Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20050626.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING IN JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part IX: Trusting In Jesus As Our Loving BUT HOLY God
(John 2:12-25)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

One of the most intriguing tendencies of the Christian life, one that can make a believer confused, is the fact that the CLOSER he gets to CHRIST in his WALK, the more ESTRANGED he seems to become in many his relationships with various other people!

This fact is reflected in the way some view Jesus Himself:

(1) Robert Funk, Founder of the Jesus Seminar, a body that "examines the authenticity of the Gospels" said in a negative remark about Christ: "Jesus was a subversive sage. His witticisms tended to undermine the everyday view of things . . ." (Dec. 1994, Life, p. 72).

(2) Karen Armstrong, Professor of Religion at Leo Baek College and Author of A History Of God, also proclaimed negatively of Jesus: "The Romans saw him as a troublemaker, somebody who could cause riots during festival time in Jerusalem." (Ibid., p. 76).

(3) Tyler Roberts, Lecturer and Head Tutor of Religion at Harvard University reported that when he asked his class, "Who was Jesus?'" though most said he was a religious figure or philosopher or a political leader, "one student" likened "him to Mao and Stalin", revolutionary dictators who attacked many of their own countrymen!

Similarly, we note that as we seek to fellowship with God and follow Christ's Word in our lives, people can develop negative views of us, and a wall seems to go up between us and them.

As an example of this, a believer in our Church took a job in a local factory some years ago, and, before working on the assembly line, she asked me how she could be a good witness for Christ. I replied, "Why not start off not telling anybody you're a Christian, but just do exactly what your overseer tells you to do. Then when God gives the opportunity, give them the Gospel of Christ that they might be saved."

When she heeded my suggestion, not at first saying anything about her faith in Christ, a few of her coworkers began to chide her for being "some sort of goody-two-shoes" unlike they were as they did not do the overseer's will when he was not around!



Well, IS there a PERSONALITY problem in CHRIST or in His FOLLOWERS that CREATES this WALL with other people? We need to KNOW as it affects the CREDIBILITY of our FAITH!



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Some think Jesus had a personality problem that put Him at odds with the mentally healthy religious leaders, that this led to His death! In light of this, I have noticed that when I obey God in my own life, I also become more estranged from others! Why?!"
  1. Jesus had a HEALTHY LOVE for OTHER PEOPLE:
    1. Jesus exhibited a selfless consideration for others at Cana of Galilee:
      1. While attending the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus went beyond His Heavenly Father's requirements to turn water to wine and so save the bridal party from deep embarrassment, Jn. 2:1-10.
      2. He did this privately to avoid shifting attention from the bridal party to Himself out of consideration for them , John 2:8-10.
    2. Jesus also had normal relationships with His family and friends: after the tiring work of their hosting the wedding in Cana, Jesus departed with His family and disciples for the Jerusalem Passover, stopping en route in Capernaum for a few days of quiet rest with them, John 2:12.
  2. However, Jesus DID NOT TOLERATE MAN'S SIN, and that INTOLERANCE led to a WALL in His RELATIONSHIPS:
    1. In arriving at Jerusalem for the FIRST Feast of Passover in the BEGINNING of His earthly ministry, Jesus found moneychangers making God's temple a place of merchandise instead a house of prayer as God had intended it to be, John 2:13-14, 16.
    2. Accordingly, Jesus made a whip of cords and angrily drove out the offenders with their wares and money, charging them with the sin of defiling His Heavenly Father's temple with worldliness, John 2:15-16.
    3. Jesus had every right to do this: even the Old Testament predicted when Israel's God arrived at the temple, the people would be hard pressed to withstand his purification of them, cf. Malachi 3:1-2.
    4. To show this event did NOT expose a personality problem in Jesus, John writes that Christ's disciples recalled this event fulfilled Psalm 69:9a where king David wrote his zeal for the holiness of God's temple had "eaten me up" so that David had come to be reproached and alienated even from his own kinfolk, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Ps. 69:4; Ps. 69:7-8; John 2:17.
    5. John further described how JESUS Himself was SENSITIVE to the fact that His discipline of these moneychangers had created a stir that would eventually lead to His own rejection and crucifixion:
      1. Jesus explained to the temple leaders who questioned His authority to discipline the moneychangers that if they were to "Destroy this temple," He would "raise it up" in "three days," John 2:18-19 KJV.
      2. These leaders thought Jesus spoke of the Herodian temple structure around them, but Jesus spoke figuratively of His body, keeping these spiritually hardened men from understanding Him, 2:20-21.
      3. Jesus had given this remark for the sake of His disciples so that after He rose from the dead three days after His crucifixion, they would recall this prediction and trust in Him, John 2:22.
      4. In this WAY, Jesus signaled that HE HIMSELF KNEW and EVEN PREDICTED that His intolerance of the moneychangers' SIN would eventually lead to His death! His whipping of these men was not a thoughtless deed of a misfit, but a carefully calculated ACT of HOLINESS by the Son of God!
  3. Accordingly, Jesus CONTINUED to function in a delicate balance between LOVING MAN but being INTOLERANT of his SIN, and GRACIOUSLY He performed miracles to help people, but refused to entrust Himself to them due to their SIN, John 2:23-25:
    1. Like He had done at the wedding in Cana, Jesus performed many miracles for Jerusalem's needy people, John 2:23 with John 2:1-10.
    2. However, He habitually declined to "entrust Himself" to these folk He helped because they had an artificial, worldly kind of view of Him, John 2:24-25 ESV; Bible Knowledge Com., N. T., p. 280.
      1. The verb rendered "commit" (KJV) or "entrust" (ESV, NIV) in John 2:24 is in the imperfect tense, indicating an habitual act, cf. Leon Morris, John (NICNT), p. 207.
      2. Jesus thus declined as a rule of life to entrust Himself to many He miraculously healed since they had a superficial, worldly "enthusiasm for the spectacular" in wanting to make Him king for His miracles versus accept Him as God's Son, Jn. 6:15, Ibid.
Application: (1) May we TRUST in Christ as SAVIOR from SIN to have eternal life, John 3:16. (3) Then, AS we fellowship with Him, (a) we TOO will LOVE others but (b) be ESTRANGED from those in SIN, Jn. 15:18-22; 1 John 1:5-7. (4) May we be SETTLED about HOW we thus relate to others, for GOD is at work IN us to make us LOVE the SINNER but HATE his SIN!

