John 10:22-38

The Unbelief of the Jews

22 Then came the Feast of Dedicationa at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ,b tell us plainly.”  25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than allc; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”   31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”  33 “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”  34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’d? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.  40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus. John 10:22-42 (NIV)[1]

24 The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. 25 In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden. 1 Timothy 5:24-25 (NIV)[2]

6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ Psalm 82:6 (NIV)[3]

There is approximately a two ½ month gap between the beginning of John 7 and John 10:22.  The Feast Of Tabernacles was a required event for Jewish males and Jesus went there at that time somewhat out of sync with his brothers’ input.  He went quietly and inconspicuously.  His teachings as always placed him in conflict with the religious leaders who were there.  During this time he taught as we read in the scriptures.  Last week we looked at the parable of the Good Shepherd which he introduced at the Feast of tabernacles.  John 10:22 records his encounter with the same leaders during the Hanukkah, the festival of lights.  Nothing much had changed.  They were still asking the questions that he had already answered.  And so we read in John 10:24

The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ,b tell us plainly.”

The question is somewhat ridiculous.  It’s almost as though they felt that the more they asked the question the greater the likelihood that they would get the answer that they were looking for.  Most of us have already made up our minds who Jesus is before we ever come to Him.  Even today, you may say that He is the Son of God.  The question is greater than what you say because what you say is not the ultimate consideration.  What you do is the real question.  If I believe, what do I do?

We’re like the Jews who gathered around Him there in the temple.  We think that if we ask long enough, we are going to get a different answer, one that suits our fancy. 

I hate cars.  I have OBD, “on board diagnostics” in my Alero.  This is a little piece of equipment that tells me something is going to break sometime and I might as well replace it now.  It tells me what I don’t want to know.  I am much happier not knowing.  It tells me every time a mosquito hits my windshield.  The basic problem that I have with it is that I have developed this ridiculous habit over the years of fixing my car after it breaks  The prophetic little computer will tell me what is in the process of wearing out or whatever.  I just replaced the wheel bearings which are connected to the wheel sensors which are connected to the harness and they are all in cahoots with the Mafia and international terrorism.  I think my Alero is funding Al Quaeda.  I think it knows where Osama Bin Laden is hiding and perhaps is a delivery system for weapons of mass destruction. 

Anyway, I hate it.  The people at Speedy were gracious enough to share my business with O’Leary’s when they intercepted a number of encrypted messages being communicated by the OBD on the Alero.  There were about 8 error codes, . . .  anything from “Tell the loser that his wheel bearings are worn out.”, to,  “The Leafs are going to win the Stanley Cup in 2005. 

Speedy didn’t trust their own diagnostics with so many strange messages so they told me to take it to the dealership, just to make sure.  O’Leary’s confirmed that the Leafs were going to take the Stanley Cup in 2005 and also felt that Ken Dryden would win in his riding in the next election.  They also told me that the bearings were gone and the electrical harnesses that connected them to the computer needed to be replaced.

Bottom line was the answer was the same.  You know what – you can spend your lifetime looking for answers that you like to the questions that you are asking.  If you ask people, you’ll get a variety of opinions and many of them will be baseless.

When you arrive in the heavenly service center one day and they hook you up to get the readings from the OBD that He has built in every person in this world, what will the read out be?

Error: Fatal Omission absolutely no relationship with the Maker.  No response to service alerts.  Warranty expired.

1.   There is a degree of scrutiny that we apply to words that we fail to apply to a person’s life.

These people were so absorbed in what Jesus had to say about himself that they failed to see what he was in the process of doing.  He was a remarkable, unprecedented teacher.  The common people felt that he must be one of the great OT prophets come back to life.  They knew who He was because his life gave undeniable testimony to his identity.  They knew that this was no normal person for sure.  But they wanted him to say something “acceptable”?

We dedicate children in this church.  The significance in the act is found I the intentions of the parents.  Many times I see people stand in front and promise to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord but so many times they fail in the simplest responses – no attendance at Sunday School, no effort to involve them in opportuinites where they will learn about the heart of God.  Mom and Dad hardly come themselves.  Tell me how this child will be benefited if parents do not commit themselves to at least be present at times when their children can learn about the Bible.

I hear the wedding vows, beautiful words ringing emptily in the air. 

I Jack take you Jill

To be my wedded wife

To have and to hold

From this day forward

For better for worse

For richer for poorer

In sickness and in health

To love and to cherish

‘Til death do us part

According to God’s holy law

And thereto I pledge you my faith

There has never been a man or woman stand at the wedding altar who has not had to adjust to marital life and relationship.  It doesn’t come easy for anyone unless it is worked at over the space of a lifetime.

As the years pass and life lines the faces with the residue of worry, crows feet, age spots, you name it beauty burrows deep beneath the outer appearance.  I think my wife is more beautiful than the day that she walked down the aisle.  I couldn’t see her heart that day as I see it now.  Time has revealed a beauty that was not totally visible on June 5th, 1976.

A person can say anything, any string of beautiful words that can be linked together, but a life well lived is what gives them life and real meaning.

You can say you are the Son of God or the Messiah but proving it is another thing.  Earthly Messiahs look for a throne or an elected position or the favor of men or accolades and awards.  The real thing, the true Messiah, looks for a cross on the town garbage heap and no royal entourage, just a couple of condemned thieves who are getting what they deserve and he suffers there in shame and pain.  You may never say “thank-you”.  You might never bow on earth and make Him your royal liege.  You might live 70, 80 or 90 thankless years thinking that you did it all yourself.  But he’d die a thousand deaths for you if you were the only ingrate on the planet and He loves you more than you can ever imagine and he’ll never leave you.  He’ll finish what you let Him begin.  He’ll bring you safely to heaven’s shore one day.  He’s your Captain, Pilot, your Deliverer, Heaven’s Word indeed.

2.   Today we live in a world where we would rather have people speak acceptably than live acceptably. 

33 “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

The Jewish delegation that surrounded Christ in the temple wanted a specific answer that did not offend their sensibilities.

We don’t get too much out of sorts at the degradation that sin produces in the human sphere.  Sin and the spirit of independence from God, brings wreck, ruin and despair.  It creates a tangled web that is inescapable.  We can read of most any heinous acts that people commit.  We’ll put them on the front pages of our tabloids and newspapers and create celebrities of people who should be ashamed of the way that they behave, but they are not.

Randy Stonehill wrote the following in a song entitled, “Stop the World”

Well it's okay to murder babies

But we really ought to save the whales

We're putting criminals in office

Cause it's way too crowded in the jails

TV is our teacher now

The schools are overrun by thugs

And children skip their innocence

and graduate to sex and drugs

Right is wrong and wrong is right

White is black and black is white

I think I just lost my appetite

Stop the world I want to get off

The religious world can become little more than the land of creeds.  If people will repeat the right words we’ll accept that and that’s about as much as we hold them to.  There is a biblical precedent for leadership.  It basically indicates that responsibility and accountability increases as a person occupies positions of spiritual influence.  There are people who refuse to occupy these positions merely because they are unwilling to step up to the plate.  To subject themselves to that scrutiny.  But whether or not you are a leader, a relationship with God does not reduce well to a system of prayers and creeds.

In the secular world, it is the issue to correctness.  I don’t want to offend people needlessly.  If they are to be offended, I want them to be offended at the Word of God preached clear and true.  I don’t want to cloud it’s influence with arrogance or personal abrasiveness.  In a liberal society we are much more concerned with the way that people speak than the way that people live.  We want to be “politically correct”.  Often this term means little more than the fact that people want to have their sin accepted.  Even more than that, they want to have it sanctioned.  They want to have a religious institution tell society God is okay with whatever particular deviance they represent.

And if we are not, all hell breaks loose.  We’ll accept adultery without hesitation, assault as long as you’re wearing a pair of hockey skates, embezzlement as long as you are a politician, pre-marital sex as long as you’re old enough and it’s consensual, the right to lie as long as you’re in business where even Christian people are excused from truthfulness and integrity.  But, you call a person on their lifestyle and you are an intolerant bigot.

You see, they just wanted to be able to a find a round hole that would house a square pegged Savior and so do we.  We want to find some place for Jesus to “fit” into our lives.  We don’t want him to highlight our deficiencies; we want him to excuse them.

3.   You can misinterpret what people say but you cannot misinterpret the way that they live.

 37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

Miscommunication and misunderstanding are normal and most likely inevitable. 

