Scripture: John 5:30-47 (ESV)
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
When my family emigrated to Australia I needed to learn a whole new way of doing school. The way schools in South Africa work are quite different to the way schools work in Australia and one of the key differences is in how they teach languages. So I had to quickly learn how to analyse a novel if I was to do well at school. The first novel we analysed was the classic To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Now in this story a black man, Tom Robinson, is falsely accused of rape, and one of the main characters, Atticus Finch, tries his best to defend him. He spoke the truth in the courtroom but no one listened to him, not because he wasn’t right, but because they weren’t interested in the truth. The all-white jury had been influenced by their racial prejudice and had decided that the accused was guilty, purely on the basis of his skin colour. The evidence was clear, but they wouldn’t listen.
Interestingly Jesus faces the same situation in John 5:30-47. He is speaking to the religious authorities and he offers witness after witness of who he is. It is like a courtroom scene where Jesus calls one witness after another into the witness stand. First he calls up John the Baptist. John had, at first, been accepted by the religious leaders. Jesus says that they had at first been “willing to rejoice for a while in his light”. But John clearly said that Jesus is the Lamb of God, something the religious leaders did not accept, and so they end up rejecting John’s testimony about Jesus.
As John steps down from the witness box, Jesus produces another form of evidence: his miracles. It is exhibit A in the trail. Jesus says “the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me”. And again the miracles are rejected and fail to convince them.
Next witness: the testimony of Scripture. Jesus points out that the very scriptures that these religious leaders love so much, all point to himself. And yet when they study the scriptures, all they find are ways in which to justify themselves. They have the Word of God made flesh in front of them, and yet they fail to follow where the Word leads.
Final witness: God the Father himself! But here is the thing, this witness is the most damning witness of all: “His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you.” Isn’t that ironic - the very people who had prided themselves on being God’s word keepers, did not have the word of God in them.
Jesus concludes his court case by pointing out the religious leaders’ deep heart problem. They want the wrong person’s approval. He says: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”. In other words, these religious leaders are far more interested in the approval of other humans, than in the approval of God.
This then leaves us with a question. Whose approval do we want?
Do we want the approval of God, or of man? Because that makes a massive difference to how we live our lives. Will we listen to God’s voice through the Bible, and the works of Christ, or will we be more swayed by the opinions and expectations of those around us?
Prayer:
Lord God, thank you that I know in my head that I have your approval because of what Jesus has already done for me. Please help me to filter that knowledge through to my heart. Set me free from the desire to have the approval of others. Amen.
Spiritual Challenge:
Today, when you need to make a choice consider why you are choosing the choice you are. Is it because you want the approval of people, or because you want to honour God with that choice?
Whose approval matters to you?