4/18/04 – It’s All in the Timing
The Feast of Shelters
Slide #1
The Feast of the Shelters was the third of the great annual festivals
In the Jewish tradition there are several feasts. These events are a sort of religious holiday where several days are given to the celebration of life and the worship of God.
Some we are at least somewhat familiar with because of their connection to significant Christian days of celebration. Passover is forever connected to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is connected theologically to our understanding being redeemed by way of the life sacrifice of Jesus.
One lesser known feast is called the “Feast of the Shelters” It was celebrated immediately after the harvest. For eight days the people left their homes and lived in booths formed of the branches of trees. This feast was designed first to be a memorial of the wilderness wanderings, when the people dwelt in temporary shelters rather than permanent homes (Lev. 23:43), and second to be a harvest thanksgiving (Neh. 8:9–18).
During the time of Jesus’ ministry “The feast of Shelters” also known as the “feast of tabernacles” or the “feast of booths” at the time of the annual harvest was the most popular and important festival after the Captivity. In Jerusalem it was a great party. It was probably a lot like a religious Octoberfest. (Wrap your mind around that image!) Picture a city of rooftops (remember they are flat and used as an extra room) courtyards, streets, squares, roads, and gardens filled with green branches fashioned into shelters where every one lived for a week and a day.
A city of filled with homeless people!!! It was this festival that was about to take place when John records the many responses to the message of Jesus in the seventh chapter…
The Controversial Jesus
Slide #2
It is the life transforming power of God in the body of the man Jesus that creates the controversial Messiah.
Key Understanding: God is expressed in Jesus
It’s not the teaching, the philosophy, or the concepts of love and compassion that made Jesus controversial.
It’s not the miracles, the healings, or even the commanding presence of his personality.
It is the message – the Seven “I Am…”’s of Jesus
I am the bread of life - John 6:35
I am the light of the World – John 8:12
I am the gate – John 10:7
I am the good shepherd – John 10:11
I am the Resurrection and the Life – John 11:25
I am the way, the truth and the life – John 14:6
I am the vine, you are the branches – John 15:1
The results are several and they are clearly in this seventh chapter of John.
Five Responses to Jesus
Hatred
John 7:1
1After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews there wanted to kill him.
Slide #3
There were some who were directly challenged by Jesus. The crowds he drew to himself were the very people they looked as their own. Jesus challenged their influence, their power, and their position of wealth. That is the best way I know of getting knocked off.
Think of these guys as the religious Mafioso of the time. They were going to keep their hands clean but they were going to make sure that someone took care of Jesus. The trick was to do it in such a way that they discredited him. No one wanted to make Jesus a hero by making him a martyr.
Five Responses to Jesus
Doubt
John 7:3-5
3 So Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You should leave here and go to Judea so your followers there can see the miracles you do. 4 Anyone who wants to be well known does not hide what he does. If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”
Slide #4
Even Jesus own brothers didn’t believe. They had grown up with him. Later they would believe (James, the brother of Jesus, became the Pastor of the church in Jerusalem) but now they did not.
It isn’t really all that surprising. If a prophet is without honor in his own country then a brother is without good judgment with his own people.
Jesus’ own brothers rejected the evidence of His works, and taunted Him. Why don’t you go on down to the party in Jerusalem and do some miracles? It would be a great place to get your campaign going to get elected “King”!
That’s one response…
Five Responses to Jesus
Conflict
John 7:12
12 Within the large crowd there, many people were whispering to each other about Jesus. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “No, he fools the people.”
Slide #5
People argued with themselves and with each other. This Jesus. Is He a good Man, or a heretic? (vv. 12–13)
Can you imagine the conversation in the local coffee shops? It must have been intense!
Years ago I used to travel early weekday mornings to a little coffee shop restaurant called “The Main Drift” in Negaunee, MI where I would enjoy a couple of eggs, a couple of strips of bacon, and a little toast with strawberry jam. It was in this battered building with it’s worn and torn booth’s that the town business would be conducted – unofficially and informally. It would be discussed, dissected, defended, and deconstructed – passionately – by iron miners and lumberjacks; store owners and business men; sometimes even the waitresses and cooks would add their thirty-five cents worth.
You know what I discovered? Some people changed sides in the middle of the argument just to watch the sparks fly. They actually enjoyed the conflict. These are strange and dangerous minds.
Five Responses to Jesus
Fear
John 7:13
13 But no one was brave enough to talk about Jesus openly, because they were afraid of the Jews.
Slide #6
Even those who were convinced that Jesus was a Prophet and a good Man feared to take a stand. They knew they would be attacked, and probably persecuted by their religious leaders (referred to here and in other passages as “the Jews”. They were all Jews – It was just that some were more “Jewish” than others!)
Five Responses to Jesus
Faith
John 7:12
12 Within the large crowd there, many people were whispering to each other about Jesus. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “No, he fools the people.”
