WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.180 Amen. Good morning, everybody. So we are back in John this morning, having had a few weeks off. 00:00:07.780 --> 00:00:12.680 Well, it seems like a few weeks anyway. So we're in John chapter 7. If you've got a Bible, 00:00:12.860 --> 00:00:18.080 I encourage you to try and follow it. As Mike said, the passage is a little challenging 00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:23.560 to get to grips with. So we're going to read it first and then go through it a little bit 00:00:23.560 --> 00:00:28.680 verse by verse to try and understand it and unpack it for us today in 2026. 00:00:28.680 --> 00:00:34.360 but just by way of context you remember hopefully some of the stuff that we've talked about in 00:00:34.360 --> 00:00:41.400 recent weeks if we go back to John chapter 5 we talked about Jesus healing that guy on the sabbath 00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:46.480 the man that had been paralyzed for over 30 years and as a result of that the Jewish leaders of his 00:00:46.480 --> 00:00:51.600 day grumbling that he healed somebody on the sabbath and we'll come back to that in today's 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:56.860 passage and then a little bit after that we get into John chapter 6 because we're looking at the 00:00:56.860 --> 00:01:02.100 gospel of John and his account of the life of Jesus and in John chapter 6 we came across the 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:07.840 feeding of the 5,000 years quite well-known miracle five loaves two fish and feeding all 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.920 those people and having loads left over and we talked about that and then straight after that 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:17.580 we got the story of the disciples crossing the sea of Galilee in the boat and Jesus coming walking 00:01:17.580 --> 00:01:21.660 across the water to them in the middle of the night and the challenges around that that 00:01:21.660 --> 00:01:26.700 presented and we went through that and then when they land on this other side of the sea of 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:33.420 Galilee we saw how Jesus taught the people of the time and how actually his teachings became hard 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:39.040 for them and a lot of his disciples fell away and decided that they couldn't follow Jesus and so we 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:46.480 get to John chapter 7 which Johnny talked us through a few weeks ago and at this point we 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:51.600 start we encounter this feast of tabernacles or feast of booths nothing to do with our worship 00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:58.440 leader this morning. But we're going to encounter this today. And actually, the whole of chapter 00:01:58.440 --> 00:02:04.700 seven is actually about what happens when Jesus goes to this feast. But let me just read from 00:02:04.700 --> 00:02:09.940 verse, I'm going to start reading in verse 10. So what's happened at the beginning of chapter seven 00:02:09.940 --> 00:02:14.580 is Jesus is saying, I'm not going to Jerusalem and Judea because they're going to try and kill me. 00:02:15.060 --> 00:02:19.160 But then his brothers say, why don't you go to Jerusalem and do your miracles there? 00:02:19.160 --> 00:02:23.600 even though at the same time his brothers don't believe he is who he's saying he is so it's kind 00:02:23.600 --> 00:02:29.160 of interesting dynamic going on there so but Jesus tells his brothers he's not going to go 00:02:29.160 --> 00:02:35.060 up to Jerusalem to this feast so his brothers leave and go off and the thinking Jesus is staying 00:02:35.060 --> 00:02:41.880 behind in Galilee so in verse 10 of John chapter 7 we read this however after his brothers had 00:02:41.880 --> 00:02:48.900 left for the feast he went also not publicly but in secret now at the feast the Jews were 00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:54.740 watching for him and asking where is that man by jews here it means the jewish leaders who were 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:59.860 plotting to to kill him because they don't like what he's doing they say where is that man among 00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:04.760 the crowds however there was a widespread whispering about him some said well he's a good 00:03:04.760 --> 00:03:11.080 man others replied no he deceives people but no one would say anything publicly about him for fear 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:16.620 of the jews not until halfway through the feast did jesus go up to the temple courts and begin 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:24.480 to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, how did this man get such learning without having studied? 