Good morning, everyone. I just want you to know
I found in the pocket of my jacket a caramel
chocolate lint bunny from Sunday, and I forgot
it was there, and that tells me today's going
to be a good day. I just found it, and I was
like, what a good find. What a good find. I was
very excited about it. Hope everybody's enjoying
the weather that we had yesterday and you were
able to get outdoors and do something in it.
It's so nice to be able to open your door to
walk outside and not have to like brace yourself,
which is like what you get so used to doing through
the Midwest winters. So it's nice. So we're in
a series, a short little series called Jesus
Is. Nice opportunity to narrow in on some of
the aspects of Jesus that we want to take a closer
look at. Greg shared with us last week about
Jesus as the good shepherd, and there's really
some great insightful pieces to the way that
shepherding looks, sitting in front of the gate,
the voices that we tune into, even just understanding
that the sheep... recognize each other's faces
and know each other was some very interesting
aspects to hear about them. I appreciate it.
So next week, Greg will preach again on a different
perspective of Jesus, a different sort of narrow
view. And then this week, we're looking at Jesus
and some of the things that he said. Jesus, the
sharp -tongued but soft -hearted one that walked
among us here. I think we all have an understanding
of how harsh words land and the things that we
can say, what they can do. But when someone is
described as having a sharp tongue, that's a
characteristic. And I think we get a specific
sense of what that means. That those are words
that can cut, that they make not just an impact,
but they can leave a mark and perhaps even scars
that remind us of how we've been hurt. The impression...
at that phrasing is that these words can leave
wounds, but I want to play with the words for
this message and consider that the words Jesus
used, the sharp tongue aspect, the things that
he said were perhaps sharp, but be considered
more like surgical, that they could slice with
precision, leaving clean cuts that heal well
after the deep work in us is done. And I think
one of the challenges for those that walked alongside
Jesus and being near him is that he was always
going to be speaking truth. And I think that
that could have possibly been difficult to be
around sometimes, if I'm honest. However, the
words were not just spoken with a clinical approach.
He didn't just say things for the sake of being
truthful when Jesus spoke. The words carried
truth, but they did not overlook the person to
whom they were being delivered. I'm often amazed
when reading the various and many accounts of
the interactions that Jesus had with people.
And some of them were people he knew very well,
and others he literally met while he was turning
to see who had touched his robe. He always spoke
to them and with them with great clarity of who
it was that was before him. The rich young ruler,
the woman caught in adultery, the woman at the
well, each of the disciples as he called them,
Peter after he was violent with the guard, Pilate
himself, and the man being crucified next to
him and his mother. Jesus seems to be unfailingly
Jesus in each of those encounters. characteristically
himself. He did not change himself. He did not
code switch based on who he was talking to and
what their status was or what their race was.
He, being himself, always seemed to understand
who they were for their own sake, speaking with
each one of them in a way that was specific not
to the way that they were in society, but the
person he knew them to be from the inside out.
And so sometimes the things he'd say... The disciples,
not knowing or seeing what Jesus saw, would sometimes
be quite unsettled and maybe even a little embarrassed
and confused and perhaps shocked. Those present
were sometimes left not knowing what to do with
him or what he said. And truthfully, I think
we can feel that sometimes too. But words, when
carefully chosen to go deeper than the surface,
you think about the words of Jesus, they had
work to do. And they needed to go deep into us.
And they needed to shake things up in us. And
they needed to adjust things. So today, we're
going to look, we're going to use the book, the
sixth book of John, as sort of a home base for
this idea. And we're going to read from verse
60 to the end of the chapter. But I need to do
some setup. Because a lot precedes this, and
it's important to know. It had been a very busy
stretch for Jesus. This was early on in his ministry.
But here on this particular day where we meet
him in chapter 6, it appears that Jesus was really
starting to feel perhaps some of the stress and
the load of the last several weeks, days, particularly
that day. So chapter 1, this chapter rather,
chapter 6, opens with the feeding of those that
had come to hear him. And they had come looking
for him. 6, 1, and 2 says Jesus went to the other
side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea
of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him
because they saw the signs that he was doing
for the sick. And so they had found him. They
had all come looking for him and thus became
the account commonly identified as the feeding
of the 5 ,000. But it states that that's about
how many men there were. It does not account
for the women and children. But the bread came
from a boy, so we know that there was one child
at least. So 5 ,000 and a boy and the unaccounted
women. But there were many other women and children.
