“Judge
with righteous judgment.”
John 7:14-24
15
The
Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”
17
“If anyone is willing to do His will, he
will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak
from Myself.
18
“He who
speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the
One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
19
“Did
not Moses give you the Law, and yet none
of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”
22
“For
this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but
from the fathers), and on the
Sabbath you circumcise a man.
23
“If a
man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will
not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?
We pick up where we left off last time… in Jerusalem with the continuing heated controversy
about who Jesus was… when Jesus suddenly
revealed Himself publicly in the midst of the feast.
The people thought that He had stayed away out
of caution and the Jewish authorities
were thinking that they had intimidated Him into not coming.
His supporters were afraid to speak out too
strongly in His defense for fear of being persecuted themselves. When
evil thinks it has the upper hand it tends to gloat and bully the righteous.
What a shock it was for the self-righteous
wicked when Jesus showed up in the Temple
and began to teach God’s truth
contradicting everything that they had been saying about Him!
His
brothers had challenged Him to go up to the feast and
show everyone who He was by doing signs and wonders. He chose to show them
through His astounding authoritative teaching.
Most likely He was teaching and commenting on the
relevant annual scriptures that were the prescribed reading for the day….
But when Jesus taught, He did not just repeat the
previous commentaries of others.
He spoke with insight and
understanding that no one had ever heard before…
His teaching was fresh, spirit filled and directly from God the Father, causing
everyone who heard Him to wonder
15
The
Jews then were astonished, saying, “How
has this man become learned, having
never been educated?”
His background and previous lack of formal education
were commonly known by this time after three years of investigation and opposition
research by His adversaries…
It was well known that He had not attended any
formal religious training under an accepted Rabbi… which was the standard
required by the Jewish religious authorities.
It is worth noting that the same thing could
be said of most of the Apostles who
themselves became authoritative teachers after His departure, the obvious
exception later would be Paul.
This question stimulates an important and
relevant question for the modern Church… which has adopted
the same kind of limited and restrictive standards for its preachers.
The point is that while formal education can be
very helpful in all areas of life, when it comes to spiritual truths, learning unchallenged traditional doctrine in a
controlled and limited setting can lead to spiritual stagnation.
We get some insight from the learned Paul…
into the value of informal, non-institutional, spiritual
teaching and training in 2 Timothy.
Ø
2 Tim.3:14-17 – You,
however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15 and that from
childhood you have known the sacred
writings which are able to give you the
wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God
and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
This very important principle
applies to each and every child of God… One should never be intimidated
into silence because of ones lack of formal religious education.
The Protestant reformation reestablished the doctrine of the priesthood of believers that had
been suppressed by the Catholic Church for centuries!
The Baptist tradition has always maintained both the individual
priesthood of the belier and the cooperate priesthood of all believers
from the very beginning of the Church.
Furthermore, every Christian is to be a student
of the Bible themselves… after the example of the Bereans.
Ø Acts 17:11 – Now these were more noble-minded than those in
Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the
Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
Since the very moment that the all
sufficient sacrifice of Jesus
Christ was accomplished… direct access to the throne of God has been opened to all believers…
As indicated by the tearing of
the veil in the Temple that
separated all but the High
Priest from the Holy of Holies!
Ø Mt.27:50-51 – And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His
spirit.
Also, every born-again child of
God… now… in this age
of grace…has access to direct
teaching from the Holy Spirit.
Ø 1 Jn.2:26-27 – These things I have written to you concerning those
who are trying to deceive you.
27 As for you, the
anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for
anyone to teach you; but as His
anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and
just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
Now, all of this is not a
license to free lance or to ignore well established, obvious doctrinal truth,
but it is a mandate for every Christian
to be used by the Lord to serve as He directs.
The Lord has appointed
teachers in the Church, but not to the exclusion of all others
teaching.
The job of the gifted teacher is
to equip the saints for the work of ministry including teaching!
We know that Jesus has been saying this from
the very beginning…
ØJn.5:19
– Therefore Jesus
answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for
whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”
Ø
Jn.5:30 – “I
can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is
just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
We have commented already in previous
teachings that this is the same high
standard the we as followers of Christ are called to uphold as well!
We are to teach only what we receive from the
Lord! But on the other hand, we should not fail to share what the Lord gives to
us with others either!
17
“If anyone is willing to do His will, he will
know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from
Myself.
The implications of this saying are far
reaching… First of all, it
establishes right at the beginning that being able to understand what Jesus Christ is saying is actually dependent
upon the will!
That statement goes against much of what has
become accepted, dogmatic theory for many
throughout the history of the Church. Which is a shame and has hindered
the spread of truth.
The New Testament teaches that ignorance
concerning the teachings of the Lord is a choice!
