Judging by Appearance (Isaiah 11:1-5; John 7:1-24) 24 th April 2016 1 It would be good to keep your Bibles open in front of you open at John chapter 7 beginning at verse 1 There s a sermon outline in the bulletin for you to take notes if you wish First let s ask for God s help to understand His Word Intro/Context What would you do in this situation? [Powerpoint 1 Muslim woman] Would you offer this woman help? Would you say hello to her? Do you judge a book by its cover? [Powerpoint 2 Punk giving a girl a rose?] Do you judge a person by what they wear? Do you judge a person by what they look like? We all do it don t we? In our passage today we come across people who have already got preconceived ideas about Jesus. They ve already made their minds up who He is! They have judged Him by appearances Let s see how that works out Page 1 of 11
We pick up the story in chapter 7 of John and verse 1 2 Jesus is still in Galilee in the northern part of Israel/Palestine And He is steering clear of Judea and in particular Jerusalem, in the South, because He knows the Jewish leaders want to kill him. But it s the time for the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles This festival is a 7 day festival celebrated in Jerusalem God initiated this festival - back in the OT in the book of Exodus when the Jews had been rescued from slavery in Egypt and they made their way through the wilderness of Sinai on their way to the Promised Land. The idea of the festival was so that the people could remember how God had provided for them and protected them - for 40 years as they wandered in the wilderness. This was how the festival was commanded in Lev 23:42-43: 42 Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters 43 so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God The Jews still celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles today it s called Sukkot. And they sleep in temporary shelters in their back yard [Powerpoint 3 Sukkot] Back to our passage and verse 3 and 4 Jesus brothers want Jesus to go up to the festival so he can show off his miracles! But we learn in verse 5 that even his brothers don t believe Jesus! Page 2 of 11
That s a bit strange isn t? They want him to show off his miracles - but they don t believe Him. We ll come back to that later 3 Jesus says in verse 6 He won t be going up to the festival - just yet But after his brothers leave We find out that Jesus does go to the festival in v10 but He goes in secret When Jesus gets to the festival there is a lot of gossiping about Him and many opinions Then in v14 half way through the festival Jesus goes public and teaches in the temple And He makes some claims about His teaching and where it comes from And also states that people are trying to kill him in v19 Which causes Him to be accused of being demon-possessed in v20 But the crux of the passage is verses 21 and 22 And it s all to do with Jesus performing a miracle back in chapter 5 verses 2-9 when Jesus healed a disabled man in Jerusalem who was sitting by a pool near the city gates. The problem with this miracle is that it was done on the Sabbath a day of rest when no work is allowed Jesus compared His work His miracle - with people circumcising a boy on the Sabbath and then comes to the conclusion in v24: [Powerpoint 4 Key verse] 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly. Page 3 of 11
That s the key verse in this passage and so let s dig deeper and let s see what we can learn from it 4 Lessons to Learn And I reckon there are 6 lessons we can learn from this passage: [Powerpoint 5 Heading and 1] 1. Jesus brothers want Jesus to go public with His miracles so He looks good in public and His miracles can get them human praise for having such a famous brother. You see it s all about personal glory for them, rather than glorifying God. That s why Jesus says in verse 7 - The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its [the world s] works are evil The world can t hate the brothers because they are acting just like everyone else looking for human praise and personal glory. But the world will hate Jesus because He points out that seeking personal glory is the mark of thinking about ourselves and not God and Jesus says this is evil thinking not Godly thinking! Are we like the brothers looking for human praise and personal glory or are we about bringing glory to God? [Powerpoint 5b-2] 2. Jesus does go to the festival- but in God the Father s timing and in God the Father s way. Jesus tells his brothers he s not going to the festival in verse 8 and then later he goes in v10. And let s be clear not to accuse Jesus of telling Page 4 of 11
lies here. The Greek for verse 8 literally means it s not the right time just 5 yet for me to go. For Jesus - going up to Jerusalem in a public way as the brothers want - is not part of God s plan so he refuses. Jesus only acts when it s the right time according to the Father, not according to the brothers. What about us - are we like the brothers, trying to get God to act in our timing and in our way; or are we waiting and trusting in His perfect timing and His perfect ways? [Powerpoint 5c 3] 3. When Jesus does go up to Jerusalem; He goes in secret. Why? Because He s not about to get arrested and killed; this is not the right time for Him to give up His life that will come later. But when He does arrive there; there is a lot of contentious talk about Him. Some say He is a good man in verse 12; others say He deceives people. And that same contentious talk about Jesus, exists today. Some say Jesus was a good man, others say He deceived people. But Jesus is more than a good man. He is the Son of God who came to die to fix the broken relationship between humans and God because of human s rebellion and disobedience towards God. Jesus is the Son of God who 3 days after His death rose from the dead to show He can give everlasting life for anyone who believes in Him. But it s not a Page 5 of 11
