09-02-18
Sunday Morning Sermon
John 6:60-71
There is a true story
that happened many years ago,
·
A group of people
wanted to help a missionary who was in Central Africa so they wrote to him and
asked:
o
"Have
you found some good roads to get where you are? If so, we want to come and join
you."
o
He wrote back to them
saying:
§
"If you will only come if there are good
roads, then I really can’t use you.
§
I want men and women who will come even if there
are no roads at all."
With whom do you side
with in this story?
·
Does your heart extend
out to those who wanted to help
and feel that the missionary was a little too harsh?
·
Or are you siding with the missionary and know
that you need to be toughened up before you can start following the Lord?
In Matthew 5:28-30, we
find Jesus sharing these words with us:
·
“Come to me,
·
All of you who are weary
and carry heavy burdens,
·
And I will give you rest.
·
Take my yoke upon you.
·
Let me teach you,
·
Because I am humble and
gentle at heart,
·
And you will find rest for
your souls.
·
For my yoke is easy to
bear,
·
And the burden I give you
is light.”
But the key within Our
Lord’s Word is:
·
“Take my yoke upon you.
·
Let me teach you.”
Anyone who has led a
class,
·
Who has been in-charge
of a ministry,
·
Or who has led a
church,
o
Has found out that there
are most certainly some hard times within leading a ministry.
But if you are or
going to be a Christian Leader
·
You need to know this is
the truth
·
As well as recognize the
fact that you
o
May never get used to having
the hard times.
Hard Times within
Christian Living just seems so far removed from
·
The picture of Faithfully-Living that we grow to expect.
·
And yet it is Truly, it truly is something that is in
Our Reality.
In any ministry-work,
there will always be
·
Times of Encouragement
·
As well as
Times of Discouragement.
In Discouraging
Times, ministry leaders often are compelled to do two things.
·
The first is to shore
up as much support as possible
·
And the second is to try to determine who is truly committed to the continued advancement of their
ministry.
However, As we begin
to close out chapter 6 of The Book of John,
·
Jesus seems determined
to drive away as many followers as He possible can from his ministry.
How Jesus chose to
close the Chapter 6 is in such Great Contrast
to how He chose to open that same Chapter.
Do you remember?
·
Jesus was drawing
people to Him through His Healing.
·
The crowd became so
large that Jesus asked where he can find enough food to feed everyone.
·
His disciples couldn’t
even begin to imagine where they would find the money to feed so many.
·
Then Jesus feeds the
multitude with just a boy's lunch.
o
He makes food packed
for one young boy’s lunch into more than enough to totally stuff a 5000-20,000 hungry
mass of people.
o
And there were 12
baskets full left over.
But now, as He closes the
chapter,
·
It seems that Jesus is
determined to turn everyone away.
·
Even giving His 12 chosen
followers a way out.
·
And that is in keeping
the 1 of those 12 who is the traitor, Judas.
Let
me ask you this,
·
If we were to write a book on the (what to do) and
(what not to do) On Building a Great Church Congregation,
·
How to multiply your
ministry efforts of reaching the lost,
·
And if we used this
very example that Jesus has shown us not only in the beginning but also
including the end of Chapter 6,
·
And that would mean
including the example of Jesus asking if even of his core group, if they wanted
to leave as well.
o
Tell me,
§
How successful do you feel this book would be?
Or let me try it this way to see if we connect.
Let’s say, that next
Sunday was Potluck Sunday
·
And on that day, all
of the regular attenders, “YOU GUYS”
·
All brought your
normal amount of goodies for Potluck.
·
We are going to
experience lots and lots of Great Cooking.
However, this was no
regular Potluck Sunday.
·
On that day, we had in
addition,
o
5000 different
families pull up and come to visit our church.
o
And all of them expressed
that they wanted to find a home within our church.
o
And all of them expressed
a love in following the Lord.
Let me ask you – What
do you believe you would you be feeling?
·
Would it be something
like:
·
How excited this is
going to be!
·
There are so many more
hands now so we will be able to reach so many more!
