Reading the Gospels carefully with understanding reveals that many people followed Jesus of Nazareth but not all were his followers. Most people were led to Jesus by their needs (healings/deliverances, food); hence they didn’t hesitate to leave him when he challenged them by his teachings (see John 6).
Very few people followed Jesus of Nazareth because of his teachings; this minority group is identified as “disciples” in the Gospels as distinct from “the crowds”. Here we recall Simon Peter’s answer to Jesus in John 6:68-69 (NIV): “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Disciples of Jesus follow and would not let go of him because of his words of eternal life as the Holy One of God.
What about crowed or “mega” churches today all over the world?
It is important to understand that not all “believers” (church goers) have (saving) faith.
See, we often talk about Abraham’s faith, but do we all understand the essence of the faith of Abraham? Abraham’s faith consisted essentially in leaving (a costly thing to do) what he had and who he was at God’s request with a vague (in the sense of lacking in specifics) promise, namely, “…the land I will show you” -which is God’s way of telling us that Abraham did not know where God was taking him when he left, and that highlights risk taking as a feature of biblical faith –but not in the sense of a business transaction -Apostle Paul describes it rather as foolishness humanly speaking….
It is significant to note that Abraham didn’t leave all his possessions (see Genesis12:5). He only left everything he couldn’t leave with, or anything with the potential to keep him from leaving. It means that he allowed nothing to be more important in his eyes than obeying the call of God for him to leave -In this respect Abraham contrasts with the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-30).
As noted above, most of us “faith believers” claim to be following in Abraham’s footsteps but have we really understood the essence of Abraham’s faith? In most cases, our concept of faith focuses on possessing/possessions or earthly gains. Hence, faith for us is a means to our ends. Yet, Abraham’s faith was as a means to God’s ends!
Abraham had possessions already. He didn’t need to believe in God or follow God in order to gain possessions, even though he ended up increasing his possessions in the process but that was not the goal of his faith, was it?
I am told that the view of faith which focuses on self in terms of possessions or personal gains is, not only wrong but, very dangerous as a distortion of Abraham’s faith. It is also dangerous as it subtly becomes the basis for legitimising service to Mammon and the pursuit of materialism even in the Church! Here the case of the church in Laodicea is in order (see Revelation 3) …
God needs our faith in order to fulfil his Plan of Salvation on earth, just as he needed Abraham’s faith and all the heroes of faith that we read about in Hebrews 11. Simply put, my faith should be primarily a means to God’s ends, not my own -the emphasis is on the word primarily.
Finally, it is significant that Abraham was named among the great/influential men in his time, not for pursuing greatness but, for walking with God by serving Him (God’s plans and purposes) on earth.
May God help us all!
