John 7:45-53

 John 7.45-53

It always comes down to one simple question: “Who is this Jesus?”  Sooner or later that is the question that MUST be answered.  In the crowd were those who thought He was “the prophet” who would precede the Messiah.  Some thought He was the Messiah Himself.  Some rejected Him as evil, mad or dangerous.  Some believe He would be a political Messiah who would be used by God to throw off Roman oppression.  Some though He was an agitator who would only stir up trouble.  Some rejected Him and closed their eyes and ears to any and all evidence, they refused to listen to any of His teachings.   Some, the Sanhedrin, wanted Him arrested.  At least one member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemous, wanted to hear out His claims.  It always comes down to the same ultimate question: “Who is Jesus?” 

John points out one interesting reaction for one specific group, “The officers” or temple police.  They were apparently sent to arrest Jesus, but before they took Him into custody they listened to Him.  And having listened to Him they were challenged and changed and could not arrest Him.  When confronted with their failure to arrest Him all they could say was “Never did a man speak the way this man speaks”.   In an honest hearing of this man, Jesus, there is an awareness that He is unique.  All we ask is that people hear what Jesus said.  And after you listen to what He said, make a decision about Him. 

“Lord, help me to hear every day what Jesus says, and shape my life accordingly. AMEN”   

John 7:37-44

 John 7 37 - 44

“Come to Jesus and drink” is a short summation of verses 37 and 38. Like so many of Jesus's statements it is grander and bigger than it first appears. John gives us the context, it is the last and greatest day of the feast. The week-long celebration of Tabernacles was the most joyous of all Jewish feasts. It was sort of a combination of Thanksgiving with a week of feasting, summer vacation, a week-long camping trip and great celebrative and commemorative ceremonies. 

This ceremony was in celebrating God's provision during the Exodus by giving water to Israel. At the feast there was also prayer for rain for the coming crops.  In an agricultural society this was about future provision, life itself.  On the last day there was the culmination of the week with a grand parade. Throngs in procession marched from the spring to the altar.  On the way they were chanting scriptures and waving branches.  Once they arrived at the altar the High Priest would pour out the sacrificial water.  It was the highest high point of worship in the most joyful feast of the year.  Imagine that great moment when the last drop of water pours out.  In the silence before the cheers erupt from the people Jesus says: “If any man is thirsty let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of Living Water.”

There is no metaphor, no comparison that can adequately explain that statement. In a festival in which the worshipers are thanking God for His miraculous care by providing water in the desert Jesus says, “I’ll do you one better come to Me personally. I am the one who gives the water that will fill you to overflowing.”

Such a man was their stark raving mad, the most aggressive deceiver in history or He was the water of life.  

“Lord, fill me with Your Spirt till I am completely full and overflowing with You. AMEN”

John 7:25-36

 John 7:25-36

There is time as in the hour of the day and there is time as in the opportunity. In John 7 Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles. He is speaking in the temple courts. The Great Divide is growing between those who believe in Jesus and those who do not.  The opportunity for faith is theirs; they have in that moment the opportunity.  But Jesus tells them, “You will seek Me and not find Me and where I am you cannot come.”  While in their presence Jesus was speaking to these people of the time when he would return to the Father.  They would seek Him, but because they rejected the truth that He was from the Father, and He had returned to the Father, they would never find Him.  The opportunity would be lost.  

We are so familiar with the words of Jesus, “Seek and you will find.”  We hold these words like a no limit credit card that places Jesus at our bidding.  How do we reconcile this promise with this other saying of Jesus that we can come to the point that we will seek Him but we will not find Him?  “Seek and you will find.”  “You will seek and not find.”  The time or opportunity is there and then the time or opportunity is lost.

We become flippant about sin in our life. We do not take seriously the grave warnings of scripture about righteousness. We treat both holiness and un-holiness as matters of little consequence. We fail to seek the Lord when He can be found. As a consequence we spiral into greater depth and darkness, and into an absence from God.  It is only when we finally hit rock bottom we start seeking Jesus.  But we may not really be looking for Jesus, but only for a genie. So wrapped up is our self and our sinful life (shall we use the word Flesh) we don't want to have Him as Master and Lord. We only want Him to be a bail bondsman to get us out of the fix we are in and then we wonder why we can't find Jesus. 

