Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ /Scripture: John 6:16-24/

/"After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum.

By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.

A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.

When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified.

But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”

Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading."/

(John 6:14-21, NIV) [1]

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be the disciples in the aftermath of this miraculous swath that Christ was cutting through the musty draping of religious earth?

I don’t know how people exist in the context of a powerless faith.

Four hundred years of prophetic silence had calloused the hearts of the religious elite.

When there is an absence of God’s miracle working power, and the resultant faith deficiency among His people, legalism rises to fill the vacuum.

And the Pharisees were firmly established and in control.

They gave passionless leadership to God’s chosen people.

That’s all they had to give because they were convinced that specific “sins” needed to be addressed and in this way they would climb back to some former place of spiritual grandeur.

They were the “*revival rangers*” in their own practice and estimation.

Jesus, the untrained, unsanctioned, unconstrained rabbi, on the other hand, professed himself to be the fulfillment of the law of Moses and the winds of his amazing teachings were fanning into flame an expectant spirit that had been long dormant among the common man.

No one knew what to expect from Jesus but they knew that there would be something for he taught with authority and demonstrated a “connection” to God that was different than anything that they had seen among the scribes and the Pharisees.

It’s so easy to settle into a lifeless, passionless arrangement with God.

It’s not at all a satisfying thing.

People who are hungry to see God work in their own lives, yet unwilling to change, become critical of others because of their own deficit.

People who are “fed up” by a */current/* relationship with God have abundant mercy from the mercy-giver and they lavishly bestow it upon others whether or not they deserve it – that is the nature of God’s mercy you know – if you deserved it God would have called it something else.

Because mercy is a reflection of the Bestower.

It says something about the great heart that extends it.

It is not contractual but unmerited.

It is a “confounding” mercy.

We can personally know what we lack the ability to understand.

I pray that God will raise us up to become an army of mercy-givers.

We give freely what we receive freely.

Mercy can never be given to the deserving only to the undeserving.

What a miracle – feeding a bumper crowd a buffet meal.

More than the multitude could consume.

Twelve baskets full of leftovers from five loaves and two fish.

Left with more than you brought to the table.

A beautiful picture of God’s grace.

How did the crowd respond?

They wanted to make him King.

If he could do this miraculous thing then what might He do with political, clout and power?

/14//// //After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

////15//// //Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

*[2]*/

They would force him to adopt their agenda.

We try to do this from time to time in the church today.

We ascribe an agenda of our own creation to God.  Let’s make our nation a Christian nation.

We will create legislation to reflect the belief system that somewhere along the line lost it’s divine influence.

Is that the fault of society – I don’t think so.

There were secular minds in Jesus day and they were running the country.

People who were openly pagan and God’s chosen people were their vassals.

Did that bother Christ?  it didn’t seem to.

You know what bothered him?

The cold hearts of those who prescribed a formalized faith that left it’s adherents hungry.

Like us they had what they deserved.

When people trivialize their faith and they play with the things of God, he leaves them to their games and looks for those who are prepared to live and die by their relationship to God.

So what did he do?

/Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

*[3]*/

 

He headed for the hills by himself and sent the disciples away as well.

And as he did, he displayed his heart.

He fleshed out a principle that is both basic and crucial for those who would follow him then and now.

In the economy of God . .

.

*1.

**Everything that looks good is not necessarily good.*

It was clear to him but perhaps it might not have been to his disciples.

They were doubly enamored by the miracle that they had just participated in.

After all they saw what Jesus had to work with and they gathered the remnants.

Like the others they longed for deliverance from Roman subjugation.

Jesus could have done it, . . .

easily and why wouldn’t he drive these pagans from the promised land?

Everything that looks good is not necessarily good or at least not God’s plan or at least not now.

Not every positive turn of fate or good fortune that comes to us serves God’s purposes.

We have this tendency to believe that everything that looks to be positive is in fact, positive.

Pastor Buckingham used to say that we are sometimes more sidetracked by life’s opportunities than life’s obstacles.

The things that we can do are sometimes more detrimental to us than our lack of ability – the things that we can’t do.

Ø      The multi-talented person can be cursed by a lack of ability to really give his~/her heart to one thing passionately.

Ø      The person who is offered a job with greater reward or possibility of advancement can prematurely leave a good situation for something that evaporates and leaves them nothing.

Ø      The individual who is enticed to leave a solid marriage for a lustful liaison can wreak irreparable havoc and in the process usher a degree of hell into their lives that they forever regret.

The things that look good are not always so good.

Yet we pray for these very things.

And God Said, "No"

 

I asked God to take away my pride.

And God said, "No".

He said it was not for Him to take away

But for me to give up....

 

I asked God to grant me patience.

And God said, "No".

He said patience is a bi-product of tribulation.

It isn't granted it is earned.

I asked God to give me happiness.

And God said, "No".

He said He gives blessings.

Happiness is up to me.

I asked God to spare me pain.

And God said, "No".

He said suffering draws us apart from worldly cares,

And brings us closer to Him.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.

And God said, "No".

He said I must grow on my own.

But He will prune me to make me fruitful.

I asked God if He loved me.

And God said, "Yes".