7 25-31 What's Your Jesus IQ
liberty bible church 8/3/08 a.M.
By Tom Zobrist
“what’s your jesus iq?”
John 7:25-31
introduction
Illus. of “Level of Intelligence” A fictional story is told about Albert Einstein in heaven: Einstein was having difficulty finding people on his intellectual level to talk to, so one day he decided to stand at the pearly gates and ask everyone who entered what their IQ was. Before very long he was having a lot of success guessing what people did for a living on the basis on their level of intelligence. For instance, a woman was ushered through the gates and in response to Einstein’s question, said she had an IQ of 190. “Why, you must be a physicist,” Einstein said. “Indeed I am,” said the woman. “I’d love to chat with you about the progress being made in nuclear fusion and in superconductivity, as well as what’s going on in space,” said Einstein. “Please wait over there.” He stopped a man who was entering the gates, and the man told him his IQ was 140. “You must be a physician, probably a surgeon,” said Einstein. His guess was right. “Wonderful,” said Einstein. “I want to talk to you about the latest organ transplant techniques and their effects on life expectancy. Can you wait a few moments until we can get together?” Another man walked in and told Einstein he had an IQ of 95. “Is that so,” said Einstein. “So what do you think is going to happen with interest rates?” Bits and Pieces, July, 1991 No offense to any bankers or economists, whose IQ’s are much higher than most, I’m sure. I didn’t make this up. It’s From Bits and Pieces from 1991, if you can believe that. My concern today is not the standard Intelligent Quotient, but what we know about Jesus Christ; and not only what we know, but what do we do with what we know? So, what is you Jesus IQ?
OPEN to the passage.
Prop. In this passage, we see why a high Jesus IQ is essential to anyone’s life.
Open in PRAYER.
PREVIEW the passage. Jesus has gone up to the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths secretly. After remaining silent for half the feast and listening to the people and what they think of Him, He finally speaks out. And His speaking is very bold in the face of those that would oppose Him. Cf. 10-24 Now, the people react and their reactions show how little they know, even though they fancied themselves as being very religious and very close to God. Let’s look at this next paragraph and see if we can get a glimpse of our Jesus IQ. All main points begin with Q today. The first is…
i. questions that contradict vs. 25-27
Illus. of “Controversy Inevitable” Lyman Beecher once said, “No great advance has been made in science, politics or religion without controversy.” This was certainly true when Jesus came and once more, it continues to be today. Jesus’ presence whether in person or through His people creates controversy. And that’s what He does here in Jerusalem during this festival. It centered around the question, Is He or is He not Messiah? Let’s think about it…
a. Can Jesus be the Messiah?
V 25 1. In our previous studies we have established the fact that the Jews wanted Jesus dead. He had created quite a stir in the nation with His miracle healings and mass feedings and confrontations with the religious leaders. Cf. John 5:16 In that passage He had healed a man on the Sabbath. The question here in verse 25 is why don’t the leaders do something about Jesus if they want Him dead?
V 26a 2. Here He is, right out in the open, boldly teaching right in the midst of the people and the festival. If He has done something wrong, if they want Him dead, why do they let Him go? Perhaps they know something we don’t.
V 26b 3. Maybe He really is the Messiah. The people are confused over the lack of leadership that they are getting from the nation. If He’s a criminal, lock Him up, if He is the Messiah, then hear Him. But, no one seems to know and there are all these questions…questions that contradict. Wait a minute…
b. Jesus can’t be the Messiah, can he?
V 27a 1. Jesus was from Nazareth, a carpenter from Galilee. He’s just a regular guy. We know His family, His parents and siblings. He has had a pretty normal life, nothing that would set Him apart.
V 27b 2. They believed that the Messiah would be relatively unknown until He was revealed as such. He would just pop up on the seen. Yet they knew where Jesus was from. Their lack of understanding of the OT also made them fail to realize that the Messiah’s birthplace was foretold in Micah 5:2. They were so confused and they lacked leadership.
