Following God’s Plan
Fortifying the Foundations #16
John 7:1-13
9-21-03
Intro
John 7:1-13
7:1After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. 2But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3Jesus’ brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. 4No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. 7The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. 8You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come." 9Having said this, he stayed in Galilee.
10However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11Now at the Feast the Jews were watching for him and asking, "Where is that man?"
12Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others replied, "No, he deceives the people." 13But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews. NIV
Our story, this morning, begins six months after the close of chapter six. We know it was six months because chapter six occurred during the Passover and chapter seven occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles, which is approximately six months after the Passover.
Chapter six ended with most of Jesus’ followers leaving him. John 6:66
“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” NIV
After the crowd left him, Jesus turned to the disciples and asked them if they were going to leave also. That’s when Peter made that marvelous statement, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." NIV
Verse 1 “After this”—after the disappointing result at Jerusalem recorded in John 6, Jesus goes back to Galilee and spends the next six months ministering in the villages of that area. He is confining himself to Galilee, purposely staying away from Jerusalem. The text says, “...because the Jews were waiting to take his life.” We are told exactly why Jesus stayed away from Jerusalem. And the reason seems very, very strange. He stayed away because there were people there in Jerusalem waiting for him so they could kill him.
Why would the all-powerful Son of God, the Creator of the heavens and earth, the Alpha and Omega, stay away from Jerusalem to protect himself from those people? Why would he avoid the conflict? Why doesn’t he zap them with a ball of fire the way Elijah did the Samaritan soldiers?[1]Why doesn’t he just go there and deal with them so everybody can know he is the Son of God? When we answer those questions we answer a lot of questions about the way God works in our own lives. We learn a lot about how real faith operates.
I. Real faith does not take presumptuous risks.
For Jesus to go to Jerusalem without the Father’s directive would have been an act of presumption, not faith. Do you remember Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness? One of Satan’s suggestions was "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"
Jesus’ answered "It is also written: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’" NIV (Matt 4:6-7)
When we move by our own initiate—when we are not living in true submission and dependence upon the Lord—but simply following our own will, we do not have the same protection and authority that is ours when we are walking in simple obedience. The promises of protection and authority in scripture are based upon an obedient walk with God. I’m not talking about perfection or sinlessness. But I am talking about a commitment to hear the Lord and obey Him rather than just follow our own inclinations.
It is amazing how religious people in presumption can sound so pious, so spiritual. They can talk the talk. But in reality they are not walking the walk. The devil was very religious when he was tempting Jesus. He talked the talk—he quoted scripture. But his suggestion was marked by two qualities: pride and self-interest. Anytime a person is motivated by pride and self-interest there’s a good chance he or she is in presumption, not faith.
It is very easy for a person to say, “God told me.” But that is an awesome thing to say. If I am just projecting my own desire and blaming it on God I could get myself in trouble with those simple words. When a person comes to me for counsel and says, “God told me”, I know that can mean one of three things: (1) It can mean God has really spoken to that person. And if that’s the case there is nothing left to do but obey what He has said. (2) It could mean that person cautiously feels this is what God is saying, but is humbly submitting it to counsel. Or (3) it could mean this is what the person wants, he or she is putting words in God’s mouth and is not open to counsel. It is a religious way of saying, “This is what I’m going to do and independent of all authority, it is what I will do!” And my only answer to that is to back off and let the person learn by experience the difference between faith and presumption.
“You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.”[2] The Jews were so afraid of breaking that commandment; they wouldn’t even say the Lord’s name.[3] That was not God’s purpose in giving the commandment. It was to teach us to be very careful about using God’s name—not that we couldn’t, but that we need to understand the responsibility involved. It’s very unhealthy for us to get too flippant about saying, “The Lord told me.” God does speak to us. We are to be a prophetic people. And there is grace for when we sincerely miss it. The person who wants to stone the prophets when they miss it is usually the person that does not prophesy himself. We are human. We can sincerely miss the word of the Lord, and we need to have grace for one another when that happens.[4] None of us has yet attained perfection and I assure you God has grace for us when we are in an honest, sincere learning process.
