John 7:14-24
Sunday Morning Bible Study
December 3, 1995
Introduction
Jesus' popularity has started to dip.
He's been making some incredible claims, as if salvation would only come through Him.
And some of those who followed Jesus have walked away.
To top it all off, some of the leaders of the Jews have begun to plot how to kill Jesus.
It's now in the September-October part of the year, six months until Jesus dies.
The Feast of Tabernacles is being celebrated, and Jesus has gone up secretly to Jerusalem, not wanting to draw too much attention to Himself too quickly.
:14-18 Knowing the source of Jesus' teaching
:14 about the midst of the feast
Again, this is during the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth).
It was a celebration both of the end of the harvest, as well as a time to remember the forty years that God provided for them in the wilderness, when they lived in tabernacles (or, tents).
It was celebrated in our September-October time period.
It was a feast that originally lasted for seven days, but later an eighth day was added.
This is now half way through, or, about 4 days into the feast.
:14 Jesus went up into the temple, and taught
Last week it looked as if Jesus was reluctant to go to Jerusalem because of the plots against Him.
But just in case you thought He was chicken, look how He goes up right into the heart of the feast, into the temple.
Note: Don't think of the temple as some kind of big church, with pews, and regular church services.
The temple itself was a central building, containing the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, of which only priests could enter.
Around the temple were a series of open courtyards, and it's within these courtyards that Jesus sat and began to teach the people.
:15 How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
letters - or, the Scriptures, known as the "holy letters".
The leaders couldn't understand how Jesus knew so much Scripture when He had never been to any of their rabbinical schools.
This astonishment over Jesus' understanding wasn't anything new, even as a child, He blew the professors away:
»Luke 2:42-49 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. 44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. 46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
In Jesus' day, people who wanted to serve God went to one of the schools of the Rabbis.
One of the leading Rabbis of all time, Gamaliel, was teaching at this time, and one of his students was a young kid named Saul.
There was a kind of snobbishness among the Rabbis, and among the Jews in general, that if a person was going to say or do anything significant for God, they would obviously have to be a person who spent time in school.
Lesson #1:
You don't need a master's degree for God to use you.
God has these sneaky ways of keeping men humble, and one of them is that He can give great wisdom to unlearned people.
Spurgeon -
The great 19th century British preacher, C.H.Spurgeon never went to the university.
He had the opportunity when he was 16 years old, but turned it down because he didn't want to come out of the theological schools like those the schools were turning out.
That's not to say that the man didn't have a sharp mind. When he died, he had a library of over 30,000 books!
Calvary Chapels -
This is one of the interesting things about Calvary Chapels.
Many of the men that God has raised up over the years have been men with little more than a high school education.
Some have gone back to school and even gotten doctorates.
Some have not gone to school, and continue to be used mightily by God.
»1Corinthians 1:26-29 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Can God use traditional schooling?
I think there can be great value in theological schooling.
The danger though, is that there tends to develop a kind of pride in knowledge.
And if you want to be usable by God, you can't have pride in your life.
»1Peter 5:5-6 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
You certainly aren't going to have very much healthy fruit in your ministry is God is opposing you due to your pride!
Lesson #2:
Let God give you your education.
The apostles too experienced this confounding kind of wisdom:
»Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
They had spent time with Jesus.
Jesus Christ had been their teacher.
That's great for the apostles, but how about us?
»1John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Who or what is this "anointing"?
It's the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is now our teacher.
This doesn't mean that God can't use human teachers.
One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of teaching!
But there must come a time in our lives where we develop that time of sitting at Jesus' feet, and letting Him teach us directly, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Applications:
1. Take time to pray before you read in the morning.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. Take time to listen to His teaching.
:16 My doctrine is not mine
Jesus is answering their question about where He got His learning.
He learned it from the Father.
:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine
Jesus isn't saying that a person has to perfectly do God's will to know the truth, but that a person must "will" to do it, or, "be willing" to do it.
NAS:
»"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.
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.
In other words, Jesus is saying that if anyone really wants to do God's will, then they'll know whether Jesus' teaching is of God or not.
John Wesley - "This is a universal rule, with regard to all persons and doctrines. He that is thoroughly willing to do it, shall certainly know what the will of God is."
This principle doesn't just apply to Jesus' teaching here, but applies to all of God's will.
Lesson:
You've got to be willing in order to know God's will.
It's a common question people ask.
What is God's will for my life?
What is God's will in this particular situation?
I think we need to ask ourselves first the question, "Do I really want to do God's will?"
Are you just saying you want to do God's will, or are you really sincerely wanting to do God's will?
What if God's will isn't the choice you wanted?
Would you still want to do it?
Illustration:
There was a man who was walking along a narrow cliff on a dark night. It was so dark that he couldn't see what was over the edge.
Suddenly he slipped and found himself falling off the edge.
As he started to fall, he caught a tree branch sticking out, and managed to just barely hang on.
But there was no where to go.
He didn't have enough strength to climb back up.
He cried out, "Oh God, if You're really there, please help me!"
Nothing.
He cried out again, "Oh God, I'll go to church every Sunday and read my Bible. Please help me!"
Nothing.
He cried out again, "Oh God, I'll do whatever you tell me to. Just please help me!"
And then he heard a still, small voice, "Just let go."
He thought about it a little bit.
He cried out again, "Is there anybody else up there?"
Sometimes we say we're willing to do what God wants us to, but it's only as long as it's agreeable to us.
Are you willing to do His will?
:17 whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself
The idea in the Greek means:
Whether I am speaking with God as my source of information, or whether I am speaking off the top of my own head.
