WEBVTT 00:00:01.129 --> 00:00:03.390 All right, good morning. My name is Gregg. I am 00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:06.870 one of the pastors here at the house. Thanks 00:00:06.870 --> 00:00:08.609 so much for joining us today. If I've never met 00:00:08.609 --> 00:00:11.330 you, I'd love to meet you, and I'd love to maybe 00:00:11.330 --> 00:00:13.310 buy you a coffee or something like that, hear 00:00:13.310 --> 00:00:15.449 your story. Feel free to put that on your connection 00:00:15.449 --> 00:00:17.570 card at the end of the service, and I'll make 00:00:17.570 --> 00:00:21.809 sure to follow up with you and set that up. We 00:00:21.809 --> 00:00:24.010 are in the second week of a three -week series 00:00:24.010 --> 00:00:28.410 that we're calling Follow Me, because Jesus said, 00:00:28.589 --> 00:00:33.450 follow me. So last week we talked about how Jesus' 00:00:33.670 --> 00:00:36.009 first disciples that he called and said, follow 00:00:36.009 --> 00:00:41.670 me, were drastically different. You had the fishers 00:00:41.670 --> 00:00:45.450 working with their hands, covered in the odor 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:48.909 of fish in the Sea of Galilee, and then you had 00:00:48.909 --> 00:00:52.829 a tax collector that smelled like other people's 00:00:52.829 --> 00:00:59.770 money. So how did Jesus fit those people together? 00:01:00.619 --> 00:01:03.880 When you read the chapters, the four plus chapters 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:06.260 between when you meet the first four and that 00:01:06.260 --> 00:01:10.519 fifth, you see all the moments where Jesus was 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:14.540 teaching those fishers all the things that they 00:01:14.540 --> 00:01:17.700 would need to know about how to accept that fifth 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:21.239 disciple. Maybe we should start with, you know, 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:24.359 just a tag for last week's sermon, which would 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:28.900 be who's your fifth disciple? You've got a group 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:30.280 of people around you that you're like, ah, these 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:33.900 are my people. Who's your fifth disciple? Who's 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:37.200 the person that you need to learn a bunch from 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:42.200 Jesus in order to know how to accept and to love? 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:46.739 Now, week two, we're going deeper into the journey, 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:49.500 deeper into the timeline of Jesus' ministry. 00:01:49.739 --> 00:01:52.540 And where we are reading from today, by the time 00:01:52.540 --> 00:01:55.500 you get to this point, Jesus has amassed crowds. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:59.299 of people. Thousands and thousands of people 00:01:59.299 --> 00:02:02.739 are coming to listen to him all at one time in 00:02:02.739 --> 00:02:05.739 one place. And they're actually following him 00:02:05.739 --> 00:02:08.759 around from place to place. One day when they 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:11.439 find Jesus on the other side of the lake, he 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:14.240 fed 5 ,000 and then they wake up the next day 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:15.699 and he's not there anymore. So they literally 00:02:15.699 --> 00:02:18.639 go to the other side of the lake to find where 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:22.280 he has gone. Because they like the things that 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:24.379 he was saying. They like the way that he was 00:02:24.379 --> 00:02:27.020 serving them, caring, about them, performing 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:29.960 miracles. But in this case, when they find him, 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:33.900 Jesus doesn't say something about teaching them 00:02:33.900 --> 00:02:36.919 how to accept. Here's a hard thing I'm going 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:39.099 to say so you know how to accept others. Instead, 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:41.979 this time, he says something that was hard for 00:02:41.979 --> 00:02:48.460 them to accept about how to accept him. With 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:52.419 that, let's open up our Bibles to John chapter... 