Sermon Central
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The Validity Of Jesus
Contributed by Derrick Tuper on Mar 4, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: The Jews had a problem with Jesus healing the cripple by the pool on the Sabbath. Jesus used the opportunity to try to show them that he was the real deal; and quite frankly-they were not.
THE VALIDITY OF JESUS
1) Like Father, like Son (vs. 16-30).
• Jesus is equal to the Father (vs. 16-18). Vs. 16-17-God created in six days and rested on the seventh. However, he didn’t rest from preserving and maintaining his creation. He governs the affairs of his people and his creation 24/7. Could Jesus have healed the cripple any other day? Of course; but he healed him on the Sabbath to illustrate that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. It is always right to do good on the Sabbath, as the Father does. Love doesn’t take a day off. The true essence of the Sabbath, not working, was a test as much as it was a rest. A test for the people to trust in God. What Jesus did on the Sabbath was not in violation of the Sabbath, it was in fulfillment of the true intention of the Sabbath. Working-not for personal gain but for someone else's good. Vs. 18-The Jews would refer to God as the Father or our Father in heaven so as not to over-personalize it. So, when Jesus came along calling God my Father that was taking things too far. It was Jesus elevating himself to a deified level. “Equal with God”. Jesus is referred to as “the only begotten son of God”. C. S. Lewis pointed out that the word begotten demands that Jesus is God, because we only beget in kind with what we are: Humans beget humans and God begets God. Men and women are said to become God’s children through adoption, but Jesus is never spoken of as becoming God’s son, but that he’s always been God’s son. Just as Son of Man means that Jesus is fully human, the phrase Son of God means that Jesus is fully God. Colossians 2:9, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
• Jesus does what the Father does (vs. 19-23). The Father does miraculous things; Jesus does miraculous things. Vs. 21-The Father raised the dead in the examples of Elijah raising the widow’s son-1st Kings 17:22-23 as well as Elisha raising the Shunamite’s son in 2nd Kings 4:32-37. As the Father raised the dead to life; so the Son does as well (Lazarus in John 11, the little girl in Mark 5, and the widow’s son in Luke 7). The examples of Jesus raising people from the dead highlights that he is equal to the father; having the same power and authority-even over death itself. Vs. 23-To have Jesus say that anyone that does not honor him does not honor the Father shows that he is equal with God for we are not to worship the created just the Creator. Therefore, Jesus, like the Father, is the Creator.
• In the Father is life; in the Son is life (vs. 24-30). The Jews would’ve attained that the gift of life was found only in God so when Jesus made the claim that life was found in him as well it yet again signified his equality with God. Vs. 24-Jesus is emphatically declaring that if one was to possess eternal life it was not find in observance of the law but in him. 1st John 5:13, “I write things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Vs. 25-“dead will hear the voice”. It makes sense because when Jesus raised Lazarus, and others, to life he spoke to them. Vs. 28-29- Not only would Jesus raise people from the dead with his voice in the near future, but in the distant future as well. 1st Th. 4:16, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” Jesus said, ‘Do not be amazed at this’. He didn’t say this because raising someone from the dead isn’t amazing; it is a spectacular event. He said it because we shouldn’t think it to be unbelievable-because of the fact that Jesus is God.
2) Testimonials (vs. 31-47).
• The testimony of the Father (vs. 31-32). Vs. 31-not that Jesus’ testimony is untrustworthy or false but that it would not be accepted without further validation. Jesus understood that making the great claim to be equal with the Father needed to be backed up with valid testimony. Deuteronomy 19:15 said that a matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Vs. 32- “There is another who testifies” Jesus was referring to the Father. Three times the Father audibly spoke to Jesus directly from heaven: (1) at Jesus’ baptism-Matt. 3:17, "This is My Son, whom I love; with him I am well-pleased", (2) at the transfiguration-Mt. 17:5-where he said the same, (3) at the Triumphal Entry-John 12:28 where Jesus asked the Father to glorify thy name and the Father answered him that he has glorified it. 1ST John 5:6-12. The Father has testified for his Son.
