IS JESUS ENOUGH?
JOHN 6:1-71
Read verses 1-15
Read verses 25-35
Read verses 60-69
"CHUCK 01"
He was commonly referred to as Chuck. He was 41 years old, the first in his family to go to college (Brown University) and was one of three partners in a very successful law firm; so successful that it had made him millions of dollars and introduced him to very powerful people. He had gotten involved in politics, now served as “Special counsel to the president,” and had just days earlier orchestrated a successful reelection campaign for his boss; the President of the United States. But on this particular day this 41 year old sat in his plush office, which was separated from the President by one single door, and he questioned.
He was asking questions he had never asked before … or even considered before.
At a time in his life when he was at the peak of success and should have been kicking back with big fat cigar soaking it in, Chuck was filled with raw emptiness.
He was, in his words, coming face to face with the fact that the satisfaction he was seeking in his pursuits was still eluding him.
"CROWD 01"
That story reminds me of the story in John 6. It’s a lengthy chapter. It starts with people being wowed, filled and satisfied. Jesus has just turned loaves and fishes into a buffet feeding 5,000 people. They responded with excitement. They called him “prophet” and “rabbi” (and wanted to call him “king”). They even spend the night on the grounds with Jesus. But the very next morning this same crowd finds itself dissatisfied and hungry yet again.
You would have thought the excitement from the day before could carry them over for a while but the experience quickly evaporated. This was proof enough for some that what they needed was more … a bigger experience. Not just a show where Jesus feeds them once; but something REALLY big … like the manna from Moses! That would feed them at every meal on every day! Surely that would sustain them – that would meet their need and satisfy them. Never mind it didn’t satisfy the first recipients of it … the wandering Hebrews … soon wanted something else – something new back then too.
What do they do? They start running around trying to find what they are missing. Now keep in mind they are on to something. They are thrilled at what Jesus has done and they want to experience more of it so they start running around looking for him. They eventually find him; on the other side of the lake. Jesus knows what’s going on – he knows their hearts – and he makes no overtures to fill their bellies or entertain them again. Rather he makes the crowd an offer. He offers to satisfy their real longing, that inner satisfaction that is eluding them. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35).
Jesus, you see, not only knew their hearts he knew their real needs too.
Why were they so quickly dissatisfied with what they had just experienced?
• Was it because they were looking in the wrong places?
• Was it because they were looking for the wrong type of experience?
• Was it because they were listening to the wrong voices?
• Was it because they didn’t know where to look?
• Was it because no one had ever pointed them in the right direction?
The answer may be any or all of those and yet Jesus knew the solution to each was the same … Himself. Not the cheap thrills and temporary substance they were seeking but HIMSELF. Jesus was offering them a relationship with a person, not an experience, not even a belief system … a person.
"CHUCK 02"
Chuck did not know, at this time, that storm clouds were forming on his political career. He, “the hatchet man,” who some say would run over his own grandmother to get the President reelected, was in for the political and legal storm of his life … but it did not compare the storm going on within him.
Time passed.
Chuck had to make a trip to Boston so, while there, he goes to see a long-time friend named Tom Phillips. He had not seen Tom in about 4 years. Tom was also very very successful. The child of a poor immigrant couple, he had grown up to be the CEO of the Raytheon Corporation. They were setting in Tom’s office enjoying each other’s company but Chuck noticed something different in Tom and he made mention of it. Tom agreed that he had changed and said these words, “I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and committed my life to Him.”
"CROWD 02"
Now Chuck had never heard those words before but over the next three months he investigated them very rigorously. He read a book Tom recommended and did some other searching as well. There was no denying that Tom Phillips had met Jesus Christ, “the Bread of Life” and was no longer hungering or thirsting. The satisfaction Tom craved was no longer eluding him.
The crowd following Jesus listened closely but found the offer to be more than they were looking for. Yesterday they called him “prophet” and “rabbi” and sought to make him king. Today they grumbled (v.43, 62) and referred to him as “Jesus, the son of Joseph” (v.42).
Jesus continued to extend His offer and make sure they understood the stakes. They wanted none of it. They refused the offer (v. 60). In fact, they moved from grumbling to offense (v. 66) and “from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”
Many – but not all.
Some chose to move from fans (those enthusiastic admirers) to followers who will follow him at any cost. They said, “Where else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (v. 68).
With that, they “accepted Jesus as their savior and committed their lives to him” even though it was very very costly to do so. Soon they would be able to understand and answer a question Jesus posed at another time, “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
"CHUCK 03"
Three months after his conversation with Tom Phillips Chuck went to Tom’s House for dinner. When it was time to leave he pulled out of the driveway, drove a small distance, and then pulled the car over to the shoulder. He couldn’t see because of the tears. One of the most feared men in Washington politics was crying so hard he could not see! He again thought about the words of Tom, “I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and committed my life to Him.” And there on the side of the road, Charles Colson of Watergate fame was born again. In an instant God changed him into a different person! He, like his friend, Tom, surrendered His life to Jesus Christ and was now truly different.
Now, like the disciples before him, this did not mean life would be easy. Watergate was not yet in the mix, that was soon to come, but once the indictments came Chuck’s faith would not let him hide behind fancy lawyering, smooth talk, big money, and power. He pled guilty. He went to prison. And it was not a soft prison either; he was housed with some violent men and almost lost his life at one point.
But Chuck says this about his conversion, “Nothing in my life has been the same sense and nothing can be the same again. … When you come face to face with God, you find that which eludes you in all the things you are seeking in this world.”
Chuck was offered new positions of power once he got out of prison. One such offer made it clear that he would receive 1 million dollars in his bank account for simply saying yes; but Chuck had already said yes to Jesus Christ and could not / would not walk away. Instead, he founded a few Christian ministries, including one to prisoners and he gave all his speaking engagement and book earnings to these ministries.
Chuck says he has lived two lives; the two lives described by Jesus Christ when he said, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it” (his pre-conversion days) “and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (after giving himself to Jesus) (Matthew 16:25).
"RESPONSE"
Whether we identify with the crowd or with Charles Colson we all understand that core human quest for fulfillment.
• We may be looking in the wrong places
• We may be looking for the wrong type of experiences
• We may be listening to the wrong voices
• We may not know where to look to find what we were looking for
But as with the crowd and / or Chuck Colson, Jesus, “the bread of life” is the solution.
Regardless of what you are chasing to fill that void only Jesus Christ can do it.
Jesus is enough.
Colson is right – “When you come face to face with God, you find that which eludes you in all the things you are seeking in this world.”
Being a follower is a choice you make. Many are enthusiastic admirers of Jesus but they don’t want to follow him in surrender and sacrifice. They are fans.
But some choose to lose their life so they can find it. They “Accept Jesus Christ as savior and commit their lives to him.” They become a “COMPLETELY. COMMITTED. FOLLOWER.”
Are you a fan or a follower?
Jesus explains the move to follower in this story he says, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (v. 29).
The word, “Believe” means to trust – to come to Him and surrender your life to Him. Where else are you going to go? All the pursuits we humans try leave us empty. Jesus is the One who “has the words of eternal life” (68).
“What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
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** You can hear Charles Colson’s 4 part testimony (delivered at Columba University) on youtube.com.
** This sermon was preached as the sixth in a series called “Not a Fan” which was based upon Kyle Idleman’s book by the same name.
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
