Intro –
This morning I believe God wants us to engage our myth of neutrality. Now there are some things in life that may allow for some level of neutrality…. issues that make no claims upon our lives or the lives of anyone else. A country may choose to be neutral in response to two countries that engage in conflict if they have no relationship or practical connection to either country….but if a country comes and engages us… neutrality is simply not an option. We are now a party in the situation. When something or someone engages us, response is inescapable. Often we may think we are avoiding or not responding… but we are fooling ourselves because the lack of response is itself a response… a choice.
As we continue in our series…a Journey with Jesus through the Gospel of John… we are reminded that we are engaged with the least neutral figure to ever enter the human arena. The truth is that every time Jesus came to town… what he declared and did forced all to respond… to make choices. The first time, he cleaned out the temple, and drove the animals and birds, and moneychangers out of what he called, “My Father’s house.” On his next visit to Jerusalem we saw him heal a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. Many were blessed but it stirred up murder in the hearts of the religious leaders.
And now…he’s coming to town again, and who knows what will happen this time?
It wasn’t that he came to Jerusalem often- for at least six months he had been ministering in Galilee, 80 miles to the north, but hope and challenge he presented was only growing , affecting everyone in the city. In fact in another 6 months, it will finally result in his crucifixion.
TEXT TO BE PRINTED AND REFERRED TO
John 7:7, 10-18, 40-53 (NIV)
7The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.
10 “…after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the Feast the Jews were watching for him and asking, "Where is that man?" 12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others replied, "No, he deceives the people." 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews. 14 Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?" 16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. 17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet." 41 Others said, "He is the Christ." Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. 45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?" 46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared. 47 "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48 "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law--there is a curse on them." 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" 52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee." 53 Then each went to his own home.
Background:
Feast of Tabernacles - It was one of three times all Jewish men were required to go to Jerusalem. It commemorated the time their forefathers dwelt in tents in the wilderness.
Already lots of expectations rising… and Jesus is navigating what he senses as the Father’s time. Does not go to the Feast in Jerusalem at it’s start nor with his followers but rather waits and comes quietly. For even without him the religious leaders are searching for him and the people are talking all about him… but all in fear.
Jesus begins teaching to groups and the controversy arises.
On the climatic day of the Feast he declares he is the fulfillment of all they thirst for… of life from God…. and we will look more at that next week. What it does is just escalate the responses… and that is what I want to focus on.
There is a lot that transpires… and is said… worthy of attention… but I want us to focus on the underlying dynamic which runs through it all… a tension between human influence and God’s influence… as we hear the voice of God calling into those so influenced by the voices of men.
Verse 43 really captures the central dynamic of this entire text“…the people were divided because of Jesus.” (John 7:43)
‘The people were divided’…. That may be hard to hear… because we think of Jesus as one who comes to reconcile people to God and one another. But Jesus has come to a world lost in it’s separation from God that leaves us trying to find identity in all our different outward aspects… whether gender, race, nationality… and as such…. we are destined to be divided by them. Without being reconciled to God as our common point of unity…we have no ultimate basis of being united. So Jesus must come as the reclaiming source to which we must choose follow or fight.
In Luke 11:23 (Matt 12:30) Jesus said,
"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.” - Luke 11:23 (NIV)
Jesus says that neutrality to him is really opposition to Him. To decide for God, one must decide for Jesus. In a cosmic war there are no spectators. The implication is to be careful which side you choose.
In that day in Jerusalem, so many opinions are given about who Jesus was… his claims seemed clear but many wanted to reduce him to something safe. What is fascinating is that no other figure in all of human history draws even close to the number of responses that try to frame him in personal desires.
Worldwide over 65,571 books have been written about Jesus Christ, according to
missions recorder David Barret. Currently there is a global boom in books about Christ,
with an average of 4 new books coming out every day. -1997 publication
(Elsewhere read that there are over 17,000 books about Christ in the Library of Congress)
The Confusion and Contention of Men
1. Jesus is a good man (vs. 12)… perhaps a prophet (vs. 40)
Reflects the desire to honor him… safely… to draw a line that offers limited honor.
But Jesus couldn’t let such compliments stand as such because they miss what he really offers.
Luke 18:18-19 a man comes to him and calls him good…Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.”
He means that He is God and not some “good rabbi” as even the Pharisees patronizingly called him at times.
C.S. Lewis wrote of such and stated…
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him. “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
(C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (1979 ed.) pgs. 54-55)
…even those who proclaimed him the Christ appear to be making more of a propositional or academic statement,… he is ‘the Christ’… but not their Christ. It may be obvious that Jesus is the fulfillment of what God had promised… but that is not the same as giving one’s life to his work and his will. They may accept the truth but not entrust themselves to it.
Many today if asked who Jesus is might even give the right answer as a fact… but not give their life. One commentator calls this having a “orthodox head wedded to a rebellious heart.”
2. Jesus is a deceiver (vs. 12)… perhaps demonically led (vs. 20)
His claims are so enormous… they simply must not be true… and therefore he is simply deceiving people of his own choice or perhaps being used by the devil…
Neither of these ever carried much weight with the people for the simple reason that he remained more sound than any figure around.. in all he taught and all he did. He grasped the Scriptures as if they were his…he understood them more clearly than any. He set free those who were oppressed and demons shuddered at his presence.
