What do you seek: The gifts or the Giver? (Gospel of John Part 20)
Text: John 6:22-27
So we’ve been in John’s Gospel for some time now… and we’re in one of the longest chapters of the entire book… Chapter six… it has 71 verses. And the reason for that is because in all of those 71 verses; John is really trying to get us to see something, so he’s spent a little extra time on it, and gone into more detail.
Now remember; the purpose of John writing his Gospel account is so that people will believe in Jesus. But we could also point out that there’s a secondary purpose in this chapter that John stresses and emphasizes for us. And that is: Not everyone who is interested in Jesus is actually a true believer, or a true follower of Christ. In-fact; in verses 64 and 70 Jesus even says that one of the 12 Disciples isn’t even a true follower… of course He’s talking about Judas. So we have Judas, and we have the Jews, and we have the crowds, and they are all showing us that just because a person says they are following Jesus, or just because a person shows an interest in Jesus, that doesn’t mean that they’ve truly been born again by the Spirit of God.
And the Bible gives us a lot of examples of how that happens… for some, it’s the allure of the world and deceitfulness of riches that draws them away… for some it’s that they don’t want to face the persecution that comes with following Christ. For some people… let’s just be honest, they don’t want to repent of their sin… and for others… it’s that Jesus doesn’t fit their mold. They want a Messiah who fulfills all their wants… not one who says, “Take up a cross and follow Me.” So for some people, they have this version of Jesus that’s not Biblical. It’s a Jesus created by their culture, or their desires, but then… once they read the Scriptures, and they see the real Jesus of the Bible, they actually don’t want anything to do with Him. The Gospel actually is an offense to them, it’s a stumbling block.
So let me read the text to you, set it all up, and explain what’s happening here.
(READ john 6:22-27).
So… a bunch of false disciples have gathered around Jesus… They’ve been attracted to Him for a number of reasons. First of all… crowds tend to draw larger crowds. Initially Jesus drew a crowd because of His healing miracles, and the water into wine… so He drew a crowd, and then people started coming to see what the crowd was all about, and the crowd got bigger. And of course; false disciples are attracted by crowds… They’re easy to hide in, and it’s easy to remain anonymous if you want. Now on the flip side of that… they also like lone sheep. False teachers like to find solo Christians when other Christians or their pastors aren’t around… They like to put thoughts and ideas in their ears… So… they like to single you out to fill your head with false doctrine and wrong thinking, but they like crowds because they can hide in them, and they feel that the larger the crowd the more important the thing is…
The second thing we see is that false disciples are overly fascinated with the super-natural… Now understand this… if you read through Scripture, you can’t deny the supernatural. Jesus really did miracles. Jesus really did cast out demons. Angels and demons exist. And so, to flat out deny that miracles happen, and that the supernatural exists is to deny the teaching of the Bible… but at the same time, to be overly fascinated with the supernatural is dangerous. It’s not healthy. So these folks... they wanted to see it, they wanted to be a part of it. They were overly fascinated with the supernatural. We still see this today, and we’re going to see more and more of it. As our society as a whole moves away from the ability to think logically and clearly about anything, more and more people are going to demand entertainment, signs, wonders, miracles… and more and more people are going to be deceived. And even if you promise the miraculous and can’t actually deliver it… I’m thinking of guys like Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland here… you’re still going to draw the crowds, because false disciples want to see that stuff… They want that excitement, that mystery, that possibility of the supernatural.
The third thing we see here is that false disciples have their minds set on worldly benefits. Remember from last time, Jesus feeds over 5000 people, and they all of a sudden want to make Him their king.
Not so they can submit to His rule and reign and Lordship, but so that they can have someone in their pocket who heals the sick and feeds them. Again; this is the promise of Socialism and Communism… and it’s one of the reasons that those political systems are so godless and anti-Christian.
Someone even re-wrote the 23rd Psalm for Socialists… have you heard that?
“The government is my shepherd: I need not work. It alloweth me to lie down on a good job. It leads me beside still factories. It destroyeth my initiative. It leads me in a path of parasite for politics sake; Yea,, though I walk through the valley of deficit-spending, I will fear no evil, for the government is with me. It prepareth an economic Utopia for me by appropriating the earnings of mine own grandchildren. It filleth my head with false security. Our inefficiency runneth over. Surely government should care for me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in state run institutions forever.”
