Seeking The Glory of The Father
John 7:1-19

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. We're starting John 7 today. We're going to talk about seeking the glory of the Father. John's Gospel has been written so that we may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I think by now we have observed that John is not writing simply to say, I hope you believe in Jesus. He is using these events to invoke true belief in contrast to false belief.

There are many people who think they believe, who think they have a faith in Christ. To help us recognize the situation John has been teaching us what false belief looks like in contrast to true belief. We will see that again in this chapter where John shows us two states of unbelief, two situations of unbelief. At the same time, he is showing us the great faith of Christ and how that is seen in our true faith. John begins in this chapter with telling us that things are going south for the ministry of Jesus in terms of His reception in Jerusalem.

I. Evidence of Unbelief — Self-glorification. We will begin by reading John 7:1-5. “1. After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2. Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. 3. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5. For not even his brothers believed in him.”

A. We notice in verse 1 that Jewish leaders have great hostility toward Jesus. We've seen that back in chapter 5 and we will note it again as we move through this chapter. What we are seeing is aggressive hostility, aggressive unbelief against Jesus. He can't even go to Judea now without persecution and an attempt on His life.
B. In verse 2 we are told the Jewish Feast of Booths was at hand, and His brothers told Him He should go to Judea and show the mighty works He was doing. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. We have two backdrops then, aggressive hostility and The Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles.

1. Remember chapter 6 was set in the tone of the Passover feast and that colored our understanding about John’s writing in that chapter. We should now use the Feast of Tabernacles as the lens through which we look at this text. The Feast of Tabernacles is an eight-day feast, and what every family did was build a temporary structure, what we would probably think as a tent.
2. If you had a home that had access to the roof, which is typical, you might erect it on the roof. All of the male Jews would be coming to Jerusalem for this event. This is one of the three events where all the male Jews were to come to Jerusalem. The purpose was to remind them how they lived in the wilderness after being slaves in Egypt. How God had delivered them through the Exodus, through the Red Sea, how they'd come to Mount Sinai, and how they had dwelled in tents for those 40 years until they came into the promised land.
3. It also had an association with the harvest. It was in the fall after all the harvest was done. This was a time of reaping of all that they had planted. It marks the conclusion of the agricultural year, functioning as both a thanksgiving for the fall harvest and a spiritual reminder of the past. A remembrance of how they were nothing, they were in the desert in tents, had been slaves in Egypt, but God brought them to victory, to the promised land.
4. It was also a time of hope when the Messiah was going to come and fulfill the great promises to Israel. There were messianic overtones to the Feast of Tabernacles at this time. They're not just simply dwelling in tents and remembering the past, it was also a time of hope for the future, just as when they were in tents in the wilderness, they were hoping for the promised land, now they are in their tents waiting in hope for the Messiah who will liberate them and usher in the glorious kingdom.

C. That's why the brothers say what they say in verses 3 and 4. You need to go to Judea for the Feast of Tabernacles. Perhaps they thought it was the best time to prove Himself. Everybody's hoping for a Messiah. This is what we're looking forward to as we're in these tents and thinking about the hope of Israel to come. They suggested this now is the time to show Himself. Everybody's thinking about Messiah. Everybody's thinking about the kingdom.

1. His brothers are saying, “If you're the Messiah and you're doing the works of the Messiah, show everybody that you are the Messiah. There’s no better time than this.” It sounds like the brothers have great belief, right? Notice verse 5 though, and how John's couching all this. “For not even his brothers believed in him.”
2. That is staggering. I would expect that Mary would have told those boys about their older brother, yet, His brothers do not believe. They are not saying these things because they believe He truly is the Messiah, that He is the Christ who's come to save. There's a bit of mockery here perhaps. Go to Jerusalem and show yourself. Let's get this started.
3. What we are seeing is a type of unbelief. We are told in verse 1, about one form of unbelief – aggressive. If He goes to Jerusalem, the Jews are trying to kill Him. Here is passive unbelief. The brothers are not trying to get Him killed. They just don't believe anything He has to say. They're not believers. They're not going to follow Him. They're just kind of neutral to Him.
4. If you really are who you say you are, you ought to show it. Signs are a theme in John's Gospel. Show us a sign so that we'll believe. Everybody wants signs.