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:29.520 If only that could be true of all of us, right? That would be great, wouldn't it? Jesus answered, 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:35.060 my teaching is not my own, it comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:41.260 he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks 00:03:41.260 --> 00:03:48.340 on his own does so to gain honor for himself but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:55.020 is a man of truth there is nothing false about him has not moses given you the law yet not one 00:03:55.020 --> 00:04:00.700 of you keeps the law why are you trying to kill me you were demon possessed the crowd answered 00:04:00.700 --> 00:04:06.240 who's trying to kill you jesus said to them i did one miracle and he's referring back to that healing 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:11.240 of the guy on the sabbath that had been paralyzed for 30 odd years i did one miracle and you 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:16.160 were all astonished yet because moses gave you circumcision though actually it didn't come from 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:23.610 moses but from the patriarchs that's abraham isaac and jacob you circumcise a child on the sabbath 00:04:23.610 --> 00:04:29.630 now if a child can be circumcised on the sabbath so the law of moses may not be broken why are you 00:04:29.630 --> 00:04:37.710 angry with me for healing the whole man on the sabbath stop judging by mere appearances and make 00:04:37.710 --> 00:04:45.530 a right judgment okay right then so so what's he's talking about so as i said his brothers 00:04:45.530 --> 00:04:50.110 have tried to persuade him to go he say i'm not going and then actually as we read there jesus 00:04:50.110 --> 00:04:55.390 goes in secret to this feast of tabernacles or this feast of tabernacles also known it is known 00:04:55.390 --> 00:05:00.690 as the feast of booze or the feast of ingathering was one of three great pilgrimage festivals of 00:05:00.690 --> 00:05:04.790 the jewish year so it's good to have a little bit of background so we kind of understand a little 00:05:04.790 --> 00:05:09.590 bit more of what Jesus is talking about here and what John is telling us and this festival ran from 00:05:09.590 --> 00:05:16.210 the 15th to the 22nd of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar and every male was required to 00:05:16.210 --> 00:05:21.770 attend and during the festival they lived in booths hence the feast of booths which were made 00:05:21.770 --> 00:05:27.270 out of palm trees our boughs and branches and leaves of palm trees and sacrifices were offered 00:05:27.270 --> 00:05:33.830 every day for the eight days and I think I worked out there was 199 animals were sacrificed 00:05:33.830 --> 00:05:41.090 and a whole mass of grain offerings as well and on the last day the eighth day there was a big 00:05:41.090 --> 00:05:48.250 celebration everyone came together and we'll come back to that again in a minute and the it was it 00:05:48.250 --> 00:05:52.350 was a thanksgiving for the provision of god you know a little bit like we used to have harvest 00:05:52.350 --> 00:05:56.950 time thanksgiving in this country you know thanking god for the provision of the year this 00:05:56.950 --> 00:06:01.970 was thanking god for providing for them for the year but it also had a historical context because 00:06:01.970 --> 00:06:06.610 they were looking back to when the people of Israel were going through the wilderness and 00:06:06.610 --> 00:06:12.010 God had brought them out of Egypt and they spent those 40 years living in booths in the wilderness 00:06:12.010 --> 00:06:18.370 you're very popular today living going through the world as 40 and God provided for them so again 00:06:18.370 --> 00:06:24.450 it's hard for us to grasp that because we're not great on celebrating our history and owning our 00:06:24.450 --> 00:06:30.330 history and rejoicing over stuff from thousands of years ago but in their culture in that time 00:06:30.330 --> 00:06:35.370 in that society it was a big part of what they all did and a big part of their national 00:06:35.370 --> 00:06:42.360 identity and so yeah so we get to verse 10 and Jesus goes secretly so let's just go through this 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:50.080 verse 11 to 13 so the Jews who don't wrong chapter let me flip the page verse 11 to 13 now at the 00:06:50.080 --> 00:06:55.800 feast the Jews were watching for him and asking where is that man among the crowds there was a 00:06:55.800 --> 00:07:02.320 widespread whispering about him some said he's a good man others replied no he deceives people 00:07:02.320 --> 00:07:08.940 but no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews so as Jesus goes up to this 00:07:08.940 --> 00:07:14.040 festival the Jewish leaders are on the lookout for him because they want to get him they were 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:18.660 they're looking to trap him ultimately they're looking to kill him because they're not happy 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:25.000 with what he's doing and yet even amongst the crowds there's this strange split view 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:31.820 about what they think about jesus some say he's a good man some say he's a deceiver and it's the 00:07:31.820 --> 00:07:36.060 same is true today isn't it there are lots of different views about jesus and we've talked 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:42.440 about this before already as we've gone through john it's interesting here with two almost opposing 00:07:42.440 --> 00:07:51.270 views see jesus is and should be divisive sometimes we water him down to be so nice 00:07:51.270 --> 00:07:57.010 gentle jesus meek and mild and we misinterpret what that means and we water him down but jesus 00:07:57.010 --> 00:08:02.490 actually is divisive and has that effect on people and it's also interesting that some say he's a 00:08:02.490 --> 00:08:08.610 good man some say he's a deceiver but i hope we've learned already that he's neither right if you 00:08:08.610 --> 00:08:12.710 remember i think chris was speaking it must have been chris because there was a c.s lewis quote 00:08:12.710 --> 00:08:19.450 when you know c.s lewis describes how jesus does not give us the option of thinking of him as 00:08:19.450 --> 00:08:24.830 just a good