John 7: "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me"

[Jesus said]: “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. (John 7:16-18)

There's a lot of teaching that happens in John 7, but these verses jumped out to me.

Have you ever felt uncomfortable because sometimes God appears to demand our worship like some vain celebrity seeking our attention?  If God is really like that image some have of him, then we would be right to question whether he is worthy of our worship.  This question used to plague me.

And what about Jesus?  Was he like all the other cult leaders who spring up from time to time?  One of the defining features of a cult is that they centre around an authoritarian leader, usually charismatic, who is often an object of devotion.  The leader often claims to have some special new revelation and knowledge, and they alone are the authority.  It's this image that makes us feel a little uncomfortable.

Jesus has something to say to those who want others to follow them: "The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory" (7:18).

But Jesus is different.  He is not speaking on his own authority, but on the authority of God the Father, and he is not seeking glory for himself, but for the Father.   The answer to why Jesus is different, and why God is worthy, lies in the wonderful truth that is the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It is this truth that enables John to write in one of his letters God is Love.  (1 John 4:16).  God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit loving each other and honouring one another (e.g. John 17:1: "Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you".)  The very act of love is what God is - and creation is an overflow of that love.

These verses also have implication for any who teach his word, and for those that hear and the way they view the person bringing God's word to them.  Because the self-glory seeking  Those who want to teach God's word are not the authority and not the one to follow.  When we teach, we are simply passing on the message of Christ - not on our own authority, but under the authority of God, and not for our own glory, but for his.

Earlier in John's Gospel we read of an interchange between John the Baptist and his disciples.  John's disciples are concerned because many are now turning to Jesus.  John's reply is this: "The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:29-30).   

But the amazing thing is that we could even imagine Jesus saying those last words: He must become greater; I must become less".  Because Jesus has said very similar words in our passage from John 7, describing himself as the one who seeks the glory of the one who sent him (6:18).  Jesus lived those words, coming to earth as a baby and then dying on the cross.  That humility which comes from love is there in Jesus, and that is why we follow him.  He leads us to love itself.