John 8:31-59 - Converting a Nation

        John 8 is so powerful that it can turn a nation from evil and wickedness to following God Almighty in goodness, righteousness, and godly discipline, one soul at a time.  How?  By hearing and understanding Jesus’ message and then obeying Jesus’ teachings.  The message is that people are bound up, slaves to repeated sin and bad behavior.  Behind that bad behavior is a spiritual force, a father if you will, that loves that bad behavior; he is the father of it (8:44).  The message of God that converted the Vikings, the Romans, and other pagan nations to Christianity was the message of John 8.  It is this: Only Jesus Christ can set you free from entanglement to sin, being a slave to the devil and his evil ways.  But once you are set free you must grow and follow Jesus as part of His people, part of His church.

        There are many forces of darkness well described from the opening of the Bible right through to Revelation 22.  If you’ve lived for a while you’ll know the dark power that comes from your own heart (Mark 7) to think and do that for which shame is named.  I’ve argued with Canadian lawyer friends who have tried to convince me that all people are naturally good and that there is no such thing as evil.  I believe Jesus was dealing with similarly self-deceived people in this passage.  They claimed one thing but did another.  They refused to acknowledge the obvious and how they had rejected God for the forces of darkness: deception, dysfunction, lies, bitterness, anxiety, murderous intent, and all sorts of sexual sin.

        What about today?  We’ve read all sorts of history of the pagan nations of ancient times.  They fascinate me still.  Last year I focused on reading Greek and Roman history.  This year I want to focus on the history of the early church through to the 16th century - a time of great growth ending with reform of the church.  We see with the Vikings and other ancient pagan nations that they were creative, industrious, and spiritual, yet they followed the spiritual forces of darkness.  I suspect a major factor in the massive conversion to following Jesus Christ in Ireland, France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and other nations was those people came to know (as all people can) that the father of darkness is not Good.  The devil does not love people.  He seeks to use them and bring them to his kingdom to their destruction and harm.  Jesus is totally different.  Our loving God is Good indeed.

        Are the ancient pagan spiritual forces of darkness gone today?  No, the spiritual world is as real as your fingers.  But after the Son of God sent by the Father God, ransomed us on the Cross and ascended to the throne to rule from heaven it is a different ball game.  People can now be set free from the darkness.  Indeed, the Kingdom of Light is growing.  God has been building His people that will all one day be with God in eternity.  Like weeds growing alongside the wheat, the evil remains here, but darkness is fading, and the light grows as the Kingdom grows.  Jesus’ people are the children of God.  They will have eternal life with God.

        Jesus' plain truth in this passage is that those who don’t know and obey Jesus (8:55) are the children of their father, slaves controlled by the forces of spiritual darkness.   How do you know if someone is a child of the devil?  Jesus says by what they do.  They will love to do the evil things the devil does, that’s how (8:44).  How do you know if someone is truly a child of God?  Jesus says, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:31-32).

        Children of God are set free from bondage to sin by the Son.  And we then obey the Son.  Faith without works is dead (James 2:14-36).  There are pernicious lies that the devil and his demons tell and use to lead people from God.  One is that God ordains everything (the Vikings believed in this pagan belief that the gods fated all things).  Another lie is that by birth or tribe or family you are in the family of God.  That too is contrary to Jesus’ teaching in this passage.  Some Christian preachers say today that you can love money, lust, adultery, and build your empire here on earth.  That's simply not true.  Have nothing to do with them.

        Many former pagan peoples and those who were children of the father of darkness have heard the Gospel and become children of God.  God’s Kingdom is advancing.  The church, in my humble opinion, needs to look hard at how we have done in the last few generations in honoring Christ leading people to the Gospel, and preaching the need to remain faithful to Jesus’ teachings.  We need to put faith into action in our generation.  We get one life to use the best of our ability and with the guidance of the Spirit of Christ to make disciples of Christ and share God's good news of freedom with other people.

        The very good news is that Jesus Christ is God, stronger and more powerful than any spiritual power of darkness.  Stronger than Odin, more powerful than Thor, and able to set you free - for eternity.  But we have to believe in Jesus and then follow HIm.  We, like the church in every century, need to reform the church so that she is faithful to God alone.  We start with ourselves - get the log out of our own eye and ensure we are leading ourselves and our own homes well.  And we must encourage the church to be focused on God alone - to stop doing the deeds of the devil in our congregations (love of money, pride, greed, nepotism, and other fruits of the devil).  And we need to motivate believers in Christ to grow and remain faithful to Jesus’ teachings.

        The truth is that many today are in bondage to their father the devil, needing to be set free by the Son of God.  If that offends you, so be it.  Truth has a tendency to do that.  But as a sinner saved by Jesus, I urge you to examine for yourself who Jesus claims to be and what He offers you.  

        Scripture tells us that many believers drift back to sinful ways and do not remain faithful to Jesus' teachings (Hebrews 2:1, Romans 12:2, Hebrews 10:25, Ephesians 4:14, James 1:6-8, 1 Corinthians 15:33, 1 Peter 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:18-19, 1 Timothy 4:12, etc).  C.S. Lewis explains this well in the Screwtape Letters when we hear the demon Screwtape explaining to his protege Wormwood that many believers in Christ can be brought back to the father of darkness by influence and sly planning.  No one can take you away from God (John 10:28), but the Bible makes clear that people can and do shipwreck their faith and themselves drift away.  Work hard to bring them back (James 5:19).

        Christians, we have the responsibility to know God and to obey Him (8:55).  We have to make a plan and stick to it this year.  As we get older we start to know our weaknesses.  We need to plan well and be prepared to be disciplined and not fall back to old tendencies.  We need to prepare well and respond properly when in the past we may have responded with poor decisions or put ourselves in situations where we were certain to dishonor Jesus’ teachings.  True children of God follow His example and trust in God.  We hear God’s voice and grow.  We must be known for what we do - just as the devil’s children are known for what they do.  Nations are converted one person at a time.  But as we saw with Pentecost (Acts 2) one message of the Gospel has the power to set free all who hear it.  There is no better time than the start of a new year to plan and get to work.

        Father God, thank you for sending Your Son.  May many people hear the Gospel this year and become true disciples of Jesus Christ.  May we honor You by how we put our faith in You into action.  And always with love, Amen.

Kari and her friend, Ruth at a college basketball game.