6 matter of believing He is a Good Man it s a matter of believing He s equal with God and He has the power to forgive and give eternal life that s what matters And notice that all this contentious talk - is done in whispers no one s game enough to say anything in public about Jesus - because they are afraid of the leaders. I wonder if we are heading down the same track - here in Australia? George Youssef a street preacher on the Gold Coast was arrested before Christmas for handing out Christian tracts and talking to people about how sin separates us from God and that Jesus is the answer to our sin and rebellion and the only way to Heaven. He s in court on the 16 th May so please be praying for him this is a dangerous precedent if he is convicted. He s speaking the truth from the Bible but it seems the police got offended because one of the sins he mentioned was homosexuality! Are we game enough to speak about Jesus in public? [Powerpoint 5d 4] 4. Notice that - when Jesus does go to the festival, that he goes public not with His miracles but with His teaching see v14 It s Jesus teaching that is the most important thing! Why? Because as he says in verse 16; it s not His teaching but the Father s teaching Page 6 of 11
7 It s heavenly teaching and with this teaching it brings heavenly benefits it brings forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus public display of miracles don t bring forgiveness and eternal life They were done do show His power and mostly done out of compassion for humanity and done to bring people to Him - so He could teach them But it s His teaching that brings us to faith in Him and saves our lives for eternity. The apostle John tells us believing in Jesus is how we receive eternal life in fact John says that s the whole reason - he wrote his book he says so in John 20:31: But these [words] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. And notice in verse 15 the Jews are amazed by His teaching they say - How did this man get such learning without having been taught? You see they are judging by appearances Jesus is a carpenter s son not a priest - or a Pharisee - or a teacher of the law - or a Rabbi so how can he know all this stuff? But they don t really know Him do they? And He goes on to explain more about His teaching He says His teaching comes from the Father so He s not speaking His own words but God s words Page 7 of 11
And Jesus says in v18 those who speak their own words are looking for 8 personal glory basically looking to appear great in front of others to get human praise This is a warning to us that when we do speak about Jesus and about God we make sure we re clear it is not our words but God s words and when praise is offered to us we direct that praise to God. Billy Graham used to say the Bible says or God says We must do the same! If I don t pull me up on it! [Powerpoint 5e 5] 5. The root of the problem for both the brothers and the Jews is their pride their pride gets in the way of their belief. The brothers are excited about the miracles and want it to be more public like Jesus is some sort of super magician. On the other hand, the Jews (especially the leaders) are threatened by the miracles and want them stopped, even if it means killing Jesus; if Jesus isn t stopped, the leaders will lose their status and position and lose human praise; - and they can t have that happen can they? For both the brothers and the Jews their pride is the problem Pride is at the core of our craving for human approval and praise. Both groups are so busy being proud they miss God s grace God s free gift in sending Jesus His beloved Son as the Saviour of the world. Page 8 of 11
9 If they removed their pride they d see God s grace and then they d give God glory - instead of looking for their own glory That s what the apostle John means in verse 5 when he says the brothers did not believe Him yes, they believed He could do miracles but no, they didn t believe who He was - and why He came nor did they believe His teaching Go back and look at John s summary of Jesus in chapter 1 verse 14: We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. What the brothers, and the Jews, and us are supposed to see in Jesus is God s glorious - Grace and Truth [Powerpoint 5f -6] 6. The last lesson sums up what Jesus teaching and the Commandments are all about and adds sum understanding to the idea of not judging by appearances. Remember Jesus summed up the Commandments as loving God - and loving others so the last lesson is LOVE That s Jesus argument as He defends His miracle in verses 21 to 24 His argument goes like this You circumcise a boy on the Sabbath because the boy must be circumcised 8 days after he is born and the 8 th day happens to be on the Sabbath when no work is supposed to be done. But you decide to go ahead with the circumcision seeing it is more important than the Sabbath which is fair enough. Page 9 of 11
Yet you get angry with me because I heal a person on the Sabbath 10 And don t forget when you circumcise a boy part of his body is removed during this procedure so in a sense his body is not whole Yet I make a disabled man s body whole again on the Sabbath and you get angry with me get real get a grip and don t judge by appearances saying Oh no Jesus has broken the rule of working on the Sabbath judge correctly that Jesus loves someone enough to make them whole again! Basically Which is more loving - to heal someone on the Sabbath - or to plot to kill someone on the Sabbath? The question for us is are we applying the letter of the law and all our rules and regulations or are we showing love first An example of that might be to say to a visitor at church - sorry you can t join us for the Lord s Supper you re not a Presbyterian or you re not a member of our church OR we could say if you love the Lord Jesus you re welcome at the Lord s table. Which is more loving? Another example might be would we turn a parent and child away from our Jaffa kids club if the child was slightly too young - or slightly too old? I d hope not? I d hope we d be a bit more loving than that? Page 10 of 11
Conclusion 11 So to sum up: [Powerpoint 6 Conclusion] Are we looking at people on the outside: looking at their appearance, their education, their wealth, their status or are we looking at their heart towards God and towards others? For ourselves are we examining our motives in every thought, word and deed? Are our thoughts conjuring up plans to get more human praise? Are our words said to get praise from others or to please God? Are our words Godly truth? Are our deeds done to gain praise from others or to please God? Can our deeds be done in secret sometimes so only God knows? Let s pray for one another that when we read about Jesus in the Bible or hear about Him, that we can say we have seen His glory as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth Let s pray for one another to remove our pride which is at the core of our craving for human approval and pray that our faith is such that we are content only in God s loving grace towards us seen by the gift of Jesus who is all we need for living Let s pray Page 11 of 11