“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the Words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Introduction
Branch Rickey, whose name was recently placed back into our memories in the wonderful movie ‘42’ a story about the baseball great Jackie Robinson, was a devout Christian. Once while head of the old Brooklyn Dodgers, he attended negotiations involving a certain ballplayer’s contract. But in the middle of the meeting, to everyone’s surprise, Ricky threw down his pencil, pushed back his chair, and growled, “The deal’s off.” “Why?” asked the astonished men. “We’re coming along well with these negotiations.” “Because,” said Rickey, “you’ve been talking about a friend of mine, and I don’t like it.”
“But what friend do you mean? We haven’t been talking about anyone, let alone a friend of yours.” “Oh, yes, you have,” replied Rickey. “You’ve mentioned Him in almost every sentence.” And he referred them to their constant profane use of the name of Jesus Christ. The men quickly apologized, and the negotiations continued, minus the cursing. Mr. Rickey showed his loyalty to Jesus Christ by letting these men know that using the name of Jesus in vain just won’t do. I can relate because it sincerely irks me to hear someone refer to the God of the universe as “The Man Upstairs.”
One of the most vital characteristics of a true Christian is loyalty. Even in the secular realm, loyalty is a highly valued trait of character, yet one that is often abused. How loyal are you to God? To your husband or wife? To your nation? To your employer or boss? Obviously, God tells us that if there is a direct conflict, “we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). I know that men are loyal to themselves, because they say so,” I’ve got to look out for number one” and you’ve guess it—number one is another name for “me, myself, and I.”
At the close of the 6th chapter of John, we find that men were offended by Christ and allow me to add that here in they year 2013 there are men and women who are still offended by Christ. It was in the synagogue while Jesus delivered a message that these men found very offensive. In order to grasp a better understanding of what led to this mass withdrawal we need to identify just who these “many…disciples” were, and what it was that initially drew them to follow Jesus in the first place.
Experimenting With Jesus
Or better yet, why did these men who initially called themselves “disciples” all of a sudden decide to abandon their faith in the end? Well, it was because they approached the faith in the beginning for all of the wrong reasons. Even today, there are those of us who simply come to Jesus as an experiment. They are interested in Him to a certain degree, there were a few who were “almost persuaded” to continue to follow Him—but unfortunately they chose to make Jesus as the equivalent to any common commodity item on the market. You see, they chose to pursue Him on a sort of “trial basis”; curious of what He might or could do for them.
All through the Gospels Jesus is revealed as a wonder worker and a miracle maker, and so to that respect, great crowds followed Him wherever He went, hoping to see one of His signs and wonders. As a result, they were simply putting Jesus to the test. In verse 66, they were first drawn to Him out of a curiosity about His power. They walked away because in their minds—He simply flunked their test. Jesus addressed this type of testing of Him in Luke 11: 29, “And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.” Also in Luke 4: 12 we read, “Jesus answered, "It is said: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’
They tested Jesus, and the deal-breaker for them is when Jesus said something that was hard and difficult for them to accept. His Words were clearly understood because Jesus is not one to ramble and mumble, they heard what He said! The problem was not in their understanding; the actual problem was in their heart. What did He say that was so offensive to them? He said, “Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and will raise him up at the last day” (v.54) this was a deal-breaker for them and they began to argue among themselves as to what He meant by this.
Was He actually referring to cannibalism? Of course not! But it was enough to make them walk away from the Savior of the world and conclude that their experiment with Him was over and that He was not what they were looking for. That’s right, Jesus is the Savior but they weren’t looking for a Savior—He is the Son of God, but the Son of God to them was not the latest fad, and so they just walked away. They were right to an extent. He is not the latest smart phone on the market; He is not a 2014 Buick or Lexus available to take out on test drive, if your credit rating is in good order! If Jesus is simply an experiment in your life, you are most likely headed for certain destruction and disaster!
Enjoying Life With Jesus
Again, these men the “many ‘so-called’ disciples” just didn’t care for Jesus’ preaching—they didn’t like the idea that Jesus said He is bread of life sent down from heaven to save those who could not save themselves. His miracle is what drew them in but His message is what made them walk away. They walked away because at first it was enjoyable and entertaining to see Him perform miracles they must’ve thought that they were on vacation in Las Vegas, because they most likely equated the miracles of Jesus to some sort of magic—but He had to ruin their excitement by opening His mouth and beginning to preach. When was the last time you ever heard a magician start to preach after a magic act?
You know, some people really love Church musicals as long as there is no preaching involved you are almost guaranteed a full house—they walked away because they no longer enjoyed His company, they were no longer entertained because truthfully this is all they really wanted. Prior to this you would believe that all these “many disciples” were loyal followers of Jesus Christ, but when didn’t see what they came to see it was all over.
The story is told of a church service in which two masked men invaded and declared, “This is a stick up!” They said, “However, those of you who not really here to serve and worship Jesus Christ are free to go” it is said that a least 2/3rds of the congregation made a mad dash for the door. After which, the two masked men took off their mask, sat down among the remaining Church members and said, “Okay pastor you may continue with your message because you now have some true Christians to preach to this morning.”
The so-called, “many disciples” really wanted to enjoy Jesus, but they had the wrong idea about what enjoying Jesus really meant. What does enjoying Jesus mean preacher? I am glad you asked, it means to simply fall in love with Him. And nobody but nobody can talk you out of following Him. It means to that you love to pray to Him each and every day, and read your Bible about Him in order to get to know Him better. It means that now that you are saved you have deep craving for Him; knowing Him and you are always listening intently to your Pastor as he preaches about Him, and you just love hearing the choir sing songs of Zion about Him—listening to the testimonies of the saints is extremely enjoyable to you.
