John #17 Returning Religion To the Father
John #17
John 5:16-47
Last week, Jesus healed a lame man who hadn’t walked in 38 years
The best we can tell, the man wasn’t grateful, nor did he place his Faith in Christ.
IF that wasn’t bad enough, the officials are angry with Jesus because he had the audacity to do gracious act on the Sabbath. HE worked on the Sabbath in healing the man, and then he Told the man to work in telling him to carry his mat, on the Sabbath.
Well … we move on from that spot today
READ 5:16-47
You hear people say
“I’m a Spiritual Person”
“I want to know God”
“I want to Experience God”
But the problem is that Religion / Spirituality has become something else.
With all due respect to some, in some expressions of Religion there has been an inordinate amount of attention paid to Mary and to Saints who have gone before us.
For others spirituality has become an emphasis on finding oneself
An emphasis on the Religion of Community, building relationships
The problem with all of those is that “Religion” has left it’s Purpose and Pater.
That is, I want to call us to returning Religion to the Father, that is to the WAY the FATHER intended us to express it
In Jesus’ day Religion of the Jews had wandered from it’s original intent, as well, into a self serving, egocentric, expression of Tradition when it should be a God-serving, God-centered, His Purpose fulfilling, exercise in Faith, Adoration, and Obedience.
Jesus Christ IS our Savior, Jesus Christ is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but learn some things about the Organization of the Trinity. If you look to Heaven you see the Father on the Throne, the Son at the Right Hand of the Father, and the Spirit in front of the throne.
There is ORDER and submission.
When Jesus talks of the Holy Spirit he says that the Holy Spirit will do nothing on his own but only what he receives and will draw attention to Christ.
And Jesus Christ teaches us today about submitting to the Father about returning religion to the Father.
And that is a first understanding that
1. By Myself I Can Do Nothing
A. Jesus Could Do Nothing By Himself
You may ask yourself as you read this, “how can this be” … Oh It Be …
But Jesus is God, yes but God is in order at all times. Look around you, everything God created is orderly
That is because ORDER is part of his nature
So the Spirit does nothing without Christ.
1 Cor 11:3 says “… the head of Christ is God”
And Christ says
The SON can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son does
So, If JESUS says “I am not in this alone” “I can’t do this alone”
B. We can’t do anything alone
How in the world do we think that we can do anything on our own
How do we think we can do church on our own
How do we think we can program progress
How do we think we can formulate a Future
How do we think we can Energize Evangelism
How are WE going to Heal our Hurts in the Community Alone
How are we going to Rebuild Ruined Lives Alone?
BY OURSELVES?
We don’t stand a chance on our own
We need the direction of the Father
We need the blessing of the Father
How can we plan our day without the Father’s input?
How can we plan the future of our family, our finances, our education, our career without the direction of the Father?
IF you feel like there is no direction, if you feel like there is no future, if you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere, the question has to be Am I Where the Father is?
Am I doing what He is doing
So that brings me to a Second Conclusion
Religion is FROM the Father, we need to return it to the Father,
I need to
2. Find Out What the Father is Doing
A. The Father IS at Work
How do I know that the Father is doing anything?
God is not at work in our community
God is not at work in my office
God is not at work in my school
Or maybe we pray this way,
“Lord please begin a work in our community”
“Lord please work at my school”
“Lord please work in my house …”
We are making the assumption that he might NOT be at work …
V17 – Jesus says My Father is ALWAYS at his WORK to this very day, and I too am working
So we KNOW the Father is at Work … and we know that Jesus is ONLY doing what the Father is doing
So, our prayer should be Father reveal to me what you are doing … so I can join you.
