Sermon – August 30

August 30, 2015 13th Sunday after Trinity

Text: John 6:60-69
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” 61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” 66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Do Not Take Your Faith for Granted
In the name of Jesus, dear fellow redeemed:
Like it or not school has started or will start soon. Tuesday here at Faith. After three months off students need to gear up again and try to remember the lessons from the previous year. For some it has been longer than three months since those lessons. How would you fare at Algebra? Could you still diagram a sentence? If you don’t use it, you lose it. That’s a lesson that’s true whether it’s with your mind or body. It’s also true for the soul. We have the reminder today to refresh ourselves in the Word of God apply again what He has to say to us. Just as we don’t want our young people to take their education for granted, neither do we want to take our faith for granted. May God’s Spirit open our hearts to receive His message today.

1. You have the power to walk away from Jesus
We have heard in the last few weeks of how the unbelievers among those who witnessed the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 murmured and complained about Jesus. Now today we hear how He was rejected by many of His own followers. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” We should note that in addition to the twelve apostles there were many others who followed Jesus. He had earlier even appointed an additional 72 men to go out and proclaim His message. Yet the bottom line in verse 66 was, From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

That’s terribly sad, but in it there is a lesson to be learned. Jesus never veered away from His message. At time He expanded on it, or went further in depth, but He never changed what He was saying. So if there were those who followed Him and then did not, something changed within them. They came to a point where they took offense to what He said. When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?”

When you come across the word offend or offense in Scripture it is much more than being taken aback or having your sensibilites upset. What is being spoken of is a spiritual death-trap. These people were finding what Jesus said to be a spiritual problem for them. Instead of His Word being the aroma of life it was the aroma of death. In effect, Jesus was saying, “If it’s a problem for that I came down from heaven, just wait until I am glorified and ascend to heaven in front of many witnesses.” Their hearts would be so hardened that even what their eyes would see would drive them into further unbelief.

Remember now, this happened to those who were walking with Jesus every day. Nothing has changed. There is a spiritual tug of war for your own soul as well. We might say, “If God is pulling us toward Him, then what’s the problem? Who’s stronger than God?” But like it or not we have the awful power to walk away. When you are a believer and have the new man in your heart, there is a constant battle in your heart over decisions of right and wrong, and that included the rejection of your God. I don’t say this to scare you, but to make you aware of the reality.

We have before us the example of Judas. Jesus said in verse 64, “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray Him. Judas by all accounts was at one time a believer. He was one of the twelve. He listened to the Son of God daily for three years, and yet in the end he fell away and is called the son of perdition. God’s power converts the heart, but He wants willing followers. After conversion we make our own choices.

In our text, what prompted many to leave was the hard saying that Jesus had laid before them. He said that He was everything and this was not palatable to many. It was hard, brittle, not difficult to understand, but difficult to believe. There are other “hard sayings” found in the Scriptures, and it might be different for each individual. But there are things that we have a hard time believing. We can either dig into Scripture, pray for guidance, and rely on faith, or we can put those “hard sayings” into the category of offense.

Usually when people walk away from Jesus it is not as sudden as what we just read about. Usually it’s a gradual drifting away. Worship decreases. Prayer life fades. And one day a person realizes he has no involvement at all with his Lord. Satan plays the long game. He chips away and is content to start with doubt. He plants the seeds of doubt and discontentment and can wait for them to grow.

We have the blessing here of formal Christian Education in which our children can start young with the antidote for the lies of Satan. Not only do we have more time to explore the hard sayings and learn about them, but with the constant application of the Gospel, faith can be strengthened to readily accept and trust what God has to say over anything else. But what happens outside of the classroom and this sanctuary is of greater importance. Satan is always on the prowl. Our sinful flesh never leaves us. Do not underestimate that power. Whether you’re a child or an adult do not take your faith for granted. Feed it all the time with the Bread of Life.

2. To confess Jesus as the Christ is a gift of God
Part of not walking away is to properly value what you have in your faith, and to recognize where it came from. Jesus says in verse 63, It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. The comparison to flesh and spirit is also found in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3. Our human, sinful nature produces nothing but death. We have the inability to revive ourselves spiritually in the same way a dead body could not regenerate itself. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Life can only come from God.

We cannot demand this from Him. We know the facts that we can’t walk into a corporation and demand to see the CEO, nor can we walk into the White House and demand to see the President. Jesus says in verse 65: Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father. I suppose there must be something within our nature that devalues a gift, that devalues grace. For instance does a college student study harder when he is paying, or does he appreciate it more if it is paid for him? Truly he should appreciate the gift, but it doesn’t always work that way. We should appreciate the grace of God that we can come to Jesus, that we have been invited to be one of His children. We couldn’t have life any other way. There is unspeakable value to what God has given us.

Now take that into account when you hear these words in the final verses of our text: Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” On the surface it would seem that Peter is only repeating what Jesus said. Jesus said that He had the words of eternal life and Peter acknowledged this. Yet there is something special going on here. To be able to recognize that there is nowhere else to turn except Jesus, to know that He is the life-giving Messiah and to follow Him is a gift. It is pure grace. Only one empowered by God could give such an answer.

Just think of the path that Jesus has put you on. He has rescued you from an eternity of torment. Through His shed blood He has given you an eternity of paradise. He gave you life at the cost of His own. He took upon the cross your rebellion, callousness, and indifference and took on the punishment of hell for those things, so that you wouldn’t have to. Despite the fact that we are unlovable He made us His own, and cleansed us from all sin and unrighteousness. The spiritual life that He gives is a gift like no other.

Do not take this gift for granted. Like many of you I have a few medications that I’m supposed to take daily. If I forget to take one of the pills in the morning, I have discomfort in a few hours. If I forget to take another one, there is no difference in how I feel. Which one do you think I neglect to take on occasion? Yet if I discontinue that pill in which I feel no change, I stand the risk of severe health complications.

The same is true with the words of eternal life. If we don’t listen to our boss at work, there are immediate repercussions. If we don’t listen to Jesus, we might notice anything right away, but eventually not listening to Him, not appreciating the gift that we have will mean the eternal destruction of your soul.

We make the same confession as Peter on a regular basis. We just said it this morning in the Nicene Creed. You might think that is no big deal, but it’s huge. Not everyone can say and believe that. It has been revealed to you by God and He has empowered you to believe it. Can you say it with your actions? Can you live that confession? It’s more than words. We either walk with Jesus or – as those in our text – walk with Him no more. Guard your faith and treasure it for what it is – a life connection to the Author of life. Amen.