Sunday, January 6,
2013
JESUS' SUBMISSION TO HIS FATHER
Let's begin
this morning by reading from Matthew 17.
This is what we often refer to as "The Transfiguration." Let's read it in Matt. 17:1-8...
Now
after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a
high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face
shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold,
Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and
said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us
make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for
Elijah." 5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying,
"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" 6 And
when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.
7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."
8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
Just think
about that scene for a moment. Elijah
had been dead for about 800 years by this time, and Moses had been dead for
about 1,500 years. Suddenly there they
are on the mountain. You might ask,
"How did the apostles recognize them?" I don't know, but they obviously did, because
Peter referred to them by name. By some
supernatural revelation, they understood that these two biblical heroes were
alive and well on the mountain with Jesus.
What would you think, if you saw Abraham Lincoln standing and before an
audience? Or what if you saw Noah or
David or Abraham? Yes, they would be
absolutely amazing.
Now forget
about what you would think, and ask yourself what God the Father thought. He was well aware that Peter and the others
were quite impressed with the appearance of Moses and Elijah. Though Jesus face shone like the sun, Peter
suggested that they make three tabernacles (or tents), one for Jesus, one for
Moses, and one for Elijah. But before he
could finish speaking, a bright cloud came upon them and they heard a
voice. The voice said clearly,
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" No doubt, God the Father loved Moses and
Elijah. He had demonstrated His great
power through them while they walked on the earth, but He said nothing about
them on this occasion. God the Father
pointed to only one of the three upon which the apostles looked, and that one
was Jesus. He didn't suggest that they
listen to Moses and Elijah, but He commanded them to listen to His beloved Son.
We could
speculate about why Moses and Elijah were there on the mountain, but one thing
is absolutely clear--they could not compare with Jesus. After the Father told the twelve to listen to
Jesus, they fell down on their faces and were greatly afraid. That's because they heard the voice of
God. Though they were confused, Jesus
said to them, "Get up and don't be afraid." Then listen to verse 8, "When they had
lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only." Moses and Elijah were gone. They would never be seen again, but Jesus was
there before them. They would look upon
Him again and again, and they are still beholding Jesus.
Please hear
me. In our lifetimes we will see many
amazing things. We may meet some famous
people, even some very godly people.
Remember that people and things will come and go, but there is no one so
constant as Jesus. Oh that it might be
said of us, "They saw no one but Jesus only." "Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in
His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the
light of His glory and grace."
Our
emphasis this morning is very simple:
Look to Jesus and hear Him.
I.
Jesus Walked in Spirit
Come back
again to Gal. 5:16, "I say then:
Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the
flesh." More literally, "Walk
in the Spirit, and you will not bring to completion the desire of the
flesh." By "flesh," Paul
is not talking about the skin that covers our bones and muscles. Rather, the flesh is who we are outside of
Christ. The flesh refers to those
desires that do not come from Christ or His Spirit, our selfish desires. What a great promise we have here: "Walk in the flesh, and there is no way
you will bring to completion your own selfish desires."
If you want
to know about the indwelling of the Spirit in the New Testament saints, where
do you look? We began with the words of
Jesus in the Gospel according to John.
This is where Jesus introduces the Spirit and teaches us about Him. Specifically, we would look at chapters
14-16. Surely it is no accident that
right in the middle of these chapters where the Spirit is prominent we find
John 15:1-8, where Jesus urges us to abide in Him. When we look at the work of the Holy Spirit,
there is nothing more important than abiding in Christ.
Let's take
a moment to read John 15:1-8...
I
am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that
does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes,
that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which
I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I
in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does
not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather
them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in
you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My
Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Now compare
Gal. 5:16 with John 15:5. "He who
abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do
nothing" (15:5). If I do not
abide in Christ, I will be able to do nothing of eternal value, nothing that is
pleasing to God. In the same way, if I
do not walk in the Spirit, I will bring to completion my own selfish
desires. These two concepts are
essentially the same. To abide in Christ
is to walk in the Spirit; to not abide in Christ is to fulfill the lust of the
flesh.
A few weeks
ago we asked this question: Did Jesus
walk in the Spirit? He certainly
did. We find this truth emphasized in
the early chapters of Luke. When Jesus
was baptized, the Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. "Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness"
(Luke 4:1) to be tempted of the devil.
