Transcription

Chris
So, Jeff, I claim to be a better pool player than you. What? And I claim to be better at darts than you, I don’t know, and I also claim to be better at that one game where you do shuffleboard, you know, shuffleboard. Well, I grew up doing shuffleboard with a bowling in the bar that I grew up in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically, any bar game I claim,

Jeff
I don’t believe that you’re better than me at anything.

Chris
Anything you could do? I could do better.

Jeff
Yeah, I don’t think so. That’s your claim. That’s what you claim. So he’s Chris, and I’m Jeff, and we’re the Bible guys.

Chris
So yeah, just to give our listeners a cue, we’re talking about the claims of Jesus. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. So.

Jeff
Well, I thought we were talking about your claims, right? Yeah.

Chris
No. Not really.

Jeff
Okay. Hey, this is one of my favorite segments, by the way.

Chris
Oh. Dad jokes. Yes. Well, yeah. You really love them. You laugh. I love dad laugh jokes. Now, we’ve never we’ve not read these.

Jeff
No, I have I’m we.

Chris
Usually save them for the moment. Okay. You want me to go first?

Jeff
Okay. You go.

Chris
First. Okay. Here we go. Number one. Uh, I ran out of toilet paper, so I’ve been using old newspapers. The times are rough.

Jeff
Oh, no.

Chris
That’s really good.

Jeff
It is so appropriate that you’ve got a toilet paper one because you ranted about that. Okay, uh, we all know about Murphy’s Law, but have you heard about coleslaw? It’s thinly sliced cabbage.

Chris
No coleslaw.

Chris
That’s really funny. Oh, no.

Chris
Okay, how about this one?.

Chris
What do you call a dog that could do magic?

Jeff
I don’t know, Chris
a labrador cadaver. That’s terrible. Boo.

Jeff
Uh, for his birthday, I got my son an alarm clock that swears at him instead of beeping, he’s in for a rude awakening.

Chris
Yes, he is.

Chris
All right. How about this one? I never wanted to believe my dad was stealing from his job as a road worker, but when I got home, all the signs were there.

Jeff
No. Oh, hey, here’s here’s a Bible, guys. One. This is a Bible, guys. One okay, uh, what’s the best time of day to study about Gideon? Midianite.

Chris
Oh my word. Wow.

Jeff
Wow. Okay.

Chris
Uh. Number four. I sued the airline company for losing my luggage. I lost my case.

Jeff
Oh, no.

Chris
That’s terrible.

Jeff
Okay, what do you call a reluctant potato? What? Hesitater.

Chris
I don’t get it.

Jeff
Has a tater tater.

Chris
Oh, tater. I bet you I would. I would get it if I read it. Ha, ha.

Jeff
I thought it was so funny. Hesitater.

Chris
Well, I don’t say taters. Potato.

Jeff
Oh, you don’t say taters. No, oh I do.

Chris
Okay, okay. Uh, number five, the. And this is the last one on my redneck redneck enough, right? Uh, the ducks keep biting my dog at the park. He’s purebred. Well, he’s pure bred.

Jeff
Pure bred. Okay.

Jeff
Okay. That’s okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, we’re going to end on a good note here. All right, so, you know, I’ve been working on writing. I wrote a book on how not to fall down the stairs. It’s a step by step guide.

Chris
Oh, wow.

Chris
That’s pretty good. That’s pretty good.

Jeff
Step by step guide.

Chris
Okay, those are funny. I think I mentioned to you, my daughter, my daughter Tori will laugh until she cries when she reads dad jokes.

Jeff
Good. Well, these are for you, Tori.

Chris
Yes. That’s right. Okay. All right, well, today we’re in John chapter number five, and we’re talking about how Jesus claims to be the Son of God. Yeah. And of course, we know those claims are true.

Jeff
This is is this his earliest claim?

Chris
Um, well, the woman at the well, a.

Jeff
Woman at the. Well. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but this is this one is out in front of everybody. Yeah. Right. This is the one where he’s in front of Jewish leaders and. Right. So prior to that, he’s forgiven sins. Yeah. And they get mad about that because only God can forgive sins. So he’s hinted at it in front of the Jewish leaders, but he hasn’t straight up.

Chris
So I think, I think this is where he claims, yeah, well, let’s read it and then we’ll talk about it. Yeah.

