07-22-18 Kevin Goins - Attacked At Church

“Attacked at Church”  John 7:14-36

Church is not supposed to be a place where people are attacked, but it happens. In fact, it happened in Jesus’ day, and it happened to Jesus himself! The multiple attacks Jesus faced were actually accusations made against him. But the purpose of these allegations was to pave the way for his arrest and death, and so the word “attack” is not unwarranted. Let’s look at these attacks:

I First attack: Jesus lacks the c_____________ to be a spiritual leader (7:15-18).

A. All the people were a________ at this teaching – for two reasons:

1. He knew how to i_________ Scripture like the rabbis, but he had never attended rabbinic s________.

2. He taught as one who had a____________.

B. People can a_________ their credentials; they can assume their credentials make them an authority on e___________.

II Second attack: Jesus is d________-p___________ (7:19-20).

A. Any time we use labels, even labels like “__________” or “_____________,” we are treating people as things or ideas, not as human beings.

B. They called Jesus demon-possessed because they needed to get their minds off the g_______ Jesus had done so they could h______ and even k______ him.

III Third attack: Jesus disregards the S_________ L____ (7:21-24).

A. Here Jesus proves his point by using a famous rabbinic principle of interpretation called Qal Wahomer, which means “from the l_______ to the h________.”

B. When the letter of the law overthrows the Law of Love, God is not h________ and life is made c________.

IV Fourth attack: His o________ proves Jesus is not the Messiah (7:25-29).

V Our text ends with Jesus telling them the c________________ of their decision to reject him.