D. I think it's important for us to recognize that unbelief is not just simply being antagonistic to Christ. Unbelief is also not fully giving your life to Christ. There's no middle ground. If you are not fully believing in Christ, fully devoted to him, fully following him, you are in unbelief. We like to create a neutral middle ground, don’t we? I'm not against Christ, but I'm not dedicated to Him either. I'm just kind of alright with Him.

1. So are the brothers. The brothers are kind of alright with Him too. We have seen in chapter 1, the world does not believe. We see that Jesus has come to His own people, the Jews, and they do not believe. He has talked to His disciples and in chapter 6, many of them do not believe and they're leaving. We're seeing now that even His own family doesn't believe.
2. Most people do not believe, is what John wants us to see. John is showing us that unbelief is not simply being aggressively against Christ. It also is just simply not being for Christ passionately and devoutly.

II. Evidence of Unbelief — The World Does Not Hate Us. Look at the next few verses John 7:6-13 – “6. Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9. After saying this, he remained in Galilee. 10. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. 11. The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” 12. And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13. Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.”

A. The first thing we see is how Jesus responds to His brothers who were saying essentially; “you need to put your power on display. Capitalize on the moment. Show yourself.” Reminds us of the temptations that Satan gave to Jesus. What His brothers are doing is trying to get Jesus to prove who He is in a way that they can comprehend. Show them who you are. Bring glory to yourself.
B. Jesus responds, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.” In due time, Jesus would reveal Himself in Jerusalem, by means of His death and resurrection; but that would have to await for the time appointed by the Father. The true Passover Lamb would be sacrificed on Passover, not at the Feast of Tabernacles.

1. Jesus is saying that my purpose and my time is not for me, but to bring glory to the Father. That is powerful considering He's God. Think about that answer. It's not about when it's good for me. It's not my time because I'm on the Father's timetable. I'm on the Father's schedule. I'm not on my schedule. He's committed to the Father's will.
2. He's not about bringing attention to Himself because that's a symptom of unbelief. What a picture that is for us. Unfortunately, with us it is often about bringing glory to ourselves. Jesus is teaching us with a powerful example.

C. Then He says in verse 6, but your time is always here. Jesus says in verse 7. "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil."

1. In this picture of unbelief, we first see unbelief is all about me, not about the glory of God. Second, we see if the world doesn't hate us, that also is a picture of unbelief. He tells His brothers you can go to Jerusalem whenever you want. Your time is always there. You can do whatever you feel like, for the world doesn’t hate you.
2. What is being implied there? The world hates Me - because I'm testifying about the ways and the teachings of God and telling the world that its deeds are evil. What's implied? You're not. That's why you can safely go to Jerusalem. I must go on God's schedule not on My own schedule. The world hates me because I'm taking a stand and declaring that its works are evil. That's a powerful declaration to us because the scriptures repeatedly tell us we should expect the world to respond negatively to us.
3. We should not be surprised at that. I'm not sure why we keep being surprised. We do though. We keep being surprised that the world doesn't like what we're teaching, and they don't like the way we're living. They don't like the way we act either. Don't be surprised.
4. He's saying, brothers, the problem is you don't believe in Me. You'll do whatever you want to do. The world doesn't hate you. If you believed in Me, you would take a stand for the Word of God and declare that the world's deeds are evil.

D. We should also realize that this doesn't mean we're seeking persecution. It doesn't mean that we are intentionally inflammatory. It doesn't mean that we are caustic in our words. However, it does mean that we are going to teach the truth of God's word no matter the scenario, no matter the lack of political correctness or niceties that come with that. No, we're not seeking to generate anger or stir up wrath, yet we are going to tell people the way God says it.

