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God's Candidate (John 1:1-4; 5:16-23)
Its election time in the UK and I have been looking at some political terms.
Apparently Prime Minister referred originally to the minister
who most successfully toadied up to the king and was dubbed the Prime
minister as a term of derision.
Ambrose Bierce, in his Devil's Dictionary, described politics
as:
A means of livelihood affected by the more degraded
portion of our criminal classes.
Candidates are said to be "on the stump" right now. This is an Americanism meaning to be out campaigning, referring to the practice of finding a good vantage point, often a tree stump in country areas, from which to give speeches.
There were many times when Jesus might be said to have been "on the stump", although he doesn't canvass our votes so much as command our attention. There was the famous "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew's gospel, where he sat down on the side of a mountain. Then there was the time in Matthew 13 when he climbed on a boat and cast off a little way to address the crowds along the shore. He was campaigning for heaven and brought heaven's manifesto. This coming amongst us and patiently presenting his case, or his "gospel", is all the more remarkable when we consider who he is.
The Nature of the Leader
As we choose our political leaders one of the things we look at is the character and nature of the candidates. As we look at Jesus we find in him characteristics found in no other.
John 1:1-4
Jesus made everything (3). The mountain on which he sat in Matthew 5-7; the sea on which the boat floated in Matthew 13; the men who built the boat; the people on the shore and the shore on which they stood, he made them all.
Has life in himself (4). He is dependent on no one else for life.
He is God (1).
John 5:16-23
Again we find that Jesus has life in himself (21). In John 10 we read,
"The reason the Father loves me is that I lay
down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but
I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and
authority to take it up again." Unlike us Jesus could choose
to die and choose to take up life again. Who but God can do this?
Jesus will judge everyone (22). He is our judge.
Jesus is worthy of equal honour with the Father (23). In deed, to fail to honour Jesus is to fail to honour the Father.
When God sent someone, then, he was not a party spokesman, not a diplomat, not an emissary but God the Son.
The Nature of the Problem
Every political hopeful has to address the problems we face and present their programme for solving those problems. When heaven's manifesto addresses the problems we face there is no spin. The message is straight and gets to the very heart of the problem. Paul, in his letter to Christians in Rome describes very well what we all know to be the true nature of the problem:
I have the desire to do what is good, but I
cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no,
the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. (Ro.7:18b-19)
We can all identify with the frustration expressed in these words but what is at the heart of the problem? Paul goes on to explain:
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Ro.7:20)
Jesus said:
What comes out of a man makes him unclean. For
from within come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.
All these evils come from inside and make man unclean. (Mk.7:21-23)
The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. But how did we get into this condition in the first place?
Just as sin entered the world through one man,
and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because
all sinned…(Ro.5:12)
We have inherited a natural propensity to sin. That is why it comes so naturally to us and why we struggle as Paul described. And it is all pervasive as Paul wrote:
There is no one righteous, not even one; there
is no one who understands, no one seeks God. All have turned away, they
have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not
even one. (Ro.3:11-12)
The problem then is not sins, plural, but Sin, which describes our very nature. It is more what we are than simply what we do. God's candidate did not come to talk about social problems and programmes but about sinful man and the problem of the heart.
The Nature of the Solution
Given the nature of the problem, indwelling sin, rebellion against God, a complete inability to do even the good we want to do, the solution has to be radical.
You see, at just the right time, when we
were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates his
own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for
us. (Ro.5:6-8)
Of course, this is not an unfamiliar message, but how exactly does it help us? It helps because,
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried
our sorrows…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for
our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon
him and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)
Our punishment is laid on him but how do we make the good of this work our own?
If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will
be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture
says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." (Ro.10:9-13)
The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart and it is the heart that this solution addresses. You believe "with your heart". The result of this is described by Jesus:
I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom
of God unless he is born again. (John 3:3)
The solution gets to the heart of the problem and is not simply the turning over of a new leaf but a rebirth into a new life.
The Decision we all face
When Paul preached on Mars Hill (Acts 17) there were three responses to his message. There were those who rejected his message, those who wanted to find out more and those who accepted what he said and "believed in their hearts". When Zachaeus welcomed Jesus into his home (Luke 19:1-10) it revolutionised his life (v8) and Jesus said,
Today salvation has come to this house, because
this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek
and to save what was lost. (vv 9-10)
Spurgeon said that you can sin in company, you can go to hell in company, but to be saved you must come to Jesus on your own. Zachaeus came on his own, regardless of what people thought, and was a changed man, a new man, born again. As we approach the election we should take our responsibility as voters seriously, but as we approach the biggest questions of life, the questions no politician or statesman can answer, we must take God's candidate most seriously of all.