A Sunday Message
SEEKING GRACE, REJECTING GOD
We appreciate the word “grace” especially if it is about ‘blessings. We say “grace” before meals. We are fond of divine ‘graciousness’. We like people who are gracious toward us.
Christians understand God’s grace as His favor or merit without regard to the worth of its recipient and despite what that person deserves. That is utterly amazing. But the moment it is understood from God’s perspective, the natural heart is scandalized by the implications.
The crowd in John 6 enthusiastically followed Jesus perceiving Him as a source of healing, abundant food, and deliverance from political oppression. However, when He revealed Himself as “Bread of Life”, they grumbled. They were offended (Greek: skandalizei).
The Son of God said,
“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:57-58)
The Savior is revealing God’s astonishing grace to humanity. It was astounding news from heaven! God is offering eternal life in Christ Jesus. Thus, whoever receives the life of Christ by faith in Him, lives forever!
Remarkably, upon hearing it, the “disciples” grumbled instead.
They are “disciples” because they were following Jesus, not because they know who He really is or that they conform to His teaching. It was what they covet from Him that motivates such pursuit.
Even today, we conveniently label anyone who had Christian baptism, celebrates communion, owns a Bible, and attends Christian church as “Christian”. Unfortunately, to many of them, there is an only shallow understanding of who Christ’s is and little earnest observance of His teachings.
As long as God conforms to man’s wishes and wants, He receives their loyalty. However, the moment God exposes our deplorably true condition in the backdrop of His holiness and asserts His divine will, demanding submission, the unregenerate heart takes offense and falls away.
When many of His disciples heard it, they said,
“This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?” (John 6:60-61)
JESUS IS THE GIFT OF DIVINE GRACE
Apparently, they understood what He was saying,
but it wasn’t tolerable in their thinking.
In “feeding on Him”, the Lord was speaking of Himself as appropriated by the Holy Spirit in our lives.
They understood what He meant but they find it difficult to accept.
To affiliate with a King requires an act of categorical surrender to His authority. To receive a Savior demands an admission of guilt and helplessness.
To yield to His Lordship commands genuine allegiance. These are beyond their expectations.
All they want are the “blessing” of His provisions.
Anyone who does not feel a need for God’s authority over his life nor recognize the helplessness of his soul with regards to God’s judgment on sin will be ‘scandalized’ as well.
THE SCANDAL OF THE CROSS
His death on the cross for the atonement of sins as God’s only provision for salvation becomes a “stumbling block” and a “foolishness”. Paul says,
📖 But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)
His “ascending” on the cross (John 3:14; 12:32, 34) will not appeal to anyone’s ‘grace’ deserving and merit-based conviction. To embrace Christ’s death on the cross demands an admission of serious guilt worthy of eternal judgment.
If they cannot accept that Jesus is heaven’s only provision for eternal life, imagine how scandalized they will be to be told that Jesus will need to die for them because they are facing God’s judgment.
“Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” (John 6:62)
To an unregenerate heart, this is unacceptable.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
BY GOD’S GRACE, NOT HUMAN EFFORTS
Only by the work of God’s Spirit can man recognize his true condition and embrace the Savior’s death for salvation. No human effort, wisdom, and religion can make this possible. That is why Jesus said in John 6:63,
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
Paul declared,
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Many will view this truth as foolish and irrelevant to their lives. They need the blessings of bread for life but not the Bread of Life. In so doing, they will miss the amazing grace of God. The Lord Jesus warned,
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? (Luke 9:24-25)
HE WHO BELIEVES IS SAVED BY GRACE
Anyone who recognizes his helpless sinful condition, admits his inability to deserve God’s redemption, acknowledges Jesus Christ as God’s provision for salvation, WILL BE SAVED BY GRACE. God will give Him the gift of eternal life. This is God’s promise.
May the implications of His cross cause not the heart to grumble, but instead make it humble.
Pastor Jay-R Remorosa