Sermon Tone Analysis

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jn 6362

As we look back on Jesus’ travels and ministry as we have studied it here in John Chapter 6 a disturbing pattern emerges.

He travels in Judea, performs miracles, gathers crowds of followers, then he starts teaching hard lessons of faith and doctrine and hostility erupts and followers abandon him.

He then traveled into Galilee and just think of the miracles he performed there:

Turning water into wine in Cana

Healing the nobleman’s son

Feeding the five thousand

And a crowd of five thousand followed him to hear his teaching

But when the hard lessons of faith and doctrine came, even those folks began dropping away.

Just as it was back then, so it is today, discipleship is easy when Jesus’ teachings satisfy our worldly desires; when they amaze and entertain us; when they satisfy our felt needs; when they don’t challenge us too much but when Jesus lays the harder truths before us and they become more important than our self-satisfaction, our interest in following him begins to shrink.

How we understand and respond to sound biblical doctrine is the true measure of our discipleship.

(repeat)

And here at the end of chapter 6, John tells us what happened as most dropped away, and even the ‘disciples’ were tested.

Note here that this is the story about Christ’s professed followers, the general company of folks that witnessed his miracles and heard his teaching.

This is NOT the story of his vocal and professed enemies!

Before we go any further, lets define our terms.

Doctrine and Discipleship

What do we mean when we say ‘doctrine’?

That describes, in the broadest sense, what doctrine is.

It is christian truth and teaching passed on from generation to generation.

More specifically doctrine refers to christian teaching about God, the gospel, and the body of beliefs held by the church (body of believers, followers of christ)

In the time John is writing about their source for understanding doctrine was the law and the prophets, the OT, and then the direct teaching of Jesus.

In our time, our source of doctrine is the bible, the inerrant and infallible Word of God.

2 ti

“Profitable for teaching...” describes the key purpose of doctrine.

What do we mean when we say ‘disciple’?

Our english word ‘disciple’ has a latin root and means “learner” or “pupil”.

In the Greek world the word “disciple” normally referred to an adherent of a particular teacher or religious/philosophical school.

It was the task of the disciple to learn, study, and pass along the sayings and teachings of the master.

In rabbinic Judaism the term “disciple” referred to one who was committed to the interpretations of Scripture and religious tradition given him by the master or rabbi

So ‘discipleship’ here means being a student of the teacher (Jesus) and an adherent, believer, and follower of the teacher and his teaching.

Hard Sayings

Verses 60 and 61 give us the reason why those, who at first appeared to be followers, began to fall away.

They don’t say who can understand this, they say who can listen to it.

And Jesus doesn’t respond what part don’t you understand, he responds are you offended by my teaching?

The word translated ‘hard’ here doesn’t mean complicated and difficult to understand, it means literally ‘hard to tolerate’.

The crowd stayed around as long as Jesus’ teaching was a mystery to them but once the lessons became clear, they left.

They left because what they heard was SO contrary to their own views that they would not accept it.

Fast forward to 2017 and we see the same thing happening.

And what are the doctrines that are so hard to accept?

First, there is the doctrine of Christ’s incarnation and all that this implies about him.

Three times in this chapter (33, 38, 51) he has said that he is the true bread that came down from heaven.

That says that he existed before his earthly birth

That says that he had a special relationship with God

That says that as God’s son he has a divine nature and is God

That says that he came into the world to take human nature upon himself

God here?

In the flesh?

Blasphemy!

and they would not accept it.

Many today will not accept Christ in part for those very same reasons.

Second, there is the doctrine of the cross.

Jesus taught that he had to go to the cross.

Those who heard Christ might have argued that they could understand how a person should pay for his own sin, even die for it if the crime were great enough.

They could understand how salvation might be earned.

But to think that Jesus Christ had to earn salvation for them and that they would therefore have to receive it as a free gift from him or not receive it at all—this they found objectionable.

This is the primary difficulty that most of our contemporaries have in accepting Christianity

Third,

Finally, Jesus had taught that the reason why most of those listening did not believe on him was that in themselves they could not believe and that they could come to believe eventually only if God had previously determined to give them to him.

Summary,

These are the rudiments of that system of doctrine known as the Reformed faith -

man’s spiritual inability to please God

Then,

and the necessity of God’s electing grace in salvation.

Jesus had said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (v.

44).

He had said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me” (v.

37).

Nothing is more calculated to arouse the ire and rebellion of the human heart than this teaching.

But it is true.

Christ did not hesitate to proclaim it.

Each of these teachings ran counter to the normal way of thinking of those living in Christ’s time, and they run counter to the normal way of thinking today.

The question is: Are we willing to change our opinions to conform to the teachings of Christ?

Or will we persevere in error?

Obviously, we need to have our discipleship corrected by Christ’s doctrine, and to learn not to evaluate spiritual matters by the measure of our own understanding

Christ’s Answer

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jn 6.

At first it seems that Jesus is asking if it would be easier for them if he just did another miracle for them.

“Would you find it easy to believe if I just zoomed up through the clouds, back into heaven?

Maybe zoom up and down a few times?”

That is the interpretation of a number of commentators and teachers.

Others think it connects to the cross and the resurrection which are in the future when he is having this conversation.

Others think it speaks of the end times.

I think there is another possibility.

I think Jesus is saying, in effect, “If you think this is hard to accept, think about how hard your lot would be if we just reversed this whole thing.

Let’s run the film backward; no ministry here, no miracles, no hard teachings, no virgin birth, no execution of God’s plan of redemption for the world, what would you do?

What could you do?”

“ If this is plan A and you reject it, ok, I’ll just go back to heaven.

What then is your plan B?”

Obviously our situation would be hopeless and desperate.

But thankfully Jesus did not ‘ascend’ back into heaven.

Instead he:

Went to the cross

Gave His life as a ransom for our sins

THEN He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father and watches as the HS draws men and women to him.

I do not think the meaning of this verse is self-evident, at least it has not been self-evident to commentators, for they take different positions in referring to it.

Some think of it as a reference to the cross.

Some view it as a prediction of Christ’s ascension.

Let me tell you what I think it means.

You can’t look at those truths and not see your salvation written boldly in them.