So you think, how many people was that? That's
a lot of people that were like, it says that
he was up on the hill looking and seeing the
crowds approaching. Like, they found me. Gosh.
That's how I would react. I don't think that
that's how Jesus reacted. But he did watch them
and observe them coming. And they had, in fact,
been looking for him. And so after Jesus fed
everyone, he did need some time alone. And I'm
like, same Jesus. If that had been me, I would
have been like, oh, boy, see you in a week. But
in the chapters before, he had just got done
explaining to a bunch of others, I do not accept
glory from humans. So he's feeling some stress
by these crowds because in John 6, 14, it says,
after the people saw the sign Jesus performed
with the bread there, they began to say, surely
this is the prophet who has come into the world.
And Jesus, knowing that they had intended to
come and make him king by force, withdrew again
to a mountain by himself. So he's like, this
is not what I am trying to be about. Meanwhile,
the disciples headed out in the water when Jesus
went off to the mountain by himself. And then
Jesus just casually walks out to meet them on
the water. No big deal. It's not weird at all.
And so the next day, that same crowd still pursuing
Jesus is like, we got to still find him. He disappeared.
We didn't know where he went, but we're not done.
And so they went looking after him. And so Jesus
meets up with them again and says, very truly,
I tell you, you are looking for me. Not because
you saw the signs that I performed, but because
you ate the loaves and had your fill. 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 the seal of approval. And he goes on to
tell them about the bread of life, which is himself.
And the people aren't sure what to do with it.
It's a teaching a little out of the ordinary
for them, but ultimately we begin to discover
what Jesus already knew. By and large, they just
wanted the goods. They wanted the bread that
never goes away. They wanted to be healed. They
wanted absolution. And Jesus is like, listen,
to get that stuff, you get me. I am it. There's
no other way about it. And that's the truth of
it, isn't it? We can't just pick and choose.
So we got to have Jesus with the Jesus stuff.
And so here we find ourselves with people that
aren't sure if they actually want Jesus. And
Jesus seems maybe a little frustrated. The perceived
tone might suggest so, but perhaps more so, I
think, downhearted. That the people don't seem
to get it. He can see that they want his product.
They want to make him a leader that will care
for their needs and represent them, but that
they don't necessarily want him. They don't want
to know him. They don't want to be close to him
in that way. They want the idea of what they
think he is, and so he has something to say about
this. And so this is where I want to give the
scriptures our full attention. I'm going to invite
you to take a posture of attention, whether that's
standing or however that is. We're going to read
John 6, 60 through 69. There are Bibles on your
table if you need one. You can also look it up
online. There are digital Bibles as well. But
I'm reading from John 6, 60 through 69, and I
am reading out of the New Revised Standard Edition
updated. So on hearing this, what Jesus was saying,
many of his disciples said, this is a hard teaching.
Who can accept it? And 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. Yet there are some of
you who do not believe. For Jesus had known from
the beginning which of them did not believe and
who would betray him. And he went on to say,
this is why I told you that no one can come to
me unless the Father has enabled them. And from
this time, many of his disciples turned back
and no longer followed him. So we know the 12
disciples, but there were others that were. following
along with a dedicated interest, following the
rabbi. And so it's from this time many of his
disciples turned back and no longer followed
him. And so he turns and he says, you do not
want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the twelve,
and Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal life. We've
come to believe and to know that you are the
Holy One of God. Let's pray. Lord, we don't get
to pick and choose. what from you we are comfortable
with and what we are not. It is all or nothing.
And there have been plenty of times that I have
often thought this is a hard teaching and that
your words have landed in a difficult way. But
to have life through you, I need to have you
fully. And so I don't get to separate you out
from the hard teachings and the things that you
share with me. And so give us wisdom when we
are uncomfortable with your words to see that
you have good work to do in us and that it is
in fact done with not just care but love and
that when the hard teachings come our way that
we learn how to receive them with wisdom and
with the love that they are meant to be seen
from. We pray this in your name. Amen. So those
words, this is a hard teaching. Who has experienced
that before? This is a hard lesson. And y 'all,
they didn't even know. They about to find out.
