"Who's your daddy…?" That can be just another way of asking life's most important question: "What is your relationship to God?" Is God your Father? Is Christ your brother? So I've titled this message, "Paternity Test!" and the text can be found in John 8:39-47. First, let's reset the context. In John 7 & 8 Jesus has been teaching in Jerusalem during and after the Fall Feast of the Tabernacles. His Passover crucifixion is about six months away. His teaching has met with mixed results: hostility, confusion, and faith. For example, in John 7:31 – some were saying, "This is the Christ!" then in 8:30 – we read, "many came to believe in Him." But the Gospel of John, with its emphasis on saving faith, often cautions us that not all faith turns out to be real faith. So Jesus gave two tests to the Jews who claimed to believe in Him. The first was a "discipleship test" (8:31-38). A true disciple continues in Jesus' teaching, grows in holiness, is adopted into God's family, and reflects Christ's image. Then immediately (in this text, vv.39-47) Jesus issues a second test, a "spiritual paternity test." The test is simple:
You are either a child of God or a child of the devil. 1. Paternity criteria # 1: your deeds. vv. 39-41 2. Paternity criteria # 2: your love of Jesus. vv.41-43 3. Paternity criteria # 3: your response to Jesus' truth. vv.44-47
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