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:55.620 John chapter 6, it goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, 00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:59.840 John, Acts, Romans. John is in what's called 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.419 the New Testament or the Second Testament, and 00:03:02.419 --> 00:03:04.879 there are Bibles on the tables, or you can download 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:08.000 a digital Bible from any of the app stores. If 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:09.340 you don't have a Bible, feel free to take one 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:12.539 of those blue ones home, or even just grab one 00:03:12.539 --> 00:03:14.259 off the bookshelf out in the lobby and take that 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:16.560 home with you. It's our gift to you. We're happy 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:18.460 for you to have it. We're going to be in John 00:03:18.460 --> 00:03:20.800 chapter 6, and we have a tradition around here 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:23.020 of giving the scriptures our full attention while 00:03:23.020 --> 00:03:24.539 they're being read in the context of a sermon. 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:26.639 You can do that any way that you see fit, but 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:28.840 if you would like to join me in standing as you 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:32.060 are able, let's do that as I read. John 6, starting 00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:36.479 in verse 51. I am the living bread that came 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:40.120 down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:43.539 will live forever, and the bread that I will 00:03:43.539 --> 00:03:48.699 give for the life of the world is mine. The Jews 00:03:48.699 --> 00:03:50.860 then disputed among themselves, saying, How can 00:03:50.860 --> 00:03:53.860 this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said 00:03:53.860 --> 00:03:55.819 to them, Very truly I tell you, unless you eat 00:03:55.819 --> 00:03:57.979 the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, 00:03:58.060 --> 00:04:01.319 you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:03.620 and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:06.580 raise them up on the last day, for my flesh is 00:04:06.580 --> 00:04:10.159 true food and my blood is true drink. Those who 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:12.280 eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:16.810 I in them. Let's jump to verse 66. Because of 00:04:16.810 --> 00:04:19.230 this, many of his disciples turned back and no 00:04:19.230 --> 00:04:22.709 longer wanted or went about with him. So Jesus 00:04:22.709 --> 00:04:25.990 asked the twelve, Do you also wish to go away? 00:04:27.189 --> 00:04:29.850 Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom can we 00:04:29.850 --> 00:04:33.649 go? You have the words of eternal life. We have 00:04:33.649 --> 00:04:37.250 come to believe and know that you are the Holy 00:04:37.250 --> 00:04:41.790 One of God. Let us pray. God of every tribe, 00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:46.420 every tongue, every color. every nation and people. 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:50.300 We thank you for the scriptures that they have 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:52.680 persisted throughout the millennia, that we still 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:56.000 have them to learn from, to consider, to be led 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:57.600 by. I pray that whatever you have for us to learn 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:00.279 today, pray that it would stick, that it would 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:03.000 become a part of the framework of our faith as 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:07.839 we become more like your son, Jesus. Amen? Amen. 00:05:07.939 --> 00:05:16.589 Y 'all have a seat. Thanks. I'm guessing if we 00:05:16.589 --> 00:05:20.029 pulled the room and asked every single person 00:05:20.029 --> 00:05:22.050 in this room what I was about to say that none 00:05:22.050 --> 00:05:28.410 of you would get it right. Because it's not the 00:05:28.410 --> 00:05:30.389 kind of thing that you would expect a pastor 00:05:30.389 --> 00:05:33.670 to say. The first thing I want to say is Christianity 00:05:33.670 --> 00:05:42.700 is weird, y 'all. Christianity is weird. Some 00:05:42.700 --> 00:05:48.220 of us have been around church so long. We have 00:05:48.220 --> 00:05:51.079 heard the phrase, eat my flesh and drink my blood, 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:54.420 so many times that we have forgotten that that 00:05:54.420 --> 00:05:59.819 is not a normal thing to ask someone to do. We're 00:05:59.819 --> 00:06:05.339 used to it. We know that it's a metaphor. We 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:07.800 know that he's talking about a spiritual concept. 