Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Perfect Older Brother | Ep. 264 | Thursday, February 8, 2024

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

In John chapter 7, we are introduced to Jesus’ brothers. What do you think it was like to have the perfect Son of God as a brother? At that point, none of them believed He was the Messiah. Despite their coaxing, Jesus did not let their expectations determine what He did or when He did it. 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, welcome to the Daily Drive podcast. We hang here a few minutes Monday through Friday unpacking some truth from God's Word. And if you're like new to doing this type of thing, so honored that you would check this out. My name is Mike Bro, and we're just going through the Gospel of John together. It's the fourth book in the New Testament section of the Bible. And it's just something I'm personally doing in my pursuit to get to know Jesus better. So I thought maybe we could just all do it together. So we're in chapter seven today. And in it, we're briefly. We're briefly. introduced to Jesus' brothers. Yep, Mary and Joseph had other kids. And even though Joseph wasn't Jesus' biological father, he was still part of their larger family, a family complete with fun times

and memories and learning together and playing together and working together and eating together, as well as the inevitable conflict and sibling rivalry. I heard a comedian Nate Bargatsy talking about being the oldest child in his family and how his parents were pretty strict with him, cutting him little slack growing up. And then he said about his youngest sister. Apparently, she was raised by her best friends. There's all those dynamics of the family, but can you imagine having Jesus as a brother? You think it was hard living up to your sister's straight A's and perfect teeth? Think of the character standard that was set by Jesus. So I'm sure there was some pride and admiration of their older brother, but I'm guessing they're also a little bit of jealousy and resentment among the brothers.

That's just the way it goes in most families. Now, we know very little about the brothers of Jesus. Now, we do know that James, one of his brothers, would become eventually one of the leaders of the early church. He would write the book of James. But here in Chapter 7, we find that none of them were believers yet. The context here is a fall festival known as the festival's shelters. It was this annual week-long event that commemorated the way the people of Israel lived in tents,

these temporary shelters for 40 years in the wilderness on their way to the promised land. This was a celebration of the way that God had provided for them along the way, you know, with manna from heaven and quail and water from rocks, etc. And this all went on in the city of Jerusalem down in Judea, and Jewish men were supposed to attend this festival. So let's pick up there in Chapter 7. It says this. After this, after this, after many of the crowds we read about in Chapter 6, the ones that were tagging along looking for another free lunch. This has been about six months since they left. After this, John Rice, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea where the Jewish leaders

were plotting his death. Jesus knew what was going on behind the scenes, that the religious leaders wanted him dead. He was a big-time threat to their political and financial power system, and his popularity was on the rise. Verse 2, but soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters. And Jesus' brother said to him, "'Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles. You can't become famous if you hide like this. If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world.' Now, I don't know the tonal voice used here.

Not sure if they genuinely wanted him to be successful, or they were being cynical, kind of making fun of their, you know, big-shot brother. I kind of think it's the latter, because we do know this, it says in verse 5, for even his brothers didn't believe in him. You know, some of you have probably felt that lack of support and belief, and it's tough when your own family doesn't believe in you. Some of you may even be the only one in your family who really follows Jesus. You might get made fun of for your faith and your values.

And it could be a pretty lonely feeling. It just helps me to know that Jesus felt that too. So just be a light, love everybody around you, have a great attitude, don't argue and get defensive. Just be kind and consistently and correctly. outrageously follow Jesus. Well, Jesus tells his brothers, why don't you all go ahead?

The timing is just not right for me to go there. Then he says in verse 7, The world can't hate you, but it does hate me, because I accuse it of doing evil. He's just saying, no one there is mad at you. But you need to know I've ruffled more

than a few feathers with the corrupt and powerful people. So you go on. I'm not going to go to this festival because my time, the time for laying down his life, has not yet come. You know, I love the way Jesus was dialed into God's timetable, not other peoples.

He didn't let their expectations dictate what he did, what he said, or how and when he did it. He didn't rush things, he didn't panic, he just rested in the truth of Psalm 37, which says the Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. And that just might be a good word for you today. Then at verse 9 it says this, after saying these things, Jesus remained, in Galilee. But only for a little while. Check out verse 10. But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. So, how do you think that went?

Come back tomorrow. We'll find out together. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our 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.combe.com slash daily drive.