But the danger comes in when we habitually and without due caution say, “The Lord told me” or Thus says the Lord.” It’s not faith to put words in God’s mouth. It’s faith to take what God is indeed saying and act upon it.
God had not told Jesus to go to Jerusalem, so Jesus didn’t take it upon himself to go.
If God tells you to go to the bars and preach, go. But get His authorization before you go. Don’t just go on your own initiative. We are called to go but we still need to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit as to exactly how, where, and when we are to do that.
The Foursquare Pastor in Lima, Peru told me a story that emphasizes the importance of being sent. A group of Christians had come on a missions trip and decided to go to one of the ancient Aztec religious sites. When they returned to their hotel, one of the ladies in the group was in an emotional frenzy—going into hysterical fits. After praying with no results the group called this Foursquare pastor and asked him to come and pray. He prayed and there was still no change in the woman. They asked him what to do and he told them to get on a plane and go home because they shouldn’t have come in the first place. They came in presumption and left in defeat.
Faith is about hearing God and doing what He says to do. Our ability to hear God has a lot to do with the sincerity of our motives and the renewing of our minds by the word of God. “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”[5] “Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.”[6] When we embrace God’s ways in His word its much easier to discern His voice.
Notice Jesus’ attitude toward death. On the one hand, He does not live in fear of death. He knows the cross lies before him. Jesus is not avoiding Jerusalem out of fear but out of obedience. We know that, because he does go. He just doesn’t go on his brother’s terms but on God’s. Jesus is not afraid to die. He knows what lies beyond that transition.
On the other hand, Jesus does not flirt with death. There is no death wish here. He has an exemplary, healthy attitude toward death. Ready to take that step in God’s timing—but fully resistant toward any kind of premature death. It is our responsibility to resist premature death.[7] It is our responsibility to take care of our emotional and physical well being so that we can finish the course God has given us to run. It is presumptuous to be reckless and negligent in those areas.
We see the same kind of attitude toward death in Paul. In Acts 21 his friends were trying to talk him out of going to Jerusalem because of the dangers that awaited him there. But Paul knew God was leading him to go there. Acts 21:13, “Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." NIV
Paul was not living in fear of death but living for the will of God.
While facing death in a Roman prison Paul wrote, Phil 1:20-26
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.” NIV
Our safety is found in simply obeying the Lord, following the principles He has taught us in His word, listening to His voice.
In 1912 the "unsinkable" Titanic was launched in Liverpool, England. On board was a family, which was unexpectedly transferred to titanic for its maiden voyage. The god-fearing mother of seven-year-old Eva Hart saw the pride and disregard for normal safety measures exercised by the ship’s captain. After reading the shipbuilders’ claims, Mrs. Hart believed--and so stated--"This is flying in the face of God!"
Because of Mrs.’ Hart’s spiritual convictions and concern for the presumption of the ship’s leadership, throughout the voyage she stayed awake at night aware of the pending disaster. Because of her sensitivity to God’s warning she was able to move her family to an upper deck almost immediately after the ship collided with the unseen iceberg. Her family did not join the 1,500 others who died that night.[8]
Jesus stayed in Galilee because it would have been presumption to go to Jerusalem without the Father’s directive.
II. Real faith submits to God’s timing.
Jesus’ brothers want him to go to Jerusalem with them to the Feast of Tabernacles.
Let’s see if we can get a feel for the situation that was going on in our text.
It is about this time of the year (early Fall). Orthodox Jews will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles on October 11-17 of this year.[9]
Everyone in our story is focused upon this great feast that will take place in Jerusalem in a week or so. They want to get down there so they can have their booths prepared before the festivities begin. This annual feast is like the mother of all camping trips. They go to Jerusalem and build these temporary shelters to live in during the eight-day event. These booths are a national reminder of their time in the wilderness when they dwelt in temporary shelters. It is to remind them of God’s goodness in giving them Canaan Land as He had promised.