:18 he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory ...
speaketh of himself - he that speaketh from his own self as the source of his ideas.
In other words, the guy who sits around and thinks up his own ideas about things, and then goes and spouts them off, is only seeking to be a hot shot in front of other people.
And God isn't exactly thrilled with people who are seeking glory:
»Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
Lesson:
As a teacher, make sure you are teaching God's ideas, not your own.
This is why I feel much safer sticking with teaching through the Word of God.
I'm a lot less likely to be railing on you because of some personal gripe I have.
I'm a lot less likely to be spending so much time endoctrinating you to my opinions and viewpoints, as I am teaching you God's Word.
I remember listening to some preachers as a kid and thinking, "I never want to have a job like that ... how can they keep coming up with ideas to talk about from week to week".
One guy didn't seem to have any problems, he must have belonged to the Simon and Garfunkel song of the week club, and he built his sermons around Simon and Garfunkel songs.
:18 he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true
Jesus is saying that He's just passing on to the people what God wants to say to them.
That's a lot more trustworthy than someone who's just spewing out their own ideas.
:19 Did not Moses give you the law ...
Moses had given them God's Word too.
But they weren't keeping it either.
:20 Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?
Or, "Jesus, you're a crazy, paranoid person! Nobody's trying to kill you!"
Yeah, right.
Look what it says a little farther on, in verse 25:
»Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?
:21 I have done one work, and ye all marvel
Which work is Jesus talking about?
He's talking about when He did His last miracle there in Jerusalem.
It was back in John 5, when Jesus healed the man who had been paralyzed for 38 years.
And He had done it on the Sabbath, breaking the Jewish interpretation of the Sabbath Law.
:22 Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision ... of the fathers
Moses gave the Law for circumcision:
»Leviticus 12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
But Moses wasn't the one who actually initiated the ritual of circumcision.
It actually started with Abraham.
But to the Jews, the reason they still practiced circumcision was because of Moses:
``we do not circumcise because Abraham our father, on whom be peace, circumcised himself and his household, but because the holy blessed God commanded us by Moses, that we should be circumcised, as Abraham our father was circumcised.'' (Maimon. in Misn. Cholin, c. 7. sect. 6)
:22 ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man
If the eighth day after a male child was born falls on a Sabbath day, then the child was still to be circumcised, even on the Sabbath.
The Jews rationalized this by saying that circumcision preceded the Sabbath Law, having been established by Abraham, whereas the Sabbath Law doesn't come into effect until Moses.
Therefore, circumcision was practiced on the Sabbath day.
:23 on the sabbath day receive circumcision ... made a man every whit whole ...
Jesus is now bringing His argument to a conclusion, showing how silly the Jews were in their reasoning.
They felt that circumcision was allowable on the Sabbath day.
But circumcision was a cutting, an injury to the flesh.
Jesus, in contrast, healed a man, and made him whole on the Sabbath.
Wouldn't that seem to be a better thing than cutting a person?
And so, Jesus now makes His point, His main lesson:
:24 Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
appearance - opsis - seeing, sight; face, countenance; the outward appearance, look
based on the word optanomai - to look at, behold
righteous - dikaios - righteous, observing divine laws; innocent, faultless, guiltless
Jesus is saying that we need to be careful about making judgments based on what we see, but we need to be making judgments based on what is actually right and correct.
Lesson:
Things aren't always what they seem
Illustration:
The other day we saw a movie with the boys, Angel in my pocket, an old movie starring Andy Griffith and Lee Meriwhether.
It's the story of a young preacher and the first church he's assigned to.
They've had 7 preachers in 10 years.
They were a group of people who were picky, argumentative, and selfish.
At one point in the movie, Andy has asked the board for a new organ, because the old one was so horrible.
They refuse. "It's worked for 35 years, it's just fine".
He hears about a burlesque house in a neighboring town that has an old organ sitting unused.
He goes to the burlesque house, and talks the owner into donating it to the church.
Then he starts to play the organ, to see if it's working okay.
While he's playing, a girl comes in who wants to audition for the strip joint, and she starts stripping to Andy's playing, though he doesn't know what's going on.
And of course, the church busybodies saw him go into the place, and they peek inside the door just as this lady starts taking off her clothes to Andy's playing.
You can guess the rest of the story.
Things aren't always what they seem!
Be slow to make judgments!
»Proverbs 18:13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
Next time you see something, and it starts to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, step back and ask yourself, "Do I really know what I'm seeing?"
Have I really heard the whole story?
Christians are so quick to make judgments!
Illustration:
Proctor and Gamble - the rumor that was circulated a while back that their president was a Satan worshipper, and that they had occulting symbols on their products, and a portion of their prophets went to support the occult. This all was supposedly on the Donahue show.
Many Christians responded by boycotting Proctor and Gamble.
But no such thing ever occurred. It was a bad, stupid rumor, and us judgmental Christians jumped on the wrong bandwagon.
Give the benefit of the doubt!
»1Corinthians 13:7 (Charity) ... believeth all things ...
Warning in assessing the news:
Nowadays, it's very, very difficult to tell what the real news is.
When you've actually been at a major news event, and then hear it reported on in the news, you sometimes wonder where the reporter really was when it happened!
The news services are very, very adept at giving their opinions in the form of news.
Even when reading Newsweek, when you read the major articles carefully, you start to realize that the articles are about 5% fact, and about 95% opinions.
We need to be careful about jumping to conclusions and making judgments.
There is only one who ultimately can always correctly make the right judgments time and time again.
Only one person is truly objective.
That's God.
May God give us discernment and keep us from making hasty judgments.