Deo Gloria
Sermon for August 25, 2024
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: John 6:60-69
Theme: You Don’t Want to Leave Too, Do You?
- Many forsake Jesus because of his hard teachings.
- Jesus has the words of eternal life.
We’ve all known people like that. Maybe they sat in the same pew you do once upon a time. Maybe they were in your confirmation class any number of years ago. Maybe it was even someone in your own family—a cousin or relative, a brother or sister. They used to go to church. They used to come to Bible Class. They used to profess Christ and follow Christ as their Lord and Savior, but not anymore. Like some of the people in our text today, they turned away. For one reason or another they turned their backs on Jesus and no longer follow him. Which leads to an obvious question, a question Jesus himself asked in our text: You don’t want to leave too, do you?
This morning, as we take a closer look at these verses from John ch. 6, we will see that many people do forsake Jesus because of his hard teachings. But we’ll also find encouragement not to follow their example, because Jesus has the words of eternal life.
In the first part of our text Jesus is speaking to his disciples—not to the 12 disciples, not to people like Peter, James, and John, but to a larger group of disciples, people who were students of his. You see, by his miracles and his teaching, Jesus often attracted large crowds of people. In fact, you may remember that the previous day Jesus had preached to a very large group of people, a crowd of over 5,000, whom he also fed in a miraculous way from fives loaves of bread and two small fish. Often some of those people would take a break from their jobs or their regular activities and follow Jesus for a while. They would become disciples of his, students who followed him wherever he went because they wanted to listen to him and learn from him. How many such disciples Jesus had we don’t know, but it could easily have been in the hundreds.
As they followed Jesus and listened to him, these disciples had come to believe that Jesus was an exceptional rabbi, a rabbi sent from God, a rabbi who could do wonderful miracles and who could teach God’s Word like no one they had ever heard before. But now Jesus had said some things that were troubling them.
Jesus had referred to himself as the bread of life who had come down from heaven.(vv. 33+35) Jesus had said that people needed to consume him, that they needed eat his flesh and drink his blood.(v. 54) Jesus had said that those who did feed on him would live forever.(v. 51) How could that be? How could this teacher from Nazareth be someone who had come down from heaven? How could a person feed on him? How could they eat his flesh and drink his blood? And how could Jesus sustain someone’s life so that he or she might live forever? Only God could do something like that. It just didn’t make sense to them, and they began to grumble among themselves: “What is this guy talking about? He’s not making any sense. How can he say that he came down from heaven? His home town is Nazareth. We all know that. How can he say that he will raise people up on the last day? Does he think he’s God or something?” Grumble, grumble, grumble.
Of course, it’s not that Jesus’ words were that hard to understand. Jesus was speaking in picture language, language that fit perfectly with what the people had been looking for: food. Only Jesus wanted them to think about something more important than physical food. He wanted them to think about spiritual food, food for their souls. Jesus was speaking in spiritual terms. He hadn’t come to start a soup kitchen, but he had come to feed people’s tired and hungry souls. He didn’t mean that people were supposed to come over and start chewing on his fingers and toes, but he did want them to eat in a spiritual way, to hear and read and study his Word and fill their hearts with him and his love and forgiveness. And yes, Jesus did mean that he had the power to sustain people’s lives forever. “I tell you the truth,” he said, “he who believes has eternal life”(v. 47). How could Jesus have said it more clearly?
No, the problem wasn’t that Jesus’ words were that hard to understand. The problem was that they were hard to accept. If what Jesus was saying was true, then Jesus was God. And that’s where they had trouble. Sure, Jesus was a great teacher, a teacher who could even perform miracles, but he wasn’t God.
“This is a hard teaching,” they said. “Who can accept it?”
“Does this teaching offend you?” Jesus said to them. “Well, what if you saw the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! That would prove that I really am the Son of God. But would that offend you too?”
And again, they just couldn’t accept that. They just couldn’t believe it; and in many cases they turned around and walked away. “From that time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him”(v. 66).
Sadly, the same thing often happens today. People follow Jesus for a while. They come to church. They listen to his Word. They’re interested. They want to find out more. Maybe they even join the church and are members for a while, but then it happens. They hear that sermon. They read that story from the Word of God and they come across something that is hard for them, hard to accept, hard to believe. Maybe they’re even offended by something they hear or read in God’s Word. Perhaps, as it was with these people, it’s the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. I mean they can believe that Jesus was a prophet, that he was a great teacher of God’s Word. They can accept that, but the Son of God? That’s just too hard to believe. Or maybe it’s the truth that Jesus is the only Savior and that those who don’t believe in him will be condemned to hell. They just can’t believe that. They are offended by the notion that God would send anyone to hell. Or maybe it’s the truth that God created the world, in 6 days, out of nothing. That’s the one they stumble over. That’s the one they just can’t believe. Or maybe it’s the teaching of real presence in the Lord’s Supper. Or maybe it’s the teaching of fellowship. That’s the one they have trouble with. That’s the one they just can’t accept. And as result, they turn away. Like the people in our text, they turn away from Jesus and no longer follow him. Obviously, it’s sad when that happens. It’s sad to see people turn away from Jesus because they can’t accept what his Word says.
