“Weathering Great Controversy” November 10, 2013 Studies in the Gospel of John, #16 John 7:27-29; 37-39 27 But we know where this man is from. Yet when the real Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 Jesus, teaching in the Temple, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. But I have not come by my own authority. I was sent by the One who is true, whom you don’t know. 29 But I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” 37 On the last and most important day of the feast Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from that person’s heart, as the Scripture says.” 39 Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit. Judges 7:1ff 7 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops that were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod (fear-Phobus); and the camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ 3 Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.’” Thus Gideon sifted them out; twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained. 4 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will sift them out for you there. When I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; and when I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” 5 So he brought the troops down to the water; and the Lord said to Gideon, “All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths, you shall put to the other side.” 6 The number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water. 7 Then the Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes.” 8 So he took the jars of the troops from their hands, and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents, but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley. 9 That same night the Lord said to him, “Get up, attack the camp; for I have given it into your hand. Jesus found himself to be the center of controversy. It appeared that the Jesus movement was falling apart. After he preached, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you,” many and perhaps most of his disciples left him. He decided to stay in Galilee because of death threats against him in Judea. Even his own brothers did not believe in him. This is the first challenge to discipleship. If you get serious with Jesus, you will lose some friends. If you get serious with Jesus, there will be some family members, and even some church members who may be less excited to be in your company. When you get serious with Jesus you become strange and different to most people, because like Jesus brothers, most people’s loyalty is not to God and God’s will but to the world. So when you start living by God’s will, ordering your behavior, your thoughts, your opinions, your decisions by the Word of God, by the leading of God in your life, you will find that family is not so much like family any more, friends are not so much like friends anymore, and the clique and the crowd and the folks who live by “what other people think” will have less and less to do with you. Even in the church, even among Jesus’ so-called brothers, the family of God, we find that people miss God’s motives. His brothers assumed he wanted to be in the limelight. You need to go to Judea they told him, perform some more miracles if you want to gain a following. If we are here today because we want to be in the limelight, if we are here because we want our gifts and skills and talents to be recognized, if we are here because we are convinced that the world and the church cannot do without us, then we have the wrong motives, are going in the wrong direction, and may be following one or several idol gods. This is what the Lord of heaven and earth spoke through Jesus concerning the spiritual mindset: “If anyone would come after me, he or she must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. Whoever seeks to save her or his life shall lose it, but he who surrenders his life for the kingdom of God will find it. For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but lose himself (Luke 9:23ff)?” We don’t want to end up like Jesus’ brothers. They had heard the word. They had been with Jesus for most of their lives, but they had not received the Christ. They had not taken him in by faith. Jesus said to them, “I’m not going right now. It is not my time. It is not yet time for me to do what God wants me to do, give my life in exchange for your life, so that you, through faith, might inherit the righteousness of God as the child of God. You can do whatever you want and go whenever you want because you have yet to surrender your life to God. Jesus was guided by God. They were guided by their own self-interests, or the crowd, or what people think is acceptable, or the need to be in the limelight with their brother Jesus. The problem with their time is precisely that it was theirs and not God’s. As disciples of Christ, we live in accordance with God’s time. This sermon is very critical for our discipleship, our walk with Christ, because in this chapter Jesus addresses the issues of faith and fear, thinking, seeing, hearing, and feeling verses believing. To believe on him is to accept his Word, for indeed Christ is the Word made flesh. So the good news, the message of Jesus, the witness of Jesus, the death and resurrection of Jesus, and our believing, our eating this flesh and drinking this blood, is what rescues us from the great storms of life and from the world and our commitment to the world as a storm against our very souls. We do not get God’s will by thinking, by feeling, by seeing, by following the lead of others. When God called Adam and Eve in the garden they were naked. They did not need anything—they did not need things, because they had God. And if you have God you never need anything. If you go after things you will go further and further away from God. If you let your intellect, your thinking be the final authority in your faith you will go further and further away from God. If you let your experience, your feelings, dictate your faith you will miss God’s will entirely. Through faith we receive God’s direction in our lives the same way Jesus did, through God’s revelation. God reveals himself to us. No man can come to me unless it is given to him by my Father. For those who believe, all that we receive from God, our guidance, the direction of our prayers, our decisions over the most minute as well as the most profound matters, comes from God. Gideon had 32,000 men as he led Israel against the great Midianite army. His troops were camped at the spring of Harod. This is a transliteration of the Hebrew, which in Greek means “phobius” or fear. They were afraid. It was not just the number that was the problem, but that they, in spite of having more than enough troops, were still afraid. So what does God do? God tells them that in spite of the storm, the conflict they face, in spite of the fact that they are already afraid, their biggest problem is that they have too many troops. So God said to Gideon, take a poll. If anyone is afraid, send them home. At that juncture 22,000 left the camp and returned home. When we stop depending on the physical things, the money, our intellect, our abilities, our good looks, our persuasive speech, and depend totally on God, not only is our faith increased, but our power is increased. We are no longer depending on our power but on God’s power. Ten thousand troops remained out of the 32,000. God came to Gideon again, “This is still too many. If they win this battle with 10,000 men, they will say that the victory came from themselves and not from God, so take them to the water. Everyone who is well cultured and cups their hands to drink from the spring of fear put them to one side. Then all those who bend down and lap the water with their tongues like dogs put to the other. Then God commanded, send those who were so cultured and polished in their behavior home. They are too smart, too cultured, too skilled, to be a part of this victory. Keep the 300 bumpkins who lapped water like a dog.” Verse 9 of Judges 7 tells us: 9 “That same night the Lord said to him, “Get up, and attack the camp; for I have given it into your hand.” Faith is the only appropriate response the Christ. There is no failure in God. There is failure in fear. Fear will have you depend on how much money you have to deal with the crisis. Fear will have you depend on how much credit you have. Fear will have you not even going for job interviews because the devil and perhaps friends and family have convinced you that you don’t have what it takes. And if you do go, not trusting God but living in your fear, you will say with your body language, I’m not good enough to buy this house. I’m not good enough to make a proposal of marriage. I’m not good enough to work at this company. I’m not good enough to try out for this competition. I’m not good enough to apply for this program. Fear rules when we depend on our own resources and forget that because of our faith in the Christ of God in our lives, we can do all things, because he, and not we, not they, not them strengthens us. Jesus goes to the Feast of Tabernacles on his own terms, not with his brothers and reveals himself on the last day of the feast. “I am the living water. I am the light of the world. I AM.” The Feast of Tabernacles is a weeklong feast held in September or early October. It is a Thanksgiving feast for Israel. This feast was given to remind them of the need to totally depend on God. Another feature of the feast was a series of water libations offered each morning, commemorating the provision of water in the wilderness. Jesus gave a new revelation at this feast: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from that person’s heart, as the Scripture says.” 39 Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. Similarly, during the feast lamp-lighting ceremonies took place in the temple each day, commemorating God’s pillar of fire which guided them during their wilderness wanderings. Jesus’ gave the new revelation, “I am the light of the world.” This is the victory that overcomes our fear. This is the victory that overcomes our dependence on the opinions and acceptance of others. This is the victory that even overcomes our own doubts. This is the victory that overcomes the storm. This is the victory over the turmoil. This is the victory over the conflict. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Amen.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 17:55:09 +0000
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