So for them it wasn’t about being saved from the wrath of God… it wasn’t about being made right with God. It was about having their best life now… ON THIS EARTH! Instead of the world to come. When you get right down to it… it was about worldliness. Worldly things without godliness, without repentance, without dying to sin and self.
So false disciples have either no interest, or a twisted interest in eternal things, it’s all here and now. It’s all either, God You are really blessing me, OR… God WHY AREN’T You blessing me? They either have no interest in theology and right doctrine, or a twisted interest in theology and doctrine. They have no interest in matters of sin and righteousness, or repentance and holiness, and truth.
So what do you do if you want to attract false disciples? You make your church as worldly as possible, you make it as WORLDLY exciting and WORLDLY entertaining as possible, you advertise and promise signs and wonders – even if you have to manufacture them yourself through psychological manipulation. And then you ignore theology and doctrine and focus all your energy, resources, and teaching on WORLDLY things, and you justify it with pragmatism (whatever works).
Fourth… False Disciples are incapable of true worship. Think about it with me for a second… the crowds see the miracle, they want to make Jesus their vending machine king… whereas the disciples see Jesus do miracles and they worship. Remember when we looked at Jesus walking on water… He calms the storm, gets in the boat, and the disciples worship. The praise Him, they engage in true, heartfelt, worship. The people just want more bread, more food, more healing, more worldly deliverance, they don’t worship Jesus, they just want more of what He can give them.
They’re not interested in the GIVER, just the gifts. They’re not interested in engaging in true worship of the Sovereign Lord of the Universe… instead they’re interested in an emotional experience for themselves.
So that’s what’s going on here… all these false disciples, false followers, crowds… they’re following Jesus, but there’s no true conversion that’s taken place, and again Jesus lumps Judas in with them. They haven’t truly been born again. But they’re interested in what they think Jesus is going to be to them… and Jesus calls them out. Verse 26 He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” So let me break this verse down… When Jesus says, “Not because you saw signs.” He’s saying, “You’re seeking me not because what you saw in the feeding of over 5000 people and the healing of the sick, has opened your understanding and driven you to faith in the fact that I AM the Son of God.” In other words, “You’re here, not because the signs pointed out that I AM the Son of God.”
BUT BECAUSE: “You ate your fill of the loaves.” Now… the Greek word there is “Chortazo”
It means filled to capacity… to stuff yourself completely… to satiate yourself.
So the idea that’s being conveyed here is that these crowds are seeking, not just their daily bread, but an above and beyond, abundance of food, so that they no longer have to work to make a living. They want their desires to be met, and fulfilled beyond capacity, on the spot!
Now look at what Jesus says to them in verse 27 (READ)
Basically; He’s saying this, “You’re looking for the wrong things in life.”
Jesus is saying, “You’re wasting your life pursuing things that don’t matter in the long run. You’re wasting your time, your energy, your wealth, your resources, your health, in pursuit of temporary pleasure… temporary satisfaction… temporary enjoyment. And the reality is – all of that is wood, hay, and straw. It’s going to burn up. It’s not eternal, and has no eternal significance.”
When you’ve been with the Lord 10 thousand years, bright – shining, as the sun… you’re not going to look back at your time on earth and say, “Man, I wish I had lived in a bigger house, and worn high end clothing.” You’re not going to say, “I wish I had dated more, hooked up with more chicks, or dudes, and lived more lavishly.”
Jesus says, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.” And what is the food that endures to eternal life? ITS HIM!
He says it in verse 35… “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.”
He says it like this in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
And that’s the tie in for us… Because all of those things we’ve just talked about… those things that help us spot false disciples… You know…. they like the crowds, they’re overly fascinated with the supernatural, their minds are set on, and focused on worldly things and benefits, and their incapability to truly worship the Lord – ALL OF THOSE THINGS, can be summed up by saying, they want to be their own god. They want to be the sovereign Lord of their own lives.
The difference we see in Scripture is that true disciples… true followers of Christ… those who have truly been born again and saved by the grace of God… they stumble, they fall, they make mistakes, they sometimes act foolishly and sin. But when they stumble they stumble forward… when they fall they rise up again. They actually fight against their sin, and when they do sin they repent. They persevere in the faith. And as they continue to walk with the Lord, they begin to realize more and more, that Jesus is the real treasure. Jesus is the real prize. Knowing Him and being known by Him… they realize… ITS ALL ABOUT JESUS!
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.
CLOSING
