Pastor's Corner: WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

  God’s Witness to the Truth, Part 2 John 5:39-47 Introduction: Remember where we started in this chapter. Jesus was in Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews, and He healed a man who had been lame for 38 years.   The miracle is another sign, revealing the glory of Messiah Jesus, the Son of God. It also encourages us that He is able to meet our deepest need. We too should look to Jesus with hope, fully experiencing the life He is offering us. The reaction of the leaders to that sign continues the language of a courtroom.   As Jesus responds to their accusations against Him, He turns the tables and it is the leaders who are on trial, and their guilt is revealed by their unbelief.   Jesus is uniquely the Son of God; as such He is the Lord of Life and the coming Judge .   Jesus was not simply unilaterally claiming to be the Messiah and Son of God.   God had given through Moses a principle for judging testimony: “ By the mouth of two or three witnesses let ev...

  God’s Witness to the Truth, Part 1 John 5:30-38 Introduction: Remember the context. It was a question of authority. Who did Jesus think He was? He had healed a man who had been lame for 38 years in the first part of this chapter and then told him to take up his mat and walk. On the sabbath. That miracle was another sign, revealing the glory of Messiah Jesus, the Son of God.   The reaction of the leaders to the sign evokes the language of a courtroom. As Jesus responds to their accusations against Him the opposition intensified when He said, “ My Father is working until now, and I am working ” (17) . To the leaders, that was blasphemy: He was calling God His own Father, making himself equal with God ! Jesus turns the tables, announcing He is doing the Father’s will, and everyone will be judged on the basis of their response to Him. Suddenly, it’s the leaders who are on trial, their guilt being revealed by their unbelief. Truth: Jesus is uniquely the Son of God; as such ...

  JESUS: The Resurrection and the Life! John 5:24-29 Introduction: Yogi Berra had some memorable one-liners, I think one thing he said was that “It is a difficult thing to prophesy, especially about the future.” When I was a new Christian (back in the late 70s) it seemed that Prophecy Conferences were all the rage. Everyone was excited about God’s plan for the future, and a lot of preachers had worked out in great detail their understanding of how future events were going to unfold. Almost every decade had someone arguing that the signs of the times were so clear that the rapture could not be too far off. Well, it is certainly true that when they said that, the return of Christ is nearer than it ever had been! The same is true today, and we are closer than they were. Jesus is returning, and it could be soon! We can acknowledge the signs of the times, we can hear the distant thunder, but the truth is we don’t know God’s timetable . As Jesus himself said to His disciples, “ It is...

  Jesus, the Son of God, God the Son John 5:16-24 Introduction:   How many of you have ever served on jury duty? I have a brother who is an attorney, and he would echo the old saying that anyone who would act as his own attorney in court has a fool for a client. (Of course, since he is a lawyer, he is probably not impartial!). If someone who takes up his own defense in court is a fool, what would we say about someone who would bring charges against the Judge of the universe? John’s gospel uses the language of the courtroom in several key passages, including this section of John 5.  Ironically, the trial is going on at two levels. Though this is not a formal “trial” by any means, the language of the courtroom is used as the Jewish Leadership “persecutes” Jesus. They see themselves as the prosecution and “bring charges” against Jesus. And, at one level Jesus, in His response, sets forth His defense. The phrase “Jesus answered them” in v.17 and v.19 is phrased in a way that ...