Every dalliance with sin, every dabbling with evil is a potential one-way street to this hopeless destination.  Any individual act of sin is like an on-ramp to a highway to hell.  There are exits where we can turn around, but the longer we drive the less frequent the exits, the longer between exits.  We can even get to the point that there are no exit ramps at all.

So where is the place where we must be to seek the Lord in order to find Him? That place is the cross, His cross and our cross. It is the place where we will recognize the truly monstrous evil of our sin!  It is a place where we have a change of mind and will to turn from sin and self, and to die to these.  In a word it is the place of repentance. We can’t see Jesus without repentance.  We can search till the stars burn out and we will not find Him.  We must renounce ourselves i.e. the flesh, the world's system, and the devil and in repentance we find Jesus.  May we never forget that before there is the blessing of finding Christ there is the repentance moved by the Cross.  

“Holy Spirit, convict me, bring your holy judgment on me, show me where I hold any evil thing without repentance, show me where I must turn from evil. Grant to me, Lord, a true and heartfelt repentance. AMEN

John 7:14-24

 John 7:14-24

Christianity is not a theoretical religion. One of the great struggles with churches is that we have often emphasized learning without the proper emphasis on practice. There is no heroic merit in ignorance. Being dumb is not a virtue. But there is so much more to being a disciple then knowing the body of literature and the doctrines of the Christian faith. Verse 17 forces us to face a very personal and direct question. “If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself”. The immediate context is the lasting fury over Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath in chapter 5. But there is a principle for us, “In the doing there is the knowing.” It is impossible to come to mature and rich knowledge of God if we do not practice the faith. Imagine a situation in which a person might attend class for 60, 70, or 80 years and never graduate and enter the workforce. They may have advanced knowledge of the textbooks and may have even provided some leadership in the school itself, but having never entered the workforce they are all but useless. Sadly that is often the case in the church. Did you ever hear or see a graduation ceremony for Sunday School?

The verb “shall know” is a future middle verb in Greek and it means that as we do the knowledge happens to ourselves. In other words we cannot know unless we do. In one sense we can and will never ‘learn’ enough to ‘know’.   But as we act upon what we have learned we will grow into knowing. A person is better off acting in small steps, even if they haven’t learned much, than to have  80 years of study and learning and never take any action.  No amount of learning alone will produce intimacy with God.  High obedience with low knowledge is infinitely better than high knowledge with low obedience. 

“Lord, grant that I will apply what you have given to me in every interaction of life, AMEN”

John 71-13

 John 7:1-13

Once again we can have a passage of such death that there are meanings, implications, and applications that we might miss with a quick read. Jesus being fully human lived in a world of temptation. Note that these temptations always went to the same issue but in different forms. In the last chapter the people offered to make Jesus the king, Satan had offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world during the 40 days in the wilderness. The people wanted Jesus to provide them with miraculous bread Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones to bread. Now Jesus's brothers want him to go to Jerusalem to show off his power, just like Satan tempted Jesus to leap from the high point of the temple to show off His power.

Jesus's response is to shift the discussion from a show of power to a word about time.  A discussion of submission to the will of God. Jesus says the time καιρος is not at hand. The word means opportunity, the right moment, in regard to timing. A batter can swing the bat anytime he wants, but there is a right time to do it. If he is a little early or a little late his swing is ineffective. But if he swings the bat at the right time, when everything comes together, and the ball flies 450 feet out of the park.

How did Jesus deal with a multi-sided attack from the spiritual forces of darkness and human opposition, and pressure? He looked for the sweet spot; the intersection of the right circumstance, the right place, and the right opportunity or time. That kind of discernment doesn't just happen. It is built by being in the relationship with the Father. Unlike Jesus, we will miss that wonderful sweet spot of time, place and circumstance. But each of those misses is a learning occasion. With a major league pitcher that sweet spot of right timing is incredibly small with a little league pitcher it is much larger. If we want to learn to hit the sweet spot with a big league pitcher we must first learn to get the sweet spot with a little league pitcher.  

Sometimes before the devil draws us into wickedness he will first try to draw us into bad timing. Learning to be mature and discerning God's timing will allow us to find the sweet spot.

“Lord, help me to learn to discern the right time for all that You have for me. AMEN”