So….a ‘good man’ – he really didn’t leave that option open; a deceiving lunatic – so improbable that not even those who oppose him suggest much along such lines.
3. Jesus is a threat… to be neutralized and removed
The religious leaders had found his authority and popularity a great threat. Why? Because he threatened the sense of authority they demanded… and exposed their limited goodness.
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when
people are afraid of the light.”
Some try to disqualify him…
“…But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? (42) Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”
Some question if Jesus could be the Christ for He was a Galilean. They obviously knew that Jesus had grown up in Nazareth but had they cared enough to check out the facts they would have found that He was actually born in Bethlehem and that He was indeed of the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David.
This strikes me because it seems to capture what continues in many respects today.
They don’t really want to consider who HE clearly comes as.
So many today…. will dismiss Jesus without much basis behind their reasons.
Some may simply say that others made him out to be more than he did…they want to claim that all of these accounts are simply not true.
There are those revisionists who now claim the holocaust never happened… most find this ridiculous because it was only 50 some years ago… something known first hand by so many who are still living. Yet first Christian writings were circulating within 20 years of his life…. and verbally from the very start. If the claims hadn’t been there… there would not even be a recognition of Christ. The real problem is that he did make such claims.
The claims may be great… but since based in history… and claims to bearing an eternal dimension to life… no thoughtful person would simply dismiss them. (Drawn from Tim Keller)
Any read of his life and what unfolded reveals that he is constantly claiming to be the fulfillment of God.
• When asked “Are you the Christ?”… he said YES.
• He speaks AS God who had been sending prophets they had been killing.
• He forgives sins… assuming that every sin is against him primarily.
• He says, If you lose me you lose everything. I am worth everything… worth losing everyone and anything.
> No one says such things unless megalomaniac; anyone else who has ever demanded anything close and gotten any small part… led to tragedy and evil.
The obvious truth is that central to all he taught was the uniqueness of who he was… an authority unlike any other… he didn’t create a reaction that would lead to his being crucified because he taught how to be nice…. but because he claimed to be God’s… God’s voice that confronted the voice of men.
In verse forty four we read,
44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. 45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"
The officers answered
46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does.
These who were to maintain control over the temple area were sent to arrest Jesus. And as these no doubt stood around waiting for an opportune time, they were astonished by what they heard. The men returned from hearing their mission, but without Jesus. When asked to give an explanation of their failure, they gave a clear and yet very unexpected testimony. They said, “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” Considering to whom these words are being spoken and by whom these words are spoken, they are indeed rare and bold words of testimony.
(Drawn from Tim Keller)
The guards came back and said no one speaks like him. He is BEYOND all of you.
What had the guards encountered? Another voice… and it was not the voice of men… but of truth that has come from God.
Chesterton – if you pick up a key and it opens the door you assume it was made for the lock.
Throughout all history his teachings have been found to match the lock of the human heart…across cultures and time; inspiring justice and art and celebration and progression of culture.
And unlike any other… no one who was closest saw less… they saw more… they were convinced he was divine… above all.
He held perfect beauty…virtues in a way more perfect than any:
• Tenderness without weakness
• Strength without any harshness
• Humility without any lack of confidence
• Holiness without any inapproachability
• Unending authority without any self assertion
• Courage with utmost tenderness of spirit
PT Forsyth says this is God… and ‘if God be not thus, he is less than the God we crave for.’ Any other god is less than the god we crave for.
As wild as it is to conclude he is really divine… it is crazier to consider that he is not.
So the guards are echoing something of the longing of the human heart… they were also echoing what the masses had been recognizing as well.
Mark 1:22 (NIV)
“The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.”
We all want to believe we are smart… especially those whose whole identity is defined by people coming to them for the truth… yet Jesus came with an authority unlike any. He is a threat to them… to our self pretension to be the center of truth.
So the guard’s statement was not well received.
Notice how those who reject Christ behave. (Adapted from John Hambry)
“Do they ask, “What is it about Christ that makes Him so compelling?” No!
“Do they debate the merits of His claims?” No!
“Do they say, “We will hear Him for ourselves?” No!
> They resort to tactics that have been used in the past and they continue to be used in the present to silence the voice of God. We are social creatures… and here we see the power of the voice of men… as they respond to the guards…
Three ways in which the voices of men try to silence the voice of God
They Use
Ridicule. (v. 47)
The Pharisees respond to the officers by asking the question, “Are you also deceived?” (v. 47). It is apparent by their question that the Pharisees, were afraid that the officers had become so thoroughly convinced that they had been come followers of Jesus.
So in essence, they say, “How can you be so stupid and gullible?”
“Don’t be so naïve!”
Peer Pressure. (v. 48)
“Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?”
The implication of their question is that no educated or intelligent person would believe in this Jesus. If the religious leaders do not believe in Jesus, then anyone with any sense won’t believe in Him either.
“Look…it doesn’t matter that so many are drawn and transformed by him…. you want to be on our side.”
