One day—during the first year of Jesus’ earthly ministry—He taught a doosey of a series on what it really means to be a disciple. What follows is a small representation of such teaching:
35-38Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.
39-40“This, in a nutshell, is that will: that everything handed over to me by the Father be completed—not a single detail missed—and at the wrap-up of time I have everything and everyone put together, upright and whole. This is what my Father wants: that anyone who sees the Son and trusts who he is and what he does and then aligns with him will enter real life, eternal life. My part is to put them on their feet alive and whole at the completion of time.”
41-42At this, because he said, “I am the Bread that came down from heaven,” the Jews started arguing over him: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father? Don’t we know his mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down out of heaven’ and expect anyone to believe him?”
43-46Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.
47-51“I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”
52At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: “How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?”
53-58But Jesus didn’t give an inch. “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always.”
59He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum.
Too Tough to Swallow
60Many among his disciples heard this and said, “This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow.”
61-65Jesus sensed that his disciples were having a hard time with this and said, “Does this throw you completely? What would happen if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he came from? The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and will-power don’t make anything happen. Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. But some of you are resisting, refusing to have any part in this.” (Jesus knew from the start that some weren’t going to risk themselves with him. He knew also who would betray him.) He went on to say, “This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father.”
66-67After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”
68-69Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”
Question?
Do you really think these people and especially the highly religious and overly educated were reacting to cannibalism? Do any of us really believe people walked away because they thought Jesus was instituting some kind of voodoo worship that called for the drinking of real blood and the eating of actual flesh?
No way.
Not a single deserter thought that for even one second. No, instead, what they knew Jesus was advocating was—to them—far worse! Are you ready for this? Really ready? Sitting down ready?
What Jesus was referring to was…MUHAHAHA! <— It always helps build an ominous moment when you throw in an evil laugh. But here it comes—for real this time.
Jesus was talking about a faith that moves. He was referring to faith that is followed by the actions of a truly transformed person. He was pointing to—dare I say it?—
SERVING!
Muhaha—
Okay, enough with the scary laugh. I’m serious about this.
I can almost see the subscriber number flying backwards as I type! Let’s face it, can we? Serving is practically a four letter word in our world today. And it’s ability to make you persona non-grata even has the power in its gravitational pull to drag other words down with it. Words like giving, stewardship, sacrifice, forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, mercy, oops. If I’m not careful I might just end up listing all the fruits of the spirit.
But, if you’ll indulge me a moment longer I will show you just how far down the rabbit hole goes.
Each of these ‘guilt by association’ words even has a polar opposite that our culture tells us to strive for and revolve our lives around. Let’s take a look.
- Giving — Getting
- Stewardship — Recklessness
- Sacrifice — Greed
- Kindness — Meanness
- Gentleness — Harshness
- Mercy — Cruelty
We could actually play this game all day long, but since few of us have that kind of time, let me take a different approach. To come up with a comprehensive list on either side of the equation, simply follow the thematic guidelines of each philosophy.
For the words and characteristics that please God we must start with a heart that loves Him (God) with all our heart mind and strength and loves others as much as we love ourselves. No easy feat, but it works.
For the words on the flip side of the coin—the characteristics that bring self gratification and create a gravitational pull where everything revolves around you—simply apply the above mentioned love to, well…YOU.
Ok, so that’s easy—but what does any of this have to do with church growth? Only this, to most, the mass exodus Jesus experienced that day would qualify as anything but church growth. It looked like He upped the anti too soon. It looked like He miscalculated and pushed the fickle sheeple too far. They just weren’t ready. But what he really did was give the church (not even born yet) a preshot of adrenaline that would carry it for centuries to come. In one lesson He separated the sheep from the goats, the posers from the real deal, the disciples and true followers from those seeking recognition and a free hand out. All by adding one word to the recipe for a real follower of Christ.
SERVING.
Last week we only met as a church (within the four walls of our campus locations) for 16 minutes—long enough to give everyone their marching orders for a day of serving those we are called to reach.
And our attendance was down by nearly 1,000 people!
Yes, you read that right. ONE THOUSAND people less than average showed up for a day of serving! Was I disappointed?
Sure, a little. No matter how you slice it (one could factor in the NASCAR race, good weather, much needed vacations or sick family members) but you would still come to the cold hard fact that some stayed away because they didn’t want to serve. Perhaps some even reasoned that Southbrook is not the place for them any longer if they were going to have a day like that. Maybe they thought, I “no longer want to be associated with him (this church).” Or…
- “I heard they have 5 new coffee flavors at such and such church!”
- “I hear there’s a new church starting up (number 1801). Maybe they’ll have more sense than this!”
- “You know, my friends told me this would happen at Southbrook. I should have listened!”
- “I haven’t seen so and so around for a while—maybe they know something we don’t!”
- “I come here for the deep teaching, like when we did Hebrews. I don’t actually want to apply this stuff!”
Sorry, I couldn’t resist that last one 
But, yeah, that part saddens me but I’ll let you in on a little something that gets me through it.
I already knew that would happen beforehand.
“How?” You say.
Easy, it has always happened—throughout history. The mass exodus Jesus experienced when He told people that they would have to take up their own cross and follow is a reaction that will always be with us until Jesus returns. Being a fully devoted follower of Christ is not easy—despite what some TV preachers might tell you.
But it is worth it! And He (Jesus) will help you.
But He won’t force His ways upon you. He’ll always leave the ball in your court…
Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”
Interestingly, He didn’t seem too panicky about the crowds filing off the hillside—determined to put as much distance between themselves and the life Jesus spoke of as possible. He just looked to those who were left and asked, “Are you ready to get to work doing great things for God?”
From out of those few who remained grew the biggest movement of God in all of history!
And that’s what I say to all those at Southbrook who desire to know Jesus Christ in a deeper more abundant way. The cross and the crown go hand and hand. Sooner or later every Christ follower has to come to that fork in the road where they understand and embrace this truth.
Am I frustrated with those who missed out?
No…really, I’m not. Frustrated is the wrong word. I’m not even sure saddened is closer to the truth.
Maybe anxious—because our time on earth is so short when compared to all eternity. So I hope and pray the same sense of urgency that Christ had will sooner or later permeate their hearts and minds.
Because I want them to know the John 10:10 life Jesus spoke of…”I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” That’s the life Jesus desires each of us to have.
And it starts with serving.
Now that’s real church growth! And by that definition, we grew last weekend—by leaps and bounds!