Scripture Introduction
Pastor Douglas Webster wrote a provocative book entitled, Selling Jesus. He described the American church as taking a foolish route to attract an audience. While the claims of Christianity can and should compete in the “marketplace” of ideas, we must be careful of “selling out” when “selling Jesus.” The metaphor of consumerism in relation to the church contains the very real danger of having the market demand a lower price to “move the goods.” Jesus avoids the compromises of crass consumerism by commitment to Truth.
After reading the text, we may wonder if Jesus would benefit from more marketing savvy. He seems determined to drive away “would be” disciples. But a bigger question is involved: How will we respond? Will we embrace hard truths and follow, be offended and turn away? Listen please, as I read from John’s Gospel, chapter 6, beginning at verse 60. [Read John 6.60-71. Pray.]
Introduction
I recently watched a Star Trek episode in which Zefram Cochrane, an old engineer, decides to spend his last days in space. He crashes on “Gamma Canaris N” and would have died, but an alien rescues him, restores his youth, and sustains him for hundreds of years. He eventually learns to communicate with “The Companion,” and tells her that he must be around other people like himself in order to survive. He hoped the alien would repair his ship and send him back to Earth. Instead, it forces the Enterprise crew to join Cochrane, who must now explain his eternal youth to Captain Kirk. Kirk then asks what will happen if he leaves The Companion. Cochrane says, “I will age again and die, as all men.” Then the key sentence: “Anyway, eternal life is pretty boring.”
Eternal life is pretty boring? That theme appears frequently in modern and post-modern literature. In the newer version of Star Trek, written a decade later, the character, “Q” appears. He is a rascally demigod who alleviates the boredom of eternity with practical jokes played on Captain Pickard.
You see the same complaint in the T-Shirt which pictures a halo-capped man sitting on the clouds and thinking, “Heaven is Boring.” Or the person who states that he would rather be in hell with his friends than playing a harp forever in heaven. Or the mocking words of Rev. Tom Goldsmith of Salt Lake City’s First Unitarian Church: “As long as I can still listen to National Public Radio, heaven will be tolerable.”
Rather than be taken in by such foolishness, we do well to make sure we ask the right questions. The skeptic asks, “Do I want to do forever what I really do not enjoy doing at all?” Of course the answer is, “No.” Heaven bores those forced to do forever what they now dislike.
But we reach a different conclusion if we ask, instead, “Does the Bible might mean something different by ‘eternal life’ than the skeptics allow?” Jesus speaks often of this subject, and Peter (in John 6.68) claims that Jesus’ offer of eternal life makes it worth following him even when the way is hard.
The solution to the apparent dilemma comes when we realize that Jesus’ definition of eternal life is not the same as the one mocked by “Q.” Eternal life is not more of the same, but substantially different. Eternal is not merely infinite quantity; it is a fundamentally distinct quality.
You know the experience. When you reach the mountain summit and the magnitude of the view and the layers of beauty beg you to live in that moment forever. Or after the delivery, when you first hold your baby and the joy of that moment is so intense and sweet that it would not dull if you stayed always.
I remember when my daughter and I found the perfect roller coaster at Silver Dollar City. It pushed us just beyond comfort, so that it thrilled our senses without frightening us beyond what was fun. We rode it 20 times in a row!
That is precisely why C. S. Lewis said: “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else…. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it—tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest—if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself—you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say ‘Here at last is the thing I was made for’” (The Problem of Pain).
Some of the followers of Jesus heard that sound. They had eyes to see the eternity in their hearts. They understood that some things are so valuable that everything else must be sold to obtain them. “You, Jesus, have the words of eternal life.” As a result, they were compelled to follow him.
What about us? How will we respond to Jesus’ teaching? If you have heard the echo and recognize, in your heart of hearts, that you have never desired anything else except heaven, then I am here to tell you why you must follow Jesus.
Along the way, we will also discover how we might communicate this same message to a skeptical world caught in consumerism. It is not by “Selling Jesus.” Instead, we must demonstrate a compelling example in our own lives while we also call others also to follow him. We live a life of such quality that others long for it in quantity. Three things from this text which will empower such a life and message.
1. We Must Follow Jesus Even Though His Words Are Hard (John 6.60-62)
Grumbling is not a new response to God and his ways. After he brought them out of Egypt, the Israelites complained about the difficulties of their lives and their misfortunes. And God was displeased.
Numbers 14.27: “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.”
Now the same response is given Jesus. He refuses to tickle ears and they are irritated: “We will not tolerate such teaching! We will leave unless you change your tune.”
Note well Jesus’ response: “You were offended by that? What will you do if it gets worse?” Three details to observe:
1) Jesus’ sayings are called “hard.” The Greek word is (skleros), which I only tell you because you know the word—from it we get the word, “sclerosis.” Sclerosis is a hardening which hinders proper function. Jesus’ words are not difficult to understand; they are hard to tolerate, hard to absorb, hard to hear. They are harsh to my soft sensibilities.
2) The people take offense. Jesus does not give offense; in fact, there are other places where we are specifically told that Jesus did what was necessary to avoid giving offense. Jesus gives truth; they take offense. Again the Greek word will help you understand what happens. It is (skandalidzo)—they are scandalized by Jesus’ teaching. “We refuse the god you describe! You are a scandal to the true religion.”