Jeff
So here we go, John chapter five and we’re reading from the New Living Translation says, so the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, My father is always working and so am I. So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him, for he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his father, thereby thereby making himself equal with God. So Jesus explained, I tell you the truth, the son cannot can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the father doing. Whatever the father does, the son also does. For the father loves the son and shows him everything he’s doing. In fact, the father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you’ll be truly astonished. For just as the father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the son gives life to anyone he wants. In addition, the father judges no one. Instead, he has given the son absolute authority to judge so that everyone will honor the son just as they honor the father. Anyone who does not honor the son is certainly not honoring the father who sent him. I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. And I assure you that the time is coming. Indeed, it’s here now when the dead will hear my voice and the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. The father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life giving power to his son, and he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man.

Jeff
Don’t be surprised. Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who’ve continued in evil will rise to experience judgment. I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.

Chris
Mm hmm.

Chris
So these are some pretty audacious claims. Yeah. Um, so in our Life Application Study Bible, there’s like a little section where it talks about all of the claims of Christ. And so Jesus claimed to be, number one, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and all four gospels. He claimed to be the Son of Man, as was read here and then also in so many other parts of the Scripture. He calls himself this. He calls himself the Son of God. And all four gospels. Uh, on multiple occasions, uh, he calls himself the Messiah, the Christ. He calls himself teacher and master. He gives himself the authority to forgive. He calls himself Lord and Savior. Now, by the way, that that that excludes those are those are the categories. But but the sub categories are like he also said, I’m the way, the truth, the life. Right? He said, I am the gate. Right, right. He talks about how he is the the only one. So you know CS Lewis talks about liar or lunatic. Yeah, right. Uh, so, you know, one of one of my favorite, uh, thoughts is that when C.S. Lewis said, uh, you have no choice but to think about Jesus either as a liar or a lunatic or a lord. Right. But he cannot be, you know, in between, uh, the polarization of he was saying, you.

Jeff
Can’t just say he’s a good teacher, right? Because if he’s lying, he’s not good, right? Right. If he’s a lunatic, you shouldn’t be listening to him. He shouldn’t be your teacher.

Chris
Right? Right. Yeah, yeah, but the idea that, like, he claims all of these things. Yeah, you either have to believe it or you don’t, right? Yeah. There’s no middle ground there.

Jeff
So if you remember those of you that have been tracking along with us last week, we ended where Jesus heals that lame man by the pool. And then the the religious leaders are like, hey, you can’t be healed on on the Sabbath. And the guy’s like, hey, I don’t know anything about who healed you. I don’t know, right? But he’s the one who told me to carry my mat and go home. And so I picked it up. So that’s the story. And if you miss that, go back and watch last or listen to Last Fridays. But so now this is remember he said, I don’t know who it was. Later on Jesus comes back and finds him in the temple. And then he tells the Jewish leaders, oh, is that Jesus guy? So this conversation is after they figure out who healed that, that lame man. And so then that’s when they begin harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. And so I think it’s funny. Jesus is like, what are you talking about? My father and I work on the Sabbath all the time, right? Yeah. And that just ticked them off because for a Jewish boy to claim that, uh, you know, to claim his father, what he’s doing is he’s claiming the father’s name. He’s claiming the father’s authority, he’s claiming the father’s position because that’s the, uh, the way that in their culture, they would view it, that the father’s whole job is to pass everything down to the son, to teach the son the trade, to teach the son how the family does business, to teach the son the values and the morals of the family, to give the authority and the wealth and the inheritance from the family to the son.

Jeff
So by him claiming that he’s the Son of God was essentially in their culture, he was claiming to be God.

Chris
Yeah, well, not only I mean, listen, he says, it’s one thing to say, when you honor the son, you honor the father. That’s like, wow, really? That’s amazing. But then he says, if you who? Those who do not honor the son is not honoring the father who sent him. Right? That is incredible. Yeah, right. Think about that. So if you honor me, you honor the father. Okay? But I don’t have to honor you, right? Right, right. But you’re saying that if you dishonor me, you’re dishonoring God, right? That’s. That is a huge statement. Yes. So when he backs that up, and if you think about it, um, that is no different than, you know, think about like, for instance, it’s a poor comparison. But if you think about a company who’s owned by somebody and they sent a representative and it’s the son, right. And, you know, if you disrespect them, it’s going to go directly back to. Right. So, you know, it’s an extension is what it is. And that’s what Jesus is claiming. He’s claiming every single bit of what the father represents is found in me because I represent him. Yeah. Uh, and it’s an extension of who he is.

Jeff
Yeah. Or in, uh, you know, modern culture, you have the whole idea of an ambassador representing a king or an ambassador representing a president, and dishonor an ambassador in a tough way. And there’s a chance war is going to happen.

Chris
Do you ever see 300?

Jeff
No.

Chris
No. Well, they sent an ambassador to Sparta, and he kicks them down a well and he goes.

Chris
We are Sparta.

Jeff
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Jeff
And then a war breaks out.

