Sermon Tone Analysis

Your walk talks, and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.

That phrase was instilled in me when I was in high school.

My youth pastor at the time challenged us to recognize that what we say matters and what we do matters, but what we do often matters more.

All of our life communicates.

Our actions communicate our beliefs.

Our words can reveal what’s in our hearts.

In fact Jesus even said:

That pithy phrase about a Walk that talks, is trying to get across that our actions speak louder than our words.

As we’ve been studying the Gospel of John, we’ve seen Jesus refer to his actions or his signs over and over again as confirmation of Who He is.

Today, as we look at John 10:22-42 - we’ll get to see an encounter that Jesus had with religious leaders where his actions spoke one thing, but people refused to listen.

Then, when his words seemed to confirm what his actions communicated, he was misunderstood.

We have to keep in mind, all communication is two sided.

There is the sending side - what we say or do.

There is the receiving - what others understand.

What we find is that a lot of people are seeing and hearing the same things - but only some are really understanding Jesus.

the same is true today.

The Context

This is about three months after the encounters that Jesus had during the feast of Tabernacles.

John tells us that it was winter time and that it was the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah.

Jesus was in the temple in Jerusalem.

In this passage we get to see first of all that…

Jesus’ walk talks - revealing His identity and mission (John 10:22-30)

So, here in the temple, several of the religious leaders gathered around him and bluntly asked him:

John 10:24 (ESV)

“How long will you keep us in suspense?

If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

They want verbal confirmation of the very thing that some people suspected about Jesus.

But, knowing what we’ve seen in the book of John, if Jesus said “I am the Christ” or “I am the Messiah” - how would they respond?

Most likely, they would have picked up stones on the spot and sought to kill him.

They might have opened an inquiry and asked for proof of his claim.

They would ask for signs and wonders (the very things that Jesus had been doing).

But, one of the other things that we have to keep in mind is that for so many of these religious leaders - the words “Christ” and “Messiah” carried with them political ramifications.

They thought the Christ would be a conquering King (and He will be), but not yet.

They thought He would overthrow the current regimes.

But Jesus came for a different purpose, a different mission, a different revolution.

Jesus responds to their question in this way:

Now, Jesus never publicly said - “I am the Christ.”

In private settings he referred to himself as the “Son of Man” (which has divine and anointed connotations) and confirmed to the woman at the well (individually) that he was the Messiah (John 4:26).

So is Jesus lying when he says “I told you”?

No, I think he communicated, as we see in the next verse, that his actions are speaking on his behalf.

He’s letting his walk talk.

But he also points out to them that they don’t understand because they are not his sheep.

They have not been called to believe and frankly don’t really have an interest in believing.

They want a Messiah that will fit in their own box.

They want a Messiah that will serve their agenda.

Ultimately, they are not part of the flock that Jesus is gathering.

Jesus continues...

With these words, He reiterates something we considered last week, that as a good shepherd, Jesus gathers, guides and guards the sheep.

He does this as part of the mission that God ordained for him.

He conveys that it is ultimately God the Father who appoints these people to be Jesus’ sheep.

So how do Jesus’ actions confirm his mission and identity?

As we’ve seen before, prophets foretold hundreds of years early about the coming of Messiah.

They communicated that he would heal the sick (Isaiah 35:4-7 ),

He will also cause the blind to see (Isaiah 29:18-19

and he will do so much more.

Up to this point in John’s gospel, we’ve seen Jesus heal the sick (John 4:46-54) , the lame (John 5:1-17), and the blind (John 9), perform other signs and wonders like feeding the 5000 (John 6:1-15) and walking on water (John 6:16-21) which could all be considered indicative of messengers of God.

Jesus whole ministry seems to be around showing people that He is the one in whom people can believe - leading up to His ultimate action on the cross.

His walk talks!

Does mine?

Does yours?

Point of Application

As followers of Christ, what do people see in our actions - in our walks.

Can they identify us as followers of Christ?

Can people see that we are on the mission that God has placed before us - to make disciples, to love God and others?

Do our actions simply show that we are good people or simply moral?

Do our actions reveal that we are more concerned about our own comfort or political preferences or personal needs than we are about reaching the world around us?

I think part of what happens is that we have bought into the false quote attributed to Francis of Assisi...

“Preach the gospel always, when necessary, use words.”

The problem is - Francis never said that.

Secondly, while the gospel can be lived out in sacrificial love, in marriage, in service to our community - it can’t be communicated fully until we use words.

Written words - like in the Bible or tracts or books, social media posts (of course we need to be careful here), emails and letters.

Spoken words - in conversations.

Jesus used both.

He not only performed miraculous signs, but he also conveyed profound and eternal truths.

In fact, as Jesus explains his actions, He includes a bold statement:

It’s in response to this that we get to see that

Jesus’ Talk Talks - but not everyone understands (John 10:30-39)

There is a lot of debate as to what Jesus meant by “I and the father are one.”

He could be referring to one substance/person - meaning that he is claiming divinity here.

He could also be referring to one mission or goal or mind - implying that they are unified in their ministry toward the sheep.

Jesus is connecting the dots for the Pharisees.

The Pharisees clearly thought that he was claiming to be God.

To which, Jesus gives a defense from Scripture:

Again - the Words of Jesus are not being properly received.

For these accusers, no amount of biblical or even logical apologetic will suffice.

They simply will not believe and they want to take action.

Point of application

It’s important for us to remember that people may be offended by our speech.

Hopefully, not because of how we speak, but because the gospel is offensive.

In order for the good news to be received, the bad news has to be acknowledged - that we are all stuck in sin and doomed for eternal separation from God.

Most of us think that while we may not be perfect - we’re pretty good - and so accepting that fact could be offensive.

The message of the gospel can also be offensive because Jesus’ ways are different than ours.

He calls us to die to ourselves and take up our cross and follow him - where as our society calls us to follow our hearts and be whatever we want to be, do whatever we want to do, etc.

He calls us to sacrifice and suffer for the glory of God and the good of His Kingdom.

He calls us to lay down our rights.

The message of the gospel can also be offensive because it is exclusive.

Jesus said:

There is one way to the Father - and that’s through the Son.

Just as Jesus was misunderstood, we should expect to be misunderstood.

In the midst of that, we should still hope!