Heart Matters

“From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”  John 6: 66-67

John chapter 6 begins with Jesus feeding five thousand.  A huge crowd was following Him because “they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.” (verse 2)     Like the world today, there were people who were broken, hurting, diseased-in need of healing. When they saw Jesus and the miracles He performed they began to hope.  HE had something they wanted.  They had heard of how He healed the sick, caused the lame to walk, and turned water into wine.  And now they were about to simultaneously witness and experience together what He could do as He miraculously fed them out in the middle of now where until they had their fill. Jesus fed over five thousand people by multiplying just five barley loaves and two small fish.  Moved by His power and ability to provide they declare that He “is truly the Prophet who is to come into this world” (verse 14).  They were so enamored by what had taken place they decided they’d try to make Him their king.

Why? Was it really because they believed their long awaited Messiah had come?  They were ready to appoint and acknowledge Him as their ruler.  Was it because they realized He was The Bread of Life or was it because of all that bread He had just fed them?  I’m going with the latter.  They were willing to minimize and overlook the arrival of the person of Christ for the prosperity they felt He could offer them.  As the big picture unfolded right before their eyes they missed it because they were squinting on the crumbs.  Sounds familiar?

Now, just in case you’re thinking I’m making an assumption here, please read on and take a look at what the Lord told them in verses 26-29:

“Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” “Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”  Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 

So you see, they didn’t really want the Bread of Life, they wanted the bread itself.  They weren’t concerned with believing, they were obsessed with receiving.  Fast forward thousands of years later and here we are today, still infected with this same disease-people seemingly following Christ who are only concerned with filling their bellies. (I know it sounds harsh, but know my heart-I’m a big believer in tough love. Knowing the truth can set you free!).  Presently there are so many out there professing Christ as their Savior but proclaiming only about all the things HE can give to you.  Instead of their lives being rooted and centered on Christ, it’s self which is front and center.  Instead of seeking to become His bond-servant, they act as though He’s a genie in a bottle fully given to serving them.  What happened to the biblical principles of dying to ourselves so that we can live for Him?  What ever happened to surrendering our will for our lives to His perfect will for us?  If we’re so bent on getting ours, how will there be any room for sacrificial service? When did it become all about us?  Okay it was all about us to Him as He shed His sinless precious blood on the cross for us.  That’s true! But even the fact that He died for us should make us all the more want to live for Him!  It’s shameful to try influence others to come to Christ under the false pretense of a man centered gospel of sorts.  It’s flat out wrong to try to lead people to Jesus by emphasizing what He can do for them instead of telling them what He’s already done. Our glory can never compare with the glorious Gospel!

There’s so much being said now and days: “name it and claim it”, “live your best life now,” “believe it and receive it.”  This is no to be confused with having faith.  The Lord says “without faith its impossible to please Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)  However the faith cannot be in faith itself.  In other words it can’t be in our own ability to believe something into existence.  I’m pretty sure there’s only one Creator.  No the faith has to be in the true and living God with the understanding of His will being done.  If you disagree then ask yourself: Why didn’t Joseph just name and claim his freedom all those years the Lord allowed him to be imprisoned?  If he could have just wished himself out of jail just think of what he would have missed out on. The Lord allowed him to be there!  He was using what was meant for evil for good. The Lord allowed him to endure hardship so he could become a servant-leader and ultimately save his people and the Egyptians from a terrible famine.  Ask yourself if it’s our best life now, why did the apostle Paul (the man the Lord used to write most of the NT letters) have to enduring being stoned to the point of death, shipwrecked, bitten by a poisonous snake, imprisonment, and ultimately being put to death? Paul said he gladly shared in the Lord’s sufferings!  He said he counted everything else dung for the cause of Christ.  If we have the power in and of ourselves to simply believe it and receive it why is that the most difficult thing in your life is still there?  Why? Because God is in control-not us (Psalm 104).  Because God is the author and finisher of our faith-not us (Hebrews 12:2).  Because we have been bought we a serious price and are now to glorify God in our body and in our spirit (1 Corinth 6:20).

