Who do we follow?

Life is about choices. Banana or muffin for breakfast? How shall we use unexpected free time? More than one option may be acceptable. Some choices carry more weight, not only in an eternal sense, but how we live our daily lives.

Read John 8:31-36.

• Jesus’ followers are those who hold fast to the truth about who he is—God’s Son.
• Such people remain steadfast, preserving¹ in the truth.

“so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life” (Philippians 2:15-16).

• Accepting and knowing this truth in our souls will set us free from the law of sin and death.

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:6-7).

• The Jews still didn’t fully understand their bondage to sin under the law.
• So Jesus stated the truth plainly.

“Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).

• “I who am the Amen [Truth itself] tell you this … certain… truth.”²
• Jesus sets the stage for teaching not only about his relationship to the Father, but also the relationship his followers also enjoy.
  

  Agricultural Research Center, Booneville, AR (DBSFRC). Erin Wood (D4396-1)

• Anyone who is still a slave to sin cannot have a permanent place in the holy Father’s family.
• Jesus, God’s Son, came to set us free from sin, and that complete freedom enables us to belong to God’s family forever.

*What does it mean to hold to Jesus’ teaching about the truth?

*What does it mean to have the Son set us free from slavery to sin?

Read John 8:37-41.

• The Jews’ position as Abraham’s descendants did not automatically guarantee them freedom from slavery to sin and the law.
• The law held them captive, and they chose not to make room for Jesus’ word or for Jesus himself.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

• Again Jesus proclaimed his testimony: he said what he saw in God’s presence.
• Their testimony was based on what they read about their earthly father, Abraham.
• Abraham believed God’s truth and God credited it as righteousness; he was adopted into God’s household.
• Because Abraham was their ancestor, the Jews assumed his spiritual Father, God, was also their spiritual father.³
• Jesus called them out on this: they didn’t even live out their faith as Abraham did.
• They wanted to kill Jesus because they didn’t like the truth he told them about God.
• Abraham accepted God’s truth, instead of killing God’s messenger(s). (Genesis 18)
• Instead of following their father Abraham’s faith, the Jews followed their [unrighteous] father’s ways.
• They protested they remained faithful to God as their spiritual father, not pagan gods.

*In what ways do we not make room for Jesus’ words in our lives?

*Who might we look to today for truth?

Pausing again in this chapter, reading smaller sections, because summer. We seek connection and relationship with God, rather than perfection or striving to do more.

 

1. Spiros Zodhiates Th.D., The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament (AMG Publishers, 1992), 960.
2. Zodhiates, 135.
3. Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D., Editor, The Complete Word Study New Testament King James Version (AMG Publishers, 1991), 333.