I think that quite often, the greatest difficulty in living the Christian life of faith is being able to distinguish between the physical and the spiritual distinctives of our faith. By that I mean, how does God operate in the physical realm, and how does God operate in the spiritual realm, and by extension, how are we to operate in both? I have said from this pulpit repeatedly, that every physical healing or miracle presented in the gospels, is given to illustrate a spiritual principle. And that seems to be accepted by most Christians. You may not have thought of it that way before, but you are not necessarily opposed to it. For instance, what I mean by that is when Jesus healed the paralyzed man, spiritually speaking He was giving life to that which was dead, so that it illustrated spiritual new life in Christ. We all agree with that, do we not?
But let’s take that principle and work it out more thoroughly and I think you will find it’s difficulty. Does that mean then that God is not concerned so much about the physical as He is the spiritual? Does the fact that we do not see paralyzed people restored to full use of their limbs today emblematic of the primarily spiritual nature of the kingdom of God? Should we then expect to see faith producing physical healing or spiritual healing? Are miracles something that we should expect in this new life in Christ? Or does being a Christian mean we find spiritual life which transcends physical difficulties? And even if that is true, does that mean that all physical difficulties must simply be endured in suffering until we one day die and our only hope is in the resurrection?
I don’t know if I can fully answer all those questions in our study today. But I will truthfully say that I ask myself many of those questions on an ongoing basis. I am quite familiar with all the arguments and doctrines on both sides of all those questions. But in practice, in day to day living, I still find myself asking where is the line of demarcation between the physical world we live in, and the spiritual kingdom we belong to. And I must confess that it is a daily struggle to find that line and live within it’s boundaries.
But I will suggest that this question of the spiritual and the physical characteristics of the kingdom of God is exactly what Jesus is getting at in this passage. And yet it is still difficult at times to understand precisely the limits of what our salvation qualifies us to expect. And to be quite frank, even Jesus Himself seems at times to deliberately leave us with some questions unanswered even as He is teaching us the principles.
The question though which is quite clearly presented in this passage is - what constitutes the kingdom of God? How do we understand it, grab hold of it, appropriate it from the spiritual realm into the physical realm and what does that look like? And I think we find a key illustration of this question in vs.15, as the people wished to make Christ king in response to His miracles, and yet Jesus obviously does not want that to happen, and so He withdraws from the crowd and basically disappears into the mountain alone, only to walk across the storm tossed lake in the middle of the night to arrive at the opposite shore, leaving the multitudes to try to figure out where He went. Now that would be almost comical if it were not such a serious issue. Imagine a preacher today becoming so popular that the people want to make him president of the United States. Most of us would think that would be a great opportunity. Christians seem to think that is the answer to our problems, to get a Christian into the White House. And then imagine that this immensely popular preacher disappears from public view and goes into hiding right before the Republican Convention. (of course he is Republican). It would go against all reason for a successful, popular Christian preacher to act like that, and throw away such a great opportunity to exercise his influence in the nation. And yet that is exactly what Jesus did. He disappeared.
Now though it is not stated here explicitly, we know the reason that Jesus refused to be king of Israel. We know that He came to establish a spiritual kingdom and not a physical one. He said to Pilate in John 18:36 "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” We could imagine that even after His resurrection He might have chosen to set up His rule on the throne of Israel and began a physical rule over the world. But instead He chose to leave this world and send us His Holy Spirit to rule from our hearts. So we know without a doubt from the vantage point of history that Christ did not come to establish a physical kingdom but a spiritual one. We also know through prophecy that He will one day come again and at that time He will physically rule the world because the world will be spiritually and physically remade.
As Christians, we are given a new spirit, being born again spiritually, and then our spirit in unison with the Holy Spirit is to rule over our soul, that is our mind, will and intellect, and our soul is to rule over our body. But how far does that authority extend? Are we to spiritually create a new body, or as Romans 8:13 asserts, are we to just put to death the deeds of the body, crucifying the flesh? So do we now worship God in spirit, but sacrifice our body?
