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The "Ifs" of Jesus |
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by Ralph I. Tilley
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The ways of God with men are marvelous indeed; this is seen again and again as we read the Word of God and observe the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus. As Creator, our God has put in place specific laws which He actively uses to perpetuate and sustain this wonderful universe. In creating the vegetable kingdom, God established a natural law that each species would reproduce itself after its own kind.1 For example, whenever a farmer plants wheat in the spring, he can expect to harvest wheat in the fall. He doesn't plant wheat seed and subsequently reap soybeans. Why is that? Because of the divinely established laws of reproduction. God says in essence, "If you plant wheat, you will reap wheat." God made it so. God has also put into motion laws, or principles, whereby He actively works in the lives of His children. For example, one cannot read the Gospel accounts but what he is struck by the "If Sayings" of Jesus. By "If Sayings," I mean those sayings of Jesus which He introduced with an "if" clause. Jesus taught that spiritual blessings and fruitful discipleship are conditional. He shared this teaching in a multiplicity of settings, with various audiences. Our Lord taught His hearers repeatedly that the Father works among men according to the law of condition and promise. This lawCa principle of sequence and consequenceCis invariable. If we meet certain conditions, God has obligated Himself to respond in a specific way. I realize there are many earnest Christians who have a different view of God's sovereignty. Many of these well-inten-tioned people believe that man plays no active role in his salvation. I believe God has said otherwise. While nothing man does gains merit with God or meritoriously contributes to his justification (salvation is a gift from God), yet man is neither a passive bystander in either regenerating or sanctifying grace. The exercise of our wills, graciously acted upon and energized by a merciful God, is necessary in both raising us from our spiritual graves and conforming us to the likeness of God's dear Son. By speaking of the "exercise of our wills," I'm not suggesting that we exercise our wills apart from the grace of God. No, a thousand times no! The balance between God's initiative and grace, and the human response is found in Philippians 2:12-13: " . . . work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." While God is free to do as He chooses, He is also free to establish ways by which He exercises His freedom. This He has done in establishing the law of condition and promise. God has chosen to operate in the life of the individual disciple and in the corporate life of Christ's Church, according to this principle. I want us now to consider three of these "If Sayings " of Jesus as they relate to the individual follower of the Lord Jesus and recorded in The Gospel According to John. Clearly, each of these sayings of Jesus are meant to be universally applicable, in every age, and for every believer, who meets the respective conditions.
The "If" of Soul-Thirst "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' "2 The occasion On which Jesus spoke these words was the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. Thousands of worshipers gathered annually in Jerusalem in the month of either September or October, to celebrate the harvest and offer thanks to God. This festive event memorialized Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan, and served as a reminder of God's benevolent provision during tough times. Each day of the feast, at the time of the morning sacrifice, a priest brought into the forecourt of the temple, a golden vessel, filled with water drawn from the springs of Shiloh. The water was pouredCmingled with sacrificial wineCinto two bowls which stood upon the altar. During this sacred rite, the priests sounded trumpets, clashed symbols, and then the words of Isaiah 12:3 were recited: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." This feast lasted for seven days but had a closing assembly on the eighth day, "the great day."3 It was on this day the Lord Jesus was compelled by the Spirit to make such a startling prophetic announcement. He promised that when the age of the Spirit was inaugurated,4 it would be the privilege of every thirsty-hearted disciple to be a cataract of blessing. Where is the person born of the Spirit of God, who does not desire to live a life of effective fruitfulness to the glory of God? Surely every believer reading these words has such aspirations. Take heart, hungry Christian! These words of Jesus hold the key to a life of fruitful service. Jesus says that "rivers of living water" will flow from the depths of one's inner being ("heart") on one condition—an intense soul-thirst that draws a person to the Lord Jesus. Excuse the grammar lesson, but the Greek grammatical tenses and moods are revealing in this text: "thirsts," present subjunctive; "let him come," present middle imperative; "drink," present imperfect; "believes," present participle. The text, in keeping with the tenses and moods, could be translated to read: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink and keep on drinking. Whoever constantly believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' " The annuals of the Church have proven the words of our Lord to be true time without number. Wherever there has been a thirsty-hearted follower of the Man with the Golden Pitcher, there has been an infusion of the Holy Spirit and a consequent effusion of power and fruitfulness. All this is contingent upon a soul-thirst, graciously given by a merciful God, which pours itself out in strong faith to our welcoming Mediator at the Father's right hand. The question is, are you thirsty? Am I thirsty? Jesus assures us if we are authentically craving for Him, are constantly drawing from Him, our life will be a channel of fruitfulness and blessing. The "If" of Discipleship "If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."5 These words have been resonating in my spirit for many months now. I have been a servant of the Lord Jesus for over forty years—a faulty servant, to be sure; a servant who has not always been perfectly faithful and absolutely obedient—nevertheless, a servant. More than once my Father in heaven has taken me to His "woodshed," chastising His careless son for attitudes and actions unbecoming one of His followers. Yet, because of His merciful, preserving grace, I have never left—nor wanted to—Christ's School of Discipleship from the day I first entered. (If there are others who can honestly testify to a lengthy pilgrimage of uninterrupted fellowship with our Father in heaven, I commend them and the grace of God. For me, I would be less than honest if I made such a claim.) Regrettably, but thankfully, I know what it is to feel my Father's rod of discipline. Often my merciful Lord has led me through bitter tears of regret and repentance. And this is what I have learned, and am learning, through these anguishing experiences: this life with Christ is a relationship, a walk, a fellowship. It is not given in the form of a "package"Cin one fell swoop. It is dynamic by nature, not static. This life, this relationship, must be cultivated and nurtured. If left untended, our Lord will walk awayClike a wounded lover. But if tended, this love relationship will develop into a spiritual romance not unlike Solomon and his bride.6 The Christian is called to be a bond-servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. This suggests that he has voluntarily submitted himself, and all that he is and has, to be a faithful love-slave of the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is not a servile, slavish task. It is a calling, the highest of privileges. The master Teacher knew there would always be those who would nominally identify with Him and His teaching, but who rejected His lordship over them. The courageous Lutheran pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, called this "cheap grace"—a kind of "grace" which is divorced from a corresponding obedience to Christ. Living four hundred years after the founder of the Reformation movement, Bonhoeffer witnessed firsthand the absence of a living faith among the religious throng. As a voice in the wilderness, this man who would soon be martyred at the hands of Nazi despots, challenged the church of his day: "When he spoke of grace, Luther always implied as a corollary that it cost him his own life, the life which was now for the first time subjected to the absolute obedience to Christ." Then Bonehoeffer pronounced this indictment, which could be applied to much of the church of our own day: "Judged by the standard of Luther's doctrine, that of his followers was unassailable, and yet their orthodoxy spelt the end and destruction of the Reformation as a revelation on earth of the costly grace of God. The justification of the sinner in the world degenerated into the justification of sin and the world. Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship."7 Nineteen hundred years before Bonehoeffer, our Lord joined grace and obedience, justification and sanctification, faith and discipleship: "If anyone serves me, let him follow me; . . ."8 In other words, for every person wishing to be, or professing to be, a servant of Jesus, Jesus says following him is not optional. Obedience is inherent in discipleship. These words were spoken by our Lord to inquiring "Greeks." Having related to Philip, a disciple of Christ, their desire for an audience with Jesus ("Sir, we wish to see Jesus."), Jesus made sure these men were under no illusions as to what was involved in identifying with Him. It meant a death to and hatred of self, and "a long road of obedience in the same direction," as Eugene Petersen calls it. To such faithful, obedient followers, Christ assures us the Father will bestow "honor." The "If" of Faith "Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?' "9 Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, and a brother of Mary and Martha was dead. Both sisters had enough confidence in Jesus that had He been present when their brother became seriously ill, Jesus could have healed him.10 However, they did not have faith that Jesus could raise Lazarus from death. Jesus had previously assured Martha that her brother would rise again.11 But she took that to mean at the last resurrection. Martha believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Son of God,12 but she had no confidence that He could do what all thought to be impossibleCraise the dead in the here and now. Our Lord assured Martha that the "glory of God" would be revealed if she only believed. As used in this context, the "glory of God" means a demonstration of God's power, a God-event. It is a supernatural operation of the Spirit of God that is manifested here on earth, to the glory and praise of the Lord Jesus. God's glory cannot be dictated or manipulated. When experienced or seen, it changes lives, churches, and communities. Might I stop here long enough to ask, Is this not one of the Church's crying needs—to see repeated demonstrations of God's glory? Not the particular miracle which Christ performed outside little Bethany many years ago, but spiritual resurrections in the lives of those who are dead in trespasses and in sins. The glory of God—a God-event—cannot be manufactured or programmed. It does not come from below but is sent from above. Man can't produce a God-event. Only God can produce God-events. Only God can raise the spiritually dead; only God can make saints out of sinners; only God can breathe life into a corpse; only God can give a "beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; . . ."13 People will travel long distances to witness a God-event, the glory of God. John informs us later in his Gospel: "When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead."14 It has been my privilege through the years to personally witness this same gloryCGod-eventsCmanifesting itself in transformed lives of redeemed sinners. But I want to see so much more. What about you? Jesus tied faith to this particular God-event: "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" Is our Lord inferring that we could see more of the glory of God—God-events—if we actually believed He could perform such? There you have it, dear reader—three pungent "ifs" of Jesus. Would you now join with me in praying that you and I will come to Christ's terms and meet the respective conditions of these truths. Will we allow the Holy Spirit to take Christ's words and make them real to us and in us? The Lord Jesus waits for our response! - Soli Deo Gloria - All Bible references are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV). 1 See Genesis 1. |
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