·
I wonder how many more
ministries we can have now with this number of helpers.
And I know there would
be some of us who would come up with this question.
·
How are we going to
feed everyone?
o
The store doesn’t even
have enough hotdogs to reach all of these people.
Let these feelings settle
in some.
·
(What
are you feeling?)
·
Are
You Filled with JOY?
·
Does
this bring up some Fright within you as well?
And then message for
that day just happened to be on
·
Luke 9:23
·
“Then He said to the
crowds,
o
‘If any of you wants to be
my follower,
o
You must turn from your
selfish ways,
o
Take up your cross daily,
o
And follow Me.’”
And during the message
delivery,
·
With talking about
what God means
·
Concerning you having
to lose your selfish desires,
·
And focusing on what
it Really Means to Pick Up Your Cross and to follow Him.
And then, One family
at a time, they all get up and walk out.
·
And then at the end of
the message,
·
There are just us (you
and I), the core group left in here.
- - - - - - - - -
5000 families came to
our Church.
20,000 + people were
in our Church.
·
The songs sounded
wonderful.
·
The giving was huge
compared to normal.
·
And even within this
short amount of time,
o
Wouldn’t some of us
o
Have already started
to dream of the wonderful plans for our future?
But now, that dream which seemed to blossom so
quickly just seems to be over.
·
And that-would-be-when
- I turn to each one of you,
o
And I ask you
o
“Are you also going to
leave?”
What is going through
your mind?
·
What do you think you
would be feeling?
And At that Very Moment,
Within that thought
which you have,
·
You are representing
the disciples.
·
What you are thinking
is how they felt!
-
- - - - - - - -
At the beginning there
were 5000 families who were following the Lord.
·
And then, within just
1 day,
o
One by one,
o
Each family would get
up and leave.
And then now,
-
Even the 12,
-
Even you were asked if
you wanted to leave as well.
* * * * * *
So tell me, why did
Jesus do this?
He had 5000 disciples
following him.
·
And then He pushed them
all away.
o
NOW - Back Down to the
12.
§
And then He even offers
them a way out as well.
·
He Offers YOU a way
out.
o
Why?
Do you remember what
Jesus said
-
Within the Matthew Reading
-
Which we had referred
to at the beginning of our message today?
In Matthew 11:29
·
Take my yoke upon you.
·
Let me teach you,
We are here, Reading in
His Word and we are wonder what Jesus was doing.
·
Why did He act this
way?
·
For what purpose did
He have in mind?
See – On the surface:
·
It appears Jesus is
offering us an
o
Invitation to walk
away.
But in ALL REALITY, it is so much more than that.
·
Jesus was presenting them a call to Commitment.
·
Jesus is Presenting US a Call to Commitment!
Tough Talk from Our Lord! Yes! That is true.
But
what do we do with it?
Is it not the nature
within our churches of today?
·
Are We not so reluctant
to present to our newest of believers
o
What the Full Demands are
of
§
What it takes to become
one of Christ’s Disciples.
§
And don’t we do this
§
Because we fear that if
we explain all,
·
It will drive them
away of wanting to be Christian
o
And then we fear that
we will end up just losing them.
Often we focus only upon
the last part of what we read within the writing of Matthew this morning.
We focus so much upon
line 11:30.
“For my yoke is easy to
bear,
And the burden I give you
is light.”
However, in the
closing of Chapter 6,
-
When Jesus asked who
are my followers
-
He used much sterner
or harsher wordage.
·
Let go of your yoke (of your world)
·
And Take my yoke upon you.
·
And Let me teach you,
·
His words are
difficult for the crowd to hear.
o
The 5000 of the “Want-To-Bes”
o
The ones who came to see what Jesus had for them.
o
“Give
us that Bread Every Day so
we can believe”
o
This hard talk is too
difficult
§
For them to understand
§
And still even harder for
them to Accept and to Follow.
·
He says, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me, and I in him".
·
Then he seems to almost
be critical of their proud heritage:
o
"Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live
forever."