Lesson: Jesus LOVES PEOPLE but HATES their SIN: this fact leads people EITHER to relate WELL to Him as they trust in Him for salvation FROM SIN or HATE Him as they HOLD TO their SIN, and this fact also causes those who FOLLOW CHRIST to relate to others LIKE HE does!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Josh McDowell writes of the wall that initially existed between the unsaved Professor Ruda and a Christian missionary in McDowell's book, A Ready Defense, p. 455. Professor Ruda had a doctorate in psychology and was professor of logic and a researcher in psychology in the Argentine University of the South. He had been raised in the Catholic faith, but had come to deny the Christian faith.

One day he rented an apartment from a landlord who told him about another tenant in the complex, a missionary named Charles Campbell. The landlord warned the Professor, claiming Mr. Campbell ". . . is a very zealous Protestant, he will try to convert you.'"

Professor Ruda accepted this missionary's presence and zeal as a challenge, thinking, "Perhaps I will learn something by analyzing the personality of a Protestant missionary."

However, when he met Charles Campbell, Professor Ruda testifies: "I knew that here was someone whose personality I could not rationally explain. Then when I became a Christian I understood that the life-changing ingredient in his life was Christ. Today, the most important proof to me of Christianity is the amazing change that has come into my own life. Peace and confidence in God have taken the place of anxiety and worry. My troubles increased when I became a Christian, but Christ gave me the power to have victory over all of them.'" (emphases ours) (Ibid., McDowell, p. 455 as cited from James C. Hefley's book, Living Miracles, p. 59-64)

The WALL that separated Charles Campbell from his landlord and Professor Ruda who was trying to analyze him was created NOT by a PERSONALITY PROBLEM in CHARLES CAMPBELL, but by the SPIRITUAL LOSTNESS of the LANDLORD and PROFESSOR RUDA! When this professor with a doctorate in psychology who also taught logic could NOT RATIONALLY EXPLAIN the personality of Charles Campbell, he was led in time to BELIEVE in CHRIST as his Savior from SIN and see CHRIST was the CAUSE of Mr. Campbell's uniqueness!

We should thus NOT be surprised if we find a relationship "wall" exists between us and other ungodly people. We should let our "light so SHINE" (Matthew 5:16) that they might have a witness to our Savior Who makes us unique, and so come to trust in our Lord Jesus Christ like Professor Ruda did!