After ministering down in Judea, He returned to Galilee in the power of
the Spirit. When Jesus went to the
synagogue in his home town of Nazareth, He read these words from the scroll of
Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is
upon Me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel..." (Luke
4:18).
Yes, Jesus
walked in the Spirit. We can just as
truthfully say that He did not bring to completion the desires of the
flesh. He didn't live according to His
own desires. Putting it bluntly, Jesus
didn't say, do, or think the things He Himself wanted to say, do, or
think. But how could that be true of any
man or woman? Can anyone here say that? We may get a taste of it, but I don't know
any of us who is there yet. That is why
Jesus is such a perfect example for us.
We have a man to whom we can look, a man who walked in the Spirit. We can actually look at a man who was free
from thinking His own thoughts, saying His own words, and doing His own deeds.
So what was
Jesus' secret? Jesus knew He could do
nothing of Himself. Listen again to His
words in verse 19, "The Son can do nothing of Himself..." Let's pause there for a just a moment. Doesn't that kind of remind you of what we
just read in John 15:4-5, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,
unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the
vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
If we do not abide in Jesus and He in us, we can do nothing. We have some understanding of that concept,
that of ourselves we can do nothing of eternal value. But now we hear Jesus saying the same
thing. Isn't that amazing! We have a tendency to conclude that we can't
be like Jesus because He has a huge advantage over us in that He is God. But let's hear clearly what He says. Just as we can do nothing of ourselves, He
bluntly tells us that neither can He.
Now comes
the question: How can that be true of
Jesus, who was the Son of God, who was God in the flesh? Surely Jesus' own thoughts, words, and deeds
would have been wonderful and perfect.
This is where we must think about the Word of God becoming man. "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory..." (John 1:14).
When we think of God, we tend to think of raw power and infinite
knowledge, but what about Jesus?
Consider His knowledge? When He
walked the earth, did He know everything?
Consider Mark 5:30, "And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that
power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, 'Who touched My
clothes?'" Jesus knew someone had
touched Him, but He asked who it was.
Someone might say that He already knew before He asked, but there is no
evidence that He did. An even more
startling example is Jesus statement that He didn't know the appointed day of
His return. Mark 13:32, "But of
that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but
only the Father." At other times He
demonstrated supernatural knowledge. He
knew that Peter's first catch would be a fish with a coin in its mouth (Matt.
17:27). And He knew when Lazarus died,
though no one told Him (John 11:11-13).
While we
are thinking about Jesus' degree of knowledge, let's come to Phil.
2:7, "But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a
bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men." The KJV and NKJV say that Jesus made Himself
of no reputation. The NASV gives a very
literal translation: "But emptied
Himself..." While that is a very
literal translation, it has been taken in very different ways. The big question is simply this: Of what did Jesus empty Himself? Some have taught they Jesus emptied Himself
of His deity. That is, when He came to
this earth, He was no longer God. Others
have contended that He emptied Himself of His supernatural power and
knowledge. But if that is true, then how
did He know that the woman at the well had been married five times? And how was He able to calm the Sea of
Galilee with a mere word? So what does
it mean that Jesus emptied Himself?
J. I.
Packer explained it like this...
We
see now what it meant for the Son of God to empty Himself and become poor. It meant a laying aside of glory; a voluntary
restraint of power; an acceptance of hardship, isolation, ill-treatment,
malice, and misunderstanding; finally, a death that involved such
agony--spiritual, even more than physical--that His mind nearly broke under the
prospect of it. (Knowing God, p.
55)
Let's focus
on that idea of laying aside His glory and voluntarily restraining His power
(both in miraculous deeds and supernatural knowledge). We can verify this in scripture. Listen to Jesus' words in John
17:4-5, "I have glorified
You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And
now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had
with You before the world was."
Jesus desired a return to His glory, for He had laid it aside when He
came to earth. We can understand His
voluntarily restraining of His power in terms of John 5:19 and similar
statements recorded in John's gospel.
"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father
do." If the Father wanted Jesus to
exercise miraculous power, He did so, but only then. If the Father wanted Him to demonstrate
supernatural knowledge, Jesus did so.
That explains why He sometimes knew things and at other times did not.
