John 3.end
Communion Sunday
October 6th 2013
Every now and again we might get confused over the complex nature of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As Christians, we believe He was God incarnate. Recalling the first chapter of Matthew, we remember the author quoting Isaiah 7 and saying:
(Matthew 1:23) “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
The fact that Jesus was God incarnate is not always the tough part of His person for us to remember. The healings He performed, the teachings, the walking on water, His resurrection all point to the fact that none could do those things except God be with Him completely.
The difficulty for us is typically the fact that He as all Man. In every way possible, in all of his thoughts, in all of His desires, in all of His temptations, in all of His pain, Jesus was 100% Man.
It is interesting that this one-two combination model of “spirit and material” is present in everything God has done in the redemption of Man.
In the Old Testament we the holy spirit acting upon material prophets.
In the New Testament we have the Spirit of God becoming flesh.
And in this dispensation we have the Spirit of God working on those who read His material word.
With Jesus being all man He understood (and continues to understand) trials and temptation.
He understands the human will. He understands sadness, being rejected, having people betray Him, depression, and temptations of feeding and focusing on the self.
As Man, in fact, more than any other man, Jesus was faced – as we are all faced – with doing His fleshly will over the will of the Father.
Perhaps there was no time where this was more pressing upon His heart than the hours prior to Him entering His passion which marched toward Him with swords and staves as His disciples slept.
Yes, we intellectually try and conceive of the physical pain He faced. We imagine. We review images in our heads.
But we will forever fail to understand the actual and utter misery that waited Him outside those garden walls.
For every lie ever told, He bore the sinister darkness.
For every act of violence, every murder, every war – He bore the terror and destruction.
For every physical pain, every cancer, every injury, every product that is the result of the Fall – He bore it.
And then in the midst of it all – throughout the pain, the indignation, mockery, slaps, spit, lashes, three nails – He suffered separation from His Father which He had never experienced in all of eternity . . . as God, as Man . . .for us.
Ever feel like God has left you in a time when you seemed to need Him most?
Jesus experienced this too.
Prior to His passion, in an upper room, “Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’”
27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink ye all of it; (28) For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’”
Pray:
“So Lord, we gather unto you this day as believers in your name. And we remember you – and what you have done – for us – once and for all.
We thank you for your selfless life, your condescension, your love. And as believers, we remember YOU this day. Amen.”
Before us we have the elements Jesus told His disciples to remember Him by.
They are down here away from you, and require an act of your own volition to walk down here, to take them up, and to return to your seat to ingest them.
Nobody is saved as a group, as a couple, or as a family – your salvation is based on the relationship that exists between you and Jesus alone.
Therefore, take these elements into your person of your own free will, and when you are ready. Use this time to think about Him and your heart for Him.
We’ll take five minutes to mediate on His offering, His life, His death, and His person.
So please come down as you are so inclined.
(FIVE MINUTES HERE)
PRAYER
“We thank you Father God for your Son.
We praise Him, we praise you.”
Alright, so last week we left off with John the Baptist saying (to a man who was apparently attempting to stir up envy or strife between his ministry and the Lords) that . . .
John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
This brings us to verse 31 which we will read all the way through to the end of John 3.
Now this is of little consequence but we aren’t really sure if the person saying the words of the rest of the chapter are John the Baptist or John the Beloved.
I would suggest they are the words of John the Baptist and will teach it as though this is the case but some commentators disagree.
Anyway we look at it “a” John continues and says:
31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
So continuing on in his reply to the conflict presented him about Jesus and His disciples baptizing, John the Baptist says:
John 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
I believe these are the words of John the Baptist in reference to his ministry and what it was for as compared to the ministry of the LORD.
So he says, speaking of the Messiah and his superiority,
“He that cometh from above is above all.”
In other words you are coming to me with an apparent problem with the fact that Jesus is growing in popularity. Well. . .
“He that comes from above (Jesus) is above all (which includes me).
Then he adds something I think is telling, saying:
“he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.”
What I think the Baptist is doing is making a comparison between himself (“he that is of the earth is earthy, and talks about things of the earth” (like water baptism) but (speaking of Jesus now) “He that cometh from heaven is above all” – and I have no grounds to have any sort of beef with the growth of His ministry.
