Hello… is this God?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
When was a time where you felt freedom…
If I were to take a guess at when that was, I have a good guess that for most people in the room it’s when you got your drivers license
Lets see a show of hands who would say that was the time.
Let me tell you about that time for me.
When I got my drivers I got to drive my moms car a 2001 Chevy Tracker. It was like driving a convertible as I drove from downtown Regina to the south end to head to classes.
It was awesome. I remember getting to school and texting my sister, I am driving us home afterschool which was the best thing to hear becuase it meant we did not have to take the hour and a half bus ride home.
Now you might say, “Liam” this story does not sound like freedom, you drove a car you did not own, to a set destination and thats all you did.
I would say yes you are right.
If you are like me when I got my drivers my freedom was not about what I did, that was already pre-set before me but it was about how I felt. I felt that freedom, regardless of if I drove around the block or directly to my destination.
So here is a really deep question: What is freedom?
As we look into the gospel of John in chapter 8 Jesus talks to this crowd about freedom. It makes us stop and think about what it really means to be free as we live today.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Now if you have been with us as we have been going through this gospel throughout the past year you would know about Rabbi’s and Jesus being like a Rabbi, they even call him a Rabbi in other passages.
Rabbi is this wise teacher and mentor, someone you spent time with.
So when Jesus says if you hold to my teachings you are really my disciples he speaks to them as a Rabbi would to his disciples. The Rabbi’s job is to create disciples who do and teach what the Rabbi teaches and does.
So when he follows up with you will know the truth and the truth will set you free he starts to set himself apart from the other Rabbi’s that they have followed or heard from.
Jesus in saying this has said something along the lines of “I am a teacher unlike your teachers”
So the Jewish people chirp up and say, in verse 33
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
They have latched onto the idea of freedom, they are free spiritually. They have never been slaves, so how can they be free.
Which to address is a strange response, they have been slaves, take Egypt and Babylon. Both after the time of Abraham and important to their history and oral tradition. They would know about these times yet it is written that “We have never been slaves of anyone” so we must think about Spiritual freedom.
Which is true they have never been a spiritual slave to anyone, they have gone astray at times but they were brought back and they follow the Lord only.
If we look at the covenant of Abraham and you can look at Genesis 12 which is a theologically rich passage, I want to look at the covenant of circumcision. Genesis 17 talks about this covenant with Abraham, where God renames him from Abram to Abraham. In this he also states that the covenant made is a everlasting covenant between Abraham, God and his descendants.
So what is freedom to someone who thinks they have freedom…
Think about my drivers story, I drove from SGI to school, from school to my house. Freedom as the ability to drive to those 2 locations.
So was that really freedom? the ability to do something that you could not do before?
the crowd says we have not been slaves, So Jesus replies by telling them how they are slaves.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word.
I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
Before we even get into the meat of the passage look how Jesus replies; Very Truly. Now John writes what I call is the “truly truly” and when Jesus speaks with a “truly truly” we need to pay attention becuase of it’s significance.
Jesus tries to set them straight. Anyone who has sin is a slave to it. Their master is their sin, they are captives to it they belong to it and they do not understand what freedom is beyond that.
Jesus says freedom and family are connected.
A slave has not place in a family, they exist outside of the structure of family. They are hired, they have a job to do. They return to their family after their work is finished and arrive when the work is needed.
Jesus tells them that the Son and he refers to himself as seen in 38 by saying he has seen what the Father is doing becuase he has been in his presence. is from the Family and will always belong to the family and so if the Son sets you free you will be free.
He takes his right as the Son of God. This is his birthright, and he takes that status and makes us free.
This is the significance that warrants the author John writing “Truly Truly”. He is showing us that Jesus the Son of God is the only way to become free from the slavery of Sin and live as part of Gods family.
Now right in the middle states our positioning, “Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, becuase you have no room for my word”
Again let me ask, what is freedom to someone who thinks they are free?
Take a moment with me, when we share the gospel where do we start? do we start the point where Jesus died so you can live in freedom?
Or do we start by saying everyone in the world has sin…
We have to acknowledge where we are first.
Recognize the slavery to Sin.