There were three essential feasts that the Jews celebrated. One was the Passover, which occurred in about April. One was Pentecost (50 days later). And one was this Feast of Tabernacles. These three celebrations were not optional. In Deut. 16 God commanded Israel to gather in Jerusalem for each of these three feasts.[10]
For these first century Jews, the Feast of Tabernacles is a big, big deal. It was the celebration of the year—the highlight of their year—their time of joy for the harvest. As an agricultural society that was their livelihood. Their lives revolved around the harvest. This is their time to give thanks to God for providing it and to have a great time with each other.[11]
Think about how we celebrate Christmas in our culture. For months we prepare. We buy gifts. We make travel plans. We gather food for the big Christmas day meal. We live in anticipation of the time off from work and the quality time with family and friends.
Just as we prepare for Christmas, these first century Jews lived for the annual Feast of Tabernacles.
They are all getting ready to travel down to Jerusalem and Jesus is not going. That’s when his brothers tell him to get with the program and go with them. In fact, they have some very strong reason why he must go. Their advice to him makes a lot of sense in the natural. They are telling Jesus that it doesn’t make sense for him to spend his time in these small villages when all the people are going to Jerusalem. Verse 3, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since (or if) you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” It all sounds reasonable. The problem is: It is not God’s plan; it’s their plan.
And John gives us some insight as to what was behind their proposal by telling us that these brothers did not believe in Jesus. Matthew 13:55 tells us these brothers’ names: James, Joses, Simon, and Judas. After Jesus’ resurrection James became the leading apostle in Jerusalem and wrote the book of James. Judas wrote the book of Jude.[12] So they came around. But at this point they are not recognizing Jesus for who he is.
Jesus answer to them deals with the issue of timing. Six months from now Jesus will make a triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The people will receive him with shouts of Hosanna. But now is not God’s time for that to happen. It’s the wrong feast. It’s the Feast of Tabernacles not the Passover.[13] So Jesus told them (verse 6), “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right.” The word he uses in that text is kairos not chronos. Kairos often carries the idea of time for a specific purpose, opportune or seasonable time.[14]
Here is Jesus not only being sensitive to what God wants to do but when He wants to do it as well. We use the phrase, “Timing is everything” because by experience we have learned that to do the right thing at the wrong time does not work. A quarterback can throw the most beautiful pass down field, but if it is not timed right for the receiver to receive it, it will either be an uncompleted pass or an interception. For Jesus his obedience to the Father must be according to God’s “kairos” timing—like a batter swinging the bat just as the ball crosses the plate.[15]
Remember how Israel missed God’s timing at Kadesh Barnea? God told them to go in and take the land. After the spies gave their report Israel decided to not do it. Then later they decided they would. It was a disaster because doing the right thing at the wrong time can be presumption rather than obedience.[16]
Jesus says to these unbelieving brothers, “...for you any time is right.” What was he saying? He was saying since they were not submitted to God or His will for their lives they would just go when they wanted to. Rather than operating under God’s authority and leadership, they were just living for themselves and doing their own thing. So what did it matter when they went. They were not functioning in God’s purposes anyway.[17]
But one who is operating in genuine faith does what God says, when God says to do it.
III. Real faith challenges the status quo.
Jesus did go to Jerusalem. He did it quietly the way the Father told him to do it but he went. His brothers wanted him to join their caravan to Jerusalem. For safety reasons as well as other reasons these people would travel in large caravans. Remember when Jesus was twelve years old it took his parents three days to find him. There is no way Jesus could have quietly entered Jerusalem in a huge caravan like that.[18]
We know that when he got there people were already talking about him. They weren’t open in their conversation because the crowd knew how upset the religious leaders were about Jesus. But he was already the talk of the town and there were all kinds of rumors and opinions going around.[19]
Jesus said to his brothers, (verse 7) “The word cannot hate you...”
Why? Because they were operating in perfect accord with it. In no way did their lives challenge the status quo. They were perfectly adapted to the culture because they were part of the whole ungodly system. Jesus said to his disciples in John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
Have you ever noticed the difference between the way the media interviews a godly person verses an ungodly person. They will lay traps, oppose, undermine a godly man or woman being interviewed. Then they are so supportive to the wicked when they interview them. It was no different in Jesus’ day.
