John
5:30-37
The Father
Witnesses To The Son
John 5:30-37 MKJV
I can do nothing of My own self. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment
is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who has
sent Me. (31) If I bear witness of
Myself, My witness is not true. (32)
There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He
witnesses of Me is true. (33) You sent
to John, and he bore witness to the truth.
(34) But I do not receive testimony from man, but these things I say so
that you might be saved. (35) He was a
burning and shining light, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his
light. (36) But I have greater witness
than that of John, for the works which the Father has given Me that I should
finish them, the works which I do themselves witness of Me, that the Father has
sent Me. (37) And He sending Me, the
Father Himself, has borne witness of Me. Neither have you heard His voice at
any time nor seen His shape.
Jesus
says that three things bore clear witness to Him – John the Baptist (John
5:33-35), His miracles (John 5:36) and the Father (John 5:37) so there was no
need for Jesus to bear witness to Himself, which would have seemed to be
invalid (John 5:30-32). Yet even with a great prophet testifying to Jesus, and
great miracles showing plainly that He was different, and the Father’s
testimony at His baptism (as well as in nature and the Scriptures) they did not
believe.
Jesus
also says some fascinating things about His relationship with the Father:
1.
That He can do nothing by Himself. (v. 30)
2.
That He does not seek His own will but the will of the Father. (v.
30)
3.
That the Father has given works to Jesus to perform and He wishes
to finish them. (v. 36)
4.
That the Father sent Jesus. (v. 36,37)
5.
That the Father has borne witness of Jesus. (v. 37)
These
five things apply to all of us in ministry. We can do nothing without Christ
but must abide in Him (John 15), we are not to seek our own will and interests
but the interests of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:21), we have good works given
us to do (Ephesians 2:10) and we should finish them (2 Corinthians 8:11, 2
Timothy 4:7, James 2:22) and we are sent by God into the harvest (Matthew
9:37,38) and so He will validate us and our ministry (Matthew 10:19,20; Luke
21:12-15; Isaiah 54:17).
Each of
these five points has profound consequences for the Christian life. In total
they mean that as we subsume our will to the will of the Father, then we do the
works He wants us to do, and which He sent us to do, and then He bears witness
to us and through us.
Thus we
must start by “doing nothing” – except that which we see in Christ. Christ is
the template and we are to follow the author and perfecter of our faith
(Hebrews 12:2) and by abiding in Him bear much fruit (John 15).
It is the
surrender of our will to God’s will that bears much fruit. That is not to say
that we become passive, the apostles were active, vigorous strong and definite.
But it was an activity that flowed from abiding in Christ.
We are
not on Earth to become great, climb the social ladder or even change the world.
Rather we are here to do the works that God has given us to do – which may well
be looking after a disabled child. God sets the agenda; in fact, God has
already set the agenda.
Ephesians 2:10 MKJV
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which
God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
Therefore
submitting to God’s will, means taking on God’s agenda and doing those good
works that He has drawn up for us to do.
John the
Baptist fulfilled the good works that God had planned for him, as a burning and
shining light, and a national revival of joy ensued (John 5:35) but still the
religious establishment did not believe his witness, and so with Christ. We are
to do our works, even if they do not get the anticipated result. If we preach
the truth and others do not listen, it is not our fault.
In the
case of the Pharisees the fault lay in the heart of the hearers, which was dull
and unable to perceive God (John 5:37).
God was
giving clear testimony to Jesus – through John the Baptist, through the
powerful works, and directly from Himself. Any person with even basic spiritual
perception would have picked up that Jesus was the Messiah. But they were niggling
about legalities and “witnesses” and ecclesiastical recognition. Jesus was not
recognized by them and their system of giving honor to man (John 5:44)
therefore, they thought He was not “valid”.
But it is
not man that ultimately validates a ministry but God and God was doing so with
signs and wonders and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and the lame
man, healed by the pool, was evidence of that (see the beginning of John 5).
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