This conflict of truth and self

John 12:42-43

Often, truth seems from a worldly view to be terribly unpleasant to us who are being confronted with it, and such is the case with these authorities in the time of Jesus.  The question each of us must ask if we desire to be intellectually honest is, what am I doing in my business and with my associates, is it the same thing these authorities did at the time of Jesus?   These authorities did not have a belief problem, they had a self problem, and self or flesh always runs head-on into truth, and at that point your thinker (the mind) and your feeler (the emotions) send a message to (will) and “will” makes a choice.  The choice for these authorities was, do I tell the Pharisees to take a hike, or do I keep quiet about this new belief I have in Jesus as the Messiah?  They, (the mind) and (the emotions) sent the message to (Will) and “will” decided it was best to stay in the synagogue because self loves the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

This conflict of truth and self on a collision course, has been spelled out in the book of Galatians, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:16-17 ESV)   This may be a new teaching for you, and for sure these authorities had not heard such teaching, so did Jesus give them a pass? 

We need not speculate because Jesus did a follow-up with these words:      “And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12:44-50 ESV)

A common phrase we hear today is, “Who’s your Daddy?”   ‘a slang expression that one uses and it takes the form of a rhetorical question.  It is commonly used as a boastful claim of dominance over the intended listener.’ (From Wikipedia)  Jesus ask this question in John 12:44-50, and the answer is God!   And the battle zone is a daily war with the flesh or self against the Spirit, but listen to what Jesus has promised in John 14, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”  (John 14:15-17 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice