“Crossing the Line”
John 6:60-71
Introduction…
Have any of you seen the old Disney film, “Davy Crocket”? It is one of my all-time favorites. There is a scene in that movie, at the Alamo, when Col. Travis draws a line of the ground and asks the men that want to stay and fight to the death to cross that line. I think God does that to us. Every time we are confronted with God’s truth, a line is drawn and He asks us to cross it. He never forces us, He just draws the line. I want us to look at a situation in the Gospel of John that shows three responses to that drawn line.
Background for the Text…
Jesus had tons of followers because he had just fed the five thousand. People were flocking to Him from all over because of the signs and wonders He was performing. Most of His followers had a shallow commitment, they were just following Jesus to see what they could get out of it. Once they were faced with a truth crisis, they demonstrated their commitment, or lack thereof. Right before the text we are about to read, Jesus is teaching the people and telling them that He is the bread from heaven and that to have eternal life, they must consume his flesh and blood. This caused many of the followers (maybe as many as 10,000-15,000) to question why they were following Him. Let’s pick up there…
Read the Text: (John 6:60-71)
Review the Text:
The first person I want us to identify is the quitter…
The Quitter (v. 60-66)
So why do people quit? Why do they give up?
Notice why these people stopped walking with Jesus. They quit because they were having trouble with the things He was saying. (This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?) They had become offended by the truth. Sometimes the truth can be offensive. When we are living in darkness and the light of God shines in, it can hurt. Have you ever been sound asleep, in a pitch black room, and someone flipped the light switch on? Oh, what a horrible way to wake up. It is certainly affective, but the light causes pain to your eyes. God’s word can be like that at times. These people were offended by what Jesus was saying because it was true and they were under conviction. When we come under the conviction of the word of God, we have two possible responses: we can rebel, we can repent. The people here chose to rebel because they found the truth offensive.
I think they also decided to quite following Jesus because He did not meet their expectations. They were looking for an authoritative King to come and rescue them from the Roman rule. Jesus was in fact the King of Kings. No king has ever had the authority of Jesus, but they didn’t see it. I think many of us have false expectations. Some people teach that when you decided to follow Jesus, life become easy. It doesn’t. Some people believe that when you live for Jesus, you won’t face any trouble. You will! Some people believe that God will give you everything you want. News flash…He won’t! Those expectations will never be met in this life. I think one reason why a lot of young people fall away from the church and stop living for Christ is because they are fed a lot of fluff as teens and they have a bunch of false expectations as a result. We need to preach and teach the truth, not just things that people want to hear.
Here are two ways we can make sure we stay on track.
Two ways to stay on track:
Be right-minded
We are born with stinking thinking. We naturally see things differently than God does. We need our minds to be transformed, renewed, through the word of God. Instead of trying to change the word of God to fit our situation, we need to allow the word of God to change us, to make us right-minded. Romans 12:2 tells us that when we have a renewed mind, we can know the will of God. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to trust in the Lord and not to lean on our own understanding. In other words, get rid our your own personal perspective and expectations and just trust that God knows what is best and obey His word. When we acknowledge God by following His word, we are shown the way we are to go. We can stay on track. We need to be right-minded to stay on track.
Be receptive to the truth
It isn’t enough to just hear the truth, we need to receive the truth. I said earlier that we need to allow the truth to change us. This means that we must be teachable. Our desire should be to seek out the truth. Most people want the truth, but once they hear it, they do not always accept it. Whether you accept the truth or not, nothing can change it, it is still true. What good does it do anyone to reject the truth? Jesus is the truth (John 14:6)! Everyone needs to receive Him! When we are following Christ, we need to remain teachable and humble. We need to allow God to mold us and shape us into the people God would have us to be. That is not always easy, and often times, it is very difficult. We need to be willing to be stretched and shaped by the word of truth. Be receptive to that.
The next person I want us to identify is the pretender.
The Pretender (v. 70-71)
This person was Judas, the ultimate pretender, the fraud of all frauds. No one likes Judas, but how often do we actually act just like him? I would suggest that we do it pretty often. Do you ever fake it and say things are ok when in reality, they are not? Do you ever act like everything between you and God is just fine when in reality, you might have sin if your life that you have yet to confess? Sure, we have all been there. Why do people fake it? Why do we act like we are doing what we are supposed to be doing? Well, I think we often care more about what people think than what God thinks. Seriously! The only ones we fool when we fake it are those that see us (and not always all of them) and ourselves. God isn’t fooled! In verses 70-71, we are told that Jesus knew who was going to betray Him. Judas had everyone fooled, but Jesus wasn’t fooled. When we play the role of pretender, we put in all kinds of hard work trying to convince people that we are doing what we should be doing when it would actually take less effort to just do the right thing in the first place. That has to be some form of insanity. Why do we do that? We need to keep it real! God knows our heart, we can’t pull one over on Him.
