Familiarity Equals Faith | John 7:1-10

Familiarity Equals Faith | John 7:1-10

Opening Remarks:

How many of you were raised in a Christian home?

How many of you have been to camp before?

How many of you are a regular church attender?

How many of you can name most of the books of the Bible?

Tonight’s text is about people who would have been like you. If they lived today, they would have been raised in a Christian home by godly parents. They would have been at camp every summer. They would have been involved in everything. They would probably be competing in the Bible Quiz. Unfortunately, something was missing. READ

Lies Teens Believe:

My Friends Won’t Affect ME

I’ll Never Have Victory Over This Sin

Tonight: Familiarity With Christ Equals Faith In Christ

Too many teenagers think that knowledge of Jesus equals a relationship with Jesus, but that’s not true. PRAY

Introduction: It is said that familiarity breeds contempt, meaning, the more familiar you are with something the less you appreciate it.

Some of you live in a nice home – don’t even notice

Some of you are athletic – forget not everyone is

Some of you can sing well or play an instrument – others in your youth group would love to have that talent

It’s easy to take something for granted if you’re used it.

It can happen with people too.

Sister Growing up, I had a love/hate relationship with my sister. When I say “Love,” I mean I “Loved” it when she wasn’t around. My sister was mean…borderline abusive. She’s 5’ and weighs about 100 pounds, but I’m still scared of her. Here’s my advice. Never trust the little ones. They’re the most dangerous.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my sister…now. We get along great. But when we were young, at best I took her for granted and, at worst, may have prayed for her to be abducted by aliens. It’s possible to take the people closest to you for granted.

Believe it or not, this happened to Jesus. Not that He ever did anything to deserve it, but His siblings most certainly took Him for granted. Mark 6:3 tells us he had at least four brothers and it says “sisters” (plural), so He had at least six siblings.

Can you imagine having Jesus as brother? Some of you have that perfect sibling that does everything well. How many of you have a sibling that is clearly your parents’ favorite? Isn’t that annoying?

Maybe you have a younger sibling and everyone thinks they’re so cute and loveable. If you have younger siblings, you know what I’m talking about. When you were young, you’d get in trouble for the tiniest thing, but your younger sibling can burn down the house and your parents say, “The flames we’re so high and pretty!”

So now imagine having a brother that IS perfect. That was the challenge for Jesus’ siblings.

He’d never sinned. Never disobeyed. He performed miracles. He literally was the perfect Son. His siblings clearly knew something was different, but after knowing Him for almost 33 years, they still don’t believe that He’s the Savior. Their familiarity was a hindrance to their faith.

Three Ways Familiarity Hinders Our Faith

I. You Get Too Comfortable With Jesus – vs. 3

Jesus’ brothers had no problem telling Him what to do.

They say, “Go to Jerusalem so people can see what you can do. No one will know who you are unless you reveal yourself.” Jesus’ brothers are saying, “In case you didn’t know, here’s how life works.” Understand – These are Jesus’ brothers telling Jesus, the Creator of the Universe, “We have better plans and we know more about life than you.”

Illustration: Can you imagine a first year 7th grader telling Pastor Roy of Pastor Loveless how to prepare a sermon? That’s silly..

How much more foolish when we as created and finite beings wave God off and say, “I got this.”

It’s possible to be so familiar with someone that you forget who the authority is.

I hate the way some teens talk to their parents. Their familiarity has made far too comfortable. If you treat your parents like that, then your view of God is all wrong. Your authorities represent God in your life. Perfect or not, you are obligated to respect and honor them. Your treatment of your authorities is an indication of your view of God.

Listen, God is God and you are not! Christ is your Creator. He’s your Redeemer, which means He bought you. And if He paid for your life. He owns you. You may be 17 or 18 and you know a lot but your best life is not when you wave God off and say, “I got this.” Your only hope for a quality life is to let go of your pride and submit yourself to God as your Creator and Savior.

Familiarity can cause us to forget that Christ is our Master. He’s our King. He is Creator. His timing is better than ours. His plans are superior to ours. He sees the future and knows what we need. Stop telling God what to do! There’s one God and you’re not Him.

Illustration: Young man rebelling, met with him and dad, sat in my office and said, “I don’t want your life. I want to do my own thing.” Today? Divorced. Not in church. Miserable. Thought he knew better than God. God doesn’t take it lightly when we wave off authority.

Teenager, Jesus isn’t your buddy. Submission is not optional. He’s your King. Your Master. He’s God and you’re not.

