LOOK BENEATH THE SURFACE: JUDGING WITH RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT

“Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”— John 7:24 NLT

In John 7, Jesus went to Jerusalem during the Festival of Shelters and began teaching in the Temple.

The people were astonished.

They asked, “How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained?” (John 7:15 NLT).

They were looking at what they could see and what they thought they knew about Him. Jesus did not fit their expectations. He did not come through the path they expected a religious teacher to take, yet He spoke with an authority and understanding that amazed them.

Some questioned Him. Some opposed Him. Some even accused Him of having a demon. Others were beginning to believe that He might truly be the Messiah, while many remained hesitant and afraid because of the religious authorities.

Then Jesus gave them an important principle:

“Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”— John 7:24 NLT

The problem was not simply that people were making judgments. The problem was that they were judging according to appearances rather than according to truth.

And as I reflected on this chapter, I realized that this principle works in two directions: how I examine myself and how I look at other people.

LOOK BENEATH THE SURFACE OF YOUR OWN HEART

Before I use this verse to examine someone else, perhaps I should first allow it to examine me.

Jesus said earlier:

“Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.”— John 7:18 NLT

That struck me deeply.

In ministering to other people, I should continually examine my motives:

Who is being glorified—God or me?

The same question applies to my writing.

It applies to business.

It applies to ministry.

It applies to accomplishments, recognition, influence, opportunities, and every pursuit that I undertake.

There is nothing inherently wrong with working hard, building something, writing books, pursuing opportunities, or accomplishing meaningful things. But beneath all these visible activities lies a more important question:

Whose glory am I seeking?

Am I doing these things so people will see how capable I am?

Am I measuring my worth through recognition?

Am I slowly making myself the center of something that was supposed to point people toward Christ?

Or can people still see the authority of God over my life?

This is an examination that cannot be made merely from the outside. Two people may perform exactly the same work while carrying completely different motives in their hearts.

One may be seeking the glory of God.

The other may be seeking the glory of self.

And sometimes the person whose heart I most urgently need to examine is myself.

John the Baptist understood this beautifully when he said:

“He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”— John 3:30 NLT

That should remain one of the measurements of Christian ministry.

Not: Am I becoming more popular?

But: Is Christ becoming more visible through me?

LOOK BENEATH THE SURFACE WHEN DISCERNING OTHERS

The principle also changes the way we look at other people.

Someone may know biblical terminology. They may speak eloquently about theology. They may know how to sound spiritual.

But words alone do not reveal everything.

We should also look at the fruit of a person's life.

Does the life increasingly agree with the message?

Does the person continually point people toward Christ—or toward themselves?

Does their ministry magnify Jesus, or merely build their own name?

At the same time, looking beneath the surface also means that we should be careful not to make harsh conclusions about someone's character from what little we can see.

A person may appear happy while carrying deep sorrow.

Someone may seem quiet or distant while fighting battles we know nothing about.

Someone who appears strong may be exhausted.

And the opposite can also be true. Someone may appear outwardly righteous while inwardly struggling with envy, pride, bitterness, or covetousness.

Appearances can deceive us in either direction.

This is why effective ministry requires sensitivity to people's inner lives.

We can never know another person's heart perfectly. Only God possesses that knowledge. But if we genuinely care for someone, we should be willing to go beyond superficial impressions.

We listen.

We ask.

We observe with compassion.

We spend time with them.

We seek to understand before making conclusions.

And when it comes to declaring whether a particular person is ultimately condemned or beyond God's saving mercy, that judgment belongs to God.

Our responsibility is not to take God's seat as Judge.

Our responsibility is to faithfully proclaim the gospel and the full counsel of God's truth, calling people to repentance and faith in Christ while leaving the final judgment to Him.

THEY KNEW WHERE JESUS CAME FROM—OR SO THEY THOUGHT

There is another beautiful irony in John 7.

Some of the people said:

“But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from.”— John 7:27 NLT

They thought they knew Jesus because they knew something about His earthly life.

They knew the visible Jesus.

But they did not truly know where He came from.

Jesus answered:

“Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.”— John 7:28–29 NLT

In other words, they knew something about Jesus according to the flesh, but they did not recognize His divine mission or the Father who sent Him.

They had information about Him without truly knowing Him.

And I think this danger still exists today.

We can know Bible verses.

We can attend church.

We can understand Christian terminology.

We can become familiar with theology.

We can even spend years studying Scripture.

Yet if our hearts remain hardened toward Christ, knowledge itself will not save us.

We may become so attached to our own expectations of what God should do that when Christ confronts those expectations, we fail to recognize Him.

The people in John 7 had their own expectations concerning the Messiah.

And sometimes we do too.

ARE WE FOLLOWING CHRIST—OR OUR VERSION OF CHRIST?

Perhaps one of the greatest dangers in Christianity is creating a version of Jesus according to what we want Him to do for us.

We may want a Christ whose primary purpose is to remove financial difficulty.

A Christ who guarantees success.

A Christ who prevents suffering.

A Christ who gives us everything we desire.

A Christ who makes earthly life comfortable.

But Jesus came to deal with something infinitely deeper.

He came to save sinners.

Our greatest problem is not poverty.

It is not lack of recognition.

It is not failure.

It is not inconvenience.

It is not even suffering.

Our deepest problem is sin and our separation from God, and Christ came to reconcile sinners to God through Himself.

This does not mean that Jesus is indifferent to suffering, poverty, sickness, or earthly needs. Scripture repeatedly reveals His compassion toward people in distress.

But if we reduce Jesus merely to someone who exists to solve our earthly problems, we have looked only at the surface.

We have missed the greater salvation He came to accomplish.

Christ may change our circumstances - or not.

But more importantly, Christ came to change us, especially our hearts.

He came to save us from sin, reconcile us to God, give us eternal life, and make us His own.

LOOK BENEATH THE SURFACE

John 7:24 therefore challenges me in several directions.

Before judging another person's motives, look beneath the surface.

Before assuming we understand someone's struggles, look beneath the surface.

Before being impressed merely by spiritual language, look beneath the surface and examine the fruit.

Before pursuing ministry, writing, business, recognition, or influence, look beneath the surface of your own heart and ask who is receiving the glory.

And perhaps most importantly, when looking at Jesus, do not stop at the surface.

He is more than a teacher.

More than a moral example.

More than someone who solves our earthly problems.

More than the version of a Savior we have constructed according to our personal expectations.

He is the One sent by the Father.

He is the Christ who came to save sinners.

The people in John 7 looked at Jesus and thought they knew Him because they knew where He came from.

But they had barely begun to understand who stood before them.

May we not make the same mistake.

May we seek Christ as He truly is—not merely as we expect Him to be.

And may the prayer of our lives remain:

Christ must increase.I must decrease.

Because when we finally learn to look beneath the surface, we begin to see that the Christian life was never meant to be about making ourselves known.

It is about knowing Christ—and making Him known.