New Thoughts (6/19/06-6/20/06)
In this verse we come across one of those questions that plague the skeptics when it comes to God. If He is all powerful, how is it there are things He cannot do? Here, it is presented in the form of Jesus declaring there is nothing He can do by Himself. That ‘can’ is a question of power. He is powerless to do anything by Himself. How, then, can He be all-powerful Who is powerless? One possible key to understanding this may lie in the context from which the verse is drawn. Jesus has been making the case for His claim to being the Son of God, to being One with God. In short, He has been making the claim that He is God. Modern scholars may debate this, but the scholars of His day understood it clearly enough. Let me, then, suggest this: He is powerless to do anything by Himself because He never is by Himself. As He is ever and always One with God, there is no moment in which He walks alone.
This is a truth we need to lay hold of for ourselves, as well. We, too, having received the Christ, can say that we never walk alone. We, too, should realize that we can do nothing by ourselves. In our case, the reason is two-fold. We cannot do it alone because like Christ we are not alone. We must add, though, that we cannot do it alone because apart from Christ we truly are powerless.
Those who would make this claim an argument for the case that there is no God must argue from a nonsensical position. For this declaration that Jesus can do nothing by Himself a declaration that God’s power is limited and therefore not really the power of God requires that one deny his own nature. Can you, for instance, go someplace and yet not be there upon arriving? Can you arrive at a place you have not gone? Can you accept as truth what you believe to be a lie? Can you agree with a position you find utterly anathema? Can you willingly do what you do not will to do? The answer to all of these is, of course, no. Apart from some outside coercion or some change of position, you cannot.
In the same way, Joseph looked at the offer that Potiphar’s wife was making, and found it impossible to accept. He was, as it were, powerless to accept that offer. Was it that he had some physical limitation that prevented him? No, he was no eunuch. Was he mentally incapable of comprehending what this woman was suggesting? Not at all. If he were, he would have found no reason to flee with such haste. The impossibility lay in realizing what we ought to realize. He was not by himself. He could do nothing by himself. There may have been only two people in that room, but God was ever present with him. Knowing this, it was impossible that he could do such an ungodly thing. That is, as I shall pursue shortly, the major point to be taken from this verse. If God is with us, it certainly should be impossible for us to do what is displeasing in His sight. We, like Joseph and like Jesus, should declare the utter impossibility of doing anything other than the will of Him who sends us.
Before I turn more fully to that thought, though, I want to consider one other question that arises from this passage. Jesus says He judges only as He hears. I wonder, though, whether the point is that he hears the evidence that men’s words and actions present and judges based upon these things, or that He hears the verdict of heaven, the viewpoint of God, who cannot be deceived. When He declares that all authority to judge has been passed into His hands, that does not necessitate that He who delegated the authority has stepped completely out of the picture. When Dad begins to allow his son to do things unattended, it does not imply that Dad is no longer available for consultation. When a government appoints an ambassador, it does not lose its power to have a say in what gets negotiated by that ambassador. It is delegation, not abdication.
Under such circumstances, then, I find it possible to take the meaning in either sense. What difference, if any, does it make to the passage to hear it one way rather than the other? That is, perhaps, worthy of being pursued a bit. If I take this to mean that He hears the Father’s viewpoint prior to declaring His verdict, I hear a bit of a comment upon the quality of deliberation taken up by those who have judged Him. He is, after all, addressing if not the Sanhedrin, then their representatives. Can they say the same? Have they heard the witness of heaven before declaring their verdict? No. In fact, it seems that their concern has been less upon the verdict of heaven than upon the verdict of those opinions which men had passed down from generation to generation. Their verdict was not really based on the purpose or intent of the Law, but upon the body of traditions and ideas that had grown up around that original intent. So thick were these growths that the original was no longer visible. Tradition had grown like the vines we see in our area, so thickly wrapping up the trees upon which they grow that the tree is not only blocked from view, it is strangled to death. So, in the sense of His hearing from God before declaring His verdict, He is declaring a superior interpretation of God’s will to that of the ruling council of religious tradition.
