Thursday: From Beneath
Daily Lesson for Thursday 21st of November 2024
In our study of John so far, we’ve seen that John shows how Jesus, indeed, is the promised Messiah, the great hope that the Jewish people had been longing for.
And yet, many of the religious leaders, the spiritual guides of the people, were His biggest enemies instead.
Why?
Read John 8:12-30. What is the dynamic here between Jesus and these religious leaders? Which texts best explain why many rejected Him?
Image © Jeff Preston Goodsalt.com
Jesus says that they know neither Him nor the Father (John 8:19). They should have known both, but these men were self-deceived. They were so caught up in their own traditions and philosophies that even with Jesus right before them, doing all the things that He did and saying the things that He said—all powerful revelations of the Father—they still rejected Him.
Second, Jesus says to them, “ ‘You are from beneath’ ” (John 8:23, NKJV). In other words, however religious they might be, these were not spiritual, godly men. They had a “form of godliness” (2 Timothy 3:5), but that was all. They had outward piety but inward disbelief.
This was nothing new: “ ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men’ ” (Isaiah 29:13, NKJV). This very concept is echoed by Jesus centuries later, when He said, “ ‘And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’ ” (Mark 7:7, NKJV). Their human teachings, their human commandments, were “of this world” (John 8:23) and, as Jesus then said, “I am not of this world” (John 8:23). It was bad enough that these men had been deceiving themselves; the tragedy was made worse because they also led others astray, even though, interestingly enough, John wrote that as a result of the exchange depicted in these verses, “many believed in Him” (John 8:30, NKJV).
Thus, even despite bad leadership, many Jews were able to get beyond it and see, for themselves, who Jesus was.
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What lessons do you draw from Jesus’ exchange with the religious leaders? How can we be “from above” and not “from beneath”—and how can we know the difference? |
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Even today the greatest struggle of any christian is the earthly vesus the above. We easily loose focus and interest on things from above. Mostly things from above does not make sense. We need some divine touch that would transform our lives total so that going forward with our lives we start to develop an automatic mode for "heavenly things". When we automatically intrinsically we start to comply and gel with divine things. That can not happen on its own , we need to ask God to transform us. Without that transformation, no matter how we pray to comply with things from above it will always be a struggle. We need to eventual speak like Paul when he said " It is no longer I that leaves with me but God..." We need to reach a spiritual level where evil we want to do we fail to do it because in us there is a strong heavenly power.
Perhaps my sole efficient effort is to hang on to Jesus's hand for salvation. I cannot save myself; I cannot judge myself. I instead leave the judgment for the Lord because He is the One Who truly knows my heart and motivations.
We can be from above when we live in association with; work with; and testify of Jesus as the embodiment of truth.
Jesus told the Jewish people who opposed Him that they did not recognize who He was because they did not truly know the Father. While they were well-versed in their doctrines, they lacked a genuine relationship with the God who had given them those teachings. They also failed to grasp the true nature of God's character and how their lives should reflect it. Sadly, I fear many of us are guilty of the same today. May we search the Scriptures to find Jesus and learn how to become like Him in our thoughts, words, and actions.
"that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" 2 Corinthians 5:19.
God walked among us on earth, revealing His plan of redemption. Yet, those entrusted with preparing the hearts of His people were blinded by distractions of little consequence.
It is a great responsibility to ensure that we are always nourished with the right spiritual food. We must read, understand, and live by God's precepts so that we are not left to wonder or doubt His word.
When Christ departs from our hearts, the power of darkness takes hold, and we are controlled by forces from beneath. This explains why Jesus urged us to focus on heavenly things, not earthly ones. This is only possible through His strength.
Jesus said "I am" 7 times in this passage. These men were the heads of the church and had studied Scripture all of their lives, yet they didn't recognize who He was saying He was. He told them very plainly, quite often, but when you are blind, you are blind. They needed Him to take the scales from their eyes so they could see. But they were unwilling. The way to be "from above" is to remain willing, and surrendered, willing to give up our preconceived notions, willing to be led by the Spirit into all truth, even if it goes against what we have always believed. This can be a tough pill to swallow when we think "we know", but we cannot trust in self & in our own knowledge which is passing away (and often from below). We must surrender daily and remain willing to allow Him to correct our thinking and transform our hearts. He can do it, and only He can do it. I often think "I know", but then, in hindsight, I find out I am poor, and naked, and blind. How can I know then? "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy" James 3:17 Do we see this in the Pharisees? No. Do we see it in ourselves? For me, only when I am surrendered. I believe the people who believed after this discourse saw the difference between Jesus & the Pharisees. Their eyes were opened, they surrendered, & their hearts were transformed. Have a blessed day.
I would hope we do not have a theoretical form of godliness, abstract, or philosophically practice of our experience in this life.
So how do we stay away from the problem the leaders during Christ time had?
1. Prayer on a daily basis.
2. Request of the Lord for wisdom and understanding of the daily Sabbath School Lesson, which includes the Word, even though the lesson spoon feeds us, there is more to learn outside the box.
3. In your study of the Word, use different versions going back to English Standard Version for most accurate, some theologians say. Using different versions gives us a broader understanding. And of course, let the Holy Spirit guide you. The Lord has promised His guidance. Psalms 48:14.
4. As we study the Bible, let the Holy Spirit open our hearts in humility and, by all means, refrain from losing dependence on God.
5. Pray in faith continually, for wisdom which comes from God. James 3:17.
Source of my some of my thoughts today comes from the devotional book, The Faith I Live By. For November 21.
Good Day
What does Jesus have that we need in order not to die in our sins? The Jewish religious leaders asked questions reflecting 'their' truth, but Jesus answered them by the Truth coming from above. They reasoned with Him according to the flesh, and He answered them according to the Spirit. Though many who listened to their exchange were able to 'believe'!
The leaders, putting themselves in charge of 'judging' that which is spiritual, had expectations that Jesus' answers would affirm their own understanding; but He did not. Instead, Jesus' answers revealed their shortcomings, explaining that it is the Spirit of the Word of God which is in charge of 'judging' man.
The statement: “ “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world” states the obvious. But even this they could not understand as they continued to judge Him 'according to the flesh’ - uninspired. Their sin was unbelief. They were bound by their authority derived from their own interpretation - earthbound/from below. Should they believe, they would have to disclose the error of their way. Saul who became Paul did!
When relying on the 'status' of ones own authority makes one 'hard of hearing' of God’s Truth - like a vessel already filled to the brim with no room for more to be added to it. In my opinion, ‘to keep an open mind and receptive heart’, goes a long way to hearing God's Truth and being willing to be taught. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate revealer of God’s Truth; we just need to empty ourselves of ‘self’ to make room for His Truth to fill us.
I wish the lesson had kept going past vs.30 because I think vs. 33 also reveals a key reason why the leaders didn't want to listen to Jesus. They felt they had never been slaves (which is truly ironic since as a nation they certainly had been). If you don't want to acknowledge you are a slave to sin, you don't want to hear what God has to say to you. This was a huge problem.
Probably am wrong;but,I don't think most people like to admit they are slaves. To continually do something that you know is wrong, as if someone else was in charge of your body,is most definitely not uplifting.Satan doesn't care how hard you cry or hurt. Comes down to trust. And that is big, especially when we don't read the Bible. God has our backs. We learn that from reading the Word.
I am proud to freely surrender all to Christ. Most people that have not done so fell like I am a slave to Christ. And might even argue that I believe in salvation by works. No so. However or if you prefer, on the contrary, by surrendering to Christ, I have been set free of the bondage of sin.
Romans 6:18 NKJV
[18] And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
I don't like to go incircles, so I would like to give a different idea of slaves to righteousness. I do believe that I have become so close to God that nothing and I mean nothing can seperate me from God.
Moving over to chapter 8. Let's look at Romans 8:38-39.