So there is this disconnect as Christians in determining how we live in God’s spiritual kingdom and yet live in the physical realm. On the one hand, Jesus as God’s ambassador to Earth, reveals certain spiritual principles in physical manifestations of power, and yet on the other hand, He does not want to establish a physical kingdom by exerting His rule physically. And as I indicated, not only was it difficult for the Jews to understand, but it is difficult for us to understand in this age. On the one hand we read in Phil. 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” And on the other hand we read in Phil.1:29 “For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” It’s tough to make the right distinction sometimes as to what we are to expect in the spiritual life.
And then to add even more confusion there are a lot of people out there which are teaching that as Christian you never need to have to suffer at all. But that we are to claim success or prosperity and God’s blessing on our lives so that we are able to live above the fray and have victory in all things. They teach that the things which beleaguer the world such as sickness or hardship does not have to be the lot of people of faith. If you have enough faith, you can create your own reality. That is widely taught, and wildly popular, especially by certain preachers on television, but also in many churches throughout our country.
So as I said, I don’t anticipate being able to address all those questions and concerns here today, but I do believe that this discourse that Jesus engages in here is the beginning point for us to understand the distinctions between the spiritual and the physical. So I want to look at five of those distinctions, in a sort of comparative manner, and I think we will get some insight into understanding the difference between the spiritual and physical perspectives. And so we are going to look at two types of appetites, two types of work, two types of signs, two types of bread, and two types of disciples.
First two types of appetites. Remember the context; Jesus had fed the multitude bread and fish on the mountain the day before. Probably close to 15000 people had eaten dinner and been filled up from one little boy’s lunch of 5 loaves and two fish. That was a dramatic miracle of great magnitude which 15000 people experienced. The result was they wanted to make Christ king of Israel, He disappears because that is not what He came to do at that time.
So the next day the multitudes are looking for Jesus. They can’t find Him, they know that He didn’t get in the boat with the disciples, and so eventually they get into boats themselves and go to the other side, thinking that somehow He will eventually go home to Capernaum and they will be there when He arrives. Turns out, He is already there. He walked across the lake in the middle of the night in the midst of a storm. They don’t know that, so they say, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
This would have been a good opportunity for Jesus to put another feather in His cap, and tell them about how He walked upon the water and all of that story. But Jesus doesn’t do that. He instead discerns their motives for seeking Him, and so He cuts to the chase. He says is in vs. 26, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
So here is the problem. These people are seeking Jesus. Most preachers would think that is a good problem to have. People want to come to your church. They are seeking you out. But not so much for Jesus. He wants seekers who are interested in the truth, not just looking for a free meal. See, the difference is that they had an appetite, but for the wrong things. They wanted to eat. They wanted to fill their stomachs again. They were hungry again. And their appetite for physical fulfillment was what was driving them to Jesus.
So there is an appetite which is geared towards the physical. It’s an appetite fixated on finding physical fulfillment. On being physically satisfied. And for those people, they will find that nothing physical really ever satisfies. We are programed to eat three meals a day everyday, because everyday we get hungry again. And that is a picture of the food which perishes.
Jesus is offering another type of food. Spiritual food. He says the Son of Man will give you spiritual food, which leads to eternal life. But they could not see that. They could only see the physical bread. That is why He rebukes them by saying “you seek me not because you saw the signs but because you ate of the food.” In other words, the miracle of feeding the 5000 was not an end in itself, to quench physical hunger, but it was to be a sign. And a sign points to something. A sign advertises something. And what that sign should have revealed to them was the truth about Christ; that He was the source of eternal life.
In Matthew 5:6, Jesus speaks of satisfying our spiritual hunger, saying, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” So that is the comparison that I think Jesus is speaking of. They were seeking satisfaction for their physical appetite, and consequently would not find satisfaction. If they would have had a spiritual appetite, then they would have found Jesus, who can satisfy all our needs for all eternity.
The second comparison we see is two types of work. Vs.28, “Therefore they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’” Now obviously, two types of work refers to physical works or spiritual works. The work that they are asking about is physical work, because they say, “what shall we do?” This is really the quest of religion, isn’t it? All religion is a system of works whereby man seeks to gain acceptance with God. And that is what Judaism had devolved into. A system of works, keeping the law, keeping the Sabbath, circumcision, sacrifices, etc. This was the universal approach of the Judaism. Remember what the rich young ruler said to Jesus in Mark 10:17, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The Jews were conditioned to think in terms of works as a means of salvation.
