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Great, great passage this week.
We read last week of Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath day, which causes controversy
that leads to Jesus saying, my Father is working, so I also am working.
And the Jewish leaders are upset because they hear Jesus equating himself with God.
He's going to explain some more about his identity now in response to their murderous threats.
Before we read it, I hope that we can all acknowledge how hard these concepts are to wrap our minds around.
I don't want to pretend that's not true.
I still remember when I was a kid and someone at church asked me, who died on the cross?
And I said, God did.
And I remember that person saying, actually it was Jesus.
And that was really confusing to me.
Kids, I don't know if you've had an experience like that.
It was hard for me to understand.
It felt like Jesus was God and was not God at the same time.
That's hard.
Kids, many of you picked up this coloring sheet this morning.
Some of you have this.
Wave at me if you've got a coloring sheet that looks like this with the triangle on it.
Yep, I see you.
Maybe some adults want one.
There's extras in the back if you want.
Yep, you too can have a coloring sheet.
It has this triangle to show you one way of remembering that God the Father is God.
Jesus the Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
All one God, which is maybe hard.
If that seems hard to you kids, know that that's hard for us adults to understand too.
But also know this.
This morning, we're going to focus on this bottom corner of the triangle, the Son.
Jesus the Son being God himself.
That's what we're going to focus on.
And as hard a concept as that is, that is one of the holiest concepts.
One of the most amazing things.
One of the most helpful things that you could possibly learn.
Because it means that when you know Jesus, you actually know the one true God and what he is like.
When you learn more about Jesus, you learn more about that God.
When you know how much Jesus loves you, then you know how much the God who created the whole universe loves you.
Because Jesus is God.
And that is incredible.
And really helpful and really hopeful.
Jesus gives us a window into realities that are beyond this world.
Beyond our full comprehension.
Because nothing and no one else is exactly like them.
Even the triangle.
Let's listen to John 5.
Beginning at verse 18.
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him.
Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father.
Making himself equal with God.
So Jesus said to them,
Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.
For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.
And greater works than these he will show him, so that you may marvel.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.
That all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God.
And those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man.
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.
Those who have done good to the resurrection of life.
And those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
This is God's word.
Let's ask for his help.
Father, indeed, these are things too marvelous for us to comprehend, for me adequately to explain.
So, Holy Spirit, would you help us?
Would you speak to our hearts in ways that we can understand that we may not just learn more about Jesus,
that we may know more deeply, more rightly, more passionately the God who made us and who loves us.
We ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
One of the first things to notice here in this passage is how Jesus does not respond to those who are wanting to kill him.
Think how you might respond.
They wanted to kill him because he said he was equal with God.
And that seems to me like the easiest and safest way forward would have been to say,
no way.
Listen.
You are misunderstanding me.
Of course there is only one God.
We're all good Jews here.
Everyone knows that.
I'm not the one.
Not in the way you're thinking about it.
But Jesus doesn't say any of that, does he?
He does clarify some things that we'll come back to in a minute.
Distinctions between father and son.
But in these verses he is affirming in no uncertain terms that he is God.
John has told us already that the word was with God and the word was God at the same time.
And now here is Jesus, the word made flesh, equating himself as the son with God the father, his father.
He first says it generally in everything.
Whatever the father does, that the son does likewise.
The same things, the same way, whatever.
All of it.
Human sons may be a chip off the old block, we say.
They may remind us of their father's mannerisms or skills or occupation sometimes.
But they certainly have to grow into that.
Jesus perfectly reflects the image of God and reveals the very nature, the very person of God.
As the church has affirmed in the Nicene Creed for nearly 1700 years,
Jesus is the only begotten son of God before all worlds.
The world's very God of very God.
Not made of the same substance as the father.
There is nothing God does that is beyond the power and the reach of Jesus.
And as if to drive that point home, Jesus then gives two examples here of things that most clearly belong to God.
Everyone listening would have known that.
The beginning of things and the end of things.
The giving of life and the final judgment.
Jesus says, I do them both.
Giving life.
Verse 21.
Jesus has already healed people.
We've seen it.
But greater works are coming, he says, including raising people from the dead.
Just wait.
We're going to get to read it in John.
For as the father raises the dead and gives them life,
so also the son gives life to whom he will.
He is himself able to make the dead live.
To give life.
Verse 26 says, because like the father, the son actually has life in himself.
No one else, no one else is the Lord and giver of life but God.
But then at the other end, Jesus will also be the judge of all.
The father has given judgment to him.
Verse 22.
And the authority to execute final, eternal judgment.
For sure, a divine prerogative.
Why?
