John 5:24- 6:29, What distracts me from my mission?

John 5:24-47 (NIV) "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.


28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out — those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.


31 "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.


33 "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.


36 "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.


41 "I do not accept praise from men, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?


45 "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"


• What is Jesus' mission?
• To give eternal life to whoever hears and believes in the Father
• To give life to the physically dead (resurrection life) and the spiritually dead
• What are the results of believing?
• Eternal life
• No condemnation
• When do you receive eternal life?
• Eph 1:13-14 (NIV)  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory.
• We receive a guarantee of eternal life upon belief. No where in scriptures does it teach that one can lose their salvation. Hebrews teaches that it is possible to lose your physical life for unbelief, but not you eternal life
• Verse 28 and 29 seem to suggest works
• John 3:36 (NIV) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
• What is the ultimate good we can do? Believe on him. Ultimate evil is to reject him
• What do good works show? A transformed life that has put their faith in Christ
• How is the mission validated?
•  Testimony of John
• How does Jesus view John's testimony? Human. A light that burned for a time
•  Testimony of the Father?
• How does Jesus view the Father's testimony? Weightier than any human
•  Testimony of the scriptures (to include Moses)
• The scriptures testify to Jesus
• It is interesting that Jesus references Moses, since the Sabbath requirement also came from Moses
• (implied by the context and mentioned in verse 19) the testimony of the miracles
• They just saw a man who had been an invalid for 38 years healed
•  What ministry of the Messiah were the Pharisees looking?
• They were looking for a political leader
• They were not looking for spiritual revival
• And yet which is more important? Spiritual revival
• APPLICATION: When we lose our focus on what is most important, we start seeking for the wrong things


John 6:1-15 (NIV) Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Feast was near.


5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"  6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.


7 Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"


8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9 "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"


10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.


12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."  13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.


14 After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.


• Key: Some time later
• John passes over a lot of time and events that the other gospels include
• Clearly, John has a purpose in his selection of events
• This story is one of a few that all four gospels include
• We know that the disciples and Jesus had just heard of John's beheading. They withdrew to the mountains to get away
• The crowds soon find him
• Only John records the detail that this happened on a mountainside
• Also John mentions the nearness of the Passover. Due to lack of time we won't cover the concluding aspect of this event, verses 32-35, where Jesus declares himself the bread of life, but we can notice the corollary between the bread Moses gave and the bread Jesus gives, his life
• Why does Jesus ask the question?
• Again, it is not because he lacked information
• He wants the disciples to think of the enormity of the task
• He wants them to recognize how impossible it would be to fulfill
• In today's term, to buy a $5 McDonald's meal for each person would have cost $100,000 (5K men plus 5K women plus 10K children @ $5 each)
• It was 8 months wages back then, actually much worse today (unless of course you made it yourself)
• Why does Andrew open his mouth?
• I think he opened his mouth first and then realized how stupid his comment seemed
• What did the people want to do? Why?
• The people wanted to make him a king (willing to force him to be king)
• They were looking for a political solution to their problem. If only we had a political leader who would give us bread to eat
• What does Jesus think of a political solution to their most pressing problems?
• There real problem was spiritual not political
• A political solution doesn't solve their problems
• How does a political solution fit with Jesus' mission?
• It takes him away from what was really important
• APPLICATION: What is really important in your life and what is taking you away from what is important?


John 6:22-29 (NIV) The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.


25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"


26 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."


28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"


29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."


• Not sure why a bunch of boats show up the next morning -- possibly the word had already spread about the bread
• It says that they went in search of Jesus. Why, what was their real motivation?
• They wanted more food
• They wanted a political leader who would make their life better
• Their focus was on earthly things (food that spoils), not spiritual things (food that endures to eternal life)
• Why do they ask about "doing the works God requires?"
• Maybe it's a new concept
• Maybe they thought they already were doing it (obeying the law)
• Most likely they were still looking for free food by doing ("the works") whatever God wanted them to do
• APPLICATION 1:
• A lot of Christians are really only interested in Jesus in terms of what they can get out of it -- healthy life, more money, more stuff, good job, other temporal & physical things (they call blessings) . . .
• What is your real focus?
• A healthy and wealthy life?
• What is your ministry?
• What distracts you from doing
• APPLICATION 2:
• Jesus didn't want to be a political leader because the real need of people is not political but spiritual
• I see a lot of political talk on facebook, but that's not our real need
• Life won't improve with another president but with changed hearts in the population