The Gospel of John Chapter Seven
Do Honorable Work
A debate is raging, building towards a climax.
Things are getting intense.
People are passionately choosing sides.
This is what is happening in Chapter 7 of the Gospel of John.
In both chapters 7 and 8 John is revealing Jesus as the Messiah
The people are in controversy and confusion over who Jesus is.
One group says he’s a good man, another group a deceiver.
Some want to make Him king, some want to kill Him.
In Chapter 7 there are eleven references to death threats and attempts
to arrest Jesus (7:1, 13, 19, 25, 30, 32, 44; 8:20, 37, 40, 59).
In our study of the Gospel according to John I have given you “take-a-ways.”
A couple of words to remind you of a concept that we as disciples of Jesus
must put into practice in our daily lives.
Jesus is God,
Jesus chose you,
Do Whatever He Says,
Clean House,
Be in the Kingdom,
Welcome the Light.
Gush.
Want to Get Well
Eat, Drink and Love
Today we are going to add to our list
Do Honorable Work
You will be viewing the 7th chapter of John’s Gospel
If you like you can read along in your Bibles.
I think just a little background will enrich your encounter with God’s
Word.
The passage we will consider occurs during the Feast of Tabernacles.
You may have heard of this 7 day celebration called
Sukkot Sue-KAH
Or the Feast of Booths.
Or the Festival of Ingathering.
Historically the Feast commemorates the wilderness wandering of the nation
following the Exodus. (Leviticus 23:33)
It is a Festival of Thanksgiving.
The people are reminded of God’s gracious provision for Israel
during those 40 years in the Desert,
bringing them to the Land of Promise.
Since this Feast is held around harvest time,
It was also a time to thank God for His gracious
provision of the current season’s harvest.
Both past and present this Feast reminds the people of their profound dependence
upon God to provide for their needs.
There is one particularly powerful symbol that a cursory reading will miss.
John 7:37-38 (NIV)
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."
On each day of the feast there was a procession of priests to the pool of Siloam to
draw water
The priests returned to the temple,
where the water was taken in procession once around the altar
with the choir chanting Psalms 113-118,
and then the water was poured out as a libation at the
morning sacrifice.
On the seventh day of the festival the priests processed around the altar with the
water not once but seven times
The ritual is tied to Isaiah 12:3
Isaiah 12:3 (NIV)
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
So here on the grandest day of the festival as the priests are returning to the temple
with their water offering of worship and thanksgiving
In a loud voice as to be heard over the crowds
That he is the thirst quencher
This invitation to come and drink is the climax of a series of references to water in this Gospel:
the water turned to wine (chap. 2),
the water of the new birth (chap. 3),
the living water (chap. 4),
the cleansing water of Bethesda (chap. 5)
and the calming of the waters (chap. 6).
All of these have revealed Jesus as the agent of God who brings the Father’s
gracious offer of life.
In case you are wondering what this stream of living water is—
Can’t take it literally or you would be wetting all over the place--
John doesn’t leave us to guess.
John 7:38-39 (NIV)
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
If you are wondering which Scripture Jesus is referring to its Isaiah 58:11
Isaiah 58:11 (NIV)
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
The Lord’s guidance and provision and strength will be the Holy
Spirit within you.
Let’s watch John Chapter 7
Pay close attention to what Jesus says about gaining honor.
I want to focus your attention on verses 14-18
John 7:14-18 (NIV)
Not until
halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to
teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning
without having studied?"
Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.
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. 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.
Jesus was old enough to be a rabbi
But in order to be a rabbi you had to have a rabbi mentor you.
Rabbi’s took on apprentices at about 16 years of age.
That apprentice would learn to do what the rabbi did.
That apprentice would come to understand the scripture
the way his mentor did.
Understanding the scripture a certain way,
Translating the scripture a certain way,
Teaching the scripture a certain way,
Ministering to the people a certain way,
Was considered the yoke of the Rabbi.
As you apprenticed with your Rabbi,
You would begin to bear his yoke,
And eventually you would leave and carry on your
Rabbi’s calling.
You would carry his yoke.
Jesus was never an apprentice to a Rabbi and that’s way the Jews are amazed at
Jesus teaching.
He is not some country bumpkin with a bunch of home spun antic
dotes to sway uneducated people.
Jesus was obviously well educated in the scripture.
His understanding surpassed the Pharisees and the Priests and
everyone was amazed at how articulate and sharp Jesus was.
Some in the crowd were probably scoffing—
He is teaching in his own name.