As we think
about these things, we continue to discover how remarkable was Jesus'
submission to His Father. If anyone would
be tempted to do things in His own strength, it was Jesus. Yet we find Him continually submitting to God
the Father. And how was He able to do
it? He tells us very clearly. Back to John 5:19, "The Son can do
nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the
Son also does in like manner." John
5:30, "I can of Myself do nothing.
As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek
My own will but the will of the Father who sent me." Jesus was actively
seeking to do and hear what the Father wanted.
He was watching His Father and listening to Him constantly, so that He
could work together with Him.
We have no
reason to believe that such submission on Jesus' part was in operation only
during His time on earth. Did not Jesus
submit to the will of the Father when He came to this earth? Though we are not given details, I get the
sense that Jesus was simply doing what He had always done. Perhaps we have a hint of this in I Cor.
15. Speaking of Jesus' reign, Paul says,
"The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 For He [God the
Father] has put all things under His feet. But when He says 'all things are put
under Him,' it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28
Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be
subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" (I
Cor. 15:26-28). Jesus was
subject to His Father before He came to this earth, and He will still be
subject to His Father when every knee bows to Him and every tongue confesses
that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
II. Jesus' Submission -- An Amazing Truth
Please take
your Bibles and turn to the Gospel According to John. I want to read you what I call the
"not/nothing" passages. I have
read these passages many times, but Andrew Murray in his book Humility
actually compiled a list of them. I
won't take time to read the context of all these verses, but I encourage you to
do so. I am going to give you a list of
these passages, so that you can go back over them. (Pass out list).
This is a most amazing truth. Consider the idea that Jesus was a great
teacher. Was He? Certainly Jesus was far more than a great
teacher. We despise the warped notion
that Jesus was a great teacher and nothing more. Nevertheless, no one can deny that He was
indeed a great teacher. But why was
Jesus such a great teacher, even the greatest teacher that ever walked the
earth? Surely it was because He was
God. He knew everything, and that
allowed Him to teach with authority and relevance. No, that isn't it. Jesus didn't know everything. When He was born, did He know that Moses was
a great Old Testament prophet? No. When He was two, did He know that He would
one day be crucified on the cross? No.
This is
where we must pause to emphasize the truth that Jesus was a man. Was Jesus God? Absolutely, but that does not diminish the
truth that He was man. Phil. 2:7 tells
us that Jesus came in the likeness of men.
We read in Heb. 2:14, "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of
flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He
might destroy Him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." The New Testament, especially Hebrews,
emphasizes the truth that Jesus was indeed a man. Heb. 4:15, "For we do not have
a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points
tempted as we are, yet without sin."
When Jesus
was on earth, He was tempted to use His own knowledge and skill as a teacher,
but He did not. Jesus refused to rely
upon His own resources. If we question
that statement, let us come to what Jesus Himself said about His teaching. Come
to John 7. Chapter 7 begins with the
upcoming Feast of Tabernacles. People
were wondering if Jesus would show up at the feast. As they talked about Him, some said He was a
good man; others said He was a deceiver of the people. Now let's read John 7:14-15, "Now
about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And
the Jews marveled, saying, 'How does this Man know letters, having never
studied?'" The people were amazed
at Jesus' teaching. They wondered how a
man who had never been to Bible college or seminary teach like that. We might expect Jesus to say, "What do
you expect? Haven't I told you that I am
from above? Don't you understand that I
am God in the flesh?" But that is
not what Jesus said. Basically, He says
just the opposite. Rather than asserting
His deity, Jesus says, "My doctrine [teaching] is not Mine, but His who
sent Me" (7:16). Jesus claimed
nothing for Himself. Listen to the rest
of His explanation, as we read all of 7:16-18...
Jesus
answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17
If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether
it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from
himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him
is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."
Now come to
chapter 14. Speaking to His own apostles
just hours before His arrest, Jesus says in 14:9-10...
Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He
who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the
Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father
in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the
Father who dwells in Me does the works.
Then let's come down to 14:23-24... "Jesus answered and
said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love
him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He
who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not
Mine but the Father's who sent Me.'"
Do you
see? Jesus goes out of His way to say
that He is not speaking His own words.
He is not communicating His own ideas, but only those of His Father. But what if Jesus had spoken His own
ideas? Would He not have been a great
teacher? In the eyes of men, He no doubt
would have been considered a great teacher.
