September 1, 2013 AD, by Pastor Ben Willis

According to John 7:1-16 [NLTse]

7 After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting His death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where Your followers can see Your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if You hide like this! If You can do such wonderful things, show Yourself to the world!” 5 For even His brothers didn’t believe in Him.

6 Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for Me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate Me because I accuse it of doing evil. 8 You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because My time has not yet come.” 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.

10 But after His brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view.

The Festival of Tabernacles celebrated God’s taking care of the tribes of Israel during their 40-year journey through the wild lands of (what is now) Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula following the Exodus from Egypt and as they awaited God’s permission to enter the Promised Land. The Jews lived in huts made of branches decorated with garlands of fruits and flowers during the Festival to remind them of His care then and now.

The Festival of Tabernacles was really several celebrations one after the other: The Feast of Trumpets; the solemn Day of Atonement; with the rest of the week being a time of celebration and reveling. The Temple area was illumined by large candlesticks that reminded the people of the guiding pillar of fire; and each day the priests would carry water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it out from a golden vessel, as a reminder of God’s miraculous provision of water from a rock during the wilderness wandering.

It was one of three Festivals that all faithful Jews were required to return to Jerusalem each year to celebrate.

As we’ve seen, for Jesus Christ it was a difficult time, because it marked the beginning of open and combative opposition to Him and His ministry. Ever since He’d healed the paralytic on the Sabbath Day, Jesus had been targeted by the Jewish leaders for death. He had purposely stayed away from Judea, in Galilee where, because it was under Herod Antipas’ authority rather than that Roman, Pontius Pilate, He was safer for the time. But He couldn’t remain in Galilee and also observe the mandatory Feast.

And yet the opposition He faced wasn’t merely from the Jewish leadership. His brothers (Mary and Joseph’s other – natural – children) taunted and mocked Him, teasing and goading Him that He should attend the “big event” to win back the following He’d lost during what they considered to be  His “My body is real food and My blood is real drink” fiasco.

2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” God’s people have always faced opposition and persecution. The prophets were hated, tortured, and killed. History records that ten of Jesus’ disciples were executed for preaching Christ. Tradition says that Simon-Peter insisted on being crucified upside down because he counted himself unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. Yet he wrote, “Be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.” (1 Peter 4:14)

The apostle Paul was jailed, beaten, shipwrecked, and stoned numerous times for preaching Christ, but he considered suffering not even worth mentioning compared to knowing Christ and the reward He knew awaited him in Paradise. (See Romans 8:18)

Jesus told us to expect persecution from the world, saying that if they persecuted Him that they would surely persecute His followers also.

Has anyone here ever faced opposition to or been teased because of your faith in Jesus Christ? …

Sure. So if we thought we were alone in it we can now see we’re all in this together.

Yup. There’s a price to pay for the glories and the wonders of Jesus desires to bring with Him into our lives. As a matter of fact, Jesus has said that living with Him and trusting Him will cost us our lives. He said, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake,” (Jesus said) “you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?”

To follow Jesus Christ – to live trusting Him – means we’ve chosen to die to our own way of doing things. We consider our will, our rights, our passions, and our goals to be crucified on the cross with Him. Our right to direct our own lives is dead to us. And death involves suffering because our “flesh” – our sinful selves – don’t want to die. Dying to self is painful and goes against our natural inclination to seek our own pleasure. But we can’t serve two masters: We can’t follow both Christ and the flesh. (Luke 16:13)

But closely adhering to the teachings of the Bible sets us up for rejection, mockery, loneliness, and even betrayal. If we choose to take a stand for righteousness and biblical truth we all but ensure that we will be misunderstood, mocked, or worse. Even so, Acts 5:41-42 describes the apostles’ reaction after receiving another beating for preaching about Jesus: “The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”

Following Him will cost us our lives. But that’s not the only cost: Living with Jesus and trusting Him may result in the loss of close friendships and relationships, because His presence often brings division between those who follow Him and their families, friends, and other non-believers around them. We see Jesus Himself facing this in His brothers’ sarcasm. I’ve experienced this in friendships at seminary and at my home church and in our old presbytery as Jesus became less of a biblical figure to me and more of a personal friend.

(The One Who is the reason the universe was created and Who holds the entire universe together – your and my friend! Does anyone else here never get used to the reality of that?!)

Of course, living with and trusting Jesus may result in the loss of all our possessions, too. Do you remember the rich man who thought he was good enough to get to Heaven? Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me.” But the young man didn’t invest in Heaven and he didn’t follow Jesus. The Bible says, “He went away, and that he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” (Matthew 19:16-22)

Of course, following Jesus doesn’t mean you will lose all your possessions, your family, your friends, and go through horrible suffering. But what Jesus’ is asking us is: Are we willing to, for Him, if that’s what’s necessary?

All that being said, as Christians we need to recognize the value of persecution, and even to rejoice in it, if we would! Because persecution has great spiritual value.

First, persecution allows us to share in a unique fellowship with the Lord. In his letter to the Philippians Paul listed a number of things he’d surrendered for the cause of Christ. But he viewed them all as “rubbish”, “sewage”, “dung” (depending on your translation) when compared to the fellowship he’d come to enjoy with Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:10)

A second value to us in persecution is that the Bible says it’s good for us.

Several of Jesus’ half-brothers came to believe in Him after His resurrection. James and Jude are two who have left us writings among the New Testament letters. And James wrote that trials test our faith, develop endurance in our lives, and help us grow to greater maturity. (1:2-4) Like steel that is tempered in the flames of a forge, trials and persecutions file down the rough edges that tarnish our character.

Yielding graciously to persecution allows us to demonstrate that we are of a superior quality than those coming against us. Like when the Lord teaches us to turn the other cheek or walk a second mile or give away our shirt as well: We may not be able to stop someone from hitting us, but we can show them we are not afraid and that they have not overcome us by offering to let them hit us again; we may not be able to stop someone from making us carry their bags for them, but we can show them they are not our ruler and that we are not their slave by offering to carry their stuff even farther; and, we may not be able to keep someone from stealing our stuff, but we can show them that our stuff doesn’t define us and that they have not taken anything that has any real value to us by offering to give them something else we have as well! (See Matthew 5:38-41)

It’s easy to be hateful. But much more Christ-like to remain calm and to respond in kindness in the face of evil opposition. Of course, this is a tremendous challenge, but we have the power of the Holy Spirit within us and the perfect example of the Lord Jesus and the apostles and many faithful witnesses to encourage us!

Another value of persecution is that it enables us to better appreciate the support of true friends. Conflict sometimes brings faithful Christians together in encouraging and supportive ways they might not have known otherwise. Hardship can move us toward a greater resolve to love and comfort one another and lift one another to God’s throne of grace in prayer. There’s nothing like an unpleasant incident to help the more mature rise toward a greater level of brotherly and sisterly love.

The Lord is especially close to believers during times of persecution, knowing our limits and giving us grace. (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5; and, 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 12:9) The Lord gives the Kingdom of Heaven to the persecuted, promising them great rewards in Heaven. (Matthew 5:10-12) And the Lord assures us that even opposition and our persecutions will work out for our good, shaping our character and bringing Himself glory through us. (Romans 8:28)

Surely the rewards far outweigh the cost of living with, trusting, and following Jesus Christ!

Let’s close with these words from Simon-Peter: “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps.

“He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when He was insulted, nor threaten revenge when He suffered. He left His case in the hands of God, Who always judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:21-25)