Teaching - Grumbling
"Stop grumbling! No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come. But if they do come, I will raise them to life on the last day."
John 6:43-44 in the Contemporary English Version
[This is the 24th lesson of this series]
It's taken us a long way to get here. So far, we've had hundreds of lessons since 2012.
Related to this teaching, there were:
-45 Lessons on Spiritual Adulting and then
-23 previous lessons in this current series about Spiritual Adulthood.
If today's lesson goes over our head, then maybe because we didn't take the required prerequisites. This is like taking advance calculus but skipping algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus. No, not that we need to study these math subjects. I mean it helps a lot if we do, and if we want to go higher still and understand higher math.
Grumbling Among The Brethren
In these last days, more and more Christians have been murmuring among themselves. They have found more and more things to complain about, particularly with other "churches", other preachers, other denominations (not their own).
We have been grumbling over the fact that other "churches" aren't doing what our traditional churches are used to doing. Some are complaining that some preachers are teaching heresies (I mean, if they nitpick every statement that came out of their own leader they are also bound to find a hint of heresy or two, or three (or at least something not to their liking). One can easily find more though with the teachings of churches they don't belong to. Human nature.
We are all murmuring, complaining, grumbling, fault-finding by nature, especially with others.
Whoever wastes their time constantly researching or listening word for word to the teachings of people they hate? Sounds like a little masochistic to me, someone with an axe to grind or are people who are neglecting what they are supposed to be really doing.
Old Nature
Some of this old nature carry over into our supposedly new life in Christ. Or shall we say, the old ghosts of the past coming back to haunt us. And some habits die longer than others or even resurrect. What we need to do is make sure that they are all really dead and buried.
Spiritually Reborn
New life means new life. With a spiritual rebirth comes a new mindset, a new heart, and a new spirit. Jesus told His first followers that the world will be able to tell them apart from all others when they love one another.
This is the key sign of our new life in Christ. The love of Christ is out of this world. His love is that of a shepherd who will leave the 99 to look for the one lost sheep.
Jesus didn't really care for the healthy, okay, for those who believe that they are healthy, knows it all, knows all there is to know about God and about God's precepts. These kind feel they are so God like, that they don't need God.
God came down to seek and save the lost, and they didn't recognize Him because they believe they would know Him when He did. They were dead wrong. They were so preoccupied with being righteous, appearing righteous, and "fixing" others than themselves, it made them blind and deaf to the Truth.
Hardworking Martha
Remember hardworking but grumbling Martha? She was like the older brother of the Prodigal Son. They were so busy working for the Lord, they forgot about the Lord, and the more important things. On top of that, they became grumblers.
Outsiders
Remember that one time, John (the one who claimed the Lord loves Him), complained to Jesus that they saw someone who was driving out demons in His Name and so they proudly told Jesus how they (arrogantly) tried to stop him, just because he was not one of them. Even them, felt so special.
But Jesus castigated them and told them not to stop the unknown (unnamed) man. Not sure how they took that blowback, pretty sure they murmured about that among themselves for some time.
What About Peter
Remember that one time Peter (the one who boasted that he will not deny Jesus), pointed at John and asked Jesus, what about him. Jesus basically told him don't mind him, don't worry about John, worry about himself.
Jesus told Peter, John is not his concern, his concern is what He was telling him to do. The inner circle of Jesus consists of people just like us, nothing new under the sun.
Gathering The Sheep
Jesus told His disciples to stop murmuring, stop complaining, stop grumbling.
No one can come to Jesus, unless the Father makes them want to come. And when they do come, Jesus will give them a new life.-- totally new, not old, not refurbished, not rehashed.
John 6:43-46 in the Message Paraphrase Version
'Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.'
God decides who He will send to Jesus. We don't know who, and that all we need to do is to tell others about Christ. And our walk should match our talk. Our love should reflect the love of Christ. Our spirit should be in tune with God's spirit. Our heart beats the same way as God's.
If today's lesson goes over our head, then maybe because we didn't take the required prerequisites. This is like taking advance calculus but skipping algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus. No, not that we need to study these math subjects. I mean it helps a lot if we do, and if we want to go higher still and understand higher math.
Grumbling Among The Brethren
In these last days, more and more Christians have been murmuring among themselves. They have found more and more things to complain about, particularly with other "churches", other preachers, other denominations (not their own).
We have been grumbling over the fact that other "churches" aren't doing what our traditional churches are used to doing. Some are complaining that some preachers are teaching heresies (I mean, if they nitpick every statement that came out of their own leader they are also bound to find a hint of heresy or two, or three (or at least something not to their liking). One can easily find more though with the teachings of churches they don't belong to. Human nature.
We are all murmuring, complaining, grumbling, fault-finding by nature, especially with others.
Whoever wastes their time constantly researching or listening word for word to the teachings of people they hate? Sounds like a little masochistic to me, someone with an axe to grind or are people who are neglecting what they are supposed to be really doing.
Old Nature
Some of this old nature carry over into our supposedly new life in Christ. Or shall we say, the old ghosts of the past coming back to haunt us. And some habits die longer than others or even resurrect. What we need to do is make sure that they are all really dead and buried.
Spiritually Reborn
New life means new life. With a spiritual rebirth comes a new mindset, a new heart, and a new spirit. Jesus told His first followers that the world will be able to tell them apart from all others when they love one another.
This is the key sign of our new life in Christ. The love of Christ is out of this world. His love is that of a shepherd who will leave the 99 to look for the one lost sheep.
Jesus didn't really care for the healthy, okay, for those who believe that they are healthy, knows it all, knows all there is to know about God and about God's precepts. These kind feel they are so God like, that they don't need God.
God came down to seek and save the lost, and they didn't recognize Him because they believe they would know Him when He did. They were dead wrong. They were so preoccupied with being righteous, appearing righteous, and "fixing" others than themselves, it made them blind and deaf to the Truth.
Hardworking Martha
Remember hardworking but grumbling Martha? She was like the older brother of the Prodigal Son. They were so busy working for the Lord, they forgot about the Lord, and the more important things. On top of that, they became grumblers.
Outsiders
Remember that one time, John (the one who claimed the Lord loves Him), complained to Jesus that they saw someone who was driving out demons in His Name and so they proudly told Jesus how they (arrogantly) tried to stop him, just because he was not one of them. Even them, felt so special.
But Jesus castigated them and told them not to stop the unknown (unnamed) man. Not sure how they took that blowback, pretty sure they murmured about that among themselves for some time.
What About Peter
Remember that one time Peter (the one who boasted that he will not deny Jesus), pointed at John and asked Jesus, what about him. Jesus basically told him don't mind him, don't worry about John, worry about himself.
Jesus told Peter, John is not his concern, his concern is what He was telling him to do. The inner circle of Jesus consists of people just like us, nothing new under the sun.
Gathering The Sheep
Jesus told His disciples to stop murmuring, stop complaining, stop grumbling.
No one can come to Jesus, unless the Father makes them want to come. And when they do come, Jesus will give them a new life.-- totally new, not old, not refurbished, not rehashed.
John 6:43-46 in the Message Paraphrase Version
'Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.'
God decides who He will send to Jesus. We don't know who, and that all we need to do is to tell others about Christ. And our walk should match our talk. Our love should reflect the love of Christ. Our spirit should be in tune with God's spirit. Our heart beats the same way as God's.
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