1. If we fit in with the world, if we fit in with its teachings, with its thinking, with its words, Jesus says there's something wrong. There is absolutely something wrong.
2. Jesus says “the world hates me”. Why? “Because I take a stand against the world”. That is what we're called to do as well. We are to reflect the glory of God. To show people what is wrong with the world and what the teachings of Christ are. Representing Christ is going to bring about all kinds of hostility. Don't be surprised if the world hates you. They killed our Lord.
3. It's not going to go any better for us. I think, why am I getting such a negative reaction? Am I the only one? I just get mystified. Why is it that nobody likes what I'm saying? Why don't they like to hear messages of morality and virtue from God's word? Because the world hates that. Don't be surprised.
4. However, if we begin to mold our lives, mold our words, and mold our teachings to fit in with the ways of the world, we are exhibiting unbelief. We are showing we do not believe in the power of the word of God and what He has told us to do. Instead, we are going to adjust it.
5. I quickly turn away from speakers that try to “modernize” the word of God, bring it into the 21st century, and make it apply to today’s culture. God's word is timeless. We are to conform our words, our lives, and our thinking to the word of God. God is not outdated. We are out of place, and we need to get in line with His teachings.

E. Jesus is telling them, if you act like the world and speak like the world, no one is going to give you a problem based on your morality or lifestyle or words. However, when we speak like the very oracles of God, as Peter commands us to, and we take on a devotion toward God, try to model our lives on Christ and seek the glory of the Father -- there will be a reaction. People will not like it. We should expect that.

1. I would do a double check on myself if negativity doesn't happen though. We need to check if we're actually modeling our words and our lives to what Christ has taught us. We can say and believe we love Christ, but when we get in with the world with its pressures, we might mask that. Peter illustrated that for us during Jesus’ “trial”. That should not happen. We must always be representing Christ in all that we do.

III. Evidence of True Belief - That leads us to John 7:14-18. “14. About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 16. So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”

A. In the middle of the feast, Jesus goes into the temple and begins teaching. The Jews marveled, and I note a few things here. John uses the term “The Jews” to indicate religious leaders. The phrase “This man …” has the intention to place Jesus on a lower level than the rabbis and priests. Recall in John 3:2 Nicodemus having a higher opinion of Christ, referred to Him as "Rabbi". I also note the bigotry of their question that said in effect, "How could he know anything if he did not learn it from us?"

1. They can't believe how He teaches. He doesn't teach like everybody else. He teaches as if He possesses authority. What the teachers did back then is they would either quote Scripture or quote rabbis and say, rabbis so and so said this, and that's why I have this position. Jesus doesn't have to do that. When He speaks it is the authoritative word of God. Nobody can do that, and they're blown away by that. He doesn't have to cite anything. He's just teaching like He's God. No kidding, that's the whole point. He is God.
2. Jesus then says in verse 16, "My teaching is not mine, but he who sent me." Again, Jesus is turning things back to the Father. By this, Jesus claimed that His own words were the words of God. It was this quality of identifying His teachings as God's teachings that infuriated the leaders.

B. Verse 17 – “If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” He gives them a test.

1. If you really want to do the will of God, you will recognize that it is God's will, and not my own, that I am proclaiming. You would see My authority coming from God. If you truly had the belief that God wants you to have, if you had true faith, your will in your life would not be your own will, it would be the Father's will. Your care and your concern would be exclusively to do God's will.
2. The source of knowing God's will is the Bible; reason, intelligence, experience, obedience, and love are some of the instruments by which true wisdom can be won from its sacred pages. Even more important than those instruments, is the human will - DESIRING to know the truth. Many accept blindly whatever teaching they received as a child without ever striving to know if it was really God's will that they learned.
3. I want us to see why that's so valuable. Being a disciple of Jesus is not about embracing certain ideas alone. It's not just saying, I shouldn't think this anymore, I should think like that, or I shouldn't believe that way anymore but this way. I need to pray more. Those things are good but that's not the entire scope of being a disciple. Discipleship is about converting our will so that it reflects the will of the father.
4. That is a powerful picture to us because we want life to be all about us. I think the human heart problem is we want our own will. We want to do what we want to do. Since we are empowered to run our own lives, go the direction that we want to go, we will live how we want to live, and we will speak how we want to speak. I want to have certain things, certain results and so I will take certain actions.

