A disciple of the Messiah should meditate on this carefully. Jesus is speaking in John 6:25-71 about salvation. In v 58, he says whoever “feeds on this bread will live forever.” “Live” in this Hebrew context means eternal life in Jesus’ presence, not merely today and tomorrow and forever on this present earth. We call it being saved in our evangelical vernacular today.
Then Jesus warns the non-spiritual man: “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” In essence, he is telling us that we must rely on him for the vital nourishment of eternal life, and we must do it his way, the way of the Potter, not our way, the way of the clay.
Men do not readily accept the notion of complete reliance on another’s sustenance, provision, and mercy in order to “live forever;” that naturally grates against our independence. Some in our secular non-spiritual generation are perfectly OK with relying on someone, as long as it is the government. But the Lord is telling us plainly that the he, and no other, is the one who saves; “no one can come to me unless the Father has made it possible for him.”
At the end of his time on earth, Jesus then makes clear our assignment, telling his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
Oswald Chambers said it this way: “Our work begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation; we are not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace; our work as His disciples is to disciple lives until they are wholly yielded to God. One life wholly devoted to God is of more value to God than one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and that will be God’s witness to us as workers. God brings us to a standard of life by His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that standard in others.” (My Utmost for His Highest, April 24)
“One life wholly devoted” is where things begin to turn upside down. Discipleship is not to be seen as pitted against evangelism, but it must be the end result, or the end result will be nothing.
Copyright © 2013 Andy Madonio – Patriarchs, Philosophers, & Phlip Phlops
Patriarchs, Philosophers, & Phlip Phlops 