Sent to Judge or Not to Judge | Tim Henderson

Glad to be with you guys. Today, as we continue our series on John's gospel, we're gonna be in the last paragraph of John chapter 12. It starts in verse 44, and it's the passage that Bob just read to us.

Here's the thing: there's a lot of different ways that we can communicate biblical truth, and each option comes with a different set of expectations. There's preaching and there's teaching—they're not really the same thing. There might be a small intimate Bible study or a large Sunday school class, and they function differently. There's devotional writing and then there's highly academic commentaries. Sometimes people need an emotional appeal that pulls at the heartstrings, and sometimes the mind needs to be challenged to think.

This morning, I would like to welcome you to a seminary class in which you did not realize you had enrolled, but here you are. The passage that we're looking at this morning is actually very complex. It has some very rich, important themes that carry deep implications, and I want to chase two of them with you. We are going to be on the thinky side of the spectrum, which I know that some of you are going to love, and some of you might not. That's okay. Either way, I believe in you—this is a smart crowd. I'm gonna try to make this the most interesting and accessible seminary class you've ever taken.

Two Key Terms

We just heard the passage that Bob read—again, it's John 12:44-50. It's not very long, so I want to read it again. This time through, I want you to listen for two things: two key terms. You may have noticed in the first pass, but I don't usually notice much the first pass, so I want to give you a chance to see it again.

The two terms are sent and judge.

In this passage, Jesus is gonna say three times, "the Father sent me." And we're gonna talk about how incredibly important that is to him. Number two, I want you to notice what he says about his role as judge—or if you prefer, as we will see, about his role as not judge. That gets a little bit confusing. Those two things—his sentness and his judgedness—are related, and I will try to demonstrate that by the end of our time together.

The Passage

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

You got them? You hear some judge stuff, you hear some sent stuff.

Being Sent

Jesus says in verse 44, "Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me." He says in verse 45, "Whoever sees me sees him who sent me." He says in verse 49, "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."

Jesus says something exactly like this 31 times in John's gospel. Over and over and over again, he talks about the Father sent me, the Father sent me. It is a massive theme. And it's not a peculiarity to John—Matthew, Mark, and Luke add another 11 times to the count. Forty-two times in the Gospels, Jesus says that he was sent by the Father. It is a massively important aspect of his self-awareness, his understanding of who he is. His mission is intrinsically linked to the fact that the Father sent him. It's a huge driving theme.

I thought about reading you the entire list—all 42 of them—to overwhelm you and prove that I'm not making this up. But I decided that you would find that too tedious. So I'm compromising. I'm gonna read you a quarter of the list—10 of the times, just from John, that Jesus says that the Father sent him. I'm leaving off three times as many as he says here.

Here it starts in chapter 5:

By myself, I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself, but him who sent me. — John 5:30

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but shall raise them up at the last day. — John 6

Jesus answered, my teaching is not my own, it comes from him who sent me. — John 7

When you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own, but speak just what the father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone for I always do what pleases him. — John 8

If God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I'm here. I have not come on my own, but he sent me. — John 8

For I did not speak of my own accord, but the father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. — John 12

He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own, they belong to the father who sent me. — John 14

I in them and you in me, may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. — John 17

You guys, I'm telling you, this is a massive theme and it's incredibly important that we understand when Jesus says that he was sent, what he means here. And again, there are countless other times he expresses this idea. In fact, braided through all of his statements, the Father sent me, the Father sent me, the Father sent me, or a host of other ideas that are just adjacent to it. He says, I only do what the father tells me to do. He says, I only say what the father tells me to say. He says, I seek not to please myself, but him. I always do what pleases him.

Because Jesus' life is radically centered on obedience to and submission to the father. The father tells him where to go, and he goes. The Father tells him what to do, and he does it. The Father tells him what to say, and he says it. He is radically, completely, utterly, always, never not in full submission to the father. And he always will be. He lives to please his father. And in that, you guys, he is the model for us.