Chris
Yes. And it’s awesome.

Jeff
Yeah. So so that’s the idea is, you know, the one is the other, right. So that that’s what was really important there. The other thing is, and I think it’s a difficult maybe sometimes for us that are not Jewish to understand the importance of the Sabbath. So one remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. It’s one of the Ten Commandments. So in the top ten lists that made it right and it was like top of the list, right, number three or whatever. So so that’s a big thing that they understood that this is fundamental to their faith is that we work six days and we rest on the seventh. And then they made all these rules because the reality is the Levitical law had a lot of rules about what could and couldn’t be done on the Sabbath. Um, but like God did say, hey, if a, if you’re, you know, donkey or your oxen falls in the, in the ditch, you can get it out. So there were some things that had a that they were permitted to do, but for the most part, they weren’t supposed to be doing a lot of extra work. But if the note here and I think this is interesting in the life Application Bible says, if God stopped every kind of work on the Sabbath, nature would fall into chaos and sin would overrun the world, right?

Chris
That’s a big statement.

Jeff
So there are some things that are, you know, necessary to be done even on that day. So God’s not making some rule that you can’t, you know, pick up a pencil or that you can’t. You drop something on the ground, you can’t pick it up and put it in the garbage. That just doesn’t exist. Although, and I’ve said this before, I was in Jerusalem on the Sabbath day and in the Jewish quarter, which is so clean through the rest of the week. On the Sabbath day, I was dumbfounded at how filthy the streets were. It’s because people would be walking out and you know how it is. You’re walking down the street, you’re unwrap your ice cream coat. Oops. And but you’re not allowed to pick it up, right? So you’re allowed to feed yourself. You’re allowed to go for a stroll a certain distance inside the Jewish Quarter. There’s limits to their to their, uh, work that they’re able to do. Um, and what they’ve done is they’ve made rules to enforce the rules to enforce the rules to enforce the rules. It’s become very burdensome. And in Jesus day, it was the same thing. And Jesus, like, come on, you know, there are necessary functions that have to happen even on the day of rest, right?

Chris
Because he said the Sabbath was created for man. The man wasn’t created for the Sabbath. That’s right. Because when you have those things out of order, it’s like the Sabbath becomes the most important thing. You know, we are the rule itself. We are created to serve the Sabbath. It’s like it’s like, no, no, no, no. The Sabbath exists for our benefit, right? And it’s a principle.

Jeff
So it goes it goes two ways on this. Jesus is saying he doesn’t say it here in this passage, does he? This isn’t the passage where he said, the Sabbath is for man. No, no, no, uh, that’s coming up.

Chris
This is sort of his because this is a.

Jeff
Recurring fight he has with the with the religious leaders, by the way.

Chris
Right. And this was this was an outbreak from him healing on the Sabbath. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
But there is a time where we’re going to read here that where he’ll say, God gave the Sabbath to man, not not making he didn’t create man for the Sabbath. Right, right. So we don’t serve. It serves us. So it’s a gift from God for us, for rest. And we should take it. I think that’s really, really important. And Jesus honors the Sabbath in that context. Um, at the same time, he also honors people and takes care of people on the Sabbath. Right. So he’s highlighting the fact that it’s for humanity. But on the other hand, these religious leaders, the last time God intervened or engaged in society in their world, was right there at the end of the of the Old Testament. So you’ve got Isaiah, and then just a few years later, you’ve got Malachi. And in Malachi God says, I’m bringing judgment because you’re ignoring the Sabbath. Mhm. Right. So they understand the importance of okay judgment comes when we rebel against the Sabbath. Um, so there’s this balance between understanding that you’re not the Sabbath isn’t the, isn’t the point, it’s a gift from you. But we have to look at even today, I think in our, in our, in our world as Christians, we have to look at it and say, hey, this is a gift from God. Do I just really want to go? I don’t need that gift. That’s a dumb gift, right? Because a lot of us go, oh, you know what? I’m so important. I really need to work. Seven days or I have an opportunity to make some more money. That’s more important than what? God wants me to take a break, right? And so a lot of times, we can take the gift that God gives us and throw it away.

Jeff
Yeah. And there’s consequences to that, too. So we shouldn’t be flippant about the Sabbath. But Jesus is really clear here. There’s some things that need to be done on the Sabbath.

Chris
So I heard a message one time and I’ve never forgotten the statement. And you have to really think about the statement. But ultimately, after the teaching, the conclusion of the statement is this is that we as humans, we are created to work, uh, from rest, not to rest from work.

Jeff
Oh wow. What a good message.