Everyone, just by birth is born into a sin full world, they are slaves to this sin, unable to gain freedom from it themselves they will always be owned by it.
It’s nothing you can control, you cannot do something or not do something to have sin in your life. By birth it is your birth rite. You inherit it.
Nobody teaches someone to sin, it’s a natural occurrence. I will not teach my children to lie or hit or take without permission, they will do it becuase Sin has entered into this world through Adam, and through Adam all people have sinned.
You can tell yourself “No not I” as much as you want but at the end of the day, Sin will always be a constant factor in the life on earth.
We need to call it for what it is, we need to admit it to one another.
The world has sin. Now if you are not a follower of Jesus that is where you are. A slave to sin.
But Jesus who dies on the cross so that if you call on him as saviour may be set free from this sin. That it would not get to have any ownership over you.
This is freedom.
Verse 36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
True freedom is Jesus setting you free from the bondage of Sin, That you no longer need to feel guilt, shame, impurity over what has happened, when you confess sin to Jesus he gives you freedom from that Sin.
Now Jesus who tells them this and his authority is that he has seen God the father and has learned from him through sight. He tells them they are only listening to the father but Jesus himself has watched the father and seen so much more.
Now this is the problem for them is all about who this Father is, and they are trying to route it out of Jesus that he is claiming to be God’s son so that they can kill him. Jesus knows this and tells them in verse 37 and will tell them again in 40.
So They go and the conversation continues
“Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did.
As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.
You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
Jesus tells them plainly they are not even Abraham’s father and this reasoning is becuase they do nothing that resembles the family connection to Abraham.
They are trying to kill Jesus for telling them the truth from God, Abraham would not do anything as such. So they are doing the works of their own father, and here Jesus implies something that he does not state and which they are quick to challenge. Before I get to that challenge lets talk about Abraham and how he would have different from those in this conversation.
Because would Abraham act any differently?
Well if we look at Genesis 18 and how he greets the Lord and those with him we can see the close relationship with God, the value of the heavenly visitors and should I mention that it is speculated that this could be the representation of the trinity and so we see what is called a “Chirstophany”,
Two words for your day, Theophany means the physical manifestation of God, when he comes as a person to people in the bible. Where Christophany is when Christ comes in human form outside of the Gospels and Acts 1.
So When Jesus says they act nothing like Abraham you could say that Abraham might have met Jesus, if he knew it or not, and acted accordingly. Becuase if it was Jesus or a angel in Acts 18 Abraham was quick to bow before them and to take care of their needs.
Where this crowd acts the opposite, they are dismissive and agressive. Trying to push the conversation into a place where it would be appropriate to kill Jesus.
One further thing is for later read the dialogue between God and Abraham as they talk about the fate of Sodom and Gamorrah, you’ll see how Abraham speaks towards God which is opposite of what happens with this crowd and how they speak to Jesus.
So this conversation leads to Jesus implying their father is not Abraham and it’s not God so it must be…
They don’t like that so they pipe up by saying “We are not illegitimate children” Which I was reading that this was more of a jab at Jesus, suggesting that they might be familiar with Jesus and the fact that Joseph is not his biological father.
Jesus’ main point in this part of the conversation is about belonging. To the crowd, they do not belong to God, they do not even belong to Abraham becuase Abraham belonged to God.
We move from bondage to belonging when we see Christ as our freedom. When we accept his death and resurrection, accept him as saviour we enter into this belonging as Sons and Daughters of Christ.
Move from lies to life.
The crowd is speaking about abraham in lies to make their way stand. They are acting in and speaking lies becuase of their disfavour of Jesus.
This happens, even today. There are lies about who Jesus is, lies about what the scriptures say and if we live away from the teachings, away from being a disciple of Jesus and don’t seek truth we live in these lies.
We want to move away from these lies, to seek and know Jesus. Who he says he is, we want that truth.
Now Jesus’ response and the last few verses I will read.
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.
Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?
Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Jesus ends this passage by furthering the divide between his followers and those who do not follow him. There is one or the other, there is noway to stand in the middle.
Jesus suggests finally their father is the devil, and what he says is that there is no truth from the Devil a call back from the beginning of the passage about him being truth. and truth setting them free. The devil cannot speak truth, lying is the native language of the devil So when truth comes they cannot even understand it becuase they still believe its a lie.
Without Jesus we are open to this deception, if we see Jesus as truth and accept the freedom from Jesus we must consistently be listening to Jesus.
The ends with strike that if you do not hear God you do not belong to God.
We have acknowledge the world as sin, and we can acknowledge the devil as a liar so the moment we stop listening to Jesus and being close to him is the moment we start listening to the lies again.
Lies that say
I am not good enough…
I am better then someone else…
Lies that say
I am alone in this world…
I need people to like me…
Lies that say
I would be happy if I had…
When I am not happy I am unseen…
Listen to me, none of those things are true, each are steeped in Sin. those lies don’t lead to freedom but they lead to a bond and more importantly they lead to living into these lies.
But Jesus’ conversation ends with listen to God, if you listen to God you belong to God.
Becuase If we belong to God; if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in him as our way, truth and life we join this family of God. In that we also gain the ability to talk with God.
This is a two direction conversation, just as you speak to God in your prayers, God wants to talk with you. His words become clear to you and they become clearer over time.
The same thing happens when we speak with our heavenly father and when we listen to the words he says.
That is freedom from the bondage of Sin. When we open the scripture and we see these truths about how he deeply loves us, how the lies that Satan tells us are just that, they are lies. We read eye witness accounts of how God sends his son Jesus to die for us…
These truths that come from God are there to invite us to freedom and even if you consider yourself a veteran Christian and stop listening to God you will quickly find yourself overwhelmed by the loud speak of the enemy telling you lies about yourself and lies about the world around you.
Remember Pastor Mark’s message last weekend, if you follow Jesus you will walk in light, you only walk in darkness when you are not walking with Jesus. This same principle goes when it comes to listening, if I am fixated on Jesus’ voice I am closer to him and further from evil.
when you seek Jesus, whose voice is there for those who desire to listen. God’s voice is speaking to you if you choose to listen.
It’s the difference between the two, Satan likes to shout lies, overwhelm and overload them to you.
God’s voice is one of soft tender care, he is not forcing but he is still active and available to those who seek his truth.
Listen to truth from God
One last illustration about a drivers lisense.
I get my drivers lisense - I have the authorities permission to drive.
I am in the car alone driving away - Personal freedom it’s that feeling
But the last thing, my parents gave me the permission to drive away.
That last one, the relational aspect that gives the blessings, becuase maybe as a kid your dad put you on his knee and let you “drive” the car around in a open field and you were “driving”
OR if you grew up on a farm you got told to drive the grain cart or the quad somewhere.
There are probably other stories more personal to you when you got handed those keys by someone who knew you and trusted you
When it comes to faith this is how God treats you, it’s the personal relationship of listening to his affirmations over you. That he loves you. That he gives you freedom, that he is with you.
The authority of the Holy Spirit in your life and the removal of Sin are just as important but don’t miss the relationship aspect of this faith. It’s not just about the things I get, it’s about this relationship I get to take part in with the Lord of all Lords, The King of Kings, The Creator, This is Lord almighty, Lord everlasting, The provider, the Shepherd, the Healer, the Righteous. This is the one who speaks and invites you to listen.
This is your God, he speaks to you.
So this week I want to challenge you to consider what it looks like to choose God’s voice in all aspects of your life. Could you quite the noise of life for a minute to hear what God would say over your situation?
Before you respond, listen to God.
Take a moment to pray over this, seek wisdom, seek discernment.
If you are unsure and cannot discern if it’s truth or lie start with Scripture. God will never speak against what he has already said in scripture.
If you are asking God for big questions, seek others to help pray into those truths with you. Seek truth in all things first.
Listen to God in the big parts of life… but even the small parts..
“Lord what do you want to say to me today” is a great prayer to pray.
Maybe some of you are struggling with the lies I spoke about. You think that the enemies voice is almost deafening and there is no way of hearing God today. I want to invite you to come forward for prayer.
If you can’t hear God or don’t know where to start we want to help you today. We believe that God speaks to us and we can listen to his voice.
But lets start with that right now, “Lord what do you want to say to me today” and just listen. Let’s pray.
