John 7:1-13 - ”Not A People Pleaser” - Abundant Life (Gospel of John)

ever. Amen.

The scripture reading this morning from

the Old Testament is Psalm 27,

a Psalm of David.

The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the

stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I

be afraid?

When evildoers assail me to eat up my

flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is

they who stumble and fall. Though an

army encamp against me, my heart shall

not fear. Though war arise against me,

yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that

I will seek after, that I may dwell in

the house of the Lord all the days of my

life, to gaze upon the beauty of the

Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter in

the day of trouble. He will conceal me

under the cover of his tent. He will

lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above

my enemies all around me. And I will

offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts

of joy. I will sing and make melody to

the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry

aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me.

You have said, "Seek my face."

My heart says to you, "Your face, O

Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from

me. Turn not your servant away in anger,

oh you who have been my help. Cast me

not off. Forsake me not, oh God of my

salvation.

For my father and my mother have

forsaken me, but the Lord will take me

in.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me

on a level path because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my

adversaries. For false witnesses have

risen against me, and they breathe out

violence.

I believe that I shall look upon the

goodness of the Lord in the land of the

living.

[clears throat]

Wait for the Lord.

Be strong

and let your heart take courage.

Wait for the Lord.

The New Testament reading is from John

7:es 1-13.

After this, Jesus went about in Galilee.

He would not go about in Judea because

the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now

the Jews feast of booths was at hand. So

his brothers said to him, "Leave here

and go to Judea that your disciples also

may see the works you are doing. For no

one works in secret if he seeks to be

known openly. If you do these things,

show yourself to the world.

For not even his brothers believed in

him.

Jesus said to them,

"My time has not yet come, but your time

is always here. The world cannot hate

you, but it hates me because I testify

about it that its works are evil.

you go up to the feast. I am not going

up to this feast, for my time has not

yet fully come."

After saying this, he remained in

Galilee.

But after his brothers had gone up to

the feast, then he also went up, not

publicly, but in private. The Jews were

t were looking for him at the feast and

saying, "Where is he?" And there was

much muttering about him among the

people. While some said, "He is a good

man." Others said, "No, he is leading

the people away."

Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke

openly to him.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be

to God.

>> Good morning. Am I on? Hello. Good. On

now.

on now. How about now?

My pack's on.

I could speak really loud. Oh, there we

go.

Good morning.

So, as I was thinking this week as to to

what to share, it's nice to open up with

a story. I was reflecting on U. Eugene

Peterson. I'm sure everyone knows who

Eugene Peterson is. most famous for uh

writing the message book um Bible

commentary on the Bible. Um

but before that he was a pastor. So he

helped uh start a church called Christ

our King Presbyterian uh in Bair

Maryland. [clears throat] He was there

for 30 years or so.

And he uh he admitted that over those

years there were several times where he

thought about uh uh leaving. He had a

bad Monday. It wasn't just a bad Monday

after a Sunday, but um various

challenges in in ministry.

Um he talked about seasons that lasted

seven or eight, even nine months. Um he

felt like he had done everything he

could do. Um [snorts] at times felt

unappreciated, like he was hitting a

wall.

There was various other possibilities

being as gifted as he was. And there's

many people knocking on his door. um

wanting to acquire him in into their

into their church, but he chose to stay.

And something happened in the staying um

working in the same place with the same

people, doing the same thing,

[clears throat]

things became deeper and more

meaningful.

Um Peterson even mentioned a uh um a vow

of stability. Have you ever heard of

that before? A vow of stability. It's a

it's a benedicting rule. I know as a

church as a session we've read the a

book called the benedict option and uh

this is one of those things staying

putting your your feet down and and

putting your roots deep as a as a means

to to grow and to uh grow deep in

community.

Sometimes faithfulness means staying

where you are and not moving to

something bigger,

not something more impressive, not a

bigger platform.

Um, it's not everyone knowing your name,

not being rich and famous. Uh, sometimes

it's simply doing the right thing.

Uh, doing the right thing when no one's

looking.

uh staying where God has called you,

where he's placed you to do that work

he's called you to do.