“No Rabbi ever made a statement on his own authority.
He always began: "There is a teaching that..."
He then went on to cite quotations and authorities for
every statement he made.” (Barclay)
But Jesus wasn’t doing this.
To the Pharisees Jesus was teaching in his own name,
Which amounts to saying he’s a heretic.
He has no covering authority.
His ideas, his conclusions about the scripture
are new and therefore must be wrong.
Jesus tells the crowd that his teaching is not His own,
Jesus tells us that his authority comes from the one who sent Him.
Jesus is saying that he is God taught,
Or in other words that he is a prophet of God.
The things that he is saying are the very words of
God.
Then comes one of those heart checks.
One of those comments that causes a disciple to stop and
consider how they are living their lives.
John 7:17 (NIV)
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.
Only when the intent of your heart is to do God’s will
Do the teachings of Jesus begin to make sense.
That heart intent—to do God’s will, motivates a person to obedience.
The result is leaning and understanding through doing.
I’ve told you before—just because you read a book about auto mechanics
Doesn’t make you one.
Just because you read and study a text book on how to
perform open heart surgery does not make you a cardiologist.
You may have read the book,
You might be able to talk a good game,
But when put to the test—
you find out just how lacking your education really was.
I believe the term is “educated idiot.”
The attitude of your heart,
The intent of your will,
Of it is to love God,
Jesus teachings will make more and more sense to you.
You will find yourself growing in obedience.
As you grow in obedience you grow in
understanding.
This seems to be a very common progression in the life of believers,
Intent, obedience, understanding
If you wait to understand, you may never get started.
Let’s continue on
John 7:16-18 (NIV)
Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. 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. 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.
Our inner enemy,
Egoism, the sin nature, self-centered carnality, the Old King James
translated it the flesh,
is easily seduced by Satan into believing a lie.
Egoism is an attitude that exalts self,
It hungers for preeminence,
And because of it we can be blinded to the fact that we are
hypocrites.
Anything outside of love is sin.
The Holy Spirit checked me just the other day.
I didn’t even know I was in a hokey game.
I was on the verge of launching into an argument.
A particular spiritual issue arose and the person expounding their views was
not in harmony with my yoke.
Therefore they must be wrong.
After all my yoke comes from God.
I have scripture references for every point.
Since I am more enlightened it was my responsibility to correct my brothers
error in thinking.
Just as I was loading my doctrine and dogma shotgun
the Holy Spirit brought a verse to mind.
1 Timothy 5:1-2 (NLT)
Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers. Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.
So instead of lecturing I listened.
Later as I thought about this incident a few more scriptures came to
mind.
Titus 3:9 (NIV)
But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.
I tried to weasel out of this, in order to hit him with the truth later.
After all I’m right and he was wrong.
After all I have scripture to stand on,
Therefore he needs to believe the way I believe.
Oh the temptation was so strong,
After all I am a pastor.
And it was as if the Holy Spirit said to me,
An unprofitable and useless pastor
Romans 14:4 (NIV)
Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
I thought—but he says his master is my master
and there is no way he can think what he’s thinking and be following my
master.
How can our yokes be different if we both seek to obey?
Anything outside of love is sin.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NLT)
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Here’s my conclusion to this time of contemplation
“He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself”
To launch into a lecture over this particular issue was just to prove myself to
be right.
To gain honor for myself.
To stroke an ego that needs to remain crucified.
A brother or sister in Christ can believe all kinds of things differently than I
And still go to heaven.
So in this instance, even though I am 100% convinced that I am
right and hold the opinion that is most biblical,
it was most Christian to not demand my own way.
It was most Christian not to say, sit here at my feet
brother and I will teach you the ways of
God.
As I was reading John Chapter 7 the Spirit brought all this to mind.
I came to realize that it was the Holy Spirit that prevented me from jumping
into something with both feet that wasn’t necessary.
The Holy Spirit stopped me because He has empowered me to work of the honor
of the one who sent me.
To work for the honor of God is to glorify God,
Glory can mean a physical manifestation of the presence of
God.
To work for the honor of God is to allow yourself to be used to
manifest the presence of God.
The best way to manifest the presence of God is to love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NLT)
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Here’s you take-a-way—
Do honorable work
Commit yourself to do honorable work.
Honorable work is to love
John 7:18-19 (NLT)
Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.
Set your heart on doing honorable work,
As you do you will understand the truth and the truth will set you free.
Set your heart on doing honorable work,
And when the time is right,
you will speak truth into the hearts of others.
Do honorable work.