WHY FOLLOWING JESUS IS NOT EASY
John 6:60-71
S: Discipleship
Th: Following Jesus
Pr: WE FOLLOW JESUS (no matter how hard it is).
?: Inductive
KW: Turns
TS: In the recorded incident of John 6:60-71, we will find six turn of events of what it is like to follow Jesus.
The _____ turn is…
I. DISRUPTION
II. DESCRIPTION
III. DESERTION
IV. DETERMINATION
V. DECLARATION
VI. DETERIORATION
Version: ESV
RMBC 07 July 02 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Notebook: Communication (herd of buffaloes)
A young man from the city was visiting a dude ranch and wanted to appear as if he was used to the surroundings. So he went out walking with one of the hired hands. Walking through the barnyard, the visitor tried starting a conversation: "Say, look at that big bunch of buffaloes."
The hired hand replied, "Not ‘bunch’ but ‘herd’."
"Heard what?"
"Herd of buffaloes."
"Sure, I’ve heard of buffaloes. There’s a big bunch of ‘em right over there."
Have you ever had trouble getting your point across?
I am sure that we all have had this kind of frustration from time to time.
And we are not so sure whether we are the problem in the way we communicate or whether the person to whom we are talking is not listening well.
TRANSITION:
During the last few weeks…
1. We have been studying words Jesus said that were hard to understand.
Last week, specifically, we noted that Jesus said (53-56):
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
Eat flesh and drink blood…
It would have been at this point in time, I would have said something to Jesus like, “Would you like to rephrase that? You are starting to sound kind of weird.”
But Jesus stuck with it, because…
2. Jesus’ mission was always to get people to look past the material and see the spiritual.
The people had been stuck on the material.
After all, the day before Jesus had just fed over 5000 people.
He had, in effect, become to them, the all-you-can-eat buffet man.
But when, Jesus claimed to come from heaven and be the bread of life, the people (pardon the pun) could not stomach it.
Jesus, though, was encouraging them to look beyond the obvious temporal world, and see the eternal.
As we come to this last section of verses in chapter 6, we see this frustration come to a disappointing end for some that had been following Jesus.
So…
3. In the recorded incident of John 6:60-71, we will find six turn of events of what it is like to follow Jesus.
This text takes twists and turns as we see the conflict come to a climax.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first turn is DISRUPTION (60-61).
[60] When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” [61] But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?”
A struggle begins because the real Jesus is not always easy to listen to or follow.
For many, Jesus had been easy to follow at this point.
He had done great things.
He had performed miracles and healings.
He had fed over 5,000.
It is easy to follow someone who does those kinds of things.
But now it was getting more difficult.
The text tells us that they were listening.
They were taking it all in, hearing with appreciation.
And they were rightfully concluding that this was hard.
Following Jesus was no longer going to be an easy task, because He was saying things that disrupted and upset the orthodoxy of the day.
Jesus knows, by the way, that He is doing that very thing.
And He also knew what their attitude was and how it was with them.
Which brings us to…
II. The second turn is DESCRIPTION (62-65).
[62] “Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? [63] It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. [64] But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) [65] And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
Here is the question…
1. Did they really need one more miracle to understand Jesus?
Jesus asks, “What if you saw me rising up into the sky returning into heaven from which I came? Would that help you believe?”
Even more so, to help us understand better, I believe that the description Jesus is making would go something like this:
“If you would continue to the end and saw me ascending into the heavens, thus removing my body from the earth, you would understand that I am not talking about flesh and bones, meat and blood, but rather I am talking about what those things symbolize, that ‘it is the spirit that gives life, and the flesh is of no help.’” (Ray Stedman in ”To Whom Shall We Go?”)
But there is not going to be another miracle for these.
They have the opportunity to believe, because they have heard the words of Jesus.
But…
2. Jesus words must be understood spiritually if they are going to be understood at all.
The people have not grasped the spiritual meaning of His words.
