With the release of the new iPhone, there is always a flurry of media pieces that talk about how great the phone is. Apple is known for its incredible marketing techniques and every year or two they manage to convince a whole range of people who have perfectly adequate devices to trade up and buy the latest and greatest. As one of those unfortunate people… I can vouch for that. The website Techcruch tells me that if instead of buying a new iPhone each time, you had bought Apple stock to the value of that iPhone, that you would now have around $150,000. I don’t have $150,000 but I am the lucky owner of several outdated phones. One might argue that buying an iPhone is putting the temporary satisfaction of the moment in front of the long term gain.
That is somewhat like what the Pharisees do in our passage. Let’s have a look.
Scripture: John 7:32-36 (ESV)
The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
We continue looking at how Jesus reveals himself and at this point in the story the Pharisees seem to have had enough. They heard that people had been saying that Jesus was a good man, and they saw that others had come to believe in Jesus. They could feel their power slipping through their fingers, and they decide to put an end to it. They decide enough is enough and so they send the temple guards to arrest Jesus.
Jesus says to them, "I'll be with you only a little longer, and then I'm going back to the one who sent me. You'll look for me, but you won't find me; and where I am, you can't come." The people are baffled. They wonder, "Where is he planning to go? Is he leaving the country? What is he talking about?".
What Jesus was talking about is that their opportunity to believe in him was coming to an end. They only had a short period to buy Apple stock. Soon Jesus would be gone and their opportunity to hear him, see him and believe in him would be gone. Jesus was telling them that the time they had to believe is not infinite.
But the problem is that we think it is. How often do we think, “I’ll sin now, have a good and fun life, and then turn to God on by deathbed”. We want to be able to have our sin cake and eat it too. We think we have ages to turn to Jesus. But when we think like this, we totally miss who Jesus is and what he stands for.
As we saw Jesus has been telling people to judge rightly. Some had been doubting whether he was the real Messiah, others we saw came to faith. But now Jesus is pressing the issue - “I am leaving soon, don’t miss your chance to know me”.
Friends, the reality is that this challenge is given to us today too. You may have been wondering about whether you should commit your life to Christ. Maybe you are already a believer but you have been wondering whether the sacrifices of being a Christian are worth it. Jesus reminds us that this life is but short, we have only a short time to respond to him. There is a time in every person’s life when it is best to get to know Jesus. And that time is now. You do not know whether you will be here tomorrow. You do not know if Jesus may return today. But you do, right now, have the opportunity to know him better.
So make the most of now.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, we admit that we often think we have a lifetime to finally start living for you. Please help us to understand that that starts today. Help us not put off until tomorrow, the joy of knowing you today. Amen.
Spiritual Challenge:
Today, think about that thing you have been putting off in your spiritual life. Maybe it is taking the first step to fight a particular sin, maybe it is delaying starting a new effort to read the Bible in a year. Whatever it is, stop delaying and make a start.
Time is running out!