PROPER TESTIMONY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in My favor, and I know that his testimony about Me is true.”

“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.”

“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.”

“I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

John 5:31-47

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We all have special stories to tell in life, stories that have been come to be known as testimonies. They can come in at least two varieties.

On one hand, testimonies might come from our own life experiences as we testify to what has happened to us. From a Christian perspective, these testimonies are most often framed around things the Lord has done in a believer’s life or in the life of someone they know.

On the other hand, a testimony can be about someone else all together as we tell about them, even if we had never had any direct involvement. It’s this latter form of testimony that we find at the center of today’s scripture passage as Jesus wraps up His discourse with the Jewish religious leaders who were upset that He had healed a paralyzed man on the Sabbath and then made remarks that He was on the same level as God, calling Him His Father. Look again at these words:

“If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in My favor, and I know that his testimony about Me is true.”

“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.”

“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.”

“I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”  John 5:31-47

Within these words of Jesus, we see the testimony of others regarding Jesus, proper testimony about Him, being shared and discussed with the Jewish religious authorities in four different instances.

First, Jesus speaks about the testimony of John the Baptist:

“If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in My favor, and I know that his testimony about Me is true.”

“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.”

You remember John’s testimony, right?

It went something like this:

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the One I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’ I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. And I myself did not know Him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” John 1:29-34

Jesus professed that this testimony from John wasn’t just proper but true. And although Jesus made it clear He did not subscribe to the testimony of men, He only mentioned John, who He called a “lamp that burned and gave light”, with the hope that the Jewish religious leaders might find their way to salvation.

Next, we find Jesus speaking about the testimony of God Himself, something Jesus did subscribe to, saying:

“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me.”

The Jewish religious authorities were devout believers in God and prescribed to a lifestyle of obedience to Him. If God said something, then there was no debate as to the legitimacy of His testimony. And yet, the Jewish leaders refused to believe what Jesus was telling them, that God Himself had testified as to who His Son was and had tasked Him with the very works that He was doing, acts that included healing the paralytic on the Sabbath.

The third form of proper testimony Jesus mentions in reference to Himself is the testimony of the scriptures:

“You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, nor does His word dwell in you, for you do not believe the One He sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.”

“I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

The Jewish religious leaders were the acknowledged experts when it came to God’s word as found in the law but they failed to receive and accept the testimony about Jesus found within the scriptures. In fact, the Jewish authorities pored over the word of God, thinking it was brought them salvation while rejecting the true source of eternal life through Jesus Himself who had come in the Father’s name. Their stubborn refusal to accept the proper testimony of the scriptures caused them to miss out in the glory that had come from God in the form of His Son.

All three of these prior referrals to proper testimony would have been sufficed but Jesus wasn’t finished. He wanted to put a cherry on the top of His discourse by mentioning one more source, one who was very familiar to His audience.

“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

If any indictment would come for the Jewish leaders refusing to accept the proper testimony about Jesus, it wouldn’t come from God but rather from Moses who was held in the highest regard and esteem within the Jewish community. In fact, Jesus accuses the religious authorities of placing their hope in Moses instead of Him, even though Moses had testified about Jesus’ coming:

“The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be His.” Genesis 49:10

“I see him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.” Numbers 24:17

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to Him.” Deuteronomy 18:15

It was this last proper testimony that was most damning for the Jewish religious leaders. For Moses prophesied that God, their God, would raise up a prophet from among the Jews and when that happened, they were to listen to that prophet, something we know they weren’t doing nor were they willing to do.

Friends, today the proper testimonies about Jesus are still as alive and well as they were back in the days of the Gospel writer John. And unfortunately, we still find two categories of people when it comes to the receipt and acceptance of these testimonies: those who believe and those who reject.

Which category do you fit in?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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