Why Following Jesus Is Not Easy

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.”