Chris
Yeah. And so that’s that. That is exactly what, what happens. Yeah. Because, uh, you know, we God created Adam, and then, uh, and then he rests. Right? So the first thing that Adam does in his world is rest. So rest comes along, and then then God gives him the assignment. Right.

Chris
And so if you think about it, you know, our whole idea is we’re supposed to work out of rest. That’s when we’re our best not to rest, you know? You know, find, find the times. Which is why the Sabbath exists. Because the principle is there. Because God knows. Just like a lot of the things in nature. One time we did a long time ago, uh, at a previous church, I did a message on bowling pins. Uh, did you know that bowling pins actually need to rest one day a week? No. Yeah. So? So, uh, if they continue to be used, uh, the life expectancy of a bowling pin diminishes by, you know, a certain percentage, 30, 40%, something crazy.

Jeff
Wow. Wow.

Chris
So. But if you rest bowling pins one day a week, their life expectancy goes on and on. Yeah. And so, you know, it’s like, what can we learn from bowling pins. Yeah. But the idea that we’re supposed to rest from work and that we’re not supposed to work for, uh, or work from rest, not rest from work, is the idea that, like, you know, uh, many people live their lives just looking for spaces to rest because they’re so busy. Yeah, but they want to cram in another dollar, another promotion, you know, another paycheck, which, you know, at times in seasons, uh, I think we all understand what that means when.

Jeff
You’re when you’re stressed out and exhausted, a break doesn’t do for you what you need it to do, right? Yeah, right. You’ve pushed too far at that point. And I also think, you know, King David, he stayed home when everybody else went to war. Right. And I think sometimes if if you don’t have purposeful rest, then that’s a time you can get yourself in trouble. Yeah. I think you probably see a lot of like, midlife crises, both male midlife crises, female midlife crises from exhausted, stressed out people who have not been building in this healthy balance in their life. Right. It just it just happens where basically a lot of times, I think those those midlife crises, I think a lot of them is somebody just pulling the eject lever. That’s what they’re doing. The the fighter jets just going too fast. I’ve been pushing too hard. I can’t handle these G’s anymore and I just need a break. Just pull it and, um, it’s it’s from stress. So I love that idea of working from rest. So God started off working and then ended with rest. But Adam’s first day was a rest day, right? And then he went on and tended the garden, named the animals, did all the work that he was supposed to do. That’s brilliant. I never thought of that before. So. So there’s there’s two big ideas here. Then, you know, the Sabbath thing. And then obviously Jesus saying, hey, by the way, I’m God now. And this is a strong declaration.

Chris
Yes. So think about this. So back in the day, we look back at the cross 2000 plus years ago and we’re like, oh, well, we believe that Jesus was the Son of God. But try to picture yourself in that moment. Right? So like, you know, like, you know, you’re you’re a part of a culture that awaits a the Christ, the Messiah. And someone comes along and says, it’s me, right? And then and then all of a sudden you’re like, what? Well, you know, there are. So if you think about it, that that defines world religions.

Jeff
Well, the definition of, of Judaism, they were the only, uh, monotheistic religion in the whole region. Right? It defined them, right. There is one God and there is no other. Right. And then Jesus comes and goes, yeah, I’m I’m God. Right.

Chris
And, uh, and by the way, a lot of people don’t understand this. It’s it’s, uh, it’s, you know, I remember when I learned this, but, uh, even today, uh, so if you run into somebody who’s a, you know, uh, Jewish and they, they claim to be a good practicing Jew, they believe everything there is about the Old Testament, and they just don’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Right? They believe that he lived. You know, the obviously there’s evidence about that, but they don’t believe that. So, you know, I remember seeing just months ago, uh, in the news, just I haven’t seen it recently, but how they believe that there’s they found the Messiah. Like, as if just a few months ago. Yeah. Yeah, sure. And the amazing thing for me is that guy wore glasses, and I was like, huh? Why is he wearing glasses? Right?

Chris
And the Son of God doesn’t have perfect vision, you know, whatever. But but they but they but they believed he was the Messiah.

Jeff
So every few years, there’s a new Messiah in in Israel.

Chris
Yeah. So which is pretty crazy.

Jeff
Uh, when we were just in Israel, there were all these on the backs of a lot of the big street signs. There were these big stickers of a rabbi. And finally, after, like the 10th time I saw one, I asked the guy we were with, he’s from there, and he said, oh, that’s the current rabbi that they believe is the Messiah. And he said about half of the ones looking for a messiah, because not all Jews are looking for a messiah anymore. But of the ones that are, about half of them believed he was the Messiah. But he died a couple months ago, so now they’re waiting for him to resurrect.

Chris
Yikes.

