The John Project

I’m a bottom-line kind of guy. As an internal processor, I respond best to conversations where I know what we’re talking about upfront rather than having to wade through a lengthy preamble or setup before arriving at the heart of the matter.

God bless my dear wife. She’s the exact opposite. She’s a verbal processor. Her most natural way to communicate is to begin with a detailed description of the process that produced what she wants to say before she actually says it.

Early in our marriage, this drove me crazy. But over the years, I’ve come to appreciate and even highly value this aspect of who she is. I’ve learned how to stay engaged with her through these verbal wanderings and to even encourage them because my life is vastly richer and my understanding much broader due to this gift of her communication style.

But on those rare occasions when she approaches me with the words, “Honey, here’s the bottom line,” I just go weak in the knees, and I’m putty in her hands.

So, John 6:47 is my kind of verse.

With absolute clarity and economy of words, Jesus emphatically stated the bottom line. He said, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life.” Then, after coming right to the point, He proceeded to explain what this kind of belief is like.

In verses 48-51, He described Himself as the Bread of Life and said that salvation is the result of eating this Bread. And He leaves no mystery about it. He plainly states that the Bread He’s talking about is His body and that He will be offering it up in order to provide life to the world.

In other words, saving faith requires more than just arriving at an intellectual or philosophical agreement with the truth of His Messiahship. It requires consuming, taking in, or internalizing this truth. It means welcoming Jesus INTO our lives.

There’s a saying, “You are what you eat.” And it means the food we consume exerts profound influence on our lives. Our health, energy, appearance, mood, intelligence, and so much more are shaped by it. We literally can’t live without it. But it has to be eaten in order to be of benefit. Being in the same room as a plate of food or just sitting there looking at it and considering its attributes will accomplish nothing.

In a similar way, exercising a faith that goes beyond mere contemplation and actually begins ingesting the Bread of Life is what brings our spirits to life and shapes every aspect of our eternal selves. So, you’ll understand what I mean when I say salvation requires feasting on Jesus.

And He clarified what He meant by this when in Matthew 4:4 he quoted Moses in Deuteronomy and said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” We internalize Jesus as we feed on God’s Word, the Bible.

So today, let’s sit down at the table He’s prepared for us and dive in. Open His Word, and enjoy the feast that produces life everlasting.

I love it when Jesus quotes Scripture! And that’s what happened in John 6:45. So, we have the Word of God quoting the word of God. It’s just so cool!

And He uses an interesting communication technique here – one He employs in other places in the Gospels as well. He quotes just the first part of Isaiah 54:13 confident that it’s so familiar His hearers will automatically recall the rest of the context.

It’s like what happened the other day when a friend commented on the tendency of people to associate with others who share similar interests. My friend said, “Birds of a feather…” And he didn’t have to finish the saying because he knew my mind would search my memory and fill in the rest, “flock together.” I knew the whole quote, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

This technique stimulates a person to think more deeply about what’s being said, and that’s what Jesus wanted.

As His audience continued wrestling with His claim to be the Bread of Life, He wanted to lead them beyond the shallow, literal thinking that was constraining their ability to hear what He was really saying. So, He injected into the conversation a small piece of a very familiar and much-loved passage of Scripture that at first glance seems completely unrelated. But as their minds reflexively became engaged in the process of completing the quote, He knew they would find themselves recalling the sweet promises of God’s grace contained in those verses.

He wanted them to see His role as Bread of Life in the context of that flow of God’s redeeming love to them.

It’s amazing how God’s word can do that, take us to a deeper and richer place when we get stuck on the surface. And that’s part of the reason why it’s so important to read the Bible and allow its treasures to become stored in our memories. It gives the Lord something to draw on when He needs to point our minds and hearts toward an unexpected discovery.

The direction of my entire adult life hinges on one of those times.

As a young man in my early twenties, I’d reached a point where my future was completely uncertain. It seemed that the trail I’d been following suddenly disappeared. My heart began to fill with anxiety and my mind became exhausted from running what-if scenarios.

Then, out of the blue, as I sat alone on a lunch break at my warehouse job, the first part of 2 Timothy 2:15 bubbled up unbidden into my thoughts from the place in my memory where I had stored that verse as a child. And as my mind filled in the balance of the quote, I knew God was speaking to me through it. He was restoring a calling to pastoral ministry I thought I’d disqualified myself from, and He was preparing me for the next steps along that journey.

