Sermon Tone Analysis

Picture with me this morning, a group of soldiers- a battalion of troops- they have been engaged in combat for quite some time.

They are seasoned, weathered, they have had their fair share of conflict.

Leading these men is a highly respected, a very wise, and an overwhelmingly successful general.

Now imagine these soldiers are all gathered in the mess tent, and in walks a brand new, green behind the ears, fresh off the train commander.

They don’t know him from Adam, and so when he walks in they don’t even notice him.

One of the lesser officers has to call the men to attention, and they eventually stand up and lazily salute this new officer.

Several minutes go by, the men return to their conversations.

Then their beloved general walks into the room- unannounced, and unassuming.

He stands in the doorway allowing his eyes to adjust to the dim of the tent.

After a few seconds one of the men notice him standing there and they jump to attention, and within a fraction of a heartbeat later the entire battalion is on their feet, straight backed, standing in a proud salute- showing due respect to their leader.

What made the difference in the response of the men?

Perhaps Paul’s words to the Romans will help us understand

The difference in the response of the men can be summed up in one word- honor.

They payed honor to whom honor was owed.

The brand new commander had to force the men to show him respect, because he hadn’t yet earned any.

But the seasoned general, the one who had led them through countless engagements, who had somehow pulled victory out of defeat on numerous occasions, who had even risked his own life for the sake of his men- he was owed honor.

All he had to do was walk into the room and the men gladly paid him honor because to them he was a man of unusually high value.

They would gladly storm the enemies fortress at the mere word from him- and it all comes down to this idea of honor.

In John 4:43-54 Jesus connects the idea of honor with belief.

As we have been working our way through the gospel of John one of the key questions that keeps confronting our thinking is this- “Who is Jesus?”.

And it doesn’t matter who I think Jesus is, or who your parents think Jesus is, or your neighbor.

It matters what you think personally.

Who do you think Jesus is?

This is a critical question.

Why?

Who is Jesus?

This question matters because the Bible states that the only people who become children of God are those who receive Him- even to those who believe in His name.

This brings up more important questions.

If you only become a child of God by receiving Jesus and by believing in Jesus, then what exactly does the Bible mean by receiving and believing?

Or we could ask it this way, “What kind of belief will God accept as legitimate?”

What kind of belief or what kind of faith does God accept as legitimate?

This is an important question.

In John 4:43-54 several different kinds of belief are displayed for us, so that we can understand exactly the kind of belief that God requires.

So our driving question today is this: What kind of belief does God accept as legitimate?

I.

The belief of the Galileans (vv.

43-48)

OK, if you are going to get the point about the belief of the Galileans, then you have to see the startling contrast that is presented in these few verses.

If you don’t see this contrast, then you will miss Jesus’ point about their insufficient belief.

V. 43 is significant because it pulls from the previous context, the previous story if you will, and links these two accounts together.

After two days he departed, he went out from where he was and went into Galilee.

Where was Jesus?

For the past two days what has Jesus been doing?

Preaching to an entire town of Samaritans- the town of Sychar.

First, He masterfully shared the gospel with the Samaritan woman- and several weeks ago we looked at Jesus’ principles of evangelism and exactly how Jesus led her to faith in Himself.

Then what happened after that?

The woman goes back to the men of the village and shares the story of what Jesus just did.

So, as a result the entire town walks out to the well to see this Jesus.

And do you remember what Jesus said to his disciples?

And what happened, they asked Jesus to stay there for two days, and he does, and in that two day period what happens to the Samaritans?

Shockingly, this is the most successful evangelistic outreach in Jesus’ earthly ministry.

This is the only time an entire town comes to belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world.

I mean things are going really really well.

They are going great.

If you went to a town and in two days of preaching the entire town puts their faith in the gospel what would you do?

What did Jesus do?

Why? Would you leave that kind of ministry?

NO WAY!! Why did Jesus leave?

We know exactly why he left, because v. 44 tells us why.

44 αὐτὸς γὰρ Ἰησοῦς ἐμαρτύρησεν

For Jesus Himself testified

ὅτι προφήτης ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ πατρίδι τιμὴν οὐκ ἔχει.

That a prophet in his own fatherland has no honor

Jesus left the Samaritans and returned to the Galileans why? For/Because Jesus Himself testified/bore witness- that a prophet has no honor in his own country/fatherland.

Does that verse strike you as odd? “Well things are going too well here in Sychar, so I’m going to go back to a people that don’t honor me- I’m going to go back to Galilee.”

Why does Jesus do this?

At first glance this verse does not make any sense.

But we have to ask ourselves some more questions.

Why would Jesus want to go to a place and to a people who reject him?

What was Jesus’ purpose in coming to this earth?

What did Jesus have to accomplish in order for the will of the Father to take place?

Jesus had to go to the cross.

That is his mission.

He does not get to the cross by staying in Samaria where he is popular.

He gets to the cross by returning to a people who do not honor Him.

It is this road that ultimately leads Jesus to Calvary.

This is the mission of the Son- He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

So Jesus returns to Galilee, to a people who do not honor Him.

Again, just a quick reading through this text and you miss some of the meaning.

At first glance do the Galileans look like a people who reject and dishonor Jesus?

45 ⸀ὅτε οὖν ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν,*

Therefore, when He came into Galilee,

⸁ἐδέξαντο αὐτὸν οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι

The Galileans received Him

πάντα ἑωρακότες ⸀1ὅσα ἐποίησεν

having seen all the things as many as he did

ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις

in Jerusalem

ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ,*

at the feast,

καὶ αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἦλθον εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν.

For they themselves also went to the feast.

Does this sound like the Galileans were dishonoring Jesus?

Not really, the text says that the Galileans received Jesus.

So, what is going on here.

Why do they receive Jesus?

They received Jesus because they were at the feast in Jerusalem in John 2 and at the feast they saw many different sign miracles.

John doesn’t tell us what these sign miracles were- he only tells us that these people saw the miracles/signs (plural) that Jesus did.

And John 2.23 states that many believed in his name.

So in John 2.23 the text states that these Galileans believed in Jesus’ name.

And in John 4.45 the text states that they received Jesus.

This is a good thing right?

Do you remember John 1.12?

The Galileans received Jesus and they believed on his name so they must be children of God right?

Well, the question that we are asking this morning is what kind of belief will God accept as legitimate?

There are many people who say they believe in God or who say they believe in Jesus- but will God accept there belief?

Well, does God accept the belief of the Galileans?

Here we are introduced to a nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

We will talk more about him is a little bit.