Would He not have far excelled Plato and Aristotle? Absolutely.
But in reality for Jesus to have spoken His own ideas instead of those
of the Father would have been sin. Let
me repeat it: It would have been
sin. And His words would not have
carried the power of the Spirit.
III. Why Such Dependence Upon His Father?
Why was
Jesus so intent on speaking only on behalf of the Father? We find the answer in John 6:38, "For I
have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent
me." Then again in 7:27-28,
"However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ
comes, no one knows where He is from.
28 Then Jesus cried
out, as He taught in the temple, saying, 'You both know Me, and you know where
I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you
do not know.'" And again in 8:26-29...
'I
have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is
true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.' 27 They did not understand that He spoke to
them of the Father. 28 Then Jesus said
to them, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and
that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these
things. 29 And He who sent Me is with
Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please
Him."
Do you see
how focused Jesus was upon doing only the will of His Father? That is why He said back in John
4:34, "My meat [food] is to do the will of Him who sent me and to
finish His work." If Jesus had done
things on His own, He might have received the credit for it, but again and
again we find that Jesus refused to take the credit for anything. Listen to Jesus' words to the Jewish leaders
in John
5:41-44...
I do
not receive honor [literally, "glory"] from men. 42 But
I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father's name, and you
do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor
from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
Jesus can honestly say that He refuses to receive glory from
other people. Why is He like that? Because He wants the glory to go to His
Father. Jesus says again in John
8:50, "I do not seek m own glory."
Conclusion
Brothers
and sisters, those of you are truly in Christ, it is absolutely critical that
we understand and learn to live this truth.
But why is it so important? Let
me give you a quick review. There is
only one way to live what we call "the Christian life," and that is
by the power of the Spirit. With our own
resources, it is absolutely impossible to please God, to live as He wants us to
live. If we don't live by the power of
the Spirit, we will bring to completion our own selfish desires. But praise God, when we do walk in the
Spirit, we have the promise that we will not fulfill those selfish
desires. Then comes the big
question: But how do I walk in the
Spirit? As we read in Heb. 12:2,
"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith." We look to Jesus, who
Himself walked in the Spirit. How did He
walk in the Spirit? By submitting
Himself completely to His Father, by refusing to do, say, or think anything on
His own. That is our goal. Will we fail?
Yes, but there is forgiveness with Him.
We say with John the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must
decrease."
I have
given you this list of passages, so that you can use them to fix your eyes upon
Jesus. We will never be able to submit
ourselves to the Father through determination and hard work, for determination
and hard work are the very things upon which the flesh thrives. It will happen as we keep on looking to
Jesus. We find this principle confirmed
in other scriptures as well. Jesus said
in John
7:37-39...
On
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture
has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit,
whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet
given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Keep on coming to Jesus and keep on drinking from Him and
keep on trusting Him. As the Spirit
empowers us to do that, rivers of living water will flow out of us. Paul teaches the same basic thing in II
Cor. 3:18, " But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a
mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from
glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." As we continue to behold the glory of our
Lord Jesus, we will become more and more like Him.
We fix our
eyes on Jesus by coming again and again to the Word, saying, "Lord, as I
read and think about the words of scripture, let me see Jesus
clearly." You can rest assured that
such a prayer is according to the will of God, and when we pray according to
His will, we have confidence that He hears and will answer (I John 5:14-15).
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Hebrews
12:1-2, Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us, 2 looking unto [literally, "fixing our eyes upon] Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God.
The Not/Nothing Passages...
"The Son can do nothing of Himself" (John 5:
19).
"I can of Myself do nothing; and My judgment is
righteous, because I do not
seek My own will, but the will of the Father who sent me" (John 5: 30).
"I do not receive honor [literally 'glory'] from men" (John 5: 41).
"I have not come... to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me"
(John 6:38).
"My doctrine [teaching] is not Mine, but His who sent me"
(John 7:16-18).
"I am not come of Myself" (John 7:28).
"I do nothing of Myself" (John 8:28).
"I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true" (John 8:
42).
"I do not seek My own glory" (John 8:50).
"The words that I speak to you
I do not speak on My own
authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does the works" (John 14: 10).
"The word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent
Me" (John 14:24).
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