man or of thinking of him as a deceiver he is either truly the son of god that 00:08:24.830 --> 00:08:30.690 has invaded this planet 2 000 years ago or is something far far far worse he doesn't leave open 00:08:30.690 --> 00:08:35.330 those options that are in the middle and yet at this point in time the crowd are thinking well 00:08:35.330 --> 00:08:41.290 what is he who is he what's he like but also we read that no one speaks up for him for fear of 00:08:41.290 --> 00:08:48.330 the authority so the crowd are mumbling and whispering about about him but no one dares say 00:08:48.330 --> 00:08:53.850 anything publicly for fear of the authorities and i just observed that in every generation 00:08:53.850 --> 00:09:02.700 the people of god have to learn this in their own setting will we speak up for jesus or will we not 00:09:02.700 --> 00:09:12.320 for fear of our family for fear of our schoolmates for fear of peer pressure for fear of 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:19.600 our neighborhood and yes even for fear of the society in which we live or for fear of our 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:26.280 government and every generation of the church has to answer this question will we do that will we 00:09:26.280 --> 00:09:33.100 speak up it's also interesting uh to note that you know they won't speak up and yet this feast 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:38.160 we're going to read later on in chapter seven not today but jesus we read that on the last and 00:09:38.160 --> 00:09:43.660 greatest day of the feast that eighth day jesus stands up and says if anyone is thirsty let him 00:09:43.660 --> 00:09:49.480 come to me and drink and streams of living water will flow out of him by this he meant the holy 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:55.520 spirit which he will pour out roll forward a few a couple a bit of time into acts chapter two and 00:09:55.520 --> 00:10:02.850 that holy spirit is poured out and we move from from a from a people that will not speak up for 00:10:02.850 --> 00:10:08.130 fear of the authorities to discovering men and women that have encountered this holy spirit that 00:10:08.130 --> 00:10:16.230 Jesus has poured out standing up with boldness and proclaiming Jesus is the saviour of the world 00:10:16.230 --> 00:10:21.070 such a transformation brought about by the move of the Holy Spirit we got all of that to look 00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:26.890 forward to so then carrying on verse 14 not until halfway through the feast did Jesus go up to the 00:10:26.890 --> 00:10:35.370 temple courts and begin to teach the Jews were amazed and asked how did this man get such learning 00:10:35.370 --> 00:10:42.270 without having studied so he's gone up to this festival secretly and then halfway through so 00:10:42.270 --> 00:10:47.430 he gets like day four and he kind of steps out and he doesn't just do it subtly he goes right 00:10:47.430 --> 00:10:52.010 to the place where the hubbub is where it's all happening and he goes to the temple and he stands 00:10:52.010 --> 00:10:59.330 up and he starts to teach he stops being in secret and comes at front and center of everybody's 00:10:59.330 --> 00:11:06.060 attention and starts to teach and there's this immediate reaction to jesus that the people are 00:11:06.060 --> 00:11:12.640 amazed at what it is he has to say you see normally to stand up and teach in the temple 00:11:12.640 --> 00:11:17.200 you would have to have served under a rabbi for 10 years you would have done all sorts of learning 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:23.000 but jesus has done none of this and here he is teaching not just with such knowledge not just 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:28.560 head knowledge but teaching with authority and teaching in a way that these guys have never 00:11:28.560 --> 00:11:35.240 heard before and yet you know he's not even been to university he's not done the course on how to 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:40.100 communicate with passion he's not done the course on how you do this interaction when you're trying 00:11:40.100 --> 00:11:46.120 to get a message across none of it and yet here he is teaching with such wisdom and with such 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:58.230 authority because he is God the source of all truth that is Jesus who we worship and so they're 00:11:58.230 --> 00:12:04.390 asking these questions how can he do that how can he stand here and say this what isn't he just some 00:12:04.390 --> 00:12:10.330 carpenter guy from from from some back of beyond how can he stand in the temple in Jerusalem in 00:12:10.330 --> 00:12:17.020 the center in front of it and bring such wisdom and authority and actually you know we have the 00:12:17.020 --> 00:12:24.660 same question today in our world how can this Jesus be true how can this Jesus be someone who 00:12:24.660 --> 00:12:30.280 speaks with such authority. Now for that generation that we're reading in John chapter 6, it's a 00:12:30.280 --> 00:12:36.200 religious question because they are a religious society and Jesus is challenging their religion 00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:42.020 massively. For us it's not a religious question in our society, it's a question of ownership. 00:12:43.060 --> 00:12:53.380 If what Jesus is saying is true, then he owns you and he owns me and that is a big issue for us 00:12:53.380 --> 00:13:00.000 because we don't want to be owned we want our own way right so it's a it's a massive issue today 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:06.920 just as it was then although the reason for it is slightly different in our culture and in our 00:13:06.920 --> 00:13:15.340 society carrying on verse 16 jesus answered so he's answering him he's getting the message that 00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:20.320 they're kind of asking these questions how can you do this so he answers them jesus answered my 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:29.200 teaching is not my own it comes from him who sent me if anyone chooses to do God's will he will find 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:36.840 out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own he who speaks on his own does so 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:43.680 to gain honor for himself but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth 00:13:43.680 --> 00:13:53.480 there is nothing false about him so jesus states his case for why he is able to speak with authority 00:13:53.480 --> 00:14:01.050 into people's lives of why he has this wisdom about life and what it is about and why he's 00:14:01.050 --> 00:14:06.670 able to do this and three things that he pulled that he brings together here in these couple of 00:14:06.670 --> 00:14:11.930 verses first of all from scripture so he says my teaching is not my own it comes from him who sent 00:14:11.930 --> 00:14:18.030 me so he's saying from scripture he's saying i'm not making this up what i am bringing what jesus 00:14:18.030 --> 00:14:24.470 is bringing is not some new teaching what jesus is bringing is not something new but is merely a 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:30.690 continuation of what god has already said in the past and he's talking to an audience who will know 00:14:30.690 --> 00:14:36.070 the old testament who will know what god has said theoretically in the past and what jesus is saying 00:14:36.070 --> 00:14:42.800 I'm not bringing anything new I'm bringing what the one who sent me has already said because Jesus 00:14:42.800 --> 00:14:49.260 has been sent by his father by God and he's saying I am simply bringing the same message that God has 00:14:49.260 --> 00:14:54.180 always said so that my father has always said to her you go back through the pages of the old 00:14:54.180 --> 00:14:59.680 testament you discover as we were singing earlier and as John read earlier for us there's a message 00:14:59.680 --> 00:15:05.600 of grace and of mercy and redemption and of love and God's desire for a people of his own that 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:07.700 comes through the pages of the Old Testament 00:15:07.700 --> 00:15:09.660 and what Jesus is saying, that is my 00:15:09.660 --> 00:15:11.940 message, there's nothing new 00:15:11.940 --> 00:15:13.580 about what I'm bringing, look at 00:15:13.580 --> 00:15:15.600 scriptures, look at the Old Testament 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.900 and what God says through it, look at the promises 00:15:17.900 --> 00:15:19.740 and prophecies pointing to the 00:15:19.740 --> 00:15:21.620 Messiah coming and see that it's 00:15:21.620 --> 00:15:23.740 about me and he's saying I'm not bringing 00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:25.540 anything new, I'm pointing 00:15:25.540 --> 00:15:27.700 to my Father, I'm bringing his 00:15:27.700 --> 00:15:29.540 message, I'm bringing 00:15:29.540 --> 00:15:31.600 his message and I'm only speaking 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:33.620 what God the Father has 00:15:33.620 --> 00:15:41.500 already said through those scriptures. You see, if we study this book, if we take time out to read 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:47.220 it and digest it, and sometimes, like in this passage this morning, it's hard, right, to do that, 00:15:47.260 --> 00:15:53.980 but if we take time out to study it, then we will begin to see the voice and the authority of God 00:15:53.980 --> 00:16:02.360 through Jesus in scripture from beginning to end, because this gives us the ultimate authority of 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:08.220 who God is and what he is about and if anybody says to you this is what God says this is what 00:16:08.220 --> 00:16:15.540 God about the only way you know that's true is by digesting what is in here and we hold this up as 00:16:15.540 --> 00:16:21.680 the yardstick the plumb line the thing that keeps us true to what we're doing and so we grapple with 00:16:21.680 --> 00:16:28.860 it I think Spurgeon was a Baptist minister in the 19th century and he said this quote in the bible 00:16:28.860 --> 00:16:31.040 we have the perfect library 00:16:31.040 --> 00:16:33.620 and he who studies it thoroughly 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:35.440 will be a better scholar 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.200 than if he had devoured 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:39.380 the Alexandrian library 00:16:39.380 --> 00:16:40.280 entire 00:16:40.280 --> 00:16:43.480 the Alexandrian library was one of the 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:44.560 old wonders of the world 00:16:44.560 --> 00:16:46.880 that had 700,000 books 00:16:46.880 --> 00:16:50.020 so he's saying the person that studies 00:16:50.020 --> 00:16:51.820 this will be a better scholar 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:53.340 than if he read all of those 00:16:53.340 --> 00:16:55.560 we might adapt his quote today 00:16:55.560 --> 00:16:57.640 and say instead in the bible 00:16:57.640 --> 00:16:59.000 we have the perfect library 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:02.240 And he who studies it thoroughly will be a better scholar 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:07.160 than if he knew everything in ChatGPT and Copilot and Gemini. 