They have locked into the physical and literal meaning and are failing to see that these creative utterances have the power to give life.
For if they take them to heart and consume these words, they will be transformed.
When they are taken in and become part of us, an eternal change comes.
Jesus also continues to communicate that no one can naturally believe on their own.
The life-giving ministry of the Spirit must draw them.
This means that those who cannot grasp His words lack the Spirit.
In the big picture of things, this means that Jesus knows that not everybody is going to be with Him.
But He is well aware of the cost.
Jesus serenely goes on His way, because He knows where He is going, whether anyone follows Him or not.
This leads us to…
III. The third turn is DESERTION (66).
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
We can’t help but feel a great deal of sadness at this point.
It had been looking great.
The enlargement campaign had been very successful.
But the grumbling had turned to arguing, which then turned into rejecting.
Everybody, except the Twelve, deserted Jesus.
These people were like the rocky ground in the Parable of the Sower.
They had quickly embraced Jesus without fully grasping what it would mean and cost.
Now they had withered away.
On another occasion, Jesus would say…
“He who is not with me is against me.”
This certainly applies here as well.
There had been many that followed Jesus as disciples, but they did not really believe Him in the way He was defining His mission and ministry as the Messiah.
They had had their temporal needs met, but now He was rearranging their spiritual priorities.
This was more than they had anticipated, so they were out of there.
But in doing so, they showed their “true colors.”
They were not for Jesus.
They were against Him.
Now we come to…
IV. The fourth turn is DETERMINATION (67)
So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
In today’s church, we think of enlargement campaigns.
We purpose, the bigger the better.
But not Jesus, for this was a very successful ensmallment campaign.
The ranks had been thinned very well.
All that is left are the Twelve.
So Jesus asks them the question that expects the negative answer, “You want to go too, don’t you?”
It was a determining test, for them and us.
For…
What do you really want? The process or the product?
The people that had left had loved the product.
People were getting well.
People were being fed.
Life was good.
But Jesus was pointing to a process, for in the process is a relationship.
For, simply, what we are to really want is Jesus Himself.
Now comes the response…
V. The fifth turn is DECLARATION (68-69).
[68] Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, [69] and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Simply…
1. The true believer does not quit!
The true believer does not quit, because He cannot quit.
It is Peter, of course, that gives the response.
I can imagine Him saying something like this:
“Lord, You are not easy to live with. You embarrass us and, at times, You frighten us. We don’t always understand You, and yet, Your words are the most remarkable that have ever been heard. They explain us. They explain life to us. They satisfy us and we are held here by them.”
You see…
2. The true believer becomes more convinced in time.
They had been a part of the process and they were more convinced than ever.
Again, I imagine Peter saying:
“We have seen you. We have believed and we have come to know You. You fit the prophecies and fulfill the predictions. You are the incomparable Christ. Where else would we go?”
Peter nailed it, except for one thing…
VI. The sixth turn is DETERIORATION (70-71).
[70] Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” [71] He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.
1. Peter was wrong at one point—not all of them believed.
There was one that did not fit—Judas.
I suppose we all find it amazing that one can be so close to Jesus and yet so far from Him.
How can he see all this, hear all this, and not believe?
He had the privilege of being taught by Jesus.
He had the privilege of time spent with Jesus.
Jesus had extended the privilege of choosing him.
Judas went out with the Twelve to do ministry.
He was even trusted with position of treasurer.
At this point in Jesus’ life, He announces that there is a ”devil” in their midst.
It was an unusual statement and full of meaning.
For this means that Judas was always resistant, always opposed and always out for himself.
He was never in line with the mission and ministry of Jesus.
This is a warning to us, for…
2. There are those that appear to be with you, but they never have been and never will be.
Outwardly, Judas was a disciple.
Outwardly, he was a lover of Jesus.
Inwardly, he was a traitor and an enemy.
For ultimately, Judas was only about Judas.
