I think that as time goes on it will become more difficult to follow Jesus without being condemned by a post-’Christian’ western society. Yet, to a certain extent this is not a new situation.
In the Gospel of John, the last part of Chapter 6, we have Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Many of His followers at that time, found His teaching to be difficult to accept. This was part of His ‘hard’ teaching: (verses 6:53-54,57-58) “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. … 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 forefathers (the Israelites in the desert)Â ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Notice how Jesus answers them (verses 61-65): “Does this offend you? 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 are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” … “This is why I told you that none can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”
Today, words such as these from the New Testament are just as offensive to people who don’t believe, as they were when Jesus first said them. Many followers of other religions find it offensive when they hear a Christian say: “It is only through Jesus that you can be saved.” Even those people who have never heard of Jesus, can only be saved by a sovereign act of grace by Jesus – do you agree?
As Selwyn says in today’s study: ‘The Holy Spirit who is present in our hearts is the pledge for the future.’ It’s God’s promise to us and I think we are given enough of a glimpse of the future to hold onto – to steady ourselves – while we are knocked about by the criticism of an unbelieving world. Just focus on the finish line because when we cross it: “The imperishable is to replace the perishable. Glory is to replace dishonour. Power is to replace weakness. The spiritual is to replace the natural. The heavenly is to replace the earthly. Immortality is to replace mortality. And ‘something’, which at the moment we cannot comprehend, is to replace flesh and blood.”
It’s a fantastic future which waits to greet us – don’t you agree? Something worth dying for …
Looking to the future!
I think that as time goes on it will become more difficult to follow Jesus without being condemned by a post-’Christian’ western society. Yet, to a certain extent this is not a new situation.
In the Gospel of John, the last part of Chapter 6, we have Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Many of His followers at that time, found His teaching to be difficult to accept. This was part of His ‘hard’ teaching: (verses 6:53-54,57-58) “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. … 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 forefathers (the Israelites in the desert)Â ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Notice how Jesus answers them (verses 61-65): “Does this offend you? 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 are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” … “This is why I told you that none can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him.”
Today, words such as these from the New Testament are just as offensive to people who don’t believe, as they were when Jesus first said them. Many followers of other religions find it offensive when they hear a Christian say: “It is only through Jesus that you can be saved.” Even those people who have never heard of Jesus, can only be saved by a sovereign act of grace by Jesus – do you agree?
As Selwyn says in today’s study: ‘The Holy Spirit who is present in our hearts is the pledge for the future.’ It’s God’s promise to us and I think we are given enough of a glimpse of the future to hold onto – to steady ourselves – while we are knocked about by the criticism of an unbelieving world. Just focus on the finish line because when we cross it: “The imperishable is to replace the perishable. Glory is to replace dishonour. Power is to replace weakness. The spiritual is to replace the natural. The heavenly is to replace the earthly. Immortality is to replace mortality. And ‘something’, which at the moment we cannot comprehend, is to replace flesh and blood.”
It’s a fantastic future which waits to greet us – don’t you agree? Something worth dying for …