manna received its name. In Hebrew, the word manna has its root in the word what? That sustenance, unknown to the world, became known to the people of Israel. It taste of honey and looked like coriander. It had the texture of a snow flake. From it were made cakes that fed the people of Israel throughout their time in the wilderness. They relied on God to rain down manna for their very survival. It was a daily occurrence, save the Sabbath. It lasted only a day, except what was gathered the day before the Sabbath. With out manna, the people of Israel had no life. They would die of hunger.

In John 6, the crowd sought out Jesus. They came and were miraculously fed from 5 loaves and 2 fish. From manna and quail, to loaves and fish. As God fed, through Moses, the 12 tribes, Jesus fed the crowd through His 12 disciples. When all had eaten their fill, they gathered 12 baskets of food, and not one morsel was lost. We are going to look at this in greater detail on our next pass through John 6, but I must draw some attention to it now. The 12 tribes denote God’s chosen people— the people of Israel. In choosing 12 disciples, Jesus was stating something. He was constituting a new people. He states that he is the savior of the world—not just Jerusalem! He gathered 12 baskets, as he is able to feed perfectly, fully, his people! And he instructed them to gather all the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost (John 6:12). This has salvific significance, as we will learn in our next gathering around this passage. But Jesus interpreted this event in verse 35:

Jesus declared (John 6:35), “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

The primary picture of the manna in Exodus, and bread in the wilderness, of water at the spring, and water at the well, was meant to point to one thing: 

The centrality of The Gospel In All Things

John 6:47–58

[47] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. [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.”

… [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. [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. [57] As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. [58] This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (ESV)

Do you see what Christ makes central? Himself — and he points to his gospel. His body is true food. His blood is true drink. His body was broken for you. His blood was poured out for you. Friends, Jesus is central to you life, and to your salvation. The typology points to bread and drink. Jesus is the fulfillment of that typology. His death on the cross is how he gave his body for you. You are to eat of the gospel- to gather it every day and eat, like it is manna in the wilderness, like your life depended on it, because it does! You are to drink the life-blood of Jesus, for His life was poured out for the life of the world — for your life! You have life because of his death! The message of the gospel, in which His body was broken for you is sweet to the tongue! His blood poured out, which washes you clean, that drink gives true joy! Don’t move on from the gospel! It is of primary importance, to be eaten of, every day. Nothing can satiate your hunger like the gospel. Nothing will quench your thirst like the gospel. 

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