3) Jesus increases the scandal. It would be easier to back off given the opposition, but Jesus recognizes the issue is the hardness of their heart, not the harshness of his words. John Calvin: “It is dreadful and monstrous that so kind and friendly an invitation of Christ should have alienated the minds of many, especially those who had earlier been on his side and were even his close disciples. But this example is put before us as a mirror to see how great is the world’s depravity and ingratitude, which heaps up material to stumble over even on the smooth way of life, that it may not come to Christ.”
Three applications for us today. First, we must admit the words are hard, and yet stay with Jesus. The difficulties are no different or less today than they were when Jesus spoke. Here in John 6, Jesus makes clear that he is God’s son, fully God and yet fully man. They understood—they just did not like it. They did not like the exclusivity of Jesus’ divinity: “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Nor Jesus’ demand that they come to God through him: “No one comes to the Father except by me.”
Not only that, Jesus also teaches in John 6 that he must die on the cross. They understood the implication of this for their attempts at good works. They realized Jesus was indicting their best efforts as an offense to God. And then Jesus tops it off by saying that no one is able to come to saving faith unless God the Father drags him or her. You are spiritually unable to please God, such that your one hope is sovereign grace.
These are hard teachings. Not hard to understand, but hard on our pride. We do well to admit that. But notice that Jesus ends verse 62 with a question: “You are offended by that? What if...?” What if? The question is asked us: when Biblical truth offends, how will you respond? Will we remain faithful?
Second, we must call people with truth. Jesus does not compromise simply because people are offended. We also must not sell out in the hopes of selling Jesus. We do the work of evangelism, keeping before us John 8.31: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Truth is the Holy Spirit’s means for breaking through hard hearts.
Third, we must not use truth as an excuse for lack of compassion and love. By God’s grace, we may be at less risk of compromising truth than some other churches. (The danger is still real, so I have warned you.) But maybe the greater risk for us is that we will be harsh and arrogant in the name of truth. I have met people—I have done this myself—I say it to my shame—I have seen people walk away from me and my words and justified myself based on the fact that some people turned away from Jesus. Yes, they did. But Jesus loved even those who turned away. His words are hard; this we affirm. But he was never harsh; this we admit in ourselves and turn from.
Eternal life is found by following Jesus even though his words are hard to hear.
2. We Must Follow Jesus Because The Spirit Sends Us (John 6.63-66)
Often Christians go through seasons when they wish they could have lived when Jesus did and walked and talked with him. Wouldn’t that have been great?
But would it have? God in human flesh stands meters from these folks, yet they reject his words, turn their backs and walk away. Nor are these casual acquaintances: “many of his disciples turned back.”
So it is not my seeing and understanding and grasping that makes me a faithful follower of Jesus; it is presence and power of the person of the Holy Spirit.
This is not new. Ezekiel was shown it in a valley of dry bones. Suddenly, they returned to life and made an army for God. How? The Word of the Lord was spoken and the Spirit of God entered and brought new life (Ezekiel 37).
Paul said the same: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1Corinthians 2.14).
We too face the danger of grasping at spiritual truth with fleshly means. A particularly poignant example occurs in the film, The Godfather, when the Mafia boss is at Mass, having his daughter baptized and taking communion. At the exact same moment his henchmen murder another Mafia family member. As if the outward forms could compensate for inner deadness.
Our risks may not be as flagrant, but they are as real. Baptism is a great sacrament, but churches are full of people counting on the water to save so they will not have to call on the Spirit. Or communion—we hold a high and lofty view of the spiritual benefits of reenacting this memorial meal. But across denominations this morning, thousands, yea millions, will eat and drink to their own judgment, because they refuse to accept that “the Spirit gives life; the flesh is of no avail.”
Maybe some of us here would never turn back, the social stigma would just be too great. But have you already turned away in heart and soul? Are we going through the motions when there is no life? Today can be the time of restoration. Call on the Spirit and follow Christ—it is a spiritual work.
3. We Must Follow Jesus Because There Is No Other Way (John 6.66-71)
On the Boy Scout’s Colorado trip, some of the guys hiked over the Continental Divide. That line is sometimes called a “watershed,” because it is the point that separates water which flows to the Atlantic Ocean from that which flows to the Pacific. This section of the book is John is described as a watershed by many Bible scholars. Truth separates those who will be Jesus’ faithful followers from those who fall away.
Charles Spurgeon said about this separation: “There is a constant winnowing going on in all churches, and this drives away the light and chaffy ones. There is a fan at work upon this floor! Some stay, year after year, and yet turn out to be of no account. The Lord goes on sifting, but certain of the chaff do not blow off at first because, perhaps, the wheat is lying on top of it—there is a good wife or holy mother or a godly husband that keeps the doubtful ones right. But when these are taken away, the next blast of the winnowing fan sweeps that bit of chaff away. Oh, be not as the chaff, which is covered up and so hidden among the wheat! Turn not aside, I pray you! The Lord keep you…. What I say to myself I think I hear each one of you say to himself or herself, “Better far that we die than that we deny our Lord.”
Have you been shown by the Holy Spirit that eternal life is what you were made for? Not simply alive forever, but living. If you have heard the echoes (which ring the hills constantly) then follow Jesus, for he has the words of eternal life.
4. Conclusion
F. F. Bruce: “What they wanted, he would not give; what he offered, they would not receive.”
They wanted easy words, pandering thoughts, a message that would bolster their self-esteem. He would not give that, for he would not lie. Instead, he offered a message bring us to the end of ourselves in full dependence on God’s grace through his Holy Spirit. Do you embrace this message? Will you follow Jesus or turn back and take offense? You think about that.