Slide #7
Did you notice that many began to whisper, “He is a good man”
That’s where faith begins
Faith grows and develops from this point to trust and devotion. The growth depends on feeding and time to grow.
Jesus Reaction to the Responses…
Stay, Prepare, and Wait
John 7:6-9
6 Jesus said to his brothers, “The right time for me has not yet come, but any time is right for you. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I tell it the evil things it does. 8 So you go to the feast. I will not go yet to this feast, because the right time for me has not yet come.” 9 After saying this, Jesus stayed in Galilee.
Slide #8
It really is all in the timing – and Jesus understood that the timing wasn’t right yet.
There would be a day when he would go to Jerusalem and he would pay that ultimate price – but for now his followers and the work to get ready for building a spiritual kingdom called the church required a little more time.
We have the same mission and purpose as Jesus
The Great Commission is our mission and purpose for life.
He gave us our marching orders when he last spoke to his gathered followers just before he ascended into the heavens.
“Go – make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you…”
Stay, Prepare, And Wait
Stay Confident and Secure in Jesus
Slide #9 Build 1
We will have the same responses as Jesus did! No surprises here – Jesus is the same today as he was when he walked the earth with the 12 disciples.
When we introduce Jesus to our friends and family we will encounter the same responses that He did.
There will be hatred, doubt, conflict, and fear. There will also be the beginning whispers of faith.
We must not fall into the easy way of Isolation and Clubism. We must not fall into easy condemnation and spiritual elitism.
I am just a hungry man who found the table filled with food. Now, I am just a satisfied man inviting others to come and eat with me!
I have much personal pain in my heart as I relate what happened with Hal and Jennie Strong many years ago. Here is a man who was quietly participating in the church. He had not made the decision to commit his life to Jesus but he was hanging around the edges and the whispers of faith were slowly getting easier to hear when he spoke. And then one Sunday at a gather following the service he offered his opinion about how to solve a challenge we were facing in the church and
I poured buckets of cold water on his soul when I said “I don’t care what you think about that – I just care about you accepting Jesus as Lord of your life”
There was nothing wrong with what I said that day – except that it was said with an arrogant tongue and a haughty heart. I am embarrassed to tell you of this today. When I wrote it in my office on Thursday this week tears filled my eyes and I ask God’s forgiveness that I was not willing to wait on the right time in that man’s life.
I’m not responsible for the growth of that man’s faith – God is – I’m just the messenger boy.
Stay, Prepare, And Wait
Stay Confident and Secure in Jesus
Prepare for the right time
Slide #10 Build 2
Jesus told his disciples to go to the feast. He would come later – when the time with right and ripe.
We must go to the feast too. We’re called to be in the world (not of the world) – Why? My job is to prepare the way and to build the relationships by loving people. God has called us to be a transforming community that transforms the community.
The wrong question is “How do we get them to come?” The tough question is “How do we get the family of God into the community.”
We’ve been working on that with the Meridian Angels have sponsored the annual Clothing drive and the Christmas Breakfast. Dave Costa and I have been strategizing about Backyard Kids Clubs this summer. Jamie Wetzel is organizing walkers for the Relay for Life. Steve Higgs is hanging out regularly with young people. All of us are working, thinking, praying, strategizing, and planning to encourage all of us to become a transforming community that is transforming the community – by serving it with love and in the name of Jesus.
Stay, Prepare, And Wait
Stay Confident and Secure in Jesus
Prepare for the right time
Now we must Wait for Jesus to act at the right time
Slide #11 Build 3
Here is the hard part. Love people, deflect the hatred, endure the doubt, put up with the conflict and comfort the fearful.
Don’t ever push people. Ever. Unbelieving spouse – don’t push, nag, or beg. You’ll lose your mates respect and get no results. In the end you’ll be tired and they will be irritated. Pray for them.
Love them.
When the time is right…
Follow Jesus
When Faith Grows From a Whisper and becomes a Roar
The man who attended for years. Would never make a commitment to Jesus. His wife came. He came occasionally. I would talk to him about the person of Jesus and he would say – I’m not ready yet.
I had a deck flashcards – excuses for not accepting Jesus on one side and answers on the other side. Once I went to his house and spread the cards out on the coffee table and said – I have all the answers. It was said in love and without the haughty heart. It was said in real compassion and caring concern. We both laughed and he said, “I don’t know why but I’m not ready yet.” The whispers of faith were there but not loudly.
One night following a weekend visit by this man to his twin brother in Chicago he called me at home. It was two AM. He said, “I’m ready – can you baptize me right now – tonight?” To this day I don’t know what turned the his whisper of faith in to a roar of faith – but I was pleased to baptize him into Jesus Christ that very night at about 3 AM.
It was the right time.
Is it the Right Time for you?
Prayer
Invitation
Response