When familiarity becomes a hindrance:

You Get Too Comfortable With God

II. You Get Too Curious About The World – Vs. 4

At this point in His ministry, Jesus has been losing followers. He wasn’t as popular as He used to be. He’d been preaching some difficult truths. So his brothers know that the Feast of Tabernacles is coming up when every male in Israel is expected to come to Jerusalem and they say, “Jesus, here’s your chance to regain some followers and show everybody that you are who you claim to be. If you’re Messiah, got to Jerusalem and prove it to everybody.”

Vs. 3-4 – They wanted Jesus to go impress the world at the feast. They were more concerned with the world than with Jesus Himself.

Vs. 4b-5 – It seems as if they’re almost embarrassed by Jesus. Mark 3 says His friends thought He was out of His mind. In Matthew 12, His family tried to stage an intervention. Almost as if they were embarrassed by His controversial behavior.

If you’ve spent your life being familiar with Jesus, it’s easy to get really curious about the world.

Too many Christian young people are looking at the world and fascinated by what it has to offer. It’s not like you want to get rid of God or church, but you’re curious about what’s out there.

Maybe you have friends at school or church or you have cousins that get to do a lot more than you do. Your parents are super-strict and you just want to see if the world is as fun as it looks.

Illustration: Chandler telling a friend, “When I turn 18 I’m just going to try the world for a little bit to see what it’s like.”

Maybe you wouldn’t say that out loud, but you’re thinking it in your heart. You’ve tried Jesus. You’re familiar with Him. The luster is gone. You’re used to this life. And now you’re curious about what else is out there.

You wonder what it would be like to live that way, go to those concerts, dress that way, just have fun in life. And you’ve become resentful of the life you’ve lived. You think you’re missing out.

But as we saw this morning in 1 John, the only thing chasing the world will cause you to miss out on is the will of God. I can tell you this, “They’re not having as much fun as they claim.” Living for self and the world is miserable. It’s full of regret and shame and danger.

Not to mention, these people that Jesus’ brothers were so concerned about impressing are the same people that would crucify Him 6 months later.

How to know you have familiarity instead of faith:

You’re Too Comfortable With God You’re Too Curious About The World

III. You’re Too Complacent To Make A Difference

Jesus tells them something interesting in vs. 7. “The world cannot hate you.”

What He was saying is, “You’re no different than the world, so you’re at no risk to make a difference.” You have to be different to make a difference. Jesus says, “It hateth me, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” Jesus was hated because He called out the world’s sins. But His brothers were at no risk of being hated because they were trying so hard to fit in.

One sign of familiarity instead of faith is you grow complacent about things you should be excited about.

Some of you young people have been doing the Christian thing your whole life. And it no longer excites you. There’s a complacency in your heart toward things of God. And what Jesus says is you’re in no danger of making a difference because of your lack of passion for the things of God.

Illustration: Carrying Olivia on my shoulders and being worried about hitting her head on the door frame. I was ducking and my wife was like “You have nothing to worry about.”

Too many teens have “nothing to worry about” when it comes to making a difference for Christ.

Some of you have grown so accustomed to the Christian life that you’ve lost all urgency.

It used to be that young people flooded the altars at camp.

I’m wondering, where are the young people impacting their schools for God?

Where are the teenagers talking to people about Jesus Christ on the streets?

Where are the young people surrendering to give their lives to God?

Where are the young men saying, “I’ll preach the Gospel to a world that needs it more than ever!”

Where are the young ladies saying, “I’ll do whatever you want me to, God!”

Where are the teenagers making the commitment to walk with God and read their Bibles?

We’ve become so comfortable with the idea of Jesus Christ that we’ve stopped taking risks. A comfortable life will never make a difference for God. You must be willing to take risks for Christ. He risked it all for you!

Here’s the problem Jesus’ brothers had: They were familiar, but they didn’t have faith.

Lie Teens Believe: Familiarity Equals Faith.

The majority of teens here are Familiar with Jesus.

You know:

Bible Stories – You could retell them

Bible Trivia – You’ve won youth rally quizzes. You can answer Bible questions.

Songs – You can sing hymns by heart

But knowledge, familiarity, doesn’t always equal faith.

Illustration: Bible Quiz (25 participants), but I don’t know that we’ve had 25 young people respond to the preaching this week. Have we fallen into the same trap that Jesus’ brothers did? We’re familiar, but is there Faith?

