Three Responses to Bread of Life Message

Today we tend to measure success in ministry by numbers. The more people, the greater the success and effectiveness. Today, the temptation in ministry is to water down the message, to preach a 'light' sermon, to placate the audience so to build a following. IF we applied today's standards to Jesus, he would be deemed a failure. For after preaching the discourse on the Bread of Life, Jesus lost his audience. The Jews-- the hostile religious leaders and their followers-- outright rejected Christ and His message. His 'Disciples'-- those who followed him from place to place to see his miracles and hear him preach were offended by what Jesus said. And they abandoned HIm, returning to their former way of life. Only the 'Twelve' remained for they had come to believe that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Holy One, the Son of the Living God, and that Jesus Christ alone had the words of eternal life. For them, there was no other alternative, no other option for they were committed to following Jesus to the very end. All of us find ourselves in one of these groups-- either hostile to Christ, fickle in our commitment to Jesus, or fully devoted to Christ.