And when these things begin to come to pass,
then look up, and lift up your heads;
for your redemption draweth nigh.
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March 20, 2008:Traditions | Just a few more weary days and then... I'll fly away... And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. |
| December 29, 2007:New Year's 2008 | ||
| November 3, 2007:How To Be Successful in Christian Ministry | ||
| October 23, 2007:Salmon |
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| I Am the Bread William H. Haller |
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This lesson begins in the middle of chapter 6 of John, but we are going to back up a bit more for background.
At the start of John 6, Jesus has crossed over the Sea of Galilee. A great many people had followed Him because of the miracles that He performed for those who had diseases (v 2). Jesus and the disciples went up onto a mountain and the people follow Him. He asks Philip, "Where can we buy bread so that these people can eat?" He already knew the will of the Father in this instance, but was testing the disciples to see their response. Philip answers that even $34.00 would not be enough to buy bread so that everyone could have a little bit to eat. Andrew said that there was a lad with five loaves and two fishes, but that this would be nothing with so many people needing food.
Jesus told the men to set down. The number recorded was around 5,000. In Matthew, it records the fact that this didn't count women and children. Jesus gave thanks for what He already knew God was planning to do. He divided the food among the disciples and sent the disciples out to the multitude who had sat down in groups of 50s and 100s, telling the people to take as much as everyone could eat.
When done, they gathered up all the fragments that were left so that nothing would be wasted. Twelve baskets were filled with fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over and above what the people had eaten. The men who were there proclaimed Him to be a prophet after the order of Moses and wanted to make Him king. At this Jesus departed to a place where He could be alone on the mountain to pray. This temporarily frustrated the people's desire to make Him king since this was not God's plan for Him.
Dake comments that this is a concept that many Christian leaders today could learn. When the people want to set you up in a spot of extreme honor for what God has done through you - no matter how big the miracle, healing, word of prophecy, et cetera was - leave and pray. He quotes Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall" as a warning. Pride and temptation are very powerful things that a person of God must continually combat. We are nothing but dust without the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is true of the gifts God gives us to be apostles, prophets, preachers, evangelists, teachers, administrators, et cetera (1 Cor. 12:28-31; Eph. 4:11), along with the special gifts of the Spirit to prophecy, speak in tongues or interpret such messages, perform miracles or healings, discern spirits, transmit words of wisdom or knowledge, or execute great faith (1 Cor. 12:6-11). When people take their eyes off of the provider and onto the person, that person has failed in their mission.
At evening, the disciples took a ship across the sea. A great wind caused the sea to become dangerous when they were about four miles from shore. Mark records that at the time of the fourth watch (sometime between 3 and 6 a.m.) Jesus sees them in trouble and decides it is time to go to the other side. Jesus walked out to the boat. The account in Matthew records that Peter asked to come out of the boat and walk to meet Jesus as He was coming. Jesus says to come and Peter does walk for a time before he becomes scared and begins to sink. Immediately Jesus reaches out to him and they both come to the ship. He says to Peter, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" God was working. You were walking. Why did you doubt that that would continue? Much is made of Peter sinking, but remember that Peter walked first by the power of God! It was when he got His eyes off of Jesus and looked on the waves around him that he began to sink.
The wind immediately ceased when Christ and Peter got to the ship. The people in the boat praise God and worship Christ, saying that he is indeed the Son of God. So here we have three more miracles. First, Jesus walked on the water. Second, Peter walked on the water. Third, Jesus stills the storm
The account in Mark adds a couple of other interesting facts. Jesus was about to pass them by in walking on the water. He was interested in getting to the other side. They were making no headway against the wind by rowing, but He was passing them, walking. Coming from Casper, we can appreciate this as a miracle in and of itself. Here, there are times you can be walking up the street and literally be stopped by the wind or even blown backwards. Mark also comments that they had forgotten all about the miracle of the loaves and fishes in their danger because their heart was hardened. He knew the condition and hardness of their hearts and was going to pass on by, since they evidently hadn't been praying for God's help.