He is also, taken in this sense, declaring the infallible and incorruptible nature of his judgments, which certainly fits the greater point He is making. His judgment is just not because He hears what men have said and bases His decision upon this alone. His judgment is just because it is not just what men have said that forms His decision, but what He has heard from heaven – what is in the heart of man, what has been left unsaid. In short, it is because He hears all the evidence, not just what this one or that chooses to present, that He can claim a truly just judgment.
What can we say, then, of the meaning when we take this to be saying only that He judges on what comes to His ears. As I just said, there is no real claim for just decisions in that. Any judge worth his salt could make a similar claim. It is the nature of the justice system, so long as corruption does not play its part. One hears the evidence as it is presented, and based upon that evidence seeks to arrive at the truth of the matter. However, as I have noted, the evidence we hear is rarely, if ever, complete. It has been selectively presented in a fashion its presenters deem most likely to sway our thinking in their direction. There may be nothing but truth in what is presented, but it is doubtful that one is ever given the whole truth. If I judge solely on the basis of what this one or that has decided to say, what protection have I against lies of all sorts? Are two or three witnesses sufficient protection from such deceit? The story of Jesus’ conviction suggests the answer. It is difficult, to be sure, to so coordinate the lies of many into a story that doesn’t fall apart. It is difficult, but not impossible. It is entirely possible to be fed a line by so many different sources that in spite of its absolute falsehood we come to believe it.
That is what happens in our educational indoctrination centers all the time. The purported experts who occupy the teachers’ seats espouse their views, however baseless, and the students, knowing no better, assume that those views are founded in fact. They judge only as they hear, and they hear an expert claiming knowledge. As adults, we are not immune to this. When all the media are reporting that the facts of the story are thus and so, who accepts that possibility that these aren’t the facts at all? When a worldview is being espoused by so many, in so many different ways, on such a constant basis, it corrupts our thinking unless we are eternally diligent. We come to believe it with as little evidence as those who push the nonsense have – with less, even. We don’t even look for evidence, we simply take it on the word of these ones who seem to know. We judge as we hear, and hearing only the voices of men, we are led astray.
“My sheep know My voice, and another’s they will not follow” (Jn 10:27, Jn 10:5). Look upon the dangers of hearing those who are not His, and understand how critical it is for us to reach this point of hearing no other voice. Sheep will flee from the voice they do not recognize, the voice of a stranger. Do you see Joseph in this? “I cannot.” How could I, knowing He is ever with me? “Do you believe this?”
With that thought in mind, let me offer one way in which we should think of Jesus as saying His judgment is based only on what He hears from us in our testimony. It is simply this: He hears it all, not just the parts we are pleased to present to His attention. He hears the whole of our testimony, sees all the evidence, and it upon this basis that He shall declare His judgment. To the one who still thinks his own good works are sufficient proof of his goodness, this is a word of warning. The Judge does not look solely upon those deeds you would present, but also upon the thoughts that were never expressed, the hidden things. To the one whose faith is rightfully placed in Christ alone, He comes with another word of warning: judge yourself. There are so many places that Scripture gives us tests that we can take on our own behalf. These are not presented to us in order to knock us down and discourage us, but in order that we might see ourselves more clearly than we usually do.
This is one of those occasions. When Jesus says, “My sheep know my voice and won’t follow any other,” it is both a comfort and a question. If I am of His sheep, it follows that I must know and follow His voice and His voice alone. By corollary, if I am following any other voice – or not following any voice at all – I must not be of His sheep. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15). That same bidirectional law applies. If I love Him, it must follow that I obey Him. If I do not obey Him, it must likewise follow that I don’t really love Him, whatever I may say.
