Sunday Gathering - John 6 : 60-70 - Jonny Greaves - Sermon Only

Good morning everyone. I'm going to start by apologising for the sound of my voice and I'm going to try not to cough really, really loudly right into the microphone at some point.

Also, hopefully the people at home can't hear the sound of the menthol sweets bouncing off my teeth inside my mouth to try and keep my nasal cavities clear.

Hopefully you can all hear me.

So, yeah. So Nick assures me that when he gives out the passages of who's going to preach on what,

it is not premeditated in the slightest, or it's just look at the draw.

But I've got the last section of John chapter 6.

So if you want to read along, then you have access to a Bible.

We're going to be looking at the last 11 verses of John.

I already need to cough, so I'm going to cover the microphone a second.

Excuse me. That didn't work at all.

so um so before we read let's get a bit a little bit of context so john chapter six has got 70

verses in it it's a very long one and there's a lot going on it started with um the feeding of

the 5 000 miracle um let me see if i can get it in front of me where is it um so yeah it's a very

very long chapter. And what happens throughout the chapter is, as is John's style, he goes from

telling a more straightforward Bible story that we've heard a few times before into an incredibly

long speech that Jesus gives on some really deep philosophical subjects. If you find it easy

reading the book of John. Yeah, hats off to you. It's incredible. Because the interesting thing

is that Andy mentioned, when he preached two weeks ago, he sneaked ahead at my passage and mentioned

one of the first things that it says in my section is, people struggle to understand what Jesus is

saying here, or at least to accept what he's saying. And he's not the only one, you know.

So it's one of these things where John tells a very brief story and then gives an incredibly

long and elaborate explanation from Jesus, but Jesus is trying to teach his disciples

deep truths about the realities that they're seeing. And so it's basically the story of

John. It is the story of trying to help people to grapple with all these difficult decisions,

sorry, the difficult difference between what we perceive and what we see and what we experience

in life and who God is and what he is like, what he's doing in this world and what that has to do

with us. And that Jesus' whole ministry was reaching out to the kind of people who spent so

much of their life trying to feed their family on a daily basis, just trying to make ends meet,

trying to avoid oppression and taxation from Romans, trying to avoid stigma and judgment

from their neighbors, all the challenges of life in their particular period in history and their

place in the world was super challenging. And Jesus was trying to help people to see beyond

their present circumstances, to see something that God was doing in the world. And this is what he's

spent a lot of chapter six talking about. He's been talking about himself as bread. So the vast

majority of what Andy spoke about, Jesus gives these long, long speeches about himself as what

he describes as the bread of life, and that he is the connection to God. He's saying that he is the

way that people experience life, and all of the incredibly complicated meanings of that word,

and what that all means. If anyone believes that the Bible is super simple and straightforward,

um i have to say i've i disagree there's a lot going on um but there's always something to learn

and not only that god respects those who want to learn god calls people to study his word

not because it's an academic process not because we're good at reading the bible or good at

understanding if we the people who truly get the most from reading the bible are those whose heart

hearts are wanting to find God, wanting to seek him, because God is wanting to reveal himself

to us. He's wanting to do that today. And so, yes, I'm supposed to be just summarizing chapter

six, aren't I? So it's very, very long. But anyway, Jesus goes on about this really challenging

stuff. And I'll read you a couple of verses from the passage that Andy spoke on. In John chapter

six, verse 54, Jesus says, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I'll

raised them up at the last day for my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink whoever eats

my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and i in them 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 this is the bread

that came down from heaven your ancestors ate manna and died but whoever feeds on this bread

will live forever you see talking about metaphors and language of how god is the one who sustains

us and god is the one who feeds us this is all you can find all this in the old testament this is

um yeah this is common kind of language you'll find things like this throughout the bible in

particular this is making reference to the story of when moses was leading the people of israel

through the desert before they've arrived in the promised land after they have been slaves in

egypt they've been set free through miraculous signs and wonders the 10 plagues have struck

egypt they have passed through the red sea to escape and they're free but they're out in a

desert and there's no food and there's grumbling starting and people are struggling they're

struggling with this particular issue that i've already mentioned how do we reconcile our current

circumstances and the struggles and challenges of life with what God is saying. And God is saying

he wants to set us free and he wants to care for us and provide for us, and yet we're stuck out

here in a desert and there's no food. How can those two things go together? And yet that seems

very reasonable, doesn't it? But in the story, what that devolves into is the kind of grumbling

that the people say is, it would be so much better for us if we went back to Egypt, because at least

we knew there was food there, forgetting that the whole story of the persecution of Israelites

in Egypt was that their children were being thrown into the river, that the Israelites were being

systematically wiped out by their oppressors, and that they were considered a threat to the