Here they are early in their time with Jesus
and they're like, this is a hard teaching. Oh
gosh, if you even knew it was coming. But I think
this is what it comes down to. The idea of Jesus,
the one we construct in our minds, is always
on our side. That Jesus is always on our side,
wants what we want, wants to give us what we
think is good, lets us get by with things. So
Jesus puts the same words to us. Does this offend
you? The words I've spoken to you, they are full
of the spirit and life. Do my words offend you?
And this is where the disciples, and often we,
had to decide if they were going to stay or go.
And we see that many did, in fact, leave. And
again, this is the same for us. The choice to
stay is the choice to sit with some hard teachings,
but the reality that the words are full of life
for us, and they have work to do. And so yes,
Jesus does have a sharp tongue, a surgical scalpel
that will cut into us so that the words can travel
deep and go where they need to go and fix in
us what they need to fix. and rewire and work
and reconnect things and do good works in us.
But as I said, this is not just clinical. Everyone's
had a doctor's appointment where they have felt
like the doctor never looked up from the chart,
or they asked a couple general questions, prescribed
some medicine, and they never felt like a person.
And let me be clear, this is not an indictment
on medical professionals. We have medical professionals
in this community that I think are doing incredible
work, and they are up against some tough odds
in a very tough... But we have had those experiences
where we have felt like the doctor is strictly
being clinical with us and is forgetting that
they are encountering a live flesh and blood
person. Jesus did not come to us to mince words,
though. He did not come to dance around our brokenness
and our sin. He came to heal it from within,
set systems right, and bring about the kingdom
here and now through Christ. And so the words
may be strong and the teachings difficult, but
the Savior is good. And his love for us is great.
And we are not clinical to him. We are not a
job to do. And so along with the hard teachings,
we realize that these words, because of who they
are coming from, aren't intended to be quick
fixes that would be actually cruel to just handle
us that way. They are meant to renew our lives
entirely because they are connected to the source
of life. So I want to look at some examples from
scripture where we see some hard teachings, where
the words may cut deep, but they have good work
to do. And so I'm going to look at Mark 10, 17
through 22. As Jesus was setting out on a journey,
a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him,
good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said to him, why do you call
me good? No one is good but God alone. You know
the commandments. You shall not murder. You shall
not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You
shall not bear false witness. You shall not defraud
and honor your father and mother. And he said
to him, teacher, I've kept all these things since
my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him.
and said, you lack one thing. Go sell what you
own and give the money to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.
And when he heard this, he was shocked and went
away, grieving, for he had many possessions.
This is a hard teaching. And much like the crowds
that had been following Jesus, this man was hoping
for something Jesus could offer, but not Jesus
himself. He wanted to be justified. He wanted
to be approved by someone he saw as good. He
wanted assurances that eternal life would be
his. That the keeping of the commands, the doing
of the right things, was in fact enough. The
man did not want Jesus. The man did not want
the life Jesus was offering through him. This
was a hard teaching for him. And much like the
crowds that were chasing down Jesus all over
the countryside, many of the disciples turned
back and no longer followed him. The man walked
away grieving because Jesus was too much for
him. Matthew 17, 14 through 21. Matthew 17, 14
through 21. When they came to the crowd, a man
came to him and knelt before him and said, Lord,
have mercy on my son for he has epilepsy and
suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire
and often into the water. And I brought him to
your disciples, but they could not cure him.
And Jesus answered, you faithful, faithless,
and perverse generation, how much longer must
I be with you? How much longer must I put up
with you? I would shrivel. Bring him here to
me. And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came
out of him, and the boy was cured from that moment.
And then the disciples came to Jesus privately
and said, why could we not cast it out? And he
said to them, because of your little faith. For
truly, I tell you, you have the faith the size
of a mustard seed. You will say to this mountain,
move from here to there, and it will move, and
nothing will be impossible to you. I mean, to
say that your faith was smaller than a mustard
seed and you couldn't do it because it was too
small, like, again, I would shrivel. But I hear
this, actually, when I hear this statement, I
hear it in Gandalf's voice. When he's like, you
fools. Move. But it may feel like a scathing
indictment. The way I hear it, it is. How could
you have such little faith that you couldn't
help this boy? Until you realize that in the
verses before this account, Jesus stood with
Peter, James, and John on a mountain and watched
the transfiguration of Jesus happen before their
eyes. He saw Moses and Elijah show up and manifest
in front of them and heard the voice of God say,
this is my son, the beloved, with him I am well
pleased. Listen to him. So it may make a bit
more sense as to why Jesus was like, are you
kidding? Did you just regress? Did you not just
witness? Did you not just experience? You heard
my dad. But further than that, I don't think
Jesus is sarcastic like that. That's me being
like, you idiots. But further than that, it is
not, I don't think, a wild extrapolation based
on what we read in a number of places. 1 Corinthians
13, 1 John 4, the book of James, to recognize
that faith and love have a direct relationship.