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:11.180 We know that it's connected to what he would 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:13.839 do on the cross and in his resurrection. But 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:17.500 if you do not know all of that, it makes about 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:20.259 as much sense as eating a Tide Pod for clicks 00:06:20.259 --> 00:06:25.540 on TikTok. It does not make any sense. It is 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:29.699 weird. It is not palatable. It does not sound 00:06:29.699 --> 00:06:32.740 safe. I mean, do you boil it for safety first? 00:06:33.550 --> 00:06:36.810 How exactly do we go about this? It makes no 00:06:36.810 --> 00:06:39.290 sense. And it didn't make any sense to the people 00:06:39.290 --> 00:06:44.550 that were following Jesus when he said it. That's 00:06:44.550 --> 00:06:47.670 why so many people stopped following him that 00:06:47.670 --> 00:06:53.790 day. I also want to say it would be a misnomer 00:06:53.790 --> 00:06:55.829 or a misunderstanding to think that the people 00:06:55.829 --> 00:06:57.930 that stopped following him that day were just 00:06:57.930 --> 00:07:00.509 marginal followers that were just there every 00:07:00.509 --> 00:07:03.319 now and again. When you read it, it says many 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:07.060 of his what? Disciples stopped following him 00:07:07.060 --> 00:07:09.420 that day. There is a misunderstanding that Jesus 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:12.019 only had 12 disciples. He had 12 primary disciples. 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:15.279 He had many people that were considered disciples. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:18.639 In other books, he sends out 70 disciples at 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:21.920 a time. Depending on which version you're reading, 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.480 70 or 72, he had many people that consider themselves 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:28.439 disciples. And these people heard what he said, 00:07:28.620 --> 00:07:36.439 and they could not. Accept it. Why is that? I 00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:40.360 think partly because of something that we still 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:44.899 struggle with today. And that is knowing when 00:07:44.899 --> 00:07:48.319 Jesus is being literal and when Jesus is being 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:52.800 figurative. Knowing when Jesus says, it's better 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:56.100 for you to cut off your arm, knowing that he's 00:07:56.100 --> 00:08:00.240 being figurative. He's not asking you to actually 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:02.720 go and cut off your arm. He's telling you to 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:06.279 take it so seriously that this is the metaphor 00:08:06.279 --> 00:08:11.899 that I am going to use. Now, it wasn't just the 00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:14.379 people that were following him that day that 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:17.620 struggled to understand that he was using metaphor 00:08:17.620 --> 00:08:20.480 or struggled to understand the metaphor when 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.540 they would first hear it. There's actually some 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:25.779 research to suggest that people continue to misunderstand 00:08:25.779 --> 00:08:30.470 this for centuries. According to Dr. David Castle, 00:08:30.610 --> 00:08:34.389 says this, a complaint of Roman critics of Christianity 00:08:34.389 --> 00:08:37.110 was this. They thought Christians were involved 00:08:37.110 --> 00:08:41.029 in bizarre and terrible religious rituals that 00:08:41.029 --> 00:08:44.330 included eating flesh. In other words, they heard 00:08:44.330 --> 00:08:47.470 rumors about these secret gatherings where Christians 00:08:47.470 --> 00:08:50.049 would eat the body and drink the blood of their 00:08:50.049 --> 00:08:54.330 leader. And so rumors would begin about, I think 00:08:54.330 --> 00:08:57.490 they're vampires. I think they might be cannibals. 00:08:58.440 --> 00:09:01.799 And why wouldn't they think that? It's weird. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:07.460 And I do not blame people. And we should not 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:10.980 blame people when they don't get it without all 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:15.559 of the other explanation. I don't blame people 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:19.740 now, and I don't blame people then for not getting 00:09:19.740 --> 00:09:24.679 it. Because I think that is kind of the point 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:29.190 of what Jesus is doing in this moment. One of 00:09:29.190 --> 00:09:32.889 the reasons that Jesus is doing this is to say 00:09:32.889 --> 00:09:38.230 something so jarring to see who is willing to 00:09:38.230 --> 00:09:42.330 get it. So last week, Jesus started with zero 00:09:42.330 --> 00:09:45.250 disciples, and we see him calling the drastically 00:09:45.250 --> 00:09:48.070 different. This week, he's got plenty of followers, 00:09:48.230 --> 00:09:50.870 plenty of disciples. Thousands are showing up 00:09:50.870 --> 00:09:54.570 to see him, but now he's finding out who is curious 00:09:54.570 --> 00:09:59.120 enough, hungry enough. to hear a drastic and 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:07.100 difficult call and stay. He wants to know, are 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:10.299 they coming for the food? Are they coming for 00:10:10.299 --> 00:10:13.919 the miracles? Are they coming to hear him talk 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:18.000 about how they're actually, oh, the poor shall 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.940 inherit the earth. They're coming to hear about 00:10:20.940 --> 00:10:23.259 how the group of people that they're in are better, 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:25.899 and oh, all these rich people and these people, 00:10:26.019 --> 00:10:30.100 oh, there are, oh, are you guys, anyone in a 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:33.720 circle, I hope they're listening. Is that why 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:38.639 they're there? Or can they hear a difficult word 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:43.720 and continue to follow? Because this message 00:10:43.720 --> 00:10:47.879 was a difficult word. Now maybe you've heard 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:51.720 of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:54.820 is that uncomfortable feeling that your brain 00:10:54.820 --> 00:10:59.100 gets. It's a real feeling. Your brain feels discomfort 00:10:59.100 --> 00:11:04.340 when what you have always believed crashes into 00:11:04.340 --> 00:11:09.559 something that's new information that contradicts 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:14.200 what you always knew. Our brains do not like 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:17.269 that dissonance. Our brains do not like having 00:11:17.269 --> 00:11:20.110 a set belief that we're sure of, and then we 00:11:20.110 --> 00:11:22.809 get new evidence or new information, and our 00:11:22.809 --> 00:11:24.990 brain has to decide, like, how do I justify that? 00:11:25.029 --> 00:11:28.669 How do I fit it in to maintain what I already 00:11:28.669 --> 00:11:33.389 believe? We do not like to feel like what we 00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:35.590 know, what we were sure about is getting pushed 00:11:35.590 --> 00:11:38.250 around. It's like when you live with someone 00:11:38.250 --> 00:11:42.799 and you worked all day. and then maybe they work 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:44.519 a different shift than you, or they had the day 00:11:44.519 --> 00:11:47.700 off, and you come home, and they completely rearranged 00:11:47.700 --> 00:11:50.960 the kitchen. I don't know if that's ever happened 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:54.220 to you. Cindy has this fun thing that she does. 00:11:54.500 --> 00:11:56.659 She'll joke with me about how, like, wouldn't 00:11:56.659 --> 00:11:58.379 it be nice to have the couch over there? And 00:11:58.379 --> 00:11:59.559 I'll be like, oh, yeah, maybe. And then I'll 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:00.879 come home the next day, and it'll just be done. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.899 Maybe you've... No, and it's amazing. It always 00:12:04.899 --> 00:12:08.379 works out well. But let's say you came home and 00:12:08.379 --> 00:12:10.940 someone moved around everything in the kitchen. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:12.059 You're looking at it and you're going, okay, 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:14.980 maybe you want to hold out the possibility that 00:12:14.980 --> 00:12:17.659 maybe this is better. Maybe this is a good thing. 00:12:17.779 --> 00:12:19.679 You're like, oh, yeah, okay, that makes sense. 00:12:19.779 --> 00:12:22.019 The milk should probably be in the door of the 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:24.120 fridge instead of behind the vegetables. It's 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:27.559 always a pain to, okay. I guess the cups should 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:30.519 be in the cupboard right there next to the sink. 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:34.179 That makes a lot of sense. But then you start. 