The truth about communication between men and women..... an example:

Let's say a guy named Roger is attracted to a woman named Elaine.  He asks her out to a movie; she accepts; they have a pretty good time. A few nights later he asks her out to dinner, and again they enjoy themselves.  They continue to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them is seeing anybody else.

And then, one evening when they're driving home, a thought occurs to Elaine, and, without really thinking, she says it aloud: ''Do you realize that, as of tonight, we've been seeing each other for exactly six months?''

And then there is silence in the car. To Elaine, it seems like a very loud silence. She thinks to herself: I wonder if it bothers him that I said that.  Maybe he's been feeling confined by our relationship; maybe he thinks I'm trying to push him into some kind of obligation that he doesn't want, or isn't sure of.

And Roger is thinking: Six months.

And Elaine is thinking: But, hey, I'm not so sure I want this kind of relationship, either.  Sometimes I wish I had a little more space, so I'd have time to think about whether I really want us to keep going the way we are, moving steadily toward . . . I mean, where are we going? Are we just going to keep seeing each other at this level of intimacy? Are we heading toward marriage?  Toward  children?  Toward a lifetime together?  Am I ready for that level of commitment? Do I really even know this person?

And Roger is thinking: . . . so that means it was . . . let's see . .  February when we started going out, which was right after I had the car at the dealer's, which means . . .  lemme check the odometer ...  Whoa!  I am way overdue for an oil change here.

And Elaine is thinking: He's upset. I can see it on his face.  Maybe I'm reading this completely wrong. Maybe he wants more from our relationship, more intimacy, more commitment; maybe he has sensed -- even before I sensed it -- that I was feeling some reservations. Yes, I bet that's it. That's why he's so reluctant to say anything about his own feelings. He's afraid of being rejected.

And Roger is thinking: And I'm gonna have them look at the transmission again. I don't care what those morons say, it's still not shifting right.  And they better not try to blame it on the cold weather this time. What cold weather? It's 87 degrees out, and this thing is shifting like a garbage truck, and I paid those incompetent thieves $600.

And Elaine is thinking: He's angry. And I don't blame him. I'd be angry, too. I feel so guilty, putting him through this, but I can't help the way I feel. I'm just not sure. 

And Roger is thinking: They'll probably say it's only a 90-day warranty.  That's exactly what they're gonna say, the scum.

No matter how hard we try we make mistakes.  You can misinterpret what people say but their lives bring a clear message.

I’ve wondered by times about the message of my own life.  I think I have it pretty good – I’m not complaining or bragging.  When I went into the ministry, I never imagined that I would be so blessed or so privileged.

I don’t think that it has cost me much to serve God.  I think that He has given me much more than I ever gave up to Him.  After 28 years of ministry, I don’t think that there is much in this life that I have missed that I would want to go back after.  Heaven is a given – it’s a promise and God delivers.  I have always believed though that to follow Christ should bring some dynamic to this life that would make it better than it could ever be on it’s own.

We read last week in the 10th verse of this chapter,

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. [4]

I feel bad for people whose only hope for happiness is in the next world.  I believe that there is something missing.  Jesus came to equip us to live vitally, correctly, inspirationally, selflessly in this present world.  Is this the experience that you know today.

You see the religious leaders tried to deny Him his divinity but they could not deny what he was doing.  It defied them.  It brought their own spiritual impotence into focus and they hated him for it.

I worked in a Champion Spark Plug Factory in Bethlehem PA when I was going to school in Allentown.  I was security guard.  It was unionized and every once in a while there would be a new worker.  They were paid by the piece.  The new workers would post some incredible numbers and they were applauded by management and paid accordingly.

They were hated by the old timers who had become satisfied with a certain rate and a manageable minimal expectation.  It wasn’t long before the newcomer was “educated”.  He was told that if he was to become permanent, he had to lower his output because it made everyone else look bad.  You know where this is going don’t you.

You can’t misinterpret a life.  It speaks for itself.  Is your life impacting those around you?  Most likely.  Hopefully the impact is positive.  But everyday you are preaching a sermon and people are reading and hearing.  If you measure their response you’ll have an idea of how impacting the message is.  About the worst thing that I can think of is to be ignored.

----

a  That is, Hanukkah

b  Or Messiah

c  Many early manuscripts What my Father has given me is greater than all

d  Psalm 82:6

[1]  The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[2]  The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[3]  The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

b  Or Messiah

[4]  The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.