“Can Christianity Back Up Its Claims?”

John 10:31-39

 

Rev. John Crimmins

Message given

October 7, 2001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Our question today is, can Christianity back up its claims? That is a question that cannot be answered in anything like its entirety in one sermon – even a relatively long one. Christianity claims, for instance, that the Bible is the word of God and is completely trustworthy in all its statements. That subject alone could fill a whole series of messages and not nearly be exhausted. On the other hand one of the claims of Christianity is that God exists. To the extent that we can cover that ground, we did so last week. And because these two subjects are closely related we will answer the question of God’s existence for the post-modernist (which we were not able to get to last week due to time) today. Obviously then, if we are going to make any headway with respect to our topic today, we need to narrow the field. Therefore, let us this morning focus particularly on the person and work of Jesus.

 

            The central claim of the Christian community has always centered around who Jesus is and what He came to do and whether, in fact, He did it. We will examine briefly this morning a few of the pieces of evidence to establish one aspect of the claim concerning the person and work of Christ in particular, namely was He God come down to planet earth as a human being? In even more particular form, given that Jesus was human and lived on the earth (a historical fact which even the most hardened skeptics will grant), was He, in fact, also God? This is one of the central claims of Christianity and the Christian community for the last 2,000 years. The way in which we answer this particular question will point the way to the kind of approach the church has employed throughout its history to defend other of its claims.

 

            In John 10, Jesus makes His own claim for divinity. We do not need to ask a churchman or a theologian what he thinks on the matter (though admittedly that may be of interest). We do not in the first instance require the testimony of the apostles, though it is certainly there to be had. Let us instead consult the Bible itself. In 10:33, Jesus’ detractors seek to stone Him, not for any miracle He did but as they say, “Because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” The core of Jesus’ response comes in verses 36-38, “Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” Jesus’ own generation and especially His enemies clearly understood Jesus to be making claims to being divine. Jesus does not deny that. He agrees with them that He is making such a claim by calling himself God’s Son. For the Jews to be someone’s son was to partake of the nature and life of the father.

 

            This is evident for example in John 8:39,ff., when the Jews respond to Jesus, “We are Abraham’s children.” Thus they were all children of Abraham, and in making that claim, they were saying that they partook of the nature of Abraham. Jesus says that they have no legitimate claim to sonship with Abraham precisely because they do not give evidence of possessing the nature of Abraham.

 

            Thus it is extremely enlightening when Jesus says, speaking of Himself as the son of God, that He does the work of God. And that if He does the work of God then His claims to divinity must be given credence and cannot be rejected outright. If He does not do the work of God, then there is very real reason to question His claims. That is why He asks them very pointedly in 10:32, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” In other words if the works bear up, then the claim is supported. If the works do not bear up, then the claim is unsupported and may reasonably be rejected. Christ did not operate in a vacuum. He did not expect His followers to operate in a vacuum. He contended for the legitimacy of His astounding claims in His generation just as He expects us to contend for them in our generation. I want us to look at Jesus’ claim to divinity in terms of its impact. I could claim to be able to fly. What impact do you think that would have? If I could prove that I could fly what impact do you think that would have? It is one thing to make a claim. It is another to make a claim stick. We want to consider the impact that Jesus’ claim to divinity has had. We want to consider first of all its impact on His contemporaries, then the impact His divinity has had on history and, finally, the impact it can have on your life personally.

 

I.          Contemporary Impact

            The impact of Jesus’ claims to divinity and His ability to supply evidence for those claims on His contemporaries is astonishing. Terrified friends, determined enemies, the Jewish community and, ultimately, the world are all profoundly impacted by the claims and works of Jesus. Again, a claim in and of itself is nothing. But a claim that is supported by demonstration is everything. Jesus claimed to be God. Speaking of His own body He said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” Over and over He told His disciples that He would die and then rise again. He repeated the claim so often that when He was crucified His enemies came to the governor and said, “Sir, while this deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’”

 

