John 7:14-24
Higher Education
In the last year a good majority of us have had a crash course in
remote learning. In the last year I’ve had anywhere from 5-9 kids in my house
the majority of whom were actively doing school from home and by that I mean on
laptops at my kitchen table. Trying to make sure everyone’s laptops were
working, on the Wi-Fi and everyone was attending their meeting at the scheduled
time has been interesting to say the least. It’s made a lot of us appreciate
all the hard work that goes into teaching our children and the value we should
be placing on education.
Education holds value through the world and human history. Today
people have access to more educational opportunities than ever before. My
grandparents viewed a high school diploma as a luxury and now my children have
seemingly limitless higher education opportunities.
In Jesus time, the ability to read and write, something a lot of
us learn in Kindergarten, was considered a luxury. We see that play out in
tonight’s message “Higher Education”
14 Now
about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple
and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How
does this Man know letters, having never studied?”
John Ch 7 starts a few months after the events of John 6. Jesus is
at home being mocked by his brothers on his alleged failure in ministry after
so many thousands walked away after being offended by the gospel. Make no
mistake brethren, the gospel is offensive. In fact, if you are sharing the
gospel consistently and people aren’t offended then you are doing something
wrong. In John 15 Jesus refers to the Father as the vinedresser who prunes away
the unfruitful vines. Sometimes a little is pruned, sometimes a lot.
His brothers go to Judea to celebrate the Feasts of Tabernacles.
Jesus decides to come up later in secret because He knows the people who sought
His life are there and will be looking for Him. Jesus gets there and soon is in
the temple teaching/preaching The Gospel. Though Jesus avoided a grand
entrance, when He came to Jerusalem in His Father’s timing, He taught boldly.
He never shrank back from proclaiming the truth.
We too should take the chance to proclaim the truth whenever we
get the chance. Whether we are sharing the gospel to 1 person or 1 million.
What matters is not the size of the audience just that we are preaching the
truth in love to God’s glory.
Jesus is teaching. How do the pharisees respond? This man has no
education! The implication is “ignore everything he says because he didn’t go
to seminary.” Convicted by His words, unable to refute them, they challenged
His qualifications.
Jesus is two years into His ministry. He has already preached the
sermon on the mount. The people acknowledge that He teaches as one with
authority and not like the scribes. He’s done multiple miracles, none of which
have been refuted because they witnessed them firsthand. He’s fed multitudes,
healed the sick, raised the dead and calmed storms. Yet, the thing they want to
point out is that He doesn’t have a degree.
Do you understand how patently ridiculous this statement is?!?!?!
John 1 starts with proclaiming Jesus as the Logos. The living
embodiment of truth! In Col 1 we learn
that “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all
things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or [e]principalities or [f]powers. All things were
created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is
before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He
is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”
And they want to say He’s never studied?
16 [c]Jesus
answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine,
but His who sent Me. 17 If
anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it
is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who
speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks
the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no
unrighteousness is in Him. 19 Did
not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do
you seek to kill Me?” 20 The
people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”
Once again not taking the bait, He tells them He is simply sharing
the word of God. He then says if you have an issue with what is written take it
up with the author! Then you can see whether I am proclaiming the Word of God
or in human authority. Jesus doesn’t seek His own glory but God’s.
He also calls them out. You don’t keep the law and you are seeking
to kill me. They try to play it off like He’s crazy. You must be possessed, no
one is trying to kill you. They couldn’t
say He was a liar. They couldn’t say He was God. All that was left is that He
was crazy. The same goes for us. Is Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or our Lord?
21 Jesus
answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you
all marvel. 22 Moses therefore gave you
circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but
from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a
man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not
be broken, are you angry with Me because I made
a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not
judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
You can’t judge a book by its cover. I’m guilty of this. I have
been humbled many a time in this regard. Have you ever had to interview someone
for a job? I’ve had to do that a decent number of times in my life. You really
have no idea what you are getting when you hire someone. That’s why a personal
recommendation is so helpful.
When CCB was being bought by SunTrust my department got permission
to hire contract workers to help with the merger. I was put in charge of the
interviews and then make recommendations to my boss. She would interview them
and then make a final decision. I went 3
for 3 on the first three people I recommended for working at the bank. They all
worked out fantastically. They fulfilled their entire contracts, showed up on
time, followed orders and did good work.
I didn’t do so great on the second wave of hiring’s. The first guy
I recommended was an hour late to his interview with my boss. The second guy took a phone call in the
middle of his interview. The third guy we hired! He did great his first day,
was 2 hours late his second day and no showed his third day.
I judged according to appearance. We all do. We judge according to
appearance, opinion and gut feeling. Then, we go to the Bible using a keyword
search to try and find a single verse out of context to justify our decision. The Pharisees are doing the same thing.
The claims of Jesus were astonishing. They were
shocking. They were beyond bold. They were really
outrageous claims. Jesus said that he had come down from heaven, that he
had eternally existed, that he had been sent into the world by the
Father. He claimed to be the savior of the world and the only savior
of the world. He claimed to be the determiner of everyone's eternal
destiny. The claimed to be the source of everlasting life, and
the only source. He claimed to be the only way to God.
he man Jesus was indistinguishable from any other Galilean
man. He most likely had a Galilean accent and his deity was
completely invisible. What was visible was his
humanity. There was no way to see him any different than you would
see any other man.
They had spent their whole life judging on appearance. Its
what hypocrites do. That's what they sell. That's what
they produce. That's the nature of hypocrisy. Stop, Jesus
said, doing that. Judge righteously.
How do we judge people? Most recently it’s been how they vote. Are
you on the left or the right? The liberal or the conservative? Republican or
Democrat? Are you with us or against us? When we do that. We aren’t on the side
of good either way. We aren’t going about the Father’s will we are about
Satan’s will. Satan’s will is to divide, destroy and kill.
Who has the qualifications to lead us? To tell us what to do? God.
God’s will is perfect. Jesus is our Lord, a good Lord a loving
master who will lead us to blessing and eternal life
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