Lessons on Discernment

Series: That Ye May Believe

Scripture: John 7:14-24

Subject: Discernment

Central Theme: Right Discernment

Objective Statement: We should be people who discern as Christ does in every part of our lives. Three lessons are taught to us about discernment in John 7:14-24

Keyword: Lessons

Points

The Source of Jesus’ Discernment. (v.14-18)

The Lack of the Jew’s Discernment. (v.19-23)

The Aim of righteous Discernment. (v.24)

Introduction:

Connection.

We may be living in the first moment in human history where you genuinely cannot trust your own eyes and ears.

A photograph used to be proof. A recording used to be proof. Not anymore. A video can show a man saying words he never said, in a voice you'd swear was his. An image can capture an event that never happened. A phone call can come in your loved one's voice—and not be your loved one at all. Every day, every time we scroll, we are surrounded by things engineered for one purpose: to look genuine when they are not. And here's the part we don't like to admit—we are far worse at telling the real from the counterfeit than we think we are. The lie that gets through is never the clumsy one. It's the one that looks exactly like the truth.

Tension.

Now bring that into this room. Every person here would say, "I want to be discerning. I want to tell right from wrong, true from false, God's way from the counterfeit." Good. But let me ask the harder question—the one this whole passage forces on us: how would you even know if your discernment was off? Because here is the frightening thing about bad discernment—from the inside, it feels exactly like good discernment. The men in our text were not the careless and the godless. They were the most religious, best-trained, most respected men in the nation. They were certain they were defending God. And they used that certainty to try to kill the Son of God standing right in front of them. They judged according to the appearance—and they could not have been more sure, or more wrong. If it could happen to them, don't be too quick to assume it could never happen to you.

Objective. So tonight we're going to let Jesus Himself teach us to tell the difference between what looks right and what is right. We should be people who discern rightly—as God discerns—in every part of our lives. And in John 7:14-24, the Lord gives us three lessons in right discernment.

We should be people who discern as Christ does in every part of our lives. Three lessons are taught to us about discernment in John 7:14-24

1. The Source of Jesus’ Discernment. (v.14-18)

In this first lesson we see the model of discernment in Christ.

John 7:14–17 KJV 1900

14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.

Now in the previous text he had gone to the feast on his own timing, and in secret. (7:10) This was because the jews were plotting to kill him for “breaking the sabbath” and claiming to be equal with God. (7:1). Jesus made it clear to His brothers that this was not His time, or His hour. (7:6)

For those who may be claiming that He was a coward, verse 14 makes it clear that he is not. He went to the temple (where the jews were!) and taught. Is this public? You bet!

John 7:14–17 KJV 1900

15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?

These jews that want to kill Him, are astonished at Jesus teaching. They marvelled, it says. This is not them coming to a different conclusion about Him, or being repentant. They are questioning the content of His teaching.

They can’t deny that He has knowledge and speaks authoritatively. It’s more like, “He didn’t go to the approved seminary. He knows the issues, but didn’t learn from our teachers.” I think this is more like a “Who does He think He is? Rather than, “Wow, He’s a great teacher!”

Often, in the temple there would be rabbis, who would do what Jesus is doing here. They would find some place in the temple courtyard and start teaching. The typical teaching would reference other rabbis who were part of different theological camps. There were traditions of ways of thinking about different issues within Judaism. So, as rabbi’s would teach they would show what tradition they were taught in and what credentials they had. Their authority came from what school they found themselves a part of and who they would quote.

What is the source of His authority and His teaching? What is the source of His discernment?

His Father. (v.16-17)

John 7:16–17 KJV 1900

16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

Where is it from? It’s from God. Jesus claims that His doctrine, His teaching, His discernment comes from the one who sent Him. He carries the authority of God with His teaching.

What astonished the pharisees, who wanted to kill him, was that He taught so profoundly, and so authoritatively without appealing to some other rabbi.

He sure didn’t go to our school. What gives him the right to speak like this? Jesus’ answer is this. I don’t need the authority of some human school of thought. I am speaking what I hear from God the Father Himself.

This is what every preacher of the Gospel should say. The point of the sermon is the point of the passage. We say what God has said.

Jesus goes on to say something very important here. It is a principle by which we should live.

John 7:16–17 KJV 1900

17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

The person that is being obedient to God, the One who sent Jesus, knows that the things Jesus is teaching is from God. If any person is being obedient to God, they will recognize obedience and authority in Jesus.

His Identity

John 7:18 KJV 1900

18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

One of the ways you know that someone’s discernment is of God, is that their emphasis is the glory of God rather than the glory of themselves. When someone seeks their own glory at the expense of God’s glory, they lack discernment. They are not from God.

Jesus’ works and words were making His identity and authority clear. He was coming on mission from God, as someone equal with God, doing the works of God, as the Word of God.