Superiority that denounces belief as ignorance (v. 49)
“But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
This is an insult directed at all believers. They refer to those who believe as “this crowd” – or “these people” literally this riff-raff, this mob. They are saying that the common people not knowing the Scriptures are confused. Yet when they say that these people are unfamiliar with the law they indict themselves, for they are the teachers of the law.
It’s dangerous when we think we are too intelligent or too good to need Jesus.
But one dares to raise the reality of their real failure
Nicodemus –
Verses 50 – 51 – ‘Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"’
He is getting at the real issue… as he notes that they are really choosing NOT to hear.
Hearing is not simply a matter of the ear but the heart.
Nicodemus is not only making a statement that is inherently rational and logical… but a statement that reflects a choice he had already made in his heart.
How do we hear God’s voice?
Hearing the Voice of Truth
Jesus had already spoken into their divided nature.
Verse 16 – ‘Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.”
They all wondered how he could have such an amazing grasp of the truth behind the Scriptures if he had not been educated by them and their system.
Jesus declares that the reason His teaching was so amazing was because it did not originate with Him. His wisdom, message, and power came from His Father. He gave all the glory back to the One who had sent Him.
He goes on… to note what is involved with discerning the truth of God’s voice
17 If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
If anyone is willing to do His will does not mean that if one happens to do God’s will he will know the origin of Jesus’ teachings. It means that there must be a definite act of the human will, a settled determined purpose to do God’s will.
The secret of knowing God’s will is being willing to do it. God does not give His will simply to get our approval of it or not. He does it to get our obedience. Only the one who wills to do God’s will gets to know it. It is a call for surrender to God and a trust in God.
1. The truth will involve our wills not just our minds
Beware of bias in your investigation
We can have our little modern talks about what we want to think about Jesus… with a sense of
What are we to make of Christ…misses the reality of what he makes of us.
Any good scientist submits to the results of the evidence.
Martin Luther King, Jr. -
Cowardice asks the question: Is it safe?
Consensus asks the question: Is it popular?
Conscience asks: Is it right?
He goes on…
18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
2. The truth will follow what glorifies God rather than human ego
How do you tell the real deal from that which is fake and false? It’s not hard. Just ask yourself, “Who is getting the honor?” Con Men are about themselves. In the final analysis they care only about themselves.
Finally he says of himself…‘there is nothing false in him.’
With such words he claims that you cannot reduce him to some partial honor.
3. The truth of Jesus is an all or nothing proposition.
If all is true - You have to have all of him or none of him.
It would be like someone standing at a door and saying that Brad can come in but Bailey has to stay out. It’s not possible.
Man interviewed who knew Hitler… said when you engaged him… you had only three options: retire / flee… sell yourself entirely to him… or assassinate him.
How much more when you come into the presence of Jesus. He is the leader above all leaders.
That is why Jesus makes the great statements he does… you will have to hate father and mother.
Prophecy – ‘this child is set for the fall or rising of many’
Luke 2:34
Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against
> There is no way around it because it is who he is.
Problem is that we try to make him we come to with moderation… one who will be there when we need him… but that is a fictional reality.
CONCLUSION:
Vs. 53 - the last line… “Then each went to his own home.”
I read these words with sadness. Imagining lives that went home to the tragic unfulfillment of their own life… without ever hearing the truth.
What a profound picture of the state we can find ourselves in.
God come to us and we let him know we’ll consider him and get to Him in our own time…thinking that we have not made a decision… that we are safely neutral… when in fact it is the perpetuation of the decision whose consequences we live under. It is a choice to stay with the choice already made.
We can go back to our autonomous independent lives… no and forevermore… or we bow and rise to the one who gives life.
We must remember that we not only seek truth but that truth seeks us as well..
But Jesus came. He brings the unchanging truth. The good news is that if we listen we will hear the truth that echoes at the depth of our being.
Many think we wanted an updated truth… we want is an unchanging gracious truth that includes us.
There is a story of a man who came to his old friend, a music teacher and said to him in that flippant way we moderns use, "What's the good news today?" The old man never said a word. He walked across the room, picked up a hammer and struck a tuning fork. As the note sounded out through the room, he said, "That is 'A'. It is 'A' today; it was 'A' five thousand years ago, and it will be 'A' ten thousand years from now. The soprano upstairs sings off-key, the tenor across the hall flats on his high notes, and the piano downstairs is out of tune." He struck the note again and said, "That is 'A' my friend, and that's the good news for today."
Closing Prayer
Resources: I am grateful for the great thoughts of those I may draw from. I will usually study the text and form my own shape and points. In the process I may insert various ideas and statements from others (commentaries and messages related to the same text) which are related to the points I have developed. I do not use these notes as a manuscript that is either memorized or read… but rather as a guide for the thoughts I offer. If I actually read or quote another I will refer publicly to the source. This message drew thoughts from William Barclay, Tim Keller, Dennis Davidson, and John Hambry.
Alternative way to present text is video clip from ‘The Gospel of John’ – all of John 7:1-53; which is from 57:36 – 1:05:12 = 7minutes, 36 seconds. I deemed too long and brought more to bear that loses needed focus of this message.)
