John 5:30-47

February 24, 2008

 

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 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 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. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:7-11).

 

I believe every one of us wants to live triumphantly, to rise above the problems and sufferings of this world, and to live in a way that brings glory to our Heavenly Father, but sometimes life makes living that way hard. When I struggle because of the things that are happening in my life or in the lives of my family or in our lives of our church family, I often find the strength to help me win my battle in these verses in Philippians.  They speak of what is important in life and what doesn’t really matter. They say the things of this world don’t matter, but overcoming all of life’s tribulations through a faith that is powerful and real does. They say our faith comes from God Himself and is founded in the same power that brought Jesus back to life. They say our shared struggles bind us to Him in a way nothing else can. They say life’s greatest fraternity can only be entered through the fellowship with Christ that we experience when we participate in His sufferings. Read that last verse again, this time triumphantly:  “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead.”

 

I love that little word “somehow.”  It resonates with me because that is how I feel about our church and our people at the end of the day so many times.  “Somehow” is the word that comes to my mind as I sit in my favorite spot and pray through the events of the day. Quietly, simply, I tell Jesus, “I don’t know how we got here, I’m still not sure where you’re taking us, but somehow I know we will get there.” His answer usually sounds eerily similar: “Life is really about sharing  in the fellowship of My suffering, about learning to know Me better—somehow.”

 

This morning I want to assure you we are on the right team and the right road. This morning I want to share with you the five testimonials that Jesus pointed out to affirm He was who He said He was. Jesus said these five testify to His “somehow.”  As we look at each one of these five, I would encourage you to ask Jesus to speak to you this morning in a very real and personal way.  Specifically, ask Him to show you “the power of His resurrection” in such a real way that you leave here revived and prepared for not only this week, but having turned a huge corner in your faith journey.

 

Jesus offered his Jewish detractors five proofs that He was who He said He was.  They range from the simple, partial, and demonstrable to the quiet, total, and personal.  Let’s begin with the simple, partial, and demonstrable.

 

In John 1:32-34, John the Baptist told these same Jewish leaders, "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." In our section of Scripture, Jesus told these men, "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth…John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.” The verb tense in which these words were written show “the thought is of a continuing message. John’s words were not spoken into empty air and forgotten.  He bore his witness and it continued.  There is a note of permanence about it” (Leon Morris, “The Gospel According to John,” Eerdmans, 1971, p.326).

 

This living component belongs to all of the words that are spoken with the authority and blessing of Jesus. We didn’t come to know Jesus apart from someone sharing their faith in Jesus with us. We who know Jesus today stand at the end of a long chain of people who have testified that Jesus is the Son of God; John the Baptist stands nearer the other end. The fellowship of Jesus’ suffering forms the links that holds this chain together. This fellowship put John the Baptist in prison and then took his head; whatever Jesus asks us to go through for Him will not come close to that price.

 

Jesus informed these Jewish leaders that this chain of suffering goes even farther back.  Jesus told them, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" (John 5:46-47). Moses is Jesus’ second testimonial and Moses’ writings are His third. For those of us who have walked with Jesus the longest and know Him the best, these words are priceless.  For those who are still struggling to understand many of these words, let me encourage you to remain diligent in your studies.  Jesus will meet you where you are.  He will speak to you if you remain faithful and open to hear Him.

 

This “hearing” is Jesus’ fourth testimonial.  It is also the one that was most important to Him personally.  Notice: "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid” (John 5:31-32). God spoke to Jesus, and Jesus knew His voice.  Last week we talked about John 5:19-20 where Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” So when we put these verses together, Jesus is saying He knows God so well He can see what God is doing and join Him in doing it and He can hear God and know that God affirms what Jesus is doing. This is what Jesus means when He says in John 5:37, “the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.”

 

This intimacy with the Father is what suffering brings us. Sin and the effects of sin upon His creation bring tremendous pain to our Father. The redemptive work of His Son has much to accomplish before it is completed.  In Romans 8:22-24, Paul tells us, We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”  We will suffer, along with all of creation, as long as we remain in our earthly bodies, but the “resurrection power” Ephesians 3 talks about will bring about an end to our suffering when our bodies are redeemed.  Until that day arrives for each of us, Paul goes on to say Jesus has given us the Spirit who “helps us in our weakness.”  How does the Spirit help us?  Paul says, “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will (Romans 8:26-27). Paul then follows these verses with that great promise: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

The fifth and final testimonial to Jesus’ personhood is the works that He did while He lived among us. “The very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36).  The things Jesus did while He was here on earth, the ways in which He brought redemption, healing, and wholeness to hurting people are a promise of the future life we will enjoy. This world will pass and we will soon know a different fellowship with Jesus and our Father.  Paul goes on to spell out the greatness of what awaits us in Romans 8:31: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

Everything awaits us on the other side.  Jesus gave us five proofs of the certainty of His Word. The combined testimony of Moses, John, and the Scriptures are three.  Two of them are real people like us who knew God’s voice and shared His words with us.  The third we hold in our hands today, a book that links our lives to the first and second Adam.  The fourth is the ability to see and hear God through the gift Jesus gave us—the Holy Spirit.  This voice called us out of darkness and into the salvation light in which we live.  The fifth, His works, are recorded in our Holy Book, and are still being written to this very day.  Our lives of faith are a living testimonial to that fact.  We do not need to be caught up in the pain and suffering of this world.  It serves only to bring us into a fellowship that binds together all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us the power of His resurrection, the promise that one day we will be like Him, a true son or daughter of our Heavenly Father, and the assurance of our resurrection from the dead.  As we close this message today, I would ask all of you to stand with me and repeat loudly, faithfully, and as our corporate testimony, these words of the Apostle Paul as he concludes what we call the eighth chapter of Romans:

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”