Obeying God (John 7:1-53)

Introduction
There was a lot of confusion about who Jesus was. Even his own brothers did not believe he was the Christ. Certainly many of the Jewish leaders did not want to believe he was Messiah. Among the throngs of people that encountered him, some believed, but many were withholding judgement until they saw which way the leaders would go.

When it comes to obeying God's will, it is more than just doing the right thing, His will also includes a right timing. Jesus modelled that perfectly throughout his earthly ministry. And we see that illustrated several times throughout chapter 7. The first of which when he chooses to delay his departure for the Feast of Tabernacles until after his family left.

Jesus absence at the feast caused almost as much of a stir as his presence for their was quite a bit of anticipation amongst the people. The leaders were searching for a way to do away with this man. Anyone with information about him had better report it and anyone talking about him was liable to be barred from the Temple. The people were relegated to whispers and hushed conversation about him -- "He's a good man"; "No, he's a deceiver".

There were a number of obstacles people had to believing Jesus was Messiah. Many could not get over the fact that he was from Nazareth. They thought that either nobody would know where the Christ was from or they believed what the prophet Micah wrote in regard to Bethlehem Ephrathah (Micah 5:2).

A Matter of Timing (John 7:1-13)
Obedience is subject to God's timetable.
When have you experienced doing the right thing but at the wrong time? What were the results?
What are you doing for God that needs to wait for God before moving ahead?
How might you be over-analyzing God's will and just need to get out there and do it?

Sincere, Not Superficial (John 7:14-24)
Disobedience can appear obedient to the untrained eye.
How might your methods be covering up an impure motive? What do you need to do about this?
What evil things are you tolerating because they look good on the outside?
What do you need to start doing in order that God is honored rather than yourself?
What changes do you need to make in order to start listening and learning from God's source of truth?

Christocentric (John 7:25-44)
Everyone is culpable for his own conclusions about Jesus.
What human source are you looking to for understanding about Christ? How does that source line up with God's word?
What conclusion have you come to about the person of Jesus Christ?
How have you responded to your conclusions about Christ? Or have you responded?

Apologetic (John 7:45-53)
A hard heart is hard to reason with.
What things do you call good? What does God call them?
What things do you call evil? What does God call them?
What have you done lately to defend the truth of who Jesus claims to be?