{"id":2329,"date":"2021-05-19T18:30:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T01:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/?p=2329"},"modified":"2021-05-16T14:31:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-16T21:31:57","slug":"abiding-in-the-lord-john-ch-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/blog\/abiding-in-the-lord-john-ch-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Abiding in the Lord: John Ch. 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/em><\/p>\n

Worship<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By singing praises and hymns, awake your soul, open your heart to the Lord, and prepare yourself to welcome the presence of God and receive the Word of God that will be given to you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thanksgiving<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Petition with thanksgiving to God for a wonderful day and pray sincerely for a focused Scripture reading time! (Do not rush into reading the Bible without starting with prayers!<\/strong>) (e.g., you may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what will you be speaking to me today?)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Scripture Reading<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Get the following items ready in advance: your devotional notebook, paper, pen, and\/or electronic devotional articles so that you can easily write down the Bible verses, questions, and thoughts you have noticed! You are encouraged to open your Bible and vocally read out the scriptures (Try to practice this reading method daily or once a week)!<\/p>\n

Scripture Reading: John Ch. 6 (ESV)<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meditation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Take a moment to quietly reflect on today’s Scriptures. Through such exercises, let God’s Word be gradually written into our hearts and be inscribed to our mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Devotional<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Read the devotional articles prepared by CBCLWA (*Read the Bible first before reading any devotional materials.<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(vv.1-21)\u00a0The first two sections of this Chapter (vv. 1-15 and vv. 16-21)\u00a0are about\u00a0the fourth and fifth miracles of Jesus\u00a0recorded\u00a0in the Gospel of John. This\u00a0includes the story of\u00a0the five loaves and two fish\u00a0and Jesus\u2019 walking\u00a0on the\u00a0water. The accounts of\u00a0these\u00a0two\u00a0miracles are not unique\u00a0in the Book of\u00a0John and can be seen in\u00a0the\u00a0other\u00a0three\u00a0Books of the\u00a0Gospels.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing such a great crowd coming toward Jesus, how could Jesus and his disciples feed them?\u00a0This\u00a0was\u00a0an\u00a0unanticipated test\u00a0that Jesus gave\u00a0to\u00a0his disciples. At one point, the disciples asked Jesus to\u00a0hurry up and send the crowd home\u00a0(Matthew\u00a014:15). After a\u00a0quick\u00a0financial\u00a0assessment, Philip said,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTwo hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b>There\u00a0were so\u00a0many people. Andrew was more pragmatic, placing all five barley\u00a0loaves\u00a0and two fish owned by a child in front of Jesus, and adding,\u00a0\u201c<\/span>\u2026\u00a0but what are they for so many?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Yet God’s power transcended human\u00a0understanding that\u00a0Jesus fed five thousand people with\u00a0just\u00a0these five\u00a0loaves\u00a0and two fish. In the end, Jesus\u00a0told his disciples, \u201c<\/span>Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/b>So\u00a0they gathered them up and\u00a0the leftovers\u00a0filled\u00a0twelve baskets!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The disciples’ approach\u00a0was\u00a0to discharge their responsibilities (by\u00a0sending\u00a0the crowd\u00a0home)\u00a0due to lack of money and food. They saw the need of the crowd and looked at their assets.\u00a0There was a test Jesus did to first let\u00a0the disciples\u00a0confirm\u00a0what they have was \u201creally not enough\u201d. They then had to\u00a0rely on Him\u00a0by\u00a0seeing the work of God to\u00a0feed\u00a0the crowd.\u00a0Not only that,\u00a0Jesus\u00a0also\u00a0gave them a sense of what they called “more than enough.” What do you think the disciples\u00a0were\u00a0thinking when they\u00a0gathered\u00a0up the leftover\u00a0fragments?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that many people have experienced God’s wonderful\u00a0provision. Besides thanking God, we\u00a0must\u00a0not\u00a0forget\u00a0to\u00a0contemplate on the truth\u00a0that\u00a0God\u00a0wants\u00a0us to\u00a0know.\u00a0Don\u2019t waste your experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(vv.22-40)\u00a0The day after Jesus had finished his\u00a0miracle of\u00a0\u201cfive\u00a0loaves and\u00a0two\u00a0fish\u201d, a group of people\u00a0went after Jesus intentionally. Let us\u00a0investigate the following\u00a0assumptions based on\u00a0Jesus’ conversation with them:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • The motivation to find Jesus:<\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/span><\/b>…<\/span><\/b>not because you see miracles, but because you eat bread and eat them full<\/span><\/b>\u201d; a\u00a0miracle\u00a0is a sign\u00a0that guides\u00a0people to think of God, and these people came to fill their stomachs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • What to work for?<\/span>\u00a0They\u00a0took effort to\u00a0find Jesus\u00a0and they should not\u00a0<\/span>\u201cwork for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • What is\u00a0doing the works of God?<\/span>\u00a0What is done does not matter, the most important thing is what to believe.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThis is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.\u201d.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0The act brought out by faith is a work of God.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The manna in the wilderness\u00a0and the bread from heaven:<\/span>\u00a0Seeing\u00a0their disbelief (John\u00a06:30,\u00a06:36),\u00a0Jesus\u00a0wanted them to wake up and know that<\/span>\u00a0\u201c\u2026it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Similar to the\u00a0true bread from heaven,\u00a0Jesus\u00a0before them is\u00a0the\u00a0Bread of Life\u00a0who\u00a0comes down from heaven.\u00a0Jesus said to them,\u00a0\u201c<\/span>\u2026whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.\u00a0\u2026\u202fthat everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.\u201d<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Think about it, do I spend more time and energy on this life, or on eternal life?\u00a0 What are my motives when I seek after Jesus?\u00a0 Where does my ability to do work come from? Is there anything within me that needs to be corrected?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    (vv.41-59)\u00a0Jesus was criticized by Jews for declaring He was the bread from heaven. It was because the Jews\u00a0could not accept that a living man standing before them would come from God. In the end, Jesus described himself as a sacrificial offering of Atonement, enabling people to receive a new life through His death and receive eternal life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    All along, they believed in the God that had been revealed in the Old Testament, and they examined the\u00a0Scripture\u00a0to believe that there was eternal life (John\u00a05:39). But it\u00a0was\u00a0hard for them to believe that Jesus is God and\u00a0through Him people can receive eternal life.\u00a0It is understandable to us why there was\u00a0discourse\u00a0of the Jews\u00a0at that time. It may be a struggle for them to believe in the\u00a0declarations made by Jesus\u00a0due to their traditional belief.\u00a0 And not everyone was able to believe\u00a0and accept\u00a0it,\u00a0even among the disciples who followed\u00a0Jesus\u00a0at that time\u00a0had debates about it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    (vv.60-71)\u00a0After Jesus had clearly told his disciples there about the eternal life of God, many people there did not believe\u00a0it and they\u00a0turned back and left\u00a0him. Jesus did not force them\u00a0to believe it as\u00a0he had said\u00a0before,\u00a0<\/span>\u201c\u2026this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(John\u00a06:40) Jesus\u00a0called for those who believe in Him to follow Him.\u00a0Peter answered\u00a0Him,<\/span>\u00a0\u201cLord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>This is an extremely important statement that will affect everyone’s life. Do you believe in Jesus? Who are you going to follow?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Pray<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Give thanks to God for His enabling us to read the Scriptures and for our response for living out the Word of God today! (e.g., You may start with a simple prayer like this: \u201cDear Lord, what\/where are you going to lead me to today?”)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,1,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abiding-in-the-lord","category-all","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2330,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329\/revisions\/2330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}