Because he is the son of man.
Yes, the one who has himself lived, been tempted, and obeyed the father.
But more particularly, the son of man is the one in the book of Daniel who comes on the clouds of heaven.
When the books are opened for divine judgment, here's a divine figure who reigns with the ancient of days.
Jesus is doubling down, not backing down on claims of equality with God.
Giving life.
Judging the world.
And then verse 23.
Right at the heart of this argument, the coup de grace, if you will.
Jesus does all these things the father does with the goal that all may honor the son just as they honor the father.
Honor.
Wow.
Honor.
What we might call worship of someone as worthy of the reverence due to the king, the creator, the judge, is due to the son.
In fact, without honoring the son, you can't honor the father because he sent the son.
You understand, I think, that this makes Christianity distinctive from all other monotheistic religions, doesn't it?
Judaism, Islam, and others would teach that the best way to honor God is to honor him exclusively.
At the heart of Christianity is the teaching that the way to honor God is to honor the one he sends.
That's how equal, how united, how inseparable are the father and the son.
No other person like that.
Honoring one honors the other.
They can share honor without either losing honor because, as Jesus later says, they are one.
See, Jesus doesn't want you to think that he's just talking himself up as great and powerful as God, that here they are alongside one another.
Perhaps he is running.
He's in the running for speaker of heaven.
He's a rival candidate for greatest God.
Maybe that's how some would take this.
So right as he claims equality, he highlights their relationship, father and son, and the role that he plays.
So that we will know Jesus is not a rival to God.
First notice that all of these things he's doing are possible because the father loves the son.
Verse 20.
A peak, just stop and reflect on that for a minute.
Peek into the eternal Godhead wherein perfect love has always existed.
From whom perfect love has continued to flow.
Wow.
That love between the father and son is the fount of so much comfort and assurance and wonder for us.
But then notice repeatedly how Jesus is not competing with God, but rather submitting to the father.
Verse 19.
The son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the father doing.
Jesus, being equal with God, has from eternity past agreed to submit his will wholeheartedly to the will of his father.
In love, they hatch the wonderful plan of redemption so that the father, notice even just in this passage, sends the son.
He gives him authority for judging.
He shows the son what he does so that even when the most excruciating thought of being separated from his father
means that drops of blood are pouring as sweat from Jesus, from the flesh of the incarnate son.
He says what?
Not my will, but yours be done.
Do you hear that?
Do you hear in his words?
Do you hear Jesus in full equality with his father saying,
I do the will of my father.
I've come to accomplish his work.
This is how our relationship works, father and son.
The British author and theologian of the last century, C.S. Lewis, popularized an argument
that while it has some limitations, I'll explain in a minute,
is still really powerful when you consider claims like the ones we read in this passage.
It's referred to as the trilemma.
Trilemma, not a dilemma, two things, but a trilemma, three options or possibilities.
It's referring to when Jesus makes these claims of deity that we're just reading.
You may read those and just say, well, that's just what he says about himself.
Anybody can say anything, right?
Lewis says if he's saying things like that, he is either a liar, a lunatic,
or the Lord.
Three options and that's all.
First, he's wrong and he knows it.
Liar.
Second, he's wrong but he just doesn't realize it.
He's a lunatic.
Or third, he's right.
And he really is the Lord, the Lord of all.
Lewis uses this trilemma
to address the notion that I hear often these days
that Jesus is a good moral teacher and that is all.
No more, no less.
Not actually divine,
but as a man I spoke with recently told me,
quote,
someone whose teachings and example shaped Western society for the better.
That's all.
Here's what Lewis said about that in his book,
Mere Christianity.
You must make your choice.
Either this man Jesus was and is the son of God
or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut him up for a fool.
You can spit at him and kill him as a demon.
Or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense
about his being a great human teacher.
He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to.
In other words,
no matter how many good things you may say,
if you falsely claim to be God,
if you tell people to give their lives
for things that you say,
for a false hope,
if you mislead millions,
you're not a good teacher
or person for that matter.
Not at all.
Jesus cannot be just a good person.
He's either the son of God as he claims
or he is a very bad person indeed.
Right?
There seem to be none of these
middle of the road responses to Jesus
in his day either, right?
I mean, once people hear him clearly,
some of them bow down before him in worship.
Others plot his death
or pick up stones to kill him,
but really nothing often in between.
I think it's a good indication
that if we find ourselves
between seemingly extreme options like that,
we are at least hearing Jesus' claims correctly.
Three options.
Lewis concludes this way,
now it seems to me obvious
that he was neither a lunatic nor a fiend.