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:08.040 Yeah? 00:17:08.930 --> 00:17:10.390 Seriously, that's what he's saying. 00:17:10.890 --> 00:17:12.850 Because it's in here, all right? 00:17:13.030 --> 00:17:15.390 And grappling with it is just so important. 00:17:15.490 --> 00:17:18.750 So Jesus is saying, I'm only bringing what is already in here. 00:17:18.890 --> 00:17:19.790 I'm not bringing something new. 00:17:20.010 --> 00:17:24.110 Second thing Jesus says, why he speaks with authority and wisdom, 00:17:24.590 --> 00:17:25.650 is by action. 00:17:26.760 --> 00:17:30.000 He says, I'll just flip the page again, excuse me. 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:34.080 He says, if anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out. 00:17:35.070 --> 00:17:40.690 In other words, Jesus ties his teaching and his authority to lived experience. 00:17:41.330 --> 00:17:43.870 It's not theoretical what Jesus is talking about. 00:17:43.870 --> 00:17:47.450 It's not, oh, that's a nice thing, but in the meantime, I'm just going to get on with real life. 00:17:47.510 --> 00:17:52.530 He's saying the words of Jesus are absolutely relevant to you and to me 00:17:52.530 --> 00:17:55.790 every hour of every day of the whole of our lives. 00:17:55.790 --> 00:17:57.890 no matter what situations we are going through. 00:17:58.210 --> 00:17:59.570 If you were here last week, 00:17:59.630 --> 00:18:01.770 you heard a brilliant story from Janet 00:18:01.770 --> 00:18:02.930 sat at the front here 00:18:02.930 --> 00:18:05.110 about the reality of that 00:18:05.110 --> 00:18:06.770 and the relevance of Jesus 00:18:06.770 --> 00:18:08.190 through lived experience 00:18:08.190 --> 00:18:10.270 which involves pain and hurt 00:18:10.270 --> 00:18:11.530 and upset and anger 00:18:11.530 --> 00:18:13.610 and yet there is a God who is true 00:18:13.610 --> 00:18:15.470 who supports and sustains 00:18:15.470 --> 00:18:17.390 and has a plan and a purpose 00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:19.530 and Janet expressed that far better 00:18:19.530 --> 00:18:20.690 than I will this morning. 00:18:21.170 --> 00:18:23.970 But Jesus is tying his words 00:18:23.970 --> 00:18:25.010 to lived experience. 00:18:25.010 --> 00:18:31.830 he's not talking about some theory that's removed from reality he's basically saying try me 00:18:31.830 --> 00:18:41.020 test me out there's a psalm that says taste and see that the Lord is good and Jesus is saying 00:18:41.020 --> 00:18:50.620 come on then try me out and then you will discover that what I am saying is true and then you will 00:18:50.620 --> 00:18:57.460 discover this is why i speak with authority see if we choose to pray if we choose to read the 00:18:57.460 --> 00:19:03.960 scriptures if we choose to pursue god's plan for our life jesus is saying then we will discover 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:12.780 jesus you are right way beyond my wildest dreams and he will get a hold of us and we will get a 00:19:12.780 --> 00:19:19.800 hold of him and and it doesn't happen straight away right it takes time for light to dawn you 00:19:19.800 --> 00:19:23.200 Because we're all impatient, we want it to happen like that. 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:27.760 And we want to go home and just flip the pages and think, oh yeah, and the light bulbs come on. 00:19:27.980 --> 00:19:29.920 Those moments happen from time to time. 00:19:30.180 --> 00:19:32.800 But other times it's like a toddler learning to walk. 00:19:33.320 --> 00:19:35.560 We're reading the Bible and trying to get to know Jesus. 00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:39.360 And we fall over and we collapse and people need to encourage us again and pick us up and say, 00:19:39.360 --> 00:19:41.900 yeah, come on, you can do it. Come on, come on, come on, you can do it. 00:19:41.900 --> 00:19:44.240 Just like a toddler learning to walk. 00:19:46.140 --> 00:19:50.060 And so Jesus ties his teaching to real life. 00:19:50.060 --> 00:19:56.100 and that's why he speaks with authority and the third reason he gives us is by his own personal 00:19:56.100 --> 00:20:03.880 witness he says this he who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself but he who works for 00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:11.080 the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth you see Jesus motives in doing this are 00:20:11.080 --> 00:20:18.010 selfless he's doing his father's work his father has sent him God the father has sent him and he's 00:20:18.010 --> 00:20:23.730 doing his work. He's not working for himself. His motives are selfless. He's putting himself at risk 00:20:23.730 --> 00:20:28.450 as he stands up and teaches others. We've already read at the beginning he didn't want to go there 00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:33.010 because they're going to kill him. And he knows that's going to happen. He knows that's part of 00:20:33.010 --> 00:20:40.230 the plan. But he puts himself up front and he puts himself at risk. But more than that, when he is 00:20:40.230 --> 00:20:50.150 teaching he is always pointing back to his father he is here to bring glory to god the father that's 00:20:50.150 --> 00:20:55.350 what he is about he's always pointing people to his father and his teaching points us to god it 00:20:55.350 --> 00:21:02.230 doesn't point us to himself you see the son has come to bring glory to the father and not to 00:21:02.230 --> 00:21:08.850 himself and when we worship jesus and when we sing our songs to jesus jesus saying father can you hear 00:21:08.850 --> 00:21:16.640 