Two ways to keep it real:
Seek the approval of God not the acceptance of man
Jesus explained it perfectly when he said, “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” That is what happens when we seek man’s acceptance instead of God approval. For some reason we
seem to care more about what people think than what God thinks. Most of us have enough sense to not come out and say it, but our actions speak louder than our words. When we care more about what God thinks than what people think, our lives will demonstrate it.
Serve out of love not out of liability.
I think another reason people fake it is because they feel like they are expected to do these things. If they don’t do what they are “supposed to do” they are looked down on. So instead of serving the Lord and being glad, pretenders serve the Lord and end up getting mad because it becomes a chore. When we serve the Lord because of our love for Him, it is no longer a chore, but an opportunity to demonstrate our devotion. Serving out of love shows that Jesus on the inside makes a difference on the outside.
The Last person I want us to look at is the Follower.
The Follower (Follower of Christ, aka “Disciple”) (v. 67-69)
The follower is Peter. A couple of things I want to point out. First, true followers of Christ are not perfect. Man, Peter sure had some flaws. He denied Jesus, he didn’t want to go visit with the gentiles, and he stuck his foot in his mouth all the time. But even with all his flaws, he still followed Christ because he was convinced that there was no one else that deserved his devotion. That is basically what he said…"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God”. Peter’s confession was amazing and so true. The Second thing I want to point out is that Jesus didn’t force anyone to follow Him. He gave the apostles the option to leave too. Being a follower of Christ is a decision you must make yourself. God draws the line, but you have to cross it.
There are three things a true follower, or true disciple will have:
A True Disciple Will…
Receive a heart change not just some head knowledge
When Jesus comes in our old self goes out. At least, that is the way it should be. A genuine follower of Christ doesn’t just know what to do, they show the know it be growing in it and living it consistently. Satan knows the truth. Demons know who Jesus is. Knowing is only half the battle according to G.I Joe, and I would agree. A true follower gains knowledge by studying the word of God, and when God draws that line, they cross it through obedience. We are transformed from the inside out. Jesus on the inside does make a difference on the outside. When Jesus owns our heart, He shows up in our life.
Respond with a genuine commitment to Christ
Quitters follow for a while until the going gets tough and then they bail. Pretenders follow outwardly, but inwardly, their hearts are far from the Lord. A Disciple, a true follower, follows the Lord, no matter where He might lead. In Luke 9:23, Jesus said that if anyone wanted to be His disciple (follower), he must take up his cross and follow Him. This means that we are to die to ourselves so that we can live for Christ. A true follower of Christ isn’t a Christian when it is convenient, they are consistent, they live for Jesus, even when it is inconvenient. Our commitments are tested by trials. When trouble comes, do you stand firm with your Savior? A follower does.
Risk everything to cross the line
In the Davy Crocket movie I mentioned, those that crossed the line and stayed did so knowing that they would lose their lives fighting for what they believed in. Many were scared, but all of them took the risk. Following Christ has its risks. You will likely face persecution, you risk being popular opinion, you give up all, you make yourself venerable for the sake of Jesus. Even with its risks, following Jesus has the greatest rewards. Seldom do you find reward without first taking a risk. I guess that is what faith is all about, it is trusting in something you do not see and believing that it is worth the risk. I believe Jesus is worth it! What are you willing to risk for Him? Will you risk your life? That is what it takes to follow Jesus.
The last thing I want to point out to you is what I thought was really cool in the crossing the line scene. I noticed how everyone watched Davy. Davy Crocket was the first to cross the line and after he crossed, others followed him. You see, as followers of Christ, we need to be leading people to Jesus. You never know who is watching you. If people followed you, where would they end up? Would they end up following Jesus too? We are called to be disciples, true followers of Christ. Are you ready to cross that line?
Are you Fleeing, Faking, or Following?
The line has been drawn today, are you going to cross it?
Some of you need to cross it for the first time and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Some of you have heard the truth before but you quit when it got tough. Don’t do that today, respond to God’s call. Some of you have been coming for a while, but you have been faking it. You might have me fooled, you might have others fooled, but God isn’t fooled. Be real today and give it to Jesus. Maybe you are a follower of Christ, but you aren’t leading people to Him. Commit to that today. I don’t know exactly what line God has drawn in front of you today, but my prayer is that you will see it and that you will cross it.
Let’s Pray…
