God's Agenda

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 48:1-3, 9-10
• Hymn — How Great Thou Art
• Prayer of Invocation
• Prayer of Confession
• Assurance of Pardon — Psalm 130:3-4
• Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 10:14-22
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — O Father, You Are Sovereign
• Sermon
• Lord's Supper
  • Hymn — More Love to Thee, O Christ (stanzas 1–2)
  • Bread
  • Hymn — How Great Thou Art (stanza 3)
  • Cup
  • Prayer
  • Hymn — More Love to Thee, O Christ (stanzas 3–4)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: God's Agenda

Scripture: John 7:1-13

I. The World According to God's Agenda vs. Man's Agenda

A. The setting: the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2)

1. One of three pilgrimage festivals in Israel, along with Passover and the Day of Atonement
2. Celebrated God's provision during the wilderness wanderings; also a harvest festival
3. Josephus called it "the greatest and holiest feast of the Jews" — the prime moment for a Messiah to make himself known

B. Jesus's brothers urge him to display his works publicly (John 7:3-4)

1. Their motive is unbelief (John 7:5) — a mocking tone akin to those at the cross: "If you are who you say, show yourself"
2. They view "the world" quantitatively — the mass crowd, the grand stage

C. Jesus views the world qualitatively (John 7:7)

1. "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil"
2. His brothers are of the world; Jesus is from heaven and rebukes worldliness
3. John 15:18-19 — the world hates Christ's disciples as it hated him; they are chosen out of the world

D. Application: the church's failure often stems from thinking quantitatively rather than qualitatively

1. Conforming to the masses produces a fad — here today, gone tomorrow
2. The qualitative church, hated by the world for Christ's sake, is the church the gates of hell shall not prevail against (Matthew 16:18)
3. God draws people from every tribe and tongue through the paradox of the cross — public shame becoming public glory

II. Time According to God's Agenda vs. Man's Agenda

A. Jesus's response to his brothers echoes his response to Mary at Cana (John 2:4)

1. "My time has not yet come" — Jesus does not allow his work to be dictated by any human schedule
2. He does eventually go to the feast, just as he did perform the miracle at Cana — but on the Father's timing, not man's

B. "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here" (John 7:6)

1. Echoes Ecclesiastes 3:1 — "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under the sun"
2. For the Jews this text conveyed God's sovereign, providential control over time
3. Jesus's brothers live by their own watch, outside God's providential timing

C. The Pharisees likewise misread the times (Matthew 16:2-3)

1. They can read the sky but cannot interpret the signs of the times
2. Living on "me time" means missing Christ altogether

D. Application: live as Ecclesiastes 3 men and women

1. Parents with young children — steer their hearts toward Christ in this season
2. Empty-nesters — grow together in God's word and love rather than longing for yesterday
3. Singles — take advantage of singleness; invest in the church; do not be anxious (1 Corinthians 7)
4. Living well in each providential season is how we prepare for Christ's coming

III. Fear According to God's Agenda vs. Man's Agenda

A. Background: the Jewish leaders have sought to kill Jesus since John 5

1. Jesus healed the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath (John 5:1-18)
2. He declared "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (John 5:17) — making himself equal with God

B. Rich irony at the feast (John 7:11-13)

1. Jesus's brothers tell him to make himself known openly — yet the people fear speaking openly about him
2. "For fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him" (John 7:13)

C. Jesus, by contrast, will speak openly to the very authorities seeking to kill him (previewing next week's passage)

1. Isaiah 11:3 — "His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD"
2. This contrast captures fallen mankind's relationship to Jesus: "Do for us what I am unwilling to do for you"

D. The disciples mirror the crowd — hiding behind closed doors while Jesus goes publicly to the cross

1. The resurrection transforms fear of man into fear of God
2. Matthew 28:10 — "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers"
3. 1 Corinthians 15:7 — James, the once-unbelieving brother, witnesses the risen Christ and becomes leader of the Jerusalem church; Jude likewise writes his epistle
4. Public humiliation turned to public glory: the disciples leave their hiding places and serve the living God

E. Application: the fear of the Lord means the world will hate you, the cross may feel heavy, but open shame will be turned to open glory — "Be strong for the Lord as he has been strong for you"