By all outward appearances, Jesus’ ministry is in serious jeopardy. Not only has he seen a significant apostasy, with many of his disciples in Galilee falling away from following him (John 6:66), the Jewish leaders in Judea are still seeking to kill him (John 7:1) because he had not only healed a man on the Sabbath, but he made himself equal with God by calling God his own Father (John 5:18). Jesus has been able to escape the authorities by remaining in Galilee so far, but as the Feast of Booths approaches, Jesus must return to Jerusalem, going straight into the danger. Should Jesus attempt a course correction to his ministry at this point after so many defections? Moreover, how does he address the challenges to his ministry with such a serious threat against his life? How does he defend himself against those who seek to kill him?

If Jesus at this point hired a public relations representative, a marketing consultant, a political strategist, or a fundraising expert, he could get the best advice on the smartest, most effective next steps for him to take to turn around these losses that he has suffered and the bad momentum of his campaign. Jesus, however, refuses to do anything of the sort, and not because he wants to do things his way, no matter where it might lead him. In fact, his reasons for rejecting human opinions and wisdom have nothing to do with a lack of humility, since Jesus loves the glory of his Father more than anything else in this world. He is willing to lose everything in his life, so long as he glorifies his Father by accomplishing every bit of the work that his Father sent him to accomplish. He has not come to seek his own, personal, private glory, but to glorify his Father. In this passage, Jesus demonstrates that human glory-seeking is wicked and willful, but ultimately weak.

7 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. 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.
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. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel at it. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the Fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” John 7:1-24, ESV

This is the word of the Lord. I have mentioned in the past that I was in marching band in high school. I mentioned that to prove my coolness to you all. While I was in the marching band, I played the alto saxophone. One of the fascinating things about marching band is that it is genuinely one of the only places in all of human civilization where the one thing you are trying to do is to not stick out. Everyone wears the same uniform. Everyone is marching. The thing about it is you have to march according to the right beat. You have to be playing the right notes.

In fact, if there was one time where we were marching on a field that had so much rain, it was just a mud field and I slipped when I was supposed to come to a stop and had to stand right back up. Well, that was good in some ways that I stood back up. But really, you're just supposed to stay frozen because you make much more attention on yourself if you move after everyone has stopped, than if you just stay there in the splits or whatever and wait for the next movement to get up and get on with things. You do not want to stand out in that.

Well, of course, this works against every inclination of the human heart because you have showboats in the marching band who want to show off their special way that they can play. There is another name for these people, or trumpeters. You also have people in the band who are the sort of person who's saying, hey, I'm in the right spot and all of you are in the wrong spot, you all need to conform to me. So they insist this is where I'm going to stand, I can do no other. So in that they're standing out from the crowd.

Now this is so hard, but when you see a marching band where everyone is doing exactly what they are supposed to do in the way that they are supposed to do it. Everyone perfectly blends into the band, and no one at any point is standing out, it is something difficult and remarkable to behold. Because of our hearts, because of sin, we want glory. We want to stand out in a good way, to be exalted and lifted up and glorified, and people will start to look upon us and see our glory. So it's hard to be in that kind of a situation.

How much more difficult is it to strike the proper pose of humility before the living God? Because God says in Exodus 20:5, “I the Lord your God, I am a jealous God.” In Isaiah 42:8, he says, “I give my glory to none.” Our God does not share his glory. He is a jealous God because he is the only one who rightfully possesses glory. To the extent that we recognize that, we know him and love him and rest and rejoice in his glory. To the extent that we rebel against that, we seek to establish our own glory by whatever means necessary, against his.

Here's what we see in this passage, human glory seeking is wicked and willful, but ultimately weak.

We read at the beginning of John chapter seven that Jesus is in Galilee and that he's remained in Galilee, probably for about the last six months. In John chapter six, we read the Passover Feast was about to happen. Well, now we read that the Feast of Booths is about to happen. So we're talking the difference between about March or April all the way to about September or October. So for about six months Jesus has essentially been hiding in Galilee, because if he goes to Jerusalem, if he goes to Judea, then he will have to answer and face charges from the last time he was there. He healed a man on the Sabbath and everyone lost their mind and they wanted to kill him. Because not only did it heal the man on the Sabbath, but he also said that God was his own Father, making himself equal with God in John 5:18.

Well, at this point, if you remember the last passage, Jesus has just suffered a major defection from his ranks. He had all of these disciples who were following him from a time and they all turned back. “Many of them turned back and followed Jesus no longer,” John 6:66. That may be behind what Jesus's brothers say to him in verse three, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.” You perform this great work by feeding 5,000 people, and I know that things didn't quite work out well, that they left you in droves. Yet there's still time to salvage your personal private glory if you just go now. In other words, with the throngs of worshippers who are going from Galilee, if we go up to Jerusalem on top of Mount Zion, if you go there with everyone and are performing miracles along the way, people are going to see that and you're going to regain their trust, regain their faith. Then when you march into Jerusalem, that's the time when you can turn the tide so that everyone will believe in you. Go leave here, go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you were doing. “For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world,” John 7:4. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.

This seems like pretty good advice if you want to be known, if you want to be popular, if you want to be glorified in yourself, well, you can't do that in secret. You can't do that in private. You can't remain in backwater Galilee. You have to go to where the people are to Jerusalem. The time is right. What they're essentially saying to Jesus, this idea that Jesus is going to call evil or wicked. They're saying, Jesus get yours. Go get it. There's glory to be had. Go seek it. Strike while the iron is hot. Don't miss this opportunity that you have.

This is the way of the world. This is everything we are told from when we are very young. Make sure that when you have a chance, seize it. I mean, this comes out even in our eminent public philosophers. For example, the eminent public philosopher Eminem says, “You've only got one shot. Do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” This is rapped at us. This is spoken to us. This is educated in us. Indoctrinated in us. Get your glory. Grab it before someone else does.

Jesus rejects that altogether. He says in verse six, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.” Then in verse eight, when Jesus says, “You go up to the feast, I'm not going up to this feast for my time has not yet fully come.” This is the only place in the gospel of John where this particular word for time is used, this is the word kyros. There's another word called hora, which means hour. It's where we get our word hour from. There's another word onus, that we get our word chronology and things like that from. Kronos is like a season or a stretch of time. Hora means a specific time. It's often used in the gospel of John to refer to the hour of Jesus's either coming or his actual crucifixion.

Yet this word time really doesn't refer to an actual, you know, time on the watch or on the clock. It refers to a manner of time. This is why Jesus said, I can't go up with you in this way right now. You want me to go up with you to the feast right now so that I can get mine, so that I can seize my glory, my own personal, private glory. What you're telling me is to do this apart from my Father in heaven. To go opposed to my Father, to set up my own personal kingdom and leave my Father out of the deal, that is unthinkable to me. I'm one with the Father. I love the Father. I can't do anything apart from the Father. So therefore, my proper time to go up to the feast has not yet come.

That's why Jesus says in verse eight, “I'm not going up to the feast for my time has not yet fully come.” But then we read in verse 10 that he does go up to the feast, but we read a qualification, “He also went up not publicly, but in private.” So that he can avoid seizing that personal glory for himself.

So what's wrong with that? I mean, this is Jesus, right? Can't he do anything? Well, here's what Jesus says in verse seven, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” The wicked way of the world, the glory seeking of humankind stands in opposition to the way that human beings, we creatures, are supposed to relate to our Father in heaven. I testify about it, by the way that I live my life, that I'm not just going around trying to gain my own personal glory, the way everyone else lives their life is wicked. It's evil, and he condemns us because we want this too. We're told to do this, we're instructed to do this. Seek your glory. Get yours. What do you want in life? Do you want money? Do you want popularity, fame, prestige, sex? What is it? Go get it. Jesus says that's wicked, you're building your glory at the expense of God's, who says, “I am the Lord and there is no other, I do not give my glory to another.” Jesus then represents a clear and present threat, a danger to us.

This last week, I don't know, maybe some of you who have kids in public school or something can enlighten me, but on Friday there were lots of kids walking around and there was a pack of 12 year olds that looked like they were up to no good. I don't think they were either, because one of them was, and I wasn't eavesdropping he was broadcasting, he was particularly loud. He was going on about this story, about how he finds himself sometimes yelling at his parents, and they're accusing him of lying about something and he says, “And so I yell, I'm not lying and storm off to my room. And as I'm storming off, I realize, oh yeah, I am lying. I had just started to believe my own lies.” Now I thought, OK, well, I don't necessarily commend the rebellion against your parents, but that's good self-awareness. We can start with that. We can work with that. You're recognizing that you're caught in a lie. Even as you're defending yourself from the lie, you're recognizing that you in fact, had deceived yourselves and that you are in fact lying.

Well, here's a question. When Jesus goes up to the feast, when he declares this different way of living, not seeking my own glory, but living for the glory of my Father, will the Jews around him say, wou know what, we were wrong. We were caught in this. We thought you were wrong, but we recognize Jesus that you were glorifying your Father in heaven. Let's follow after you. Will they do that? No.

Sadly, in verses 10 through 18, we find that when Jesus comes into Jerusalem again, not publicly, but in private, we read that already in verse 11, the Jews are already looking for him at the feast. They knew he had to come to the feast because he, every male Israelite was commanded in Deuteronomy 16:16 to go up to the feast. So Jesus goes up to the feast, and they're looking for him, already trying to catch him for healing a man who had been lame for 38 years on the Sabbath. There's so much fear about this, that no one can speak openly about Jesus. They're having to speculate in private. He's a good man. No, he's leading the people astray.

Then in the middle of the feast, Jesus goes up into the temple and begins teaching. What better way to avoid danger against your life than to go into a very public place and start teaching? Not only that, he's actually compounding the problem because he is assuming for himself the office of Rabbi, the office of a teacher and all the other rabbis are looking at him and saying, are you out of your mind? You don't have our education, you haven't been to our schools, you haven't gotten our credentials, you haven't gotten our formal approval of you to teach. So in verse 15, when it says that the Jews marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?” I mean, this isn't a Good Will Hunting moment where everyone's super impressed with this autodidact, this person who's self-taught. They're saying, how dare you? How dare you assume for yourself, the office of teacher?

The way of the world starts with saying, OK, I'm going to go get my glory. The problem with that is that once you get your glory, whatever it is, whatever you're looking for, well, so you have to then protect your glory. Got to get yours and you've got to protect yours. The Jews are astonished that Jesus would imprint, impinge and infringe on their glory. Their learning is their authority. Jesus, who is the Word incarnate, the Word who was God, standing there, teaching them about the words of God? He doesn't, however, sort of match up with them saying, I can do this, watch me. He actually, in his humility, in his incarnation, says in verse 16, showing us a different way to live, not seeking our own glory, but deferring and entrusting ourselves to God. He says, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 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.”

See, this is where it gets to it, right? Have you ever been in that situation where you've been that 12 year old kid caught in a lie? There's that moment of truth, right? Ok, oh, I'm wrong. You know what? I'll lose a lot of face if I acknowledge that at this point in the conversation. So I'm just going to double down and probably start name calling and doing whatever I have to deflect attention away from me and my very weak position here. I don't want to be wrong. I don't want to give up my glory. Jesus says that's at the root of your problem. I want my Father's glory alone and you want only your own glory. So, he says in verse 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 was no falsehood.” He's saying, I'm not here to establish my personal private kingdom. I'm here to do the will of the Father and you better listen to me because you're not just dealing with me, a man here, you are dealing with my Father in heaven. Jesus is demonstrating what it looks like not to worry about protecting your safety, your life, your glory. He's demonstrating what it looks like to live by faith in God.