And, if you want to know what the Father is doing …
B. Look to the Son …
1. Watch the Son – he is watching the Father
Ask the Spirit within you to open the eyes of your heart that you can better see what Christ is doing
2. Talk to the Son – he talks to the Father, he is at the Father’s right hand
“But I don’t know how to pray” – That’s ok, the Spirit within you knows how to intercede for us with groanings that God understands. Just get on your knees, quiet if you have to be …
3. Imitate the Son he is imitating the Father
Philippians 3:4-14
4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
Paul was saying I know HOW to be Religious, I know HOW to DO THINGS for God …
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ … 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
If we want to know the Father, return religion to the Father, KNOW CHRIST … Press Toward Christ
As we Imitate Christ … then we Imitate God
Eph 5:1 – Be Imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering …
How do we imitate God, we Do what God is doing … and that’s what Jesus did … he gave himself for us … he laid down his life, he brought us to God, because the Father was all about bringing the world to Christ … and Christ joined him in the ultimate sacrifice
Why … as an offering of Worship of to the Father …
What is the WORSHIP that the Father Requires
What is the WORK that the Father is About …
What is the Father’s Desire for Us?
That we, that the World, that All would
3. Honor the Son
V23 – that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not Honor the Father
Some would say, “oh yes, I worship God, but I don’t believe in Jesus”
So many say they want to know God but they Balk at the idea of having to come to Christ, Imitating Christ. And of course if we imitate him, then we are imitating God.
What the Father is doing is bringing Eternal Life to all who honor the Son.
The Father was revealing himself to the World through the Law and the Prophets and where did they point? …
To Christ …
A. Old Testament Testimony
1. Col 2:17 tells us that all the rules and regulations of the Law were simply a shadow and the reality is “… found IN CHRIST”
2. Gen 3:15 – said he would crush the head of the Serpent
3. Gen 49:10 – the scepter would not depart Judah … until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his
4. Ps 118:22 the stone the builders rejected
5. Isa. 11:1 a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him of wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, fear of the Lord
6. Dan 9:24-27 predicted the weeks to which he would come
7. Zech. 9:9 … See your king comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey …
8. Zech 13:1 on that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity
9. Mal 3:1-3 – See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come … the messenger of the covenant … he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap …
10. Mal 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
The old Testament honored the Son.
The High Priest showed Christ as mediator
The Process of Sacrifice and Atonement
The altar, the bronze bowls, the mercy seat, the veil, the Manna, the Cities of Refuge, the Bronze serpent, the Tree of life, Melchizedek, Moses, Joshua, David, Jonah, Noah, Joseph
It was ALL that we would Honor the Son
That’s what the Father is doing and that’s how we worship him
B. Dwell on the Word
1. you might say … I didn’t realize all that?
2. dwell on the Word. Meditate. Memorize. Internalize. Live
3. You can’t honor the Son, if you don’t dwell on the Word of God, because you won’t know him
2 Chr. 36:15-16 - the Lord … sent word to them through his messengers again and again … 17 but they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets …
4. Jesus told them here in verse 38
You have never heard his voice, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent 39 you diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. … 40 yet you refuse to come to me and have life
If you study the Word but don’t come to Christ, you missed the point …
5. Col 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs …
If you want to Worship the Father as you, return religion to him … Dwell on the Word that testifies to him. If God’s Word dwells in you, it will point to Christ.
And THEN … you will …
C. Honor the Father
1. v44 you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God
2. It’s a dangerous thing in church life when we would rather have the Neighborhood’s approval, when we would rather have Jeff City’s Approval, if I would rather have the approval of other Pastors, if we would rather have the approval of the deacons, the members, the staff or the Pastor, but not want the Approval of God.
“Lord may it NEVER be so”
3. Jesus said “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” v30
4. What is God DOING? He is causing all to honor the Son. His will?
John 6:38-40 (NIV)
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
5. How do we Honor the Father, we come to the Son. Go back to verse 23
He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him
a. honor – timao – to estimate, fix the value; honor
b. if you don’t Honor Christ, you don’t think much of the Value, of God the Father
6. What does the Father want? He wants you to hear the Son, believe in the Father who sent him and have eternal life, to cross over from death to life.