It's different than the the message of

our culture. Our culture is usually

telling us to to move to a a person,

place, or thing that will make you feel

better. Um the challenge with emotions

is they are pretty fickle. They're

they're not they're not consistent.

They're not reliable.

Peterson was also asked um

[clears throat] what are the uh the

challenges in church today that you see

and um he he identified these three

things a competitiveness

focusing on size and media

and and that's once again interesting

considering culture today. Uh we live in

a a world that constantly tells us that

bigger is better. um more people, more

influence, visibility, build that

platform, grow that thing. Um that's

success. Um the the seven ways to build

your church or five ways or three steps

to there's there's lots of stuff out

there. Um

and coming to John 7, this is what

Jesus' brothers are kind of advising him

to do.

He's saying, "Go up to the feast. Go

public. Show yourself uh if you're

really who you say you are, get out

there and prove it."

So, I think the main idea of this text

is that Jesus brothers want him to go to

the Feast of Tabernacles to perform,

to make a spectacle, show everyone that

he is the Messiah, the deliverer, the

one that they've all been waiting for.

The Jewish people had uh many ideas as

to what their Messiah would look like.

Um Jesus was constantly breaking that

mold.

Jesus is not going to be controlled by

the people. He's not going to be

controlled by popular opinion, the

religious leaders, and definitely not by

his brothers.

Jesus is going to be simply doing the

will of the father because Jesus is not

a people pleaser.

Let me pray.

Lord, I pray that uh your word would

come alive to us today, Lord. That it

would go rich into our hearts. Help us

to grow in courage and in faithfulness

to the glory of your son. In Jesus name

we pray. Amen. [clears throat]

So yeah, I think I think the thrust of

the text is

um this idea that we we need to perform,

right? And so coming out of John 6, um

Jesus talks about eating the flesh and

drinking the blood. Uh following Jesus

actually means something. It's going to

cost you something. He's going to be the

Lord of your life. It's it's not someone

you just put in your back pocket and and

you live your life with, right? Um he

has to be the absolute authority. In

saying this, many people walked away. So

um

in John 6:66 it says many of the

John 6:66

disciples turned back and no longer

walked with him. His his teachings

became too hard. And that's important

coming into John 7. So Jesus has already

experienced rejection in Galilee. Uh now

his brothers don't believe in him. Um

then he's going into Judea and the

crowds are divided over over him there.

The religious authorities become

increasingly hostile.

And there is this incredible disconnect

between Jesus and and almost everyone

around him.

The Galilean followers want Jesus on

their terms. His brothers have an idea

as to what he should be doing. And the

religious leaders want to control him.

They want to be in authority over him.

Everyone has an idea about Jesus. And

very few actually understand Jesus.

So you look at verse four here. His

brothers are are giving him advice on

how to be a public figure. Public

figures don't act in secret. You got to

go, right? Um show your miracles to the

world. Go work your magic.

There there's already been many miracles

up until this point throughout the first

six chapters. And people still choose to

not follow Jesus, actually walk away

because of hard teaching.

Sometimes we think if God would just do

something undeniable, everyone would

simply believe.

John keeps challenging that assumption

throughout the scripture. The problem

isn't simply a lack of evidence

for even his brothers did not believe.

So familiarity doesn't doesn't mean

doesn't equate to faith. Um I had a guy

that taught me how to sing. Actually,

Josh and I back in the day, he he was

our choir director, and he would always

say, "We go to these different churches

and share um through a parurch ministry

we're involved with." And uh he he used

to say, "Going to McDonald's doesn't

make you a cheeseburger." Any more than

going to church makes you a Christian,

right? So, we can go to church, we can

sing these songs, um know the Christian

language, understand theology, go

through these motions, and and still

miss the heart of who Jesus actually is.

So Jesus uh goes to Judea. Um um they're

thinking just show show yourself to the

world. And and I think that's what we uh

tend to do. We have an idea as to what

we have

we have an idea as to what we want Jesus

to do for us. um rather than him being

the lord of our life,

what he owes us, um how he should work,

how he should answer our prayers, what

he should be giving us. You know, I put

in my dues, I go to church on Sunday, I

I put in my time. Now I expect something

from you.

