Main Point: Jesus is the one who teaches. Main Application: Seek to understand and submit to Jesus authority.

Transcription

1 Week 11, John 7 Hook Main Point: Jesus is the one who teaches. Main Application: Seek to understand and submit to Jesus authority. Current Event: The show Undercover Boss features senior executive staff members working undercover in their own companies. They do this to get a better idea of how their company works and what they can do to improve it. At the end of the show, the boss reveals his or her identity. During that moment the employer will reward hard-working employees through promotion, or financial rewards, or confront under-performing employees with mandatory training, reprimands or termination. The employees featured on the show have no idea that the person they are working next to is actually their boss. They are the highest authority in the company. You have to wonder if the employees who did not perform well in front of their boss regretted it later, watching their coworkers receive lavish rewards for simply doing their job. Surely, if they had recognized and understood the authority of their disguised boss, they would have acted differently. 1 Much like the employees on Undercover Boss, many who encountered Jesus during His earthly ministry did not recognize or understand His authority. Discussion Questions: Share a story of a time you were observed by an authority without realizing it (a boss, or a coach or parent when you were younger; this could be positive or 1 For an Undercover Boss Commercial, see

2 negative). How does the presence of authority (such as your boss) affect the way you work? Why?

3 John 7 Book Main Point: Jesus is the one who teaches. Main Application: Seek to understand and submit to Jesus authority. Text Summary: This chapter shows much division among the crowds and authorities about the identity of Jesus. They don t know what to do with Him, whether to arrest Him or not. Jesus shows the people through His powerful teaching that they think they know Him, but they truly don t. He shows them that His authority comes from God alone, the one who sent Him. John 7:1 24 (Read) Sub Application: Remember that Jesus cannot be understood in the way one man understands another. Jesus travels to Judea and begins to teach. The Jews question who taught Jesus, and He responds that His knowledge and authority come from the Father. Notice in these first nine verses that the subject is His brothers and their belief. His brothers struggle to believe Him. They tell Him to go to Judea to show His signs and his wonders. Come on, Jesus. Go show everyone else what you have been doing. Show everyone who you really are. They wanted Jesus to go and show Himself at this feast, this celebration, to reveal Himself to the crowds. But it wasn t time for that. As He says, His time had not yet come to be known. But the people, in His absence, still exchange theories about the true nature of Jesus. He s a good man, some said. Others claimed He was leading people astray and causing them to believe falsities. Notice that all talk about Jesus is going on in secret, while at the same time Jesus shows up in secret. Jesus is attempting to stay unnoticed, while the crowds, too, are attempting to keep their conversations about Him unnoticed and under the radar of the Jews. But then Jesus stands up and begins to teach. The crowd s responses and the Jews confusion show that Jesus words were powerful. His teaching was leaving people in wonderment. For this fact, it left the people listening, especially the Jews, curious about His education and where He learned to teach that way. This is when Jesus does something astounding. Instead of citing rabbis, He cites the Father. In Jewish culture, it was normal when teaching to mention the rabbis or the lineage of rabbis from whom you learned. When speaking, the teacher would refer back, giving credit to those who imparted wisdom and knowledge. 2 It was tradition. It was cultural. It was an act of respect. Jesus does just that, but it s not a lineage of rabbis to which He refers. Jesus gives all credit and 2 Andreas Kostenberger, Baker Exegetical Commentary On the New Testament: John. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, 2004, p. 233.

4 glory to His Father. He says it is the Father of all, the one who sent Him, who has given Him this knowledge and this authority. It is on God s authority, not man s, that Jesus teaches and heals. At this point, why will no one speak openly about Jesus? Why are the crowds worried that the Jewish authorities will overhear their conversations about Him? If man cannot understand God in the way He understands another man, how does one begin to know God? Is it possible for man to completely understand God? Why did the authorities and some members of the crowd believe that Jesus was leading people astray? What has Jesus done or said up to this point in His ministry that would make them think that? During this festival and feast, with rabbis and Jewish authorities present, why is Jesus message so controversial? Another Perspective: The Bible Knowledge Commentary 7:4 5. It did not seem rational to Jesus brothers for Him not to show off His glory. If He really was what He claimed to be, they reasoned, He should publicly demonstrate it. They advised Him to display Himself in a powerful, brilliant way: Show Yourself to the world. But God s way was a public display on a cross of humiliation. John explained that even His own brothers did not believe in Him. This sad note sounds again (cf. 1:10 11; 12:37). Proximity to Jesus, either in a family or as a disciple, does not guarantee faith. 3 Discussion: Discuss the phrase Proximity to Jesus, either in a family or as a disciple, does not guarantee faith. Ask your class how they might witness to an adult who grew up in a Christian context but has not yet made a decision for Jesus. John 7:25-36 (Read) Sub Application: Seek to know who Jesus really is. The people of Jerusalem discuss whether Jesus could be the Messiah. They question why the authorities who were tasked with arresting Jesus knew where He was but didn t take action. 3 Edwin A. Blum, "John" In, in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), Jn 7:4 5.

