In this week’s passage, the religious leaders are very angry at Jesus for calling God his Father. They are so mad, in fact, that the passage opens with them picking up stones to kill him.
This week we are challenged by the words that the Son of God spoke in response to their outrage over what they perceived as blasphemy. With incredible grace, Jesus uses a handful of “words” that held great implications for them, as well as for us.
Let’s read together.
Grow Together
Read this from the Bible together:
John 10:31-38
*31 Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.
32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”
33 “We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods? 35 If he called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God? 37 If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe me. 38 But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.” 39 Then they were trying again to seize him, but he eluded their grasp.*
Some key statements and questions put forward that are important for us to talk about…
Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father.” Jesus is parenthetically and simultaneously telling the Jews, “don’t do it” and “see what I’ve done.” Why do you think it’s important to abandon the plans we’ve made to kill our faith in Jesus and instead reflect on the “good works” he’s already done in our lives?
“…because I said: I am the Son of God?” We believe that Jesus was the Son of God, which means his life on earth reflected: 1) divine DNA 2) perfect obedience 3) constant intimacy and 4) Messianic identity. Why is is so important to the Christian faith that we believe Jesus was divinely designed to be perfectly obedient through constant intimacy as the Messiah?
This way you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father. The word “know” implies a moment of knowing and “understanding” is an ongoing process of learning. When did you know that Jesus was God? In what ways are you still in the process of learning what that means?
Next Steps
”The closer you are to the identity of who God says you are, the more opposition you will face.” Have you found this statement by Pastor Brian to be true? If so, what kind of opposition have you experienced?
”It’s impossible that you’ve done something to separate you from the love of God.” It is isn’t only impossible, it is actually arrogant to think that you have somehow out-sinned the grace of God. Have you ever thought about it that way?
”You used to broken and now you are whole. You used to be hopeless, and now you have hope.” You have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit which makes you “set apart and sent”. Encourage one another with ways in which you’ve seen this reality unfold in your own story.