The Jewish religious
leaders have taught
·
That cannibalism —
o
The eating of human
flesh
o
And the drinking human
blood,
§
Runs against to their
religious teachings.
·
And the Rabbis constantly
remind them time and again
o
That it is Their Heritage
§
Who had experienced
God's provision.
§
And It Is They who Are
the Chosen Ones.
Their hearts are full of themselves so they have failed to see past Jesus’ Words.
·
Jesus was just using a
metaphor
o
That spoke to the Real
Union
§
That Must take place between Him and
Them
·
If they would be his
disciples.
"This is a hard
teaching.
Who can accept
it?"
CAN YOU?
Jesus knows that many of
the people within the crowd
·
Are just there for what they can get from Him.
He makes claims FOR & OF Himself that will
·
Force them to decide in
which way they are going to live their lives.
·
Will they cling to the
teachings and traditions of old?
·
Or will they adjust
and accept
o
Christ's new messages
which
o
Often offends the old
ways of the teachings?
And the moment that decision
is upon them.
·
Jesus kicks it in high
gear
·
And He begins His Tough
Talk
·
And the people balk
and drift away.
But what about YOU?
How do you react when you
are challenged with a “NEW” way of thinking of the Lord?
-
Do you rebuke it,
o
Do you refuse it right
from the start because it is different?
o
Or Do You allow it to
be challenged against the scriptures?
And now, let’s flip
that around some.
How well do YOU do if YOU DO NOT hear from the Lord?
o
Do you wonder away
from Him?
o
Do you begin to doubt
Him?
o
Do you let your guard
down and allow your Faith to be challenged during those times?
How do you handle the
silence from Him?
·
On a scale from 1 to
10
o
5?
o
7?
o
9?
o
Or 3?
o
Maybe a 1?
If you lived within
the 400 years of silence, would your Faith remain strong or would it crumble?
I am talking about the 400 years which came
directly before the birth of Jesus.
There were 400 years where God was silent.
There was nothing delivered to any of the prophets.
It was total silence.
If you lived during
those years, how would you have handled your faith?
-
Would you stay strong
or would you crumble?
* * * * * * * * *
Now, here are what may
be the most difficult questions.
What type of “Tough Talk” should the Lord have with
you?
Are you on-board with
Christ?
·
Are you on-board with
Christ for Him
·
Or are you on-board for
You?
·
What do you want from
Our Lord?
o
To fix your marriage?
o
To help your children?
o
To help you find a
better job?
o
To help you have more
money?
o
To have more stuff?
Or are you on-board
with Christ
So at the end, you can
hear Him say,
·
“Well done, Good and
Faithful Servant!”
·
That would be a Great
Reward,
o
Wouldn’t it?
But what if, For YOU
to be faithful to God,
·
That meant
o
That you would be
asked to
§
Give up hearing those
words from Him?
§
You are asked to be
faithful to Him but you would not receive the reward?
·
Does that change
Anything?
Based on your own
evaluation of yourself,
·
Would Jesus keep you?
·
Or Would Jesus drive
you away?
Would you ask to stay?
Would you ask to stay
·
For Him and not for
you?
Or would you leave
with the rest?
It is The Time for
that “Tough Talk”.
And within that Tough
Talk,
·
Were does that leave
you?
If your desire is to
stay – For God
·
Have you turned your
life over to Him?
·
Have you publicly
displayed that affection through Baptism?
o
And if not, and you
desire to, please see myself or a Godly Person of this congregation for help
with it.
·
And if you have found
Hall Wesleyan Church to be your Church Home.
·
Have you stepped up
and asked to be a member of this church?
·
Have you committed
Yourself to your Belief in God?
o
And if this is your
desire, please see myself or a Godly Person of this congregation for help with
it.
·
And if you have been
Baptized and if you are a member of this Church,
·
Is God calling you to
do more?
·
Is God calling you to
host a Bible Study within your home?
·
Is God tugging on you
to act in a new way?
o
And if this fits you,
please see myself for help with that.
It is Time! - Jesus is
talking Tough Talk.
Jesus is asking you if
you want Leave to,