A.        On Peter (compare John 18:25-27 with Acts 2:14ff.)

            Certainly among Jesus’ supporters no one is more clearly impacted by the reality of Jesus’ claims to divinity than Peter. He was the first to acknowledge the claim. Jesus asked the disciples at one point who men thought He was. Peter answered immediately, “The Christ, the son of the living God.” But when Peter was confronted by Jesus’ own apparent unwillingness to stop His own lynching, he denied Christ three times in the course of one night. How then do we explain the phenomenal turn around in Peter recorded in Acts 2. Less than two months after the cold-hearted denials on Good Friday Peter is boldly declaring that Jesus is the Son of God. He says in verse 36, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Peter was convinced himself in a new way of the power of the claim he had recognized before but did not fully comprehend. It was one thing to assert that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. It was another thing indeed to experience the power of the claim in reality.

 

B.        On Paul (compare Acts 7:54-8:1 with Acts 22:1-16)

            And it was not just Jesus’ disciples who underwent such powerful transformation when confronted by not the claim only that Jesus was God come in the flesh, but enemies of Christ as well were and are transformed continually by confrontation with the real person of Jesus. In Acts 7 we see a young man named Saul of Tarsus giving vigorous approval to the stoning of Stephen, an early Christian martyr. Saul was from a well to do family. He had been sent to Jerusalem to complete his formal education as a Jewish young man. There he had aligned himself with the most rigorous and traditional party of his people, the Pharisees. He fully accepted their interpretation of the Torah and their traditions as representing the best and finest of Judaism. Further, he was willing to take action to see that those traditions and teachings were not threatened or corrupted by heresy. Out of zeal for his party he would become a ruthless hunter of those who claimed to follow this fellow Jesus, who had died such an ignoble death at the hands of the gentiles. As far as Paul and the Pharisees were concerned both Jesus and His followers were contaminated heretics that needed to be exterminated to protect the true faith. Saul was so eager to see the Jewish religion purified, that within a matter of months after Stephen’s stoning, he accepted a commission from the High Priest to round up every Christian he could find and bring them to justice.

 

             Yet within a few months of his appointment he had abandoned his commission and was openly preaching that Jesus was, in fact, the Son of God (see Acts 9:20). What could possibly have happened to so change the direction of a human life? Let Saul, now renamed Paul, answer that question for himself, which he does in Acts 22. In the story of his encounter with Jesus its important to note what Paul says.

1.         He tells the group what his life was like and confirms that he was a Jew and one who was adamantly opposed to Jesus and his followers

2.         He tells the group that he had an encounter with Jesus that had supernatural as well as natural elements. He was blinded by a light he and his companions saw. He fell to the ground. He heard a voice that no one else could hear. He received a word of prophecy from a follower of Jesus.

3.         He began to tell others about his experience and urged them to come to Christ.

Clearly, Paul’s life had been radically altered by these events. His encounter with the risen Son of God had forever changed the course of his life and his life in turn would radically alter human history.

 

C.        On the Jews (see Acts 2:41-47)

            This powerful trend of changed life in the aftermath of an encounter with the resurrected Son of God is not limited only to Saul of Tarsus and his phenomenal conversion experience with all of its miraculous manifestations. Many, many residents of Jerusalem and Judea would come to the same conclusions and make the same life-changing commitment that he had made without the supernatural fireworks of his Damascus road experience. As a matter of fact, by the time Paul comes to Jesus, that life change has already happened for thousands and thousands of his fellow countrymen.

 

            Acts 2 is perhaps the best known place where the phenomena of changed lives occurs. It is Pentecost, now fifty days after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Peter, as we have already seen, is a changed man. He stands before a crowd of his fellow countrymen and preaches the first Christian sermon to them. Let us consider again the same verse 36 that we looked at a few minutes ago, this time from the perspective of the hearers. “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made (or proved) this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Christ.” As we would say back in east Tennessee, ‘them’s fightin’ words!’ Yet look at the response, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers. What shall we do?” Answer? Come to Jesus! That day alone three thousand Jews, many of whom were yelling in the streets for His blood two months prior, forever altered their destinies by believing the apostolic message and surrendering to the claims of Christ.

