Reacting to Jesus and His Words John 7:1-52; 8:12-59 January 10th, 2016
I. Jesus at the FESTIVAL of BOOTHS. (7:14-8:59)
A. Event #1 – A DIFFERENT kind of WATER. (7:37-44)
B. Event #2 – LIGHT thats more than SYMBOLIC. (8:1,12)
Jesus is the ultimate upgradethe object that the whole Old Testament was point toward. He makes that clear in our text today. He comes late to the Festival (of Booths/ Tabernacles), but He wastes no time in making an appearance. The words He uses are very intentional, and provoke people so much that they want to stone Him.
1. Read Jn 7:37-38. When has something someone else has done allowed you to quench your thirst from the streams of Living Water that flowed from them?
2. When have you sensed those streams flowing out of your life?
3. On a scale of 1-10, how aware are you of Gods presence in your life throughout the day? How could you improve that?
II. He SPEAKSthey REACT. (v.12-59)
A. I am the LIGHTBy what AUTHORITY? (v.12-30)
B. The truth brings FREEDOMWe are JEWS! (v.30-41)
C. Check your GENETICSYou TOO! (v.42-48)
D. Before Abraham was I AMNot for LONG! (v.49-59)
We saw last week how Jesus uses language to wake people up from their status quo thinking and challenge the roots of what they really believe. He does the same thing this week, with everything He says provoking a reaction from His listeners. As the conversation unfolds their reactions get more and more outrageous. Jesus does that to people sometimes
4. What claims of Jesus (both those He made verbally, and the claims He makes on your time, space, and money) are the hardest for you to accept? Why?
5. Which of these 4 interchanges (from He SPEAKSthey REACT) do you identify with the most? The least? How do these reactions manifest (or look) in your life?
6. In what ways do we react to Jesus as an immature child? Why might we do that?
III. Will we REACT to Jesus or RESPOND to Him?
A. Will we CHALLENGE His AUTHORITY? (v.13; Mt. 28:18)
B. Will we REFUSE to admit our NEED? (v.33; James 5:16)
C. Will we RESPOND as IMMATURE children? (v.48; Lk. 7:31-35)
D. Will we HIDE Jesus or let Him be DISPLAYED? (8:59-9:7)
We have to avoid the temptation to see these interactions as spectators. Its interesting just to watch Jesus interact with the people. It gets a bit more risky when we let Him interact with us. Their escalation in reaction parallels the way we respond when people jerk the mental carpet out from under all our preconceived ideas. You might find yourself in some of their responses.
7. In what subtle ways do you challenge the authority of Jesus?
8. What areas of need are you trying to hide from Him by not being honest about who you are with Him and yourself?
9. What might be the particular situation in your life where God wants to display His work (9:3)?