31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Message: The Mark of True Discipleship
Time: John most likely wrote between A.D. 85 and 90. John's purpose in writing was, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31)."
What the Lord is Saying: In these verses Jesus follows up with the Jews or those that have believed Him, stating that by abiding in His words, they will be true disciples. And then He marks a 2 step process with a conclusion that (1) abiding in My word will bring about (2) knowing the truth and this will then (3) make you free.
Jesus has said a lot up to this point about belief or believing in Him, primarily centering on a faith in who Jesus is - born again, living water, bread of life, light of the world. Here we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We start fresh and see that Jesus will be the one that provides us with a living water that will yield eternal life, that Jesus and all He embodies will be our bread of life. And He is the light in the darkness. And in all of this is the full meaning of being born again.
Along the way we have seen that even in this belief, people do not always follow. In essence there isn't always 'abiding in His word.' People have an intellectual belief, but even in this, Jesus makes mention that there isn't a complete faith. John 2:23-24 mentions "Many believed in His name...but Jesus, was not entrusting Himself to them." And in John 6:65-66 there is mention that "no one can come to Me (Jesus) unless it has been granted him from the Father." And following this statement, "As a result many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore." There is more to this belief than meets the eye. The Father must draw people to Himself. So it would seem that mere belief without the Father drawing someone is not true belief. And this could be what happened back in John 2:23-24.
Jesus further clarifies that meaning here now in these verses and the idea is basically that "actions speak louder than words." What needs to occur in the life of the one who has believed is a desire to abide in My (His) word. And what I see is a complete abiding. How can we say there is abiding if we are picking and choosing what we are willing to follow. We must be willing to surrender our entire lives. We must give Jesus every part of our house - I've always enjoyed this treatise - "My Heart Christ's Home." I first was given it in high school from one who was mentoring/discipling me. This was a process I think of surrendering my life to the Lord, giving Him everything in my life.
The reading takes a person through areas of his life - what he reads, watches, has hanging on his wall of his house and then moves to what quenches his thirst and consumes him - money, academic degrees, stocks, articles on fame and fortune. And then to the living room where he spends time with the Lord, first starting out rich and meaningful and then under the burden of responsibility the time with the Lord shrinks and shrinks to the point that we are rushing by and simply sampling His words. The workroom was where he did what he could do to follow the Lord, but it wasn't until he surrendered himself and let the Lord work through Him that he had success building things. And then to the rec room where he admitted the Lord would probably not enjoy the places he went, but once he had the Lord define his recreation He brought in plenty of joy and laughter. And then to the hall closet where he hid his things that he did not want anyone to see. But he becomes free when he gives the Lord control of the closet. What we need to do is not be the owner of our house, but rather let him be the owner and master.
I feel like I do okay with this in my life, giving him control of things. I feel like I am just struggling with my time and how I spend it and whether I am working on things that matter most.
Sometimes I feel my focus is more on verse 31. And it becomes hard for me to understand what it means to the "truth making you free." At age 56, what am I free from now? For the Jews at the time, there was in Him a desire to be free from Roman rule. But beyond that, there was a need in Jesus' time to be free from the snare of Legion or Satan and his angels/demons, like in Mark 5:9 and Luke 8:30 where there is the need to be free from unclean spirits. Today, do we think about these things? Either being free from the stronghold of government or that there are demons inhabiting us? I don't think so. At least in my life, I don't have this in my words, but maybe I should. In Africa, I see people talking about getting the spirit of idolatry out of a person.
Overall in this passage I see a conclusion that to be His disciples, following belief is abiding in His word (what he says as recorded in this Bible of mine). And in these words is truth and in this truth I will be free. Now to discover what freedom means to me.
Summary: Being a disciple is abiding in Jesus' words, to know the truth so that I will be free.
Promise: It is not belief or profession that saves me, but it is possessing faith - changing me - seeing it make a difference in my life.
Prayer: Lord, I want You to change my life. I want you to change my desires and change who I am. Every day I want this. Help me to define this in my life, to define you.
Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.
No comments:
Post a Comment