 

D.        On the Greeks (Acts 17:6)

            But we cannot stop there. The gospel did not contain itself only within the Jewish community. Thanks in large measure to the work of Saul of Tarsus who became Paul, the apostle, thousands of gentiles were also beginning to trust the direction and outcome of their lives to an obscure Jew who claimed to be the Son of God. In Acts 17: 4 we read that some Jews and a large number of God-fearing Greeks came to Jesus. This was not an isolated incident but was happening everywhere. How was it possible? A few years before an obscure son of a carpenter had died a hideous death in Jerusalem. That was supposed to be the end of it. But it was not the end of it; it was only the beginning, the darkness before dawn. How to explain the difference in expectation and outcome? The only answer that fits the phenomena is Jesus’ claim to be divine. He died as a sin sacrifice because He wanted to. He rose again because He was able to. He ascended to the Father because it was time to. He poured out his Holy Spirit because He had promised to. He started saving men through his messengers left and right because He loved to. In the process He and they “turned the world upside down” and today the gospel is still turning the world upside down in places like East Africa, Southern India, and South America. And there are signs of revival in Kazakhstan and a host of other countries. 

 

II.        Historical Impact

            The message of Jesus did not lose its impact after one century. The apostles died, but their message, the affirmation that Jesus is the Son of God, continued to live on throughout the centuries and even today. Consider the changes that have accompanied the acceptance of the message of Jesus in history. First its impact on the Jews and then upon the Romans.

 

A.        On the Jewish people

            In his book, “The Case for Christ”, Lee Strobel relays a conversation that he had with Dr. J.P. Moreland on the subject of the impact of following Jesus. He says concerning those Jews who accept Jesus as the Son of God, “And get this: they’re willing to give up or alter all five of the social institutions that they have been taught since childhood have such importance both sociologically and theologically.” These five institutions are:

1.         Animal sacrifice. In the first century and until the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, animal sacrifice in the temple formed the heart of Jewish worship and atonement.

2.         Jews who were accepting Jesus moved from viewing their acceptance before God as a matter of keeping Moses’ law to seeing their acceptance before God as a matter of faith in Jesus as Messiah – Son of God.

3.         The Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah broke from the 1,500 year old tradition of the Sabbath and looked instead to Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection, as the central day of worship.

4.         Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah moved from their monolithic form of monotheism to acknowledging that Jesus was the Son of God and in the process laid the ground work for the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity.

5.         Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah radically altered their received notion of the person of the Messiah. Jews typically saw the Messiah in political terms as a ruler and king. Jesus was primarily proclaimed in salvific terms as redeemer and sacrifice.

 

B.        On Rome

            On Rome Moreland asks the fascinating question, “If you were a Martian looking down on the first century, would you think Christianity or the Roman Empire would survive? You probably wouldn’t put money on a ragtag group of people whose primary message was that a crucified carpenter from an obscure village had triumphed over the grave. Yet it was so successful that today we name our children Peter and Paul and our dogs Caesar and Nero!

 

C.F.D. Moule, the Cambridge scholar, puts it this way, “If the coming into existence of the Nazarenes, a phenomenon undeniably attested by the new Testament, rips a great hole in history, a hole the size and shape of resurrection, what does the secular historian propose to stop it up with?”

 

            This collection of circumstances and changed conditions taken as a whole point to something powerful and undeniable. Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God. He died for sin and invites men to join Him in living a new life with Him to the glory of God. The only thing that remains now is to apply the message to your own life, which takes us to the question of personal impact and an answer to the post-modernist concern to experience rather than just know about a subject. 

