Grumblers; Leavers; Believers

Good Morning!

Pastor Jim Holmes preached a really good sermon Sunday. His text is below. The title of his message was: Grumblers, Leavers and Believers.

John 6:60-71 (English Standard Version)
The Words of Eternal Life

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" 61But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" 68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." 70Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." 71He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

One of the things that strikes me about this passage is the word “disciples”. I don’t know about you but usually when I think of “the disciples” I think of the twelve men Jesus called. But in this passage a distinction is made between the disciples and the Twelve. What I failed to comprehend was that Jesus had a whole lot more followers that I gave Him credit for having. It is obvious here that Jesus has quite a following … even excluding the Twelve.

The second point that becomes clear to me is that not all “disciples” were true disciples. The word disciple means basically a follower. What we see here is the separation of the true followers and the tag-a-longs. You know what I mean – people who just follow because there is a big crowd that looks interesting or fun or entertaining. But when the message gets tough … the journey gets long … the tag-a-longs get going … headed on to another fancy. True followers hang in. Jesus was challenging what people had learned all of their lives … and it was uncomfortable. So the “disciples (tag-a-longs) began to grumble … “it is a hard saying … who can listen to it?” Making a life change is hard. Realizing that one has been headed down the wrong path isn’t fun … but it is necessary. So the grumblers became leavers – they just didn’t have the spirit to follow.

Jesus then turned to the Twelve that He had called to follow. They had to make a decision either to stay or to go. Jesus already knew that one would betray Him … but He pointed out that He had chosen each of them to be His followers. And Peter acknowledged that they could do no more because of who Jesus was.

Sometimes we have to take a step back and think about who we are. Are we grumblers and leavers? Or are we true believers? That is not a question for me to answer of you – I need to ask it of me. I hope that Christ will always find me as a true disciple, following Him wherever He leads.

Agape’


Mr. Jim