God's Last Words

THE FALLING AWAY

JOHN 6: 56-69 NRSV

Many times Mrs. Jones came to her pastor to tell him, "I'm so scared! Joe says he's going to beat me up if I continue to come to church." 
       
"Yes, yes, my child," replied the pastor, more than a little tired of hearing this over and over. "I will continue to pray for you, Mrs. Jones. Have faith - the Lord will watch over you." 
       
"Oh yes, he has kept me safe thus far, only....." -- "Only what, my child?" “Well, now he says if I keep coming to this church, he's going to beat up YOU!" 
       
“Well, now," said the pastor, "Perhaps it's time to check out the Baptist Church on the other side of town."Is this the difference between faith and belief?

Someone once remarked that “there are no atheists in fox holes.” Can we then assume that faced with the idea or threat of war and death that people automatically have faith in God? Or that stress and fear nurtures faith?

C. S. Lewis once wrote: “You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to tie up a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a river gorge. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?” 

Contrast that fact with the understanding that most people refuse to believe that which they don't want to believe, in spite of evidence. We are natural doubters especially when the belief goes against what we know, or what we want to believe we know.

When explorers first went to Australia they found a mammal which laid eggs; spent some time in water, some on land; had a broad, flat tail, webbed feet, and a bill similar to a duck.

Upon their return to England, they told the scientific community of this, who felt it was a hoax. They returned to Australia and found a pelt from this animal and took it back to England, but the people still felt it was a hoax. In spite of the evidence, they disbelieved because they didn't want to believe in the Duckbill Platypus.

An important aspect of belief is in where the source of information comes from. The author Samuel Johnson remarked, “"We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us." How much we believe something depends on the authority of the source.

Our scriptures tell us that "understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand that thou may believe, but believe that thou may understand." In other words, we are to put faith first, and faith will build our understanding.

In our passages from John’s Gospel the last few weeks Jesus has been telling the folks over and over that they must have faith in Him first in order to have understanding of Him and His Father. He uses terms that are familiar with the Jewish people in order to proclaim authority to speak in such a manner. He gets mixed results: many leave Him, and many are angered by Him.

Let’s read our passage from John 6: 56-71:Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe."

For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”

He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.

Wait a second. There were those considered to be followers of Christ who didn’t believe in Him and never would? There were members of His “church” community and even members of the inner circle of the twelve closest to Him who didn’t believe?

Are we to assume there were those who wanted Him to do things He knew weren’t necessary or helpful to His ministry?

Even those who have been active in His ministry and who had been sent out to minister to the world and still hadn’t been seen for the disbelievers they were?

It makes me want to ask whether Judas crossed his fingers behind his back when he ministered in Jesus’ name? Yet we see that Jesus knows the hearts, minds, and commitment of a person because the source of information comes from Almighty God Himself.

The key to understanding the passage is what the definition of “believe” is. The

Hebrew word ‘amanto means to stand firm, trust, and to be certain as to believe in something one has seen, heard, or felt in the heart.It grows as it is nurtured.

The Greek word used for believe in John’s Gospel is pisteuõ which means to be  persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in of the thing believed, and have confidence so much so that one’s whole life and being is committed to it.

Belief becomes a way of life that demonstrates the understanding of the belief. We are called Christians because we have taken Christ upon us in everything we do.

The danger is in what I’ll call the idea of belief. People have an idea that they believe something but haven’t really committed to put faith into it. It’s kind of like eating bacon and eggs – the chicken is just providing an egg while the pig is totally committed.

Today only about 23% of people believe the absolute truth of the Bible, down from 65% in 1963, and fewer still claim a personal relationship with Jesus. It is one thing to claim we believe and a harder thing still to actually understand how to commit to that belief.

C. H. Spurgeon claimed that 98 percent of the people he met-- including the criminals he visited in England's prisons--told him that they believed the Bible to be true. But the majority had never made nor ever will make a personal, life-changing commitment to Jesus Christ. For them, "believe" was not an active verb.

Jesus experiences a falling away of those who aren’t really committed to Him, just as prophecy predicts a falling away of an element of what’s called the church in the last days. These are those who have never really committed, nor given themselves over truly to Him, rather using their ritual actions, pseudo-belief, and false discipleship for personal gain. They’re the people who click “like” on Facebook, but do little else.

They will be outraged at those who believe in the true faith and rise up to persecute and destroy them because God’s laws and judgment are binding, regardless.

How can people do this? Because the content of belief is important: Jonathan Whitfield was preaching to coal miners in England. He asked one man, "What do you believe?" "Well, I believe the same as the church." "And what does the church believe?" "Well, they believe the same as me." Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, "And what is it that you both believe?" "Well, I suppose the same thing."

Sorry – that’s not the Answer God is looking for at the last judgment.

We thank God that Simon Peter told Jesus "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

There is a place we can find truth and righteousness if we look for it.

I worry about Christians and church members who have such a superficial faith they treat God as a superstitious talisman used for good luck and to ward off bad luck. When asked a question about their faith or about God they get a blank look on their face and act as if they didn’t know life was a journey with a test at the end.

It tells me they listen but they aren’t hearing – that’s part of who’s leaving Jesus in this passage.

The others are people like Judas, who have heard the message and rejected it. They stick around to mess it all up for the others, kind of like the “sleepers” in terrorist cells who wait for their opportunity to cause havoc. I’ve known a few in the church and I’ve come to call them “crocodiles” because all you see of them before they strike are their eyes hovering just above the water line.

This would be disheartening if we didn’t have such a wonderful Savior and Awesome God who has made promises they will keep. Just in case we missed His promise, Jesus makes it again even more clearly inJohn 10:28-30. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

The Father and the Son have both accepted responsibility for our security. Once we’re in God’s hands, no one can get us away. If He says that we’re saved solely because of our committed belief in Him, and that He’s accepted responsibility for keeping us so, then we can count on that.

When prophecy talks about a falling away it is speaking of those who are only superficially believers or closet scoffers who turn and run from the Lord when the chips are down and the deceptions of the evil one abound. Amen.