III.       Personal Impact: An Answer to the Post-modernist (How do you know God?) John 1:15-18

            The gospel of John is peculiarly suited to answering the concerns of seekers. John says in 20:31 that he wrote what he wrote so that, “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Post-modernists are not necessarily seekers, but they are much more open to the possibility of the supernatural than their modernist counterparts. The challenge with post-modernists is not whether God exists but whether it is legitimate to claim uniqueness for the God of the Bible and Jesus Christ as his Son. Further, the typical post-modernist is not seeking so much to be persuaded by intellect as by feelings, either emotions or intuitions. This is so for the reasons we have already stated. John’s gospel is also admirably suited for this purpose as well. For although John writes in logical statements containing factual propositions, he also stresses relationship with God through Christ and the possibility of absolutely knowing God in this way. This also is important because ultimately the post-modernist’s real question is not whether God exists or can exist (as we have already seen post-modernists are persuaded of the existence of the supernatural); the real question is how do you know God? John helps us answer this question for the post-modernist.

 

A.        God became one of us in space and time

 

            In John 1:14 he writes, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” In the most intimate terms John describes the incarnation. He never uses such a technical term, but that is what he is saying. You may remember the song that came out a few years ago that went something like this, “What if God were one of us? Just a slob like one of us?” John affirms that Jesus was and is one of us. He experienced what we experience. He knew the pain and struggle and heartache and joy and tension of living. He was hungry, got sore feet, was hot in the summer and cold in winter just like us. He became one of us. This makes God accessible. We can know Him. John invites us to know Him and consider His claims on our lives.

 

            The idea of accessibility is further emphasized in the phrase, “he made his dwelling among us.” Older translations render the phrase, “he tabernacled among us.” John was of course a Jew by background as were all the apostles. The Jews have an annual religious festival established by Moses called the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. It was in effect a national camping experience. For one week each fall the ancient Israelites would camp out and give thanks to God for the harvest. Each family would build a lean-to in the fields with their neighbors and celebrate what God was doing in their lives. This experience had a profound democratic effect. For one week each year the distinctions of class and office and wealth and position would melt away as rich and poor alike lived in their lean-to’s and worshiped. John reminds us that Jesus not only became one of us but that He has now made His dwelling among us. In Jesus, God is on an extended camping experience with His human family. Far from a cold consideration of intellectual facts the invitation of God in Christ is to meet with Him and camp with Him through the cross.

 

B.        He supplies great blessings to all and more to those who seek Him

 

            In verse 16 John says, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” John doesn’t limit the kindness and generosity of Jesus only to those who follow Him. He reminds us that Jesus cares for everyone. His kindness to man is shown in what theologians call common grace. God pours the blessings of life and health and ability on everyone. But there are other blessings He reserves only for those who commit their way uniquely to Jesus. Those blessings are contained in what theologians sometimes refer to as saving grace. Through these special blessings Jesus promises us everlasting life with God the Father. He forgives our sins and failures. He gives us assurance of pardon, and He gives His Holy Spirit to live in our hearts.

 

            The “fullness” of the grace of God available in Jesus is something the apostles never cease to marvel over. They were powerfully aware of how much they did not deserve the kindness of the great God of the universe. Although John does not speak of the cross of Christ directly in these few verses we are considering today, the cross permeates John’s thinking. How is it possible that so much grace or blessing comes pouring down to us in Jesus? Because as he writes elsewhere, He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. In the post-modern ideal, I’m OK and you are OK. The idea of sin definitely runs against the tide. But relationship with God requires a new direction in life. That new direction begins with repentance – a turning from sin. In order to experience the blessings that God offers, I need to accept the forgiveness that He has provided at the cross. 

 

C.        God is known through relationship with his Son (see also John 14:8 ff.)

            In Christ, God invites us to enter into a living relationship with Him. In verse 18 John tells us, “No one has ever seen God, but God the one and only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” Apart from Christ, God is hidden. We ought to discern His presence through a consideration of creation. But even rightly done that work leaves many questions. Through Christ we are invited to enter into relationship with God; to know God personally. In the fourteenth chapter of his gospel John records a request from Philip, one of the twelve apostles. He said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Note Jesus’ answer, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” If you want authentic connection with the God of the universe the way is open to you in Jesus Christ. He is God’s son; He is the authentic representation of God. He invites you into relationship with Him by repenting of your sins and trusting in His cross for your forgiveness. He will receive you. You will be able to experience His presence in worship and in prayer and in meditation on His word. Why wait another minute? Come to Christ today.