Opening illustration: John P. Robinson often called America’s “time guru,” claims that people today sleep more than they think they do. He says that though they have more leisure time than ever, they still report feeling “stressed, rushed, and crunched for time.”
Robinson calls this problem “overchoice.” It’s caused by the sheer number of options available to fill our time and the wearying realization that no matter what we choose to do, we are leaving something undone. If our identity is defined by activity, we operate on the principle, “The more we do, the more we are.” We are exhausted, and we are the reason.
If Jesus hadn’t focused on doing His Father’s will, He too could have been overwhelmed by all the needy people and demanding tasks He faced. But instead of frenzied activity, Christ personified the focused life in everything He did. He said, “He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29).
Each day, Jesus sought to know His Father’s will as He moved purposefully to the cross. There, He finished all that God had given Him to do. Today, our heavenly Father invites us to focus on Him for the wisdom and strength to complete the work He has given to us.
Let us turn to John 8 in God’s Word and learn …
Introduction: Jesus begins telling his opponents that he is going away and that after he is gone, they will realize what they have missed and they will search for him and not find him and will discover their mistake too late. This is the true prophetic note. It reminds us of three things –
(i) There are certain opportunities which come and which do not return. It is an opportunity which can be refused and lost.
(ii) Implicit in this argument of Jesus is the truth and that life and time are limited. It is imperative that we make the decision in the allotted time or everything is lost.
(iii) Just because there is opportunity in life, there is also judgment. The lost opportunity involves judgment. Seize the opportunity while you have time in hand otherwise …
Therefore to refuse Christ is to be a stranger to God; to accept Christ is to be the friend of God; and in that friendship the fear of death is forever banished. So with our time on earth …
How to focus on God?
1. Godly Speech (vs. 25-26) – things that edify God
There is no verse in the entire NT more difficult to translate than v. 25. The closest we can come is: ‘Everything that I am saying to you now is only a beginning.’ The passage goes on to say that men will see the real meaning of Christ in three ways –
(i) They will see it in the cross. When Christ was lifted on the cross.
(ii) They will see it in the judgment. He has many judgments still to pass.
(iii) When that happens they will see in Him the embodied will of God. Jesus said, “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
Far from being reluctant to speak, Jesus tells his opponents I have much to say. His task is to communicate the words of his Father to the world, in doing so; he inevitably testifies that what the world does is evil. When his opponents enquire about his identity, he says that he was from the beginning. He does not acknowledge that he is speaking on his own but that what he has heard from the one who sent him and that one is true alone.
We get a glimpse of Jesus not speaking his own words but giving credit to His Father for his utterances. Here he sets the example and bar for us to stay focused on our Creator and articulate His word to the hearers therefore holding no credit for ourselves. Articulation of Godly speech will keep us focused on Christ our Lord. Here the emphasis in not churchy or Christian language but Godly speech which doesn’t equate the former but is gifted by the Holy Spirit and compliments the Word of God.
Illustration: John Knox prayed "Give me Scotland or I die." John Knox was described as low in stature and of a weakly constitution. A contemporary, Mr. Thomas Smeaton, said, "I know not if God ever placed a more godly and great spirit in a body so little and frail."
When that frail body went to his knees, Mary Queen of Scots trembled. She said she feared the prayers of John Knox more than the combined armies of Europe.
Larry Christenson in his book, The Christian Family, says John Knox prayed with such power that all Scotland was awakened. He goes so far as to attribute the whole reformation of Scotland to Knox's prayers. He writes, 'Lord, Give me Scotland or I'll die!' [Knox] cried. And he prayed with such intensity that the Lord answered.
2. Godly Deeds (vs. 28-30) – things that please God
Jesus conveys a message to the hearers that He is here to do what pleases God the Father. He knew that entails going to the cross and being the sacrificial lamb without blemish for the world. This would greatly delight the Father for the ultimate and final sacrifice for saving humanity for eternal damnation.
We must not consider Christ’s going to the cross as an end in itself but a starting phase for God to work in our lives. The purpose of Christ on the cross is to reveal who He really is and what he is capable of doing. This helps us to see the perfect God in and through Christ.
Jesus lays down the standards and expects us to live as living examples. He sets the example for us to manifest godly deeds through our lives which please God. We are not talking about things that please you or me or even my grandmother but that which pleases God and stands in contradiction to the gratification of our flesh and fleeting feelings.
The Spirit of God will convict us and always lead us in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. He will never lead us to do things that make you and me happy or makes our flesh flutter. It will bring pain to the flesh but great joy to the Lord and us when it is accomplished.
Illustration: In 1904 William Borden, heir to the Borden Dairy Estate, graduated from a Chicago high school a millionaire. His parents gave him a trip around the world. Traveling through Asia, the Middle East and Europe gave Borden a burden for the world’s hurting people. Writing home, he said, ‘I’m going to give my life to prepare for the mission field.’ When he made this decision, he wrote in the back of his Bible two words: No Reserves. Turning down high paying job offers after graduation from Yale University, he entered two more words in his Bible: No Retreats. Completing studies at Princeton Seminary, Borden sailed for China to work with Muslims, stopping first at Egypt for some preparation. While there he was stricken with cerebral meningitis and died within a month. A waste, you say! Not in God’s plan. In his Bible underneath the words No Reserves and No Retreats, he had written the words No Regrets.
3. Abide in God’s Word (vs. 31-32) – dwell on the Word of God
To abide in God’s word involves four basic things –
(i) Involves constant listening to the words of Christ and his still small voice. A believer is a person who all his life listens for the voice of Jesus. He/she doesn’t take any decision until he has first listened to what Jesus has to say.
(ii) Involves constant learning from Jesus. The word disciple in the Greek literally means learner. All his/her life they are expected to learn more and more from Christ. The shut mind is the end of discipleship.
(iii) Involves constant penetrating into the truth which the words of Jesus bear. No one can read or hear the words of Jesus once and say that they have got it all together. This demands a continual study of scriptures.
(iv) Involves constant obeying the words of Jesus. We don’t study God’s word simply for academic satisfaction or intellectual appreciation but so that we know what God desires for us to do. In fact the truth which Jesus brought is truth designated for action.
This word is the truth and will surely set you free. In His service is perfect freedom. Discipleship brings us four freedoms -
• Freedom from FEAR – 1 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
• Freedom from SELF – many of us recognize that our greatest enemy is our own self. Many cry out, “I cannot change myself. I have tried, but it is impossible.” The power and the presence of Jesus can recreate a man until he is altogether new.
• Freedom from other people – H. G. Wells says that a disciple ceases to care about what people say, because he thinks only what God says.
• Freedom from SIN – sometimes people sin not because they want to but because of they cannot help it … cannot break away from their weaknesses. Discipleship breaks the chains which bind us to our sins, and enable us to be the person we know we ought to be.
Illustration: A. W. Tozer said, "We have gotten accustomed to the blurred puffs of gray fog that pass for doctrine in churches and expect nothing better. From some previously unimpeachable sources are now coming vague statements consisting of a milky admixture of Scripture, science, and human sentiment that is true to none of its ingredients because each one works to cancel the others out.
Little by little Christians these days are being brainwashed. One evidence is that increasing numbers of them are becoming ashamed to be found unequivocally on the side of truth. They say they believe, but their beliefs have been so diluted as to be impossible of clear definition. Moral power has always accompanied definite beliefs. Great saints have always been dogmatic. We need a return to a gentle dogmatism that smiles while it stands stubborn and firm on the Word of God that lives and abides forever."
Application: Keep focused on God and you'll see clearly what He wants you to do.
