The Tough Call

"John 6:60-7:13

Fullness of life

Do you ever find the teaching of Jesus very hard to live out? Do you sometimes find it difficult to be a Christian, in the workplace, for example? Do you sometimes find people seem to hate you for no good reason? Do you ever feel like giving up following Jesus?
If you want an easy life I don’t recommend following Jesus. Alice Cooper, the rock singer said, ‘Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s real rebellion.’

Over and over again, we see that following Jesus is a tough call. And yet, at the same time, it is the way to life in all its fullness. This fullness of life comes, Jesus explains, from the Holy Spirit.

The teaching of Jesus is not easy. The disciples said, ‘This is a hard and difficult and strange saying ... Who can stand to hear it?’ (6:60, AMP). In fact, some of the teaching of Jesus was so hard that ‘many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him’ (v.66).

It is not so much that the hearers found Jesus’ teaching difficult to understand, but that they did not like its content. They actually found his teaching offensive (v.61). It seems that they were particularly offended by Jesus’ huge claims on their lives. He claimed to be ‘the bread of life’, he called them to believe in him and he offered eternal life.

Not only was this teaching ‘hard’, it was ‘hated’. Jesus says, ‘The world ... hates me because I testify that what it does is evil’ (7:7). He was accused of being a deceiver (v.12). There was a very high cost in following someone who was hated in this way.

When many turned back and no longer followed him, Jesus asked the Twelve, ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Simon Peter, the spokesperson for the group, answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God’ (6:67–69).  

In this passage we see the whole Trinity. Peter recognises Jesus as ‘the Holy One of God’ (v.69). Jesus is unique. He embodies the holiness of God. He is divine. He speaks about the Father (v.65). He also speaks of the Holy Spirit (v.63).

He says, ‘The Spirit gives life’ (v.63a). Just as physical flesh gives birth to physical life, so the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. He says, ‘The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life’ (v.63b).

When Jesus speaks of eternal life, he is speaking of a quality of life that starts now and goes on forever: ‘life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10). This is the kind of life that the Holy Spirit brings. That is why although there is a cost in following Jesus, the benefits far outweigh the cost. In fact, there is no real alternative. Only Jesus can give you the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus can give you fullness of life.

Lord, I need your Holy Spirit to give me life. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit so that the words I speak today may be ‘spirit’ and ‘life’ to those who hear (6:63)."

1. Hallelujah for the fullness of life, may I always embrace it.

2. Thank You that my kids enjoy the class. May this be an open door for Your Word.

3. Praise God for the barbecue night, good moment to know each other more.