The door to the rest of my life opened in that moment and having that little verse of Scripture committed to memory was the key.

Dear one, let’s make a fresh commitment to having more keys on the ring by soaking in God’s word today.

In John 6:43-44, Jesus responded to the faithless murmurings of the Jewish religious elite regarding His claim of divinity. He said that embracing this truth is a response to something God initiates. It starts with Him not us. The process that results in placing faith in Christ begins with God drawing us toward belief.

There’s something wonderful about that don’t you think? To realize that my faith in Jesus as Savior began with the Heavenly Father pursuing me – enticing me – takes my breath away. I am His child because He WANTED me. And if that weren’t amazing enough, Jesus went on to say that my relationship with Him will endure through the last day of my life in this world, and then, He will raise me up into His eternal presence.

And that reminds me of something.

Our youngest grandchildren are one-year-old twin girls. And the other day, I was watching one of them playing on the floor. I called out her name. And when she turned to look at me, I reached out to her, and she started crawling toward me. I gathered her up in my arms, snuggled her, kissed her cheek, told her I loved her, and would have held her like that all day if I could have.

Now, I know it’s an imperfect example, but a relationship with Jesus is like that. It’s all Him not us. It’s not about us finding Him or trying desperately to hold on to Him once we do. He reaches out to us. And then, when we respond to His great love, He wraps us in his embrace and holds on forever.

Dear One, rest in His love today. He desires you. He’s holding on to you. And no matter what, He won’t let go.

Earlier in John chapter 6, Jesus had announced to the crowd that He was the bread of life sent from God, His Father, to satisfy their spiritual hunger. But now, in verses 41-42, we’re told that they – especially the religious elite who are described as “the Jews” – we’re choking on this truth and unable to receive it because of what they thought they knew about Jesus. They thought they knew where He came from. They knew He was raised in Joseph and Mary’s household. So, they just could not accept it when He claimed God was His Father. Their familiarity with Jesus hindered them from hearing what He said about Himself – a truth they desperately needed to embrace.

We all face a withering assault from the Devil attempting to keep us from the spiritual fulfillment God has provided in His Son. And he does this by trying to convince us we are unloved, forsaken, and forgotten. If he can’t undo our salvation, he intends to at least diminish its impact on how we live by using those lies about God’s heart toward us to keep us bound in lives of frustration, discouragement, depression, dishonor, and destruction.

But the truth set us free. When we believe what our Savior declares is true about Himself and His love for us, chains shatter, strongholds break. I’ve witnessed this miraculous transformation in people’s lives countless times over the years of my pastoral ministry. And I’ve experienced it myself.

But I’ve also noticed that one of the greatest challenges to being able to hear Jesus when He speaks truth over us is familiarity – that sense that we already know where He’s coming from so to speak. Our knowledge ABOUT Him can get in the way of our knowing who He really is.

This morning, I was trying to connect a credit card reader to my phone via Bluetooth. Now, I’m computer savvy and I know my way around digital gear. But I just couldn’t get it to work. So, after several failed attempts, I determined it must be broken. Have you ever been there? I was just about to go buy a new one when I decided to try one more time. But this time, I opened the device’s app on my phone first before doing the Bluetooth pairing. And for some reason, that did the trick. Everything worked perfectly. But I came very close to allowing my familiarity with technology to keep me from discovering something I needed know to be able to benefit from using that device.

I think you can tell where I’m going with this. Is there an area of your life that isn’t working and has left you feeling spiritually trapped? If so, there’s a lie from hell keeping that chain in place. Can you identify it? Jesus wants to shatter that with the truth. What falsehood has the enemy convinced you of regarding who the Lord is and wants to be for you? Don’t allow your familiarity with where you think the Lord is coming from regarding your bondage to keep you from hearing what He’s trying to say.

Lay that lie out before Him. Open His Word. Quiet your heart. Hear His voice. Live free.

John 6:37-40 sits at one of the hotspots of the predestination / free will discussion that people much wiser and devoted than me have gone back and forth about for centuries. And, although I have a deeply held opinion about this issue, I’m certain that nothing I have to say will change anyone’s mind. So, I want to be upfront with the fact that I’m just not going address that aspect of this passage.

