Seasons: Food That Does Not Spoil
Pastor Rollan Fisher
The Problem at the End of the Rainbow
What You're Looking For
The Bread of Life
On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 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.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, 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 from heaven to eat.’” 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.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 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.”
-John 6:22-40
The Problem at the End of the Rainbow
Our vats can be full but our souls still be wearied, disoriented and empty. Intrinsically, we know such things as the following to be true:
“All the success in the world means nothing if you aren’t loved and respected the most by those closest to you.”
-John Maxwell
Yet in life, we're more often driven by things like the following:
FOMO
Living My Best Life Now
The perfect relationships (romantic, with children, etc.)
The search for the Fountain of Youth
The Thirst for Defining Culture and Prestige
My storybook ending
"The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced that which you thought would deliver the ultimate & it has just let you down."
-Ravi Zacharias
Food that spoils has a shelf life to it. You are always battling to maintain a sense of control to create the perfect environment and scenarios for the food to stay fresh, lest it deteriorate. This is exhausting and is that from which Jesus wants to free you. He gives food that does not spoil that leads to eternal life in him.
"I wish everyone could experience being rich and famous, so they'd see it wasn't the answer to anything."
-Jim Carrey
The problem is, that even having all of your material and perceived experiential needs met, what's at the end of the rainbow lacks the promised luster of animating, sustained life.
“I am absolutely convinced that meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain; meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure. And that is why we find ourselves emptied of meaning with our pantries still full.”
― Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God
What You're Looking For
We long to live a satisfying life full of love, meaning, and purpose that can only be found in proper relationship with Christ.
“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”
― Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God
The recognition of Jesus Christ has to be more than a mental assent. Jesus and his Word must be the bread that you feed on daily for the life that is truly life.
“Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.”
-J.I. Packer,Knowing God
The Bread of Life
Our needs can only fully be met by the Creator of those desires, Jesus, the Bread of Life. Continued repentance, a continual renewing of the mind through the Holy Scriptures (the Bible), is key to accessing this life.
“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
― C.S. Lewis
“We do not live so that we can eat, nor do we just eat so that we can live. Life is worth living in and of itself. Life cannot be satisfied when it is lived out as a consuming entity. When it is filled by that which satisfies a hunger that is both physical and spiritual in a mutuality that sustains both without violation of either, only then can life be truly fulfilling.”
― Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message
We need to end our cycles of living lives full of JUSTIFYING sins of omission and commission.
What must I do?:
1. Come to the cross and accept Jesus' saving work through his death, burial, and resurrection for your self-sufficiency and sins.
2. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance as you are baptized and added to Christ's church.
“Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged.“
-J.I. Packer,Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God
3. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind as you continue to feed on the life and purposes of God in Jesus, the Bread of Life, that does not disappoint or spoil.
”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.”
-John 6:40
Second City Church - Seasons - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019