That as faith increases, there is a correlation
with the increase of love in our lives as well.
That the two have this movement that goes along
with each other. You don't grow in your faith
in God and experience no movement on the meter
that gauges our love for God and others. So I
don't think it's a stretch for Jesus in his rebuke,
how could you have such little faith that you
couldn't help this boy? to be implying where
is your love for this boy and his compassion
and his condition. It's not a stretch to consider
that as the disciples were growing, becoming
more like Jesus, that they were learning that
it wasn't just the plain actions that were needed,
that a heart disconnected from the person before
them could not produce the miraculous. And I
can't believe I'm about to make this reference.
And I really needed Eric Rowell here for this.
But you know this scene. You know I'm about to
talk about Marvel. You know the scene in Spider
-Man No Way Home when Ned is trying to open the
right portal to bring back their Peter Parker?
Are you with me on this? Sweetie is. Thank you,
sweetie. She is tracking with me. And so he tries
a second time, and it doesn't work, and it doesn't
work, and he has to want it. He has to really
miss and want to bring his friend through. It
is, dare I say, ultimately his love for his friend
that gets the portal opened. This is an imperfect
example, of course. And it also brings through
the wrong Peter Parker. Or, depending on your
love of Spider -Man, does it? Depending on which
Spider -Man you really love. What Spider -Man
team are you on, by the way? No one? Eric's not
here. That's why it is. So, and also this is
the kind of squirrel detour you get from me in
ADHD, but you get my point. That, like, The action
has to be generated with a want, a love, a heart
that is behind it. Saying the words and doing
the actions don't get you very far, right? And
so faith and love are connected, and I think
Jesus' frustration here, I believe, is less about
the disciples' lack of faith, though it's connected,
and more connected to the heart from which they
were acting. They were constantly trying to figure
out that balance of, like, Well, we're here to
do what Jesus does, but it's not just the doing
of the things, right? It is the heart behind
it that is actually the motivating factor. And
they would run into this a few times, that their
actions were unmet because they did not have
the love behind it. And lastly, and perhaps one
of the most specific accounts of the correlation
of words and the heart they spring from, we visit
the story in Matthew 12. So Matthew 12, 22 through
37. Matthew 12, 22 through 37. So it says, then
they brought to him a demon -possessed man who
was blind and mute, and Jesus cured him so that
the one who had been mute could speak and see.
And all the crowds were amazed and were saying,
can this be the son of David? But when the Pharisees
heard it, they said, it is only Beelzebub, the
ruler of the demons, that this man cast out the
demons. He knew what they were thinking, and
he said to them, every kingdom divided against
itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided
against itself will stand. If Satan casts out
Satan, he is divided against himself. How then?
will this kingdom stand? If I cast out demons
by Abel's above, by whom do your own exorcists
cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges.
But if it is by the spirit of God that I cast
out demons, then the kingdom of God has come
upon you. And jumping to verse 33, either make
the tree good and its fruit good or make the
tree bad and its fruit bad. For the tree is known
by its fruit. Essentially, you know the heart.
By the actions. So he says, you brood of vipers.
How can you speak good things when you are evil?
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth
speaks. The good person brings good things out
of a good treasure. And the evil person brings
evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you,
on the day of judgment, you will have to give
an account for every careless word you utter.
For by your words you will be justified and by
your words you will be condemned. Jesus was calling
them out because their words, careless as they
were, were heartless. Jesus, seeing their brokenness,
seeing the brokenness of the situation, those
that were religious but heartless, they couldn't
care for people. They themselves, as religious
leaders, were dangerous. A man had been healed
in front of them. And they could only assume
that there was evil behind it. It is indeed a
difficult teaching when it is being revealed
that you are on the wrong side of the good work
of God. And their own words, their own words
revealed their hearts. So hard teachings. This
is a hard teaching and these words are difficult.
Being sharp -tongued and direct is not the point.