And there was an expectation of the

Messiah who would deliver Israel. So

this is important too. Um, they wanted a

Caesar that would overthrow Caesar, some

someone better than Caesar particularly,

right? They wanted someone to to deliver

them from their enemies, that would have

great military might, uh, you know, a

big warrior with a sword that would uh

that would deliver them. They wanted

power that looked like the power that

they understood at the time.

The problem with that is you can't out

Caesar. Caesar, and that's an Emory

line, by the way. I've stole that from

him.

Um, the kingdom of God doesn't defeat

Caesar by becoming a Caesar, a better

Caesar.

So once again, yeah, they want a Messiah

that is going to defeat their enemies,

but Jesus is going to die for his

enemies.

They want a throne. Jesus is walking to

a cross.

They want a spectacle. And Jesus is

choosing to be obedient.

So before I continue further, I should

expound a bit more on the the feast of

uh the tabernacles or feast of booths.

Um there's a lot of beautiful imagery

here that Jesus is fulfilling. Um so

this [clears throat] is one of Israel's

three great pilgrimage festivals. So

people would travel to Jerusalem from

all over the world, all over the the

region. Um

the festival was centered around the

temple

uh and its worship. There were temporary

booths that were set up uh throughout

Jerusalem. So, they'd be on rooftops,

they'd be out in the the city square. Um

the feast remembered God's provision for

Israel in the wilderness. Um he led them

cloud by day, pillar of fire by night.

He supplied mana, water. He he led them.

He protected them. He dwelt among his

people. He tabernacled among them. Um

and it was also connected to the

harvest.

Uh so there was abundance, celebration,

thanksgiving, good food, good drink, it

was a lot of fun. So imagine uh

Jerusalem, it would have been electric

at this time. Um pilgrims from

everywhere, uh families, people you

haven't seen in a while, maybe since the

last feast or the last big three events,

you know, it's it's a great time of

celebration.

People were remembering God's provision.

This was a really good time.

There's also another interesting

historical um uh component here. This

was the feast that Solomon dedicated the

the temple in first kings 8 at. And so I

think of of the the temple imagery and

and what are we? We are temples

ourselves now, right? So um so think

about all this imagery coming together.

God uh delivered them, brought them

through the wilderness. He's dwelling

among his people. There's this great

time of harvest and celebration around

the temple. And now Jesus walks into

this feast of tabernacles.

Um, and you think of earlier we we went

through John 1:14. We talked about God

John 1:14

dwelling with us. That's the same word

here, tabernacle. Um, and here God is

the word specifically is esenosen.

Uh, dwelling with us.

So God pitched his tent among among

humanity

and they're [clears throat] remembering

God's presence in the wilderness.

They're worshiping in the temple.

They're celebrating. Like I'm really

trying to drive this point home

and Jesus is standing right there in

their midst and he's missing it and

they're pardon me, they're missing it.

Jesus is right there.

Well, God's presence is actually among

them and they don't recognize him.

So during the festival of tabernacles um

in the second temple period um there was

powerful water imagery. So the priest

would go to the pool of Saleom, he draw

water in a golden vessel. He'd carry it

back towards the temple and the water

would be poured out. And this was a a

connection with the in connection with

God's provision, cleansing, rain,

salvation. And later in John 7, Jesus

stands and says, "If anyone thirsts, let

him come to me and drink." So this this

ritual will go on um each day of the

seventh day of the of this festival.

So when he's saying this, they're

they're knowing what he's saying. I'm

the I can give you living water. I am

God. I'm right here.

Once again, remembering God's provision.

[sighs]

Think about the woman at the well. Jesus

has already talked about this uh living

water.

John 2, he talks about the wine. John 4,

the living water. John 6, the bread of

life. Here in John 7, now the

tabernacles. And once again, talking

about the water. He's really driving

this point home that he's right here.

It's me. I'm the person you're looking

for. I'm God here on earth.

Come to me if you're hungry. Come to me

if you're thirsty.

And Zechariah extends this vision.