00:12:34.839 --> 00:12:37.879 wondering and almost panicking, where did they 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:41.519 put my favorite spoon? Where's my favorite spoon? 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:43.840 Will you guys stop pretending that you don't 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:46.600 have a favorite spoon? I know you have a favorite 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:50.860 spoon. We all have a favorite spoon. And then 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:52.500 you notice that the blender isn't on the counter 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:54.600 anymore, and they put the blender in the pantry, 00:12:54.799 --> 00:12:56.740 and you're thinking, why would they put the blender 00:12:56.740 --> 00:12:58.700 in the pantry? Don't they know that I use that 00:12:58.700 --> 00:13:03.360 at least every month? Why would they put that 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:13.250 away? Because it's ugly. For the crowd in January 00:13:13.250 --> 00:13:25.730 6th. I'm sorry. For the crowd in John 6th. Take 00:13:25.730 --> 00:13:31.370 that for what it's worth. Jesus' words aren't 00:13:31.370 --> 00:13:35.740 just moving the milk or the spoon. They're gutting 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:39.200 the plumbing. What Jesus is saying isn't just 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:42.700 putting the blender in the pantry. It's actually 00:13:42.700 --> 00:13:46.580 pulling out the electrical lines. The cognitive 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:50.179 dissonance that they would have felt was drastic 00:13:50.179 --> 00:13:56.500 and difficult. So they say to Jesus, Moses gave 00:13:56.500 --> 00:13:59.639 us manna bread every single day. What sign do 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:02.519 you have? And Jesus' answer was to push them. 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:05.629 He says, I am the bread of life. You can have 00:14:05.629 --> 00:14:10.090 me. You can have this flesh. You can have this 00:14:10.090 --> 00:14:13.070 blood. And if you eat this flesh and this blood, 00:14:13.090 --> 00:14:16.049 then you will have more than Moses could ever 00:14:16.049 --> 00:14:19.509 have given to you. And they're thinking, who 00:14:19.509 --> 00:14:22.529 is this guy to say that he has something better 00:14:22.529 --> 00:14:27.809 than Moses? Moses was venerated. Moses was honored. 00:14:29.090 --> 00:14:32.659 Moses was cherished. He had led them out of Egypt. 00:14:32.679 --> 00:14:35.480 How dare you say that you have something better 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:38.639 than Moses? Who does this guy think he is saying 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:42.220 something as weird as eat my flesh and drink 00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:47.559 my blood? If you've never heard anything like 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:52.399 that, how do you process that? Then consider 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:56.360 that in their context, in their religious law, 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:58.919 that it would have immediately been rejected, 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:01.860 the concept that you could eat human flesh or 00:15:01.860 --> 00:15:05.919 drink blood. Religiously, it would have been 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:09.039 rejected. So it's not just weird. It feels wrong. 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:11.639 It feels offensive. It feels like it's against 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:14.360 their religious law. The cognitive dissonance 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:18.480 is off the charts. And it feels like Jesus is 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:20.879 just breaking everything that they knew about 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:22.860 God. The sink has not been torn off the wall. 00:15:23.019 --> 00:15:26.899 The fridge isn't just moved. The fridge is outside 00:15:26.899 --> 00:15:34.460 on the porch. And the sink is in the tub. So 00:15:34.460 --> 00:15:38.139 because of this, it says in verse 66, many of 00:15:38.139 --> 00:15:41.559 his disciples turned back and no longer went 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:45.659 with him. They'd seen the miracles. They had 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:48.480 eaten the bread and fish that he had multiplied 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:53.059 just one day before. Some of them had been healed 00:15:53.059 --> 00:15:58.059 in their bodies. Some of them had felt forgiven 00:15:58.059 --> 00:16:03.980 for the first time in their life. But this was 00:16:03.980 --> 00:16:07.600 too much. It was too far. It didn't matter how 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:10.399 much good they'd seen, how much good they'd experienced. 