When they saw Him, they called out, but before they saw Him, they were trying to do it all on their own. How like us that is. We always try to do things under our own power whenever possible. If we see that God is near (or working in a service) we might ask Him to help us. But too often we don't think that God cares about our plight and don't want to ask for help from Him. We don't want to acknowledge our dependence on the Creator. Too often, we deserve what we get, just as the disciples in the midst of the sea did. He cares for everyone and wants to help us, but He isn't obligated to help unless we ask. Don't let your pride get you destroyed.
There is an additional warning in this story that is worth mentioning. When something miraculous happens, the time to glorify God and lead people to Him is right then while the miracle is fresh in their minds. Having a good deed or a miracle done to someone without a follow-up conversion evangelistic effort just solves a temporary problem for them. Unless their lives are touched and changed, it will be forgotten by the time the next problem occurs. In all the ministries of the church, we must put this foremost. Unless we reach the person's heart by doing good works, we are no different than a government charity organization.
John records a fourth miracle in this account that is left out of the other two accounts. After the storm is stilled, John records that the ship was taken half way across the sea to the other side, instantaneously. God's technology is awesome. Particle physicists have just in the last couple of years been able to have a particle be transported from one place to another, and that is just one particle. The days of Star Trek transporters are still far away where humanity is concerned. But God transported the whole ship and all aboard instantaneously 2,000 years ago. Pretty cool. (John 6:21).
The crowd that had followed Jesus to the mountain then followed him across the Sea the next day. They saw only the one boat and knew that the disciples had left without Jesus. They ask the Rabbi when he came over the Sea. The answer to that question was obvious - they just refused to believe it. Jesus rebukes them. He tells them that they are following Him not because of the miracles that had been performed - which were impressive enough - but because they were hungry and wanted food to eat for which they didn't have to toil. He says that they should not labor for food which perishes, but should labor for eternal everlasting life.
The crowd's reaction is predictable, and not much different than what most people today would do. When it becomes clear that they aren't going to get another handout for nothing, they ask Jesus what they have to do so that they can do the works that He just did, to consume the fruit (or in this case bread) of the miracles themselves. Christ tells them that He did no work at all. The Father in heaven did the work. The implication is clear. There is nothing that they can do to cause miracles that the Father does not wish to do.
The people respond that Moses gave them bread from heaven. Jesus again rebukes them and declares the truth - that Moses didn't do a single miracle. He was just the instrument. The Father did the work - He was the bread maker, the Red Sea splitter, the water giver, et cetera, just as He was the one who sent plagues on the Egyptians. In this case, Christ was the same thing. He was the vessel that the Father was working through the preceding day to feed the people, and that, only because the Father wanted to. We need to seek to be willing vessels that the Father can make use of. At the same time, we must see the will of the Father just as clearly so that we don't try to do things that aren't His will. We won't be successful if we do and it will bring discredit to the work of Christ being done in other parts of city, country, and world today.
But Christ takes the lesson a step farther. In the subsequent verses, He declares that He is the bread that gives eternal life, and that those who come to Him will never hunger again, and that he that believeth on Him will never thirst again (John 6:35). Why did the Father choose to perform the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus did have compassion on those who had followed Him to hear His teaching. The account in Mark records that He said they were like sheep without a shepherd. Out of His compassion for them, many had been healed. But I believe that it is very possible that the miracle of the bread and fishes was done so that Jesus could preach this sermon.
What is the meat of the message? There are three parts. The first is that Christ is the living bread that provides eternal life. By accepting Christ as your Savior, you don't need to seek out anything else to be saved. He is all the bread you need. You don't need to find bread at any other bakery. He alone is completely sufficient. This is reinforced over and over in the chapter. Christ declares that the Father has established a plan of salvation that is for everyone who chooses to accept it. John 6:40 records Jesus' words, "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.". Jesus declares in verse 37 "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He goes on to say in verse 39, "And this the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
So we have three promises. God wants everyone to be saved through Christ. Christ will not reject anyone who comes to Him. Once you have accepted Christ as Savior, Christ won't lose you. This is not an eternal salvation theme. Christ will never lose you, but you can choose to walk away. If you reject Christ after you have been saved, there is no free pass to Heaven. He will take you back if you backslide and come back to him, but you have no salvation while you are in a state of rejecting the Christ you once knew. Christ didn't lose you. You left on your own. I know that is repetitious, but so be it. Don't forsake the salvation you have. If you reject Christ, there is no other means by which you may be saved.
