Danger

 From Proverbs:

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Sometimes the best way to gain a little wisdom is by learning from someone else's mistakes, someone like the lazy man of the book of Proverbs. It's much better than making all those mistakes yourself.

Today, we're going to return to Jesus' conversation with those Jewish leaders who confronted him. After a quick explanation of what Jesus is saying, I'm going to point out two mistakes that these men made. The goal is to learn from their mistakes, to gain some wisdom. Our text is John 5.30-47.

Let's start with something that won't be a critical point here but one that needs to be said from time to time. Jesus wants to rescue these men. They are his enemies, and they want to kill him. He knows that, but he still wants to do good to them.

          Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.

Jesus isn't peeved at these men. He doesn't want to tear them down. He doesn't even want to protect himself from them. He wants to rescue them. Jesus shows us what loving our enemies looks like. This is a persistent theme in the Scriptures. God - Father, Son and Spirit - desires the eternal joy and safety of all. 'For God so loved the world...' Jesus' words here are motivated by love for these men.

This love isn't mere sentiment. Because of his love, Jesus does something. He acts to encourage belief. He provides evidence. Jesus does not call people to a blind faith. 'Just close your eyes and jump.' There are reasons to believe. There are witnesses to the facts. Listening to them will lead to a solid belief in Jesus which will result in the eternal safety he desires for all.

Jesus mentions four witnesses for his case. First, there is John the Baptist. Jesus' reminds these men about John and their response to him.

          He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

At the time of his ministry, John was a helpful witness, one who was evidently well-received by these men. Remember what he said.

          Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

That pretty much sums up John's witness to Jesus.

Then, Jesus refers to a second witness, his own works.

But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

Jesus is talking about his miracles. Along with doing good to the people who experienced them, those miracles provided evidence. They were witnesses to the legitimacy of Jesus and his claim to have come from the Father to rescue the world.

The third witness is the Father himself.

          And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me.

Frankly, how, according to this passage, the Father's witness shows itself is not clear to me. What is clear, though, is that Jesus presents him as a witness.

And that leads to the last of these witnesses, the Scriptures.

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me…

And in this conversation Jesus places a particular emphasis on the parts of the Scriptures that Moses wrote. This matches the keen interest that his opponents had in that part of the Bible.

Jesus did not call those men to a faith that simply closes its eyes to what is happening, a faith that believes regardless of reality. Jesus gives reasons for believing him.

But sad to say, they rejected his evidence. They didn't believe him and that showed.

          … you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

They made their choice. Though confronted with more than enough evidence, they refused to yield to Jesus. They refused to submit to him as Savior and Lord. I cannot but think that right now, if they had it to do over, they would have chosen differently, more wisely. They are now suffering the consequences of their choice.

Now we're ready to ask the 'Why?' question. Why did they refuse? Jesus gives two reasons here. These are the mistakes that these men made. Here's one.

          … and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

Jesus is quite clear. If they did have the Father's word abiding in them they would have believed him. But they didn't believe. Now, this word 'abide' throws lots of people for a loop. There have been a goodly number of misunderstandings of this word. But it's not so very complicated. The basic meaning of the Greek word that John used is 'to remain'. The context in which the word is used fills out the details of meaning. So, consider one place where the noun form of this word is used. For reasons that will become clear I'm going to use the King James Version here.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

I think that you can see the connection between abide/abode. One is the verb form and the other the noun. An abode is a place where you abide, where you remain, where you live. So, several modern translations render that phrase from the King James as 'make our home with him'. So, back to our question. Why did they refuse? The word did not abide in them. That is, it did not find a home in their lives.

You need to remember whom Jesus is talking to. These are Jews but not just your ordinary, average Jews. These men were the teachers of the Church of their day. These guys knew their Bibles. They studied and studied like few today ever do. It is to these men that Jesus says, 'The Word did not find a home in your lives'. That was the mistake that they made, the mistake that resulted in their refusing to come to Jesus.

So, here is the bit of wisdom to be gained. There is a danger in knowing your Bible well - almost as much danger as not knowing it well. The point here is not complicated. The Scriptures need to find a home in your life. To be sure, doing that will include getting to know and understand certain information that the Bible contains, knowing your Bible well. But if that's all that there is, the result will not be good. The result may well be refusing to come to Jesus when he calls, just like these men did. And remember that coming to Jesus is not a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. It is something that is to occur repeatedly. Coming to Jesus day by day in order to submit to him as Lord defines what it means to be one of his disciples.

As a church, we have all sorts of settings in which we teach the Bible: Sunday school, Bible study, worship, one-on-one situations. You augment that with your personal times of Bible reading, whether individually, or as a couple or as a family. Some of you kids are memorizing large parts of the Bible. There are all kinds of ways for Bible input. And that can be so very good. But the question needs to be asked: Has the Word found a home in your life? Has it settled in to play its role of determining how you live, how you follow Jesus? Understand the benefits here. The person who has embraced the Word responds well to Jesus. This person, unlike the men in our text, submits to Jesus and to his call, and that is what living well is all about. So, learn from someone else's mistake. Be wise.