So when Jesus says that there is a work of God which results in eternal life in vs.27, they want to know what work that is. Like the Jews that asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment. And today in religion the question is the same; what must I do? What work can I do to ensure my acceptance before God?
Well, we know the answer to that question, don’t we? According to Titus 3:5 it’s “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” So on the one hand Jesus said in Matt.5:6 that we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness, but in Titus it says that it is not by our works of righteousness. So then how are we saved? It must be by another’s righteousness. That is the answer. By faith we appropriate Christ’s righteousness for ourselves.
That is what Jesus is referring to in vs. 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Believe in Him. What does that mean? They could see Him, so it could not refer to simply believing that He existed. To believe in God does not save you. Then what? To believe that Jesus was sent by God, that He was God. And if He was God, then He was righteous and holy. That there is none righteous but God. That was the answer Jesus gave to the rich young ruler. Righteousness is the character of God and God alone. We are not righteous, and cannot become righteous, because sin has corrupted even our good works.
Note the contrast in what Jesus says though in vs.29; He says that faith is a work of God.They has asked what work they could do, and Jesus responds by saying what work God has done. Faith is not a work of the flesh, but a work of the Spirit. Ephesians 2:1 in the KJV says, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” The idea behind that verse is that God must give us eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to understand so that we might believe. Faith then is a gift of God. It says that very thing just a few verses further along in Eph.2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Neither grace nor faith is of yourselves. But in the mystery of God He predestined us, and called us, and justified us, so that He might glorify us. Salvation is a work of God from start to finish. But the Jews thought that salvation was through their own work. But like Jesus told Nicodemus in chapter 3, if you want to be spiritual, and receive spiritual things, then you must be born again spiritually. So we are to trust in the spiritual work of God through Christ. That is faith, that is what it means to believe in Him.
Then they asked Him another question, and this one illustrates yet another comparison; the comparison of physical miracles or spiritual signs. In vs. 30 they said to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.’"
This is the cry of the world, the cry of the unbeliever, the cry of the doubters. Give us a miracle so that we might believe. Jesus said to the crowds in Luke 11:29 "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.” I have to interpret that as it is wicked to ask for a sign. You can even go so far as to say that it is a sin to ask for a miracle, if you are asking as a pretext for faith. Remember what Heb. 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
I will admit to a similar failure of faith, and that is to doubt or fail to trust the Lord because He does not act in a supernatural method when I ask Him too. I will say this with some degree of admitted confusion. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what we are at liberty to ask for, and what things we need to trust God in spite of. I will admit to wanting God to act in a supernatural fashion and when He doesn’t do it as I wish, I find myself doubting the goodness of God, or the reliability of God, or perhaps my understanding of God. And in such cases I would just say that we must be careful not to treat God like a genie, which if we say abbra caddabra, in just the right formula, He is obligated to perform our wishes as His command. God is not a genie, or our servant, but He is Lord, and we are His servants. So we must come to Him not in an air of entitlement, but of entreatment for His favor, if it be according to His will.
So what they were looking for was a daily evidence of food, like Moses seemed to provide. They followed Moses because everyday there was manna from heaven. That was the daily evidence that they needed to follow Moses, even though they did not accept all that Moses said, yet they followed him because of the miracles. But Jesus corrects their thinking. Vs.32, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
Now there is a lot in those verses which we don’t have time to expand on right now, but suffice it to say that it’s like what I said earlier; a sign points to something or someone. And in the case of the manna from heaven, first of all Jesus said Moses didn’t give them the bread, God did. And the sign of manna from heaven was designed to point to the bread of heaven which God gave to the world, that is Jesus Christ. They not only misattributed the miracle to Moses, but they completely missed the message of the sign.
That is I think the problem with the church today that is so taken up with signs and wonders. They point back to the signs of the apostles and say that since they had that power, then we should have the same power. But they make the same mistake that these Jews made; they misattribute the power as residing in the apostles. It was God who was working through them. It wasn’t in the apostle’s power to perform miracles. God had to do it, and He did it for a purpose. And that purpose was to point to Jesus Christ. The signs and wonders of the apostles was to attest to the fact that they spoke the life giving words of Christ. And once that was established, and the Bible was written, then the signs and wonders ceased, even as the manna from heaven ceased.