How do I know my discernment is off?

There is an emphasis on my glory instead of God’s glory.

When we emphasize magnifying ourselves over glorifying God, we know that our discernment is off. When my focus is merely on what I want this could be a red flag. The jews were focused on being seen as right, and glorified by each other because of their authoritative teaching based on what others had said. The focus became on getting glory from others through all of this instead of the glory of God.

This can happen in our lives:

Am I ministering to get attention? Credit? To be liked? Am I all about myself rather than all about God? What is the focus of my effort? Self-promotion or Christ promotion?

People do some silly, stupid, and sinful things when the focus is on themselves. We see this in the next lesson.

Three lessons are taught to us about discernment in John 7:14-24.

The source of Jesus’ discernment.

2. The Lack of the Jews Discernment. (v.19-23)

In the first lesson we see the model of right discernment. In this second lesson we see evidence of counterfeit discernment.

John 7:19–23 KJV 1900

19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?

This would have been a very offensive question to them.

Why?

They thought they had the corner market on what the law said, and how they obeyed it. They thought that they were perfectly keeping the law.

When really pressed they may have believed that killing Jesus would have been faithful to God and a way of keeping the law by putting One to death who claimed to be God and broke the Sabbath.

But at this moment they denied Jesus’ claim. It is obvious to Jesus, and not denied by them that killing Jesus would be breaking the law.

John 7:19–23 KJV 1900

20 The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?

What was the evidence of the Jew’s lack of discernment? There are three responses that are present in this crowd.

1. Blasphemy.

They claim that Jesus, the Son of God, who comes on behalf of God, saying the Words of God and doing the works of God, is possessed by Satan. They missed God when God showed up. (Is this a lack of discernment? For sure.

2. Lying.

The scripture makes it clear that at least some of them were seeking to kill Jesus (7:1), and we know that in the end they were guilty of putting Jesus to death.

3. Gullibility.

The ones who may not have been wanting to kill him may not have realized that there were some who were wanting to kill him. The ones who wanted to kill him may have been letting the ones who did not know it respond in this way.

It’s pretty clear that there discernment is off. Why? They are more concerned about their interpretation, their authority, their glory, and their appearance to others. They were more interested in looking right than in being right. They defended their tradition even when their tradition was wrong.

Look at Jesus’ diagnosis.

John 7:19–23 KJV 1900

21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.

The one work that he is referring to, as we will see in the rest of the interaction, is his healing on the sabbath day.

Check out John 5:16

John 5:16 KJV 1900

16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

This action by Jesus made the jews really angry. They were upset that Jesus had broken the law of Moses, in their estimation. Jesus had not actually broken God’s law, but he had gone against their interpretation of God’s law.

He then makes this very rational, and God honoring case.

John 7:19–23 KJV 1900

22 Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.

He presents here the case of laws that seem to be conflicting.

Genesis 17:12 KJV 1900

12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

The law of circumcision was to be on the 8th day. In Genesis 17 we see it first mentioned and it was given to Abram.

Later God repeated the law to Moses in Leviticus 12:1-3. In both reiterations of the law, it was to be on the 8th day. They were to do no work on the Sabbath day, but what if the 8th day was the Sabbath? The law of circumcision was given before the law of the sabbath. Their was a submission of one law to the other. Where there seemed to be conflict, there was no real conflict. The law about circumcision took precedence over the law about the Sabbath.

This is then Jesus’ point in verse 23.

John 7:19–23 KJV 1900

23 If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?

James tells us James 4:17

James 4:17 KJV 1900

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

I know that at the time of this interaction, Jesus’ brother, James, had not been inspired by the Holy Spirit to write those words. Yet they reflect the heart of God and the intention of Jesus. If it is right to keep the law of Moses and Abraham by doing circumcision on the Sabbath day, because there is a discerning of which good takes precedence over the other, then certainly doing the good of miraculously making a man whole on the sabbath is doing the same thing.

One commentator put it this way.

The MacArthur Bible Commentary 1. The Opposition (7:1–8:59)

Jesus used an argument of the lesser to the greater. If ceremonial cleansing of one part of the body is permitted on the Sabbath through the act of circumcision (the lesser), how much more so should the actual healing of the entire body be permitted on the Sabbath (the greater).

In the flow of the whole situation, you see that the people claiming to have the most discernment had almost no discernment at all.

Catch what just happened: they got angry that a man was made whole.

Instead of being happy that someone with the ability from God (and as God) to heal had made a man whole, they were angry at that man for doing it on the Sabbath…

Which didn’t break the Sabbath

Which caused them to have murderous intent

Which caused them to blaspheme Christ

Which caused them to miss the fact that the person standing in front of them arguing was God himself.

