Who Will Respond?

Context

Let me give you a little context on these verses. Who remembers the last thing we looked at in our study of John? We studied the woman at the Samaritan well. Next week we will study about a man in Galilee that has a miracle in his life. Which one was Jesus people? the Galilean. Why do those who were in Jerusalem believe? miracles. Why did the woman at the well believe? A heart connection. Jesus knew her heart and connected with her on a personal level. It wasn’t about outward worldly things that grabbed her attention.

The Passage

What day did Jesus leave Samaria? The third day. What type of miracle is this foreshadowing? Next week we will see him raise someone from the dead. Every detail of Scripture has importance. In light of this detail even more importance is given to what we see in the next verse. The Gospels build up to what climax? the crucifixion of Christ and him raising from the dead on the third day. He was put there because of what earthly reason? Because he was rejected by his own people, they showed him no honor.

Pay attention to the smallest of details. Every word in the Bible is written with purpose. Let this be a reminder to us to make not of every word we say. Take inventory of all your actions and words. Maximize everything. Not maximizing is missing opportunities.

How many of you know the story of Hannibal and his elephants marching over the apps to invade Rome (the second Punic War. Lasted 16 years)? Some of his men doubted the integrity of an ice bridge they needed to cross. So he wanted to prove the integrity of the bridge by hitting it with his cane. The bridge survived and did not waver. But the impact caused an avalanche to occur Killing two thirds of his men (18,000). All from something so small.

One small action cost 18,000 lifes. I have read some studies that say we will encounter around 10,000 people in our lifetimes I have read some studies that put it as high as 80,000. But we will use 10,000. So you have the opportunity to impact at least 10,000 people. Each encounter is a matter of eternal life or death.

They condemned him to a criminals death by the people who knew him the best. He was condemned by people who saw he never done no wrong to anyone. He was one you could always come to to talk about your problems. He probably even helped some build barns and houses. But also he spoke spiritual truth and being in a small community you know almost everyone's secrets. Scripture is sharper than a double edged sword. People saw him living a godly life day in and day out. That intimidates people. So being the godly person usually does not usually equate to being the popular person. If it does, double check your gospel. Being servant hearted people set us a part from others. As Christians we should be characterized as people who have a heart to serve and help. Sometimes, oftentimes it is going to feel overwhelming. Matthew 9:37 makes this abundantly clear.

Also I think knowing he was a godly person, they expected something physical out of him. People expect just because you Christian means you should help them out in anyway at anytime they demand it. Because it is the “godly” thing to do. So often Christians are not honored because the world puts their expectations and views on what a Christian should be, rather than the Bibles expectations.

What is the Bibles expectations? What does the Bible say how a follower of Christ looks? Now what so and so says, but what does the Bible say?

This statement is followed up with he was welcomed by the people he just said that didn’t honor him. So why were they welcoming him? What had they just seen? they saw him in Jerusalem performing miracles, meeting physical needs. And we will see in the weeks to come after Jesus does not exactly meet their expectations anger will begin to grow against him. They were more concerned with earthly success rather than heavenly success.

Sometimes being healed is not the best thing. Sometimes having better finances is not the best thing. God allows storms for a reason. Rather it is for us to learn or have a platform to further the Gospel.

Another comparison we see here is the Samaritan woman came to him at a low point in her brokenness. These Galileans just came from a festival. They are coming out of a situation where they would have been some religious hype. They were in a sense still running on that camp high, but we going to see many are going to come off of it, but out of it as we will see next week some do get saved.

Key Takeaways

A relationship with Christ is not about him meeting physical needs, but surrender to Him.

Let our Christianity be built off of Biblical Principles, not wordly principles.

Doing right does not mean you will earn people’s respect and honor.