C. Jesus says, True believers do not do that. The will of true followers is the will of the Father. In fact, verse 18 amplifies it. “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory;…” People think it is all about me. My own power, my own will, my own comfort, my own desire, whatever is good for me, whatever works for me.

1. Jesus is saying that you are seeking the wrong thing, and that is a picture of unbelief. See how Jesus describes Himself in verse 18. “…but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”
2. We are inclined to seek our own glory. I want people to pay attention to me. I want respect. I want honor. I want people to think of me as something.
3. Jesus does not do that; He is directing all glory and all attention to the Father. What brings glory to the Father is the purpose of life. That is what should be our intention, and that is what will create in us the will to do the Father's will.
4. We are sinning because we are not seeking the glory of the Father. I am doing what I want to do. I am looking out for myself. I am looking out for my glory and that sends us down the wrong path. When I am seeking the glory of the Father, concerned about His will, that becomes guardrails in the road of life that I need to keep me on the right track. Discipleship, faith, true saving belief in Jesus Christ, is to seek the glory of the Father alone. Let me put it this way, we should love to see God glorified.
5. If Jesus, who as God deserved every ounce of honor, could have accepted the glory but deflected it to the Father, how much more we as servants should be seeking the glory of God?

Let me end with one thought then.

CONCLUSION:
How can we do this? How can we develop and increase our love for the Father's glory? If you reflect upon it for a minute, how do you develop a love for anything in life? How do you increase your love for anything? Be involved. To develop an appreciation for something, you learn about its details, practice it, and look for what makes it unique. This turns unfamiliar things into favorites.

One suggestion I found gives some steps you can follow to start appreciating something new:

• Learn a little bit about it. Find out how it works or why it was made. It is hard to care about something you do not understand.
• Look for the tiny details. Notice the unique parts.
• Give it time. Your brain needs time to get used to new things.
• Notice the effort. Think about the work that went into it. This helps you value something.
• Keep an open mind. Stop comparing it to things you already know. Let it be its own thing.

That's how we develop a love for the glory of the Father. Spend time gazing upon His goodness. Study how good He is and spend time with others who are doing that. It helps to be in a class with other people. Don’t be involved in isolation.

That's what we're doing. We are coming together and appreciating the glory of the Father and we are studying it. When you expose yourself to it, and allow that exposure to your heart, you'll see transformation. God's word is powerful. You will find a love that seeks the glory of the Father. Not our own glory, not somebody else's glory.

The invitation is to come to Jesus and see the glory of the Father and give Him the honor and the praise that He deserves. You do that with a life of full submission and full of love for His son, Jesus Christ. He sent His son to reveal the will of the Father. No one has ever seen the Father, but His Son was sent so that we could see God.

To appreciate that, and let it soak that in, dwell on Him, and read about Him. It will change your life. When you recognize that you need to have true belief, true faith, then turn away from a life of sin, away from a life of self-glory. Now is a time to live for God and take the steps to receive God's grace. Take that walk with him.

Now you have true belief. Now you can turn away from your sins. Now truly confess that Jesus is the son of God, and He will be the Lord of your life, and you will obey him. Be immersed in water to have your sins washed away.

Enter into that relationship so you can have the great hope of being with the Father in heaven eternally. What a great hope and motivation that we have, to go home and be with our God.

Won't you come now..

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Reference: Brent Kercheville, James Burton Coffman