The Jewish people were confident of their standing as the "People of God." They had this confidence for two major reasons; they could trace their lineage back to Abraham, and they bore the sign of the covenant which was circumcision. Jesus acknowledged their physical lineage in the previous section but wanted to show that a relationship is not based upon physical traits and characteristics but upon acknowledgment of God and doing his will (Hos 6:6 and Is 1:2-3). They derived a salvation reality based on externals rather than a relationship with God the Father.
Jesus also makes this very plain in his conversation; "if you were children of Abraham you would do what he did." He also made it very plain when he said, "If God was your father, you would love me." The use of these two conditional sentences clearly shows that those who thought they were God’s children who would receive their blessing through Abraham were, in fact, mistaken.
• All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.
• The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place.
• The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
• A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
• Cars that crash will almost always burst into flames.
• Persons knocked unconscious by a blow to the head will never suffer a concussion or brain damage.
• It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.
• Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds—unless it’s the door to a burning building with a child trapped inside.
• All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readouts so you know exactly when they will go off.
• Medieval peasants had perfect teeth.
• It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending phone conversations.
• Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant.
• It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts; your enemies will patiently wait to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.
If all you ever saw and all you ever heard came from Hollywood you would not be surprised by such statements. After all, what we see and what we hear form the basis for our beliefs about the world and our reality. If someone who believed such things tried to live out some of those deceptive "Hollywood truths" he would quickly be injured or killed. The same is true for those who try to apply deceptive worldly truths to spiritual concerns except with far worse consequences. The consequences for such an error are eternal. Unfortunately, most people see and hear far more from the world than they do from their Creator.
Jesus didn’t have Hollywood to contend with but he still had an ungodly world that taught a deceptive reality just like the movies. The Jews of Jesus’ era were convinced that they were in God’s favor simply because of their ancestry, ethnicity, and rituals. Just like a parent concerned with his child’s perception of Hollywood reality, Jesus was deeply concerned for mankind’s
perception of spiritual reality. Just like the Jews of Jesus’ day, people live out a deceptive reality provided by the world around them rather than true reality. Although he addressed this issue in many ways and with many people, one of the clearest examples is found in the book of John. A personal relationship with God and exposure to godly models helps you discern and apply God’s will to your life. Let us see how Jesus clearly attempts to correct their view of reality and the behavior that stems from it in John 8:39-47.
The Jewish people were confident of their standing as the "People of God." They had this confidence for two major reasons; they could trace their lineage back to Abraham, and they bore the sign of the covenant which was circumcision. In the paragraphs just prior to today’s Scripture Jesus acknowledged their physical heritage but wanted to show that a saving relationship is not based upon physical traits and characteristics but upon knowing God and his will (Hos 6:6 and Isa 1:2-3).
I. If your primary focus is on the world you will not have a true godly reality. (vv 39-42)
The Jews to whom Jesus was speaking claimed to be children of Abraham and God as their only father. They did not, however, demonstrate the kind of behavior that someone from the outside would connect with Abrahamic behavior. They had deceived even themselves. They lacked the faith of Abraham and more importantly, they were hostile to the one whom Abraham would love to see and whom Abraham would worship. While they claimed one thing with their mouths, their actions belied their true beliefs and priorities. They did not respond the way the one they called their Father, God, would want them to.
The CBS news program 48 Hours recently did an investigation into the children of some famous people and how they were influenced by what they saw from their parents while growing up. Laila Ali grew up in a boxing family and revered her father, the world-famous boxing champion Muhammed Ali. Even after her parents divorced and she moved away with her mother she was still very influenced by her father. Not only has she taken up the sport of boxing, but she has the same cocky attitude as her father. She taunts her would-be opponents with short rhymes and metaphors just like dad. One of her most notable fights came last month when she was pitted against the daughter of another boxing great Joe Frazier. The battle between Laila Ali and Jackie Frazier ended with the same conclusion as when their fathers had battled it out in Zaire in the 70’s – Ali beat Frazier. It is not just in the blood, however, it has more to do with whom you have your loyalties.
