Where else will you go? (John 6:60-71)

On Friday I go a call that the leader of the youth group was unwell and if I could give the talk that night. It was also a bring-a-friend night, so it was to be evangelistic, if possible. I received his notes for the talk and from his legwork I was able to give the following on Friday:

---

What are your go-tos?

Do you have your go-tos? These are things that you usually go to when you don’t have anything to do? This could be a book, or a meal, or place to visit. The music you listen to in the car or when you are in a mood. What is your go-to?

‌It seems like when you are in primary school around here, you will have a party at Kambah Adventure Playground. With my kids at Wanniassa school, I can’t count how many times we have had a school party down there. That is their party go-to's.

‌My wife likes the West Wing or some British detective story. It could be Morse, Lewis, Vera... that is her go-to in an evening.
‌

On Mondays between the staff meeting and the prayer meeting, my usual go-to for lunch was a $3 pizza from Dominos. Since I have gotten back from holidays they are now $4, so might be re-evaluating some of my life choices.

‌Now what would be your go-to if your bike got stolen at school? You would go to the teacher? Maybe the police?

‌If you hypothetically were chainsawing trees without any steel cap boots and a log you were cutting above head height fell onto your big toe, what would be your go-to? The hospital.
‌
The question of who is our go-to is one that the disciples are faced with today. They are facing a more serious question than what to eat on a Monday, or where to go when they have a broken toe. They are looking for a goto for life and for truth.

‌Our culture says you can define your own truth, you can live your own life, you are free to be you, you can listen to whoever you want and still be your authentic self.

‌Tonight I hope we will see that there is nowhere else to go for life and truth than in Jesus

Deserting Disciples

Our passage is kinda cur off from last week's passage. Last week a whole crowd followed Jesus around a lake because Jesus was able to give them bread. This was from one of the massive feedings that Jesus did with next to nothing.

‌Jesus fed thousands of people, and those who ate that bread wanted more. Now I am pretty cheap, so if I was there, if I knew there was a guy who could chuck out free food all the time, I probably would be looking for Him on a Monday to save me the $4.

‌These people come looking for Jesus for more and Jesus says, He is the true bread. If you're looking for something that will sustain you, stop thinking about your stomach and start thinking about Jesus. Feed on Him. He is bread from Heaven. Eat deep of that and you will live.
‌
Those who were after another cheap meal didn’t like this. So they started grumbling. Jesus hears this scuttlebutt, these people moaning about food, and He straight up doesn’t apologise to them. He doesn’t make them some more bread, he doesn’t tone it down. In fact, look at Jesus' response to their grumbling

Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then 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—they are full of the Spirit and life. (John 6:61–63)

Jesus digs in more with these grumbling disciples. He says, if you find it hard to swallow that He is the true bread of Life, what will you think when He returns to the Father. If you think Jesus can only give you bread for your stomach, you won’t be able to stomach was is coming later.

‌When it comes to eternal life, your stomach and the bread you eat count for nothing. You may have a present all wrapped up with a bow on top, but if there is nothing inside it is a waste.
‌
I’m not sure how your HSC works in Canberra, but when I did it, they would count your best 10 units. I was a nerd so I did 3 unit maths, 3 unit computers and physics and some others. I came second in my year for physics, which sounds nice. I got an award for it, - but in my final, I got 48%. Our class was terrible at physics and when it came to the HSC, since I did 13 units, I knew my two physics units were not going to count. The class really counted for nothing.

‌Those who chased Jesus around for an extra meal, those who were with Jesus for a little bit but then it go too hard for them, it all counted for nothing if they didn’t see beyond that.

‌They didn’t see that Jesus’s words are better than a meal, they are full of the Spirit and life. We know some didn’t see that because we read

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. (John 6:66)

Jesus doesn’t win friends here. Some leave. They couldn’t stomach what he was saying. They couldn’t see the truth. They couldn’t see the life Jesus was offering.
‌
Earlier in this chapter Jesus already had said

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” (John 6:27)

These deserting disciples didn’t see it.
‌

Dependent Disciples

But there was another group. Jesus turns to the twelve in verse 67 and asks if they also want to leave as well.

