Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force. John 6:15 (NIV)
Jesus had just fed 5,000 people, multiplying the loaves and fish. But there were people in the crowd who wanted to use Jesus for their own agenda. They wanted to politicize Jesus.
So Jesus withdrew from them and went to the other side of the lake, but the crowd followed and found him. Jesus says, “You are looking for me…because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (6:26). He begins to speak to them about “food that endures to eternal life” (6:27), and faith: “the work of God is … to believe in the one he has sent” (6:29).
Then Jesus speaks about eternal life. He says, “I am the bread of life” (6:35, 48). “The one who feeds on me will live because of me” (6:57). By the end of the chapter, we read: “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Christ is revealing the most glorious truth about Himself and about eternal life, but these people are disinterested in spiritual things. “You have seen me, and still you do not believe” (6:36).
Where do you go from there? The people you’re trying to reach show no interest in the gospel. After a while you get discouraged. You feel like packing it in. Is it worth it? The pressure is to say, “People aren’t interested in the gospel, maybe we can help them some other way.”
How do you keep going when this happens? What sustains you in gospel ministry? “All that the Father gives me will come to me.” God sends His people to some tough places. Taking the gospel to all nations means going to some highly resistant people groups.
Are you discouraged in some gospel ministry right now?