On the same program there was an interview with James Raymond. He too, is the son of a famous person. You couldn’t identify his famous father by his name, however, because he was adopted shortly after birth. He was raised by a California family who kept his adoption records sealed until he was 31. That was when Raymond discovered that his natural father is David Crosby of the group Crosby, Stills, and Nash. While the two both share an interest in music, Raymond’s habits, preferences, and attitudes are more closely related to his adoptive parents than his natural father. His behavior and beliefs reflect those of the parents who raised him. For all of these children, their reality of success and what is good came not from ancestry but from what they saw happening in their parent’s lives.
Provide yourself with godly models for behavior and belief to supplant the habits and deceptive truths of the world. Read the biographies of some great Christian people to learn how they behave. Study the behavior of men who were considered successful in the bible such as Peter and Paul. Find a godly mentor who can not only serve as a model for behavior but will be honest with you when you stray. If you are a mature Christian, become a mentor for a younger one.
Simply imitating the behavior of others is not a sufficient basis for true spiritual reality. Proper behavior springs from a proper knowledge of what God says.
II. You will do what your father tells you. (vv 43-47)
If you don’t understand why Christians do certain things it may be because you don’t know what God really wants. Even "religious" people sometimes do not know what God wants. You must have a personal relationship with God to know his desires. If you do not know God in this way then your father is Satan and you are under the influence of the world. If you are a Christian and just can’t comprehend why some people do things – it is because they are just doing what they have been told.
In 1992 a sophomore at Simon’s Rock College in western Massachusetts named Wayne Lo went on a killing rampage with a semiautomatic rifle. He killed two people and injured four others. Why did he do it? The New York Times reports:
After the crime and for the first years of his imprisonment, he said not long ago, he believed that God had chosen him to commit carnage. Now, he call that his period of denial.
"At the time I thought I did the right thing," he said recently. "But as I look back at it over time, more and more it doesn’t make sense to me. And more and more I ask myself Why? Why did I do it?…."
The story Mr. Lo long told himself came down to this: In December 1992, he received a divine message to go to the gun store, order the ammunition with his mother’s credit card, then lie and deceive and kill. He was so convinced that he was justified in his acts that he raged at his lawyers during his trial because they insisted on asserting that he was insane. Instead, he argued, his lawyers should have investigated his victims to uncover why a heavenly power had selected them to be shot.
Sitting back and talking one afternoon in a small, concrete-block room with a glass wall facing the main visiting area at the prison, he said the command to kill was a feeling. "It’s not visual. Its not auditory," he said. "It’s just, you realize it."
Mr. Lo has come to realize that God would not have chosen him to inflict so much pain, he said, he had struggled to understand what made him into a killer. He remains convinced that it was something outside of himself that gave him a message to do what he did. Perhaps, he said in answer to a question, it was a supernatural or satanic force.
To know what God says you must first become his child by believing in Jesus. The best way to know what God says after that is through prayer, reading his word, and wise counsel. Study the people in the Bible to determine not only their strong points but also their weaknesses and try to identify yourself in their stories. Seek the counsel of a mentor and of other godly men and women in the church. A person will behave they way they have seen others behave and have heard to do. If you are not a child of God you cannot see and hear what he does.
It is just like a mother calling her son in from outside for supper. When she calls only he will answer while all the other children play on as if nothing happened. When he sits down to the table he will probably eat with the same manners his parents have.
Living and believing like the rest of the world is just as much a spiritual unreality as is believing everything Hollywood portrays in the films. Young Christians, find a mentor and learn from godly role models if you want to see and hear Christ. Mature Christians, become a mentor and watch what you say and do because others look to you as a role model even if they don’t say so.
Illustration: "Reality according to Hollywood" Bret Kay on Preachingtoday.com
The story of Mr Lo was collected by someone else and I cannot give proper credit except to say that I was not the first to use this illustration.