On the big 10- the 10 commandments- they were violating…

…No other God’s before me… They were trying to tell God what to do.

….Taking God’s name in vain… Speaking the intent of the law that God did not give as if God had given it.

…Thou shalt not kill…Their intention was to kill Jesus.

Why? Because they wanted to look like the people who were standing up on behalf of God and Moses.

They were majoring on the minors, and minoring on the majors. They had murderous intent. They were misrepresenting God, and missing the Messiah standing right in front of them.

How do I know my discernment is off?

There is an emphasis on tradition and preference at the expense of truth.

We mess up when we are more interested in tradition that truth. We are not discerning when we emphasize method over mission. We are not discerning when we major on the minors and minor on the majors.

Three lessons are taught to us about discernment in John 7:14-24.

The source of Jesus’ discernment.

The Lack of the Jews Discernment. (v.19-23)

3. The Aim of Righteous Discernment. (v.24)

We have seen the model discernment in Jesus, the counterfeit discernment in the jews, and now Christ gives us the goal of right discernment.

John 7:24 KJV 1900

24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

In many ways this verse is a summary of what Christ was telling them. By telling them not to do something, he was correcting what they were already doing. By judging according to appearance their discernment caused them to make monumental decisions.

It’s ok to kill in this instance, because He broke the sabbath

It’s ok to kill in this instance, because He makes Himself equal with God.

The person in front of me has a devil.

I believe that “judging according to appearance” refers to two directions.

How do I know my discernment is off?

1. We mess up when we judge only on what can be seen in the moment.

Do not just judge according to what you see the other person do or say in a moment. Often there is more to the story. If you must make a judgement seek the whole truth- not just what you can see in an instance, but also what you may not be able to see in that moment.

2. We mess up when we judge based on how we will appear to others.

Second, how I want to be judged by others. Do not just judge based on how you will look to those who are watching you make a judgement. Perceptions are important, and they must be considered. This is prudent. The Bible instructs us to avoid even the appearance of evil. Yet, being governed merely by perceptions and appearance at the expense of doing what is actually right- this is hypocritical, wrong, and dangerous.

Neither of these are the aim of righteous discernment. Righteous discernment seeks to see as God sees. The Truth of the Word of God always trumps the opinions of man, no matter how important, intelligent, or influential they may be.

In some ways we are not to even consider appearance when we judge.

Have you ever seen the image of a woman, holding scales in her hand, wearing a blindfold? Have you ever heard of the term “blind justice”?

Have you ever felt that influential people in business, media, or government seem to get away with corruption for which the normal citizen would be prosecuted? Have you ever heard the phrase “a two-tiered justice system”?

What is the principle being proposed by the term “blind justice”? The same rules apply equally to everyone. There is no such thing as rules for thee and not for me.

We can summarize this whole principle by just saying this.

Don’t just do what looks right. Do what is right.

Just do the right thing. Who defines right? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

So let me bring this home with the same question we've asked three times tonight: How do I know my discernment is off?

Christian, examine yourself by the three marks of this text.

When the focus of your effort drifts to your glory instead of God's—your reputation, your being seen as right—your discernment is off.

When you find yourself defending a tradition or a preference at the expense of plain truth, the way these men defended their Sabbath rule against a man made whole—your discernment is off.

And when you judge by what you can see in a single moment, or by how the judgment will make you look to the people watching—your discernment is off. Don't just do what looks right. Do what is right. And who defines right? Not the crowd. Not the experts. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

But I have to stop and speak to someone else before I close.

Friend, if you have never trusted Christ, I want you to look very carefully at the men in this passage—because I am pleading with you not to become them. These were not careless people. They were the most religious, most studied, most respectful-of-Scripture men in the nation. They had the law of Moses. They had the temple. They had the credentials. And the Son of God stood in front of them, healing the sick and speaking the very words of heaven—and they looked at Him and saw a Sabbath-breaker. They looked at Him and said He had a devil. They had everything but the one thing that mattered: they could not discern who was standing in front of them.

And here is what breaks my heart for you. They didn't reject Him because the evidence was thin. They rejected Him because they judged according to the appearance. He didn't look like their idea of God. He didn't come from the approved school. He didn't fit. So they judged by the surface, and they missed Him—the only One who could save them.

I'm begging you not to make that same judgment. Don't look at Jesus from a distance and decide by appearance—by what your friends think, by how He's been caricatured, by the version of Him you've already dismissed. Look again. Because He gave you the way through, right here in verse 17: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." The willing heart will find out who He is. Come willing to obey, and the same Christ those men missed will make Himself known to you—not as a Sabbath-breaker, not as a stranger, but as your Savior.

Don't let this be the day you saw Him and judged by the surface. Let it be the day you finally judged righteous judgment—and came home.