John 5:16-30
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me."
What is the overall point of this passage? How would you summarize it in a sentence or two?
How does it fit with the entire Gospel?
Why do the Jews want to kill Jesus?
How is Jesus claiming to be God?
Jesus discusses two "resurrections." What are they?
How do the words of Jesus bring eternal life?
What does Jesus say about Judgment?
What else is on your mind?
About Me
- Allen
- Mitchell, Indiana, United States
- I love my family, and I enjoy what I do. I am in my 18th year with the Mitchell Church of Christ. I am an endurance athlete. The parallels between endurance athletics and ministry are remarkable. They are mutually beneficial.
The Holy Trinity
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10 comments:
Wow, May was busy. Now that June has shown up, I think things will slow up. Although there are still lots of things going on.
My LIFE Group will be here in a few minutes. I am really enjoying the LIFE Groups. How about you? Tonight we are going to eat together following our discussion of this morning’s lesson. I smoked a pork shoulder on Saturday. We had some of it last night for supper, but there is so much; plenty to share.
One of the things that happened last week involved helping Maddie move into an apartment in Indy. Lester will join her there after they get married on August 9th. Maddie will soon begin a nursing job at IU Med Center. We had a very enjoyable time moving her last Thursday. Her parents, one sister, Lester, Kedra and I all helped. We had a nice meal together at the end of the day at Famous Daves. Todd N. T. turned me on to this place last fall. Yum, yum!
Part of the busyness of May was Luke’s golf. I drove the bus for the team 2-3 times a week, so I was gone a lot of evenings. I really enjoyed it. Luke had a good season and just barely missed all-conference.
I am coaching Ben’s baseball team, which I am enjoying. We have managed to get in a few games between rain-outs. Baseball was also a contributor to May’s busyness. Baseball continues but it does not have as much competition now.
I don’t know about you, but I am really enjoying this study of John. I am learning a lot of things that I did not know. I am being challenged each week.
I guess I just had not been paying attention to the two resurrections until now. Those who have done good rise to eternal life. Those who have done evil rise and fall. In both cases we face the Son of God. God has entrusted Him with Judgement. The choice is so simple. Hear and believe the voice of Jesus. I love the simplicity of it in our complicated world. It only gets complicated when we try to hedge around it and make it so. Either by doing what the Jews did by adding rules to be more 'holy' or by rejecting Him all together and choosing our own way of living forgetting about who made us. Have a great day everyone. I got the last of the flowers planted last night so this rain will give them a good start. Have you noticed the roses? They are just beautiful right now. Nicer than I have seen in many years. Sherron
Hello Everyone!
Allen you forgot one of the most important things in May...that kept us mom's busy anyway...Graduation!
I am relieved it is over...still sad but also happy at the same time! I am very excited for Marcus and all the other graduates as they enter into a new adventure in their lives. We have a bunch of great kids, and I am very proud of them all.
I really enjoyed our life group meeting on Sunday. I like getting in depth of our discussions...it makes me have to think about harder questions that I do not come up with by myself and everyone always has such good thoughts. Allen, not to make your head get bigger or anything, but the Smoked Pork was fabulous!
The whole cross over thing is fascinating to me. I use to think that the spirit immediately was sent to heaven or hell after death...and that was where your spirit would remain eternally. From a young age after losing someone I was told that he was in Heaven with Jesus, so I assumed it was immediate and guess I have always hung on to that thought when someone passed away. I do believe spirits or ghosts, whatever you want to call it, do exsist on earth...but never really thought about the spirit remaining here until they have heard the voice of the son of God, then it is determined by God where your spirit will remain. Am I on the right track here? I don't know if that even makes sense to anyone else or not...just shows you what is going on in my head! HA!
Hope everyone has a good day! Watch out for tornados!
Laura
Funny you should mention the roses, Sherron. Just this morning at breakfast I pointed outside to our single rose bush, commenting on the beauty of the blooms. It was a good moment, because all 4 of our kids were sitting down at the table with Kedra and me. Rare occurrence.
Sherron shared with me her online photo album on her recent trip, and it includes some photos around her house. I think you can see them by clicking Here.
The two resurrections I am making reference to in this passage are the first one when we hear the voice of Jesus and believe. We cross over from death to life. The second resurrection is a bodily resurrection from the grave, at the end of time.
There is a lot of mystery about what happens after we die. The biblical message is mixed and limited. One aspect of the message, however, is neither. It is clear: Be prepared. Laura I do believe that we are in the presence of the Lord when we die. Our bodies stay behind, obviously. The Bible is pretty clear about a bodily resurrection, accompanied by a transformation. Read all of 1 Corinthians 15. Here is a small portion (vs.42-44):
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
And here is another interesting thought from Paul, found in Philippians 3:20-21:
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
One interesting aspect of our passage in John is that Jesus brings the present and future together. The future resurrection is dependent upon the first one. The key that brings them both together is the voice of Jesus – hearing his word and believing.
