2006-05-07 Communion Dedication – Baldwin Christian Church
The feast of tabernacles (Sukkoth) is the last feast of the year; a weeklong celebration at harvest-time, the end of summer, when Israelites dwell in makeshift tents they have fashioned from sticks and branches. It’s a time to get a good feeling from all the good food, and when you lay down to sleep, the holes in your little tent allow you to see the stars, and know that God is your covering, your Teacher, your Supplier, your Everything!
John 7:14-18
14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
When Jesus was still a lad, somehow His family left Him in Jerusalem after the Passover. After a day of walking home, they figured out that Jesus wasn’t with them, so they headed back to the city to find Him. I’m not sure how much time they wasted looking for Him, but when they found Him, He had been in the Temple for three days, amazing the scholars with His understanding.
When the Holy Spirit gets into you, this is what happens; your life becomes one that makes a difference. Twenty years later, the men in the Temple would seek to kill Jesus because He was making too much of a difference.
When the Spirit of Jesus gets into you, not only can you have the right word at the right time to help someone, but you can hold your own against the tests of the religious experts. Being a scholar, and having much learning, doesn’t mean you know how to apply it. Being able to draw the blueprints of the house is one thing, but building it is another thing.
16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
Being a conduit, a branch, a fountain of the Father’s making, not His own, Jesus taught us what the Father taught Him; nothing more and nothing less.
17 If any man will do his will (if any man is willing to do the Father’s will), he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
Do you will, do you want to do the work of God, or do you want your life to be about you? Jesus is making us a promise here, that if we have the desire to do the things God wants us to do; He will give us the ability to discern, to know how to tell the difference between the things that He teaches, and the things that men come up with on their own (the inventions of men).
18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory (he is false): but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Some men make it easy for us to discern this. Sure enough, they will stand behind a pulpit on Sunday, but they dress in expensive suits, wear flashy jewelry, drive a fancy car, and never forget to ask you for your “seed” money. Those people seek their own glory, and they are easy to spot, but how do you know when it’s not that obvious? How do you spot the false teacher that does appear to be giving God the glory, but actually is seeking his own, personal glory? I believe the Father tests us in this area, by allowing our ears to hear righteous-sounding teachers who secretly do it for the attention they get. How do we know when someone is seeking their own glory more than the glory of the One who sent them?
In John 16, Jesus told His disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes, He does not speak of Himself. Jesus tells us that false teachers will speak of themselves, and there are subtle ways of doing that. If I speak poorly of others, you know I’m being unrighteous, unless I’m able to convince you that those “others” deserve it. The very fact that I speak poorly of others gives you a clue to my motivation, and it is not to glorify the Father. Whenever I speak poorly of others, you know that I am seeking my own glory; you know that I’m setting myself up as being superior, with an attitude of arrogance toward those “other” people.
Further Reading: John 16:7-14; 2 Timothy 3:1-5