Todays passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%205&version=NIV
John is different from the other disciples. He is the beloved one who was given glimpses into the distant past and the distant future. He saw the Love of God before time began and was given words to speak about The Word. He understood that God is Love, Light, and Life as the 1 John sermon series asks us to remember. He saw the future when time itself will be rolled up and the new reality comes into being.
John saw Jesus in the past when the Word was with God, Jesus in the future when the Omega fully restores the plan of the Father for His children, and he saw Jesus in his present when the Word spoke words of life in the flesh to a dying world. Each glimpse of Jesus shows us that God dictates how we are to come to Him and that we must accept the gift He gives and then act upon that gift.
In the first half of John 5, we see another healing miracle where Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter and asks the man if he wants to be made well and then commands the man to act upon that desire. Jesus provided the power to heal but the man had to believe Jesus at His word. Later, Jesus told the man that although he was now physically well that there was a spiritual battle as well. We must always remember that there is not just a single reality to our current actions, but that there are eternal ramifications as well.
Another key item in this chapter must not be overlooked. Here we see that Jesus claims to be God the Son and that He clearly claims that He is equal with God and this is the reason why the Jews sought to kill Him. Jesus is not just a good man. He is not just a good teacher. He is the Son of God, the Word of God, is God, and that His Voice provides life to all who are willing to believe. The Son has been given tasks by the Father which require the Son to listen to the Father and exercise the authority given to Him by the Father. We will never fully understand this divine paradox of the Trinity and how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit work together in our lives, but we have been granted sufficient revelation in the Scripture to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
The Father gives life to us via the Son and we must listen to the words of Jesus, obey His commandments, and accept the judgment of the Son. Are we willing to listen and seek the will of the Father as Jesus sought the will of the Father? Will our works be a testimony to our belief in Christ as the works of Jesus bore testimony to the work of the Father?
God continually pursues us and woes us. He first loved us and sent His Son to demonstrate that love. Does His Love abide in us and does it bear fruit? These questions will come up time and time again in the Gospel of John, the letters of John, and the final book of the Bible, Revelation. We must rest at the bosom of Jesus and learn what it means to be called a beloved disciple as John rested, listened, and loved.
Todays post submitted by Joseph Konieczka
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You touched on something which has great significance to our walk with God Jesus said He can do nothing of Himself.
ReplyDelete"I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does"
Jesus is the eternal God made flesh but the Son of God walked this earth as a man submitted to the will of the Father. He did NOTHING of Himself but rather only what the Father told Him to do. The sinless son of man submitted to the will of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Why is this so significant to us?
John 20:21
So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
This is the pattern God desires from each one of us; to submit to God, hear what He is telling us to do and then go do it trough the power of the Holy Spirit. This is basic Christianity 101
Sadly, so often I just come to God asking Him to rubber stamp what I'm already determined to do. This results in frustration and stress.
As we walk in the Spirit, He takes us way beyond what we can accomplish by our own will power. We find out, we can DO ALL things through Christ who strengthens us. The impossible becomes possible through Christ.