It is interesting to read the gospel of John and see that when Jesus was providing fish and bread He has a crowd of 5,000 but when He began to teach the high cost of true discipleship the crowd leaves and He is back to the twelve…..Will you leave also? strikes me as a very searching question. Its as if He already knows that many will only follow Him if He satisfies their flesh but very few will choose to be changed by Him and sacrifice their flesh. Came to mind after reading an article for megachurch leaders on the danger of growing too quickly…The author suggests that if too many new people are coming a pastor could preach a series on the uncomfortable commitments of true discipleship and thereby bend the growth curve down a little. I think Jesus told us to make DISCIPLES not gather crowds. Is growth now more important than obedience??? It makes me wonder how large our churches would be if we were preaching the entire gospel instead of the comfortable parts. Handing out bread and fish, meeting those felt needs is easy, and very satisfying as the crowds gather around you. Do we have the courage to follow the example of Jesus and tell that crowd the truth, even if they walk away??? If your pastor told you the hard truth for several weeks in a row would you walk away??? Would you feel led to go to another ministry? Or would you let the sword cut your flesh, make it a living sacrifice, and move on to true discipleship? As long as we are living for ourselves we are not truly following Him.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:32:26 +0000