that they love you they worship you he is pointing us to his father and so his teaching brings glory 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:22.540 to the one who sent him and not to himself and this is really important because humanly speaking 00:21:22.540 --> 00:21:29.720 we struggle with this massively right so so so so when i'm teaching even when we're going through 00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:34.000 this passage this morning and i'm here i should be hopefully trying in some way to point people to 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:39.420 Jesus and not to me, right? By how I'm doing this. If you think I'm pointing it to me, come and let 00:21:39.420 --> 00:21:44.040 me know because I need to deal with it, right? But we should be following pastors and leaders 00:21:44.040 --> 00:21:49.120 and teachers that are men and women who are pointing us to Jesus and not pointing us to 00:21:49.120 --> 00:21:54.560 themselves, right? And sometimes that is not the case because their character or whatever else, 00:21:54.840 --> 00:22:02.010 they're drawing people to themselves. And that is a sad thing. I remember in our previous church, 00:22:02.010 --> 00:22:06.770 working with the pastor there he always said we're trying to build church away from ourselves 00:22:06.770 --> 00:22:12.470 as the leaders so that if we go the church carries on and we're pointing people to Jesus and you know 00:22:12.470 --> 00:22:18.410 it's the same here you know Nick and Erica are away so we can talk about him right so so but 00:22:18.410 --> 00:22:23.390 they're trying to build something that is away from themselves and not about themselves but it 00:22:23.390 --> 00:22:29.770 is about Jesus and pointing people to Jesus so that when we're not here the church carries on 00:22:29.770 --> 00:22:33.910 in Jesus name because we love him and it's about him and we're pointing people to him 00:22:33.910 --> 00:22:42.760 yeah and you know it's a massive thing because we live in a world where the entertainment industry 00:22:42.760 --> 00:22:47.800 is massive and it's completely the opposite everything you and I watch on telly so much 00:22:47.800 --> 00:22:53.340 or on social media is all about people raising their profile that's a phrase isn't it got a rate 00:22:53.340 --> 00:22:57.740 if you want to get on at work got to raise your profile you know we heard that a few times and 00:22:57.740 --> 00:23:01.260 But this is completely the opposite way around. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:04.100 Jesus is completely the opposite way around. 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:07.200 And in the church, it needs to be completely the opposite way around. 00:23:07.820 --> 00:23:09.000 It's not about ourselves. 00:23:09.120 --> 00:23:11.720 It's about pointing people to Jesus, 00:23:12.040 --> 00:23:15.320 who is pointing people back to the Father. 00:23:15.460 --> 00:23:16.020 Let's carry on. 00:23:16.060 --> 00:23:17.840 Verse 19 and 20. 00:23:18.740 --> 00:23:21.700 Has not Moses given you the law, yet not one of you keeps the law? 00:23:21.700 --> 00:23:23.040 Why are you trying to kill me? 00:23:23.580 --> 00:23:25.120 And so the crowd, who don't realize that, say, 00:23:25.220 --> 00:23:26.720 You are demon-possessed, the crowd answered. 00:23:26.800 --> 00:23:27.700 Who's trying to kill you? 00:23:27.840 --> 00:23:33.460 So Jesus knows the religious pride that the people have in the law of Moses, 00:23:33.460 --> 00:23:35.800 that they think they're so good because they're following it. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:40.400 And yet he points out none of them is able to keep it in its entirety. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:42.880 And yet not everyone in the crowd understands that, 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:45.240 so they cry out, he's demon-possessed. 00:23:45.780 --> 00:23:47.140 And then in verse 21 we read this, 00:23:47.180 --> 00:23:50.760 Jesus said to them, I did one miracle, and you're all astonished. 00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:53.280 Yeah, because Moses gave you circumcision, 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:54.840 though actually it was from the patriarchs, 00:23:55.020 --> 00:23:57.160 you circumcised a child on the Sabbath, 00:23:57.160 --> 00:24:02.200 So if the boy is born and he's eight days old on the Sabbath, 00:24:02.380 --> 00:24:03.760 they circumcise him on the Sabbath. 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:07.240 And so he says, now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:08.960 so the law of Moses isn't broken, 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:13.240 why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 00:24:13.580 --> 00:24:17.300 He calls out their pride in the law of Moses, 00:24:18.020 --> 00:24:21.280 but their hypocrisy in doing something on the one hand 00:24:21.280 --> 00:24:22.700 that is in obedience to God, 00:24:22.700 --> 00:24:26.880 but then getting angry with Jesus for healing somebody completely. 00:24:27.160 --> 00:24:34.160 on the Sabbath, and he exposes their religiosity and hypocrisy, and we need Jesus to continue to 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:40.160 do that today, right, to expose our own religiosity and hypocrisy, and in some ways, you know, we are, 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:45.340 all of us are like the Jews of his day, you know, we're not, we don't have pride necessarily in how 00:24:45.340 --> 00:24:49.760 we do religion, although that can pop up from time to time, but we have things in our own lives that 00:24:49.760 --> 00:24:53.800 we're proud about, and that we like to stick to, thank you very much, you know, we have things in 00:24:53.800 --> 00:24:59.040 their own lives that result in us spending time covering up and wearing masks and hiding things. 