Jesus did not need to give manna from heaven everyday in order to prove He was the Son of God. The life that He came to give was not physical, which is sustained by bread. But the life He came to give was spiritual, and in that sense He gave Himself once and it was sufficient for all the world, for all eternity.
So that leads us to the fourth point, where we see that there are two types of bread. Vs. 34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” I think that the Jews were still expecting physical bread. I guess they could not really see what Jesus was talking about beyond what they could see, touch or taste. They were sensual, physical and spiritually dead. They desired an experience that they could feel or taste. And so notice that they sound like they are asking for the bread of life, but the fact that they add “always” indicates that they still don’t understand the spiritual nature of what Jesus is talking about. They are still hung up on the manna which fell from heaven every day for the life of the Jews. That indicates they are still thinking physical. That reminds me of those poor souls that go into confession week after week, saying prayer after prayer, doing penance after penance, trying to find assurance of salvation. Trying to earn their way into heaven by being good. Instead of realizing that by one sacrifice their sins were put away forever they sacrifice Christ daily in an effort to effect their salvation. But Heb.9:26 says, “but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
So there is a bread of self effort that results in only sustaining the physical. But there is another spiritual bread which gives everlasting life, abundant life, spiritual life. And Jesus says if you eat of this bread, you will never be hungry again. He obviously is speaking of something better than manna, better than daily bread, but bread which is eternal, which satisfies forever.
I’m reminded of how back in the hippy movement, it was popular to use the slang word for money, which was to call it bread. I think they were right to some degree. It’s physical bread. It makes the world go around. It really takes me back to the original statement of Jesus in vs.27, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life.” I think of so many people today who are working for the physical bread which perishes. They are working for what they call the “blessings” of God according to the American Dream. That means a nice house, cars, vacations, entertainment, the latest technology. I particularly see our Christian young people seduced into thinking that they have to acquire those things first, at whatever expense spiritually it may take, and then at some point in the future they think that once they have achieved the American Dream then they will be able to focus more on God’s desires. But the truth is, they have believed the lie of the devil that there is satisfaction to be found in the physical bread of this world. It will not satisfy, and so at middle age they will still be looking for more, more of what will never satisfy.
I can only hope that such people are actually, truly followers of Christ. Because the truth is that there were two kinds of disciples there that day in Capernaum listening to Jesus. All of them were followers. Get that please. All of the people there that day were following Christ. And John even goes so far as to call them all disciples. But disciples as a very general term. It means followers, learners, students. And so some were following Jesus for the wrong reasons. They wanted the daily benefits to their life that He seemed to be able to give. They were looking for a king to deliver them from physical oppression. There were probably as many reasons for following Him as there were people there. But when Jesus really laid down the requirements for what constituted true discipleship, then it says in vs. 66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
Why did they fall away? Because they did not believe His word. Jesus said in vs. 35, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.” They believed in what they could see, taste and touch, what seemed good to them. They did not believe in what they could not physically see, and so failed to appropriate spiritual insight.
Listen, we are going to continue this sermon of Jesus next week and we will look at all of this in more detail. But our study today should have led you to examine yourself in light of the comparison between the spiritual and the physical. What is your motivation for following the Lord? Is it only in hope that He will fulfill your appetite? Is your appetite for things of this world, for the physical, for the material? Or do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? How about your work? Are you trying to work your way into heaven? Are you hoping that in the long run your good deeds will outweigh your bad and so God will let you in? Or is your work faith in what Christ has accomplished for you? And how about your attitude towards the supernatural? Have you found yourself trusting or not trusting God based on your efforts to manipulate God to do your will? And then the ultimate question; have you eaten of the bread of life which satisfies, which saves forever? If so, then you are truly a disciple of Christ. But if you are seeking the bread of material gain, and trying to use Christ to fulfill that desire, then I’m afraid that you haven’t yet believed in all that Christ is, and came to be. He came to be our substitute for our sins, our Savior by His sacrifice, and our Lord and King when we surrender our will to do His will. I hope that you are not one of those who turns away from the truth of Christ, but believes on Him unto salvation.
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