His declaring that He was the bread, come down from Heaven that gave eternal life riled the listeners. In spite of the miracles they had seen with their own eyes, they refused to acknowledge His divinity.
The second part of the message dealt with Jesus describing the analogy between the bread and His life. He declared that the Jews who had eaten the manna that God had provided to the them in the wilderness through the prayers of Moses were all dead. He went on to repeat that He was living bread sent down from heaven. He gave a foreshadowing that the bread He would give was His flesh and that he would give it for the life of the world (John 6:51).
This further confuses the Jews. He explained that if they didn't eat of his flesh and drink his blood, there would be no life in them. The rest of the verses down through 58 continue this theme. It would be repeated in the Last Supper when the disciples would finally grasp this concept of communion. It isn't the actual eating of the bread or drinking the communion wine that saves anyone. It is faith in what these tokens represent for us personally that is the saving act. The communion is simply an remembrance of what Christ has done and a testimony to the world of what Christ is doing and is going to do in our lives. He will lift us up in the last day.
The sad part of this chapter comes right after this point. The quarterly writer left it out, but it is important to read. Let's read John 6:59-66. As we can see, when the disciples heard that He was going to give His life for the world, they were disheartened. Like the multitudes who followed him to the mountain, they really wanted a king in their hearts. Jesus says that the spirit is what quickeneth the soul and the flesh doesn't profit anything. His words are spirit and life. He knew from the outset who would betray Him, and yet He taught and treated everyone alike - even Judas and the others who left. He was fair and not a respecter of persons. When they learned that He was to be sacrificed, the last verse records that many disciples left Him. The core remained and pledge that they will stay true. They say they have nowhere else to turn. He tells them truly that one of those twelve that remained would betray Him.
There is a third level alluded to by the quarterly writer. Specifically, that although Christ is the bread for the world, the church should often be the bread distributors for the world. This is mentioned in both a physical and spiritual sense. The church runs the same risks that Christ faced in dealing with the world on these issues. The world wants easy fixes. They don't want to hear about sacrifice. When we give the word of easy salvation, too often we don't follow it with a word about what Christ's kingship should mean in a person's life or what the sacrifices of taking up the cross daily and following Him can mean. Likewise, if we reach out to provide physical needs without offering any spiritual help, we run the risk of having people have the same opinions and responses as the original 5,000 in the story. They will take something for nothing and get upset when the supply gets shut off. It is difficult to find a balance in caring, evangelizing, and making disciples into a community where those who have been helped can go on to help others in return. Churches today need to work on getting a better balance. We also need to continually focus the eyes of the people on the Provider and not us.
This is another reference to a further walk with the Spirit that would be available to the church after He went to the Father in a post crucifixion time frame. It was more than the work of the Spirit that came upon individuals at times in the past or the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting of sin and drawing people to Jesus for salvation.
The rivers of living water flowing out of the belly is symbolic in a couple of senses. First, the water is flowing. As I mentioned last week, water that isn't flowing gets stagnant and smells bad. The flowing, living water is symbolic of the Spirit working dynamically to meet needs as the Father directs. We can't do anything on our own (except dam up the waters). The Father does all the work through the Holy Spirit. The other item that I mentioned before is that we need to be like a water pipe. Water pipes are among the most unglamorous parts of a house. They are frequently completely hidden from sight. They don't draw any attention to themselves if they are working properly. If they break, not functioning as God intended, they make a huge mess and end up destroying many things. Finally, it sure is nice and refreshing to have the water that comes out of them.
Let us try to be more like the water pipes of God's eternal plumbing, not clog up His work, and not pollute or contaminate the water that comes through from God. He made it to be the refreshment we need. Let's keep (or start) the water flowing in His church today.
