Honor the Father
For the Lord’s Day:  the 25^th of July 2004

John: 5: 19-24

Introduction:  As we consider the last portion of this chapter, it seems wise to divide the contents between two general divisions.  In verses nineteen through twenty-nine we are encouraged to honor both the Father and the Son, and then from verse thirty to the end we are charged to listen to the several witnesses: the Baptist, the Father, the Word and Moses in this regard of Christ’s true person and calling.  In our English Standard Version, the heading for this first section mentioned is entitled “The Authority of the Son” and the second section agrees specifically with our assessment:  “Witnesses to Jesus.”

Of particular concern today is the first encouragement outlined carefully by our Lord Jesus Christ.  And that is His insistence that we must honor the Father who has arranged before time for the coming and immediate presence of the Son:  Jesus Christ.  We begin our survey with verse nineteen:  “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.  For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”

Calvin tells us in no uncertain terms that while the Jewish suspicions of Christ’s claim to deity are certainly true, nevertheless “they must fight with God himself, if they persist in condemning what necessarily be ascribed to him.”  In other words, Jesus is telling the leaders of the Jewish Church that they have indeed understood His announcement and claims correctly!  In this understanding they prove themselves more circumspect than the disciples themselves.  Again, Calvin reinforces this verdict where he observes “the whole discourse must be referred to this contrast, that they ere … who think that they have to do with a mortal man, when they accuse Christ of works which are truly divine.  This is his reason for affirming so strongly that in this work, there is no difference between him and his Father.”

More simply put, Craig Keener writes that “Jesus seeks to qualify their understanding of his relationship to the Father; far from usurping God’s honor, Jesus acts only on the Father’s authority and in conjunction with his will.”  Years ago, when the liberal church was debating my future in the ministry – the worst accusation they could come up with was that I believed the scriptures to be true, and specifically that Isaiah wrote the whole of his prophecy.  They certainly hit the nail on the head and I could not and would not deny that accusation of historic biblical orthodoxy.  My friends and I were surprised that anyone in Christ’s Church could be offended with that position.

Are we surprised at the accusation of the Old Covenant Church leadership in this chapter of John’s Glorious Gospel?  In effect – the leaders of the Sanhedrin are saying to Jesus that He sounds like He is claiming equality with God Himself.  And the purpose of our text today is to affirm just that!  And in doing so, He is telling the spiritual leaders of Israel that while they may disapprove, disagree and howl about blasphemy - He will affirm especially that He must and will honor the Father: even as all who find themselves in Christ’s kingdom must also affirm:: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, indeed the very person of God incarnate in the flesh.

Development:  Now, this affirmation of “equality” contains several statements regarding Christ’s honoring of His Father, thereby further alienating the Sanhedrin from considering His cause and person.  We may enumerate these inflammatory statements in a short outline of verses nineteen through twenty-two.

1.        The Father and the Son work together …
2.        The Father loves the Son …
3.        The Father works in and through the Son …
4.        The Father and the Son raise up the dead and give them life …
5.        The Father shares His honor with the Son by appointing the Son judge …

We as Christians of course realize better than the team of accusers that just as John reports the words of Christ:  “I and the Father are one.”  (John 10: 30).  And therefore our hearts are open to instruction and the Spirit compels us to accept the doctrinal statements which through the power and grace of God in Christ give us salvation: now and forever.  You see, it is not only the experience of God’s people, but also a fact of biblical doctrine that Jesus and the Father are one in their love, mercy, grace and purpose.  Let us take these five statements in verses nineteen through twenty-two seriously as we read and comprehend their teachings

1.  First is the fact that wherever the Father is at work, so also is the Son of God: “Whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”  Time was, when young men grew up where their father’s worked day by day, in the fields, the shops and stores.  I was particularly fortunate to share my summers with my sons, making hay, working with sheep and cattle and making the rounds of half a dozen yards to keep in trim.  I was always there within earshot when they were working the mowers and trimmer.  One of our employers said she felt like she should pay for the labor of two people when it came to the care of her yard and grounds.  I always insisted that it was the boys who should profit because I was putting them forward in my place instead of taking the credit and money myself.  And yet, I made the necessary decisions that would keep our clients happy and as time went on they were able to pick up the skills and methods to accomplish the same goal.  One of the boys was hired by a farmer to clean up the weeks of his fence line, and when he offered to pay the minimum wage, my son objected because he was a seasoned adult in his habits and work ethic.  Minimum wage was for those who had not yet learned to work on their won.  He won his case, especially since he was providing his own tools and needed the higher wage to maintain and fuel them.

Now, I know my example is worldly and pithy in comparison to the statement of Christ.  What he means is something my son could never claim.  Jesus was saying here that because of their “equality” that which One person of the deity does – so is the Other involved equally in the same task.

2.  In the next verse, the twentieth Jesus tells us of the great love of the Father for His only Son:  “the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing”.  It is by this title that Christ is distinguished both from angels and from men:  “This is my beloved Son.” (Matthew 3: 17)  Calvin notes that “Christ is loved by the Father, as he is the Head of the Church.  He shows that this love is the cause why the Father does all things by his hand.”