Trans. When it comes to Jesus, QUESTIONS THAT CONTRADICT need to be answered. Many today lack the leadership to lead them to the Truth. Besides these questions that contradict, there are…
ii. quizzical statements that confuse vs. 28-29
Illus. of being placed in advanced math in Jr. High because we were tested and placed where our supposed abilities said we should be. We were told our IQ’s had to be at least 120 to be in the program. I did ok the first year and upon entering HS, I began to struggle. I soon realized that effort played a part in understanding and that natural ability would only take you so far. The same is true with understanding Jesus. We pick up a few things here and there through attrition in our culture, but if we really want to get Him, it takes some effort on our part. We have to study His quizzical statements literally, in context, with the proper grammar, and in the proper historical setting to really get it.
a. A statement of who they think He is
V 28a 1. This is a solemn announcement that He is making, publicly in the Temple; and we sense a bit of irony in what He is saying.
V 28b 2. They though they knew where He was from. They thought they knew what He was all about. They thought they understood what He was trying to do. Illus. of many today that think they know Jesus and what He is about and what He stands for, but do they really? Have they done the homework necessary to really understand Him?
b. A statement of who he really is
V 28c 1. Jesus did not have His own agenda. He had been sent from the Father and He was true. Cf. v 18
V 28d 2. The problem was that the religious leaders who opposed Jesus did not know Him because they didn’t really know God, whom they were supposed to represent.
V 29 3. Jesus knows God for He is God and was sent by God as His Son. Cf. John 1:1, 14, 18
Trans. These are some QUIZZICAL STAEMENTS that are hard to understand, but we can tell from the next section that they understood what He meant. They make…
iii. quick judgments that convict vs. 30-31
Illus. of the court case here that the jury deliberated on for several hours and could not reach a verdict until after the judge threatened to not let them go home. They reached a verdict in 5 minutes… The States Attorney was frustrated thinking no jury would convict so quickly. He was wrong. Only God knows if the verdict was correct. Here the people convict Jesus quickly and we know they were wrong.
a. Many reject jesus
V 30a 1. Jesus’ claims of being God and being the Son of God cause His enemies to want Him dead, but…
V 30b 2. They couldn’t touch Him before it was God’s time. God had a time and a place and no one was going to change that. Illus. of this concept should always be encouraging to Christians. The world cannot hurt of if it is not God’s will. This includes nature, people, foul health, or any other peril we might imagine. Many will reject Jesus when we seek to live for Him and represent Him. And then…
b. many accept him for the wrong reasons
V 31 1. Many had witnessed what Jesus had done, which we have documented several times throughout our study of John. What more could the Messiah do?
2. But their faith was tentative. They wanted Jesus for what He could do for them. They were not believing in Him for the forgiveness of their sins. In a few short months, they would be calling for His crucifixion. Quick judgments about Jesus can be dangerous.
conclusion
We’ve SEEN QUESTIONS THAT CONTRADICT, QUIZZICAL STAEMENTS that are hard to understand, and QUICK JUDGMENTS THAT CONVICT. We know the rest of the story of these people in John 7. Their Jesus IQ was pretty low and it resulted in serious misunderstandings of who He was and what He represented. What about us? What about our culture? What about the church today? What is our Jesus IQ? Here are the basics.
1. We need to make sure we understand the Gospel. GOSPEL
2. We need to fellowship where we will be taught the Word so we can understand who Jesus is. We would never attend a school where they didn’t teach us what is true about math. We should never attend a church where the Word is not taught accurately.
3. We need to make sure we judge by what the Bible says, not by our own opinions or worse yet, public opinion.
If we have these three in our life, our Jesus IQ will be above average.
Illus. of “Ordinary IQ”
Most of us are average people, but with God, we can do extraordinary things. We all have different gifts and abilities that God can use. He has a unique plan for us all, but for us to find it, we must have a high Jesus IQ. When understand Him and know Him, even though we are average, to God we are unique and we win a peace prize that far exceeds the Nobel peace prize. We have a peace that passes all understanding…peace with God.
pRAY
“what’s your jesus iq?”
John 7:25-31
introduction
Our concern today is not the standard Intelligent Quotient, but what we know about Jesus Christ; and not only what we know, but what do we do with what we know?
i. that vs. 25-27
a. can jesus be the messiah?
Cf. John 5:16
b. Jesus can’t be the Messiah, ________ ______?
Cf. Micah 5:2
ii. statements that vs. 28-29
a. A statement of who they _______________ He is
b. A statement of who he really is
Cf. John 7:18; 1:1, 14, 18
iii. judgments that vs. 30-31
a. Many ________________________ jesus
b. many accept him for…
conclusion
What is your Jesus IQ? Here are the basics.
1.
2.
3.