On that day, living waters um on that

day living waters will

shall flow out from Jerusalem. Half of

them to the eastern sea and half them to

the western sea. it shall continue in

the summer and winter. Um, so they would

they would read these scriptures

during this festival. So they they knew

these they knew these scriptures, you

know, like they they'd have the by the

time you were 13 years old, you'd have

the the Torah memorized. Those first

five books of the Bible, they were

memorized by the age of 13 if you were a

boy or girl. So you go home and you'd

raise your kids in the Torah and you'd

go to work and you live in the Torah.

There's there's this understanding of

what the scripture says. If you wanted

to uh teach, you would further study the

the prophets, right? You you'd do your

best to memorize the whole Old Testament

or the Tanakh. And they knew these

scriptures. They had them memorized.

They'd read Zechariah 14:8, Isaiah uh

Zechariah 14:8

12:3, uh Ezekiel 47. They knew these

things that were prophesying about who

Jesus is, yet they missed it. See, these

scriptures um are super important to us,

but if we're not careful, we can still

miss it. We can miss who Christ is.

So, the temple imagery also points

towards the Holy Spirit dwelling in his

in God's people.

So John 7:6 um we see uh this needs a

John 7:6

little bit of attention here. It says,

"My time has not yet come.

Um but your time is always here." His

brothers are saying, uh, "Now is the

time. Go now. Show yourself. Take

advantage of this opportunity. Make

yourself known." And Jesus says, "My

time has not yet come." And I'm I'm sure

we've read this enough to understand

why.

Um, in the 21 chapters of John, um, he's

not simply saying it's not convenient

for him. When Jesus is is talking about

his time, it's it's the cross, it's his

death,

his glorification, his resurrection, his

return to the father. Jesus' whole life

is moving towards

this appointed hour.

his brothers are saying, "This is your

moment. Go to go to Jerusalem." They

they would have the context that this is

where um the temple was dedicated,

right? You're God. You're the temple.

This is your moment.

Get your attention. Reveal yourself.

And Jesus is saying, "You don't

understand what my my moment actually

is.

You think my moment is a platform, but

it's a cross.

And that's a that's a great disconnect.

They think glory means uh everybody's

seeing his miracles, but Jesus knows his

glory is ultimately going to be revealed

through suffering, through death, and

ultimately resurrection.

His brothers want to determine how the

Messiah should reveal himself. But Jesus

our belongs to the father.

This isn't simply Jesus having good

boundaries, you know, having rest in his

having good margin. No, Jesus is not a

people pleaser. He is he is God. He is

he is truth. He is doing the will of the

father.

His brothers don't control the hour. The

crowd's not going to control him. The

religious leaders won't control him.

Rome doesn't control him. Caesar's not

in control. The father is.

So John 7:7

John 7:7

Jesus says, "The world cannot hate you,

but it hates me because I testify about

it."

[snorts]

So

testify about its works being evil

specifically.

So this is where we see some the the

depravity of man at work in this text.

Um

why does Jesus reject the world?

or pardon me, why does the world reject

Jesus? And my my answer to that would be

because it's it's exposing. It's not

simply because Jesus hasn't explained

himself clearly enough. I think he's

making it clear and clearer. And as he's

making it clear, people are walking

away.

They

We've already seen miracles. We we've

seen Jesus uh is is saying something

deeper here.

So when Jesus exposes these things um he

says our works are evil and that's

uncomfortable for us.

I think we like to think that uh evil is

somewhere out there. You know I'm not

evil. You know I might do a little thing

here there. You know I'm not I'm not

evil. I'm not capable of that. It's

those people. It's that group that

culture.

those religious leaders.

But Jesus doesn't allow us to keep evil

safely outside of ourselves.

He exposes what's happening in our human

heart,

what we want, the approval that we want,

uh the power, the control, wanting God

on on our terms.

When Jesus confronts those things, we

have a choice to allow him to expose and

transform or reject the one exposing

them or make a little, you know, frame

and put him in that nice little box that

we have where he can operate within. But

not in being Lord of our lives.

Sometimes we don't reject Jesus because

we can't see who he is. We reject him

because we're beginning to see exactly

who he is.

And we don't what we don't like what he

reveals about ourselves.

It's why it's why culture is anti- good

because you're God. You're number one.

You do you. It's your truth. Everyone

else better get on board with your

truth, right?

It's chaos.

