Revealed As: Worth Following
Part 2
From the teachings of James MacDonald
Not a creative title but that's what we see happening in the Gospel of John. Jesus Christ being revealed in various ways that remind us how incredible it is to follow him. When you strip away all of the church and the religion, at the end of the day a Christian is a follower of Jesus. We seek to walk in his step, to build our life according to his ways. We seek to obey God the Father the way that he did. We seek to carry hardship the way he did. We seek to respond to trials and to the wounds of others in a way that honors Christ. At the end of the day a Christian is one seeking to live like Jesus Christ. Now well none of us do that perfectly. The proof that you are a genuine believer is if you are doing that increasingly, not perfectly. Nobody here should have it on hold. Nobody here should be like, "Well I've come far enough and there's no more growth for me now." Everybody should be standing and looking over areas of their life where they still need to be changed into the image of Jesus Christ. If you're for that, I think this will be an encouraging message for you and a strengthening message for you.
I will pray for you because we understand that to be really impacted by the word of God it requires more than a voice. It requires the Holy Spirit working through that voice to make this more than Bible understanding. We don't go to church to get some information understood. We want it to grip our hearts and to change us. So we pause to pray to the Lord to do things for us that we cannot do.
1) Even when it's hard; keep serving like - Jesus did.
We have been studying in John 4 and the woman at the well, and her past, and how Christ forgave her and she told others. It's interesting that you see this in the Gospel a lot. A real faith is a contagious faith. And when you really have it, you want others to have what you have. And so in John 4:39 It says Many Samaritans in that town believed the woman because of his testimony. He told me all that I ever did. As they listened and watched it says in 32 No longer because of what you said we believe, we've heard for ourselves. And we know that this is indeed the savior of the world. That takes us to where we finished of last time. Verse 33 says After two days Jesus departed for Galilee. Samaria was kinda like a no man's land and Jesus grew up near this town, in the North. With that as a backdrop you look back in the text where it says after two days He departed for Galilee for Jesus himself had testified that a profit has no honor in his home town. What was Jesus home town? Was it where he grew up? Where was he born? He was born in Bethlehem. And that is just outside of Jerusalem. So when it says in the text that he departed for Galilee for Jesus himself had testified that a profit had no honor in his own home town, was it referring to he is going North to Galilee to get away from his home town where he was born? Or is it saying that he's actually going North towards his home town? Some people say that can't be because a prophet had no honor. That's a negative, so he's trying to get away from that problem. Some people say well he didn't really receive his ministry in Jerusalem, so he's getting away from that problem. I think that's wrong. I don't think think that Jesus was going away from what was hard. While Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he grew up in Nazareth. This passage, I believe, is not saying that Jesus went away from what was hard. It's saying that he went toward what was hard.
That principle is that to minister where he grew up was hard because a prophet is not without honor. When you go out of town where you're not as well known, people can celebrate you. But it is where you're known it is hardest. It's harder to be a Christian at home because they know you. You can come to Church and worship and study the Bible where no one knows you. In the life of Christ this is even true. Jesus was perfect. Rejoice in his character. Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus was tempted by loneliness. Jesus was tempted by lust. Jesus was tempted by lying. Jesus was tempted in all points. This is what theologians call the impeccability of Christ. Not only did he not sin, he could not. Because he could not, people say how could you be really tempted? Let's think Olympic weight lifting for a minute. You see the guy in the crazy tights on. Picture he lifts this massive weight, and he gets it high. He tries to get it over his head but he can't and he drops it on the ground. But another competitor, he gets it up high and he jumps and he puts up, and he holds it over his head. Who feels the weight more? The one who tried to lift it and failed? Or the one who actually held it over their head? Second feels the weight more. It's not in our trying and failing, which we all do, that we feel the full weight of sin. But in Christ that we have felt the full weight of temptation but have lifted it up over his head. He is our victor and our champion. If Christ in his perfection still was without honor in his own town, but it wasn't with regarding his sin. He didn't fail. They had to get people to lie so they could crucify him. The limiting of his ministry was not in anything sinful, it was perfect. It isn't in imperfection that a prophet's ministry is limited, it's unfamiliarity.
In 1386, 100 plus years before Columbus came to America, from Chaucer's Tale of Melibee, comes this well known phrase. "Familiarity breeds contempt." That's the idea the more you know something, the more you know it the less you think of it. The more common it becomes to you, the less you appreciate it. This is a big problem in life. This is the problem Jesus is dealing with here. He went to Galilee but he had testified he had no honor in his home town because they were familiar with him. It was difficult for them to learn from him and respect him because they knew him so well. Keep in mind, it wasn't that they saw things in him that were wrong. It was just that they were so familiar with him that it was difficult for them to esteem and honor him the way that they needed to in order for them to benefit from his ministry. This concerns me because while Jesus was perfect, we are not. I am not perfect. If Jesus dealt with a lack of honor because of familiarity, this concerns me in regard to the marriages in our church. I am concerned that our familiarity with our spouses could lead us not to value them the way that we should. All of the reasons why you fell in love with that person, they're still there. The problem is a prophet is without honor accept in his own town. And a husband is not with out honor accept in his own home sadly, too often. Ladies I would encourage you to stir up within you a genuine gratitude for the things about your husband that you should righteously esteem. Men I will challenge you to stir up affection for the woman that you are married too, less familiarity breed contempt. This also concerns me about employment. Some of you have been working in the same place for 5 years, 10 years, 15 years. People say they don't love their job, but they are thankful for it. Think back to the day you got that job and how excited you were to go to work there. How thrilled you were that of all the people that got interviewed, waiting and hoping, and hanging on every phone call that you would get that job. But over time, familiarity breeds contempt and we can fail to be thankful for what we should treasure. It concerns me in our friendships. The years you spend with friends, through all the years of prayer, joyous moments spent, the hardships spent in support of each other, are not to be taken for granted. I don't want familiarity to breed contempt. I want to be thankful and grateful to God for the things that are around me. It concerns me about our Church. Think back to when you first came to your church. And think about the first time and the worship you enjoyed. And how fervent it was and how strongly your heart was drawn into worship. Try not to let the regularity of something get you to the place of where you're contemptuous of what I should be deeply thankful for. But all of those concerns together don't add up to the thing that the Lord convicted me about most in the preparation of this message. I was strongly reminded about the words of Christ in Rev. 2. Because more than anything, I want to be thankful for Jesus Christ. I don't want my familiarity with the things that the Lord let me get to the place where I'm not deeply grateful for what Christ has done for me. But it can happen.
