SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/21/2016 9:41 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: The Reaction of the False
Disciples
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 6:60-66
Message of the verses: “60 Therefore many of His disciples, when
they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to
it?" 61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to
them, "Does this cause you to stumble? 62 “What then if you see the Son of
Man ascending to where He was before? 63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the
flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are
life. 64 “But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would
betray Him. 65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you,
that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the
Father." 66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were
not walking with Him anymore.”
I believe that
the first thing that must be made clear here is the definition of the word “disciple,”
and we will quote John MacArthur here: “That
the people introduced here are called disciples does not imply that they were
true followers of Christ. The term mathetes (‘disciple’) refers to someone
who attaches himself to a teacher as a student or learner, but does not imply
anything about the disciple’s sincerity or devotion. In addition to the disciples of Jesus, the
New Testament also notes disciples of John the Baptist (Matt. 9:14), the
Pharisees (22:15-16), Paul (Acts 9:25), and Moses (John 9:28).”
As we look
through the four gospels we can see that there were many attracted to Jesus,
mostly because of the miracles that He performed, and not many because of the
fact that He was going to die for their sins, and then they needed to make a
total commitment to Him. As we look at
the disciples in verse sixty we see that there is little different than those
just described, for as we will see many of them will walk away. MacArthur writes “By demanding that He be
acknowledged as the Bread of Life (vv. 33, 35, 48, 50, 51) and insisting that
eternal life is found only in fully committing to Him (vv. 51, 53-58), Jesus
required more than they were willing to give.
Consequently, they chose to turn their backs on Him and salvation.”
At the end
of verse sixty these so called disciples misunderstood that Jesus was talking
about spiritual things, and though that He was talking about physical things
said “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?’” and so they left, missing out on the one way
of salvation.
MacArthur
adds “Their reaction is typical of false disciples: as long as they perceived
Jesus to be a source of healing, free food, and deliverance from enemy
oppression, the self-serving disciples flocked to Him. But when He demanded that they acknowledge
their spiritual bankruptcy, confess their sin, and commit themselves to Him as
the only source of salvation, they became offended and left. Like countless other false disciples
throughout the history of the church, they followed Jesus for what they thought
they could get from Him. True disciples,
on the other hand, come to Christ poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3), mourning over
their sin (5:4), and hungering and thirsting for the righteousness that only He
can supply (5:6). Our Lord left nothing
to doubt when He identified the elements of true discipleship: ‘"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he
must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 “For whoever
wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake,
he is the one who will save it. 25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the
whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?’ (Luke 9:23-25 cf. Matt. 10:34-39).
“False
disciples do not follow Christ because of who He is, but because of what they
want from Him. They have no problem
viewing Him as a baby in the manger at Christmas; a social reformer with a
broad message of love and tolerance; the ideal human everyone should emulate;
or a source of health, wealth, and worldly happiness. But they are unwilling to
embrace the biblical Jesus—the God-man who fearlessly rebuked sinners and
warned them of eternal hell, and that salvation from that hell comes only
through believing His words (John 5:24).
Those who resist or reject Jesus’ teaching fail the trust of true
discipleship that He Himself laid down in John 8:31: ‘So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had
believed Him, ‘If you continue in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine’’
(cf. 15:8). Continued obedience to the
words of Jesus Christ always marks true disciples (cf. 1 John 2:3-5).”
We will
continue looking at these verses in our next SD.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “James” (James 1:22-23).
Today’s Bible question:
“How many times did the Israelites march around the walls of Jericho?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/21/2016 10:10 AM
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