Are You Ready?
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael J. Moffitt August 25, 2024
SCRIPTURE: John 6:60-69
One of the blessings of growing older is that you likely have an extensive list of ways that you felt like you could accomplish something even though you had no real experience. I’m an only child so I had no experience in taking care of babies, but this was one of those things where I didn’t feel arrogant, quite the contrary.
When our daughter was born I was twenty-one years old. When the nurse handed me my newborn daughter, I felt a sense of love wash over me and a desire to protect this 8lb 5oz little girl. I was overwhelmed, first I thought something was wrong because she had a cone head. Nobody had prepared me for that. It happens due to the pressure on the head during birth and would go away within the first few days to a week. God thought of everything. Teresa had a very long labor and was exhausted, so I thanked her for her willingness to go through what I had just witnessed. I ended up going across the street to a little restaurant and then drove home, alone. That night I felt panic because I was a father, and that little girl was dependent upon me to protect and provide for her. I could hardly sleep because I knew that the next day we would be bringing her home and our life together would begin. Somehow she survived and is now 48 years old and our son is 46 and has two teenage daughters. Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy! I brought this example up because I was right to be concerned. We were not equipped for this responsibility and knew it. But Teresa was a really great Mom, and wife, so somehow we survived.
In contrast, when I first made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, I had a whole different reaction. I grew up in a sort of Christian home, my father gave me scriptures to read on a regular basis. He had many Christian friends that talked at me. So when I did make a profession of faith I felt it was no big deal I would do just fine. As it ended up I didn’t really know anything about the Word of God and the Christian faith, and I knew zero about the enemy and how he would seek to destroy my life and fragile faith.
The problem was exacerbated by my spiritual arrogance to the point that by the time the enemy got through with me, I didn’t even realize how far I had drifted away. Unfortunately this problem got in the way of my role as a father and a husband. If the truth is told my story wasn’t all that unique. What was unique was that eventually a pastor, Brian Webster, invested time in me as a mentor, and every thing in our lives began to change. I’ll be forever in his debt.
Every one of us are growing older and we have to face the truth that we are not the physical specimens that we once were. However, whether you are young, old, or somewhere in between the greatest danger that those of all ages must deal with is spiritual arrogance. Spiritual arrogance is the deception that our spiritual strength is based on our ability to be the man or woman that God wants us to be. Unfortunately this always proves to be a weak foundation to build upon.
J. Oswald Sanders wrote,
“Pride takes many forms, but spiritual pride is the most grievous. To become proud of spiritual gifts or leadership position is to forget that all we have is from God, all the position we occupy is God’s appointment.”
The past few months our focus has been on what it means to follow in the way of Jesus Christ. We have focused upon the truth that everything the Father made available to the incarnate Son is also available to those who follow Christ as Savior and Lord. In his humanity even Jesus needed the blessing of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. We walk in the authority of the name of Jesus and in the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Without that authority and power we are helpless against the kingdom of darkness.
We considered Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus. In Ephesians 3:14-21 he prayed that the Ephesian Church might actually experience the fullness of God, not merely the fullness of his grace and blessings, but of all that he is in Himself. As inconceivable as that is, Paul knew that it was not only possible but God’s desire for us both now and in the age to come. Even so it wouldn’t come easy but would require that they followed the commands of God and lay down those sins and habits of their former lives apart from Christ.
Last week we learned that the desire of God for us to experience him in His fullness was tied to the invitation of Jesus to eat his body and drink his blood. Jesus said in John 6: 56-57,
“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
Jesus was inviting his disciples, both then and now into the life that he shares with the Father. Our lives are completely dependent on partaking of Jesus in the same way that his life in the flesh was totally dependent on the Father. He is inviting those who come to him by faith to participate in the shared life that his death would make possible. By using the language of “eating and drinking” Jesus chooses a very graphic way of revealing that we must take him into our innermost being as we become one with Jesus and the Father. When we come to Jesus by faith and repentance for sin there is an immediate change of status but also a spiritual inward reality as the Holy Spirit takes up residence. When this happens, change is unavoidable.
That question before them/us was this, is the benefit of living the life offered by Jesus worth the cost? If we decide that it is, then we must be those who follow him according to his will and commands, regardless of the cost. There is no following Jesus a little bit or “taking Jesus out for a test drive” but it’s an all-or-nothing proposition.
Today many who call themselves followers of Christ have decided that much of God’s word is no longer relevant to an informed modern culture, so they have decided to follow him according to their own desires and precepts. Spiritual arrogance has caused many within denominational lines to seek spiritual enlightenment apart from the absolute authority of God’s word. Jeffrey Johnson in his book,
“The Church” writes, ‘One of the main problems—if not the main problem—behind today’s anti-confessional church is mysticism. Mysticism is an attempt to find meaning without definitions. It seeks an existential experience for self-validation and a personal experience that “speaks to me” outside of Scripture. Because of a desire for something new or directly personal, seekers are not looking for doctrinal instruction.”
