Advent 4

Jesse Jacobsen

Time-stamp: <Sat Dec 17 22:56:53 2005>

John 5:31–39



“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish — the very works that I do — bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

The Testimony about Christ

One frustration that we have as Christians is that we have two different kinds of people to deal with. First, there are those who believe, as we do, that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Thanks be to God, there are people who share this faith with us. But there are others too.

On the other side, we work and play every day with friends and relatives who do not believe as we do. This is a great hardship, because our faith tells us that these people we care about will not be saved eternally unless they become converted and believe in Jesus. The Lord our God is a jealous God: He insists that we trust in Him alone.

So what can we do about this? We can pray. We can speak. We can live in such a way that others will see the effects of Jesus' love. But we are so weak! Our words are often just as sin-filled as any. Our prayers are so sporadic and brief. Our own lives are far from shining examples of Christian love. So what can we do?

Today Jesus teaches us about the solution. His answer includes the way we came to believe in Him, and the way others must come to believe. So our theme is this: The Testimony about Christ. From our text, we see that man may bear witsess to the truth, and that's our first main point. But we also see that God Himself is the greater witness. That's our second main point.

Man may bear witness to the truth

Sometimes when you talk to someone who is not a Christian about Jesus, you wonder what that person thinks. Some think that Jesus was the one who started our religion; that it was His claims to be the Son of God. He did claim that, but Jesus was not like Mohammed. Mohammed taught and wrote the doctrines in the Koran himself, and was the original teacher of that false religion. That wasn't the case with Jesus. Even before He was born, people were expecting Him. Prophets had described parts of His life in detail long before, and angels had told what He was going to do.

It wasn't Jesus' claims that made people believe in Him. He said, “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.” So what was it that made people believe?

For one thing, it was John the Baptizer. He came before Jesus, describing Him even before Jesus began teaching. John prepared the hearts of people so that when Jesus came, they would recognize Him. Jesus acknowledged this work. He said, “You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.”

This is exactly what you and I can do. John was sent to bear witness in a certain way. So have I been called to do it in a certain way: by preaching God's Word, teaching His doctrine, and administering His Sacraments. That's how pastors bear witness to the truth. But every Christian also has a general call to bear witness.

Peter's first letter says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Proclaiming the praises of God is our job as Christians, and that means in general that we are witnesses to the truth. We are witnesses in the way we conduct ourselves, in the words we choose, in the things we do in the vocations that God has provided. I'm not saying that we must try to be witnesses. Christians are witnesses to the truth.

The witness we may provide from time to time is important. It's important for those around us who do not believe that our Savior is also their Savior. Sometimes the words we say may be crucial. But Jesus also said, “Yet I do not receive testimony from man.” Jesus doesn't need our testimony about the truth. It makes no difference to Him. The one who needs it is our neighbor — the one sitting next to you now, and the one still at home across the street.

Even so, the things we say are not what ultimately matters. That's hard to accept, because we'd like to trust the testimony of our fellow humans. There remains a higher testimony, and a better witness. There are many people who want to trust the ideas and thoughts and observations of human beings. Sometimes we call it science, sometimes philosophy. It's useful and beneficial, but the product of our mind is always merely human.

Christians sometimes try to argue our neighbors into faith. It can't be done. As witnesses, we are too weak, because we are only human. Our weaknesses are evident. Christians are not the witnesses we know we ought to be. We cut corners. We don't devote ourselves to the study of God's Word as we should, and it shows in our Christian lives. We can't convert people by our testimony.

Jesus does not receive testimony from man, because that testimony is unreliable, and morally weak. Some people realize this, and say that all religion is only a matter of personal interpretation. “We read the same scriptures, but come up with different answers. How can anyone be sure he's right?” This is what Satan has done with the testimony of human beings. Therefore we are wrong when we rely upon our own powers to convert others. We stray when we rest our own faith upon the testimony of a human being.

But Jesus spoke well of John. “He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.” He said that those who believe John may be saved. How is that possible, since John is a mere sinful man? Because it's not human testimony that has the power to save, but the truth of which we testify. The truth, the Bible doctrine of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, is what has the power to convert and save. It's also effective toward us. So I tell you that your sins are washed away by Jesus' blood.

God Himself is the greater witness

The testimony about Christ: God Himself is the greater witness. Jesus said, “But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish — the very works that I do — bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.” He was talking about His life: the miracles He performed, the love He demonstrated for everyone in all that He did. It was evident that nobody else had ever done these things.

We are separated from Jesus' life by a couple thousand years, but His works were recorded in the Scriptures for us to hear and read. Do we believe what we hear? Those works are the witness of God the Father that Jesus is truly His Son and our Savior.

It's not hard to miss the point. Many have taught that Jesus' works of love were meant chiefly as an example for us to follow. The better we imitate His love, the better Christians we are. That misses the point. We can't feed 5,000 people at once in the wilderness. We can't heal the blind or raise the dead every time we'd like to.

Jesus' own life does demonstrate Christian love, but so do the Ten Commandments. Jesus didn't come to give us such a burden, but to remove that burden from us. His life and the miracles He performed speak for themselves. Through them, the Father says: This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.

The Father is still performing the same works that Jesus did, still bearing witness that Jesus is our Savior. It looks a little different, but the miracles are the same. He calms storms. He provides water for the grapevines, and eventually turns it into wine. He takes a few grains of wheat and with sunlight and rain, through the work of farmers and millers and bakers, He turns those few grains into truckloads of bread to feed thousands. All of these miracles are happening under our noses, so that people may eventually come to faith in Jesus.

It's a mark of sin and unbelief when someone fails to see the point of Jesus' life and the signs He performed. It's also a mark of sin and unbelief when we fail to notice the Father's witness all around us. We see, hear, and experience the works of God, but we want to trust our own strength instead of His promise. We think we have all the solutions to our problems, and we fail to trust His solution, because it requires faith.

Did you know that it's possible to search the scriptures without finding Jesus? People do it all the time. It's the same problem. This is how Jesus described it: “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” The Holy Spirit works through the Word of God, and shows us in our hearts that it is true. If someone misses that, the Bible will be no more than history and legend.

I think that sometimes we miss the Spirit's witness in the Word of God. How else would you explain a slack attitude toward personal devotions every day? How else would you explain a lack of trust in God's promise to forgive all the sins we confess? How else would you explain the concern that you might be forgiven too often, in too many ways? The fact is: we still struggle with sinful doubts, and we all still have a lot to confess, and a lot of growing to do.

So where do we turn? The answer is right in our text. “These are they which testify of Me.” The holy scriptures. We turn to the Word of God, where we find God's own promises of forgiveness. He sent me to tell you this: Jesus suffered and died to take away your sins. He sent me to provide you with the body and blood of your Savior, and the remission of sins. I am here to point out the greater witness of the Father and the Holy Spirit, which says that Jesus is your Savior. Trust that witness for your own good, and for the good of your neighbors.

We have come to hear the testimony about Christ. You have heard the testimony from man, that you may be saved; and you have received the greater witness from God that Jesus Christ truly died and rose again for you. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

This document was translated from LATEX by HEVEA.