John 7:1-24
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Intro/Background
Tonight we get into a brand new section of the Gospel of John
Even though I know it feels like we’ve been in it forever (1/2 a year so far), we’re only 6 chapters in out of 21 total
But already, in Chapter 7, we’re starting the last 6 months of Jesus’ life and ministry before the cross
And in Chapter 12, we start the last week of Jesus’s life for the rest of the book until Chapter 21
That should let us know how important the teachings/miracles/actions of Jesus are during that time
If you remember 2 weeks ago, Jesus was at the height of His popularity
Had these huge crowds following Him, there was this buzz that He was going to make Himself King or something and maybe finally get rid of the Romans
But His teachings were getting “hard” to follow - not like they were impossible or difficult, but it took some sacrifice and some humility to follow after what He was saying
Even though it was easy - He was offering eternal life for just belief. Not for crazy works or penance or anything like that, just simple faith
But the people didn’t like that. They didn’t like that He was talking about sacrifice instead of taking over the Romans
So the crowds started to wander away
And we read one of the saddest verses in all of the Bible in John 6:66 - many people started to walk away
Jesus turned to His disciples and asked them if they wanted to walk away too and Peter gave this amazing response, “Lord, where else can we go? You have the words of eternal life - You have the only words that really matter”
Tonight we’re going to continue to read about more controversy - this time on who Jesus really was and a debate about who Jesus was.
Lesson - John 7:1-31.
Verses 1-5
We see here that there’s this religious feast called the Feast of Tabernacles coming up, and Jesus’ brothers find Him and start mocking Him
Mary & Joseph would go onto have kids - we know from the Gospels that Jesus had at least 4 brothers (James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude) and sisters too
But they didn’t believe in Jesus at first, they thought He was crazy actually. There is another story in the gospels of when Mary and Jesus’ siblings come to get Him to take Him home b/c they thought He was out of His mind.
Jesus told them no, He was doing His heavenly Father’s will - His true mission on earth
So His brothers kinda turned on Him
I think anyone who had siblings can picture this. Imagine being Jesus’ brother or sister growing up - continually getting compared to your perfect older brother.
I’m sure there was jealousy and a lot of eye rolling
And I can just picture how they are with Him now, “Jesus, if you’re so important, how ‘bout you go down to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. Do some miracles, let the whole world know just who You are!”
Look at Jesus’ response
Verses 6-9
If that was you or I, the response would be, “shut up James!”
Jesus doesn’t get mad or irritated or anything like a normal brother would (“Ugh! Get away! You guys are so annoying!”), He just says that its not His time yet
It wasn’t the time to be revealed publicly to the people that He was the Messiah, that time was coming
So He said, “You guys go on ahead, I’m not gonna go up yet.”
Reminds me of a verse in Proverbs we studied last year - Proverbs 15:1
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Verses 10-13
Jesus does end up going to this feast, but He doesn’t make a big show about it like His brothers told Him to do. He goes up secretly/quietly so as not to draw any unnecessary attention
And when He gets to Jerusalem, And there’s this buzz amongst the people about Jesus and who He really was
Some people thought He was a good man, maybe a prophet or even the Messiah
Others thought He was a liar
But this buzz was kind of hushed from the religious leaders
They had already threatened that anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah would be kicked out of the Synagogue (social outcast!)
But there’s this growing debate and excitement about Him
Two points for us to take away from this
How I would love for this debate to be going on at your school. Not in a bad way, or a cause problems kind of way. But it would be so amazing if this youth group starting talking about Jesus and what He’s done for you and how He’s gotten you through some junk, to where this debate breaks out, “Who is this Jesus guy they’re talking about?”
On a more personal level - who is Jesus to you?
No Sunday School answers, think about it straight up, who do you believe Jesus is?
Your answer to that question will shape your entire life.
If you believe Jesus is a deceiver like this crowd said, you might come to church, but you’re not going to live it out, you’re not going to follow it.
If you believe He’s just a good guy, a teacher in one of the world’s many religions, you may go to church with a bit of enthusiasm, read your Bible, pray some. Maybe you’ll even serve here at the church. But it’s going to be more like a tradition, or something you should do b/c religion is just a good thing to do, and it’s not going to grab your heart and radically change you.
But if you believe Jesus is who He said He was - He’s the Messiah, the Savior of the world sent from heaven to save us from our sins, and that we can have forgiveness and acceptance through Him - that’s going to radically change you.