This arrogance is not new but has been the plague of man since the Garden of Eden. Today our focus will be on two examples from our scripture readings that demonstrate what happens when men and women turn away from faithfulness to God’s word and arrogantly pursue their own paths. We’ll begin with a portion of our Old Testament passage from Joshua 24:14–17.
Joshua reminds the tribes of Israel of their connection to their Father Abraham. He and his family had served other gods, but Abraham had turned and followed the command of the Lord, Jehovah, and faithfully followed him all the rest of his days. The Lord promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and Abraham believed the promise of God and was made righteous by his faith and obedience. Joshua reminds Israel that this was their heritage, and they should remember that they were in possession of the Promised Land because the Lord had kept His promise to Abraham. As they prepared to begin their new lives in this new land, they needed to decide whether or not they would serve the Lord their God, the God of Abraham, or would they turn and serve the gods of other nations. The people answer Joshua with conviction in verses 16-17,
“Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed.”
At the beginning of Joshua 24, the children of Israel had gathered at Shechem the very place where God promised to Abraham this land to his descendants. Since crossing over the Jordon River and entering the Promised Land, God went before them and enabled them to conquer other nations a great deal larger and more experienced in battle than them. It was God who gave them the power to defeat these nations. Israel now lived in those cities and towns that God gave them as an inheritance and Joshua is about to die. He leads Israel in a renewal of the covenant they once made with God through Moses, right before he died. Joshua recounts all that God had done from Abraham to Moses, from being led out of Egypt and slavery to this moment as the recipients of all that God had promised. In verse 14 Joshua says, “Now therefore…” referring back to all that God had done for Israel. He exhorts them to be faithful to God in light of his faithfulness to them but if they would not then they should decide. If they would choose God, they must be faithful to all that he commanded but if that was not their intention then they should be honest enough to say so. Joshua affirms, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
The people acknowledge that God had been faithful and therefore they would follow and obey because he was their God. Joshua’s response to them seems like such a paradox considering his exhortation to faithfulness.
“But Joshua said to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn, and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.”
Joshua knew two things here; God is holy and not as easily served as were the gods of the foreigners, who were not really gods at all; He knew Israel’s rebelliousness which had been displayed over and over again. It was one thing to be faithful to God when they were constantly at war with other nations and depended on God going before them in battle but now, they were the conquerors and would have a time of peace.
Joshua is not trying to discourage their faith but trying to discourage a light commitment to following the LORD. They needed to be reminded that they were serving God under a covenant that promised they would be cursed for disobedience. God offered them the blessings that a king would afford his children, but those blessings were to be in response to their covenant faithfulness to their Father, the king.
It was the same type of warning that Jesus gave in Luke 14: 27, 33,
27 “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
33 “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
The commitment would need to be total, or they would never be able to live up to their promise. Any compromise would lead to sin and unfaithfulness in the same way that a small hole in a dike will lead to a rupture of water eventually.
Joshua knew how prone Israel was to compromise with the surrounding nations and he strongly warns them as Moses did when giving the law at Sinai.
Israel insists that they will serve the Lord no matter what and Joshua basically says, “Okay, I hear you and so does God. You are witnesses against yourself that you have chosen to serve him.” And they said, ‘We are witnesses.” The first sign that they have no real idea what they are saying is in Joshua’s next response, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
Joshua was exhorting Israel to stop hedging their bets, they either believed that Israel’s God was the only God and that he was worthy of their praise, honor and obedience or he wasn’t. It couldn’t be both ways and if they continued in their sin and rebellion, God would respond with judgment. That too was a promise of God.
The very foundation of God’s law through Moses was Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me.” You can bet that they knew this very well as Moses had drummed it into their heads since the law had been given on Mount Sinai over 40 years earlier. I would venture to guess that many in Israel still did not accept Yahweh as the only God and they were hedging their bets in case the other gods of the nations might serve them better.
Before Moses died, he taught Israel the laws that God had given him. Then Moses charges them in Deuteronomy 6:4-8, called the Shema.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”
For all their promises and assurances to Joshua and to God, Israel failed to keep God’s word and to be faithful in teaching it to their children. The consequence? In one generation they turned and followed after the gods of other nations. Does this seem familiar to you in today’s world?
Our gospel reading for this morning is a continuation of our gospel reading from last week where Jesus stated that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood.
In our gospel reading this morning once again they are grumbling like the others had done earlier in the chapter and like Israel had done in the wilderness. Instead of cutting them slack, Jesus confronts them with their response by asking, “Does this offend you?” Here we see the light exposing the darkness. Their offense is the opposite of faith, and Jesus makes sure they realize what they are saying.