Instead, I’d like to talk about how these verses reveal that there’s more than one way to SEE something. For example, when I open my eyes and view the things in my field of vision, I’m SEEING them. But if I take it a step further and carefully consider what my eyes have observed, it often results in an awareness or understanding that can also be describe as SEEING. I can SEE a painting hanging on a wall. But as I consider its artistic significance, I can come to SEE its depth, beauty, meaning, and importance. And I’m raising this distinction because it helps illuminate an important truth contained in these verses.

In verse 36, Jesus had addressed the crowd that personally witnessed His power when He fed them by multiplying the loaves and fish. He said they’d SEEN Him but did not believe. Now, in verse 40, He says that everyone who SEES Him AND believes will have everlasting life.

These two verses use two different Greek words to describe two different ways of SEEING resulting in two VERY different outcomes.

In English we have a saying, “Seeing is believing.” But according to Jesus here, that’s not always true. For instance, I think you’d agree that it’s entirely possible for someone to SEE evidence of the power of God and still make the choice to not believe.

But since you’ve taken the time to listen to me today, it’s likely that you’ve SEEN and do believe. You’ve observed the display of God’s power hanging in the gallery of the natural world, considered the exquisite truth depicted in His Word, contemplated the gorgeous image of His grace portrayed in the cross, and as a result have chosen to place your faith in Him as Savior.

But that SEEING and believing is not just a one-time event. The Bible says in several places that we who have been justified by our faith in Jesus “live by faith.” Our believing is a daily thing. And I would suggest to you that daily believing involves daily SEEING. Just because I’ve already chosen to believe doesn’t mean I can afford to allow myself to stop carefully observing, considering, responding to, and delighting in the experiences of the revelation of the Lord on view moment-by-moment.

I want to SEE Him today. How about you?

John 6:30-36 records an example of how spiritually blind we can be when we become fixated on something we want.

Jesus had just told the people that believing in Him as Messiah is the one thing God is asking us to do. And to paraphrase, they responded by saying, “If You really want us to believe that You’re the Son of God, what miracle will You perform to convince us? Yes, we enjoyed the free meal You provided us the other day. But You only fed thousands and just once. Moses gave manna – the bread of heaven – to more than a million Israelites every day for forty years.”

Jesus corrected them by clarifying that it wasn’t Moses but God, the Father, who provided the manna during the wilderness wonderings and that it was meant to symbolize His ultimate provision of the true bread of heaven – the sending of His Son to give life to the world.

Their reply sounds good: “Lord give us this bread always.” But it’s clear by the Lord’s immediate response as well as what follows in the rest of the chapter that they still didn’t get it. He bluntly stated, “I am the bread of life.” And He went on to say that anyone who would come to Him could have their spiritual hunger and thirst completely satisfied. Then He sadly added, “And yet you do not believe.”

They were like a dog on a bone. They just could not let go of the dream of having Jesus provide them with free food. But their insistence on the satisfying of that desire caused them to miss the bigger picture altogether. And I’ll bet you’ve experienced that yourself. I certainly have.

In fact, just a couple of weeks ago I became infatuated with the idea of getting a pair of hiking boots like the ones I bought on our honeymoon when I was nineteen. I know it sounds crazy, but for several days there I spent all my free time dreaming about how much better my life would be if could just relive that part of my wardrobe history. And after several internet searches, I actually found some for sale. I came this close to spending $150 plus shipping on a pair of 44-year-old used boots. Now, that’s nuts!

What did I miss of my Savior’s voice and the ministry of His Spirit during those days when I was so determined to fulfill that desire? What spiritual hungers went unsatisfied by the bread of heaven while I pursued that temporary satisfaction?

And the same thing can happen when we get it in our heads that God ought to do what we think He should, when we think He should, and in the way we think He should. That presumption, if not quickly repented, can grow to the point where it chokes off our spiritual sensitivities.

Be careful not to let that happen. Is there any desire that you’re consumed with or insisting on today? Is the white-knuckled grip you have on that desire flowing out of your relationship with Jesus or something else? I encourage you to be honest with yourself and willing to surrender that hunger to the true bread of heaven.

