Why are you seeking Jesus?

John 6:22-29

 This morning as I look into these verses in John six, what a wonderful reminder from our Lord of why so many seek Him.  As a seeker of Jesus what are my motives, do I call myself a Christian, what does that mean to me?  In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves.  Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you.”  You may recall that yesterday the crowd wanted to take Jesus by force and make him their king, but today they realize that Jesus and His disciples are gone so they get into boats and cross the sea to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

Now it has become clear to all that they were seekers of Jesus, but their motives were not to worship him as God, but to be a provider of goods and services, much like many in the USA who want the government to care for them.  Picking up the story in verse 25, “When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”  Verse 26,27, Jesus answers 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.  Do not labor 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.”

If you are reading this it is not by accident and the hour is late, we are in the last times, and the question is why are you seeking Jesus, and if you are not, why?  I believe this group of people ask Jesus the question that is the most important of any that could be ask in verse 28.  “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 who he has sent.”   

C.S. Lewis had this to say about being a seeker of Jesus in “Mere Christianity:”  “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”
I am in total agreement with Lewis, for anyone but God to say these things; “I am the bread of life: whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) What about John 8:12, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” And what about John 8:42, “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here.  I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.”  And what about the encounter with the Jews about Abraham, and Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)  And one that I go to often is found in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  And do you remember what Jesus said to Lazarus’ sister Martha; “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)  But this is the one that will knock your socks off, it is Thomas telling Jesus that he does not know where Jesus is going or the way to get there.  “Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the father except through me.” (John 14:6)  This is a small sampling of what Jesus said, but if He were not God, only a lunatic would make such claims.
There is more evidence about Jesus’ life than any other who lived some 2,000 years ago, and yet it a matter of faith, and it will require faith to believe or lack of faith to reject.  But if you are a seeker of Jesus, why are you seeking Him?
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice