Live Free with Josh Howerton - Seeking Approval | Ep. 265 | Friday, February 9, 2024

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

We close out our week by walking through the rest of John 7. The crowds feared the Pharisees and the Pharisees feared the crowds. Jesus alone was confident in who He was. He did not seek anyone’s approval except the Father who had sent Him. Who have you tried to seek approval from this week? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? Thanks for tuning in or logging on or downloading or whatever you do to listen. I'm not very tech savvy, but I'm sure grateful for those who are the people that make this happen are super grateful for them. My name is Mike Bro, and we hang here Monday through Friday for a few minutes, just sticking some hopes, some wisdom, some truth in our hearts. And we're trying to learn a little bit more about the person of Jesus. And we're currently learning about Jesus by walking through what is called the Gospel of John. It's a book that's all about what Jesus said, who we encounter, and the amazing supernatural. things that Jesus did. And we left off yesterday in chapter 7. Jesus is in Jerusalem for this huge annual festival. And he's just trying to lay low for a while. I mean, he is very aware that the religious

leaders hate him and they're looking for ways to take him out. So let's pick up in verse 11 where we will see there's differing opinions about Jesus. It says as the Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued he's a good man. Others said he's nothing but a fraud who deceives the people. But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders. Isn't it crazy how the approval or the disapproval of other people can keep us from doing the right thing? There's a really sad verse over in chapter 12 of John. Verse 42 and 43 says this. Many people did believe in him, however,

including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn't admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God. I'm just telling you, when that's true of you, your life's a wreck. Your days are filled with people pleasing and approval seeking. You're always chasing likes on social media. you crave in fame, attention, and applause.

It is such an empty way to live your life. Let it be enough to be known and cherished and approved by God. There is such freedom in living your life that way. Let's keep going. Verse 14. Then midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the temple and began to teach. So much for laying low. He waits about three or four days, then he surfaces in the most public place.

The people were surprised, verse 15, when they heard him. How does he know so much when he hasn't been trained, they ask? ask. I mean, the leaders were amazed at Jesus' obvious authority, but they refused to recognize where his authority came from. So Jesus told them, verse 16, my message is not my own. It comes from God who sent me. Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God, or is merely my own. You might remember back in chapter six when Jesus was talking about being the bread of life, and he told the people that the work of God is to believe in the one he has sent. And now he's saying that again, he says, those who are after the heart of God,

they are the ones who will recognize where this authority comes from. They will believe that he is the one who was sent. Hard, prideful, rebellious hearts will never recognize that. And Jesus knew that about their hearts. He says on verse 18, those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves. But a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies. Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys it. In fact, you're trying to kill me.

You guys got all ticked off because I healed a man on the Sabbath, a man who had been sick and disabled for 38 years. Come on, what kind of heart does that? You need to look inside to see where you really are with God. It says some of the crowds started talking to each other. Isn't this the guy the religious leaders want to kill? Why don't they just grab him? I don't know, maybe they really think he is.

is the Messiah, but that can't be, because he came up, he came from up in Galilee, and no prophet comes from Galilee, especially the Messiah, because the Messiah is just going to appear out of nowhere. And Jesus knows all the whispers, and he knows all the not-so-whispery-whispers, and he calls out in verse 28, yes, you know me, and you know where I come from, but I'm not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don't know him, but I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you. It says in verse 30, then the leaders tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. Many among the crowds at the temple believed in him. After all, they said, would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous

signs than this man has done? The Pharisees start to fear the crowds. If they fear that the crowds are turning toward Jesus now, and so they send these guards to arrest them. The guards here talk about being living water for every thirsty person, the kind of river that flows deep within your soul and satisfies you at a deep, deep level. And the guards come back to the religious leaders and are totally empty-handed. And they get mad and say, why didn't you arrest him? And they say to the religious leaders, because we've never heard anybody speak like that guy. And they begin to mock the guards and mock all the people, and they start bragging about their knowledge of God and his laws. And this big argument, up among all the Pharisees. And I love verse 50 that says this. Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met

with Jesus earlier, you might remember him from back in chapter three. He spoke up. Is it legal to convict a man before he's given a hearing? I just think this is really cool because we see Nicodemus moving from this secret late night one-on-one encounter with Jesus to now courageously come into his defense. It's a pretty cool storyline to follow. One will follow all the way through the gospel of John. And you know what? The guards were right. Nicodemus was right. Some of the people were right.

John was right. There is no one like this man. So I want to challenge you, why don't you go back and just read chapter 1 through 7 over the weekend. And just kind of go through and circle, highlight some things that really jump out to you about Jesus. And I mean, really dig into this pursuit of knowing him. And then come back on Monday and we're going to unpack. what I believe is my favorite story in the entire Bible from John Chapter 8. See you then. Hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our

church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive.