The Son of God

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Jesus uniquely claimed to be the Son of God – an outrageous and blasphemous claim if it couldn’t be backed up. Yet this week we’ll see how Jesus’ works demonstrated the unity he shared with the Father as his Son. Not only this, we’ll also celebrate that by the greatest of his works – his death and resurrection – we too are securely united to the Father as his children.

Notes
Transcript

Introduction – Talk is Cheap

Like many of you, I often listen to podcasts throughout the week. And one of the podcasts I listen to is the Hamish and Andy Podcast. Among the many reoccurring segments on their show is one called ‘Special Skills’. The idea behind the ‘Special Skills’ segment is for listeners who claim to have a unique talent to write into the show.
And because the special skills are often quite particular and unusual, Hamish and Andy come up with a test to find out whether the person has the special skill or they’re spreading misinformation.
Some of the special skills that they’ve recently tested include a man who used to work at a bank and claimed that he could distinguish $20 notes from other bank notes by smell. Another was a KFC worker who had been flicking leftover chicken drumsticks in the bin at work and claimed to have never missed for 5 years.
And as I’m sure you can imagine, some people come on the podcast and showcase their special skill and they’re celebrated, while others bomb out miserably and must immediately cease claiming that they have this special skill.
Whilst being a lot of fun and goofy in that uniquely Hamish and Andy way, the idea behind the segment is relatable to all of us. And that idea is… it’s easy to say something, it’s another thing to back it up with actions. It’s the idea behind the catchphrase, talk is cheap, actions are expensive.
And that idea is part of what we will be talking about today in the second of our “Jesus the Son of dot dot dot” series. Last week we looked at Jesus as the Son of Man and today we will dive into what it means for Jesus to be the Son of God.
Because this claim – to be the Son of God – is outrageous and blasphemous if it can’t be backed up. Yet what I hope to show you today is that Jesus doesn’t just claim to be the Son of God with his words, but with his works which demonstrate the unity he shares with the Father as his Son.
(p) So then, to outline where we’ll be headed in the next 20 minutes or so. We’ll first spend some time putting on our first-century ears – getting an understanding of the context for today’s passage from the Gospel of John. Next, we’ll consider both the Unique as well as the United Relationship between the Father and the Son.
We will then conclude with a focus on the works of the Son; works that testify to his Sonship as well as his greatest work that makes us sons and daughters of the Father.
Having outlined where we’ll be going, let’s get stuck in. Let’s put on our first-century ears.

Teaching Point 1 – Putting on our first-century ears (Jn 10:22-24)

Speaking generally, first-century Jewish people had a healthy reverence for their holy God. A healthy reverence for their holy God. What I mean by this is that they took the 3rd commandment – You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God – very seriously. Indeed they took this commandment so seriously that they avoided using the name of the LORD altogether. Instead, they preferred to address God by the title Adonai, meaning Lord or Master.
To illustrate this point, from historical records we know that the prayers of Jewish people in the first century began in this way “Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe.”
Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with beginning a prayer like that. In fact, exalting God as Lord and King of the universe and so humbling yourself before him, that’s a great way to begin a prayer.
Yet I’m bringing this to our attention to highlight that because of this healthy reverence for their holy God, the Jewish people of the first century had little to no concept of God as Father.
Rather than relating to God as Father and understanding themselves as the children of God, the Jewish people of the first century instead understood themselves as the children of Abraham. They collectively were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so were the inheritors of the promises God had made to them.
The restoration of Zacchaeus the tax collector in Luke chapter 19 illustrates this point. After Zacchaeus receives Jesus’ invitation to stay at his house and repents of his sins of greed and dishonesty, Jesus says to him:
“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”
(p) So then, having a healthy reverence for God as Lord and King and understanding the Jewish people as the children of Abraham is the first thing we pick up from putting on our first-century ears. The second thing we can pick up comes from the context provided at the beginning of today’s reading from the Gospel of John chapter 10. Reading from verse 22:
“Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.”
The Jewish calendar included several different festivals. In Leviticus chapter 23, God appoints the Sabbath, the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, the Festival of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Tabernacles as sacred assemblies for his people to observe. Yet you’ll notice, the Festival of Dedication, also called Hanukkah, was not on that list.
That is because it was a much newer festival. Following the death of Alexander the Great, his vast empire was divided up among his four generals. Eventually, it was the Seleucids of Syria who ruled over the region of Judea. Then in 167 B.C., the ruler Antiochus Epiphanes IV tried to eradicate Jewish culture and force Greek culture upon the Jews.
This included desecrating the Temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing a pig to the god Jupiter on the altar. In response, a group of pious Jews called the Maccabees revolted against Antiochus and in 164 B.C. they recaptured the Temple and rededicated it to the worship of Yahweh. This is the event that the Festival of Dedication commemorates.
Now why is this an important detail for John to record in his Gospel and an important detail for us to know? Well, this detail sets the stage and adds dramatic weight to the encounter between Jesus and the Jewish authorities that follows.
Because although the Romans respected the temple precincts – the very place where Jesus now is – and they allowed the Jews freedom of worship, this festival was a reminder that the political independence gained under the Maccabees was no longer a reality.
The Romans would have been aware of this and been on high alert for any attempts at regaining that independence. Security would have been beefed up. Patrols would have doubled. Any hint of someone claiming to lead a revolution – such as someone claiming to be the Christ – would need to be squashed out immediately.
It's for this reason then that in verse 24, the Jewish authorities gather around Jesus in the temple courts and ask him: “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
See how this question does not come from a place of genuine interest but rather is an attempt to get Jesus to say something that would bring the might of Rome down upon him.
Having now done the hard yards of putting on our first-century ears to understand the background and the tension of this confrontation, let’s turn our attention to Jesus’ response. His response shows us the unique and the united relationship between the Father and the Son.

