And some of the disciples turned away
John 6:53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
When you hear something that either makes no sense to you, or perhaps it is the exact opposite of what you have understood, what is your reaction? Do you attempt to understand or broaden your thinking, or do you dig your heels in, clinging to the dogma that makes you comfortable?
Jesus tells the men gathered in the Synagogue that in order to follow Him they must eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. We as Christians celebrate the Lord’s Supper not just to remember what Jesus has done. We place ourselves in that upper room two thousand years ago so that we know, understand and believe that there is a cost to following Jesus. We accept that the cost may be great, but the reward is so much greater.
Had you been in that Synagogue, would you have been one of the disciples who turned away, or would you have been faithful to the end?
PRAYER: Father, help us to cease our grumbling, to determine we will not be offended by the gospel of Jesus Christ, but that we will be the disciples who are faithful to the end because of your grace and your mercy. Amen.
How do you use your gifts?
1 Tim 4:14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (Bible Gateway NIV)
I heard a story of a young woman who had a niece she adored. Although the young woman did not have much money, she bought the niece a bicycle for her birthday. Her niece was thrilled and the young woman was grateful she could give such a nice gift. The next time she visited, the once shiny bicycle was laying out in the rain. It was dirty, the edges of the fenders bent and showing signs of rust. The young woman was devastated. How could her niece treat this gift so carelessly? The young woman said nothing. She prayed that God would help her niece understand how to care for the things she receives as gifts. Instead, God showed the young woman that once a gift is given, it is no longer yours. You must let it go.
But the even deeper lesson God shared with her was that we each receive gifts from God. Some of us treasure the gifts, setting them on a shelf so that they will be honored, but not used. Others do not like the gifts they received, wishing instead they had different gifts. But then there are the ones who are so grateful God has given them a gift that they use that gift to the fullest extent possible.
May each of us be the person who uses his or her gift(s) to the building up of the body and the growth of the kingdom.
PRAYER: Gracious God, may each of us treasure the gifts you have given us, but may we also use them and in using them may the body of Christ be strengthened and enlarged. Amen
As the deer pants for the water…
Psalm 42
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
Psalm 42:8 By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
Because we have woods surrounding our neighborhood, we still see deer in the morning if we are up early enough. What pleasure it is to see the gracefulness of their walk as they commune with each other.
When David wrote the above psalm he had been away from the house of the Lord for some time. His longing to be in communion with God in God’s own house was almost more than he could stand. The image of a deer longing for water to quench its thirst and perhaps hide its scent from the enemy is the perfect analogy for the state of David’s soul.
Yet, David thinks on the things God has done for him in the past, remembering God’s goodness, dwelling not upon the disappointments but reveling in the joys.
Friends, when you are away from the community of believers and from the place where you go to meet God, there is still comfort in thinking on those things that God has done for you, and counting on the things He is still going to do. Our relationship with God does not depend on where we are physically, but where we are spiritually.
If you cannot be in church because of illness, know that God will meet you where you are.
PRAYER: Gracious Father, how long would our days and nights be if we could not meet with you in your holy place. May we always seek to be with you, setting aside either the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day to meet with you and join with others to praise your name forever. I pray that we would make it a priority to be in your house and that only sickness would separate us from being present along with other believers. We acknowledge that grace not only saves us but transforms us into new creatures. Where we once were alone, now we are part of a community. Where we once were separated from you by the great gulf of sin, now we are reconciled through the blood of Jesus. Thank you for you love and for your grace. Amen
For the weapons of our warfare are spiritual
1 Corinthian 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
As a little girl, we watched a lot of war movies. After all, I was born less than ten years after WWII ended and so movies about that era were big. “To Hell and Back” detailed the journey of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of WWII who returned home to star in westerns. The tension of the Korean War was tempered with humor by the Mash unit. And then there was Viet Nam.
Suddenly scenes of war were part of our evening ritual as the 6:00 news showed fighting in places with names we did not know and could not pronounce. From the jungles of Viet Nam to the deserts of the Middle East the wars have continued.
In talking to the church at Corinth, Paul felt the need to explain that the spiritual battles we wage are on a different plane than physical battles. The weapons of earthly warfare change as technology develops, but weapons used in spiritual battle have not changed. Ephesians 6 tells us we are to put on the full armor of God:
- The helmet of salvation
- The breastplate of righteousness
- Gird or belt your garment with the truth
- Put on shoes of peace
- Pick up the shield of faith
- Take up the sword of the Spirit (the word of God)
Too often when we have conflicts or disagreements with our fellow man, we resort to solutions that are neither spiritual nor effective. We forget that we are at war against the principalities and powers of the Evil One, and the only weapons effective in that type of battle are weapons given to us from God on high.
Why do we turn to prayer and scripture as a last resort rather than making them the cornerstone of our battle plan? Because we fail to take captive the thoughts and fears that plague us, giving way instead to dwelling upon things that serve only to weaken us.
PRAYER: Father, we ask your forgiveness that we just don’t get it sometimes. Instead of turning to you first, we try to solve our problems and our disagreements our own way. May you be the first thought on our minds when we open our eyes in the morning, may Jesus be the first words on our lips, and may we live out our lives as servants of the living God.
Seeking Holiness 