September 1

Day 171: Easy Believism

Reading John 6 this morning, I see again how confusing the Lord's words must have been to His initial listeners. And Jesus was always purposeful in what He did and said, so this didn't happen by accident.

Jesus starts off by telling them He is the "Bread of Life." He also tells them to prioritize working "for the food that endures to eternal life."

They get this analogy, responding with, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"

Jesus responds with, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

Is that all that's required of you and me? Sweet!

Any of us who spent time in Sunday School, or a week at Christian camp, went on a missions trip or did a small group Bible study at some point can then assume we're all good to go, right (?)

Uh, er, not so fast. Jesus goes on to help His listeners (and we, His readers) differentiate between saving faith...and easy believism.

And what follows next is recorded by John as being the time when most of Jesus's followers decided with their feet not to follow Him anymore. The herd had been culled.

Because Jesus said this: "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drink my blood abides in me, and I in him."

You can relate to the confusion this caused. We can relate to the initial response of the Jewish religious leaders who wondered how this was even possible without inciting some sick version of cannibalism.

I even pity the people who couldn't deal with what Jesus said, and left Him, conflicted and confused.

While what Jesus said was purposefully unclear, using a metaphor that was intentionally confusing, a few did get His point.

One does not truly have faith that results in salvation unless one has truly "internalized" Jesus. Going back to His being "the Bread of Life," Jesus said that whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. The blessed result of this internalized faith.

After the majority of "disciples" left, Jesus is left with just the twelve chosen followers. And he asks them, "Do you want to go away as well?"

Peter (always the first to speak) says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

They get it. They even understood Jesus's words that sounded barbaric, the "eating Him" part. They get that true faith results in, even requires, not an improvement, but a complete internal realignment.

Or so it seems. Jesus answers Peter by saying, "Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil."

That one (Judas Iscariot) would continue to follow Jesus, and follow in his easy believism. He never "internalized" Jesus. He refused repentance. He refused transformation.

His easy believism limited him to looking only for signs (v30) - tacitly admitting with the departed majority that he, like they,  didn't have real faith.

All the while hoping his easy believism would result in eternal life. It doesn't.

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau