Sermon nuggets Tues April 29, 2008
Theme- Discipleship
Verses – John 6:60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Challenges to Discipleship. Easy or Hard?
The message of the abundant life has too often fooled people into thinking Christianity is all about getting blessings with a life filled with ease. The true disciples did not experience that on this earth. Yet Jesus words are spirit and life.
Last week we talked about what Jesus meant when he said that He was the true bread that came from heaven. He is their life. Disciples commit to by faith to following Jesus not just as savior, but as Lord.
When we eat something it becomes not only part of us, it becomes us. When we partake of Christ we become like Him. No, we do not become divine. When we deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Him, we become a new creation.
G.K. Chesterton said, “Christianity has not been tried and found untrue. Instead it has been tried and found difficult and that is enough to weed out the great bulk of those who have merely gone along for the ride.”
The ways of Christ can be hard. They are hard on selfishness, on prejudice, on pettiness. They are hard on sloth, indifference and lack of discipline. They are hard on the tendency to drift, and procrastination. The disciple that falls away is attracted more by the physical blessings and the miracles and the food and the excitement, entertainment and the crowds. We see that a lot today with the marketing of Christianity. When the going gets tough faith is cast aside. People turn away. Hard and uncomfortable choices are not what they signed up for.
It is easy to go the broad road. It is hard to follow the narrow road. It is easy to go with the crowd; it is hard to be rejected by friends. It is easy to be undisciplined and let our wants and desires guide our path, instead of discipline and self control that determines the ways of God in spite of circumstances. There is a broad way and there is a narrow way. Some go for the easy way, others follow no matter what.
What is a hard decision or path that is facing you today? What would Jesus have you do?
Pastor Dale