Going to church doesn’t mean you have faith. That’s familiarity.

Looking like a Christians doesn’t equal faith. That’s familiarity.

Singing special in church doesn’t mean you have faith. That’s familiarity.

You can read your Bible and not have faith. You can witness and not have faith.

Familiarity Never Has And Never Will Equal Faith.

Illustration

You may know a lot about Lebron James, but that doesn’t mean you know Lebron James.

How tall is he?

Who did he go to college?

Who drafted him when he first came into the league?

How many times does he flop every game?

But just because you know about him doesn’t mean you know him. Just because you’re familiar with someone, that doesn’t mean you really know them.

You know a lot about Jesus, but do you KNOW Jesus?

Here’s a tougher question: Just because you’re familiar with Jesus doesn’t mean Jesus knows you.

Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? in thy name cast out devils? in thy name done many wonderful works?

Matthew 7:23 “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

If you were to die right now and stand before God, would He know you?

You know the Bible, but does Jesus know you?

If you die without knowing Christ, you will spend eternity in Hell.

I wonder how many young people who look the part will stand before Christ one day and hear, “I never knew you.”

Some of you know all about Jesus, but I’m afraid too many of you don’t know Jesus.

Okay, so what do we do? Well, Jesus tells us what to do. Look at vs. 6.

It’s always the right time to trade familiarity for faith. Now’s the time.

It’s time to submit to Jesus’ claim as Savior.

You say, “I was raised in a Christian home.” But Christianity is not inherited. It’s not genetic.

If you have never acknowledged your sin and placed your faith in Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve gone to church. It doesn’t matter how Christian you look and how familiar you are, the best of us will die and be eternally separated from God in a literal place call hell unless we repent of our sins trust in Jesus Christ.

Jesus isn’t just someone you should know about. You need a Savior because you are a sinner. You stand guilty before God with no hope outside of Jesus Christ. Would you place your faith in Him tonight?

Of all the things that familiarity might cost you, the ultimate cost is Heaven. Don’t miss it. It’s not only the familiar teens. If you’ve never heard the stories. If you weren’t raised in a Christian home, your need is the same. You are a sinner in need of a Savior. If you aren’t saved, NOW’S THE TIME. You need to submit to His claim as Savior.

If you’ve never made that decision, tonight’s the night.

But to the Christian young person, it’s time to submit to Jesus’ claim as your King.

You have all the knowledge of God, but there’s no relationship to speak of.

You know the facts, but there’s no fellowship.

You go days on end without walking with God.

You turn your brain when the preaching begins.

Can you answer Bible trivia? Sure. Do you go to church? Yep. Are you involved in youth group? Of course.

Those things point to familiarity, but they don’t necessarily point to faith.

And you think, “I’m young. I have time to get serious.” No, no. Jesus said, “NOW’S THE TIME.”

Now’s the time to walk with God.

Now’s the time read your Bible.

Now’s the time to get serious about serving the Lord.

Now’s the time to be all in at church.

Now’s the time to get that secret sin right and have victory in your life.

Now’s the time to make things right with your parents.

The greatest danger of familiarity is that it makes us think we have plenty of time, then we miss our window.

Conclusion: Jesus’ brothers learned the hard way.

They eventually believed. They were in the upper room in Acts 1. James and Jude both wrote books of the Bible. But it seems as though they waited till after Jesus’ resurrections to believe.

In other words, they waited six months. But think about all they missed in those last six months of His life. Don’t you think they regretted waiting on their faith?

And some of you will to. You’re waiting for the right time. But Jesus said, “Now’s the time.”

What will you miss by waiting?

You could be the one a lost soul needed, but you waited.

You could be the one to lead your youth group, but you waited.

You could be the one to make a difference in your school, but you waited.

Illustration: Isaac Stayer - waited to call back

What are you waiting for? Now’s the time. Stop putting faith off. Now’s the time. Stop waiting to surrender your life to God. Now’s the time. The only result of waiting is regret.

Don’t wait and learn the hard way.

Illustration: Had opportunities to make a real difference in HS, but wanted to fit in with the world. Tried to follow my plans instead of God’s and missed my window to leave my mark. All because I waited to make my faith real until I got to Bible college.

You don’t have to have those same regrets.

Now’s the time to trade familiarity with Christ for genuine faith in Christ.

Stop telling God what to do and submit to Him.

Stop chasing the world and be all in for God.

Stop being complacent about the things of God.

Stop settling for familiarity. Now’s the time to have faith of your own.