5 As a result of His teaching and the way He marveled the crowds with His words, conversation starts up. Could he be the Messiah? People start to wonder if this indeed could be the one they ve waited for. But it was more than just His teaching. We see in these verses it was the fact that Jesus was speaking openly and the authorities who were there didn t budge. This was the man they sought to arrest and no one was going after Him or tackling Him off the stage. They just let Him keep teaching. Unharmed. Untouched. For this reason, many believed. They thought that maybe the authorities started to believe that Jesus was who He said He was. His boldness. His authority. What is interesting is that the crowds insist that they know Jesus. They know, or believe to know, that He comes from Galilee. They insist that they know who He is, but Jesus insists that they truly don t. Jesus says He has come that they might know the Father who sent Him. They think they know His origin. They say they know where He grew up. They say they know Him, but it s evident the crowds and authorities have no idea who He is. One author says it this way: The Jews prided themselves in knowing the one true God, unlike the pagans around them. Certainly that was their privileged heritage. They especially thought that God had made himself known to them in the law. But the law, Jesus has already insisted, points to himself. If the Jews do not recognize who Jesus is, it must be that they do not really understand the law, they do not really know the God who gave the law, for if they had really known him they would not have rejected his son. 4 Again, a common theme is Jesus speaking spiritually and the Jews interpreting it literally. He isn t talking about where He grew up. He is speaking about something greater: His identity. Why was the Jewish understanding of the Law and the Old Testament and their understanding of Jesus and belief in Him so interconnected? Why does Jesus try to show them that the Law is about Him? Why does He use the Law as a point to address so much with these religious leaders? How do you learn various approaches to evangelism? How might you present Christ differently to someone who is well-versed in the Old Testament as opposed to someone who is completely unfamiliar with Scripture? John 7:37 52 (Read) Sub Point: Live a Spirit-led life. 4 D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to John. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1990, p. 318.

6 Jesus alludes to the coming of the Holy Spirit and challenges those who are thirsty to come to Him and find living water. The people debate about Jesus. Jesus address to the crowds concerning water and thirst need not be overlooked. This is very purposeful for the people He was addressing. Water appeared throughout the Old Testament and many passages were connected with this feast that was happening in this chapter of John. For the Jews, water symbolized the fertility and fruitfulness that only rain could give. 5 Jesus pushes them back to the Old Testament and at the same time, pushes them to see that He offers replenishing water far greater than the rain. For in fact, He controls the rain itself, telling it when and where to fall. But Jesus, once again, isn t talking about physical water. He is talking about the water for their souls. As the crowds continue to debate the truth of Jesus words and who He really is, there is great division. They don t know. They can t decide. The chief priests and Pharisees are angered that the officers came back without Jesus. But the officers explain that Jesus is different. Jesus was clearly different. His teaching affected them. He wasn t just some prophet to arrest. He was so much more. What does Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water mean? How does someone live a life that is led by the Holy Spirit? Why would conveying to the crowds and religious leaders the truth about Himself and what He offers using language concerning water be helpful? Why did Jesus do this? Why was there so much division about Jesus true identity? What made His teaching different from every other prophet or rabbi? 5 D. A. Carson, The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to John. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1990, p. 322.

7 Week 11, John 7 Took Main Point: Jesus is the one who teaches. Main Application: Seek to understand and submit to Jesus authority. In Today s Culture: Why should we obey? Is it when we completely understand and agree with the directives that are issued? A study conducted in 2013 sought to discover how many people follow the direction to turn off all personal electronic devices on a plane when prompted. The result was that 59 percent of flyers reported to always turn off their devices when asked. There were a number of folks, 21 percent, who would place their phones in airplane mode instead of turning them off. 6 Discussion: Have you been flying lately? How have the rules regarding personal electronic devices changed? On many airlines, PEDs are now permitted to remain on during the duration of the flight. Does this fact validate those who disobeyed the flight attendants before the rules changed? Were they justified? How should you respond when you don t understand the reasoning for a biblical command? How should you respond when you don t agree with a particular teaching in the Scriptures? Lesson Conclusion: Jesus is the one who teaches. In learning, we must understand that Christ is the authority. Attempting to evaluate all that Jesus commands, in efforts of rationalizing it, will fail. Christ cannot be understood as one man understands another; His nature is different than ours. Instead, we must begin to seek to know Him more and more through His teaching as provided in the Scriptures and the leading of the Holy Spirit. At times, you will not understand all that the Lord is teaching you through His Word or the circumstances He has allowed you to 6

8 be surrounded with. However, you must understand that Christ is the authority and agree to submit to His authority. Challenge: Challenge your class to live in the light of Christ s authority. Recognition of His authority should lead to a life in submission to it. Submitting to His authority means doing all that He has commanded us to do.