In our afternoon gatherings we have been studying Hebrews where the writer goes to no small means to show that Jesus is better (in rank, authority, and power) than
All prophets (Hebrews 1:1-2).
To all angels (Hebrews 1:4-14).
And all levitical priests.
Describing Jesus Ephesians 1:21 says He is:
“Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
The Baptist continues, speaking of Christ who came from on high, and says (verse 32):
32 And what He hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
This is an interesting passage because it intimates the idea that Jesus saw and heard things in His pre-incarnate state that He brought to earth to share.
That is a wild thought, isn’t it? John the beloved validates the premise when He said in John 1:18
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
(declared His make-up, identity, and words)
Jesus said in John 6:46
“Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.”
Again, the Lord said in John 5:19-20
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
I’m not certain how to interpret these sayings. I think we can easily conclude that Jesus has seen and heard the Father.
Was this in real time? Only when He prayed? A recollection of His life above before condescending to earth or in vision I don’t know.
Maybe as Jesus walked the earth He heard the Father speaking and could see His will plainly before Him. Can’t really say.
But again, what we CAN say is He heard and saw the Father and did what He had seen the Father do – which I would suggest was loving.
Jesus had seen and heard the Father (who is love) loving (which is a verb) and taking on flesh He too was only doing what He had seen the Father “do.”
Now, here’s the deal:
God does not lie neither is there any shadow or evil present with Him.
So what we have is the Father being love and undeviating truth.
From all these verses we know Jesus – who had heard and seen the Father operating in Truth and Love, coming to earth and operating by the same.
But notice John says in verse 32:
32 And what He hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
Though His doctrine is really quite plain, totally pure, ultimately sublime, few (no man is how the Baptist puts it, meaning few souls) received His testimony (or witness).
From this I think we can say that though multitudes came to him and were being drawn in to His ministry by various motives yet few became his real disciples, (Mt 26:56; 7:22).
We remember that in John 6 masses of people came to Him but Jesus called them out and told them they were only following Him to get bread.
And then we also recall that over the course of His ministry He was pretty much abandoned in the end by most.
This confirms the idea that few really understood what He was conveying to them – including His twelve.
We’ve talked about this before, but I am of the opinion that throughout Jesus ministry, He was bound, as a means to “do what He had seen the Father do first,” to operate by total truth and total love.
In and through Him and His life lives we are able to see what this means, how it looks and translates into everyday living.
As a result when approached with a question, which seems like is a simple question, we often read Him appealing to really difficult concepts and saying extremely complex things.
In Matthew you might recall that some Pharisees came to Him and asked to receive a sign and He said, in part:
(Matthew 12:42) “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”
SHREEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW- boom!
See, I don’t think He was at liberty in the (context of His ministry) to shoot the breeze and make small talk when teaching Man.
I think He only reflected who the Father was, what He had seen Him do, and what the will of the Father was in every situation.
I think these communications had to take ALL things into account when he spoke – every bit of information, every situation, every variable, from the beginning of time to the end of the age. And I think what He said was true had to be true for the early Christian Church and it has to remain true today in 2013 and beyond.
We kind of experience this when someone wants a simple answer to a multi-faceted problem that requires a huge and difficult explanation – maybe like a child asking us to explain how flipping a switch on the wall makes a clear bulb illuminate.
As a result, the Baptist says, when He shared what He was to called to share, it was not widely received nor understood.
John adds (and I think we could almost put a however here in from of verse 33)
However . . .
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
Isn’t that a beautiful statement?
Those who hear and/or in some manner truly receive his witness has, as John puts it, “Set to his or her seal” that God is True.
By the way, and just as an FYI which we’ve shared before, a testimony originates from the Latin word, Testis.
In reality, it best means “little witness’s” that a man is a man and according to lore the Romans, who worshipped manhood, would cupping his testicles and swearing an oath as to the validity of his witness or words.
In the early 18 hundreds religious groups related to the Quakers applied the word to religious witnessing of truth probably because the translators of the King James used the word testimony in their translation of the Bible.
But it is a poor word choice because it literally cannot apply to women. I mean, in the biblical sense of witnessing, we could as easily refer to witnessing to Ovarimonies as the ovarian are little witnesses that a human is female.
The Greek word which the King James translated into the Latin “Testimonium” is “marturia,” and can be applied to both sexes as it simply means, “witness” – as in I give my witness.