Teaching Point 2.A – The Father and the Son: A Unique Relationship

As he so often masterfully does, Jesus answers the question whilst at the same time avoiding the trap set by his opponents. Jesus answers “I did tell you, but you do not believe.
Jesus goes on to speak of my Father or the Father five times in the following eight verses. If you were to read the whole Gospel of John, you would notice that the relationship between God the Father and Jesus the Son is a huge point of emphasis. In John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of the Father or my Father 120 times, more than the other three Gospels combined.
No one else speaks of God as Father like this. Our first-century ears told us that the Jewish understanding of God was as Lord and King, certainly not as Father. Yet it is the prerogative of Jesus to address God as Father, and speak of God in this way, because no one else has that distinctive and particular relationship to God as his Son.
To illustrate this concept of a distinctive relationship in our context, consider a husband and wife. I’m sure Liz and I did this at the reception on our wedding day, and I’ve seen other couples do this too, maybe you are one of them.
With a big smile and perhaps a bit of a giggle, you refer to your spouse as ‘my wife’ or ‘my husband’ for the first time. And you say it excitedly because you now have that distinctive relationship with them that no one else has.
And likewise, as the only begotten Son, it is only Jesus who can speak of God as my Father. This is the unique relationship between Father and Son.

Teaching Point 2.B – The Father and the Son: A United Relationship

(P) Not only do the Father and the Son have a unique relationship, they also have a united relationship. In verse 30 Jesus says: “I and the Father are one.”
I and the Father are one – that’s a huge claim! To utter this just once is substantial, yet Jesus goes on to repeat the claim a few verses later in verse 38. He again affirms the unity between the Father and the Son in chapter 14 verse 11 and chapter 17 verses 11 and 22.
And so, if it’s a lie, it’s a terrible and blasphemous claim to repeatedly make about both himself as well as God. Yet if it’s true, it’s paradigm-shifting.
The belief in only one God was and is one of the foundations of Judaism. The Jews affirmed their monotheistic belief every day by praying the Shema from the book of Deuteronomy which says: “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” Now Jesus says “I and the Father are one.” It’s a huge claim!
We can see from the reaction of Jesus’ opponents in verses 31 to 33 that they understood the gravity of Jesus’ words. In their eyes, Jesus, a man, was not just claiming to have a unique relationship with God, he was also claiming to be God.
This much is clear in verse 33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
This response shows that they had accurately discerned the meaning of what Jesus was saying. What they did not stop to consider was whether or not it was true.
And to this point, Jesus says look at my works, look at my actions. From verse 26: “The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me”. Jesus’ works are works that testify to the truth of his united relationship with God the Father.