7. Jesus says that the Father knows that we are DEAD … v25 … the time will come when the dead will hear the voice of the SON and those who hear will LIVE
8. God wants you to Live and he has given the authority over life and death to the SON
9. Read this Word and you will find that the world is coming to Christ, one way or another, in Grace or in Judgment. And a God who loves you wants your worship through the Son
1 John 4:9 this is how God showed his love among us; he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him
10. v45 Jesus said if you don’t come to me, HONOR CHRIST … Jesus won’t condemn you … your own religion will condemn you.
a. For the Jew, that rejects Christ as their Messiah, the law and prophets condemn.
b. for the Buddhist and Hindu, seeking enlightenment or re-creation, through knowledge or reincarnation, Buddha or their false gods will testify against you in their emptiness
c. For the person pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, making their own religion, they will lift themselves up into nothing. Their goodness, good deeds, new leaf, will testify against them when they still come up short of the glory of God
We MUST honor the Son to Return Religion to the Father … and once we’ve Received the Son …
And then what …
D. Join Christ with the Father at Work
1. v43 I have come in my Father’s name
2. v36 “the work I am doing testifies that the Father has sent me” – Do the things we do as believers or as the church, testify that we are sent by the Father?
3. The Father is bringing the world to Christ, teaching them to honor him, we can do nothing less than Christ, emptying ourselves, and pointing the world to God through Christ
4. I want to be able to say like Christ “this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me …
Oh we don’t determine their eternity, but God has given us a territory, a region, in which to proclaim the freedom in Christ Jesus … and those that God wanted met to share in their reconciliation, I don’t want to lose any to another faithful believer.
It’s the kind of selfishness we should have in Christ, I want to lead all to Christ that God has placed there for me, that he wouldn’t have to do it through another believer, another pastor, another church body
The Father is drawing the world to Honor Jesus …
Who is there like him
Chrysostom taught me
I know He was hungry, and I know that with five loaves He fed five thousand.
I know He was thirsty, and I know that He turned the water into wine.
I know he was carried in a ship, and I know that He walked on the sea.
I know that He died, and I know that He raised the dead.
I know that He was set before Pilate, and I know that He sits with the Father on His throne.
**I know that the Jews shouted “Crucify him” and angels shout “Holy, Holy, Holy”,[1] **(changed by me)
Honor Him and you Honor the Father
Well …
Augustine reminded me that
**I know that by him all things were made and he was made one of all things
I know He is the revealer of the Father, creator of the Mother
I know He is Son of God without a mother and son of man without a father
I know The Word of God before time, became the Word of flesh IN time
Honor Him and you Honor the Father
J. Baxter taught me
**I know he didn’t come to preach some good news, he IS the good news
I know he didn’t come to give us bread, he IS the Bread of Life
I know he didn’t come to shed a little light, he IS the Light of the World
I know he didn’t come to show you the door, he IS the Door
I know he didn’t come to point out a shepherd, he IS the Good Shepherd
He didn’t come to point the way, he Is the way …
Honor Him and you Honor the Father
Buddha said “I am a teacher in search of truth”
Jesus said “I am the Truth
Confucius said “I never claimed to be holy”
Jesus said “Who convicts me of sin?”
Mohammed said “Unless god throws his cloak of mercy over me, I have no hope.”
Jesus said “Unless you believe in me, you will die in your sins”
Buddha never claimed to be God
Mohammed never claimed to be Allah
Moses never claimed to be Jehovah
Mary said “My soul glorifies the Lord … and rejoices in God my Savior”
Who was her Savior?
Jesus Christ who claimed to be the True and Living God
Honor Him and you Honor the Father
Turn from the religion of self
Turn from the religion of spirituality
Turn from the religion of pride
Let’s return religion to the Father as we all on our faces in confession and adoration and confession of faith in Christ alone and then join the Father in Drawing the World to Honor Christ as we proclaim the freedom and Salvation is found in no other name than Jesus.
----
[1]Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (478). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.