This is the power of that simple question, “Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:26). When I come to the doctrinal truths presented in the course of my study, I do well to ask myself this question. As I ask it, I do even better to consider the ramifications, and then ask if I really believe it, or only want to think I do. If I ask myself, ‘do you love the Lord?’, my answer is going to be, ‘yes!’. If, on the other hand, I ask myself whether I obey Him, I cannot honestly answer with that same affirmative. No, there are any number of times that I do not. Quite frankly, I am absolutely certain that John was correct in saying that anybody who does answer ‘yes’ to the question of obedience is lying, whether to us alone or to himself as well. The judgment of Scripture stands, “there is none righteous, not even one” (Ro 3:10). If there is none righteous, then there is not one, not even one, who can honestly say they have fully obeyed the commands of Him whom they profess to love. That is the sorry truth.
Following that line of evidence, it must be clear that if I have not obeyed Him, I have not followed His voice, whether or not I have heard it. I must suggest that, being a sheep, I must be following somebody’s voice. I can call it self-will or I can call it the promptings of the devil, but the point remains the same either way. If I am not following my Shepherd’s voice, I am following another’s. If I am following another’s, my Shepherd says that I am not of His sheep. If I am not of His sheep, then I am a goat, and I can expect the goat’s judgment.
These are painful conclusions to reach. They are painful because they lead inexorably to the conclusion that I am a goat, whatever I may profess to the contrary. In every real test of Scripture that I have ever seen, I am brought back to this reality. All of my righteousness, even now, after so many years in His house and under His tutelage, remains no more than filthy rags. I am still a goat. Yet, I am not brought to despair by this for one reason: The same Judge who is witness to all that I say or do or even think is also the Judge who does not sentence until He has heard from heaven. There is that one piece of testimony on my record that trumps all else! My sins, though they be so numerous, though they drive me to tears to consider, have been paid for. The Judge who considers my case Himself saw to this. He paid my penalty in preparation for that day in which He would stand as Judge. He looked upon this goat and determined that I must be made a sheep. Who else but God could effect such a transformation! Even today, scientists are unable to do more than copy what He has done in nature. They cannot create what has never been. They cannot take one creature and make it something wholly other. They may be able to make a male a female or vice versa, but they cannot make a man a horse. Neither can they ever hope to make the evil that is fallen man good. They can only change the definitions of goodness until man fits within their definition.
But God, the Creator of all that is, can also recreate. He alone can take this goat and make him truly a sheep. In His infinite wisdom He has determined that this shall be no momentary transformation. In His purpose, He has decided that the work shall not be completed until that very moment in which I see Him. It is there at the feet of the Judge, as I see those who go before me being directed to His right or to His left, that the work shall be finished in me. Do I believe this? Absolutely! Apart from this most fundamental truth I am a dead man without hope in this life, and with nothing but dread in the next.
With all that, though, there remains the call to self-assessment. The knowledge that my sins have been washed away by His blood is no excuse to cease from striving with my sins. Yes, the process will end in victory because He lives, but if I will not participate in the process, what reason have I got to believe that He does? This is an interesting thing. I am being transformed from goat to sheep on a daily basis. Some days I make better progress than others, and some days it seems I am working hard to return to my original state, but the truth of transformation remains. Furthermore, if I believe that this is all God’s work (which I do), then I must recognize that an almighty God can and will get the job done with or without me. This is, so far as I am concerned, an unavoidable consequence of really believing that He is all powerful. The fact that I am called to participate in this process is not, in the end, a necessity of the process but rather a necessary bolster for my own faith and hope. That I do, more often than not, I hope, work with God rather than against Him has zero impact on whether God’s will gets done, but it has a huge impact on my sense of that hope which is in me.