And consequently,
however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem,
I have to accept the view
that he was and is God.
Now the most common objection to this trilemma
is one I addressed briefly a few weeks ago
in talking about the historical reliability
of the biblical accounts.
It's the idea that Jesus is not liar,
not lunatic, and not lord,
but rather a fourth option,
rather he's legend, if you will.
That what we read here about Jesus
is not actually how Jesus understood himself.
He did indeed do lots of good things
and taught lots of good things,
and then it's his followers,
it's all their fault.
They made up these bits,
these small little snippets here and there
where he claims to be God
so that they could turn it into a bigger following
and a more exciting thing to be a part of.
There are so many reasons
to dispute this currently very popular line of thinking,
including the historical nature of the gospel accounts,
the eyewitness timing of the stories,
and many more,
but one I want us to consider this morning
as we try to think about
what Jesus was teaching about his deity,
it's that Jesus so lived this idea
of being equal with God
that it is on nearly every page
of every gospel account.
In our passage here in John 5,
he states it directly.
He's teaching about the nature of it,
but in basically every chapter,
he'll do or say something
that indirectly indicates that he is,
that he must be equal with God.
I'm just gonna name a few
and not give text
because most of these he does multiple
or even dozens of times,
but they're important.
Jesus forgave sins,
and who can forgive sins
but God alone,
the one alone against whom
every sin is committed,
and Jesus pronounces forgiveness himself.
Jesus taught on his own authority.
Every good prophet said things like what?
Thus says the Lord,
or hear the word of the Lord.
Jesus said over and over what?
Truly, truly, I say to you.
In fact, you have heard it was said,
but I say to you.
And just as God's word will be fulfilled,
so Jesus says heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will never pass away.
Big claim.
Similarly, Jesus performed miracles
on his own authority.
Again, as a rule,
prophets and apostles
give glory to God for miracles.
Jesus heals with his own word,
at his own will,
and receives the glory for himself.
That is a no-no for prophets, isn't it?
What happens when Moses receives glory
for himself for a miracle?
When he tries to take the credit,
he gets significant punishment.
Jesus repeatedly takes credit
with no divine lightning strikes.
Nothing jumps in to correct him
when he takes the credit for himself.
Every time,
one of these miracles that he's performing,
it's as though Jesus is slapping,
you know,
hashtag,
I am God.
He doesn't have to say the words.
What he's doing
is making that statement.
Jesus applied Old Testament passages
about Yahweh,
the one true God,
to himself.
For example,
when the children are praising Jesus
in the temple
after the triumphal entry,
Jesus doesn't stop them.
In fact,
he explains to the chief priests
and the scribes
that this is Psalm 8
happening right in front of them.
Out of the mouth
of infants and nursing babies,
you have ordained praise.
Psalm 8,
a Psalm of praise,
of course,
to Yahweh himself.
Oh Lord,
our Lord.
And Jesus says
it's happening right now
when they praise me.
Jesus connected eternity
with relationship with him.
Life eternal in him.
In fact,
he tells his followers
to love him
and keep his commands
even if it costs them their lives,
even to the point of death.
You are not a very good teacher,
I would say,
unless you've got something
for them after that death.
Jesus received worship
willingly.
Now certainly many saw
and heard Jesus
and they wanted to kill him
for blasphemy.
But some would throw themselves
at his feet
like the leper he healed
who came back praising God.
When that happens,
before other good men
and angels even,
they refused such worship.
They repeatedly
in the New Testament
say,
stand up,
stop worshiping me,
I'm just a man like you.
Jesus doesn't seem
to have a problem with it.
After all,
he doesn't want to point
our worship away
from the one
who's truly worthy of it.
And he is God himself.
I could keep going
on all of these ways,
but Jesus' understanding
of his equality with God
is throughout his life
and ministry.
If you want to cut out
the references,
you will have very little
of the gospels
left in your Bible.
Very few pages uncut.
And you'll have very little
left of a good teacher
or a good person.
He and his claims
to deity
are not a legend.
And most agree,
he doesn't seem like a liar
or a lunatic.
He's calling us
to bow before him
as Lord.
doing that really
is as simple
as trusting yourself
to him.
The one who is God himself
who can truly,
because of that,
give you life.
Jesus says,
verse 24,
that as we hear his word
and believe the one
who sent him,
we have eternal life.
Deliverance from death
and a new life with him.
by believing.
If that sounds like
what I say every week,
good.
Don't forget it.
You have life
by believing in him.
Period.
