This scene has repeated itself endless times through the ages and it has become the outstanding characteristic of our time and this generation. We thought we knew what apostasy was but what is unfolding before us now reveals that the "falling away" in 1 Thessalonians is going to be more shocking than we ever imagined. It seems hardly a week or month goes by that we do not hear of another preacher, church, or family that has "went away" and returned to the world and its ways. Most of these folks have not quit going to church or openly rejected Christianity, but have simply given up all standards of righteousness and separation from the world and joined the other side. Whole churches are doing likewise in order to keep people coming and have a crowd.
What a Christian needs to be reminded of is that Jesus remains the same. When we change the standards we have learned from his Word and walk away from what He has taught us, we are not just walking away from a church or a preacher we have come to dislike, we are walking away from God himself. This multitude walked away from the Son of God that day, not just from his hard sayings. Jesus had made the way narrow and left no room for other opinions or views. The essence of his message was that Jesus must be all in all in your life or you have no part in Him. He is the bread of life - the very sustenance of our existence - not just an adornment added to make us more attractive. We cannot live by bread alone, that is, on earthly, carnal things, but eternal life is given and sustained by complete dependence upon and loyalty to Christ. Being accepted by others, having a good job, a nice house, a new car, and expensive toys are not what life is about. If our life is about those things then we can claim no part in Christ. As a deacon's wife said to me years ago, "What you are talking about is total commitment, and we are not ready for that." That is exactly what happened that day when the multitude walked away from Jesus. His way was too strict for them and his demands were more than they were willing to tolerate.
In their minds they were simply walking away from a fanatic who was too strict in his religion. They were sure they could find an easier way and still end up in heaven some day. They could find someone else to teach them who would not make such demands. So when their worldly ears heard deep spiritual truths, their worldly hearts and minds rejected them - and they walked away. Even though they were sure they understood everything, the things Jesus said to them that day were beyond their understanding. They were called Jews because of their heritage, but they were carnal - not spiritual, and Jesus was speaking spiritual words to them. (v. 63) They were following Him for the loaves. (v. 26) In other words, what mattered most to them were their physical needs and comforts, and as long as Jesus catered to those things they were ready to make Him a king, by force if necessary. Those who walk away in our day are exactly the same. As long as their carnal appetites are satisfied they will stay put, and they will idolize their preacher, but when he begins to insist that they cannot have the world and Jesus, too, they will leave and join themselves to what they truly love - the world. This is exactly why churches are turning to sensual entertainment, contemporary rock music, and all kinds of gimmicks to keep people coming to church. They might come, but you are simply entertaining carnal people who do not know God. They will not deny themselves and they will never know anything of a life wholly given to Christ. As long as Jesus kept passing out the free bread and fish they stayed with Him but when He pressed them to seek after eternal, spiritual things rather than earthly, carnal things that is where the friction began. (v. 27) ) Carnal people do not understand spiritual truths, so they walk away to find an easier way.
Before people walk away from standards of righteousness and become like the world they must somehow convince themselves that they are superior in spirituality and knowledge than those who are instructing them. They do this by bringing down that person and that church - never by truly rising above them. The multitude that day refused to believe Jesus to be anything different than themselves.
"And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?" (v. 42)
Since they were carnal, they believed everyone else was also - including Jesus. They resented his words because they had no respect for who He was. People do that now when a man of God preaches the Word of God. They reject the Words of God because they consider them to be the words and opinions of a man who is just like themselves. That is a fatal mistake to make with your soul. God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save the lost and that requires a man to be involved. If you disregard the Word of God because of the man who is preaching it you do so at the peril of your soul.
So when people depart from the doctrines of God they have departed from God himself - not just the church or the preacher that is preaching to them. You may have the comfort and support of the multitude as you go but you can be assured you will have the absence of God. Those who walk away from God's righteousness may be running with the multitude now, but will stand before Him in judgement one day - very much alone.
The twelve did not leave Him, so that tells us that not everyone "goes away." There are some, though they are few, who will not forsake the Lord and his Words.
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. (v. 68-69)
The hard sayings were not too hard for him. The narrow way was not too uncomfortable for him. The price he had to pay was not too much for him. The promises Jesus made were too good to turn away from for him. The Old Testament records instances of the same thing. The bondservant in the book of Deuteronomy:
And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; … - Deut. 15:16-17
Ruth the Moabitess:
And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: - Ruth 1:16
Even the children of Israel – the next generation; even though they needed a little more work, they DID not turn back like their fathers had.
And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; …therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God. - Josh. 24:16-18
The Psalmist:
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. - Psa. 73:25
In a generation such as we live in we should take courage from the good examples given us in the Word of God. Most will "go away" and never return to the ways of God and the truth - that is a fact of life. If we do not go with them we will be "left alone" - but we will have the presence and blessing of God in our solitude while they will not.
Not everyone will "go away" - there will always be a few who will not - cannot, forsake the Lord and his truth and his holy ways. So we need to do what Jesus told the disciples when the multitude had been fed in verse 12:
Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. - John 6:12
Today the true people of God are scattered like the fragments of bread that day. They need to encourage and support one another when so many are going away.
Then we have the promise of God's comfort and assurance for those who stay by the stuff. After Peter's vow that they would not leave Him Jesus said, "Have not I chosen you twelve…?" He identified them as his chosen ones. Jesus promised to be with us always and He never fails to give that comfort and assurance to his own when they are left alone by the multitude. We need to remember that we have this seal: "The Lord knoweth them that are his."
So Jesus is asking you today just as He asked the twelve that day long ago: "Will you also go away?" Are you just one more that is going to abandon the Old Ship of Zion for the Carnival Cruise of modern idolatry? Or are you one of the few who will stay put and continue to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints? Will you cave under the pressure and throw it all to the wind to go with the rest of the multitude who are leaving the old ways for the golden calf? Or will you bear his reproach in this untoward generation by walking in the old and proven ways? You better consider the consequences very seriously before you jump ship. As a rule, when people are brought face to face with Christ and they turn and walk away, they never return.
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. - John 6:66
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change and neither will his true followers. If they stop identifying themselves with Him and start identifying with the world they will not be ready or fit to go and be with Him when he comes.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. - 1 Cor. 15:58
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, ... Rev. 3:2
Mike Miller
Saturday, March 5, 2011