And what does wisdom look like? For one thing, the wise are aware of the danger. Here is some more wisdom from the book of Proverbs.

          The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

There is danger. The lives of these men is proof enough. They knew their Bibles, but they refused to submit to Jesus. There is danger. Be aware of it. So, you parents, help your kids. Protect them from the foolishness of thinking that just because they have memorized lots of Bible all is well. Has the Bible that they know found a home in their lives? Has the Bible that you know found a home in your lives? Do not assume that I am expecting the answer, ‘No’. This is a real question expecting a real answer, which may be, ‘Yes’. I ask the question because it needs to be asked either to challenge or to encourage, depending on the answer.

How do you know if the Word has found a home? There are various signs that this has happened. Here's just one. It's from the Psalms.

          Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Love is a sign that the word has found a home in your life, in your child's life. The affections are engaged. There are parts of the Bible that confuse me. I have lots of questions. But there are parts of the Bible that are much clearer to me. I get what they are saying. I have been blessed by them. They have helped me make sense of my life. They are very near and dear to my heart. So, reading my Bible isn't a chore or just something on my to-do list. It's not always exciting, but it is always good. And the things that I discover within its pages are precious to me. That's something of what the psalmist was getting at. It's an indication that the Word has found a home.

Let's move on to another answer to our question, 'Why did these men refuse?' This is about their second mistake.

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

This one is not so clear because of the word 'glory'. What does it mean to 'receive glory'? 'Glory' is a church word. So, let's translate it. Instead of 'glory' let's talk about 'praise' or better, 'approval'.

How can you believe, when you receive approval from one another and do not look for the approval that comes from the only God?

These men did not believe because they were looking for approval in the wrong places. There is nothing necessarily wrong with people praising you for what you have done. Being approved by other people is not wrong - as long as it is clear who your first audience is to be. The Father is the first audience. He's the one you live for. It's what he thinks that is of first importance. When what other people think about you is more important to you than what your God thinks, then you have a problem. And, according to Jesus, that's what was going on with these men. There is danger here.

When I was growing up I was motivated by the approval of my elders which included parents, teachers and relatives. As a result, I was what was then called a 'high achiever'. (Do they still us that term?) Of course, the translation of 'high achiever' (at least in my case) is 'someone who is driven to be approved by the significant people in his life'. When someone falls into that habit, what the Father has to say takes a back seat to the opinions of others. And very often, the lust for approval becomes the fear of disapproval. Instead of fearing God, this person fears people. And, at the very least, that makes it difficult to submit to Jesus when he calls. After all, what will people think? And that's why these men refused to believe Jesus. They were looking for approval in the wrong places. There is danger here.

There is, again, a particular application to parents. What motivates your child? Is your approval too important to him? How does a parent encourage a child, motivate a child, without training him to focus on his parent's approval, to lust after it? Difficult question. It seems to me that a parent needs to help the child develop a sense of the Father's smile when he does what is good and right. It's what the Father thinks that is of first importance. At some point, your children need to learn to be willing to be disapproved of by others, to be thought of as foolish by the world. If he does that because he yearns for the Father's approval he is being wise.

And obviously, this isn't just for parents. It speaks to all of you. What motivates you? I think that this is a good question to ask yourself from time to time. When you have a hard time submitting to something Jesus calls you to do, what's going on in your soul? How important is the approval of others in the decisions you make? There is danger here. Be wise.

We've looked at the two mistakes of these men. The danger, I hope, is clear. These men did not see it. They refused to submit to Jesus. They were not wise. So, what are you to do? How can you be kept safe? How can you avoid these mistakes, these sins? Bear in mind that you do not save yourself. That's what Jesus has come to do. And it is always a matter of grace. So, what that means is that you need to call to him to keep you safe. You need to pray. And what do you pray? That depends on what's going on in your life. Maybe the place to start is to pray that he would make you see the danger. Many of you know quite a bit of Bible. There is danger there. Are you aware of that? Maybe you need to pray that what you know from the Bible would go deep into your soul, that it would find a home in your life. And then, there are others of you who have been taught to lust for the approval of others - and your fears show it. You need to cry out to the Father about that. As you pray about these things, the Father will respond. He's going to tell you what to do. Listen to him. Do what he says. He'll give you all the ability you need. All you need to bring is your willingness - and your trust. Be wise.

One last thought. Why is this important? There are obvious benefits to living wisely. Wisdom results in a life that is lived well. And that is so much better than a life of foolishness. But beyond the benefits that this may have for you, I want to remind you that we have been given a purpose. And this purpose defines our lives. We exist to make Jesus look as good as he really is to each other and to the world around us. Foolish lives, lives that look like the lives of so many of the people around us, lives that make the same mistakes that they do - foolish lives will not make Jesus look good. Foolish lives are failed lives. Be wise. Live well. Make Jesus look good.