00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:13.519 It took one moment, one teaching, one drastic 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:20.039 and... difficult word. Now something that I find 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:25.500 truly special about the scriptures is that the 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:27.820 idea that you can read something from 2 ,000 00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:31.779 years ago and that it seems to still express 00:16:31.779 --> 00:16:36.860 the human experience that we have now. Don't 00:16:36.860 --> 00:16:41.529 we feel the same things? Don't we? have moments 00:16:41.529 --> 00:16:45.389 where we wonder, is this too difficult? Is this 00:16:45.389 --> 00:16:48.529 too drastic? Is this too uncomfortable? Don't 00:16:48.529 --> 00:16:54.590 we say, I like the sink where it is, Jesus? Maybe 00:16:54.590 --> 00:16:59.529 Jesus has something to say to you. Maybe he has 00:16:59.529 --> 00:17:01.509 already said something to you in the scriptures, 00:17:01.669 --> 00:17:06.029 in your prayers, through someone here in this 00:17:06.029 --> 00:17:08.880 room, or dare I say, Maybe he said something 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:10.779 to you through the church that you used to go 00:17:10.779 --> 00:17:16.160 to, but it was too drastic, it was too difficult. 00:17:24.579 --> 00:17:28.480 How often, instead of enduring the difficult 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:33.559 and uncomfortable, do we just move on to something 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:40.990 else, to someone else? So Jesus says to his closest 00:17:40.990 --> 00:17:48.029 disciples, do you wish to go away as well? And 00:17:48.029 --> 00:17:55.250 Peter, you've got to love Peter. Peter says, 00:17:55.410 --> 00:17:58.369 Lord, to whom else could we go? For you have 00:17:58.369 --> 00:18:04.170 the words of eternal life. I think a truly difficult 00:18:04.170 --> 00:18:06.849 question to answer in this life is how can we 00:18:06.849 --> 00:18:09.579 be more like Peter? Because it's scary to be 00:18:09.579 --> 00:18:13.299 like Peter. If you read these stories in the 00:18:13.299 --> 00:18:14.680 book of Matthew instead of the book of John, 00:18:14.859 --> 00:18:18.339 it says that just that early morning, the day 00:18:18.339 --> 00:18:21.420 before the 5 ,000, and then it says that they 00:18:21.420 --> 00:18:23.680 were on the lake. And in the book of Matthew, 00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:26.440 it says that Peter did what? He got out of the 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:36.180 boat and he walked on water with Jesus. Peter 00:18:36.180 --> 00:18:40.450 is the kind of guy that, Jumps first, asks for 00:18:40.450 --> 00:18:47.490 a parachute later. Peter seems to be the kind 00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:53.750 of person that acts on impulse. I imagine if 00:18:53.750 --> 00:18:57.109 you said that to him, he would call it faith. 00:19:01.309 --> 00:19:04.690 So I think when Jesus said, eat my flesh and 00:19:04.690 --> 00:19:08.220 drink my blood, Peter wasn't afraid. to be full 00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:11.440 of this bread and wine because Peter was already 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:23.740 full of faith. He had decided, I believe. And 00:19:23.740 --> 00:19:27.579 because I believe, one messy metaphor won't scare 00:19:27.579 --> 00:19:32.019 me away. One drastic or difficult call cannot 00:19:32.019 --> 00:19:36.940 overcome me. Because of everything else that 00:19:36.940 --> 00:19:42.579 I believe. A misunderstanding cannot change that 00:19:42.579 --> 00:19:49.700 I believe in Jesus. For whatever reason, only 00:19:49.700 --> 00:19:54.240 one person in this room will know these names. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:56.579 But this made me think of Tim Fiscus and Danny 00:19:56.579 --> 00:20:00.380 Gordon. My dad knows those names. The church 00:20:00.380 --> 00:20:03.109 that I grew up at. Tim Fiscus was one of the 00:20:03.109 --> 00:20:04.769 Sunday school teachers from my high school class. 