See, human glory seeking is wicked and it is willful, but what Jesus demonstrates is something very different. He has a confidence and a power that they don't. I mean, these people are terrified. Why is that? Because they realize that Jesus doesn't give a rip about what they think about him or what they might do to him.

There's a, I don't know what you would call him. He's quoted in a lot of places, he's an author, he's kind of a thinker. His name is Simon Sinek, and he started talking recently. He'll probably publish a book about it, I don't think he has up to this point, about Game Theory. He's been talking, I've heard him on a few podcasts and things like that. He talks about why it is that some companies like Amazon, or something like that, can gain rapid market share when everybody else loses these battles to them. Is it that they just have a superior product, a superior website, a superior whatever, superior service? No. It's actually discovered that what happens in a lot of these places is that these companies are playing very different games. Most companies play finite games. It's sort of like a game of chess. You play a game of chess and your only goal is to win that particular game. If you have to sacrifice your queen in order to put your opponent in checkmate, you'll do it, because that's the point of the game, to beat your other opponent in that one game. That's a finite game.

Yet in an infinite game, you don't want to do things like sacrifice your queen. You don't want to completely go all-in on any one single battle because your goal is to not die, to live for the next fight. So you play an entirely different way that doesn't look at each individual battle, but you're actually looking at the long term and it gives you a longer future thinking.

Well, that's kind of what's going on here, but it's infinitely greater than that. See, Jesus recognizes that even if they kill him, which they will, they will play directly into his Father's hand. You see, get yours and protect yours is, I mean, it's one philosophy of living, but the problem is ultimately, eventually you're going to come across someone stronger than you. Ultimately, eventually, you're probably going to lose a fight, unless you're playing an infinite game. Unless you're living for eternity in a way that Jesus demonstrates here. I can go in the middle of the temple and teach you on behalf of my Father, because even if you kill me, you have no power over me. Get yours, protect yours, and the final way of the world says you've got to kill anyone who threatens yours. See, ultimately this position is very, very weak. If you live your life for you, you are establishing a very weak kingdom. Human glory seeking is wicked and willful, but ultimately very weak.

Now, in verse 19, Jesus seems to sort of suddenly turn a corner. He says, “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” That sort of doesn't make sense. Why is he all of a sudden going to that? Well, Jesus is doing two things. He's demonstrating that these Jews, who their weapon of choice, I mean, sometimes the weapon of choice isn't money or drugs or sex or whatever, it's actually religion. They've used religion as their weapon. That's their own personal kingdom that they're building up. That's what Jesus is infringing by assuming for himself the office of teacher.

Maybe some of us who have grown up in the church have found the easiest thing, the most praise from being in the church. That's something to consider in our own lives. But they go to Jesus and they start condemning him, according to the law. You healed someone on the Sabbath. Jesus then turns the law against them, pointing out that they seek to kill him. Now the crowd sort of dismisses it. You have a demon who's seeking to kill you. But Jesus is pointing out, well, if you remember the Ten Commandments, there's one in there that says, “Thou shalt not murder”. That's what you're trying to do to me. If you're going to condemn me, according to the law, you need to understand that you right now are violating the law. You live by the law, you're going to die by the law.

Then in verses twenty-two through twenty-three, he flips the argument about the Sabbath healing he had done. He says, look, so there is an accepted principle of rabbinical interpretation. Your own teachers essentially are telling you that it's okay to violate the Sabbath. If a male infant's eighth day falls on the Sabbath, that's one thing that you are allowed to violate the Sabbath for. You can do work by circumcising that infant on that day. Jesus says, so you're essentially healing that child in some way, making that child well by bringing him into the covenant community.

Well, if that's true on a very small level, understand what I have done is a bigger thing. So you've ceremonially cleansed a child? I have actually healed the whole man, the whole person. I have actually body and soul healed this person. Yet you despise me. He's making an argument which rabbis would have accepted from the smaller to the greater, turning their own arguments on them, demonstrating that not only are they wrong to seek to kill him, but they are wrong in why they want to kill him for healing on the Sabbath.