APPLICATION:
ILL Notebook: Convenient
There was a manager in a large company whose sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for a Monday. When he told his boss, the boss said that she died so that the manager would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if they could change her burial to Friday. The boss said, “That would be better for me.”
I am sure we all react to the audacity of this boss.
Life (and death) is not always convenient!
But when it comes to Jesus…
1. Do you view the message of Jesus as inconvenient?
I hope so!
He should be inconvenient to us.
His words should offend the sloppy way we do church.
His words should offend our haphazard witness.
We want a fellowship that is easy, relaxed and nonchalant.
The issue always is whether we are willing to take Jesus as He is, or whether we repackage Him to suit our own preferences. Some of us want a Jesus who is a patsy, not too tough, not too clear, not too demanding, not too anything, bland and blah. We want a Jesus who is easy, who makes no demands, who doesn’t strain the brain. Anything more is too difficult, and we’re out of here. (Joseph Smith in “A Work in Progress”)
You see…
2. We have a tendency to desire a “god” in our image than submit to a God who conforms us to His image.
According to this text, there are three different responses to these words of life.
Some of us will believe as Peter, perhaps not always doing it well, but ultimately be faithful to the end.
Some of us have started well, but we will drop out when we no longer feel our needs are met.
We are more interested in the product we receive rather than the process.
We don’t want to be bothered with studying and understanding these words of life.
So when we are enticed to do the wrong thing, it is rather easy to fall for the lies.
Because our approach to our faith is lazy, we are characterized by compromise.
Thus, we will rationalize our behavior, deliberately go contrary to God’s Word and eventually drop out, telling ourselves it was just a phase in our life.
Some of us stay with Jesus for own purposes.
We want to appear to be a Christian, but we are not.
We are only for ourselves and will ultimately be a defector.
I am not hear today to judge where you are among those responses, but I do know that I have seen way too much of the second and third responses in my time as a Christian and as a pastor.
So I want to encourage you to follow Jesus.
Go for the process of knowing Him, even when it is hard to understand Him…even when it is hard to follow Him…
For…
3. WE FOLLOW JESUS (NO MATTER HOW HARD IT IS!).
ILL Notebook: Determination
Some animals have the curious habit of steering a straight course, no matter what obstacles may be in the way. A black bear swimming in the water, for instance, will not turn to the right or left for any reason-boats, floating logs, reeds, or whatever.
Large tropical snakes will slither right over a boat or canoe rather than go around it in the water. Some land turtles are so determined to proceed in a straight line that they will push headfirst all day against a telephone pole rather than go around it.
We may laugh at these animals for their stubbornness or stupidity; but they are only following an instinct buried deep inside them.
This instinct also lies deep within many human beings. Sometimes it results in tragic or foolish mistakes. But when guided and focused by the Holy Spirit, this instinct to steer a straight course matter what the obstacle becomes a marvelous thing.
Jesus left the remaining eleven disciples with a tremendous task: “Go into the world and make disciples of all nations.” What were these men and a handful of followers against the entire world? Yet their single-minded determination to follow Jesus, inspired by the Spirit, turned the world upside down.
If we are Jesus’ disciples, we too carry within us the seeds of that determination. We can either dismiss it as foolish stubbornness or bring it to God’s Spirit for focus and direction. Around us is a world that is waiting for a handful of people to turn it upside down again.
COMMUNION:
Will you turn in your hymnbooks once again, and sing with me without the organ, #309, “Wonderful Words of Life.”
Let’s sing verses 1 and 2.
As we come to the table today, let us remember that we come because of Jesus.
He has offered us, as the bread coming from heaven, words of life.
We have partaken of these words and found them sweet and true.
We know Him as our Savior and Lord.
If you know Jesus today, you are invited to share in the elements of the table.
You do not have to be a member of our church, but we do ask that you know Jesus and have a relationship with Him.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, or you are just unsure, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you are confident that you do have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
Being led in prayer by _______________________, let us take a moment and thank Him for giving us the very thing we needed most.
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
________________________ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