Egyptians, and that the Egyptian pharaoh had redefined good and evil for himself to say,

you know what is good for us? It's good for us to keep these Israelites down, because if they rise

up against us, they could overthrow us. And when the people are out in the desert and

are saying, we could go back to that because at least there'll be food on the table, they

are not even valuing the lives of their own children. This is a little bit more than just

irritation and grumbling. This is a self-centered hardness of heart, which is exactly what Pharaoh

had just been condemned for. And that this was the challenge to the people, saying, it

is a reality that you are in the desert and there's no food for you right now. God is

not ignoring your circumstances but if your heart says it would be better for me if i was back in

slavery do you really realize what god has done do you remember what he's done for you because

you walk through you know this is like people who are complaining about lack of food walk through

two walls of water god did an incredible never before seen miracle to rescue these people bring

them literally from a place of death into a place full of potential for life and yet they go but

there's no food here. What are we going to do? They saw him rescue them, and they still don't

know where their food is going to come from, and they'd be willing to go back. They'd be willing

to go back for the food. And this is the challenge that Jesus, this is the story that Jesus is

alluding to when he says, even those people were provided with bread by God. Even in the midst of

that hardness of heart and that lack of understanding from the people of Israel

of the freedom that God had provided for them,

even in the midst of that, God shows mercy

and God provides bread for those people.

But it was just bread.

Jesus is saying they needed something more.

And what they needed is true life.

This is another brilliant example from the Bible

that when I'm leading youth,

the modern generations often,

we struggle to engage with the Bible

in a relevant and realistic way sometimes.

And often I feel that understanding how things work, understanding our digestive systems and the sciences behind all the food types

and how when you eat bread, how that gives you energy can actually detract from the very, very real reality of what they're expressing

and what ancient people understood.

If you eat bread, it gives you life.

They may not have understood what carbohydrates were, but they knew bread gives you life.

if you don't eat it you're going to know soon enough yeah that it is what is giving you life

because if you don't eat it you're going to be in big trouble and this connection between what

you feed on and the life that it gives you is exactly what Jesus is alluding to if you feed on

me you can receive the life from me that is where the energy comes from the thing that you feed on

And Jesus talks about himself as a connection to God.

He is saying, I am the bread that comes down from heaven.

He is describing himself as the sustenance and the energy and the life that God wants to give to people.

He is the way that people experience and receive life in all its fullness in a way that food cannot provide.

Because he keeps saying, people eat food and still get hungry.

It only lasts for a little while.

Yet again, you don't have to understand the science behind it.

People have always understood this.

You eat food, it's only going to keep you going for a certain amount of time.

But Jesus said what people need is something more.

They need connection to the bread that lasts, that gives true life.

And the bit that I'm not supposed to be talking about is the very next bit of the passage.

After Jesus has said this, spoken about the bread of life,

this is the bread that came down from heaven.

in verse 58 from verse 60 here's what the passage says on hearing it many of jesus's disciples said

this is a hard teaching who can accept it aware that his disciples were grumbling about this

jesus said to them does this offend you then what if you see the son of man ascend to where he was

before the spirit gives life the flesh counts for nothing the words i have spoken to you they are

full of the spirit and life yet there are some of you who do not believe before i go on i'm just

going to go back it's really interesting if you the best things that i best piece of advice i've

learned about studying the bible in recent years is they just love patterns the people who write

the bible patterns patterns patterns you know i was just talking about the ancient israelites

being out in egypt and when they didn't have food they grumbled guess what the word john uses to

write down here it's in a different language but he's being very specific here he says

the people who listen to jesus are grumbling in verse 61 jesus says aware that his disciples

were grumbling about this jesus said to them it sounds like a very reasonable question let me say

this is a hard teaching who can understand it but he's saying this is grumbling behavior

and you remember how before when i said grumbling behavior on the surface can seem very reasonable

when you're in a desert and you don't have any food but if it leads you to the conclusion that

it's better for me to go back to slavery.

It's better for me to go back to slavery.

That's the problem.

The perception of the Israelites

in the desert was, it may not be better

for my children and for their generation,

but it's better for me right now

if I can go back. They've got

beautiful food back in Egypt.

That's what they said.

There's a weird bit that you can read in Exodus

where they describe the cucumbers.

Egypt's got their best cucumbers.

The people of Israel

were focused on themselves.

and they made decisions what were best for themselves

and they said it's better for us to go back

because at least I'll have cucumbers.

