Jesus' Game Plan
Read John 5 - from the Message
So Jesus explained himself at length. "I'm telling you this straight. The Son can't independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.
"But you haven't seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father's decision to put the Son in the place of honor.
"It's urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.
"It's urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment.
"Don't act so surprised at all this. The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice. Those who have lived the right way will walk out into a resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection Judgment.
"I can't do a solitary thing on my own: I listen, then I decide. You can trust my decision because I'm not out to get my own way but only to carry out orders. If I were simply speaking on my own account, it would be an empty, self-serving witness.
Runaway Sabbath
recap Sabbath had overtaken its purpose
Jesus' capital crimes
- Breaking the Sabbath
- Calling God His Father (making himself equal with God)
Our Father vs. My Father
Did God keep his own laws?
My father is always at work - and I am working. We believe in the Providence of God - God's continual care of creation -
Now He teams with us
Father works on the Sabbath, in a big way -
Knowing the Father requires relationship
Father & Son - not one born first but both deeply in love - Mutual Admiration Society
Jesus is God - but on earth He limited His perspective to what He saw the Father doing.
Submission to Father not distasteful
- Son does nothing on His own
- Father withholds nothing from the Son
- Father invites the son in on 3 Amazing things
1. ACTION - same works with same motivations and same manner and results
Even more amazing - Jesus tells us we will be invited to join Him in this work
John 14:12-13 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
2. POWER TO GIVE LIFE - Vs. 24 - whoever hears, whoever believes - in God who sent me has passed from death to life
Think of how John must have been raised, from Boanerges - sit on right and left - to humble apostle
And we are invited to offer life - healing to our world
MK 16:15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
3. AUTHORITY TO JUDGE two kinds of resurrection - life and judgment
Father judges no one - so quit doing it yourself
Entrusted all judgment to the Son
Difference between judge and condemn. Jesus didn't come here to condemn but to rescue and save. Will you let Him do that? Those who won't are judged already
RO 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done." 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
Warning about judgment must be in context of the gift of grace - that God has taken care of the sin problem - we are off the hook if we but believe!
2 Cor. 5:16-21 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Next Step
Have you crossed from death to life - hear and believe
How does Jesus know what to do from day to day?
Jesus only does what His Father does - simple life - wouldn't you love that simple life?
For me to see what the Father is doing - I need to look to Jesus
Ian and Will story?
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