John chapter six is all about the bread of life in its entirety.
It is written in today’s Scripture passage that when Jesus went over to the other side of the Sea of Tiberias, a great multitude followed Him. The reason why so many people followed Jesus was because they had seen the signs that He performed on those who were diseased. As Jesus went up on the mountain and sat with His disciples, He saw this great multitude coming toward Him, and so He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Philip then answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.”

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Greetings to all my brothers and sisters! I am so thankful to God that we are able to worship Him on this beautiful spring day, when His beauty is manifested in all its glory with the flowers blossoming everywhere.
Today’s Scripture passage also comes from John chapter six. As the people asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may do the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” In other words, God is pleased when we believe in Him whom God Himself sent. This is the core message of today’s Scripture passage.

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Today, I would like to speak to you about the bread of life mentioned in John 6:16-40. It’s written prior to today’s Scripture passage that our Lord fed more than 5,000 people by blessing five barley loaves and two fish, and that there were twelve baskets still remaining as a leftover. As our Lord had healed many sick people, a great multitude was following Him around. Men and women alike, and young and old, countless people were following Jesus to get their physical illnesses healed and their hunger solved. In today’s parlance, Jesus now had a fan club.

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Before we begin, let us turn to a couple of passages from elsewhere in the Bible. Romans 8:5 states, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Further down, Romans 8:12-14 say, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

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When Jesus went up to the mountain and preached, multitudes were following Him. Then putting His hands on the small amount of food that was only enough for a single lunch, Jesus blessed it and performed the miracle of feeding more than 5,000 people with bread and fish, leaving twelve baskets of leftovers. So the people followed Jesus and sought to have Him as their king. They thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such a king?” So they sought to make the Lord their king, but Jesus departed and went over to the other side of the sea.
When the great multitude followed Him desperately wanting to attain another meal from Him, Jesus rebuked them, saying, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to everlasting life” (John 6:27). The multitude had followed Jesus for the food that perishes, to quench their hunger temporarily at that time, without realizing that the truly everlasting food was with Jesus. This is why Jesus rebuked them.

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When our Lord was on this earth, the people of Israel were so poor that they did not have enough food to feed themselves, as they were exploited by the Roman Empire as a colony. Our Lord met the sick and healed them, and performed the miracle of five loaves of bread and two fish for the poor to feed them with the food of the flesh.
Seeing the people of Israel, our Lord had pity on them. He felt compassion for them because He saw them as lost sheep, a flock without a shepherd. When the people of Israel followed Jesus all the way to the wilderness, Jesus had compassion for them, for even as they needed to be fed, as they had the flesh, they had nothing to eat. So the Lord said to His disciples, “You give them something to eat” (Luke 9:13). Philip then said to Jesus, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” It was impossible for the disciples to feed all those people.

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In the Gospel of John chapter 6, the Lord says, “I am the bread of life.” People felt full having eaten food for the flesh from Jesus. On the following day, they went seeking Jesus again, but Jesus told them not to labor for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to everlasting life. And so, people asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:28) Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:29).
Then, people said, “If so, do you mean that You are the One sent by God and that You came down from Heaven? If so, do You have any evidence that You came down from Heaven? Please, show us the evidence. As it is written, Moses fed the people of Israel by having manna come down from heaven, but can You perform such a miracle?”

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What it is that we should do to really love our neighbors and help them? Would it be really beneficial to them if we help them financially? My advice to you, my brothers and sisters of faith, is not to give free handouts to your unfortunate neighbors. This actually does not help them at all. Assisting them to stand up on their own feet is the real help. Of course, we can’t just ignore when someone extends his hands to us asking for our help, and so we should help that person in anyway possible, but before we do so, we need to first consider carefully whether or not our assistance would really be of any use to him. And ultimately, we have to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to him and free him from all his sins. That is the real help and love.

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