Anyway . . . back to the beauty of the verse –
33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
Anyone who has believed his doctrine, even though it is not always entirely clear, but has from the heart decide it to be of God . . .
“Hath set to his seal.”
Now looking to the Greek this means, “has placed it next to their own barking sea mammal . . . .? (Just seeing if you’re awake).
“To seal his seal” is an older way of saying,
“has certified.”
Ever buy a product and inside of it, like a new coat or something you’ll find a piece of paper that says something like,
“Inspected by 20115”
Same idea – “Those who have believed on His witness certify (before God) that He (God) is true.”
He came to reveal the invisible God and those who believe His witness (who receive the things He shares that He has seen and heard) certify that God is true.
That God is alathace (which is where we get the anglicanized word Alathea) . . . that God is true.
Alathace comes from two Greek terms
A
and
Lanthano
Lanthano means hidden, obscured, and ignorance
Put “A” before it and we have
Totally without ignorance, totally open, totally and completely revealed – alathace – TRUE.
When we believe on what Jesus reveals we certify that God is absolutely true.
Listen – and if true – wholly reliable.
And if wholly reliable, one we are willing to place all of our faith and trust upon!
Can you see the method established by God to reveal Himself to humankind?
The self-existing one of consuming fire created humanity and humanity fell into sin.
But God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son (the ONLY human that is from God in heaven directly – Jesus, God made flesh) that whosoever believeth on HIM (receives the things He revealed about the invisible God, things which He has personally seen and heard) certifies that from their heart, God on high is reliable, without shadow or darkness, perfect, clear, loving truth.
He will fulfill all that He has promised!
This is walking by faith!
From this I think we can see a number of vital things about faith.
First, it is all on Him who was sent to reveal the invisible God. What He taught, what He said, what He did – do we receive and believe it?
Such believing is much much more than, “yeah, I believe it.” But it is more like:
“My Lord, and My God – I trust you.”
We can also see that the belief is NOT established in a vacuum. It is to be inspected, investigated, and certified.
I would recommend testing it, trying it out, pulling at its seams, and inspecting its claims.
God has NOT – NOT established Himself in blind faith, contrary to what atheists maintain and what religious charlatans might suggest you embrace.
He has constantly revealed Himself through ample material and immaterial manifestations. And He has cried out to the world – examine me!
And just like a garment checker who’s job it is to certify that a new jacket is wearable and properly constructed, so are we to certify that Jesus witness of Him is reliable.
He has given all of humanity a number of means to bring us to this ultimate end.
He God manifests Himself in the human conscience – He has placed a witness of Himself in every human being, therefore, Romans says, we are all without excuse.
Check your conscience – test it, see what it cries out and witnesses about God – and test it against what Jesus said.
God has established Himself in the cosmos – in the stars, in nature – in every galaxy, every fingerprint, every grain of sand.
Examine them, test them – think, seek – they were created by Him.
God has written His word in stone – ten commandments – see what Jesus says about them relative to truth. Test His witness of them – especially in Matthew 5-7.
He has revealed Himself by and through His written word – test it, challenge it, certify it to be true or false.
Look at the prophecies that witness Him – of His coming, His life, His death, and His finished work. Look at the history, the manuscript evidence – certify that it is worthy to trust and follow.
All of this is give by the invisible God to bring all people ultimately to His Son who in turn reveals the Father, and His will, and promises.
Ultimately we come to certify, not just passively believe, but certify, that God is without shadow, that He is perfect truth, without shadow or malformation.
By and through these means, God takes people like us, who were once shrouded in a faithless dark, and brings us to His Light.
And being citizens of the light of truth and free from the shadows and lies of this fallen world, we are placed in a genuine position to share Him with others, so they too will get to the point where they will certify that God is true.
Like the God of Light, like you and I as believers in Him, they too will then become salt and light to a world that does not, that cannot see Him for who He is.
Now at verse 34, John continues by returning to the subject of Jesus, who is the focal point of all of this, and says:
34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God (this we have covered): for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
There are several things to consider about this line in our growing understanding of Jesus, the mediator between Holy Invisible God and Fallen Man.
First (and this remains a troubling concept for some to comprehend) but first, Jesus, while God in the Spirit (“Emmanuel meaning God with us”) He inhabited flesh.