But I want you to notice something: Jesus does not compromise his teachings so he can remain popular. Jesus doesn’t say, “Hey, guys, guys, come back. I didn’t mean to offend you. Look, I won’t say things like that anymore. I promise. I won’t claim to be the living bread that came down from heaven. I’ll just say I’m the living bread from Nazareth. And that part about giving people eternal life, OK, OK, I’ll take it back. From now on I’ll just say that I help people improve their lives. Come on, guys. Don’t leave.” Jesus doesn’t compromise one inch, does he? Jesus doesn’t back away from anything he said. If people leave, they leave. Popularity didn’t matter one ounce to Jesus. What mattered to him was teaching God’s Word faithfully and leading people to see that he was indeed the Son of God, the living bread who had come down from heaven to give them life, eternal life.
Sad to say there are many Christians today and many churches today who are not willing to do what Jesus did. They are not willing to stand up for the truth of God’s Word. They are more than willing to compromise, more than willing to back away from what God’s Word plainly says so that they can remain popular. And truth be told, you and I have done it too. Maybe it was when we out to dinner with some friends. Maybe it was when we were hanging out with some friends or classmates at school. Maybe it was when we were talking with some co-workers in the break room at work. We were reluctant to speak up about what the Bible says about human sexuality or gay marriage because we were afraid some people might be offended. We didn’t want to stand up for the truth that God created the world, in 6 days, out of nothing, because we were afraid we might look foolish. We didn’t stand up for Jesus our Savior, that he is the Son of God and only Savior, and that those who reject him will perish in hell because that might make us unpopular. Jesus was willing to stand up for us, was he not? Jesus was willing to be rejected, willing to be forsaken, willing to be beaten, willing to be crucified for us. And yet, we are unwilling to stand up for him because we might lose some of our popularity? “Whoever acknowledges me before men,” Jesus said, “I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven”(Mt 10:32-33). May God forgive us for such sins! May he have mercy on us and forgive us for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior!
Yes, it is a sad and sobering truth: Just like in the days of Jesus, there are people today who forsake Jesus and turn away from him because of his hard teachings. But does that mean we should turn away too? Absolutely not! Take another look at the second portion of our text. As many of his disciples were leaving, Jesus finally turned to the 12 disciples, to people like Peter, James, and John, and asked them a question: “You don’t want to leave too, do you?”
And look at Peter’s answer. You know, sometimes we’re kind of hard on Peter because of his brash and impetuous nature, but this is one of those times we can be really proud of Peter. This was one of his shining moments. He knocked this one of the park. His faith shone like a beacon in the darkness. “Lord,” he replied, “to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God”(vv. 68-69). Lord, to whom shall we go? Shall we go to some other rabbi? Shall we go to Athens and listen to the Greek philosophers? Shall we go to Rome and visit the temples of the Roman gods? Lord, they don’t have what you have. You have the words of eternal life.
Isn’t that our answer today as well? Lord, to whom shall we go? Shall we go to a local synagogue and talk to the Jewish rabbi? Shall we go to a mosque and listen to the words of Mohammed? Shall we go to a Buddhist shrine or sit at the feet of a Hindu guru? Lord, they don’t have what you have—words of comfort, words of peace, words of assurance that my sins are all forgiven, words of hope in a world full of sadness and loss, words of life, eternal life. Lord, like Peter, we believe and know that you are the one, the Holy One of God, the eternal Son of God who came into this world to be our Savior and rescue us from sin and death. On the cross you gave your life for us and for our sins, so that we might be forgiven. Besides that, you lived a perfect life for us, the kind of life we should have lived, a life of perfect love toward God and perfect love toward others. You did that so that we might be holy and righteous in God’s sight. And you have said in your Word. You have promised in your Word that whoever believes in you shall not perish, but shall have eternal life. You will raise them up on the last day. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
You don’t want to leave too, do you? Here in John ch. 6 Jesus asked that question of his disciples. Today he asks that question of you and me: “You don’t want to leave too, do you?” Though others do at times turn their backs on Jesus because of his hard teachings, may our answer always be the same as Peter’s! “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Amen.