00:20:05.130 --> 00:20:10.630 And Dan Gordon was my best friend. And Dan is 00:20:10.630 --> 00:20:12.869 someone that had grown up as the child of a missionary 00:20:12.869 --> 00:20:17.470 in Papua New Guinea. And he had come back around 00:20:17.470 --> 00:20:19.809 junior high, beginning of high school, to kind 00:20:19.809 --> 00:20:24.069 of go to high school in America. And Danny was 00:20:24.069 --> 00:20:27.349 like, and he lives in California now. He is, 00:20:27.470 --> 00:20:32.049 imagine surfer kid. That was Danny. We would 00:20:32.049 --> 00:20:34.589 skate together and just have fun. We would play 00:20:34.589 --> 00:20:38.069 pool, try and write songs. And we're in Sunday 00:20:38.069 --> 00:20:41.849 school one day, and Tim Fiscus is doing a little 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:45.210 bit of apologetics. Apologetics is like the defense 00:20:45.210 --> 00:20:47.690 of Christianity. And he says, well, what are 00:20:47.690 --> 00:20:49.529 you guys going to do someday when someone says, 00:20:49.630 --> 00:20:51.910 you know, this Bible, this is just a bunch of 00:20:51.910 --> 00:20:53.990 fairy tales. And he looks at Danny and goes, 00:20:54.009 --> 00:20:55.230 Danny, what are you going to do? And he goes, 00:20:55.390 --> 00:21:06.049 I believe in fairy tales, man. Danny was full 00:21:06.049 --> 00:21:12.490 of faith. He had this sense that it doesn't mean 00:21:12.490 --> 00:21:14.690 I'm going to ignore things or my beliefs aren't 00:21:14.690 --> 00:21:17.930 going to change, but there's something inside 00:21:17.930 --> 00:21:25.369 of me that tells me that God is real. So it's 00:21:25.369 --> 00:21:27.309 important for us to understand that faith is 00:21:27.309 --> 00:21:32.369 not the absence of tension. Faith is not the 00:21:32.369 --> 00:21:36.890 absence of dissonance. Faith is the decision 00:21:36.890 --> 00:21:42.710 to believe in the tension. Because sometimes 00:21:42.710 --> 00:21:46.130 Jesus is going to give you real bread and real 00:21:46.130 --> 00:21:49.250 fish. And sometimes he's going to say something 00:21:49.250 --> 00:21:54.670 like, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. 00:21:54.690 --> 00:21:56.589 And you will not understand what he is saying 00:21:56.589 --> 00:22:01.309 in the moment. And only you can decide if you 00:22:01.309 --> 00:22:09.150 will take and eat even when you do not. As I 00:22:09.150 --> 00:22:12.809 close, I added this to my notes because I was 00:22:12.809 --> 00:22:17.450 just reminded of a book in the Old Testament 00:22:17.450 --> 00:22:24.769 called Ezekiel. Ezekiel is a book to the people 00:22:24.769 --> 00:22:28.009 of God while they were in exile. They had lost 00:22:28.009 --> 00:22:30.430 their land. They were under Babylonian rule. 00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:34.480 and Ezekiel is meant to be the voice of God to 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:38.460 the people. And it says that he's having a vision 00:22:38.460 --> 00:22:43.140 of God and what God wants him to say. And there's 00:22:43.140 --> 00:22:47.160 this moment where it says that God puts these 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:53.440 scrolls before Ezekiel. And Ezekiel looks at 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:58.480 it, and the scrolls are covered with lament. 00:23:00.269 --> 00:23:05.210 And sorrow. They're the saddest words you could 00:23:05.210 --> 00:23:10.009 think of to say to the people. It says that God 00:23:10.009 --> 00:23:14.369 said, take each of these scrolls and speak these 00:23:14.369 --> 00:23:19.089 words to my people. It just reminds me a little 00:23:19.089 --> 00:23:22.250 bit of Jesus asking someone to take something 00:23:22.250 --> 00:23:23.869 that you wouldn't normally put in your mouth. 00:23:25.349 --> 00:23:29.140 Ezekiel in this vision. He hears God say, here, 00:23:29.180 --> 00:23:31.720 take these scrolls that are filled with sadness 00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:35.099 and eat them. And he says, and so I opened my 00:23:35.099 --> 00:23:41.400 mouth and I ate the scrolls and they tasted as 00:23:41.400 --> 00:23:46.660 sweet honey. I just felt like I was supposed 00:23:46.660 --> 00:23:53.039 to say that. Sometimes there's a drastic call. 00:23:54.059 --> 00:23:57.970 There's a difficult word. Sometimes God will 00:23:57.970 --> 00:23:59.970 open a scroll in front of you of what he'd like 00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:01.950 you to do, and all you see on it is sadness. 00:24:04.289 --> 00:24:09.029 And it looks so hard. But if you will open your 00:24:09.029 --> 00:24:14.230 mouth and receive what God has for you, I believe 00:24:14.230 --> 00:24:21.450 that it will taste as sweet as honey. Let us 00:24:21.450 --> 00:24:29.309 pray. Jesus, we thank you for the work that you 00:24:29.309 --> 00:24:31.809 have done, all the things that you have taught 00:24:31.809 --> 00:24:37.390 us. I pray that little by little, maybe even 00:24:37.390 --> 00:24:42.670 all at once, that we will open ourselves to what 00:24:42.670 --> 00:24:46.730 it is you are saying to us, that we will hear 00:24:46.730 --> 00:24:50.529 the call to follow me, that we will take and 00:24:50.529 --> 00:24:58.500 eat. That we will be filled with faith so that 00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:04.200 no one moment of tension can tear us away from 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:08.420 you. Amen? Amen.