This question searches the soul of each of us. Do we find any of Jesus' teachings offensive? What causes us to stumble? There are a lot of things Jesus taught that both confront and convict each of us. However, knowing by faith who Jesus was enabled the true disciples to trust in him even when his teachings or his ways were confusing and uncompromising.
Frankly, none of Jesus' teaching makes sense unless we realize who he claimed to be or who he really is. He says as much in the verses that follow about the Son of Man (v. 62), yet he is speaking very cryptically when he refers to the ascension of the Son of Man to where he was before. Think about what Jesus was really saying. This was a reference to preexistence, mingled with the reference from Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7 of the Son of Man coming to the Ancient of Days.
“And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
Jesus Christ, the man standing before them was claiming to be a person beyond their imagination. It was one thing to see Jesus having authority over the demonic and nature, walking on water, healing the sick, feeding thousands with a few loaves of bread, and two fish, and of course raising the dead. This would be a joy because this would give credence to his claim to be the Messiah, the very one who they had been waiting on. Remember they knew the stories of the prophets of old doing many of the same things to establish that they were the prophets of God.
But this strangeness of his reference to eating his flesh and drinking his blood is matched by the claims he is making about himself. In a sense he is saying, "You haven't seen anything yet. There will be plenty more to come that will be offensive to fallen human reason." For the ascent of the Son of Man to where he was before begins with the cross the ultimate source of offense.
Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:14-15,
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
If they are offended by this talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, how will they be able to tolerate the cross, which lies behind Jesus' talk of giving his flesh and blood?
This proved to be too much for most of them and verse 66 says, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” This is a clear sign that they were not prepared to accept Jesus as the Messiah because He didn’t seem to meet the criteria of their expectations. They had interviewed Him and decided He wasn’t the man for the job.
Dr. Rod Whitacre in his IVP Commentary on the Gospel of John makes this observation,
“What is the relationship between being in the church and being, in fact, a Christian? This question has exercised the church from the beginning, as it did Judaism before. The issue arose in Jesus' own ministry, for these people who have difficulty with Jesus' teaching and who end up turning away from him are called his disciples (vv. 60, 66). They were disciples in the sense of having come to Jesus and heard his teaching. But this level of discipleship would not count for much in the end. The soil in their hearts was not such that Jesus' seed could take root and produce fruit.”
In our passages from John 6, hundreds have been following Jesus listening to his teachings and observing his miracles, thinking that Jesus may be the long-awaited Messiah. However, in the final verses of chapter 6:67–69 there are only the 12 still with him. The others have walked away in disgust and didn’t follow him any longer. They couldn’t see or receive that the words of Jesus yet even here he gave no room for misunderstanding his claim. Jesus was exposing that most in the crowd knew the kind of Messiah they were looking for. So, Jesus clears up any misunderstanding by revealing that his words were from God and only through the lens of the Holy Spirit would these words be understood. (v.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.”
The 12 were there and heard the same words of Jesus as the others and I feel confident they didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about any more than the ones who left. The difference is in the reason that they were following him. They believed Jesus to be the Messiah, and they were going to hang in there because of who they knew him to be. Actually knowing Jesus will change your perception on everything else.
In verses 68-69 Jesus turns to the twelve who were the only ones still standing with him. Jesus asks them if they would be turning from him, and Peter speaks confirming who he knows Jesus to be.
“Simon,” Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
What Peter is alluding to is that what they have previously believed about Jesus is now something that they know beyond a shadow of a doubt to be true. The ones who walked away had not made that leap of faith.
Years ago I was watching televangelist Frederick Price preaching on the difference between what you believe and what you know. He stepped down from the stage and walked up to a couple and their children. I couldn’t believe what he said but it was a great comparison. He looked at the man and said, “Mr.--- you believe that these are your children. Mrs.--- you know whose they are.”
In the early church being a disciple of Jesus was very dangerous and many died for the faith. I’ve thought about them in the context of stories that I have read of Christians around the world today who are being persecuted and dying for their faith. It’s still happening after all these years because our enemy hasn’t changed. When we read the Book of Acts, the Epistle’s, and books on church history, we find that those men and women who hung in there were the foundation of the church of Jesus Christ. They lived and died for him because they pursued a deeper relationship and wanted more of Him. They had come to understand that they weren’t living and dying for a better life in the here and now. As their love for Jesus grew, often in the midst of terrible persecution, they knew that nothing this world had to offer could compare to the relationship they had with Jesus both now and for all eternity. They counted the cost and decided it to be well worth it. People around the world are still doing that. I’ll close with Joshua’s exhortation from Joshua 24:14-15.
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and faithfulness. Put away the idols of comfort, security, and self-preservation and serve the Lord. Allow the Holy Spirit to move in you and use you for God’s glory and be a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God. If this is not your intention then don’t pretend that it is, God already knows anyway. Know this, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Let’s pray.
