More Than Bread

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We've been looking at seven miraculous moments in the life of Jesus. There was the wedding at Cana for people in need of wine. There was a child that needed to be healed and a man who had been lame for decades. He needed to walk. There was a crowd that needed to be fed and a boat of fishermen who needed refuge from a storm. There was a blind man who needed sight and a dead man who needed life. John calls them signs and tells us that the purpose of the signs is that we would believe that Jesus is the one!

Sometimes we get so focused on our need for a miracle that we miss the purpose of a sign. The sign points us to our destination. Our destination is Jesus and so my prayer is, "God please give me a pure and simple devotion to Jesus!"

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As we finish looking at the seven signs in the gospel of John, let this truth saturate your soul. In the early days after Jesus resurrection, when his followers turned the world upside down, they were not just inspired by a good story. They were changed; deeply, completely and forever changed. Jesus begin to do a resurrection rewrite of their story. Coming to see Jesus radically changed them. 

If you believe in Jesus, at this very moment, your story is going through a rewrite. There are things that are true of you right now that were not true of you before you belonged to Christ. When we become Jesus followers, not only do we get a new story we get a new identity. And can I tell you, it is so worth it, to come see Jesus!

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This episode brings us to the last of the seven signs. And it’s a doosy. Is that still a word? Doosy. It’s a doosy! It’s my second favorite resurrection story. The story of Lazarus and even though the sign reveals Jesus in his resurrection glory, it also reveals a bit of his humanity. The story is found in John 11. And in the midst of Lazarus' death and Mary and Marth's grief, Jesus will ask Marth this question, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die... Do you believe this? When Jesus says, "Do you believe this?" what he is really asking is "Do you trust me?" Do you trust that right now, in the midst of the hard, I am working for your good? What would you say?

Here is the revelation of the seventh sign. He is our resurrection champion!

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This episode is going to spend a few more moments with the sight-sign of Jesus. It's the sixth sign of seven and remember one amazing thing it reveals to us about Jesus; it points to the Jesus who has this amazing ability to see. Jesus sees the people we miss.  But there is something more in this sign...Jesus gives us the ability to see Him and see others with greater clarity. One thing I love about this story is our chance to see this once blind man come to see, truly see Jesus. 

In this episode, we'll see how the stories, the narratives we rehearse shape how we see; how we see others and how we see Jesus. What stories do you tell and what stories do you hear? What narratives do you rehearse about your life, about God, about Jesus? The narratives we rehearse shape how we see!

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The sixth sign is a miracle of sight. But if we are not careful we will settle for allowing this sign to simply direct us to the Jesus who heals or maybe the Jesus who gives sight. But I think we miss the destination a bit if we don’t realize that one of the amazing things about Jesus was the way he saw and still sees people. This sign is a reminder that God sees us and a reminder that the kind of sight he wants to give us will help us see others like He sees us.

So do you want to just come see Jesus? Or do you also want to go and see like Jesus?

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Remember in the last episode I said, "Storms can drive us from God or storms can draw us to God. Don't let them drive you from God. Let them draw you to God." Whenever I get caught in a life-storm, I have two choices. I can stay in the boat, or I can find a refuge. Which must lead to the question, "So what’s my boat?" Your boat is anything that represents safety and security apart from God himself.   Your boat is the place you instictively go to for refuge when the storms come.  Our boat is what we trust in; the place we go to find comfort when we are in pain. 

But sometimes if you want to come see Jesus, you have to get out of your boat!

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This isn't the main truth of this episode, but it's so important. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't storm-proof our lives. In fact I guarantee you every life will face storms. In fact, getting to a life that thrives, will require some storms that thrive. But here's the deal storms can either drive us from God or draw us to God.

Let them draw you to God. What's your storm? What if God is working up a water-walking storm-sign just for you?!

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The miraculous sign of this episode is Jesus feeding a crowd of thousands, but... in some ways I wonder if it's not also the miraculous sign of a poor young boy who gave all the food he had, knowing that what he had to give would never be enough. And what did he find? He found that Jesus is more than enough.

Listen Jesus isn't asking for more than you can give, but he may be asking for all you have to give. He's not asking you to burnout, he's asking you to look up. He's not asking you to try harder, he's asking you to humble up and ask for help. Because He is more than enough!

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The miraculous sign moment we are pondering in this episode is significant not just because of what Jesus did, but when he did it. He did it on the Sabbath. And I guess, in those days, a miracle counted as work, and only rule-breakers worked on the sabbath. What we will see in this sign is a group of religious leaders who are so passionate about their rules that they could not be astounded by the wonder of God at work. 

In this sign we will find that Jesus loves God more than people and he loves people more than rules!

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In today's episode you are going to hear the story of a seventh-hour sign, a miracle of healing; a story of God's faithfulness and a story of the growth of faith. It's a good story, a healing sign that led to faith in the WORD.

And when you get to the end, I will ask you, what is your seventh-hour story? If you have one, I would love to hear it. Just email me at [email protected] --