The Perfect Father-Son Relationship Series

The Perfect Father-Son Relationship

John 5:16-29

Fathers. We all have one. For some, father was a no show. He wasn't there. He gave his DNA, but that was all. For others, father was there, but they wished that he wasn't. He may have been abusive or unpleasant. Others had good fathers. When they think about their fathers, they have nothing but fond memories.

No matter what kind of father we had, there is a model father-son relationship for us to look at, Father God and His Son, Jesus. We usually don't think about their relationship. We just think that they both are God. They are one. But they were father and son. And they did have a father-son relationship. Jesus tells about it in this passage. In fact, He says a lot about it. We can say that it was a perfect father-son relationship.

For those who want to become better fathers and for those who want to become better children, we will look at what Jesus said about His relationship with His Father and pull out some father-son tips for you.

Now I am saying father-son, but this also applies to a father-daughter relationship. And if there is no father, they also apply to the mother-child relationship. So just know that. If father or son does not fit for your situation, insert what does.

1. The Father and Son Work Together

John 5:16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.

What Jesus was doing on the Sabbath was healing. In this case, He told the lame man who was laying beside the Bethesda pool to get up, pick up his mattress, and walk. Certain Jews considered healing and especially carrying a mattress or any heavy object to be work. It wasn't, but.... Work was forbidden on the Sabbath. That's the problem here.

John 5:17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”

John 5:18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

The Father and the Son were working together. That's what Jesus said here. You would think that once Jesus came to earth, that the Father would stop working and let the Son do it all, or that the Son would come to this earth, lounge around, and let His Father do all the work. He is God. But the Father was working and the Son was working. They worked together.

My dad did not do this. Growing up, my dad did all the work. He went to work at 8 in the morning. He came home at 5. I didn't even know what he did there. It wasn't until I was an adult that I knew what an engineer did. When he came home, he worked on different projects, but us kids were never a part of it. He didn't want to be bothered by us.

There was a time when I had checked out one volume of the Popular Science Do-It-Yourself Encyclopedia from my elementary school library. I was paging through it at home. I liked to look at the pictures and dream about building the projects in it. I was looking at some different motor projects. My dad saw me and said, “We can make one of them. It will be a father-son project.” I was excited. This would be fun. We went out in the garage. My dad got the materials out, cut out the parts, put it together, and worked on getting it to work. I just watched.

That was how my dad worked. He worked. We did something else.

In the perfect father-son relationship the father and son each work. They work together.

To you fathers who are raising children, it takes patience on your part to teach your child how to do something. It is harder to let him do it and maybe mess up. But that is how you get to eventually working together. Don't get mad. Be kind. Eventually, your child will figure it out. Then you can work together. Share your work with your children.

2. The Son Only Does What He Sees The Father Do

John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, 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.

John 5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

The Son can do nothing by himself. He can only do what He sees His Father do. The Son watches the Father and does what He does. This is what Jesus said. It is about Him and His Father, Father God. It is also true of us.