You used to love me so much. Your heart was so tender to me. Your soul was so hungry for my word. Your life showed such thirst for the living water. And you're not like that anymore. What happened to you? Has familiarity breed contempt. Are you so comfortable now in the family of God and with the people of God that you don't need to stir up fresh affection for me? Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Just like a couple needs to think back to the reasons they fell in love. Just like an employee needs to think back of how excited they were to have that job. Just like a friend needs to think back and examine all the treasured years and take that for the value that it is. Just like a church member needs to be reminded of how blessed we are. So also most importantly, we need to be stirred this weekend not to let our familiarity with Jesus Christ breed contempt in us. A casualness, an indifference, a slowness of heart, a losing of first love. And so he says,Revelation
To the Church in Ephesus
2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Let's go back to the main part of the text. Jesus Christ, led by every step of the spirit, turns not from something that was hard, but to the something. I can picture Jesus on the outskirts of his home town. He's walking into his town and he can see the people he grew up with. He can see the kids that he played with, the parents he used to know. Now they are like, who does he think he is? Who are those twelve guys walking with him. We know who that is. We saw him grow up. He's not that much. Can you imagine what that would be like? I'm inspired that Christ went toward what was hard, not away from it. He didn't run or hide from it. I think I've hid from my home town myself. I did things that I'm not proud of, things that I'm ashamed of. I grew up choosing the wrong way of things. I steered away from God. And because of that I never went back home. No matter where you have been or what you have done, Jesus Christ loves you and he will forgive you and receive you and change your life. God is bigger than the things that we would imagine that would limit our ministry. Notice as Christ modeled this. When he came to Galilee the prophets welcomed him. Christ went right into the hardness of having no honor in his home town. They welcomed him having seen all that he had done. The point is even when it's hard; hard decisions, choices, consequences, always lean on God for the strength he gives you. When I take care of what's on God's heart, God takes care of what's on mine. If you're burdened, God knows what that hard thing is on your heart. It is the time to lean into the Lord. God sees your faith when your heart is breaking. Not once did Jesus shrink back when it was hard. He went right into it by faith. Take the humbling, be better for it, take the criticism, and keep serving like Jesus did.
2)Even when it's dark; keep believing - in Jesus.
John 4:46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.
Ever battle an overactive imagination? I read that and I'm like this is the same town where he did his first miracle turning the water into wine. Here he is walking into this town and the townspeople are excited thinking he's going to do it again.
And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” 49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” 53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed. 54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
If you need a miraculous provision from the Lord, subject one will always be your faith. It's not a discussion on God's capacity. It's not even a discussion on God's willingness. The subject is going to be what do you believe about the Lord. The end of verse 49 there was two mistakes the man made. The first mistake was thinking that Jesus had to come to where his son was. Second mistake that he made was thinking that if his son died that that was the end. The whole book of John is about Jesus Christ is sovereign, even over death. Later he says he is the resurrection in life and whoever lives and believes in him will never die. This guy didn't know who he was talking to. Jesus spoke the word, the man believed the word, and as he was going down the servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. Picture the guy leaving to find this healer. He had a very extensive time between the time where the word was spoken and the time he found out that the healing had happened. The reason this is important is cause that's where most of us are today. We're in between the promise given and the promise experienced. We are holding on by faith. Word spoken, word believed, word experienced. That's how we live our lives, between the word. You have to believe it when it was spoken God was at work to make that a reality according to his faithfulness to himself and what he has spoken.
When you need healing, a miraculous intervention in your marriage, or you need some significant turn around in some way, I've been praying for you this week. That you leave this lesson, blog, message that I've shared with you today, not with a understanding of another paragraph in the Bible, but that beyond that you would take with you a word from the Lord. Maybe the word for you today is that even when it's hard, you need to keep on serving. Maybe the word for you today is that when it's dark, you need to keep on believing. We serve because that's what Jesus did. And we believe because that's who Jesus is. Lay hold of in this moment whatever it is that the Lord is speaking to you about. I will pray for you. My prayers aren't special, but the Bible says that if two or three is touching anything, it will be done for you. If you feel like you have allowed familiarity to breed contempt in me, and I'm not at the place I once was with the Lord. I've allowed sin and selfishness and self-centeredness, God knows what it is. You say, well I'm not with the Lord like I was. I'm not feeling it and seeking it like I was. I believe that the Lord is more grieved about that than you are. And I've at times had to turn to the Lord, and I want to encourage you to give it to the Lord. Let him revive you.
Personally, I've had an awesome week with the Lord. The Lord has been so specific with me. I long for you to feel the same fresh stirring of the spirit. If you have a heavy heart, commit your problems to the Lord.
You Are Loved
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