The Eternal Submission of the Son

Now, this is where the peak seminary begins. Okay, so bear with me on this. Theologians for maybe the last decade or so have been having a fight among themselves about a controversial doctrine known as the Eternal Submission of the Son. I'd be a little bit surprised if more than like two of you ever heard this because you probably don't read things where that would ever come up. Eternal Submission of the Son is sometimes called Eternal functional submission, ESS or EFS. And sometimes, just to make it more interesting, we call it the eternal relationships of authority and submission. Now this is a very in house Christian debate that is going on, but there's been a lot written about it, and a lot of it is very intense. And I want to just give you a quick primer on what is going on in that, so you might understand the implications of some of this.

So I want you to imagine all of time from eternity past to eternity future in three trimesters. The middle trimester, the second trimester, is the time that Jesus walked the earth. It begins at the moment of his conception and ends at his resurrection—or technically at his ascension. That's that middle trimester. The first trimester is everything that happened prior to that, from eternity past, infinite regress when there was nothing but the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit delighting in each other, all the way up to the moment of conception. That's trimester one. Trimester two is Jesus' time on this earth. And then from the moment he ascends till forever and ever, amen, that's the third trimester.

When we talk about the eternal subordination of the Son, the real debate is this: for the entire timeline, is it always the case that the Son is submitting his life to the Father?

Here's what we know beyond—well, there really is no controversy. Second trimester, this middle time of Jesus' life on the earth, 100% Jesus is submitted to the Father. Every picture of this sentness, that he only says what the Father tells him, only does what the Father tells him, all of that. When Jesus says, "I have not come to do my will, but the will of him who sent me"—absolutely, 100% he is submitted to the Father in all of these things.

Third trimester, this last chunk of time from now forever—will he continue to be submitted to the Father? Do you happen to know the answer to that? The answer is unquestioningly, yes. There's really not a debate about this.

One of the most stunning and startling and bizarre passages in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul describes that when Jesus returns to the earth and everything is finally perfected, he's going to take the kingdom and hand it over to the Father. So that, and I quote, God may be all in all. The picture that we see is once the incarnation begins, not only does the incarnation never end, but the son's submission to the father will never end. As the perfect human being, he will forever and always live to please his father. He will always and only do whatever the father wants him to do. He is locked in forever as our perfect representative.

The debate concerns the first trimester. Is this submission a quirk of his humanity? Is it a change of state because he has taken on our nature? Or has the son who is eternally begotten of the father, also endlessly submitted to the father in this direction as well? There's nuance there, there's complexity there, and more is written about that than we can possibly satisfy this morning. And so I'm not even going to bother to try.

What I want you to see is in this great big spinning question that a lot of people have been concerned about for the last number of years. What is not in question is that, whatever happened at the incarnation, henceforth and forevermore, it is the son's pleasure to bend his knee before the father. And he is eternally now, if not eternally past, eternally future saying, "not my will but yours be done." He is God of God, light of light, true God of true God. And yet, he is the begotten one, and yet he has become a human being. He is in his very essential self, the radiance of God's glory. He is the exact representation of his being. He is the one in whom the fullness of deity dwells. And yet, he is perfectly submitted to the Father.

Jesus's Submission: An Expression of Love

Now, I want you to consider something. Is Jesus radically submitted to the Father because he's kind of stupid and he's not really sure what to say or how to say it, so it's better that he just read the lines that the father wrote for him? Is he submitted to the father because honestly he's just kind of weak? His life is marked by radical dependence because he's not strong enough to make it on his own? Is he submitted to the father because he has low confidence and he doesn't trust his decision making, so he just does as he's told?

Or maybe viewed from the other side, does the father just like to get his way and so it's convenient to be able to boss Jesus around? Or maybe the father just has trust issues. He cannot trust Jesus to get it right so he micromanages him. Or maybe the father just gives Jesus random chores in a sadistic way because he is a maniacal, power hungry monster.

Do any of those sound remotely plausible to you? No. No. No. No. No. No.

You guys, what we call the economic submission of the Son as the perfect human being is not because Jesus is weak and it's not because the father likes to dominate, it is an expression of love. The son loves the father, it is his pleasure, it is his delight to give the father whatever he wants. He wants to please his father because he knows the supreme worth of his father. And I think that if you and I knew what he knows and if this broken corrupted part of us were ever to be healed, as indeed it will be, we would do the same thing.