It means those days when the devil had you in his grips, and made you spend your weekends at Annie Mae’s café—is something that you really want to forget. Because those were the days you thought were enjoyable until you discovered that you weren’t getting anywhere and you were wasting precious time that could have spent serving the Lord, instead of yourself.
It was a fake enjoyment, people had to tell you that you had a good time last night, because when you woke the next morning you couldn’t remember just what exactly took place last night. You want to forget those days when the devil had his hands on you and made you say words that would even make Jerry Springer blush. This is actually one saddest verse of Scripture, because it tells us that were some men who actually walked away from Jesus because they didn’t find Him enjoyable anymore when they compared Him to the world that they loved so much.
It is like the boy or girl who was raised up in a devoutly Christian home, who were guided and nurtured by godly parents, they were taught about the goodness and faithfulness of God, yet, as soon as they reached the age of adulthood—they chose the devil’s offer of pleasure, material things, and entertainment.
They were told about the narrow gate, but they selected to walk down the Broadway of life because the devil told them that Broadway was much more enjoyable and you could do what you want to do with no questions asked. It could have been that one time they were on fire for the Lord, but now they are just lukewarm and they are no longer as loyal to Him as they used to be. And Jesus is still asking this pertinent question, a very important question because it has a direct bearing on where you and I will spend eternal life, “Will you also walk away?”
Here it is the work of Jesus Christ in your life is to remove everything that comes between you and Him. The work of Jesus Christ in all our lives is to set the captives free. For some people, that brings joy. But for others, it is the very reason they simply choose to just walk away—because this is not the kind of enjoyment they are looking for and if they choose this type of enjoyment they will no longer have the many friends they already have. They will be barred from Annie Mae’s café forever and to them this just won’t do
Essentiality of Jesus
Let’s look at Peter here in the text for a moment, let’s explore what he is actually saying and/or asking, because he presents some very good questions as it relates to just how essential Jesus is in all of our lives and how devastating it would be to walk away from Him. There seems not to be any evidence that Peter ever doubted the supernatural character of Jesus Christ, he wholehearted accepted Jesus as the Messiah from the first day.
He heard Jesus’ teachings, including all the parables and the Sermon on the Mount. He witnessed the miracles performed by Jesus and never once considered them to be an entertaining magic act, He knew under no uncertain terms that these miracles came from on high—these miracles were far, far greater than a man simply pulling a rabbit out of his top hat. When he watched Jesus feeding the five thousand and watched Jesus as He walked water, turned water into wine, as He brought Lazarus back from being plumb dead, he was convinced as to just who Jesus was.
It was not that he was looking for proof—but he was given proof just the same. He witnessed so many wonderful things as he walked with Jesus. However, he must have been perplexed as he also witnessed all those men, those so-called disciples just walk away. Peter was loyal to Jesus even to a fault, in Matthew 26: 35, “But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.” And we know however that during Jesus’ trial it was Peter who denied Him three times, but that’s another sermon. Nonetheless, Jesus Christ was very important to Peter, and Peter was extremely loyal to Jesus. And so the question that begs to answered by both you and I is—just how loyal are you?
There are sometimes in my own life that I neglect to do the things I know I should do concerning Jesus Christ. I realize that sometimes my prayer life is not what it should be, and I’ll admit that sometimes I just don’t feel so holy. During the hustle and bustle of life and it can get this way. However, I do recognize that Jesus Christ is the Center of my life. I realize that without Him I could do nothing. But with Him, I can do all things. Peter, when asked this pertinent question, “Will you also walk away?” Peter has the right response, “…to whom shall we go?” Notice, that Peter spoke for all the disciples and not just the other eleven. Peter here spoke for you and I as well!
Because without Jesus where would we go? Maybe back to Annie Mae’s café? Well, Annie Mae, her bartender, her bouncer, and her jukebox can never do for us what Jesus can! They cannot open doors that has long been shut and they cannot shut doors that have long been opened. They can’t, and no one else in this world can wake you up in the morning and then send you on your way. Jesus is the only source of truth we have because world’s truth is as about as flexible as silly putty and is just as useless. Peter knew exactly what he was talking about, because Peter heard with his own ears Jesus say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Oops, sorry Ms. Oprah—but you’re wrong! There is only One way to the Kingdom of God, and it is indeed a narrow way. Peter took on the words of Maury Povich that day in a sense because he looked up towards heaven and proclaimed to God “You are the Father!” And Jesus Christ is the very Son of God—and to whom shall we go? “Thou hast the Words of eternal life.”
Conclusion
When You say, “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Those are Words of eternal life—when You say, “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Those are Words of eternal life and when You say, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” and “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” Those are the Words of eternal.
And excuse right along here, but I don’t ever want my loyalty to Him to be placed in question because, “I love the Lord, He heard my cry And pitied every groan, long as I, I live And troubles rise, I hasten to His throne” Peter would not walk away from Jesus, because everything apart from Jesus was not the truth. His words were essential to Peter’s life. Hold on to Jesus, don’t let the world turn you around and offer you it’s version of enjoyment because it only leads to death, but enjoying Jesus will always lead to life. Amen.
