Being a believer is a process where the believer goes from glory to glory. We go from one place of maturity to a greater place of maturity, one place of knowledge to a greater place of knowledge and wisdom. We are cleansed and made more into the image of Christ through Christ’s word.Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. – John 17:17Everyone doesn’t like it when we grow. Some people like us more when we stay in the same place. To some, acceptance is contingent upon if all parties are at the same level. When one party decides to grow and embrace even more of their identity in Christ, a separation due to competition is often produced. This is what Jesus dealt with in John 5. He was stopped by the religious people who confronted Jesus due to him healing a man on the Sabbath day. Let’s look at how Jesus held fast to his identity when others were offended by it.
We can be bold in who we are as long as we depend on the Lord
Jesus Christ did not fall back from his identity one bit. As a matter of fact, when he was confronted by the religious people; he gave them a greater lesson on who he was. He said, yes, both I and my father work on the Sabbath. This was Jesus’ way of letting them know that he was equal with God, and because he is equal with God he is not going to back down. He was bold in who he was because his identity came from his heavenly father.
We should be well acquainted with our purpose and walk in it boldly
Jesus was well aware of his purpose. He laid out that he had some specific tasks given to him by the Father. Some of these tasks included judgment, raising the dead, and healing on the Sabbath day and any day he otherwise pleased. Jesus was making a bold statement that his identity did not come from acceptance with men, but from the Father himself. Just as Jesus, our head and example, our identity also doesn’t come from acceptance with men, but from the Father.
We should not seek the praise of men but from God
There are many who are insecure, who seek to identify with someone greater than them. They seek to gain the praise of someone greater than them. The religious, who confronted Jesus compared themselves to Jesus. Seeking to belittle Jesus, they wanted Jesus to seek their acceptance and their praise. This is something that they also practiced with one another, but Jesus would not take part.
“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. – John 5:41-42
Just as Jesus would not modify his identity and purpose for the praise of men, we ought not to modify our identity and purpose for the praise of men. We ought to allow pleasing God to be our motivation for who we are and what we do. This doesn’t mean that God will not use people after his heart to affirm our reputations before others and to ourselves.
God will always have someone else who has his heart to affirm us
Even though Jesus is equal with God, he pointed out also that he does not testify of himself, but John the Baptist was sent before him to testify of him. There is an authenticity displayed when other reputable people affirm who we are. It provides a safe place where we can be affirmed by those who aren’t comparing themselves to us but instead love us for who we are because they also get their identity from God and not others.
How interesting that all of this testing of Jesus’ identity took place on the Sabbath day. I do believe that God wants us to rest in our identities in Christ just as Jesus rested. Those who opposed Jesus did so because they were insecure within themselves. Often times when people are insecure within themselves; they latch on to a religious spirit. They extract their identity from self-righteousness and policing others according to the standard that they set for themselves.
This is what they sought to do with Jesus. They compared Jesus to themselves, declared him guilty or unworthy to do what he was doing, and thus sought to control him by convincing him he was in the wrong.
Yes, the commandment of resting on the Sabbath day was valid for men, but God was not under that rule because he is God. Jesus was actually giving the religious leaders insight to how God works—when we rest, God works.
“When We Rest God Works.”
Those who are insecure are ruled by a spirit of fear. They consistently modify themselves to feel accepted even to the point of trying to do what God is supposed to do. Those religious men should have been at rest. What they were telling Jesus to do; they should have been doing. Instead, they became busybodies meddling in what did not concern them.
We all can be tempted with an insecure spirit. We all can be tempted to grasp our identity from people, religious self-righteousness, or comparing ourselves to others, but that only introduces a cycle of confusion and control. Let’s take a lesson from Jesus, and find our identity in that intimate place of seeking the Lord and resting in what God gives us.
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