Teaching Point 2.C – The Father and the Son: Works that Testify

(p) Just as the relationship between the Father and the Son is a huge point of emphasis in John’s Gospel, so too are the testifying works of the Son a recurring theme in the book of John.
Jesus’ first work in John’s Gospel is the healing of the man paralysed for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda in chapter 5. When the Jewish authorities persecute Jesus because this healing occurs on the Sabbath, Jesus responds “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.
When this statement is met with hostility, Jesus goes on to say “For the works that the Father has given me to finish – the very works that I am doing – testify that the Father has sent me.
Later on, Jesus does another work on the Sabbath, healing a man born blind. Reading from chapter 9 verse 1:
“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
And so when Jesus says here in chapter 10 that the works he does in the Father’s name testify about him, he’s pointing back to these works and more. Jesus doesn’t just claim to be the Son of God by his words, he shows that he is the Son of God by his works. He does works only the divine can do. The proof is in the pudding you might say.
And yet his opponents cannot believe this about him because they are not sheep of the Good Shepherd. But for his sheep, for those who listen to his voice and believe his words, for those who see his works that testify to his Sonship and believe, Jesus has another work in store for them. Verse 28:
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
This takes us to the final point in our outlines – Children of God by the Son’s greatest work.

Teaching Point 3 – Children of God by the Son’s greatest work

We’ve looked at the many works Jesus did that testified to him being the Son of God. Yet his greatest work was still to come at this point of John’s Gospel. And that is the work of giving his sheep – his followers – eternal life by sacrificing his own life in their place.
Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and his defeat of death and sin by triumphantly rising from the dead is his greatest work. It is this very work that the Father sent the Son to earth to accomplish.
As he prays on the night before he dies in chapter 17 verse 4, “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” And as he proclaims from the cross in chapter 19 verse 30 “It is finished”, Jesus' atoning death on the cross completes his greatest work.
And it is the fact that he is the Son of God that makes his death and resurrection the greatest of his works. Because if Jesus was just a man and not the Son of God, what would his death accomplish?
How could the death of one mortal man, sinless though he may be, be a sufficient payment to render to God the honour which humanity’s sin deprives him of? And how could the death of one mortal man be a proportionate and sufficient payment to a just God for the sins of the whole human race?
No, it cannot be. It can only be because Jesus is the Son of God that the sacrifice of his life sufficiently meets both God’s honour and his justice. I’ll say that again. It can only be because Jesus is the Son of God that the sacrifice of his life sufficiently meets both God’s honour and his justice.
(P) Thomas Aquians, the foremost Scholastic theologian of the Middle Ages, has this to say about the worth of Jesus’ life and death.
But by suffering out of love and obedience, Christ gave more to God than was required to compensate for the offence of the whole human race. First of all, because of the exceeding charity from which He suffered; secondly; on account of the dignity of His life which He laid down in atonement, for it was the life of one who was God and man; thirdly, on account of the extent of his Passion, and the greatness of the grief endured.
And a bit further on… The dignity of Christ’s flesh is not to be estimated solely from the nature of flesh, but also from the Person assuming it – namely, inasmuch as it was God’s flesh, the result which was that it was of infinite worth [Summa Theologiae Pt 3 Qn48 Art 2]
The greatest work of the Son of God is to give up his life of infinite dignity and worth so that he might give his followers eternal life.
And because of this great work of the Son who has the unique and united relationship with the Father, those who believe in him are invited into this greatest of unions. When Jesus appears to Mary after his resurrection he says:
John 20:17Do not hold onto me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus calls his disciples brothers for his Father is now our Father. Because of the work of the Son of God, those who believe in the Son are the children of God. We are invited to be united to the Father and to the Son as they themselves are united.

Application – Believe and be secure

To conclude then, how should we respond to Jesus the Son of God? What works does the Son of God require of those who follow him?
John 6:28-29 :
“Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
We are invited to become children of God by the greatest work of the Son of God. All that he requires in response is to believe in him. Not just for a moment, or for a day, but to believe in him each and every day.
And for those who do believe in the Son of God, the Son gives us this secure assurance. That he knows us and will never let us go.
John 10:27-29 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”
In his commentary on John, the Australian theologian Leon Morris says this about these verses:
“It is one of the precious things about the Christian faith that our continuance in eternal life depends not on our feeble hold on Christ, but on his firm grip on us. We should notice that the teaching of this verse is not that believers will be saved from all earthly disaster, but that they will be saved, no matter what earthly disaster may befall them.”
Eternal life with the Son is secure for us because the Son declares that his work his finished. So then, go into this week, believing in the Son of God and trusting in his secure hold on you. Let me pray.
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