Jesus was not a shock and awe guy, right? Even
the signs and wonders were sometimes like, hey,
let's keep this quiet. This here was just for
this. It's just for you. To understand Jesus
at all, though, one must first take into account
his heart at all times. Specifically, his love
for the Father and his love for his people. This
is foundational to all of it. Every word he says,
this is what brought him to us. And something
we must take into account ourselves, not only
when the words of Jesus come to us, but when
we believe we are replicating Jesus in our speaking
of the truth. Because as Jesus himself said,
paraphrasing, your heart is revealed in your
words. In order to speak truth and for it to
be the truth that does the good work it is meant
to, we too must be motivated not just by our
love of God, but for God's people as well. This
is critical, lest we become dangerous ourselves,
weaponizing God's word, becoming our own brood
of vipers. And how many times have we either
heard or even said ourselves, well, I'm just
speaking the truth. It's not my fault that they
didn't like it. Well, Sheila, I think that they
just don't like your smug attitude and the fact
that you're being a jerk. They knew you didn't
care an ounce about them. Guys, we don't have
to be jerks. We don't have to be smug. And I'd
say, unless you are genuinely in your heart speaking
with love, don't. Because we all know when I'm
just speaking the truth in love is not actually
being spoken in love. We know. We know. We know.
Love must be sincere. And as the deliverer, we
know when we're lying to ourselves. I was just
speaking the truth in love. Were you? I don't
get a sense that you love that person. This is
a bit of an aside that is applicable, but I remember
coming up in youth group and hearing my youth
pastor, who I do love a great deal. I speak in
the present tense even because I still consider
him my youth pastor. I remember hearing coming
up in youth group that sharing the gospel would
be hard and that you would encounter hostility
and that people didn't want to hear the gospel.
And I think overall I disagree almost entirely
with that statement because it is not hard to
share the gospel. Or the things that Jesus said.
It is hard to love people. And if I love people,
or when I have found myself most connected to
the love that God has for people, talking about
Jesus and sharing the gospel and saying the things
that Jesus said is not hard to share. But loving
people is. And I think that's where we get caught
up. In my experience, and so just speaking experientially,
I think rarely does anyone hate hearing anyone
else talk about something that they love, that
they genuinely love when it's clear that love
is sincere. I think we're attracted to that because
we want to believe that love can be sincere and
is being sincere from somebody, right? And we'll
listen to a whole lot, somebody says, if we know
that they genuinely love it and we also feel
that love coming towards us. Sharing the gospel
is not hard. Speaking the truth is not explicitly
hard. I think our challenge is in loving others
and loving our neighbor and being so embattled
with ourselves, parsing out exactly who our neighbor
is. That's what seems to be tripping us up. This
is often where our struggle lies. Jesus did not
have any question about who his neighbor was
and who he loved and who the Father loved. He
did not have any trouble loving people. And so
for him, he did not go soft on words. He didn't
need to because his love was great. And I think
people knew that. I mean, even for the rich man
who asked his questions and Jesus countered his
questions and then the phrases, and Jesus loved
him. I think that man knew. How could you not
when Jesus looks at you with love? And so for
Jesus and those who heard him, for those that
received what he said, and for those that let
those words do their good work, and similarly
for us, when we hear them, when we receive them,
when the teachings are in fact hard, but understood
with the love that they are spoken with, and
we see the love that is directed at us, the response
is, Lord, to who else would 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.
Let's pray. Jesus, it is true that some of the
things, many of the things that you have said
are hard teachings. But I don't think we could
ever doubt your love, the love that is behind
them. When we really, truly shed the stuff around
the way your words have been broadcast through
the centuries, when we take them at their face
value in the moments that they are happening,
I don't think it's possible to see them as anything
else but generated from your love of the Father
and your love for us. and your desire so deeply
to see us become whole and healed in our lives.
And that the words that you give to us, the words
that you say to us, the words that come to us
of you, yeah, they are hard teachings sometimes.
But I pray that you would continue to help us
gain wisdom and openness into the good work those
things are meant to do in us that you are in
fact taking care of brokenness and wounds that
are deep deep deep in us and it's only when those
words go deep that those things can be healed
so we are asking for the love of the father and
the good work of the spirit In the words of Jesus,
to be not just present but active in our lives,
that we would say yes to them. Because we have
come to believe and know that you are the Holy
One of God and you have the words of eternal
life. And you are the only one that does. I pray
this in your name. Amen.