Take a good look around you; crowds are everywhere. At the mall, at the latest concert, waiting in line for that new movie. Crowds are shaped and molded by what influences and drives them: “I need to be at this concert – everyone’s going; I have to go to the midnight release because I need to have the latest pair of Jordan’s; if I don’t go to that party my friends will never let me hear the end of it.” The crowd always has an opinion. And if you don’t look and act like the crowd, you’re considered an outcast.
Jesus separates his disciples from the crowd to build his church.
In John 6, Jesus is speaking to the crowd; teaching them. But the Bible says some were complaining, got offended, and left. People in crowds are easily offended, but true disciples stand out. They are the Lord’s building blocks. You can pick out the building blocks in the crowd. They are the people who are unstoppable and unshakeable. They are the people who will take a stand for the truth and refuse to make excuses. In the chaos of a crowd these people are recognizable. When others quit they choose to keep pressing forward.
The church isn’t a crowd but an army built on the Rock of Jesus Christ. The difference between a crowd and an army is that the army is on mission, whereas the crowd is formed by opinions. Crowds will tell you who you should be, but Jesus will tell you who you are.
I was part of a crowd: lost, broken, confused. All I wanted to do was fit in. I was conforming. I let everything around me shape who I was and it drained me. Then God separated me removing me from situations and people that were no longer meant to have an opinion in my life. The crowd may turn on you, but Jesus will embrace you. The crowd says, “you don’t fit in here.” Jesus says, “I have set you apart!”
Can you push through the crowd to get to Jesus?
A face in the crowd is who you were, but now, God has a position for you in his army.