In Search of Something (John 6:22-40)

Introduction
Have you ever gone shopping for someone but had no idea what to buy them? I have. In a situation like that you might say to yourself, "I will know what it is when I see it". The problem is, we begin a random search for that something and wind up relying on our emotions to tell us when we've actually found it. The pursuit is purposeless other than the fact that we are trying to achieve some end -- the purchase of the "right something", whatever that might be.

In today's text we find a group of people doing just that, pursuing something, but missing the Someone they should have recognized. The preceding day they had all been involved in a miraculous sign where Jesus fed over 5000 people with a mere 5 loaves and a couple of fish. These people were ready to crown him king of Israel at that very moment. Their stomachs were satisfied and emotions peeked and they were ready for the kind of kingdom this man would bring -- no more shopping!

But as we see in this text, they were pursuing Jesus passionately but for the wrong reason. They were ecstatic about the results of the sign but totally missed what the sign pointed to -- the long-awaited Anointed One from God. They were working for temporal things and missing the work that God required -- faith in the One He had sent.

In Hot Pursuit (John 6:22-29)
God offers eternal life only through faith in the person of Jesus Christ.
What is your main purpose in seeking Jesus?
What confusion are you facing about the person of Jesus and what can you do about it?
What works are you trying to do to substitute for the work that God requires?
As a believer, what work should you be pursuing, not to earn your salvation but out of gratitude for your Savior?

Signs or a Savior (John 6:30-33)
Jesus is both the sign from God and the Savior.
What signs are you asking God for and why?
What are you seeking by human means that only God can give and has given in the person of Jesus Christ?
How has the bread from heaven changed you?

Satisfaction and Security (John 6:34-40)
What Jesus offers is complete and permanent salvation.
Have you come to Jesus, the bread of life, for eternal life? If not, why not?
How have you thanked God lately for giving you to Jesus? In prayer? In a life lived for Him? In complete submission to His perfect will?
What are you struggling with in this life that needs to be looked at through the perspective of eternal life?
How are you wrongly striving to maintain a salvation that only God can give and no one can take away?