Speaking of the weather... I was on my way to see Ron in Bloomington Hospital late this morning. As I was passing Arby’s in Bedford I heard the emergency broadcast tones interrupt the music on K-LOVE. A voice came on and said that there was a tornado warning for northern Lawrence and southern Monroe counties. “Hmmm. Not far from there.”
I called Luke, a weather-boy after my own heart, and had him get the radar on the computer. He said, “You’re fine; it’s already moved east of where you will be.” As I got the Crossroads Church I noticed lots of leaves on the road. Then I looked and saw trees snapped off on both sides of the road. I guess a small tornado went through there. Interesting.
Did any of you see anything or have any damage?
Here are a few things I gleaned from reading/studying this text:
Those who are deaf to the voice of Jesus now will hear him later, but it will not be pleasant.
The resurrection of the last day will reveal the decisions made now.
Receiving revelation is tied to hearing the words of Jesus: 8:43, 47; 12:47; 18:37
hear = belief = life
Jesus bridges the future to the present.
Good that is done comes from belief; evil is the consequence of unbelief
The past, present, and future converge in Christ.
The Son is to be honored as the Father is honored; dishonoring the one sent is to dishonor the sender.
The spiritually dead of vs. 25 become the physically dead of vs. 28. The Son of God’s voice in vs. 25 becomes the Son of man’s voice in vs. 28.
One’s life in the present is transformed from death to life when one hears the voice of Jesus. Future Judgment will begin with the voice of Jesus. How Judgment turns out depends on if we hear (listen).
Present decisions have future consequences.
Past, present, and future all have new meanings in Jesus.
I forgot to acknowledge/thank Laura for her compliment on the smoked pork. You should know that I stopped in Sam’s yesterday and bought a couple more should roasts to smoke in the near future. I also picked up some baby back ribs. I think I am going to smoke a couple of chickens on Friday. Yum. I love smoking! [now, here is classic example of where you could pull this comment out of context and raise a few eyebrows.]
This morning I am going, along with 3 others, to do the “Talk of the Town” radio show. Yes, I have a face for radio. We are going to talk about Capstone Ministries and ReGeneration, etc. The store is doing amazingly well, and we should be expanded into the building next door within a month or so. We believe more room will increase our sales even more. Penny, Butch, and the gang do a wonderful job.
Speaking of tornados, it came through our neighborhood yesterday morning and very large, old trees are down all over. Two very large ones crashed through the roof of a home within our neighborhood. A metal barn four doors down to our west lost part of it's roof which was wrapped around power lines and trees in the neighborhood. Power was out until after 7:00. We took a short drive yesterday after we got home and it was amazing but from reports only one person was injured with a broken foot. We feel blessed. Many homes and outbuildings were damaged and many trees down and snapped off. The home that was destroyed was vacant but people were getting ready to move in. Another blessing. To see huge trees uprooted with root systems as tall as a house and see others snapped off like twigs reminds us of the power of God and His creation. Makes one feel very small in the scheme of things. It reminds me of a song 'Who Am I', that a Son would bleed and die for. (I have the Elvis version) Very beautiful song. Very beautiful Savior. Have a great day everyone. More roses in bloom this morning, replacing the ones that got petals blown off yesterday. They are loving this rain. Sherron
Well, I need to get back into the blog again, so why not now.
The storms were pretty wild this week.
I had to drive straight into the one on Tuesday. I was heading from work here in Seymour to Brownstown when the worst of it was coming right at me. I had to leave early from work for a Dr's appointment. I wasn't sure if I would make it or not. The storm dissipated right before I would have probably come head-on with the tornado. Tell me God doesn't answer prayers!
I think this passage is going to really stir a lot of discussion this week. The afterlife, ghosts, the resurrection, etc.. All topics that we don't have a lot of information on, but what we do have seems to point to one thing.
There will be a time when we will meet God/Jesus. Everybody, unfortunately, not all of us will get to stay there.
Can you imagine the scene?
I don't think "the saved" will be able to see the "unsaved".
I visualize the room with all of the believers as a place of overwhelming joy, singing, angels, bright light, unimaginable almost.
The other room, on the other hand, tears, weeping, knashing of teeth, the thought of eternal separation from God, torture, pain, it gives me cold chills to imagine it.
When growing up, I probably had more of the "fire insurance" mentality about baptism and faith. I think as I get older and the body gets weaker and the near death experiences make me think more about the joys that I look forward to in heaven.
The ghost/spirit topic intrigues me. I personality had something that I have discussed with a few of you that I still don't know if it was from medication or a near death vision. I'm leaning more toward the latter.
One of our favorite shows (I hate to admit) is Ghost Hunters. It's just a TV show, but I've seen a few things there that I think might be legitimate.
Very intiguing...
My $.02
Brent
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