ARE YOU ALSO GOING TO LEAVE?
[6-minute read]
As long as we’re alive, we have the potential to improve our health and well-being. In our last post, we quoted Leonard Ravenhill who opined that Jesus came into the world to revive spiritually dead people and not to reform them. Ravenhill doesn’t mince his words when it comes to three areas of spiritual life - sin, prayer and revival. It is true that when one is dead in the spirit, one is ‘dead’ to a lot of things. Therefore, until God restores our spiritual life, He can’t turn our lives around.
At the same time, let’s get this straight: just because God saves all kinds of people does not mean He has no expectations of change in anyone. In His day, Jesus hung out with all kinds of people. Wherever He went, He was often inundated by crowds. Yet, big crowds and large followings had never been His goal or the mark of achievement He sought.
In fact, we see that Jesus routinely turned people away with piercing questions and hard truths – practices that are the very antipode of expanding your fan base. Today, there are YouTube personalities with large followings for their carefully curated content intended to entertain, please and appease their followers. Often, these personalities are careful not to make a stand for anything that may result in a fallout with their fans whom they need to stay popular.
In the book of John chapter 6, Jesus was in the company of over 5,000 men (not including women and children, plus the boy who supplied the five small barley loaves and two small fish that eventually fed everyone). After the big picnic ended, the feast (not Jesus) was all that people talked about. In fact, they couldn’t get enough of it and followed Jesus further across the lake.
At this point, Jesus introduced another controversial topic about being the Bread of Life that many found hard to swallow. But it was a necessary truth that would separate followers and onlookers from those who are His true disciples. Instantly, His numbers plummeted. To many influencers and celebrities today, it would be a move that guarantees a career suicide.
Instead, what did Jesus do next? He turned to His disciples and asked pointedly: Does this offend you? Are you also going to leave? (John 6:61, 66) In essence, He wanted the disciples to decide which group they belonged to – onlookers, followers, or disciples.
Let’s take a look at what separates each group of people.
ONLOOKERS
Typically, onlookers are those who look the part of a Christian when it serves them but are actually just people who are contented to go with the flow, as long as the flow is right. Some stick around Christian circles for secondary benefits like social networks to promote their services or products. Wrapped up in their own lives, they are the first to exit and disappear as soon as they face personal setbacks or when conversations get personal and uncomfortable. They have lots of opinion about many things that are trivial and are happy to stay on the sidelines. Generally self-centred, they straddle between the values of the world and God’s kingdom thinking that they can get the best of both worlds for themselves. They want Kingdom benefits but still enjoy the free spirit of the world and the life it offers – no boundaries, no moral restrictions, no accountability.
They are turned off by hard truths like ‘Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.’ (Romans 12:2 NLT)
FOLLOWERS
To be sure, Jesus had lots of followers. But when the crowds caught up with Him on the other side of the lake, He was unimpressed by their appearance. In a characteristically blunt manner, He responded, “you want to be with Me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.” How’s that for a crowd disperser?
In Christian circles, followers are people who are generally happy to be known as members of this or that group but are not really looking for any deep personal change. Their commitment is skin-deep and superficial. Don’t accuse them of not showing up because you will see them in the right places where their attendance matters more than any real spiritual growth.
Followers like crowds because they can remain hidden in large numbers.
In the same way, Jesus had followers who had no trouble following Him on their terms. But as soon as they realized that knowing Jesus involved more than just following Him, they called it quits.
Yet, followers have the potential to become true disciples if they would let God determine the terms of engagement even when it feels counter-intuitive to their natural desires. When Jesus revealed that He was the Bread of Life, it meant that those who had spent time with Him (or commune with Him) could find their deepest needs met because His words were ‘spirit and life’ and not motivational spiels (John 6:63).
Today, when we spend time listening to the Holy Spirit, abiding in Christ, and digesting biblical teachings and commands, we are really acquiring and growing a new spiritual appetite for Kingdom living.
DISCIPLES
Out of the twelve disciples, Peter was the only one who responded to Jesus with “to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.” (John 6:68) Peter’s counter-question acknowledged his personal relationship with Jesus. However, he would later find out that he had spoken too soon when he said of the rest, “We believe, and we know You are the Holy One of God.” This brings us back to the point that not all who show up together have the same motive.
In John 8:31-32, Jesus elaborated on what it meant to be His disciple: ‘You are truly My disciples, if you remain faithful to My teachings. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” We know now that Jesus is the Truth, and He is the Bread of Life. Therefore, knowing Jesus is knowing the Truth and having the Bread of Life!
To remain faithful to God does not mean living a sterile, sinless and risk-free life. We may never be caught doing anything wrong, but when we refuse to do anything good even when it is within our means to do so, we are living a life of avoidance. It is about taking initiative instead of waiting to be asked. It is about overcoming inertia when it feels safer to say nothing, do nothing and blend into a sea of passive conformity. It is about times when we may fail but we humbly bring our vulnerability and weakness to God because we know that we will find Him in a safe place of compassion.
Honestly, there must be a marked distinction among disciples of Jesus: there should not be any discrimination or exclusion of people who hold different viewpoints. This is difficult for onlookers and followers because to accept people who are different means to stop blending into a crowd. A disciple is also not one who expects Jesus to be at his beck and call to calm every storm, deliver him from every sickness, sort out every crisis in short order, but one who learns to find Jesus in the storm, in the sickness, in the chaos, and in the turmoil of uncertainties.
Dallas Willard is on point when he says that discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if He were you. If you find this hard today, don’t give up. Don’t walk away!
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 09 April 2022.
