Eternal Father, Sermon Notes, Third Sunday in Advent

Peter J. Leithart, December 08, 2004

INTRODUCTION
According to Jesus�Econsistent testimony, the Father sent Jesus into the world (John 3:34; 5:24, 30; 7:28-29; 15:21; 16:5; 17:3). Jesus didn�t come to protect us from an overbearing and hostile Father. He came in obedience to the Father�s commission. In fact, everything Jesus did manifests the Father (John 5:19-20), so that when we see Jesus we see the Father (John 14:7, 9). The Father�s love and self-giving are revealed in Jesus�Elove and self-giving.

Yet, the Father whom Jesus revealed is our Lord. The Father does not send Jesus into the world to affirm us in our current condition, but to challenge our foolish belief that we are our own masters. He sends Jesus into the world to execute judgment (John 5:22; 12:31). Jesus came to reveal the will of the Father, and Jesus came into the world to die. That means that the will of the Father is that we die, so that we can rise again to new, eternal life (John 5:21).

THE TEXT
�After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethsada, having five porches. . . .�E(John 5:1-47).

FATHER, CREATOR, AND LORD
The first article of the Nicene Creed states that God the Father Almighty is �Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.�EThough creation is the work of the whole Trinity (Genesis 1:2; John 1:3), the Bible does sometimes refer specifically to the Father as the Creator (e.g., Acts 17:24-29, with 17:31; Ephesians 3:14-16).

In the OT, God is the Father of Israel in particular. Israel is Yahweh�s son, whom Yahweh redeems from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 4:22-23; Hosea 11:1). The song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 asks rhetorically �Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you�E(v. 6). Isaiah makes the same point: �But now, O Yahweh, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and all of us are the work of Thy hand�E(Isaiah 64:8; cf. 63:16). Just as a human father is the �author�Eof his children, so the heavenly Father is the Author of the existence of Israel.

Of course, the Father�s �begetting�Eof Israel is absolute and unconditioned, unlike human fatherhood. Human fathers are not �creators�Eas God is, and human fathers do not have lordship over the whole life and death of their children. God, as Father of Israel, is the Lord of Israel, because He made Israel. And He is Lord of all because all are His offspring (Acts 17:28-29).

Ultimately, God is Father to Israel because He is eternally Father to the Son (John 5:17-18). Fatherhood is some secondary attribute of God, one that He acquires after He creates human children. God the Father has always been Father, and will always be Father, because the Son is as eternal as the Father is. And the Son eternally submits to the Father�s will (John 5:19, 30). In the revealed Father-Son relation, we have a picture of the eternal Father-Son relation.

DEATH TO LIFE
Jesus reveals the will of the Father by His obedience, and His obedience is an obedience unto death (Philippians 2:5-11). Jesus�Eentire life is a lived in the direction of this ultimate act of obedience. Jesus is the suffering servant of Yahweh who suffers for the sins of many (Isaiah 53). Paul preaches nothing but Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23), and Hebrews teaches that Jesus is the High Priest who also offers Himself as the final sacrifice (Hebrew 5:8). Jesus does not come in flesh to remain in the flesh, but to die in the flesh. And that is the will of the Father.

Jesus�Eobedience to death before the Father is the way to new life: Unless the seed falls into the ground and dies, it cannot produce fruit. Jesus does not receive the new life that the Father offers by continuing in His earthly life forever, but by dying in the faith that the Father will rescue Him from death. The will of the Father is that Jesus should die, so that the Father might raise Jesus from the dead (Romans 4:24; 6:4; 1 Corinthians 6:14; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:20).

This is also the will of the Father for those who are in Christ. Continuing forever in fleshly life, life in Adam, does not lead to the Father. We must die to the old life, die to the old world, if we are going to get to the Father. All our efforts to live independently of God have to be killed. This is why Jesus said that the only way to be His disciple is to take up the cross and follow Him. The cross is not merely an instrument of suffering; it�s a mode of execution. Jesus�Ecall to discipleship is a call to follow Him into death, since this is the only way to the Father (Mark 8:34-35). Paul teaches the same thing. We are united to Christ in baptism by union with His death (Romans 6:3f), and everywhere Paul talks about our being crucified together with Christ (Romans 6:6; Galatians 5:24; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:3).

In all this, the Father asserts His sovereignty over us, demonstrates to us that He is Lord both of our life and of our death. He calls us to die to ourselves to live in submission to Him.

CONCLUSION
The obvious conclusion is that the shape of the Christian life conforms to the shape of Jesus�Elife. If we want to be disciples of Jesus, and have access to the Father, we must follow Jesus in the way of self-denial and death, and in the way of faith in a Father who raises the dead.

Though we may not realize it, we pray for this every Lord�s Day. The Lord�s Prayer is addressed to �our Father,�Ebut the Father that we address in this prayer is not One to coddle us, to leave us going our own way, who affirms all our desires and actions. We address the Father, and ask Him to hallow His Name (not ours), bring His Kingdom (not ours), and do His will (not ours) on earth as it is in heaven. Serving the Father who sent the Son through the Spirit means serving the Father as Lord, which means denying ourselves and following the Son to the cross.