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*Understanding Law and Order*
John 6:25-59 *
*March 26, 2000 John 7:53-8:11*
* *
*Scripture: *Matthew 7:1-12
*Introduction:*
Later in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells us about the first and greatest commandment (Mt.
22:36-40).
But that was not the first time he had spoken about this distilled truth.
That verse tells us that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
But how do we know if and when we are doing this? {And who is my neighbor?
My neighbor is anyone in need (Lk.
10:27-37).
Jesus said the good neighbor was the one who had mercy (priest, Levite, Samaritan)}.
Verse 12 in the passage of Scripture we just read together in Mt. 7:1-12 gives us the answer also.
We should do to others what we would have them do to us.
That is loving your neighbor as yourself.
That is the truth that sums up the Law and the prophets.
The whole extent of Mt. 7:1-12 is that we not be judgmental toward them.
We know we are loving others like ourselves - like we want to be loved - when we extend to them the same grace we would like to have extended to us in the same circumstances.
And are any of us above such circumstances?
(Personal illustration.)
We are not trying to excuse sin here, but we are trying to overcome it.
It is "grace that is greater than all our sin."
Have you ever been judged by someone else?
How did it make you feel?
Have you yourself ever judged someone else wrongly?
How did that make you feel?
We always seem to want to judge what we don't understand.
But Jesus helps us to understand if we listen to him.
His H.S. lives inside of us as believers.
He is "God with us."
When we judge others, the H.S. is well aware of our actions.
And he says, "You are going to judge this person, knowing what I know about you?"
God doesn't want any to perish but that all should come to repentance (2Pet.
3:9).
It is restoration, not condemnation, that sets things right.
It is restoration in the love of Christ.
He will come as judge.
But in the meantime he said that he came not to judge the world but to save it (Jn.
12:47).
And in Jn. 8:15 he said that he passes judgment on no one.
This is the Age of Grace.
We are able to extend the same grace to others, that we ourselves would like to have, when we are able to see our own sin clearly.
Do you think this is hard to do?
I think so.
That is why Mt. 7:6 is in here.
Explain.
But Jesus says it is possible.
That is why Mt. 7:7-8 is in here.
Explain.
All we have to do is ask and God will give us the good gift of understanding our own sin.
Then (Mt.
7:12) we will be able to do to others what we would have them do to us.
We will not be judging, and we will not be judged (Mt.
7:1-2).
*There is an interesting and heart-moving section in John's Gospel that illustrates this nicely.
*
It begins at 7:53 and ends at 8:11.
Now most of your Bibles will have a note here that explains, "The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have 'this passage.' "
Most likely it was inserted later.
But why?
I believe it was inserted later to make a very appropriate point.
It is an actual event that illustrates the context immediately surrounding and preceding it.
It was remembered later and inserted here in the appropriate and chronological place to illustrate the events so far.
We must remember the words at the end of John's Gospel (Jn.
21:25).
And when we look at the events leading up to it, you will see how well it fits.
In the beginning of Ch. 7, Jesus has a pointed discussion with his brothers about going to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.
It was pointed because they did not yet believe who he really was.
This was a great seven day feast that celebrated the completion of the harvest and commemorated God's goodness to the people during their desert wanderings before they arrived at the Promised Land.
The name for this feast came from the leafy shelters or booths that the people lived in throughout the seven days.
These shelters reminded them of their temporary homes in the desert (Lev.
23:33ff).
Well, Jesus didn't go publicly with his brothers.
He went secretly later because the Jews were waiting there to try to take his life.
Halfway through the feast, Jesus begins to teach in the temple courts.
His teaching amazes all who hear him because he appears as a common man.
The Jews were asking, "How did this man get such teaching without having studied?"
To this Jesus replied, "My teaching is not my own --- it comes directly from God."
Then Jesus furrows a few frowns on a few faces when he refers to the question of the Law and says in 7:19, "Has not Moses given you the law?
Yet not one of you keeps the law.
Why are you trying to kill me?"
Jesus is referring back to a man that he healed on the Sabbath.
In 5:1-9, Jesus did indeed heal the man at the Bethesda Pool who had been paralyzed for 38 years.
The Jews were angry that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and that the man picked up his mat on the Sabbath and walked home.
They were very upset that Jesus had boldly broken their interpretation of the Law – that no work be done in honor of God.
We are told in 5:16-18 that they persecuted Jesus on account of this and were trying to kill him also because he called God his Father.
And so Jesus tells them all in the temple courts to stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment.
And what is that right judgment?
It is that he is the Son of God who alone has the right to judge.
And he has the right to heal on the Sabbath – especially the Sabbath.
It is his own Law.
The controversy continues.
Some cry out, "Are you the Christ?
But that can't be since we know where you are from and when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."
Others cry out, "How can the Christ come from Galilee?
Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family in Bethlehem?"
But some believed his miracles and some believed his words when he said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink --- and streams of living water will flow from within him."
And they said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."
In the midst of the controversy, the Pharisees send the temple guards to arrest him.
But they return empty-handed because they were astounded by his teaching, declaring, "No one ever spoke the way this man does."
And the Pharisees continue the discussion about the Law, saying that the ignorant temple guards and the ignorant crowd know nothing about the Law.
Nicodemus, also a Pharisee, (who had earlier gone to Jesus at night and heard from his own lips about being born again) tries to bring some reason to their thinking but they chide him too.
Then each of the Pharisees goes to his own home – but they have not forgotten their self-appointed duty to expose sin wherever they have suspected it.
And then we come into the present scene that they intend in order to present to Jesus the ultimate test concerning the Law.
It is this true story inserted into the beginning of chapter 8 in John's Gospel.
It is a heart-breaking story and yet it is an overwhelmingly beautiful story.
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