Get Up and Walk | Part Three | Pastor Luke Isaacson | 03.06.22
March 6, 2022 • Luke Isaacson • John 6
This week, Pastor Luke continued on with our “Get up and walk” series with a message out of John 6.
Within this chapter, Jesus feeds the 5,000 and then makes four clarifying statements. Each of these statements begin with the words “truly, truly” which emphasizes their importance.
What the people saw was the compassion of Jesus, but what they really needed was His clarity.
1. Jesus clarifies their motives
Jesus confronts the people who followed Him after the miracle; calling them out for seeking Him only for what He could provide for them. Jesus is not a cosmic vending machine; He does not exist only to answer our prayers and meet our needs. Jesus has a much bigger vision for our lives than simple materialistic blessing.
If we are not following Jesus to simply know and love Him fully, with no other strings attached, then we are going to miss the mark.
2. Jesus clarifies His identity
The heart of the crowd was cold, and Jesus makes a startling revelation to them: He is the bread of life.
We have to be careful not to place the glory that belongs to God on any person or people. We need to be more excited about meeting with Jesus every day, then by the person (no matter how famous they are) who is delivering the message. We have to be very careful of Christian celebrity culture.
Jesus is the only one who can satisfy and provide for us. What can only be found in the Creator can be not found in creation.
3. The invitation is clear
Jesus invites the entire world to come to Him, and prior to doing that we are dead.
Practically speaking, too many Christians live like they are atheists. We need to pray continually that we would find in Him what it is that we need and long for.
There is a difference between accepting the compassion of Jesus, and living under His Lordship.
Lordship is to recognize Jesus not only as friend, hero, and redeemer, but also as God. We need to give Him full access to rule and reign in our lives, and take our orders from Him.