These things were written
that you might not just
become more moral
and attract God's attention
and affection
because you're such
a good person,
but that you might
believe that Jesus
is the Christ,
the Son of God,
that you might have
life in his name,
that you might realize
that God's attention
and affection
are already
so much yours
that Jesus came
for you.
I want you to know
him
and know that life
because you know him.
And listen,
when you do,
when you believe him,
when you experience
that life,
knowing him,
trusting him,
receiving his love
is so good
that your life
absolutely will change.
When you start
experiencing that new life,
it makes you
completely new.
Let me say it this way
in light of our conversation
about who Jesus
is this morning.
Think of it this way.
If Jesus can't be
just a good person,
you can't be
just a good person either.
If Jesus can't just
be a good person,
you can't just
be a good person
either.
If Jesus
must be
God himself,
if he is your king,
you follow
him.
And if he does,
what does he do?
only
what the father
is doing,
if he
submits
his will
to the father,
then believing God,
then following Jesus
means you give
yourself up to
all of it.
You say you found
life in God,
then
everything
changes.
Submit to his
will in
everything,
right?
Jesus did
too many people
in buildings like
this are content
at being
pretty good
people.
Thinking life
consists,
this is where
life is,
it's in not doing
anything that's
too bad.
It's in coming
to church services
with reasonable
regularity
and doing
some good things
for other people
and that's
life.
I'll go enjoy
myself and do
what I want.
Jesus says in
not so many
words,
that's not an
option.
That is not
a reasonable
option.
Call him a liar,
call him a lunatic,
call him a legend
and it's an option.
You can go on
being a pretty good
decently moral
person.
That's just fine.
But if you call
him Lord
and God,
you must
submit to him
in all of life,
obeying every
word,
reordering every
priority,
right?
That's who he
is.
You've passed
from death
to life,
so now live
like someone
with a new
life,
who knows
the true
king,
who has
eternal
security,
who has
hope today
and purpose,
who has joy
that is worth
sharing and a
hope and eternity
worth sacrificing
for whatever it
costs right now.
Live like that
person,
with reckless
abandon,
fully submitting
everything you are
and all that you
have to Jesus
and his kingdom
and know
that at the end
of the day,
your relationship
with Jesus
does not rest
on how well you
perform at submitting
to him.
Believe in him
and you get
his perfect
submission
to the Father
given to you
as well.
You get that
for your security
and for your
life.
See,
Jesus is not
the first person
in the Bible
referred to
as God's
son.
He is the
true and only
begotten
son of God
who stands
where other
sons have
fallen
and failed.
Adam was
a son of God.
He was
supposed to
reflect God's
image perfectly,
to trust
and obey
God in
everything.
He doubted
God's goodness,
obeyed the
desires of his
eyes.
He failed.
The kings
of Israel
were sometimes
referred to
as sons
of God
who were
to lead
God's
people
and following
after God
and pursuing
his law.
They followed
other gods.
They led
God's people
astray.
They failed.
The people
of Israel,
the whole
group of
them are
sometimes
called
God's
son
who were
supposed
to live
in relationship
with Yahweh
and be a
light to
the nations.
They often
cared more
about themselves,
wandered in
darkness
after other
gods.
They failed.
So,
God sent
his only
begotten
son
who
perfectly
reflects
the image
of the
father,
always
trusts his
plan even
to death,
obeys God's
will in
everything.
He's the
true son.
Jesus is
the true
son who
always leads
God's people
toward the
father and
his good
law that
directs our
paths.
Jesus is
the true
son who
shines as
a light to
the nation
so that they
run to him
and find
life in
him.
So that when
you and I
fail to
bow down,
when we
fail to
measure up
and we
think that
we will be
hopelessly
without life,
we can
trust again
the true
son and
find life
and actually
be welcomed
back to
the father
as sons
and daughters
by faith
in the
one and
only divine
son who
loved us
and gave
himself for
us.
Let's pray.
Jesus,
we bow
before you
in worship
as the
one true
and awesome
God,
the one
worthy of
all of our
praise,
not just
when we
come in a
building and
sing to
you,
but every
moment
of every
day,
with all
of our
lives,
all we
are and
all we
have.
Oh,
help us.
We've
confessed we
often don't
treat you
that way.
We don't
live as
though that's
true.
Help us,
Jesus,
by your
divine power,
your spirit
at work
within us
that we
might really
know life
with you.
Experience it
now that we
might share
it with those
around us
and look
forward to
celebrating it
forever.
We ask this
in your name.
Amen.
For more
information,
visit us
online at
southwood.org.
redesigns,
not
in there,
not
anymore,
let the
thing in
here
is
above
and
all
in the
way.
Underfriages,
in the
ess