Jesus is challenging his disciples

seeing their grumbling behaviour

when they say this is a difficult teaching

but what that means is

the people are starting to realise

oh, this could cost me.

Following Jesus could hurt me,

it could cost me something.

This is what was challenging his followers

and this is what Jesus is starting to realise.

And this is what starts happening from this point forward.

You see, Jesus arrived riding on a wave of public opinion and rumours of incredible stories.

Jesus has just fed 5,000 people.

That's over 5,000 stories of, have you met this guy and have you any idea who he is and what he can do?

Thousands of those stories are circulating.

Everyone's got a story.

You know, there are people being healed constantly, day and night, everywhere he goes.

People who have been sick their entire lives are telling stories.

I could never walk, and now I can.

No one can do it.

Who's ever heard of that story like that before?

And then Jesus approaches his people and says,

I'm offering you life.

But they're starting to realize it's going to take sacrifice here.

It's going to take walking through the desert,

and it's going to take an act of dramatic trust

that is going to be costly,

that's going to be really difficult.

Yeah, and it's potentially not,

from the worldly point of view,

might not be in your best interest.

If what you're looking for is food,

you're not going to find what you're looking for here.

That is what Jesus is saying.

These people had started with this experience

of God providing more bread than you could possibly want.

Providing and providing and providing and providing.

You've got God's generosity pouring out to people.

But then when they come to Jesus and they say,

give us another, another miracle.

Jesus is like, don't you see how that bread

is only going to keep you going for a certain amount of time.

If you're going to keep coming to me

for miracles upon miracles,

you're going to see it's not going to keep you going.

It's not going to sustain you.

What you need is real life, is true life.

And what that requires is an act of trust

that is massive, that is huge.

And this is what is challenging people.

They're starting to see the cost.

They're starting to see the cost that is coming.

And the disciples are the ones,

this is the interesting part of this story,

it starts to show you that the followers of Jesus

come in layers. That there was a group of 12, we know about them, but there was heaps of others.

Jesus, when he was walking around from place to place, the amount of times it says he couldn't

even fit in a room or people, you know, were clamoring at the door and getting, you know,

struggling to even get to him. And like whole villages were being mobbed and overwhelmed by

thousands of people. You know, these countless disciples, these were followers. They were going

from place to place wherever he went. And yet they came in layers. There were some who were

just hanging on for the free meals. There were some who were like, this guy seems to know what

he's talking about. But at this point in the story, people start to say, this is really

challenging stuff. This guy is saying very controversial stuff that is really making

the religious leaders angry. He's making claims about himself, that he understands and knows God

better than other people. And they're starting to see this is potentially dangerous here. This

could cost me. And so it's interesting, isn't it, that when Jesus says, he says, my words,

the Spirit gives life.

In verse 63, he says,

The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing.

The words I have spoken to you, they are full of the Spirit and life.

Yet there are some of you who do not believe.

He's talking about the fact that the Holy Spirit,

the Spirit of God,

the one that had the story of Jesus' baptism,

came and landed upon Jesus.

The power through which Jesus, in his ministry,

went and spoke to people and said,

God is here, God is for you,

God is bringing his kingdom down here. God wants to bring life to you. These are the words that he

was speaking, but people were starting to struggle with that as they saw that doing things God's way

means sacrificing doing things. This can be difficult. And so it says, for Jesus had known

from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. That's why he's saying

these words. He went on to say, in verse 65, this says, he went on to say, this is why I told you

that no one comes to me unless the Father has enabled them. From this time, many of his disciples

turned back and no longer followed him. It's really humbling to come to terms with the fact that

this can be a real part of a lot of people's journey with Jesus, to see the better we understand

him, the more we understand the cost, the more we understand the sacrifice and the pain and the

potential for hardship of following jesus because jesus um never promises an easy road and this is

exactly the process that his disciples are going through right now um and simon's answer is really

telling in a lot of respects so verse 68 this is the verses i want to really focus on here

because this is the the standout verse the the um phrase that seems to really pop when you read it

go, that's the one that sticks in my mind. That's the one I remember. And yet, there's a lot to dig

down into here. Simon Peter's response to Jesus. Sorry, verse 67. Jesus says, you do not want to

leave, do you? Jesus asked the 12. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have

the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know you are the Holy One of God. This is

the point where Jesus challenges his disciples and says, I've expressed this amazing truth about

who I am. I'm the connection to God. I'm the way that you can have life and have it in all its

fullness, the way God wants it. Not just living from day to day, but giving yourself a transformed

heart. But you're also starting to see it's going to take sacrifice. It's going to take putting

others above yourself. He's going to say

seeking God's will

above yourself. And all these

difficult things. Are you sure

you don't want to turn around?

