Study inJohn’s Gospel

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DiverseGenealogies

Chap 8v38-47

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IntroductionMany people derive a great deal of pleasure out of researching their family tree. A friend of mine was delighted by the fact that she could trace her family history back to King Robert the Bruce.

For others, possessing a family tree is much more than a hobby because rights of inheritance are at stake. Claims to land, titles and riches hang upon being able to prove a line of descent. And it is this issue of family history that forms the centre of gravity of our passage and is of such vital importance, not only for Jesus’ day, but for all of us today.

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Abraham Is Our FatherThe Jews were caught up in a religious debate with Jesus and much of what Jesus had to say made them feel uncomfortable for their cherished beliefs were beginning systematically dismantled.

And whenever, Jesus suggested that there was something lacking in their lives, [which he could then remedy] they reacted violently and defensively. We find them running to what they must have considered to be their fall-back position. Here they would affirm a kind of spiritual mantra which hadbecome the ground of their security.

“We have Abraham as our father”.

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Abraham Is Our FatherYou see, God had promised incredible blessing to Abraham and his heirs cf. Gen 12v2-3. And that blessing included the provision of salvation. Therefore, what these religious leaders were saying was something like this,

“Because we can trace our family tree all the way back to Abraham, we must be the inheritors of all of God’s promises to him and if that is so then we must be safe - we are certainly the children of God!”

For them, physical descent from Abraham was ‘all important’ for this claim. Abraham was like the root of the tree and they were one of the branches!

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Abraham

Abraham Is Our FatherDo you see what their thinking implies?“Because of my family history and rich religious tradition, I do not need the life transforming experience that Jesus says is on offer”.

This kind of thinking is still around today. I have heard people say something like this;“My grandparents were founder members of the church, my father was a Sunday School superintendent, my mother led church groups for over 25 years, some of my uncles were elders… and because of their significant service, past performance and godliness, I have nothing to worry about”

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Jesus’ ResponseJesus responds to the Jews’ argument. First, by challenging his hearers to examine the difference between their profession and their behaviour. Jesus concludes that there is a strange and observable inconsistency in their lives. The great thing that marked out Abraham’s life was his ‘obedience of faith’. He walked with God and sought to please God.

These religious leaders wanted to say; ‘So do we’. But Jesus points out that by seeking to kill him, they demonstrated that “God’s word had no place in them”. Despite all of their rich religious tradition, they did not allow God’s word to regulate their lives and so, at this behavioural level, they bore no relation to Abraham. There was no family likeness!

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Jesus’ ResponseWhat about the person today, who calls himself a Christian but whose behaviour is no different from that of the unbeliever. Upon examination it becomes clear that they have made no room for Jesus. Little attempt is made to either to read God’s word or to conduct their lives by its teaching.

They are happy to lie, if they can benefit from it. They might not engage in murder but they do take part in character assassination. They take perverse pleasure in making others look bad etc. Is it not equally true of them that;

“God’s word had no place in them”.

Such people should be troubled by this but often they see no problem.

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Jesus’ ResponseJesus explained the cause of this inconsistency in the Jewish leaders by distinguishing between physical and spiritual relationships. You see, while these Jewish leaders were the physical descendants of Abraham, as both their family tree and DNA testing would prove, they did not share Abraham’s spirituality. That is not something one automatically inherits. Someone has said; “God has many children but no grandchildren”.

We can’t inherit our parent’s faith-relationship with God by virtue of our birth. A personal commitment needs to be made by each generation.

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Jesus’ ResponseAgainst this background Jesus makes a very disturbing claim. He tells the religious leaders that, spiritually speaking, their true father was ‘the devil’. What did he mean by that? Cf. v42ff. Their behaviour reveals the family they truly belong to. The three points Jesus picks out are these:

a. their hatred of him. b. their intent upon murder.c. their lies and malicious misrepresentation of him.

All of these characteristics reflect the character of Satan which is unfolded in the early chapters of Genesis.

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Jesus’ ResponseIn Genesis 3 Satan’s hatred of God finds its focus in his attack upon that which was nearest to God’s heart, man made in his image. The means used by Satan was to misrepresent God to man, to lie about God’s purpose of blessing for mankind - “God can’t be trusted, he’s a spoilsport, he wants to prevent you from achieving your full potential”.

Satan did this knowing that if he were successful he would have brought death and destruction into God’s good creation.

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Jesus’ ResponseWhat had God told Adam? “On the day that you eat of this fruit…you will surely die”. And man did die, first spiritually and then physically. And so we see Satan in his true colours, he was ‘a murderer from the beginning’. His propensity for murder is seen again in the murder of godly Abel by his brother Cain. Notice the clear warning that God gives Cain before the event. ‘Sin is crouching by the door’ Gen. 4v7 Sin is personified why? Because Satan is present inciting the momentum of sin which would lead to murder.

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Jesus’ ResponseJesus’ then challenges the Jewish leaders to trace the origin of their own behaviour. If they were honest enough to do so, then they would see that it certainly did not reflect the character of God. They would be foolish to close their eyes to this fact and to continue to take refuge in their family tree saying “we have Abraham for our father”. It is just as foolish today for someone to say, “my dad was a famous Christian conference speaker and so my spiritual wellbeing is secure!”

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Jesus’ ResponseOf course it would be foolish to suggest that the generality of people, who are not Christians, are the willing instruments of Satan, intent upon the destruction of all that is good and godly.

But people are often unwitting puppets, who dance to the tune that Satan plays. Sinful behaviour is destructive, corrosive, spoiling lives and robbing them of their potential. When we sin, whether by breaking out in anger against someone else, or by deceiving or exploiting others to our own advantage or by pushing ourselves forward at the expense of others….whose family trait are we revealing?

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Jesus’ ResponseIn a parable that Jesus taught, he made it clear that good fruit cannot come from a bad tree. Matt.7v16-18; 12v 33-34. Clearly only a good tree can produce good fruit. Similarly, bad fruit does not come from a good tree. It is a bad tree that creates it.

In the same way you can come to know the true nature of your spiritual family tree by the fruit that is found there. Ask,‘What fruit is found in my life?’

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Jesus’ ResponseIf my behaviour is an expression of my nature then my sin is an expression of my sinful nature. Now people say, “I cannot change what I am, it’s my nature, it’s the way I was born”. And they are perfectly correct! They cannot change their nature but God can!

When a person exercises saving faith in Christ, he does not simply experience the forgiveness of his sin and deliverance from its bullying rule. He receives a completely new nature. Paul writing to the Corinthians says:“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God…” 2 Cor. 5v17-18

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Jesus’ ResponseWhat then is true of Christian experience? There I am - a branch that was producing bad fruit because I belonged to a bad fruit tree and along comes God. He cuts me out of that tree and grafts me into a new tree, a good tree that is called Christ. Then I begin to produce good fruit. I am still the same person on the outside but I am a quite differentperson on the inside.

I have a new nature and because of that I have new appetites, new priorities and a new direction for my life. I want to please God with all my heart. So now, when I say, “I am a member of God’s family”, it is as one who has begun to display the family likeness

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ConclusionMany can look back on godly parents and grandparents, who left their mark on their family, community or the church that they served. We can thank God for such a heritage. But at the same time we need to recognise that we do not automatically inherit their faith. We might have inherited their musical ability or the shape of their nose but faith is not genetic! We can’t rely on their relationship with God. We need to nurture our own faith-relationship with God.

How do we acquire a new nature? What causes God to graft us into Christ? It is when we put our trust in Christ alone for salvation, that he provides us with a new nature, whichmarks us out as God’s children. Do not rest content until you are sure that possess, what Christ freely offers!

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