The end of John chapter 6 is the aftermath of Jesus telling the folks who followed Him from His feeding of the 5,000 the day before. It was obvious to Jesus most of these were looking for more free food, but He had told them He was the bread of life and they needed to eat His flesh and drink His blood if they were to receive eternal life. He also said in verse 62 that He was from heaven. These sayings didn’t set well with the crowd, and many chose to leave and no longer walk with Him (vs. 66).
Then Jesus turned to Peter and asked if the twelve disciples would desert Him as well, and Peter says something very interesting:
John 6:68-69 (ESV) Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
The word for “believed” is the Greek word for faith and faith comes by hearing the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). Peter also said the twelve had “come to know” Jesus was the Holy one of God. How did they come to know? They came to know by example, by the example Jesus gave of the character of God.
Many of us have loved ones who are lost to the world. We pray for them and share God’s word with them. Sometimes we have burned the bridges of communication with them by being overzealous in our witnessing. I’ve done this to the point my brother didn’t want to hear anything on the subject of God from me for decades. The feeling of loss is terrible.
As Christians we look for more effective was to influence the lost to see the truth of the Gospel. We most often use words in attempts to accomplish this, but this is only one facet of what Peter found led Him to the truth. The second was the influence, the example of Jesus.
When we shut down people with our constant witnessing to them and are told to stop talking about our faith, what other ways can we try?
There is a story I like called Mary’s Room. Mary was born completely color blind. She saw the world only in black and white. At a young age, Mary learned about color, something she was missing, so she dedicated her life to studying color: the color red in particular.
By the time Mary was middle aged, she had learned all there was to know about the color red. She had studied the reflective property of red objects, the frequency of red light waves, and so on. About this time, she heard of a surgical procedure that would “cure” her so she might actually see red.
After the surgery, Mary awoke to see a red rose in a vase beside her hospital bed. She was overjoyed she actually saw red. The question is did Mary learn anything new about the color? Of course she did, but she couldn’t describe it to others who had never seen the color red.
How is this important?
As Christians, we have much the same problem as Mary in describing the change Christ brings to our life. We have problems describing the indescribable. We use words like “peace,” or “joy,” or “love,” but those words just don’t do our new life justice.
What Peter said about “coming to know” Jesus was the Holy One of God applies to how we should witness Christ. God lives in us. As Christians, we should display the qualities of Jesus in our daily lives and not just on Sundays. When we’re at a family gathering and people see us acting impatient, intolerant, unkindly, they don’t see Jesus. They see Jesus when we show His attributes exist now in us.
Gal 5:22-26 (ESV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Only when we display the fruit of the Spirit of God to those living in this broken and lost world will they see Jesus, will they “come to know” Him Who lives in us. Maybe God can use us to rebuild those bridges we burned down. When we can’t give the Gospel, we must live the Gospel.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 