This is Jesus talking to his disciples

saying, are you going to go somewhere else?

Do you want to leave?

He's being honest. He's asking them, do you want to?

And Peter's response

is one that is

full of the experience

of Jesus. He's someone who

has walked alongside Jesus

through almost every single one of these stories

that we've read so far.

He's been right there.

He has seen the healings of people right in front of him.

He has been the one handing out the bread and the fish

to those 5,000 people.

He was the one giving it out.

He's seen God provide generously in incredible ways.

And he says, Jesus, you have the word of eternal life

and we've come to believe in you.

Guess what?

Peter didn't understand a lot about Jesus.

The rest of the story of John and the other Gospels tell us really clearly.

John and the other writers of the Gospels tell us about Peter.

Peter did not understand the cross at this point in the story.

This is the revelation that's come to me as I've been reading this passage.

It's a reminder.

This is the middle of the story.

Jesus said sorry Peter says Jesus your words are life and I put my trust in you but this is also

the point if you read this this very story in Matthew and Mark there are similar kind of stories

where Jesus talks to his disciples and says who do people say that I am who do you think I am do

you believe in me do you trust in me and when they say yes you're the chosen one of God Jesus

says to them chosen one of God's got to die and Peter goes whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa do you

understand who you are? Jesus turns around to, sorry, Peter turns around to Jesus and says, if

you think you've got to die, do you know what the chosen one of God's got to do? The chosen one of

God has come to rule and reign and conquer death and sin. He knew that. That's what God's word said.

And yet Jesus said, I've come to be a suffering servant. I've come to give my life so that I can

conquer sinners. The path to victory is one full of humility, sacrifice, pain. It's hard. It takes

real guts to accept some of the real difficult truths of Jesus, that Jesus was willing to go

through all that. And yet God says, this is real life right there. This is the promise of life.

And this is the promise that Jesus said. And this is the interesting point. Simon's words resound

in an amazing and incredible way.

It sounds very soundbitey, doesn't it?

He says, you have the words of eternal life.

We have come to believe

and to know you're the Holy One of God.

Peter didn't know

what the Holy One of God had come to do.

He didn't understand the cross.

The story of the gospel

is that after Jesus had died

and come back to life,

the disciples still came to Jesus and said,

what was the cross all about?

Now, surely now, now is the time

when you're going to throw out the Romans, right?

now's the time when you're going to restore the kingdom. They still didn't get it. After seeing it

and coming out the other side, they still didn't understand. And yet, he accepts them and he

welcomes them because they believed in him. And here's my point. Their belief does not come from

understanding. They don't know. They don't know what God is doing at this point. But they believe

in him because they've met him. They've seen him. And it's the person of Jesus who has revealed God

to them. The person of Jesus has revealed God to his disciples, and the person of Jesus has revealed

God to us. This is the story. This is what it's talking about. When he said, I'm the bread of life,

this is what it means. It says, if you read these stories and you learn about who I am,

you can experience life, true life, the way that God intended life to be. Life in all its fullness

this is how Jesus describes it. And this is the point. Jesus is the way. In Jesus' person,

God reveals himself. Two things. God reveals his heart. All of the stories of Jesus are so in line

with the Old Testament picture of who God is and what he is like. My favorite verse of the Bible.

I don't have a visual aid, unfortunately. We're saying goodbye to some of the older 16-year-olds

from youth who are just finished their GCSEs and are going to be moving on in the summer

and are going to be sitting in here with you guys. And we have been giving them a little

thank you present to say goodbye. And one of the verses that Micah chose, she asked

me, what's a good verse? And I said, oh, I don't know. My brain is full of other stuff

this week. And I've read all the ones that she's chosen. These are all brilliant. Why

didn't I think of those? Because one of them is my favorite verse of the Bible. Exodus

chapter 34, God describes himself and says, Yahweh, the God of Israel, is gracious and compassionate

and slow to anger and rich in covenant love and faithfulness. And that Jesus revealed the person

of God in the way that he did things, in his personality, in his actions. He demonstrated

in real terms what it means to be a follower of God who shares God's heart. It says that Jesus

did things because he saw people and was filled with compassion. He was full of the love of God.