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:05.380 And then Jesus comes along and he starts to expose that. And he starts to say, you know, 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:10.720 you don't have to live like that. You don't have to have that cover up. And he cuts through that 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:15.860 and offers a better way of life. You see, this was a nation that was proud of its ancestry, 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:21.780 proud of the way it did things, proud of how it followed the law of Moses. And yet in doing that, 00:25:21.780 --> 00:25:28.560 they had lost sight of the very God that was behind that law in the first place what a tragedy 00:25:28.560 --> 00:25:35.580 what a tragedy you know and how often in clinging to the things that we like in our life and in our 00:25:35.580 --> 00:25:42.040 lifestyle and our lifestyle choices do we hold on to them and actually as a result we're kind of 00:25:42.040 --> 00:25:48.540 hiding God from ourselves and we're missing what he's able to do so Jesus will cut through that 00:25:48.540 --> 00:25:55.540 if we let him and if we have ears to hear but finally verse 24 a couple of things to say about 00:25:55.540 --> 00:26:01.340 this he says at the end stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment you see 00:26:01.340 --> 00:26:07.180 jesus is saying that merely following the law of god but missing the reality of a loving merciful 00:26:07.180 --> 00:26:14.080 god behind that is completely missing the point you know it's nuts if we get so hooked up about 00:26:14.080 --> 00:26:20.560 how we do church about how we we must have our 30 minutes of worship no offense and we must have 00:26:20.560 --> 00:26:25.300 this and we must have that and it's got to be like this and then we get argy-bargy about it you know 00:26:25.300 --> 00:26:33.300 we're in danger of losing the whole point there is a loving merciful God behind all of this which is 00:26:33.300 --> 00:26:37.560 why we're here in the first place and that's what these guys have done and Jesus is calling that out 00:26:37.560 --> 00:26:44.800 and so he's saying stop judging by superficial things stop judging at face value stop judging 00:26:44.800 --> 00:26:49.760 at just looking at something and think oh that's wrong that's not right but actually start to think 00:26:49.760 --> 00:26:55.930 about what is behind that and it's interesting Jesus not only taught this here but he modeled 00:26:55.930 --> 00:27:01.930 it himself who we saw earlier in chapter four when he encountered the Samaritan woman there's all 00:27:01.930 --> 00:27:08.250 sorts of face value issues in that interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. There's 00:27:08.250 --> 00:27:13.710 issues of race and nationalism, you know, Jews and Samaritans don't talk to each other. There's 00:27:13.710 --> 00:27:17.910 issues of gender and sexuality, man and woman don't talk to each other in that situation. 00:27:18.290 --> 00:27:26.090 There's issues around her lifestyle choices. All of those things are obvious and face value stuff 00:27:26.090 --> 00:27:31.090 that Jesus could have dived into, but he doesn't. He looks for the root issue that's going on there 00:27:31.090 --> 00:27:36.880 in that case about her identity we're going to see in the next chapter when we get to chapter 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:42.240 eight about the the woman that the the religious leaders drag before him and say we found her 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:48.340 caught in adultery the law says we should stone him what do you say talk about a face value judgment 00:27:48.340 --> 00:27:54.740 right face value judgment and jesus is saying don't do that so you know jesus is thinking 00:27:54.740 --> 00:28:01.860 look and be on that you know where's the man for crying out loud in this situation who else amongst 00:28:01.860 --> 00:28:08.320 you is a sinner oh he's not looking at face value he's getting he's thinking behind that beyond that 00:28:08.320 --> 00:28:14.520 and he's encouraging us to do the same and actually asking us to do the same in that example 00:28:14.520 --> 00:28:21.840 sin is sin there's no there's no hierarchy stop looking things at face value and even in his 00:28:21.840 --> 00:28:26.980 parables he does exactly the same thing he uses them to teach people to stop thinking at looking 00:28:26.980 --> 00:28:31.820 at situations at face value and get beyond that you know the parable of the good samaritan again 00:28:31.820 --> 00:28:37.240 is another story but thinking about beyond tribalism thinking beyond being just proud 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:42.640 about the group of people you're a part of and getting beyond that and realizing everyone is 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:52.160 our neighbor i'm working that out and this is this is challenging right because you know we like the 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:54.640 Jesus bit that says nice things, I mean like the Jesus 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:56.400 bit with the Holy Spirit 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.060 feeling and the emotional stuff 00:28:58.060 --> 00:29:00.660 but this is heart stuff that Jesus is touching 00:29:00.660 --> 00:29:02.020 on here in our lives 00:29:02.020 --> 00:29:04.020 this is crunch stuff 00:29:04.020 --> 00:29:06.460 