Jeff
And yeah, yeah, so they were hoping that on the third month, you know. So instead of the third day, it would be the third month he’d resurrect. But he hasn’t. And then there’s a new guy.

Chris
It’ll be the third year, then the third decade.

Jeff
Right. So there’s a new guy that that a lot of the other ones are saying, no, he’s the new messiah, right? Yeah, it happens all the time.

Chris
That’s pretty crazy.

Jeff
In Jesus day, did you know that, uh, in the region or in the the decades around Jesus, there were. 20 something people who claim to be messiahs.

Chris
Wow.

Chris
Yeah, well, we were talking about this just the other day. You and I went to a retreat at a lodge held by another church. And the goal was to bring Muslim leaders and Christian leaders and bring them together. And both of our groups were sort of like, we don’t know what to expect. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And there were, there were how many, uh, imams there.

Jeff
There were like, there were like 12, uh, pastors and 12 imams. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Imams being the leaders of a mosque. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hosted that. I was one who put all that together.

Chris
Oh. Did you really? Yeah.

Chris
And we all got together and, uh, and it was a pretty wonderful, uh, you know, I remember it being very impactful.

Jeff
Yeah. It humanized the other. Yes. So Christianity and Islam are fundamentally incompatible theologically, yes. But we’re still humans and we still share a planet. And the world that we leave our children or grandchildren is a world that Muslims and Christians are going to create. Right? So working for peace, even though we have fundamentally incompatible faith, uh, belief systems means we have to humanize the other person, right? And, and recognize that they are also made in the image of God. Right. And that we need to show respect to humanity.

Chris
Yeah. And it was it was pretty, uh, insightful. Uh, we we did all those exercises and they wrote down all their perceptions of Christians. Yeah, yeah. And then we wrote down all of our perceptions of Muslims. And then, then we wrote them down. Then we shared them with each other.

Jeff
We read them out loud. Yeah.

Jeff
Out loud. It was funny.

Chris
And they were like what.

Chris
You think of us that way? And then we said the same thing. We’re like, you think of us this way. Yep, yep. And it was pretty wild. But but all of that. But think about it. Uh, one of the main things that separates, uh, world religions like that, uh, is the idea that we believe that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and that he was and that he’s the way to heaven, right? Whereas they they would say, we recognize that Jesus exists just like Muhammad, but he is only merely a prophet. Right. And the thing that separates, you know, in terms of their view of Jesus, the things that separates us from them when it comes to Jesus is the is this passage right here? Right? And others like it.

Jeff
And the resurrection is he the son? They don’t believe the Son of God. They don’t believe he resurrected. Yes, they believe he was virgin born. They believed he lived a sinless life. They believe he did miracles. They believe he taught us the best way to live. He was the holiest of all the prophets, that he ascended back to heaven, and that he sits at the right hand of the father, and that he will come and judge us someday. The two things that they don’t believe is that he was the Son of God, and that God raised him from the dead. Those are the two, the two clinchers. But this passage and others like it, where Jesus claims to be Son of God, are definitive to what makes us Christians. That we believe Jesus is the Son of God.

Chris
Yeah. And so when Jesus talks about, uh, you know, dying on the cross, raising from the dead, uh, you know, we have to understand that when he claimed to be the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, there were hundreds of Old Testament prophecies. And I remember reading a stat one time that talked about, uh, if you got all. And we could maybe wrap up with this thought. Uh, if you got the entire state of Texas. Have you heard this? Oh, you filled the entire state of Texas one feet, uh, deep of quarters right? Now. Think about that. I mean, one feet of quarters in this room.

Jeff
Is silver dollars.

Chris
Well, it could be anything. It could be pebbles.

Jeff
Silver dollars are twice the size of a quarter. But. Yeah. Anyways.

Chris
Oh, yeah, I guess so.

Jeff
Yeah. Okay.

Chris
So anyway. But silver dollars. But if you think about it and then, uh, and then you marked one of them. Yeah. Just paint.

Jeff
One red.

Chris
And then you mix it up. The odds of picking that uh, picking that would be Jesus fulfilling eight of the prophecies, right? Eight of them. Right. And there were, what, 300?

Jeff
300 and something? Yeah.

Chris
Yeah, just eight of them. Right. So so just the odds are almost incalculable. And yet Jesus’s claim was backed up by those odds.

Jeff
By fulfilling every one of the prophecies, right? Yeah. Because if he hadn’t filled fulfilled every prophecy, then he wasn’t the Messiah.

Chris
That’s right. Right. That’s right.

Jeff
Yeah, that’s pretty great.

Chris
All right. Well, Jesus, who he says he was. So we’ll see you next time on The Bible Guys.