In John 6:27, Jesus told the crowds to spend their labor on that which is eternal not temporary. And in verse 28, they responded by asking Him to explain. They wanted to know – as most people do – what kind of WORKS please God. And in verse 29, Jesus answered them in a completely unexpected way. Instead of telling them to pray, read the Bible, attend church, evangelize, tithe, love enemies, and feed the poor – along with a hundred other things we might have expected Him to say – He told them that BELIEVEING in HIM is the DOING God is looking for from us.

Now, when we hear this, most of us can’t help but think there’s got to be more to it. That’s just too easy. Surely, pleasing God requires something more labor-intensive than that. Belief is just too simple.

But hold on, just because something is simple doesn’t mean it isn’t challenging. Climbing a mountain isn’t complicated but it’s also not easy. Placing my faith in Jesus is pretty straightforward but living it out requires everything I’ve got. Trusting Him means placing my life, my future, my security, my provision – all that I am – in His hands.

And that’s why John 6:29 makes a lot of us uncomfortable. We’d prefer a list – no matter how long and complex – of things we need to DO to please God because checking off a to-do list doesn’t require surrendering control. Belief does.

So, we tend to want to add layers of DOING to our relationship with God. It makes us feel like we’re in the driver’s seat. But it also leads to spiritual exhaustion because our sin has made it impossible to ever DO enough.

So, let’s keep it simple. Let’s just scoot over to the passenger side and give Him the wheel. Let’s give up our DOING and rest in what He’s DONE.

John 6:22-27 quietly cuts like a knife to the heart of an issue I regularly need to re-consider. It challenges me to honestly evaluate why I follow Jesus.

After their hunger had been satisfied by the miracle of the loaves and fish, the crowds saw the Disciples get into their only boat and depart. But they also noted that Jesus didn’t go with them, and that He had headed off alone to a secluded area instead. Then, the next day, when they couldn’t find Him, they got into some other boats that had arrived later and went looking. When they located Him in the Capernaum area, they wanted to know how He’d managed to get there.

It’s interesting to note that Jesus didn’t answer them by telling how He’d walked on water. As dramatic a story as that would have been, He chose Instead to answer their question with a searing statement that revealed the true nature of why they’d followed Him there.

To paraphrase, He said their pursuit was not because they’d just seen this amazing sign of His messiahship and wanted to submit to Him as their Lord. He bluntly declared that the only reason they’d come looking for Him was because He’d provided them with free food. Ouch!

He challenged them to stop viewing their relationship with Him as a means of satisfying the temporary needs of the flesh, and to focus on eternity instead.

I have a relationship with the giant online retailer, Amazon.com. I pay an annual fee for its Prime service so that I can purchase items at what I hope will be discounted prices and have them shipped to me for free within two days. But that’s as far as the relationship goes. It’s transactional. And I’m at the center of it. I will pay that fee and be a loyal customer right up until the moment another company provides me with better prices or service. And if I’m honest, my relationship with Jesus can sometimes look like that.

I can sometimes drift into a state where I’m following Him because of what He provides me: forgiveness of sins, peace that passes understanding, joy inexpressible, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the supply of all my needs according to His riches in Glory. And as much as the Bible makes it abundantly clear He delights to bless me – and you – in these ways, Matthew 6:33 reminds us that it’s AFTER seeking Him and His kingdom first that all these things are added to us. He wants a relationship with me that’s anchored in the eternal not the temporal. He wants to lead me beyond the here and now into the forever after.

Lord, I pray you’d help me reclaim an eternal perspective as the only motive for why I follow you. May it always be that our relationship is centered around You alone.

John 6:16-21 describes an event that took place after Jesus fed the multitudes when He withdrew from the crowds to be alone in prayer. And when you include the additional information supplied in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, it illustrates some very important principles for anyone desiring divine guidance.

It says that around sunset, Jesus told the Disciples to get into a boat and sail in the direction of the town of Capernaum which wasn’t very far away along the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. And at first, they probably just hugged the coastline assuming Jesus would catch up to them on foot. But by nightfall, they still hadn’t seen Him, and a powerful storm came up which they battled all night while it forced them more than three miles out into the middle of the lake.

