Summary: God draws criticism until we are drawn to God.

Scripture Introduction

A miller and his son were driving their donkey to sell at the market when they met a group of women: “Look there,” cried one, “did you ever see such foolish fellows, trudging on foot when they might ride?” The old man hearing this, quickly placed his son on the donkey and walked merrily beside.

Presently they happened upon some old men debating: “There,” said one, “it proves what I said. No respect is shown to old age these days. That idle lad rides while his old father has to walk. Get down and let the old man rest his weary limbs.”

Upon this the boy dismounted and the father got up, and they proceeded until they met a company of women and children: “Why, you lazy old fellow,” cried several tongues at once, “how can you ride upon the beast, while that poor little lad can hardly keep pace by your side?”

The good natured Miller immediately took up his son behind him. But before they reached town, a citizen called out: “Pray, honest friend, is that Donkey your own?”

“Yes,” replied the miller.

“One would not have thought so,” said the citizen, “by the way you load him. Why, you two fellows are better able to carry the poor beast than he you.” So the miller and his son got down, tied the legs of the donkey together, and with the help of a pole carried it on their shoulders over a bridge near the entrance to the town.

This entertaining sight brought crowds to laugh at it, till the donkey, disliking both the noise and the strange handling, broke the cords that bound him, and, tumbling off the pole, fell into the river and drowned. Trying to please everyone, they pleased no one, and lost the donkey in the bargain.

Many wise observations have been made about criticism.

• “Nothing can be stated so perfectly as not to be misunderstood.” - Philip Melanchthon

• Let the man who says it cannot be done not disturb the man doing it. - Chinese proverb

• To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. - Elbert Hubbard.

• For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism. - Harrison’s Postulate

• He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help. – Abraham Lincoln

The people around Jesus did not have the heart to help, but they did have the heart to criticize. Let’s read about it and consider the causes and application to us in John 7.

[Read John 7.1-13. Pray.]

Introduction

A dilemma requires you chose between two options. The “trilemma” refers to three choices for how we respond to the person of Jesus: is he a 1) liar, 2) lunatic, or 3) lord.

John McDowell writes in More Than A Carpenter (25): “To say what Jesus said and to claim what he claimed about himself, one couldn’t conclude he was just a good moral man or prophet. That alternative isn’t open to an individual, and Jesus never intended it to be.”

McDowell is borrowing from C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (40-41): “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him, ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Lewis refers to the astonishing “egocentric” (John Stott) claims Jesus makes:

• That he and the Father are one.

• That whoever has seen Jesus has seen God.

• That God the Father sent him to do his will.

• That he is the Savior of the World,

• The one source of eternal life and spiritual nourishment,

• The only way to God,

• The supreme judge of mankind,

• The light of the world,

• The resurrection and the life,

• The messiah, and

• The unique Son of God.

• Jesus says he has power to raise the dead and to heal the sick. And he claims authority over the Sabbath, authority to answer prayer, and authority to forgive sins.

Consider that last one. If I punch J__ in the nose, then ask his forgiveness, you would agree that J__ can grant me a pardon. But if I punch J__ and then as J__ prepares to punch me back, S__ steps in and says, “No, it’s OK; I forgive Glenn.” We would say, “What are you talking about? You can’t forgive Glenn for what he did to J__. It’s not your argument; only J__ can forgive sins against him.” But Jesus stands between men and God and say, “Father, I forgive them.”

No wonder the scribes and the Pharisees called Jesus a blasphemer, for they complained: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And his own family said of him: “He is out of his mind.” And here in John 7, we find that many thought he was leading people astray. They even said (v.20), “You have a demon.” Jesus polarizes opinions; he forces the trilemma on us.

So how is it resolved? Why do some call Jesus “Lord,” while others say, “blasphemer, demon possessed, out of his mind”? John does not tell us here. Instead, these events illustrate Jesus’ earlier answer, when Nicodemus sought him under the cover of night: “Rabbi, we know you are a great moral teacher.” But Jesus answered him, “You cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are born again…. You must be born of the Spirit, from above; you must have new life from God.” Natural thinking never accepts spiritual truth; it is thought foolish because it offends your pride. If Jesus Christ is a great moral teacher, then we can receive his words and obey his lessons. But he will have none of that—you must be born again. He is not a great moral teacher come to explain self-salvation; he is a great God come to save a sinful people.

Only by being born of the Spirit are you able to accept Jesus’ teaching and treasure him above all pearls and earthly prizes. Our passage shows that by negative example—even those who lived with Jesus needed God’s gift of faith.

1. We Must Be Born of the Spirit Or We Will Not Believe (John 7.1-5)

See how insensitive are these hearts to the Son of God. Jesus grew up among these people; they saw daily his impeachable character, his cheerful obedience to mom and dad, his gracious tongue and gentle spirit. They could not remember a time when selfishness gripped his heart or pride made him lash out. He did not lie to get his own way, or blame others for his mistakes. It is bad enough that the Jewish leadership sought to kill him; his own family does not believe.

Nor is their criticism silent and passive. They deride so as to manipulate: “People say of you, Jesus, that you are a great and work miracles. Show yourself; do them openly.” You can hear the jealousy in their voices: “None of us has followers; go show your ‘disciples’ the works they claim you do.”

Note, please, their error, for it is common: Jesus is not rejected because he hides. These relatives saw but did not believe. Seeing miracles does not convert; Jesus himself insisted, “They will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.”

So closed is the mind apart from God’s grace that it cannot believe. So opposed to the things of God is human heart that it will not be saved—unless and until God changes us heart and mind: “But God, when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive—by grace you have been saved.”

Three applications. First, do not despair when you are rebuffed in your sincere efforts at evangelism. Even Jesus got the cold shoulder from those who should have been his warmest allies. Never doubt that he knows the loneliness you feel, and that he sympathizes with the rejection from family and friends which you must endure.

Second, let us pray for outreach in general and power and grace for our specific efforts at evangelism. It pleases the Father when his people call out for revival: “Call upon me and I will answer you,” says the Lord. It is a well documented fact that before God revives a people he sets them to praying. Let us plead with the Father for the souls of those whom you will meet. Honor God by asking him to save.

Third, let us develop an outreach ministry. Jesus promised us the presence and power of his Spirit when we proclaim his name and make disciples. Unlike Jesus’ brothers, let us believe in him and delight to do his will.

And if Jesus’ “egocentric” exclusiveness and claim to be the only way to know God bothers you, then you must be converted, you must become a Christian.

2. We Must Be Born of the Spirit Or We Will Hate Jesus’ Testimony (John 7.6-9)

Some suppose Jesus was disliked because he claimed to be Messiah. That is not exactly true. The Jews wanted a messiah, a powerful king to overthrow the secular government. Just like everyone engaged in politics, they had their special interest groups and their plans to rise in power. Why then the hatred? Because he called their good works, “evil.”

The problem is the same today. With most people that I speak to about God, I have little trouble convincing them that (in some sense) their sins are evil. They know that greed and lust and theft and cursing are wrong. It never seems to fail that when I am talking to an unchurched person they will let slip some obscenity and then say, “Oh, sorry pastor—excuse the French.” Most people are OK with being told their sins are evil: “I know I am not perfect,” they say. But we hate hearing God insult our good works.

Jesus did not preach so much to condemn. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3.17). Instead, Jesus exposes the heart for its insistence on saviors other than himself.

This is why he attacked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy—they loved honor and desired to be known as spiritually mature. Their religion was based on their good works; and Jesus told parables to rebuke those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

A danger in churches like ours is valuing preaching that is one of two certain types. First is that which is doctrinally precise while remaining safely abstract. What is said is true, but it steers clear of the heart. Second is that which condemns others’ sins while leaving ours safe.

My wife and I heard a sermon on greed at a very well-to-do church. The pastor wanted to make an application, so he noted that Imelda Marcos was an example of excess greed, for she had just fled the Philippines, leaving behind 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 888 handbags and 1060 pairs of shoes. He said, “No one needs 1000 pairs of shoes.” Yes, that is true. But no one in his church had 1000 pairs of shoes. And so they left without conviction. Their good work of less shoe-greed than Imelda Marcos was honored, and no one needed mercy and grace.

Jesus’ testimony is this: you may need one pair of shoes—“sell everything else that you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me.” Our hearts remain gripped by the goods of this life until Jesus pries them loose and gives us true freedom. People hate to hear that their good works condemn them, unless and until God changes us, heart and soul.

3. We Must Be Born of the Spirit Or We Will Be Tossed By Opinions (John 7.10-13)

The Feast of Booths was one of the most popular events in the Jewish calendar, so many people trekked to Jerusalem to celebrate. Therefore it was natural for the Jewish leaders to expect to find Jesus there, and everyone was gossiping about him. Some say he is good, others that he is bad. Everyone had an opinion.

Nothing has changed. Dr. James Boice had a radio show called the Bible Study Hour. For an episode in the late 1990s, the staff fanned out over Philadelphia with tape recorders asking whomever they met: “Who is Jesus Christ? Who do you think he is?” Here are some answers given (all quotations):

• Jesus Christ was a man who thought he was God.

• Jesus Christ is pure essence of energy. God to me is energy, electric energy because it’s something that’s not known.

• I think that’s something you have to decide for yourself, but he had some beautiful ideas.

• He is one that we look up to as our leader.

• He is an individual who lived 2000 years ago and was interested in the social betterment of all classes of people.

• He was well liked, he meant well, he was a good man.

• I have no idea. I don’t know.

Paul promises the church of Ephesus that good teaching and true doctrine prevent us from being “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” That well illustrates how people respond to Jesus. Unless and until the Holy Spirit closes off the sieve of the mind, truth washes through and we are captivated by the latest new opinion.

4. Conclusion

Sailors in northern oceans frequently see large icebergs traveling directly against the wind. How could that be possible? Their ship is being blown with the wind, no matter how they try to prevent it, but the iceberg merrily moves in the opposite direction. The answer is that with eight-ninths of its mass under water, the ocean currents affect its travel much more than the wind.

Jesus faces hot wind of criticism from every direction during this part of his life and ministry. You will too. He stays on course by sinking his mass into the strong current of his Father’s will. You can too. Criticism comes with gale-like ferocity—stick with the current of God’s love and grace. Know what you must be sure of—it is all of grace.

And for you who are offended and would criticize the church, consider this: anyone can find the faults—they are many and obvious. Will you search out the ways in which you have been driven to Jesus today, and have the heart to help in the spread of the gospel of Jesus’ sufficient grace?