Sermon Tone Analysis

It’s football season.

I love to watch football.

I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one in here either.

I grew up playing ice hockey, and I still enjoy watching it, but since moving to the States in the early 90’s, I have learned about football and have become a fan.

Speaking of being a fan, part of the fun of watching football games is noticing the behavior of the fans.

One thing about fans is, they are fickle.

They can be the most hardcore fans imagineable.

They show up with their team gear on, their faces painted, crazy outfits on.

They’re the ones in the front row, pounding the wall, yelling.

These are the most devoted followers.

They have all the statistics memorized, they have all the players numbers memorized.

They have all the memorabilia on their walls at home.

And if you ask them, they would say that they are true followers of the team.

You can ask them, “What team do you follow?”

And they could tell you.

They’re the ones who you think will always stick with the team, no matter what happens.

You can ask them, “What team do you follow?”

And they could tell you.

And they do…for a while anyway.

But when they have a miserable first half, and the favored home team only manages to rack up about 70 yards of total offense.

And it’s 3rd and long deep in their own territory, and the quarterback takes another sack,

Here come the boos raining down.

Here come the calls of derision,

And in the closing minutes of the 4th quarter when the favored home team is down by 3 touchdowns and all chance of victory has slipped away, the TV camera pans across the stadium and most of the seats are empty, the “true and faithful followers” streaming out the exits.

And on Monday morning, here come the calls for a new quarterback, the calls for a different coach.

And you have to ask yourself, “Are these folks true followers, or are they fans?”

Are they followers or are they fans?

It’s when things really get tough, that true followers start to separate themselves out from the fans

Because there is a big difference between the two.

At least in my mind.

A fan.

The term comes from the word “Fanatic”.

Merriam-Webster says that fans are...

marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion

These are people that are enthused about their team.

They love the mascots, the band, the stadium atmosphere.

They love the memorabilia and gear.

They have their favorite players on the team.

They love the pride that comes from their team being the best.

One thing that often marks fans is their emotion—the enthusiasm that is displayed when things are good can just as easily become “boos” and derision and throwing things on the field.

But often when times get hard, these fans get exasperated and throw in the towel.

A follower: one in service to another; one who imitates another

a follower is in it for the long haul.

When times get hard, the follower is still there.

When the team really lays an egg one weekend, the follower still believes.

When the management makes a questionable decision, the follower still believes that one day their team is going to win the championship again.

Now to be fair, there are famously die hard fans.

Like Chicago Cubs Fans whose team went 108 years without a championship, Cleveland Browns fans.

They call themselves fans, but maybe they are actually true followers

In our study of the Gospel of John we find ourselves in chapter 6.

It’s a very long chapter; 71 verses

And it’s been struggle for me to know how to approach it.

We did look at the beginning of the chapter, at the feeding of the multitude.

But now I would like to take a step back and look at more of an overview of this chapter and help us get an idea of what is going on in a larger sense.

Normally I like to take chapter or passages and use them as part of a narrative and make sure that we understand the context.

And I still think that’s important.

But chapter 6 seems to lend itself to being taken out and treated as a stand alone passage.

It almost seems that John wanted it this way.

If you look at the beginning of chapter 6, it says “After This”, giving a time break between the events of chapter 5 and those in chapter 6.

And then in chapter 7, verse one, again it says “After this”.

So you have chapter 6 “bookended” by time breaks and I think that it’s possible to reach in and pluck this chapter out and examine it as a standalone narrative.

So that’s what I would like to do this morning and probably next Sunday as well.

And in chapter 6 you have something going on that I believe is crucial for us to understand.

The theme of chapter 6 is one that is a major theme of Jesus and one that the Gospel writers often emphasize.

In order for us to get an idea of what that is, perhaps we should skim down to the closing words of John chapter 6.

John 6:66

“Do you want to go away as well?”

Such a sad question.

If there is one question that demonstrates the humanity of the Lord Jesus, if there is one question that shows that He really did have emotions and felt what we felt, this might be it.

“Do you want to go away as well?”

I know that we have all felt the pain of rejection at one time or another in our lives.

that time when someone who you thought was a friend, when it came down to the nitty gritty and things go tough, that person turned their back on you and went away.

You know that pain.

You know how it makes you look at other relationships in your life differently.

It makes you wonder, “are they going to go away too?”

You may remember a number of weeks ago after we looked at the feeding of the 5000, I said that there are dark clouds on the horizon.

And this is it.

I believe that this chapter details one of, of not THE, defining moment of Jesus ministry on earth.

This is a significant turning point in the ministry of Jesus.

We know that great crowds followed Jesus around.

It’s at this point when these followers have to make a choice: am I a fan or am I a follower?

Am I going to still believe when things get hard?

Am I going to still believe when my master says things that are hard to swallow?

Am I going to stay true when persecution comes?

When it’s not cool and exciting to be part of this movement any more, am I going to remain faithful?

It’s in this chapter that we John making a contrast between fans and followers.

Between fans and true disciples.

Now you might notice that verse 66 says that many of His disciples turned back, and you think “Well, if the Bible calls someone a disciple, that means that they are a true follower, doesn’t it?”

Not necessarily.

The word used here in chapter 6 is 3412 μαθητής (mathētēs),

DISCIPLE A student, pupil, or learner.

In the New Testament it is used for Jesus’ followers.

Often references “the Twelve” but also indicates a wider group of followers.

A student or learner could be someone who is following a person out of many different motives or reasons:

3412 μαθητής (mathētēs), οῦ (ou), ὁ (ho): n.masc.; ≡ Str 3101; TDNT 4.415—1.

LN 36.38 follower, often a disciple who is a believer and close follower, though other less committed relationships are indicated (; ; ; ; ); 2. LN 27.16 pupil, student, one tutored, implying a closer relationship than mere information (, )

DBL Greek

disciples ESV, NIV, NRSV, LEB, RSV

of … disciples KJV 1900, NKJV, AV 1873

Text Comparison