Jesus said, “The world can not hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.” His character, his example, his life was a living testimony against their wickedness. His unselfishness exposed their selfishness. His devotion to God exposed their lack of true consecration to God. In addition to that, he verbally addressed their insincerity and disobedience. The Light came and because they loved darkness, they hated and resisted the Light.
When we find ourselves fully embraced by the world it is cause for concern. We are to be loving, kind, sensitive, and understanding. But if our lives do not challenge the wickedness of the world around us, if our lives do not provoke some persecution, criticism, and opposition something is probably wrong. We have probably adapted ourselves a little too nicely to the culture and the world around us. Paul reminded Timothy, “All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”[20]
Does my life challenge the status quo of wickedness around me or am I a chameleon who simply adapts to whatever environment I find myself in? Jesus went to Jerusalem and when he got there he upset the status quo.
Conclusion
John says that the purpose of his book has to do with faith—John 20:31
31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. KJV
We have seen in our text something of what John’s concept of faith is—
1. It is not presumptuous recklessness.
2. It is sensitive to God’s will and timing.
3. It is a force to be reckoned with by the world.
It will challenge the world’s attitudes and behaviors and call them to God.
May God give us that kind of faith.
Pray
Endnotes
[1] II Kings 1
2 Exodus 20:7
3 The Jews interpreted the command in Lev 24:16 as prohibiting the utterance of the name Jehovah, reading for it "Adonai" or "Elohim." BLASPHEMY: (From The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)
4 I Thes. 5:19-21
5 Psalms 119:105
6 Psalms 119:11
7 For an extensive discussion of this statement see the last chapter of The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee (New York:Christian Fellowship Publisher’s Inc., 1977) pp.213-221.
8 Paul Fritz, “Some Problems with Presumption” (http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=59858&ContributorID=6170) whose source was Today in the Word, July, 1989, p. 8
9 http://judaism.about.com/library/3_holidays/bl_holidays.htm
10 Deut 16:16-17
16Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: 17Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you. NIV
11 Leon Morris, Reflections on the Gospel of John,(Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2000) p.253-254
12JUDE (from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft)
13 John 12:12-19
14 NT:2540 (from The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright (c)1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.)
15 Jack Hayford sermon entitled “The Human Quest for the Divine Will” preached at Church on the Way (14820 Sherman Way Van Nuys, CA)
16 Numbers 13 and 14
17 Leon Morris, p. 256. Alfred Edersheim specifically links this statement to their carnal/political view of Messiah’s kingdom, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,, Vol. II, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing) p. 130
18 Arthur Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975) p. 377
19 Leon Morris, p. 258
20 II Timothy 3:12
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] II Kings 1
[2] Exodus 20:7
[3] The Jews interpreted the command in Lev 24:16 as prohibiting the utterance of the name Jehovah, reading for it "Adonai" or "Elohim." BLASPHEMY: (From The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)
[4] I Thes. 5:19-21
[5] Psalms 119:105
[6] Psalms 119:11
[7] For an extensive discussion of this statement see the last chapter of The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee (New York:Christian Fellowship Publisher’s Inc., 1977) pp.213-221.
[8] Paul Fritz, “Some Problems with Presumption” (http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon.asp?SermonID=59858&ContributorID=6170) whose source was Today in the Word, July, 1989, p. 8
[9] http://judaism.about.com/library/3_holidays/bl_holidays.htm
[10] Deut 16:16-17
16Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: 17Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you. NIV
[11] Leon Morris, Reflections on the Gospel of John,(Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2000) p.253-254
[12] JUDE (from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft)
[13] John 12:12-19
[14] NT:2540 (from The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright (c)1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.)
[15] Jack Hayford sermon entitled “The Human Quest for the Divine Will” preached at Church on the Way (14820 Sherman Way Van Nuys, CA)
[16] Numbers 13 and 14
[17] Leon Morris, p. 256. Alfred Edersheim specifically links this statement to their carnal/political view of Messiah’s kingdom, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,, Vol. II, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing) p. 130
[18] Arthur Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975) p. 377
[19] Leon Morris, p. 258
[20] II Timothy 3:12