And as such He had to learn like every human being learns.
Did He have to learn the things of God? No. He was fully God. He was pure light and truth and without any shadow, meaning there was nothing that was not known or clear to Him that exists in the metaphysical world of light.
All knowledge, all insight, all wisdom, all everything.
In the Old Covenant, God would inspire prophets, and the Holy Spirit would fall upon them, and they were provided partial truths – many of which they could not have possibly understood.
But in His Son Jesus was complete, at birth, in His deity.
Again, there was no eternal truth He had to learn neither was there anything that any man could teach Him regarding the Invisible God for the Invisible God was inside His person.
In the first chapter of John (verse 16) we read of Jesus:
“And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
Colossians 1:19 says:
“For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell.”
Remember the emphasis on “in Him.”
Because outside of Him, his fleshly shell, his beating heart, his lungs, his nerve endings, his desires brought on by material chemicals, hormones, influences, upbringing –was Man.
Exactly what we are in every way.
And so when He came to earth, the only one to come from above, and took on humanity, flesh, our Lord experienced a thirthy-three year adjustment period.
He had to learn how to be a man, how to related to God as a man, how to rely upon His power and strength to overcome what His flesh was crying out to do.
Hebrews chapter five gives us some absolutely overwhelming insight into our King.
Hebrews 5:7-9 says, speaking of Jesus:
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”
That line, “being made perfect” does NOT mean He came to earth and possessed a state of human completion, but that He learned step by step, day after day, how to constantly turn His flesh and it’s will over to the Father.
What did this look like, if we could step into the life of Jesus? The writer of Hebrews tells us, saying:
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.”
I don’t know about you, but these verses give me a tremendous understanding and gratitude for our King.
That even though He was the Son of God, complete in Spirit, the will of His flesh truly tortured and tried Him.
And it was through prayers and supplications that were accompanied by strong crying and tears that God was able to saved Him from death through the fact that He genuinely possessed Godly fear and devotion.
Now, most scholars believe that the Hebrew passage that talks about His strong crying and tears relating to Gethsemane. This is certainly true.
But I would also suggest that contextually speaking, this also speaks of the life of Jesus learning to overcome His flesh and how He did it.
I would suggest that we are blessed with a picture of how we too, learn to overcome the wiles and ways of our flesh – we appeal to the things of the Spirit.
Notice that we do not read Jesus “doing” things of the flesh as a means to overcome the trials and temptation of the flesh, but instead of looking around Him for solutions, He looked up – to His Father – even to the point of strongly crying and great supplications.
How exactly did Jesus, as a teenager, when other boys were going to sneak off and do some dastardly deeds, resist the temptation to join in the supposed fun?
I would suggest that while everyone else was following the flesh, He was making strong crying and supplication to His Father for strength.
And by and through a fear of failure, of sin, He earnestly prayed tearfully for support – and hearing His heartfelt cries, he was lead through the temptation.
Thank you Lord for your dedication and love for God and Man that you resisted when we have not.
I have long maintained that the greatest from the highest of highs has saved me, the worst from the lowest of lows.
I mean this. He truly feared God and failure. I never have – and He has saved a wretch like me.
We end chapter 3 with the Baptist being quoted as saying, witnessing, testifying that
35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
Why? Because as Man, becoming Man, He, out of love for God and Man, overcame all things. And loving Him has placed everything – in heaven, on earth, and beneath the earth – into His hands.
And we wrap the chapter up with a reiteration of the message Jesus gave to Nicodemus
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
We live in an age when many people –good people by world standards – lay claim to believing in God.
Many of them – and I mean the majority –
Claim to believe in God but not Jesusw.
This will never do – ever.
Redemption comes ONLY by and through genuine belief on the Son, who coming from above, condescended below all things, revealed the invisible unapproachable God of fire, taught what He had seen the Father say and do, lived a perfectly submitted life, then shed His life’s blood willingly on behalf of a fallen, undeserving world.
Salvation without an ardent, abiding faith on the Son?
Absolutely impossible for anyone, anytime, anywhere.
Next week we are going to touch on the wrath of God before moving into John chapter 4.
QUESTIONS / COMMENTS
PRAYER
MONDAY NIGHT – NO
THURSDAY NIGHT – NO