God is a God
of revelation! He gives knowledge and understanding to those who are willing to receive it and submit
to it and it is not received by those who deny or suppress it!
Ø
Ro.1:18-19 – For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
So, the principle is
clear… as followers of Jesus Christ… we are to follow His example of humility
and faithfulness to the revealed word of God… we are not to suppress it or mold it to our own liking.
18
“He who
speaks from himself seeks his own
glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and
there is no unrighteousness in Him.
Now this verse helps us to see this same truth
from another perspective… the idea is that no one serving God is to speak
on their own authority or to seek or to accept the praise of men.
Rather he is to give all honor and glory to
God, who is the author of all truth and the giver of all understanding and
blessing, without regard to person, formal institutional education or status.
19
“Did
not Moses give you the Law, and yet none
of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”
This is a direct in your face confrontation
and challenge
to the self-righteous hypocrites who are trying to accuse Jesus of
breaking the Law when they are actually ignorant of it!
It’s like the modern blowhard, pompous politicians trying to accuse
law abiding citizens of wrong doing
for exercising their constitutional rights of free speech, religious liberty
today!
They want to condemn Jesus for healing on the
Sabbath when it is clear from the Torah that it is perfectly legal to do so!
Just like it is legal, even if not approved of
by some, for a person today in America to speak out in the public arena
concerning their perfectly legitimate and long accepted ethical convictions,
And to refuse to engage in or support
financially or otherwise… any and all activities that go against their personally held religious
convictions!
Now when Jesus says that none of the Pharisees
keep the Law of Moses that they claim to hold in such high regard… He speaks
with authority
and with complete confidence in His accuracy!
Ø Deut.27:26
– Cursed is he who does not confirm the words
of this law by doing them.’ And all
the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Ø
Jas.2:10 – For whoever keeps
the whole law and yet stumbles in one
point, he has become guilty of all.
Concerning the fact that they
are seeking to kill Him… again Jesus
is perfectly accurate in His charge… as the gospel accounts clearly and
repeatedly record and confirm!
But of course, facts and truth don’t matter to
agenda
driven liars, as we witness every day in bogus news reports and the
downright, incredulous drivel that comes out of politician’s mouths
Have you ever noticed that when you catch
a liar or a fool dead to
rights in their deception or error they try to head for the high ground
of moral
indignation and self-righteous denial?
Jesus doesn’t even acknowledge their false
denial but goes on to challenge their wicked motives for wanting to kill Him.
This illustrates an important principle for us to
remember… Don’t bother to engage a fool or a liar
in debate about their empty assertions or false
accusations… just stick to telling the truth!
22
“For
this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but
from the fathers), and on the
Sabbath you circumcise a man.
23
“If a
man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will
not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?
Jesus ends
the debate by citing Scripture
as He very often does… another instructive example for all of us to
remember and practice!
Now, as we come to the close of our study today,
we have one of the most challenged concepts
within all of Christendom before us… expressed in this short verse!
Have you ever noticed… and I’m sure you have…
that whenever the question of judgement
comes up in conversations with unbelievers and the Biblically ignorant…
That everyone thinks they’re an
expert on what Jesus had to say about judging? Even if they have never opened a Bible, they can all quote,
or they think they are accurately quoting Mt.7:1?
Ø
Mt.7:1 – “Do
not judge so that you will not be judged.”
By taking this saying of Jesus out
of context… they want to use it as a weapon against all moral and ethical standards and
they want to condemn anyone who calls evil… evil!
Our text from John 7:24 is the proper
Biblical response to any such ignorant and foolish accusation… and it
is easily
backed up by other clear
statements from the lips of Jesus!
24 “judge with righteous judgment.”
Ø
Jn.5:30 – “I
can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is
just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Ø
Jn.8:16 – “But
even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I
and the Father who sent Me.
The correct
understanding of the Mt.7:1 saying… in context must include
the next
verse and must be taken in light of these other clear statements
concerning proper judgement…
Ø
Mt.7:1-2 –
“Do not judge so
that you will not be judged.
2 “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard
of measure, it will be measured to you.
As
Christians we are always to call evil, evil… that is never in question…
what is in view here is that… before we go around condemning others for their
particular sins…
We need to always
be sure that we are not guilty of the very same thing that
we are condemning others of… or else… we will be condemned ourselves by our own
words!
That is why
is it so important that as Christians we know the word of God for ourselves
and why we are called to a higher standard of living than ignorant
unbelievers, liars and fools!
Something we
need to always remember as we walk through this world filed with so many
challenges and so many contrary opinions…
As we try to
share our Biblical faith and our Christian worldview with others with conviction
and with love!