It's why culture is so fractured, right?

Everyone has their own little gods.

So look at the progression again. Um,

John 6, the Galilean followers leave.

Uh, John 7, his brothers don't believe.

John 7:12, the crowds are divided.

John 7:12

In 7:13, people are afraid to speak

openly. And later in John 7, officers

are sent to arrest him. The hostility

keeps growing. They don't want him. You

don't fit within our mold.

Very few actually understand who he is.

Everybody's talking about Jesus. Very

few are actually listening to what Jesus

is saying.

[sighs]

And here's where it gets even more

uncomfortable.

These aren't simply pe people that uh

who know nothing about God. They're

they're celebrating the tabernacles.

They're there in the feast. Mentioned

this earlier and I'm going to say it

again. Um they know the scriptures. They

know Moses. They they know the

wilderness story. They're they're they

know the temple. It's right there. It's

very visible. They see the the amazing

things. Um they understand themselves to

be the people of God. They're they're

the children of Abraham.

Um they know the scriptures. They have

the history.

They have their tradition. And Jesus is

saying, "I am right here." And they're

rejecting him.

This would be the depravity of man.

This becomes increasingly uncomfortable

when we we understand that we we're

inclined to cling to our traditions, our

ideologies, the truths we hold within

our denomination,

how we dress, what we where we sit, what

time we go to church, how long we do

church, our catechism are. These are

good things. They're not bad things, but

they can become the primary thing if

we're not careful.

We can use these good gifts as a way of

avoiding God, avoiding what he's calling

us to do to be the people of God.

We can know theology and miss Jesus.

You can be a brilliant person and miss

Jesus.

Know the scripture and miss Jesus.

Attend church regularly

and miss Jesus.

So John 7:8 here the the textual

John 7:8

difference is um

one one Greek word. So there is this uh

oak versus opu debate as to uh when

Jesus is going to be going. I figured I

should mention because it is a textual

criticism. So um if you follow different

uh manuscript readings, the manuscripts

include several important early

witnesses that read not yet and the

textual difference is only one Greek

word oak versus opu.

And um so depending on the the earlier

translations would have better reading

than than the later.

But even with the harder reading, Jesus

isn't being deceptive here with what

he's saying. He's refusing

to go on the brother's timetable.

Once again, the brothers want a

spectacle. Jesus chooses obedience. They

want an entrance and Jesus goes

privately.

They want him to prove himself and Jesus

has nothing to prove.

Everybody is controlled and Jesus has

not given over to the social pressure.

Jesus will not perform for their

attention. Nor will he remain silent

from fear of the persecution.

His brothers are being controlled by

what people think and the crowds are

controlled by public opinion and fear.

The religious establishment is trying to

control what people can think. And Jesus

alone is the freedom, the truth, and

[snorts] the life that they really need.

It's what they've been truly waiting

for. It's what the temple was supposed

to be. What it's what the the Israel

nation was supposed to be salvation to

the nations. The first covenant made

with Abraham was that they would be a a

what to all nations, a blessing to all

nations, right? They are missing it

constantly. So Jesus, God himself has to

come down and show us exactly what this

is. It's supposed to be a good thing.

You think of the feast in Revelation and

when John when uh Jesus comes on the

scene and he starts with the wedding,

the feast, the celebration. Sometimes we

think of this church experience as

drudgery.

I got to put in my time. But it's

supposed to be a good thing.

So Jesus alone is is surrendered to the

father. Jesus family, the crowds, the

religious leaders needed to deconstruct

their idea of Jesus. Maybe

today when uh Christians do do not

understand the historical Jesus, we tend

to make a Jesus to suit our own

ideologies,

a Jesus we're in control of.

We construct a Jesus we can control or

understand or like a genie in a bottle,

you just rub it and then he gives you

three wishes. Doesn't work like that.

As brothers have their Jesus, the crowds

have their Jesus.

And we have ours.

Our denomination, our theology, our

politics, our church culture, how we do

things because it's the right way. Does

anyone know what a narthx is? By the

way,

it's a foyer.

Narthx. Anyways, as a fun I had to learn

what a narthx is when I joined the

church.

