Let's go to a synagogue in Capernaum today. In John 6 Jesus taught the people, and spoke of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Nothing like this had ever been heard by anyone in the room before. In vs 60 his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" Jesus replied, "Does this offend you?"

As we grow in the Lord we'll come into contact with hard teachings. These are not error, they are Truths that are not part of our experience, and our spirits recoil at them. Such teachings are revolutionary.

They are also frightening. You know that if you shared them, many Christians would react negatively. They reveal how we the church have been in serious error. They show why we're as weak and ineffective as we are, and it reflects poorly on us. To accept a hard teaching will require a major shift in thinking. It would almost be easier to just pretend you'd never heard it.

There's just something about a hard teaching though. The seeker will feel a tug towards further investigation, and over time they'll realize that this is God's Word, and it calls us upward to a new level in Him.

Those that came to an eventual understanding of eating Christ's flesh and drinking His blood walked at a higher level with God than those who never did. They came to form the early church, and they turned the world upside down. Those who rejected this hard teaching out of hand remained where they were, stuck in old style Judaism. They missed God's call to the next great step forward His Kingdom was about to take - the New Covenant.

God's Kingdom continues to advance. He's not finished doing huge things, and I don't want to miss out on those that take place in my lifetime. Part of my being in the right place at the right time will involve my openness to hard teachings the Lord brings my way. When he shows me that I've been missing it, that the thing I thought was right is very very wrong, will I investigate further and in the end obey?

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2002

Answers

It's all about perception and dimished expectations. Generally speaking, most of us are socially and culturally conditioned to view work tasks as unpleasant and difficult. We work on our jobs out of economic necessity not personal fullfilment. This attitude spills over in our worship experiences. We seek to experience God by investing a basic minimum allocation of time (usually Sunday Morning Service) and reject any additional committment since this would be too "time-consuming". IF we could manage to rise above the low expectations we comfortably accept and realize that our potential is limitless in dutiful Christian service, accepting "hard teachings" would not be an issue. QED

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2002