You see, the rabbis didn't understand the principle. They thought, Well, just circumcision vs Sabbath, I don't know. I guess circumcision should win out there. What they didn't understand is that the Sabbath is given to God's people for enjoying the works of God. Circumcision is a work of God. God gave circumcision to his people. More than that, when Jesus miraculously heals, when the power of God breaks into this world, that is absolutely a valid thing to happen on the Sabbath. That's why we gather to worship Jesus on the Sabbath. We are enjoying the works of God, as creator and as redeemer, and as the one who is bringing all things to fruition, all things to completion, all things to perfection. When Jesus returns so that we can enjoy an eternal Sabbath.

They knew all of the technical jargon, but they didn't understand the principle. Their tool of choice, their weapon of choice, their kingdom of choice, religion. Jesus just pulls the mat out from under them. Their position is one of weakness. Whatever you give yourself to ultimately cannot sustain you.Also, there's a weakness here. Notice this is the great irony of this passage. They're seeking to establish themselves and their own power and look what they forfeit, the healing of the whole person. You see, we have this idea that the only way I'm going to be happy, the only way I'm going to be satisfied, the only way I am going to get mine is by seeking it and claiming it and if necessary, killing anyone who stands in my way. Jesus demonstrates something very different because I know what you want. Don't you recognize that I who stand here can heal all of you, body and soul.

He's essentially saying, in Verse 24, do not judge by appearances. I know I'm just a 30 something scruffy teacher who doesn't look like he's fancy and has gone through your school and stuff like that, but do not judge by appearances, judge with right judgment. I am the only one who can give you what you seek. Don't forfeit the good thing you are seeking by the way that you seek it, by building up your own kingdom.

You see, ultimately, we have two ways to live. We can seek our own personal, private kingdom and glory, or we can give it up and get the gifts that God gives us. Whatever we grasp at in this life, we will necessarily lose. Yet whatever we willingly give up, God promises that he will give us a hundredfold in return. So what do you want? Do you want comfort? Do you find yourself self-medicating because you're so hurt and you want comfort in life? Whatever that looks like for you, whether it's substances or Netflix or food or whatever it is here, the promise of the gospel that what the day is coming, when God will wipe away every tear from your eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. For the former, things have passed away. You only get that gift by giving up your right to claim it today. You want comfort. How about pleasures? Do you want pleasures? Psalm 16:11, “At God's right hand are pleasures forever more.” You want to escape from suffering in this world? The promise of God in Second Corinthians 4:16-18 io, “So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is indeed wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but do the things that are unseen for the things that are seen or transit.”

What you're grasping for today will slip through your fingers just as quickly as you grab hold of it. Yet the things that are unseen, to live by faith, are eternal. You want power? Romans 8:37, “Now in all these things the gospel, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Do you want life itself? I want to live, Matthew. 16:25-26, the words of Jesus, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

What do you want? It's not a struggle of you against God. It's God, a loving Father saying, I want to give you the kingdom. Trust me, believe in me. And it's us saying no thanks God. I want it on my own terms and my own time and my own manner, according to my specifications. Do you see how petty and foolish that is? But listen to the promise. Fear not little flock, your Father.M, it is his good pleasure to give you the kingdom. That's the promise of the gospel, and Jesus Christ ultimately went to his death on the cross to purchase it for you. God wants to give you all things. Don't set up your kingdom against his. Don't get yours, protect yours and kill for yours. Understand that Jesus Christ willingly gave himself up to be killed for you.

Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would watch over your people. There are a lot of scary things out there. There are a lot of places where we feel left out, left behind that things are slipping away from us, that we are justified and in fact, we have to go get it for ourselves. Yet Jesus lays out a different way, that he was perfectly fully obedient. He offers us his perfect righteousness as a gift, and he promises that he's going to give us the kingdom. Father, help us to trust that we're so weak. We're so shortsighted that we struggle there. God, give your people faith to believe, eyes to see not only things that are seen, but in things that are unseen. We pray this in the name of your son, Jesus, our Lord. Amen.