And the fact is, you guys, as is everything about Jesus, his submission to the Father is a model for us in our own relationships of authority and submission. He is submitted to the father, leaving us an example that we should walk in his footsteps. And as the father sends Jesus and the son is sent, so does Jesus send us.

Listen to this, this is from John chapter 20:

Jesus says, "As the father has sent me, I am sending you."

You guys, we too are sent. You are sent. We too are to obey and submit to the one who sent us, no matter how glorious we happen to think we are.

The next time you find yourself chafing in your obligation to obey Jesus, to obey the father, or even in a lesser but genuine way to submit to any lawful authority in your life, remember him. Jesus is smarter than you. Jesus is better than you in literally every conceivable way. And yet, he did not bristle at the thought of submitting to the father. Though he's God, he did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he humbled himself, took on the nature of a servant and was obedient even to the point of death.

Friends, draw life from his lowliness and surrender your pride. Submit chiefly to him, but also to whatever authorities that he has placed in your life.

Okay. That's halfway. That's the easy one mentally, if not in practice. The judge one's gonna be more confusing. Take a look at what Jesus says in verse 47:

"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.

Alright. So the question here is: Jesus gonna judge or is he not? The top part says, "I don't judge him, I didn't come to judge the world." But then he's like, "Nah, I'm not gonna judge him, it's the word that I've spoken that will judge him," which seems rather like the same thing. Does it not?

So the best tool to interpret scripture when you're asking "Is this thing no or is it yes?" is always scripture. We're gonna play a little bit of a game. I'm gonna read you every single time in John's gospel that Jesus talks about his role as judge, or as we will see, his role as not judge. And we're gonna fill out a chart.

I want you to help me build this chart. This is a two iPad day. We're gonna be filling this thing out over here while the text comes up here. All you have to do for every passage is tell me: Is Jesus the judge? Yes or no? I'm gonna check off what it is. Or is there something else going on?

God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. — John 3:17

Is Jesus the judge or is he not? No. We're killing it.

Moreover, the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son. — John 5:22

Is Jesus the judge or not? That's gonna be a problem.

And the Father has given him authority to judge because he is the son of man. — John 5:27

Yes or no? Yes.

By myself I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear and my judgment is just for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. — John 5:30

What do we do with that? He says, "I judge as I hear." I'm gonna give that a yes, but this is with the father. So this is interesting. This one starts to get a little muddier.

You judge by human standards, I pass judgment on no one. — John 8:15

No. But then he continues:

But if I do judge, my decisions are right because I am not alone. I stand with the father who sent me. — John 8:16

Does he judge? Yes, and the Father. This is everything.

I have much to say in judgment of you, but he who sent me is reliable and what I have heard from him I tell the world. — John 8:26

What's the answer to that one? Yes, but that's also with the father.

I'm not seeking glory for myself but there's one who seeks it and he is the judge, father. — John 8:50

Jesus said, for judgment I've come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. — John 9:39

Yep.

As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him for I did not come in the world to judge the world but to save it. — John 12:47

That's gonna be a no.

There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words, that very word which I spoke will condemn him on the last day. — John 12:48

So that's actually his word, which means it's him. Okay.

Alright. That's the problem. What do we do with this? What's the answer?

Now, what's not the answer you guys is that John is helplessly contradictory or that the Bible doesn't make sense. The answer to this confusion about Jesus being the judge is embedded in the truth that he is sent.

I want you to hear Ramsay Michaels. He's a seminary professor at Gordon Conwell. He says this: "In short, the answer to the riddle lies in the notion of agency. When you see agency, want you to think sentness." And the notion of agency with which Jesus began this final speech of his ministry so far, and to which he will shortly return.

This paragraph begins by saying something, and it ends by saying something. The judge stuff's in the middle. If you're gonna understand the judge stuff in the middle, you've gotta get the bookends. So here it is, just with the bookends—verses 44, 45, 49, and 50.