that you and I have got to learn to stop 00:29:06.460 --> 00:29:08.680 being men and women who just look at things at face 00:29:08.680 --> 00:29:10.620 value and start to see beyond 00:29:10.620 --> 00:29:12.580 that, I don't know if we 00:29:12.580 --> 00:29:14.520 often put that in the Christian gospel but Jesus 00:29:14.520 --> 00:29:16.380 is bringing it out here for us to see 00:29:16.380 --> 00:29:17.860 of letting go, of 00:29:17.860 --> 00:29:20.520 letting go of things like 00:29:20.520 --> 00:29:25.000 as I say use the word tribalism but you know mixing with people that are not like me or not 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:30.800 like you learning to do that you see for me I was the realization recently I talked to Angie about 00:29:30.800 --> 00:29:37.180 this that when I was growing up for a variety of factors I kind of came away with a sense of I just 00:29:37.180 --> 00:29:43.280 mix with people that are like me which in my case was you know white middle class going to 00:29:43.280 --> 00:29:50.200 further education etc etc but not only do you just mix with those people you avoid others you don't 00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:58.780 trust other people that aren't like you. And I can't even now explain about how that 00:29:58.780 --> 00:30:03.380 was arrived at, but that was the reality. You see, then the problem is you become a 00:30:03.380 --> 00:30:06.980 Christian. And then the problem is God adds you to the church. And then the problem is 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:11.500 you read the churches about men and women from every tribe and nation and tongue and 00:30:11.500 --> 00:30:17.440 skin colour and dialect and social standing and earning capability and blah, blah, blah, 00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:21.640 blah blah blah and oh my word i'm suddenly in a full room full of people that are completely 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:28.390 different from me and jesus is saying you gotta love him and it's the same for all of us you know 00:30:28.390 --> 00:30:33.950 it's a beautiful thing about the church you know if we could really nail this what a model it would 00:30:33.950 --> 00:30:40.510 be in society today about how to get on with people that are just not like us and work that 00:30:40.510 --> 00:30:45.470 because jesus is is telling us and all of that comes from you know not looking at things at face 00:30:45.470 --> 00:30:54.390 value but thinking beyond learning not to judge others um you see when you're in pastoral things 00:30:54.390 --> 00:30:58.170 you always learn pretty quickly that when someone comes to you the issue is never the issue 00:30:58.170 --> 00:31:04.850 what's at face value is never really what's going on but so when somebody comes to edge on a thursday 00:31:04.850 --> 00:31:10.750 and they've got a question about benefits you know and we're able to answer that then we discover 00:31:10.750 --> 00:31:16.090 pretty soon oh there's also this or oh there's also that and could you help me with this problem 00:31:16.090 --> 00:31:17.350 and could you help me fill this form out? 00:31:17.690 --> 00:31:19.890 What is presented is seldom the issue 00:31:19.890 --> 00:31:22.170 and we need to be men and women who learn what it is 00:31:22.170 --> 00:31:24.570 not to judge at face value 00:31:24.570 --> 00:31:26.410 but get beyond that. 00:31:27.070 --> 00:31:29.890 And I guess one of the most practical places 00:31:29.890 --> 00:31:31.690 where we can all put this into action 00:31:31.690 --> 00:31:33.870 is in the area of gossip, right? 00:31:34.410 --> 00:31:35.050 We all do it. 00:31:35.490 --> 00:31:36.350 We all get sucked in. 00:31:36.450 --> 00:31:37.330 Let's not pretend we don't. 00:31:38.150 --> 00:31:39.330 But this is such... 00:31:39.330 --> 00:31:41.730 Gossip is always based on face value. 00:31:42.620 --> 00:31:44.220 It's never based on what's really going on. 00:31:44.220 --> 00:31:46.120 It's always based on face value. 00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:51.900 and it's such a wildfire that can spread and cause so much damage and yet if we get beyond 00:31:51.900 --> 00:31:57.880 thinking at face value then the way to think through that for gossip is when you hear stuff 00:31:57.880 --> 00:32:06.250 think is it loving is it true is it necessary if you can't answer yes to all those three questions 00:32:06.250 --> 00:32:15.340 squash it easily done i hope all right getting to think beyond face value i think is something 00:32:15.340 --> 00:32:22.580 jesus calls us all to and to work at that together let's pray lord jesus we just want to thank you 00:32:22.580 --> 00:32:28.520 for your word today that is alive and active but more than that jesus we want to thank you for you 00:32:28.520 --> 00:32:33.220 lord we want to thank you for what you've taught us about yourself we want to thank you jesus 00:32:33.220 --> 00:32:39.360 that all you say and do points to the father and there's that we're your people this morning in 00:32:39.360 --> 00:32:44.320 your church here today lord we want to pray oh god come and have your way in our lives you know 00:32:44.320 --> 00:32:46.760 where we're at Lord with these things we've been talking about 00:32:46.760 --> 00:32:48.220 you know where we're at Lord with 00:32:48.220 --> 00:32:50.860 judging at face value or not 00:32:50.860 --> 00:32:53.000 you know where we are, we're bringing honour to ourselves 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:54.900 or not and we just pray Lord God 00:32:54.900 --> 00:32:56.400 how we need your help 00:32:56.400 --> 00:32:58.880 in Jesus name, Amen 00:32:58.880 --> 00:33:00.180 Amen, Mike