Down through the centuries, before corporate socialism became the normative means of doing business, fathers regularly passed the family enterprises along to their children.  And young men might take an apprenticeship with their fathers if they be prosperous, or a less successful father might go out of his way to place his son with another who could teach him a better trade than he was able.  Countless scholarships were laid up in colleges across the land so that childless fathers might encourage others to become successful through the acquisition of an education.  I remember reading on a bottle of soy sauce that the family whose recipe it was had been in business since the thirteenth century and passed along from one generation to another over all those years.  Again, at a much higher level, the Father entrusts the Son with honors associated with His Name and works through the Son to achieve all things.

3.  In the last part of verse twenty we read about the agency of Christ in accomplishing the work of His Father:  “And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.”  Jesus’ statement here to the Jewish leaders mocks their consternation about a mere healing on a Sabbath and in Calvin’s words: “thereby indirectly charges them with ingratitude in despising so illustrious a demonstration of the power of God.”  Of course, we all in the Christian community know where the work of Christ is headed, and as the scriptures tell us, even the angels long to look into these matters regarding salvation and the raising of the spiritually dead.  Thus, the greater work of the Messiah is the accomplished salvation of His own church, the very bride of Christ.  Like the angels, the worldly leaders of Jesus’ time should have wondered and marveled at what Christ intended to do.  But, they were dull of hearing, and blind at seeing the great power of God in Christ.  And so they shake their sorry heads and walk away from the Redeemer of God’s people.

4.  In verse twenty-one Calvin notes that we should understand the “summary view of the nature of the office which had been given [to Jesus] by the Father.”  And that is the power over life and death.  “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.”  And further we read, this resurrection and life is applied only to those whom the Father gives to the Son.  Several times over my various careers, I have gone to an employment agency for help in finding a part-time job.  They of course did not finally make the decision to hire, but without their intercession certain jobs cannot be known about or even approached by the average person.

Certainly, this is a poor example of the work of Christ on our behalf when it comes to the new birth, but still, even as we read earlier, both the Father and the Son are engaged in the work of Salvation through the power of the Holy Spirit.  And it is this triune complexity that calls forth the deep appreciation that ought to be ours for the work of the great Three-in-One.  Now we want to be careful here and not distinguish to literally any division of labor.  Social scientists have certainly demeaned the labor of skilled craftsmen over the centuries with the cheapening trend of every assembly line to bring the maximum number of products to the consumer for the lowest common denominator.  My sons were recently complaining about the toy tractors now available – they are no longer made of metal that will last for generations, but of plastic which becomes brittle over time.  I remember years ago, when I could not afford metal military miniatures and went for the cheaper plastic – those that have survived their years in storage are brittle and will fall apart at the slightest touch!  Such is the work of mere men in every regard, only the very presence of God in Christ made His work permanent and for all time, precisely because He had the powers of heaven at His disposal and thus could act in a sovereign manner His people to save!

5.  Verse twenty-two finishes our discussion of Christ’s honoring the Father in and through the final judgment.  “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.”  Calvin asserts that Jesus here “states more clearly the general truth, that the Father governs the world in the person of the Son, and exercises dominion by his hand.”  The importance of the person of Christ in this regard, is that God was revealed to mankind in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  It was presumed by many that Joseph was His father, but the scriptures make it clear that the paternity of Christ came from heaven.  And even as we often speak of the New Administration of Jesus Christ, so may we understand where scripture was pointing even from the beginning that all of the Father’s work is centered in the person of Jesus Christ simply because the Son came down from heaven and lived in our midst to show us in and through His own person: the person of God.

Again Calvin summarizes the doctrine before us:  “Whenever the inquiry relates to the government of the world, to our own condition, to the heavenly guardianship of our salvation, let us learn to direct our eyes to Christ alone, as all power is committed to him.”  The centrality of Christ is always a good answer to every spiritual question.  I remember a bumper sticker from the sixties that read simply:  “Whatever your question: the answer is Jesus Christ.”  Amen to that declaration.

Application:  Now our reading of verse twenty-two and indeed all the rest: would be incomplete without the last two verses before us today.  In fact, if we would consider the five statements which we have reviewed as questions to be considered, then the last two verses must be considered as the final answer to all questions regarding the honor of the Father Himself. 

“That all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.  Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.  He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

The Jews of Jesus’ time did indeed believe in the Fatherhood of God.  This had been their heritage since the patriarchal period.  However, far too many of the Old Covenant sons and daughters were unable to honor the Father by believing in Christ and thereby they lost not only their real spiritual heritage, but heaven and eternity as well.  They never came into the citizenship of the heavenly country, into the community of Christ’s eternal church.  John tells us the same thing later in one of his three letters to the churches: “No one who denies the Son has the Father.  Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 2: 23)

This is the witness of Christ to the Old Covenant leaders in His day.  It is still His message today for any and every church which would claim kinship within the family of God.  All too many churches take this doctrine of “equality” with the Father as difficult to comprehend at the very least, or inconvenient to the humanizing trend that is all too apparent in so many places.  The work of Satan is well noted whenever any so called “spiritual organization” recognizes the person of Jesus as just another holy man in a long list of prophetic characters spread all across the globe in every religion imaginable.  Yes, the worldly would prefer a more human Jesus than the gospels describe – that way, if He is only a man: he may safely be ignored.  However, in the person of Christ the awesome eternal Godhead has made Himself manifest and no person can dare to ignore the reality of the Gospel – that Jesus Christ is the person of God revealed to the world.  Him we must not only adore and worship, but also serve as long as life shall last.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES 

Calvin, John:  Commentary on the Gospel of John.
Keener, Craig S.  The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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