[laughter]

These things can be idols to us. Uh when

we trust our understanding of Jesus more

than Jesus himself,

we want a Jesus who agrees with us,

validates our tribe, blesses our plans,

doesn't disrupt us too much.

But Jesus refuses to become the Messiah

of our imagination.

You could say Jesus cannot be

domesticated.

He dwells among us, but not on our

terms.

So, what might our Caesar be today?

We've talked a lot about a lot of

options already. Uh, but I would further

add being bright and shiny, having the

the the perfect Instagram life, you

know, all the perfect moments.

Everyone's lying. No one's that perfect.

living your best life now, having the

experience.

It's all about you.

And if you're not living uh that

internally,

we're putting on a show externally at

least because we want the validation

that we're living successfully, right?

At least for everyone around us.

The gospel is a public truth. We are

supposed to speak

truth. We're supposed to witness in

truth,

but our Christian witness doesn't have

to be a spectacle. And it doesn't have

to be nice and tidy and bright and

shiny. Sometimes it's just honest

mourning with those who mourn. Being

present with those who are broken,

celebrating with those who are

celebrating. You know, life is a

journey. We don't live for pleasure. We

you could say we we live for Christ. And

that leads us to be obedience and

purposefulness.

You can only live for pleasure for so

long before it just becomes the new

norm. I think it was Jim Carrey that

said um I wish everyone could be rich

and famous so they could realize how

unfulfilling it is. He had it all. He's

I think he's he's he lives in a house in

paints now. You know, people are

searching that we're taught to to live

for pleasure and we're not fulfilled.

But purposefulness in Christ, obedience

to Christ will bring long-term

fulfillment and doing hard things, doing

good things,

building something,

doing the right thing.

Those are those those are sustaining.

And so that's what what Christ is

calling us to.

We don't have to become celebrities. We

don't have to measure God's work using

the same metrics of our culture for

success. The kingdom of God doesn't

defeat Caesar by becoming a better

Caesar.

Our culture equates vis visibility with

significance.

But the kingdom of God looks very

different. It's faithful in the waiting,

doing the right thing when no one's

looking, telling the truth, serving,

loving,

being present.

We can witness without performing.

We don't have to put on a show. You

don't have to put on a fake smile.

We can be faithful without being flashy.

Not that you want to frown all the time.

I'm trying to teach Olivia that

[laughter]

[snorts] you'll get. Yeah. She's a

sweetheart. I love her to bits. Um, but

sometimes our emotions are really

visible on our face and and u learning

how to communicate is a is a part of

that, right? Learning how to resolve

conflict. you know, working in

addictions over the years, the root of

people not integrating into communities,

they don't know how to resolve conflict.

They don't know how to communicate. They

don't have a understanding of what their

identity is within community. The place

you should be able to find that is in

church, right? There's enough grace for

you to grow and to develop into the

person that Christ is wants you to be.

Um,

so this is the disciplehip process. This

is this is the tension and it it's not

it's rarely uh like a straight line

trajectory to uh you know success. It's

usually um um real.

So Jesus isn't simply addressing our

unbelief in in this sense. He's he's

stepping directly into that. He gets

into the mess with us. He exposes the

things that we're actually trusting. Um

that might be control, approval, power,

um our own understanding. And eventually

we recognize that I am not God. I cannot

be God. I should stop trying to be God.

I'm called to serve, called to love,

called to be faithful.

So this is a message his brothers needed

to hear. It's the message the crowds

needed to hear, the religious leaders.

Jesus won't be controlled by anyone.

Jesus is not a people pleaser. Neither

should we be. We should be honoring

though. um he's living for the glory of

the father and those and the good of

those around him. So maybe a question um

this text could leave us with is whose

approval are we actively living for

today?

Yeah, I think I'll leave it there.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, forgive us for

measuring [clears throat] our lives with

the standards of the world. Forgive us

for uh looking for attention,

our influence, thinking about numbers or

or applause.

Forgive us for worshiping ourselves.

Lord, um, thank you that Jesus refused

that you refused to pander to the world,

that you taught us to step out and step

up and and do the right thing. Lord,

help us to be obedient and to trust you

and to know that you have um

that you're in control. In Jesus name we

pray.