Jesus cried out and he said, "Whoever believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me, 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 12:44-45, 49-50

Alright. So what does this all mean? Is Jesus the judge? The answer is yes—in as much as he is passing the judgment that the father has commanded him to pass.

But know if you think he's acting independently, he never acts independently. Everything he does, he does in obedience to the Father, including carrying out his delegated responsibility to judge the world. He is the judge because he obeys the Father, but he has not come to judge but to save. And you guys, to see him is to see the Father. To hear his words is to hear the Father's words. He does not judge on his own, but he does convey the message of judgment that the Father gave him.

And that is, of course, because he only does whatever the Father tells him to do. Because of this, there are a number of implications. I want to spell some out, but at the heart of it is this: if you receive Jesus into your life, if you build your life around his incomparable life, it is necessarily the case that you are receiving the Father. And more tragically, if you reject him, you are necessarily rejecting the Father. And if you reject him, you stand condemned, for the greatest obligation of your life is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He has given you everything from your bare existence upwards, and to disregard him is the supreme insult. Continue in that state and you stand condemned.

Four Implications

So what? I have five minutes to give you four implications. This stuff is academic, but it's not just academic. I want to mention briefly four consequences that flow inexorably from this.

Number one: The radical obedience of Jesus to the Father—it is persuasive, it is cheerfully embraced, and it is enduring. It is also a model for us. If in your arrogance and presumption you find yourself too glorious a creature to ever bend the knee, if your inclination is just consistently to sit at the head of the table rather than at the foot of the table, if you find yourself craving for honor and recognition, then behold the crucified Christ and tell me: do you really think that you are too great to submit? Let the example of his submission and let your experience of the fact that he submitted for you, for your good—let that melt your heart and slay your need for status and for privilege. Take the lowest place. Race to the lowest place, for we should be a humble people.

Number two: It is not possible to truly worship God unless you worship Jesus. Full stop. If you were raised on some vague general spirituality, if you believe in God but not Jesus per se, if you worship a creator-ish but you don't feel any need to get into the particulars—Jesus just eliminated that option. Every faith system devised by man is merely devised by man. And if you reject Jesus, necessarily you are rejecting the one who sent him. There is literally no path to the Father but through him. There is no access to the Father apart from him. There is, maybe most tragically, no conduit for the overwhelming love and mercy of the Father to travel to you except through him. He is the only bridge across the great chasm of your life.

Number three: The word of the Father spoken by Jesus will condemn multitudes on the last day. When that day arrives, the judgment will be inescapable, it will be catastrophic, it will be permanent. But today is not that day. Today is the day of mercy. Today is the day that you can escape that judgment. So today, do not harden your hearts. Instead, submit to the great submitter. It is only those who reject him and who do not receive his words that will face this dreadful judgment.

Number four: His followers will not be destroyed. They will be rescued. And you guys, I assure you it is not because Christians aren't guilty. Good grief. If there's anything that we know about ourselves, it's that. We know we need a Savior, it's why we have fled to him. And if you, like us, perceive the reality that your life has been marked by self-absorption, self-deception, and self-justification, then we invite you to discover what we have already discovered: that there is one who stood in our place. Because you see, friends, he is not only the perfect representative of the Father, he is the perfect representative of us. He lived the life that we should have lived but couldn't, wouldn't, and in any case didn't. And he drank the wrath of God under which we stand condemned.

Friends, why perish? Believe the gospel. Today, enter into the stream of mercy that flows from the Father through the Son to undeserving people whom he inexplicably loves as he loves himself. It is all yours for the asking. Nothing can be bought, you cannot earn it, you'll never deserve it. Nevertheless, it is yours. He is yours. Everything will be yours. All that he asks is that you would abandon your unrighteousness and your self-righteousness. Avail yourself of his mercy and turn to him in faith.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the exact representation of his being. He became sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And the invitation is that you would feast on him for there is no other name by which you must be saved. Lord Jesus, you are so glorious and yet, you are lowly. Lord, would you overwhelm us by your humility that we would recognize our own presumption and we would turn from it and that we would find in you the one person on the face of the earth who had no intrinsic internal need to submit, but who is easily by a wide margin the most submissive of us all. Lord, we love you, we adore you, we worship you. