Sermon can be found here.
In our bible passage (John 6:56-69) Jesus is offering the people some difficult teaching. Many, who came flocking when free bread was on offer, are now turning away from Him. He continues to lay down the challenge, asking those closest to Him if they also were going to hit the road. Peter gives the reply: "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Some insights gained from this passage:
We may have to travel through days of decline before we see growth.
It seems crazy that somebody seeking followers would be acting in such a way as to drive people away from Him! Yet with hindsight we see how Jesus was sorting out the true followers from the fair weather ones. Stormy days were ahead and disciples whose faith was not genuine would be lost.
Spiritual growth has those times when we seem like we are taking more steps backward than we are forging forward. God has to weed out of our lives habits or tendencies that further down the road may cause us to lose our devotion. Times of dryness or struggle are not necessarily a sign of a lack of faith. There are times when faith only grows by being put to the test.
Knowing who and what we believe is so important
Peter’s confession reveals that he had truly grasped the significance of who Jesus was:- the Holy One of God who gave to his life an eternal dimension that he could never find anywhere else.
The routines of bible study and prayer are a discipline to help us deepen our relationship with God. They remind us of who God is and what we are called to do. When we let such disciplines go by the wayside, our faith suffers and we start searching for other things to be our ‘daily bread’.
Our calling is to be faithful.
In a culture where everybody has more of everything than they could ever need, being a disciple (and calling others to discipleship) is never going to be easy. Yet we must persevere. Why? We have the words of eternal life. We have the message of Jesus Christ’s love for all people. We have something to offer that people can’t find anywhere else.
A prayer “Lord, we would like our spiritual journeys to be plain sailing. Yet we are very much aware that it doesn’t work that way. You want to dig deep down into our motives and desires and we don’t always want to go there! You call us to depend on You for all things yet we go seeking other sources for our daily bread. Bring us to that place of confession where we can say with Peter “Lord, To whom else can we go? You alone have the words of eternal life. Amen”
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A few random thoughts came to mind as I read this sermon, some relevant. Others less so. I remember a past sermon on this passage where the Bishop said that Jesus had once had over five thousand followers, but "managed to preach that down to three - his mom, a thirteen year old kid, and a prostitute", message being exactly as you said - sometimes when hard truths are told, people leave rather than face them. This was a church that went from about 30 in attendance on Sunday to a membership of almost 1000, but there were some hard times in between the time when people left and new families came and formed a thriving community.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I remember growing up Roman Catholic and we joked that Confirmation was "Graduating from Church" so we don't have to go anymore. The week after I was confirmed I woke up expecting to go to Mass and my mom was still in her pajamas. I asked her what was going on and she said, "Well, Confirmation is over so we don't have to go back until someone dies or gets married." I have always had trouble leaving church behind - even in my periods of non-attendance I've always found my way back eventually. Sometimes it's hard, as a "regular" member to not feel "used" when someone wants to use your church because it will look great in the wedding pictures, but as you said, these are all good things and still, in some way show that people on some level know that there is something greater than ourselves and feel compelled to acknowledge that as they pass life's milestones.
Thanks for the insights :-)I have to agree that confirmation is sometimes seen as the 'passing out' parade (more a rite of passage) rather than an entrance into church membership. Thankfully though the seeds sown sometimes produce results. Some do stay connected, even if they leave for a while.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is always that tension in the use of a church building... that I guess is challenged by the question "Who are we here for?"... are we a club that exists mostly for the benefit of its members or an outreach that seeks to nurture the life of its community? In practice we tend to flow between those two alternatives.
The biblical answer is that we are here to build the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and share with others the saving power of His love. How we work that out amidst the daily realities of maintaing a building and reaching out to a community is where things get complicated :-)