But we’re told that Jesus was watching them the whole time. And suddenly, when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse, there He was, drawing near to them, walking on the wind-whipped waves, assuring them everything would be OK as He got into the boat with them. And immediately after that, the storm miraculously ceased, and they found themselves at the “land where they were going.” Only…it wasn’t Capernaum. It was Gennesaret.

Why the storm? Why the change in destination? Well, let’s talk about it.

Most of us deeply desire to live our lives in obedience to God’s will. We want to follow the path He’s laid out for us. But much of the time we struggle to know what that is, primarily because we’re looking for the wrong things.

We’re looking for a route that takes us along the path of least resistance. We don’t want to face any obstacles, uphill climbs, or bad weather. But those are often the very things God needs to lead us through in order for His will to be fulfilled in our lives. The value of the personal and spiritual growth that results is priceless.

We also want to know where the road will take us before agreeing to set out on the journey. But it doesn’t work that way. God’s will is based on His eternal perspective, knowledge, and wisdom which are so Infinitely higher than our own, we don’t even have the frame of reference to comprehend that information. And if we could, we would be tempted to plot our own course and leave Him out of the picture altogether, which brings me to the bigger point. With God, it’s all about the journey, not the destination. The relationship, dependence, and faith we develop along the way are His priorities.

Here are some things to consider regarding divine guidance:

1. In the same way that Jesus sent the Disciples TOWARD or in the direction of Capernaum, it almost always begins with less clarity about the ultimate destination than you want. God can usually only give us enough of a glimpse to get us pointed in the right direction. But that’s really all we need, because…

2. What’s important is that we just keep putting one foot in front of the other, taking one step or one oar stroke at a time. Remember, it’s all about the journey. And…

3. Don’t panic or lose heart when a storm comes up and you wonder why Jesus doesn’t seem to be coming to your rescue. Just as He SAW the Disciples in the darkness, His eye is on you too. And He will make His presence known, stepping into your boat right on time, stilling the storm, and delivering you safely to shore.

John 6:15 describes Jesus doing something so contrary to my experience, I simply stand in awe. When the crowds were determined to make Him their king, He literally walked away. He went the opposite direction – toward solitude and away from the cheers and adoration. In our current season of human history which is so obsessed with celebrity – with the quest for attention, acclaim, and fame at a fever pitch – the Lord’s actions here are stunning by contrast.

Now, I need to confess something. A couple of days ago, I posted one of these Bible study videos on my website, podcast, and social media. And over the next twenty-four hours, I caught myself checking for likes and comments every fifteen minutes it seemed. I was behaving like an addict. But once I was able to exercise enough self-control to stop, I began asking God why I craved these “hits” of affirmation so much. And I’m ashamed of the answer.

At first, I tried to convince myself that it was just due to being a little insecure about my identity since I recently retired from being a local church pastor after nearly forty years. Having had such clarity about my life and ministry for so long, I was feeling a little uncertain about my role in this world.

But the truth is, I wanted to be noticed. I wanted to be admired. I wanted to feel important, relevant, esteemed. Let me just call it what it is, pride, and not the good kind, the kind that’s focused on self-promotion. And get this, that’s what motivated Lucifer’s rebellion against God and ultimately is at the root of all evil. Yuck!

Now look, I believe the desires all of us have for significance and to be valued are God-given. And, dear one, He intends to fulfill them within the embrace of His relationship with us. But pride’s another thing altogether. It can NEVER be satisfied. And the more you feed it, the more it’s hunger grows.

Jesus understood this and refused to allow himself to be in a position where He could even be tempted by it. He was leading us by example. Matthew’s gospel says He withdrew from the spotlight at this moment of ecstatic popularity specifically to be alone with His Father in prayer.

And when we find ourselves in the crosshairs of the Spirit of Pride, we would be wise to do the same, turn and RUN to the throne of God. There’s something about being on our knees before the Sovereign of the Universe that puts things in perspective and escorts us into a deep place of security that pride can’t touch.

I’m talking to you right now after having spent time at the Lord’s feet regarding my sin described earlier. And as always, I discovered there His lavish grace to cover and cleanse. But I wonder. Do you find yourself being offered pride’s empty promises today? If so, don’t hesitate. Run to the Father right now.