John 6 – Tough Words

The last two weeks we have been in Chapter 6 of the gospel of John and Sunday we finished up this chapter with some difficult and hard words from Jesus. When we began this journey about discovering Jesus through the gospel of John we encountered a man that seems pretty likable. After all, we’ve seen Jesus turn water into wine, who wouldn’t want that at their wedding? He feeds a crowd of about 20,000 people with nothing more than a few loaves of bread and fish. I would love it if he’d show up at my house and make the mac n’ cheese do that. Last week we saw Jesus walk on the water to the disciples in the midst of a storm and calm their fears. If this is all we knew about Jesus up to this point the evidence seems to point that this person, Jesus, is a guy you can trust, a guy you’d like to hang out with.

This Sunday, we dealt with some hard words from Jesus as he draws a line between those who just wanted to consume, take, and feed off the physical things he offered without taking what Jesus was really offering – spiritual life.

Today the church is filled with consumers. We’ve got people who believe that if I come to church, if I sit in a chair, and hang out with the speaker, I’m good. (And unfortunately, leaders, we’ve promoted that in our churches!) But coming to church and sitting in a chair is not the mark of a Christ-follower. It’s the mark of a seeker or even a doubter exploring their faith but it is not a true mark of a fully devoted Christ-follower.

I believe it is possible to follow Jesus and make an impact in our culture. It is going to take us living a missional life to make this impact. I ran across a great blog posting on living a missional life by Aaron Telian and you should check it out and read the entire post, but I loved one statement in it all that brought home the need for Christ-followers and the church, for that matter, to examine how we are living.

The point is not to avoid the culture but to avoid evil. (Of course, if you avoid everything, you’re automatically avoiding the evil. But that is not what Jesus prayed for.) A working knowledge of what makes our culture tick is vital if we want to engage with the people around us and understand their perspective. We are not “in orbit” somewhere above the earth; we are here, on the ground, breathing the same air, seeking salvation from the same curse.”

We did not plant realHope because we thought we were better- that we’d offer better children programs, offer a better worship experience, better preaching, better coffee .  .  .   We started this church because we thought it would be better for our community to see fully devoted Christ-followers living out life together. Because when we simply do what Jesus did – live the way he lived, and loved the way he loved – and we do that together, then it’s possible to follow Jesus in our culture and make an impact.

When we start to simplify our lives, we are able to give more attention to what God’s purpose is for each of us. When we keep the church running simple, we are able to concentrate on who God is sending us.

Jesus had the nerve to ask the twelve in John 6:67, after a lot of other followers already left, “Do you want to leave?”

I wonder if more preachers had guts like Jesus to start asking our flocks that question and start demanding missional living, what changes would take place in our communities. Ok, I understand maybe you need a more positive and ‘pc’ way to ask the question: do you want to make an impact?

Look, the big picture is that if we are going to be fully devoted Christ-followers we must practice his ways, not just simply appreciate them.