Believe in Christ (2)
Notes
Transcript
Believe in Christ
Believe in Christ
John 6:53–60 (NRSV)
So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”
Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
I love this passage of Scripture we read because to me it encompasses so much to the current Christian Experience in America. Really, I wanted us to read all of Chapter 6, because you really need the full context here to fully appreciate all that is happening in these verses, but John chapter 6 is 72 verses long, and if we read all of that together 1.) many of you would probably get tired of standing that whole time and 2.) I was worried I wouldn’t have any time left to preach at the end…. Though maybe some of you are thinking that might not be a bad thing. ;-)
So instead of reading it all, let me provide a bit of background about what is happening in the text, and try to relate it to what we so often experience in our own lives and in the world today.
John chapter six starts off with Jesus traveling to the far side of the sea of Galilea and a huge crowd comes out to see him. They have heard about the miracles and teachings of Jesus and so they were curious and wanted to see for themselves what this Jesus was all about. So thousands of them came out to listen to him. Maybe some of them were dragged there by a friend, maybe some of them just wanted an excuse to skip work for the day, maybe some of them had nothing better to do, and yet maybe some of them were truly interested in see if Jesus really was who he said he was
Well you know the story, Jesus is teaching and it came time for everyone to eat and so Jesus tells his disciples to feed the crowd and Phillip says it would cost more than a half years wages to feed all these people for one meal, but Andrew, says there is a boy with 5 small loaves of Barley bread and 2 small fish, and says, we can serve this, but really, how far can this go with such a large crowd. Jesus, tells the crowd to sit down and he prays over the bread and starts tearing it and passing it out and then he does the same with the fish and everyone eats their fill, and then the disciples go to collect the remaining pieces and they filled 12 baskets with the pieces of leftover barley bread that started with just those 5 small loaves.
, John 6: 15
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
The crowd instantly believed! Jesus saw that they intended to make him KING by force. This is awesome they thought! Jesus is a prophet sent from God who can do miracles, they were eager to rally behind him!
I think this part of the story is also super relatable. Jesus, God, so often in life do these amazing things for us, and when we see them, when we experience them, we are instantly locked in! YES! Jesus, I am yours, I will make you my king and follow you wherever you will lead me! I know many people who have had these mountaintop experiences. These incredible moments in their life when they see first-hand the power, the splendor and the truth of Jesus as Lord. They draw us instantly into faith, and belief and often even a zealousness for faith in God. It is so fun to watch people have these moments! It is so incredible to experience these moments
But sometimes a funny thing happens after this…. Time passes, the scenery changes, and the focus on God being incredible, is replaced by a personal desire to keep getting that feeling, to keep getting our way, to keep living on the mountaintop.
Jesus withdraws from the crowd to be alone again and then we get this wonderful passage of Scripture in verses 16-24 where Jesus walks on water which I am sure we will revisit another time. But the story picks up in verse 24. The crowd realizes that Jesus and his disciples had left in the night they got in their boats and went searching for Jesus. Verse 25 says they found him later on the other side of the lake in Capernaum and Jesus has this very interesting response to them finding him. He says
The reason you are looking for me is just because you want more free food, not because I am the messiah and not because you want to do the work of God. They missed the point!
So they say, ok, what do we need to do…what does God require of us, so that we can continue to be taken care of???
Jesus responds in verse 29: The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent! What a great verse!
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
I love this exchange. They want to know what work they have to do, to keep earning the blessing of God and his message in response is super simple….BELIEVE IN ME.
It doesn’t seem to get much easier than that. Jesus says, you simply must believe in me,
What is crazy to me is the response of the crowd. They JUST WITNESSED Jesus perform this amazing miracle of feeding 5,000 people with a few loaves and fish, and they where just ready to make him their king….. but now their response to Jesus in this moment is …. Prove it!
Prove you are the one God sent. They say, OK, if you really are sent from God, what miracle are you going to do to prove to us that you are who you say you are. And since they are currently fixated on Bread, and not needing to work to eat, because of what they just experienced, they remind Jesus that Moses provided manna from heaven everyday and so if Jesus really is God he too should give them bread every day.
Now let me pause here for a moment, because I think what is happening here is really important. It is subtle, but I think it is something that happens to a lot of people in their faith and it causes a big problem that leads some people to walk away from their faith, or to have some pretty misguided ideas of what our faith should result in.
Let me explain. For many of these people, their first true experience with Jesus was through a miracle. Through Jesus preforming this incredible act that highlighted for them that Jesus is who he says he is and the result is that they experienced a unique and powerful blessing.
But then they might have misaligned expectations, or want to chase that feeling, or they think that God should now grant them whatever the desires of their heart are. Jesus morphs into this genie rather than the creator and saviour of the world.
Jesus here tries to correct them and reorient them to the true purpose of who he is and why he is here, but they have a hard time with the shift and then this critical moment happens.
Jesus says something that they don’t understand, that doesn't mesh with how they think God should operate, and they get angry, or frustrated, or disillusioned. I think this moment is so relatable.
In fact, I would like to share with you a brief bit of my story.
I think this verse in John 6:66 is huge… I think so many people have thier own version of what that “THIS” is.
.Ponder this verse… John 6:66
Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.
Tragic events, church scandal, specific teaching, intellectual hang-up, selfish desire, past hurt. I am sure if you asked many people who left the church, they would be able to tell you what their “THIS” is.
The truth is, we live in a fallen and broken world, and the church is led by fallen and broken people, and I can understand what leads many people to this moment.
Which gets to the big question in verse 67…. Jesus turns to his disciples and says essentially… “Do you want to leave me too?”
It my moment of frustration, in my moment of choice, I heard my own question….
I heard God say clearly as a voice inside my head, Did Jesus really Exist?
My Answer… YES
Michael Grant (a classicist and historian) states that "In recent years, no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus, or at any rate very few have, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary."
Richard A. Burridge states, "There are those who argue that Jesus is a figment of the Church's imagination, that there never was a Jesus at all. I have to say that I do not know any respectable critical scholar who says that anymore.
Contemporary scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed, and biblical scholars and classical historians view the theories of his nonexistence as effectively refuted
The second question. Did Jesus really die on a cross?
Again, My answer …. Yes
The crucifixion of Jesus by the Romans is one of the most secure facts we have about his life. -Bart Ehrman
The third question….. Did Jesus rise again?
Thats the real question isnt it? It is not did Jesus live and die. It is did Jesus die and Live?
Again, my answer…. YES
Then the final question…. the big one. If this is true, how can you walk away?
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Believe in Christ