One of the problems that we often hear about today – something I don't really remember ever hearing about when I was young – is the whole matter of self-harm. The fact I never heard about when I was young doesn't mean it didn't exist just that perhaps it wasn't so openly talked about back then.

Now I don't want to intend to spend a long time talking about self-harm except to say that it seems is linked to low self-esteem in the person concerned. He/she holds, for any number of reasons, an erroneous assessment as to their own personal value and worth. Being out of touch with reality is serious and leads to inappropriate behaviour of which "self-harm" is one example.

A lasting solution will only be found when such a person is put back in touch with reality and learns to act in more suitable ways. Our society tries to boost that person's self-esteem. And as long as this is done responsibly and within limits it is surely a good thing.

But an across-the-board policy of boosting a person's self-esteem may be totally irresponsible if he is out of touch with reality in the other direction: that is if he already holds over-inflated opinion concerning himself and his abilities.

I wonder how do you rate yourself? Do you regularly overate or underestimate your abilities?

How does your assessment correspond with reality?

When it comes to assessing ourselves in the spiritual domain we fallen human beings tend to get our assessments all wrong until the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to us the reality of our condition. Many of us have a seemingly inbuilt tendency is to imagine that we are in a far better position than we really are!

The Disciple's Correct Assessment of Himself

Looking through the NT carefully we find an amazing truth. The true disciple of Jesus Christ does not become more and more puffed up with his own importance as he grows in his discipleship but rather he becomes more and more aware of personal unworthiness. And yet this does not not crush him into despair! The believer does not seek to find grounds of confidence in himself but his confidence and security lies in another, in the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer does not have to whistle-in-the- dark, as it were, trying to convince himself that he is better than he is rather he is freed from this tyranny knowing that he is accepted "just as he is" through faith in the Lord Jesus.

Let me show you some of the NT testimony to this effect:

Mt.25:37-39 "Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’"

The true disciple is genuinely surprised by commendation – he is not conscious of having done anything in his life that is of great worth.

Lk.17:10 "So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’"

This was Jesus' own teaching, this is what He expected of His followers.

Phil.3:7 "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ."

When Paul wrote to the church in Philippi he wanted to warn them about the dangers of false teachers who would come making much of their background and spiritual privileges – Paul had just as many credentials as they did but as a Christian he had come to realise that none of this counted for anything in itself – he wanted to put all of the focus upon Jesus.

Similarly when Paul wrote to the church in Corinth he was not involved in self-promotion and was quite content to recognise his past failures which humanly speaking were a terrific blot on his CV.

1Cor.15:9 "For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."

In fact when he wrote again to the Corinthians and was forced for their spiritual well-being to defend his apostleship and to "boast" of his credentials as servant of Jesus Christ it is interesting to note that Paul is terribly reluctant to boast about himself – it's foolishness, he argued. But when obliged to do so Paul "boasts" of his labours and his sufferings – not the kind of thing that were to his opponents marks of success but marks of weakness – indeed he cheerfully boasts his weaknesses

2Cor.11:30"If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."

Paul then went on to speak of his courageous fearless exploits in being lowered from a window hidden in a basket to escape capture in Damascus!

This is the Christian way – in the searching light of the Holy Spirit the believer realises the degree of his failure and weakness and so is happy to make little of his own worth. But that same Spirit has also shown him Jesus Christ and the disciple's true worth is found in his faith union with this Wonderful Saviour!

The "Believers" of ch.8

With this general background we are in a position to assess the character of those with whom Jesus spoke in the passage we're considering this evening:

vv.30-31 "As he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him…"

But what kind of believers were they?

It would appear that if they were very poor if indeed they were true believers at all.

Now why do I say that?

Well, let's look together at how Jesus' interview develops with them. As we do so it will become clear that these folk had a very inflated opinion about their own self-worth – so much so that it stopped them receiving what Christ had to say to them and it ended up with them rejecting Him to the point at which they seek to destroy Him (v.59)!

These folk who had made some kind of profession of faith and are now in the highly privileged of being taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is there with them and this best of all teachers has truth for them, truth that comes from heaven itself, truth that will do them good if only they will receive it!

These folk have made a profession of faith need to hear what Jesus now has to say. And He emphasises that they can't rely upon some past profession of faith – however recent that might be – but they need to continue in His teaching. Such a continuing will demonstrate that they are in reality His disciples and they will be liberated by His truth.

But they don't like what He has to say!!

Why not?

Because they have an over-inflated opinion about their own worth!

They don't the suggestion that they're not free! And they lay claims to being descended from Abraham – Abraham's descendants don't need this kind of thing they maintain. Because of their birth, they claim, they can set aside what Jesus has to say to them! Oh, it may be alright for others but they didn't need it – they were different, better than that!

(Isn't interesting how they overlook their own history – Abraham's descendants had frequently been enslaved: in Egypt, in Babylon, and even now the Jews were not free but living under Roman imperial rule! But no – we're free they maintain!)

Men and women love to imagine that they are free today, free to decide for themselves, free to decide for God if they want. But in reality none wants to because they're bound by sin. We too were like that until He set us free – our freedom is not down to any worthiness in ourselves but to the grace of God. And we too must continue in His teaching, in His truth. Is that what we are doing?

Jesus countered their pretensions by simply asserting that a true descendant of Abraham would act in the same way as his father – like father like son – and Abraham, known to be a pious man, would never have tried to kill Jesus.

Their misplaced trust in Abraham was leading them both to reject Jesus' word and to act in a most un-Abrahamic manner!

No, said Jesus, they were not acting as though Abraham was their father but they were doing what their father, their real father, did.

For the moment Jesus doesn't elaborate as to who this real father is – perhaps He hopes that light will dawn and His hearers will deduce the truth about themselves and having "seen" and "understood" be ready to receive His words. But if He was so hoping His hearers quickly dashed such hopes.

They pick up now and make a second claim – not only were they descendants of Abraham but their Father was God! Once again they are making hugely inflated claims about themselves. They don't need Jesus and what He has to say because, they argue, they don't need it – God is their Father. And in this way they reject the very One who has come from the Father to reveal heavenly truth to them!

It's an argument many use today – we are all children of God – and then go on to assume that all will be well. How easy it is to hold inflated opinions about ourselves and our worth and then deduce that no response to the gospel message of Jesus Christ is essential!

Jesus' response is simple: if they were really of God then they would hear the word of God by which He means His own word and teaching. Their rejection of Him and His word demonstrate in the clearest manner imaginable that their Father is not God but the devil who has perpetrated lies and murder from the beginning. Jesus' opponents are lying now and longing to perpetrate murder too – how could they demonstrate more clearly just who their real father is?

The Question that Sharpens the Focus

v.43a "Why do you not understand what I say?"

How important this question was and is! Jesus is not so much asking about intellectual comprehension but rather why people will not embrace His teaching, taking it onboard in their own lives.

I wonder what kinds of answers might be given to this question were we to ask the people of Herne Bay this evening. I wonder what kind of answer you would give?

Here are some possibilities:

a. It is difficult and complicated – and I'm just a simple kind of person

b. It's illogical and obscure – and I'm so clever I can see through this

c. It's out-of-date and out-of-touch with life as I know it – so I can't be bothered

d. Its contrary to popular thought – so it can't be right

e. It takes me out of my comfort zone - and I don't want to go there: truth should be warm and cosy.

The basic problem was not that Jesus was a poor orator. The problem lay in the fact that His hearers were not willing to obey what He said; their prejudices just kept on getting in the way of what He had to say:

v.43b "It is because you cannot bear to hear my word."

* they don't like Christ's word and so don't want it

* Christ's teaching is uncomfortable and so they don't want it

* they don't agree with Christ's analysis and so they don't want it

As Jesus talks with His hearers He makes plain to them just why it is they can't bear His teaching:

- It is because they belonged to their father the devil they preferred his lies to Jesus' truth

- It is because they are sinners that they try to shift the blame rather than face up to their guilt

- It was because they weren't eager to do the will of God that they called Jesus' teaching into question

- It was because their hearts were hard that they poured scorn on Jesus' teaching – the unspiritual will always think that the truth God reveals is folly

A heart that remains untouched by the grace of God will never truly seek after God. Such a heart will "believe" what fits in with its own preconceived ideas, particularly if it can be made to flatter and confirm him in his views of his own worth and value. But such a heart will always by hostile towards God.

Do you understand the message of Jesus? Are you prepared to embrace it? Are you embracing it right now in your lives?

May God open our eyes to see that what hinders us is not our intellectual capacity but our sin. May He grant us the grace to set us free that we may be true disciples of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

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