How could I hope in that future of completion if all I saw was my utter unwillingness to change? How could I believe that on that final day I would hear, ‘well done, good and faithful servant,’ if all I saw was the evidence of my own efforts? I tell you, it is impossible to take one of these tests of righteousness, to honestly assess one’s obedience to Christ, and still think you can make it on your own. It is impossible to come away from such assessments with any other conclusion than God’s own, “There is none righteous, not even one.” It is, I suspect, impossible to make it through a single day and reach the end thinking success has been had. How I understand, in moments such as this, what Martin Luther was feeling! If it’s about me, I’m a dead man. If it’s about me, I might just as well throw in the towel right now, because the situation is utterly hopeless. But, the God of hope is on my case. He is determined to see the work done, so He shows me more than the failures. He shows me the victories. Every once in a while He says, ‘look back to where you were,’ and then I can see how far I have come. I am not yet who I shall be, but I am most assuredly no longer who I was. There are moments, to be sure, when I begin to resemble that old goat more than the sheep I am becoming, but it is only a fleeting resemblance.
Thank You, Lord God. Thank You, my Father that You have chosen to see Your Son in me. Thank You, sweet Jesus, that You were willing to pay for my sins, even those I have yet to commit. Thank You, that You have remained determined to see this goat made sheep. Yes, and thank You for these tests that come, lest I fall into the foolish delusion that I can do it alone. I can do nothing on my own. Surely, if it was true of You it can only be more the case with me. Thank You, also, that You have sent another Advocate. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for putting up with this weak vessel. Thank You for Your patience with one slow to change. Great, indeed, is Your faithfulness, oh God! Who is like You? There is no one to compare. There is no one to even begin to compare.
A new goal is set before me today. It is not really a new goal, but the same goal that is ever there made fresh again to my understanding. My Lord declares that He seeks only the will of the Father, that His every pursuit is to do what pleases the Father. He has no agenda. He is wholly submitted to the purposes of heaven. In telling me this, as He is also my Teacher, He is instructing me on how I should also live. Yes, He is fully aware of all my plans and dreams, and He says to let all that go and emulate Him. He calls me to pursue and demand what God has determined will be done. He calls me to be pleased to do what God Himself is pleased to do. He calls me to find my purpose in His will.
It is an exclusive call. It is not exclusive in the sense that He calls no other to this same obedience. Not at all. He calls all of His sons to this obedience. It is exclusive in that as we come to pursue His purpose, we pursue His purpose exclusively. Another’s ideas we will not follow, even if they are our own. I must set down my dreams and my agenda, and submit to His plan. I have got to come to this place. This is, after all, what it means to hear His voice alone. This is the whole of the matter in a nutshell. My purpose is found in His will. Whether I live that truth out moment by moment or not, it remains the fact.
I can say the same for you. It doesn’t matter, in this regard, whether you believe God or not. Truth does not change because we opt not to believe it. The truth, pure and simple, is that your purpose is found in His will. You may not be pursuing your purpose. You may be a rebel without a clue, but your purpose is unchanged. What joy is to be found in knowing your purpose and pursuing it, though! How are you to know your purpose? The same way as I am; seek out the Lord. He is ever there to be found by those who will look for Him. See what He has to say about you, what He has been holding out to You as a token of His love for you. You have but to take hold of what He is giving you, to accept His love and draw close to Him. He will make Your purpose clear, and He will empower you to pursue that purpose.
That purpose for which we were created is both incredibly simple and utterly impossible. It is so simple: love your God. Love Him who created you, who saved you from your own blind and foolish pursuits and restored you to life. Love Him who loves you so. How hard can that be? Oh, but there remains that impossible part of loving Him: “If you love Me, obey my commandments.” What, Lord, are Your commandments? They are simple enough to understand: Love Me and love your fellow man as you love yourself. Simple to understand, but there’s a lifetime of effort in seeking to act on that understanding!
Jesus, I ask of You that You might bring me to this place of love. Bring me, at least, closer to it than I have been before. Set me in the midst of my purpose, Lord, train my will to Yours. Let my purpose be found in You alone, my pursuits be solely as You would have me pursue. If I labor, let my labor be at Your command. If I prosper, let it be only because You have showered Your provision upon my household. If I must leave behind all that You have given thus far, Lord, give me the grace to do so without complaint. Let Your purpose be the whole of my own. I know, Lord. This is another one of those dangerous prayers. To the best of my meager abilities, I offer it up in earnest, though. Keep my eyes and heart open to Your answer.
