Resurrection Sunday
Reclaimed People
A Study of John 5-6
Jesus was Passionate
Seven Times Jesus said “I AM”
John 6 contains the first of seven great I AM statements recorded by John, statements that are found nowhere else in the Gospels.
God revealed Himself to Moses by the name I AM (Jehovah) (Ex. 3:14). God is the self-existent One who “is, and... was, and... is to come” (Rev. 1:8). When Jesus used the name I AM, He was definitely claiming to be God.
I am the bread of life - John 6:35
I am the light of the World – John 8:12
I am the gate – John 10:7
I am the good shepherd – John 10:11
I am the Resurrection and the Life – John 11:25
I am the way, the truth and the life – John 14:6
I am the vine, you are the branches – John 15:1
He knew exactly who he was and what he was here for!
Jesus Came to Claim to What Belongs to God
These are among the most profound words He ever spoke, and we cannot hope to plumb their depths completely. He explained that salvation involves both divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
John 6:37–40 contains Jesus’ explanation of the process of personal salvation.
Jesus lays claim to your life
It’s a Matter of Ownership
37 The Father gives me my people…
You were created and formed by the Father God of all there is or ever has been. He imagined who you could be. He designed your nature. He engineered your capabilities. He planned your potential. God fashioned you and every other person on this round ball we call the planet earth. And He did so without one reject or error.
There are no mistakes. Honestly? There are times I struggle with that concept. Sometimes the struggle is with me. Sometimes that struggle is about you! More often I struggle with the idea of “no errors” when I think about our daughter, Susan, who is struggling against terrible issues of mental health and developmental disabilities. Or, I think about some of the battles I’ve fought and lost with my own nature. Honestly? You have probably shared those struggles, too.
Here is the critical factor: There is a difference between being broken, hurt, or damaged and being rejected as useless and worthless.
Even though you may be hurt and damaged. You may even have a few wires crossed – like our daughter, Susan – but you have value to God because He created you and he owns you by right of the creator. Jesus teaches us here that it was the Father – Creator God who gave the deed to your life to Him. Your Life belongs to Jesus – not you and certainly not anyone else.
It’s a Matter of Affinity
37 “…Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them...”
We are made in the image of God. We are like Him. Not the angels. Not those dark angels called demons. Not the animals that roam the earth or the creatures that fills the oceans. Human kind, humanity, man, woman – we are different from all the rest of creation – because we possess (not own – just possess) that spirit force called a soul that is like God.
It is this likeness that draws Him to us. It is that affinity that draws us to Him. It is as normal and natural as the migration of Canadian geese or the attraction of an insect to a bug zapper.
There is a deep hunger in our soul for God and amazingly enough an even deeper hunger in God’s soul for you.
It’s a Matter of Passion
38 “…I came down from heaven to do what God wants me to do, not what I want to do. 39 Here is what the One who sent me wants me to do: I must not lose even one whom God gave me, but I must raise them all on the last day...”
It’s one thing to have a duty that you attend to. We see people every day that put the time in on the clock but it is obvious that their heart really isn’t in the work. It’s an entirely different thing when you are doing something out of passion. When the fire burns in your bones you carry out the necessary tasks with intensity and single-minded devotion. If problems arise you solve them; when mistakes are made you fix them; when impossible obstacles are met you crush them with your purpose.
Make no mistake God has a single-minded devotion to a simple proposition: He wants you in his heavenly mansions! He is so devoted and passionate about this that he has send his son – Flesh inhabited by God – Jesus with one purpose and task… Bring my children home!
Jesus was sent for this purpose and this purpose alone – this is God’s plan. Jesus said, “I must not lose even one” and “I must raise them all on the last day”. Here is single-minded devotion and purpose to the task at hand – your salvation from death by sin.
Jesus lays claim to your life with his life
Slide 5 – First up
The Price was Paid on the Cross
It was done 2000 years ago and the debt death required was finished when Jesus breathed out his last bit of life and his soul left the battered and bleeding body.
It is done. The majesty of the crucifixion is the totality of this event. Nothing more need be added. Not your deeds. Not your goodness and certainly not anything you call personal righteousness. Why? Well, we’re simply not good enough. Too much selfishness and sin.
Thank God for this gift of the Jesus on the cross. Thank God for his passionate love that sacrificed His son for you and me.
Jesus will return to take possession of what He owns on the last day
Some day the claim will be redeemed
I know that because the one who holds the claim to my life was raised from the dead early one Sunday morning – not so long ago in God’s time. In God’s perspective it was just a couple of days past.
Understand this! In God’s time 1000 years is like a day and a day is like a 1000 years. Do not make the mistake of thinking that because a couple of thousand years have passed that the story of Jesus is old, passé, irrelevant, or merely an ancient legend.
Jesus is alive!
The volume of evidence is mountainous. The testimony of history is crisp and clear. The power of the early church is unparalleled. The proofs that Jesus is alive and present today are pervasive and persuasive.
Jesus possesses a marker-laying claim on your life. The life you do not and never have owned now belongs to Jesus – twice over – once created and once bought.
Some day – some day soon – maybe early in this third day of God’s time – he will return to claim his prize – your life!
Jesus Will Come Again to Reclaim His People
Will You Honor the Claim of Jesus?
40 “…Those who see the Son and believe in him have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day. This is what my Father wants…”
It is up to you whether the claim is paid or defaulted
Have you ever bought one of those new fangled Gift Certificates in a restaurant, gas station or store? My biggest fear is that I’ll lose the card, or I’ll get it too close to a magnet and the information will be scrambled, or the owner of the store will say – Sorry, your card isn’t valid at this location.
That is not going to happen with Jesus Claim on your life. It’s paid for! The owner is alive and well and he is coming for what’s his someday.
The only issue is whether you honor his claim on your life. It depends on you – and no one else.
For me and my house?
We, like Joshua of old, we will serve the Lord and we with excited and nervous anticipation wait for the day that the trumpets sound announcing the return of King Jesus.
What about you and your house?
See the Son and Believe in Him
It’s Not about Club Membership. American Churchianity exhausts me. I am worn to the nub by the constant pressure of consumer spiritualism.
It is about seeing Jesus and believing in Him
I call you to march together to a different drumbeat. Radical discipleship. Come to Jesus – Believe in and follow Him