Really some of the foolishness we hear today leaves us wondering-is that person really a believer or are they just receivers who happen to call themselves believers?  Worse yet, are they true believers who are so consumed with “receiving” that they’ve weakened their testimony and compromised their call.  Are they “grievers” because their concern with the things of the world continuously grieves the Holy Spirit within them? The Word of God says “you will know them by their fruit” Matthew 7:15-20.  So while we’re not to judge because only God knows the heart, we are to use discernment. The devil loves to infiltrate the church.  He wants unbelievers to stay in unbelief.  If they lie to themselves and tell themselves they are in Christ because they attend church, this, that, or the other, he’s happy just as long as they continue to reject the truth and never believe.  He wants the believer to live as a carnal Christian, meaning inwardly he/she is changed and forever redeemed but outwardly they’re lives look no different than those in the world. They live to satisfy their desires (like fame, prestige, sexual satisfaction, materialism, etc.). Whether Christian or not, satan loves when the center of our universe is the unholy trinity of “me”, “myself”, and “I.”  The most powerful idol we can worship is ourselves.  The devil knows “self” is a powerful tool to keep the unbeliever from Christ and it’s just as powerful to keep a believer from being effective for Christ.

In this day of “entitlement”, the ground seems pretty fertile for the seeds of self-fulfillment and self-realization. Too many churches today are contaminated with wolves in sheep clothing.  The world, the flesh, and the devil have all crept in under the disguise of prosperity. It’s appealing to: those who seek to be happy instead of holy; those who seek to satisfy self instead of serving others; those who worship their own comfort and contentment in place of The Lord. But doesn’t God want you to be blessed?!  Of course He does!  That’s why He sent His Son (see John 3:16).  But He knows you can’t experience true blessing apart from walking in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  If prosperity in God’s economy was the same as how those who err define it, then the Son of Man would not only have had a place to lay His head when He walked the earth, He also would have been materially wealthy.  No! He who was rich became poor for us! (2nd Corinth 8:9)

Dr. Tony Evans once stated that it’s heretical to say something is available to one Christian in one part of the world that isn’t even a possibility for another Christian on the other side of the world.  This idea that it’s all about us and about us getting as much as we can is false doctrine plain and simple.  It’s biblically unsound. If we study the Word of God it should be clear that believers lives are to be focused on glorifying Christ-not insisting on getting all we can from Christ.

• “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.  1st Corinthians 6:20
• “All things were created through and for Him.” Colossians 1:16b
• “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30
• “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” Luke 9: 23-25
• “but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” 1st Peter 4:13
• “greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”John 15:13
• “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:11-12
• “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Now I’m not saying there aren’t blessings to be had-there are many-its insurmountable! But The Lord gets to decide how He wants to bless each of His children. If our focus is on self and the things we desire for self, then we need to check ourselves.  We need to ask ourselves questions such as these:  Have we believed Christ?  If so, are we living for Christ?  Is our main goal to please self or to please God?  Are we willing to sacrifice for others?  Are we willing to suffer for the cause of Christ?  When we try to share the Gospel with others do we tell them about what Jesus did for them or what He can do for them?  Do we attend church to hear only that which is pleasing to our ears?  Do we have a teachable spirit-are we willing to receive rebuke and correction (hopefully given in love)? Have we become carnal?  Does our lives look an awful lot like those in the world?  Are we out of order biblically?  Yes, there’s lots of questions we can ask to guard our hearts and keep ourselves accountable to God!

In John chapter 6 Jesus clearly states He is the Bread of Life.  He said “he who eats of My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him….He who eats this bread will live forever.” (verses 56 and 58) The Lord is more concerned with our spiritual lives than our physical lives.  Eventually in this passage The Lord says this: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (verse 63) It says that from that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. (verse 66) In this passage we see such love and grace from the Lord and yet many still rejected Him. Yes the Lord told them about themselves-that some of them weren’t interested in believing but receiving. But He didn’t stop there-used what they wanted- “bread”- to explain to them the “food” they should be seeking is the food which lasts eternally. Only The Bread of Life can give us that food!

So if you’ve had wrong intentions, wrong motives, or have just been moving in the wrong direction concerning the Lord, remember He said “He who eats this bread will live forever.” If you don’t have it-ask God to give you a heart to believe and believe.  If you do have it- let that be enough!  There is no gift, blessing, anointing or calling that can compare with knowing and walking with Him here and now and having eternal life with Him forever!  We’re going to live with Him forever ever!  Now that’s true prosperity! Everything else He decides to bless us with is icing baby!

HEART TO HEART: TRUE PROSPERITY IS LIVING OUT THE PURPOSES THE LORD HAS CALLED YOU TO.