So long, Jesus (John 6:66)

Jesus at one point had gained quite a following, which is great since that's exactly what He was hoping to achieve right?

Kinda. 

Jesus came into the world so that the world would be saved if they simply believed (John 3:16-17). But a good number of people simply followed Jesus around like a food truck because He gave them something to eat while they listened to Him teach. 

On this occasion a hungry crowd followed Jesus across the lake to hear Him speak in hopes of getting a free lunch. Many had come from miles away but ended up leaving empty-handed. 

What? No food? You mean I sat through this sermon for nothing? Come on kids, get back in the car. We're done here. 

Seriously? 

These disciples had followed Jesus around not because he was worth following because of what they thought they would get out of it. To them, Jesus was really a means to an end; another way of getting their needs met.

Vs 66 says, At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. (John 6:66 NLT). It's one thing to get offended and walk away to clear your head. But that's not the case here. These disciples went AWOL and deserted Christ and they weren't coming back. 

But don't we follow Jesus like that? We go to church and will put up with a sermon as long as God will do His thing and take care of my needs. But what if God never did provided another thing, answered another prayer, or worked on your behalf in any tangible way from here on out?

Just like the crowds then, we all have to ultimately decide for ourselves, "Is Jesus alone worth following?"

If our answer is anything but YES, there might be a problem. If our faith fluctuates based on how well we think God is cooperating with our requests, there's a chance we just might be following Jesus for the wrong reasons.


None of us are perfect followers, but if our following is consistently inconsistent, perhaps we have decided to invite Jesus to follow us rather than making a decision to truly follow Christ with our lives. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is our Hope in Life and Death? - Remembering Charlie Kirk (Acts 6-7)

Acts 6:10 "But they could not withstand the wisdom and Spirit with which he was speaking."  Yesterday Charlie Kirk was murdered in cold blood in broad daylight. Why? Because he spoke the truth of God openly, in public. He was unashamed of the name of Jesus and shared the gospel of Christ boldly.  He was brilliant, eloquent, and persuasive but his life was cut short in front of the entire world because of his faith and witness. He was unjustly put to death for the same reasons they killed the very first martyr Stephen in the early Church.  In Acts 6 it says the crowds approached Stephen to debate him but “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” (vs 10). Sound familiar? A few verses later in Acts 7, Stephen delivers a master class Old Testament survey (from memory) and argues powerfully from the Scriptures that Jesus was not only the Messiah but that their hard-hearted unbelief in Him was the very thing that caused His death.  Their reacti...
Read more

Jesus Take the Reel

2000 years ago the church in Rome was one of the most divided, polarized group of Christians when it came to cultural differences between Jews and Gentiles. When they came to the Lord’s table to eat each week each group rolled their eyes at the opinions of the other when it came to their vastly different food habits. Some preferred meat and some only vegetables, both for different reasons and each side thought the other side were idiots, causing a lot of strife and offense among these brothers and sisters in Christ. Go figure, each person had their minds made up and insisted on forcing their opinions on the other to the point that Paul had to waste precious time and ink to address their beef (pun intended).  The more you think about it, this behavior sounds awfully familiar in the age of social media. Even among Christians it’s pretty common to see brothers and sisters publicly and adamantly airing their personal opinions on the daily. One side can’t resist the urg...
Read more

The Why? (Luke 1:35-39)

"The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her. At that time Mary got ready and HURRIED to a town in the hill country of Judea..." (Luke 1:35-39 NIV) You have to admit, the writers of Scripture have an annoying tendency to relay supernatural events like they're no big deal. For instance, THE Angel Gabriel appears out of thin air to an innocent teenage girl drops the following bomb shell: 1. You're get pregnant outside of marriage. 2. God Himself is going to cause this to happen. 3. Your Baby is going to be God's but He doesn't f...
Read more