SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2016 12:02 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro. To John 6:16-29
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 6:16-29
Message of the verses: “16 Now when evening came, His disciples went
down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the
sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to
them. 18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. 19
Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on
the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. 20 But He said
to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21 So they were willing to
receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which
they were going.
22 The next day
the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other
small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples
into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 There came other
small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the
Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor
His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum
seeking Jesus. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi,
when did You get here?" 26 Jesus answered them and said,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but
because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the
food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you,
for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal."
28 Therefore they
said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of
God?" 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’”
When I was
listening to John MacArthur’s most recent sermon on this section I found out
that it was his belief that this entire chapter is all about the characteristics
of True and false Disciples.” Now first
of all I want to say that perhaps we may have the wrong connotation of what the
word disciple actually means. There is a
difference between an apostle and a disciple, for there are only so many apostles
but there are many disciples, both true and false ones as the word means a learner
of a pupil and so when we read the following:
“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking
with Him anymore (John 6:66),” we understand that those who were following
Jesus, and probably many of them because of His miracles, and other signs, when
they heard this discourse that He gave in the Synagogue in Capernaum stopped
following Him. They stopped being a
learner of follower of Jesus because of what He said.
I want to
look at a verse from the last chapter of 2 Corinthians that should make all of
us think: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!
Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in
you-unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Cor. 13:5).” We know that the church at Corinth had a lot
of problems as we read through both books we will see some of those problems
and perhaps this is why Paul wrote this at the end of his second letter to
them, but the fact remains that just as we will see in this section of John
that many of those who thought that they were true followers, (believers) in
Jesus Christ walked away from Him. In
the gospels there are many verses that our from the lips of our Lord who talk
about true and false disciples and I will mention a few of them, some of which
are rather lengthy. We will first look
at Luke 14:27-35 “27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me
cannot be My disciple. 28 "For
which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and
calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 "Otherwise, when he has laid a
foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,
30 saying, ’This man began to build and
was not able to finish.’ 31 "Or what king, when he sets out to meet
another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is
strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him
with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends
a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So then, none of you can be My
disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. 34 “Therefore, salt is
good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35
“It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He
who has ears to hear, let him hear.’”
John
MacArthur writes “To be His disciple, Jesus warned, means to love Him above all
else—even one’s own family: ‘34 “Do not
think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace,
but a sword. 35 "For I came to SET
A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A
DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36
and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. 37 “He who
loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son
or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
I have to
say that when I became a believer in 1974 that the person that led me to the
Lord, I found out later that he said that “he was not into that anymore.” I suppose that few people have had the
experience of praying for the salvation of the one who led them to the Lord,
but that was where I was at. Living in
the United States since it was founded many years ago people have not been
persecuted like in other countries and therefore have not been tested with that
kind of persecution to see if their faith is real and so many people who think
that they are true believers are not. I
am not saying that one has to be persecuted with the threat of death to make
sure that they are a believer, but that kind of thing should be on one’s mind
when they become a true follower of Jesus Christ. As we look at the climate in our country at
this time this kind of persecution may not be far off.
As we
conclude this introduction I want to share what we will be looking at as we go
over these verses as John MacArthur writes “Verses 16-29 comprise tow passages
that set the stage for Jesus’ discourse on the Bread of Life. They also portray the stark contrast between
true and false disciples. The first
account describes Jesus walking on the water to the Twelve, who are caught in a
storm on the Sea of Galilee. It
illustrates the response that true disciples have toward Christ. The second story, in which the crow that
Jesus had just fed (6:1-15) sought Him for another free meal, reveals how false
disciples respond to the Lord. For both
groups Jesus performed a supernatural sign.
Yet the subsequent responses in each case were entirely different.” Now there are sub-sections under the two main
sections of “The Response of True Disciples,” and “The Response of False
Disciples.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is good to study this section, but it is
more important to live like a true believer so that others will see Jesus in me
and want the same thing that I have.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Trust the Lord to see me
through the storm that is coming against all who are true believers.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Mount Carmel” (1 Kings 18:19).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who prophesied” (in the NT) “that there would be a great famine
throughout the world?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/29/2016 12:50 PM
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