He was full of the understanding of God's heart and God's desire to rescue those who are trapped

by sin and death. That's God's heart. That's been God's heart from the very beginning and you can

follow it all the way through the Bible. That verse from Exodus 34 is the most quoted verse

in the Old Testament. God quoting himself, the Bible quoting itself. It's one of the best things

about the way that I'd said, there's repeating patterns in the Bible, aren't there? God wants

you to know he is gracious and he is compassionate and he is full of love and kindness and faithfulness

and he'll never give up on you. And that is what Jesus demonstrated. And that is why Peter had

confidence in Jesus, because he'd seen God through Jesus. This is what John wants us to know, doesn't

he? In John chapter one, we already read some verses from John chapter one. My favorite verse

from John chapter one is the bit, I think it's John chapter one. I didn't look it up. I think

verse 13, God, John says, no one has ever seen God, but God the Father through the Son has made

himself known. No one's seen God, but people have seen Jesus. And when you see Jesus, you know God

because he reveals God's heart. He reveals God's heart in everything that he does and everything

that he says. Secondly, God reveals, Jesus reveals God's heart and God's will. Jesus, the person of

jesus reveals god's will this was something i really struggled with when i was a young christian

so often um as i've alluded to a few times i can honestly say i'm probably more confused

about what jesus achieved on the cross right now than i ever have been in my entire christian life

yeah it's big and it's complicated atonement and redemption are deep and massive subjects

that span the entire Bible and impact my life

in crazy ways I would never have imagined before.

My friend Darren asked me a few weeks ago,

a few months ago now,

why did Jesus have to die on the cross?

And I talked for 40 minutes, I think it was.

It took me a while.

I'm not going to talk that long now, I promise.

But I'm like, there's a lot going on on the cross.

There's a lot going on.

And this is the point, though.

The person of Jesus reveals the heart of God

and reveals God's will.

You see, when I was a young Christian,

I used to think God's will is the most complicated thing

I could possibly get my head around.

God has, does God have some kind of perfect plan for my life?

Is God's will a path that I can't see,

that I have to walk along and I get in trouble if I step off?

Yeah, in this very passage earlier in John chapter 6, verse 40,

Jesus says, the will of God is that everyone who looks to me

shall be saved.

I'm paraphrasing there.

look it up, John chapter 6 verse 40, I'll look it up, I'll look it up real quick,

John chapter 6 verse 40, where is it? For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the

Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. This

repeated phrase about being raised up is all about God's healing plans and His power that is

demonstrated when Jesus is raised up on the cross. You see, it's Jesus' death that brings the life

that God is promising. Talk about the upside down kingdom, a backwards nature of a king, a ruler

who's willing to sacrifice his life for his subjects. That's the power of the cross. That is

the story he's talking about. And yet he's saying, if you are confused about the will of God,

read this passage. If you are confused about the will of God, know that his will is known when you

see his heart. If you understand God's heart, you'll know what his will is. Because his will

is to rescue people his will is to save people his will is for compassion and love to abound

my father's will is that everyone who looks to the son believes in him shall have eternal life

there's a story that alludes to um i've got time to go into a lot of story but there's a very

bizarre story in the old testament of exodus about a bronze snake being made when the israelites are

acting in a way that is yet again showing their rebellion against god and their greed and their

selfishness, and the consequences of that are snakes are going through their tent and striking

people down, and people are dying left, right, and center. But God provides this incredible way

where he creates a bronze snake and says, anyone who looks at it is saved. That's all you've got

to do. You've just got to look. It's a bizarre story, and yet this is exactly the imagery that

Jesus uses when he describes himself. Peter didn't understand. He didn't understand the cross at this

point. But he had faith. He looked to Jesus and he said, I have faith that who you are is showing us

God's heart and is showing us God's will. And so he chose to follow him. And that's all Jesus calls

us to do. Just look. Because when you look to Jesus, you see God's heart and you can know God's

will. You can know God's will for your life in the midst of incredibly hard circumstances. I know

that in this church we're all going through

some really, really hard stuff.

And we're going to continue to support and pray

for each other through all those things.

And that's what I'm going

to do now. Father God,

thank you for the revelation in Jesus

that we can know your heart.

Thank you for this incredible statement

of trust that Peter makes.

He says that your words

are eternal life. And he didn't know

the end of the story. And even when he saw the end

of the story, he still didn't understand, but he knew

God that you are revealed in Jesus. Thank you, God, for revealing yourself in Jesus. And thank

you that the revelation of your heart is that you're a God whose heart is full of love and

compassion for his people and that your will is to rescue. Thank you for the death and sacrifice

that Jesus makes on the cross. Thank you that even if I might not fully understand it, your death

makes a way, your death makes a way possible into life. Father God, help us to trust in you today,

to step out in faith and to bring that love

that you demonstrated in Jesus into our lives

and into the lives of those that we love.

God, fill our hearts with love, I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.