You cannot stay the same, you can’t be a fair weather fan if Jesus is your Lord
This past Saturday, the Buffalo Bills & New England Patriots played in one of the coldest NFL games in recent memory. It was 7 degrees at kickoff (-5 deg windchill).
Have you ever been to watch a freezing cold game? It’s miserable. You just sit for 3 hours, its honestly one of the worst things you can do, unless that’s your team.
Then not only will you endure the 3 1/2 hours in the stupid cold, but you’re going to do it enthusiastically, with a smile on your face b/c that’s your team
Your belief will affect your actions
Same is true with us, if we truly believe that Jesus is our Savior, it should affect our lives and cause certain actions in us
Verses 14-18
With all this buzz going on, Jesus does get up and start to teach in the temple
And the religious leaders are just blown away at His boldness to teach the word of God b/c He wasn’t a trained theologian like they were
He never went to seminary or Bible College, but He taught with authority and powerfully, and it was revolutionary and life changing
They’re wrestling with this, “How can He teach like this even though He has no training?”
And Jesus simply responds that it’s because He doesn’t teach His words, He teaches the Father’s words - He’s just doing the will of the Father
Someone who talks their own words would be in it for themselves, they’d be looking for a pat on their own backs and it wouldn’t be as life changing as what Jesus was saying
Such a good lesson here for us - remember that debate I was telling you about earlier that I would love to hear was going on at school?
That’s not one that you need to best high school Bible scholar with all of the answers to start.
Think about how many times you don’t want to mention church or Jesus or what you believe in class b/c you’re scared that if you say something, you’re not going to have all the answers to the questions that will come with it
Or you don’t want to share the gospel with someone who you know needs it b/c you’re afraid you don’t know it well enough or will mess it up
You don’t need to be a theologian or religious scholar to teach the Word or share Jesus w/ others!
All we need to be doing is spending time w/ God!
That’s how Jesus said He spoke like He did, b/c it was from the Father who He’s been w/ forever!
The disciples in the book of Acts had been out evangelizing and and healed this guy who couldn’t walk
And they’re at the temple teaching (just like they learned & saw from Jesus here in our text - They spent time w/ Him!!)
And the crowd is amazed that these fishermen, the low class of society, could speak and teach like they did
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
This should encourage us guys! To be able to teach others (whether that’s teaching the middle school, or Calvary Kids or Followers, or discipling someone, or witnessing to someone at school), the only qualifications you need are to be spending time w/ Jesus getting to know Him!!
You know the first Bible study that I lead was when I was a freshman at high school
I started this Christian club and we were going to do a weekly Bible study
I didn’t know what in the world I was doing. Most weeks it was pretty terrible.
But I knew God put that on my heart to start. I just read my Bible, and found a commentary to tell me what it said, and pretty much regurgitated it
I still don’t know what I’m doing, and I pretty much just read a few more commentaries and then say words to you all each week
But they key to be used by God above academic rigor is to spend time w/ Jesus
Verses 19-24
Again, there’s this stir, this buzz, this controversy about Jesus and His teachings and where He’s from and who He is, so He kinds hits it straight on as they’re dancing around Him at this point
“Look, I’m teaching the word of God boldly. It’s the same law that He gave to you, but none of you are keeping it, and you want to kill me!”
Their response, “Whaaaatttttt?!?? No Jesus, we would never!”
We know that’s not true, there had been plenty of times where they wanted to kill Jesus for what He said or did
They try to play it off, “Oh, you just don’t remember it right (you have a demon)”
But Jesus hits them on their hypocrisy as they’re trying to call Him out and get the crowds to not follow after Him
“Yes you did want to kill Me. You wanted to kill me after I healed someone on the Sabbath. You guys are willing to circumcise someone on the Sabbath, bring pain and suffering for the sake of ‘following the law of God’, but you’re unwilling to let me bring joy and healing on the Sabbath.”
He calls them out - don’t be hypocritical
Small Groups
Sample Small Group Questions
Sample Small Group Questions
What was something new or interesting you learned from our study tonight?
If you started a discussion at school about who Jesus was, what do you think some of your classmates might say?
Do you agree that your belief on who Jesus truly is will affect/shape your life? Why/why not?
Why do we get afraid to talk about Jesus or our faith at school or with our friends?
Read Acts 4:13 again. Why does Jesus choose to use “uneducated or untrained” people so often?
How does that verse encourage you to be used by God?
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
How do you “be with Jesus” like our verse said so God can use you? What does that look like on a daily/weekly basis?
How can you put this lesson into practice in your life this week?
Prayer Requests and Group Prayer
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