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68–69)

Peter says, there is nowhere else to go. Peter is starting to get who Jesus really is. Jesus has the word of eternal life. That is better than just another meal.
‌
This is like finding a treasure in a field, or a pearl that is worth millions. It's like finding the fountain of youth, or the cure for not just cancer, but death itself. You don’t just ignore what you have found, you bank it. You change your life.

‌Peter says there is nowhere else in the world he would rather be, than with Jesus, for Peter needs Jesus for life. There is nothing else.

‌Jesus is the Holy One of God. For what time Peter has already spent with Jesus, he knows that whatever awaits him for the rest of his life, it would be better with Jesus, for with Jesus the truth is you get life.

‌How about you?

So this passage naturally leads me to ask one really pointed question.

‌How about you?
‌
Is Jesus your go-to for life itself?
‌
Do you think Jesus will make your life better so come looking for him to fill your stomach, or to make you feel better, that he might give you a girlfriend or something like that? That Jesus would be a good middleman to help you get what you want?

‌Jesus isn’t about moving some elements of your life around. Jesus is about Life itself.

Do you see Jesus as the only one who can save you? Who can bring you back to God, who can forgive your sins, who can change you from the inside, who can defeat death itself for you.

Because any other way of looking at Jesus is wrong. If you understand Jesus as some sort of tool for your own self-help program, you have Him wrong.

And let me just say, that Jesus is good. Following Jesus does mean that you don’t get to call the shots of what is right and wrong, but that is a good thing. Because everyone, and every culture mucks it up. Jesus gets it right.

‌Following Jesus means we don’t have to follow the culture, and that is good thing, because it is lame. We are told to be popular, watch the latest thing, fit in, get the right stuff. None of that is really fulfilling. Everything you own right now will probably be in the tip in the next 5 years and definitely in the next 15. It is like a nice meal, its alright for the night, but tomorrow you have to eat again.
‌
It’s ok to have nice things and eat nice food have nice friends, but things get messed up when we have a disorder love. We need to order our likes and desires and life correctly, otherwise we get stuck on the wrong treadmill doing the wrong things, chasing the wrong tail. And then, at the end, the inescapable fact is that there is death.

‌I used to do youth but not I do seniors, which means I now deal with old people. In the last two weeks, I have visited two people in palliative care, which really means their death bed. It’s a strange thing to visit people who are about to die. I haven’t done many of these visits, they all have similar elements and they all are different. Some people cling to the fact that they have done good things, or had some involvement in religion. But that doesn’t help you with eternal life. If religion is your hobby you should probably get a new one. Cause that is pretty weird.

‌As you think about your life, and all the fleeting things and your desires, does your mind turn to Jesus? Where else would you go? Peter is right in saying that only Jesus has the word of eternal life. Jesus is God’s Holy One.
‌
It is a hard thing to admit that you have been living for the wrong things. But tonight it is worth thinking about what type of follower of Jesus are you.
‌
Are you a deserting disciple or a dependent disciple?

‌When things are hard, when the worries of the world take over you, when life isn’t how you think it should go, will you leave Jesus cause it didn’t work out. Because His meal didn’t sustain you?

‌Or will you depend on Him as your daily bread? Knowing that in the ups and downs of life, there is no place better to go, there really is no where else. Make Jesus your go to. Depend on Jesus, even when your friends don’t. Depend on Jesus even when His way sounds hard. Depend on Jesus even if it means going without. For in the end, His bread does satisfy, it lasts forever. He is the only one who has the words of the Spirit and of life.

‌Sometimes at the end of a talk we say we want you to go home an think about this, but what we want to do tonight is give you space now to think about this, and to pray to God if you are a dependant disciple.

<put the prayer on the slide, talk about the lines and then pray>
‌

Father,

‌Thank you for making the universe.
‌
Thank you that you offer us life in Jesus.
‌
I’m sorry for living my way and turning to other places.
‌
Please help me to follow Jesus, no matter the cost,

‌To come to him for life and truth.

Amen.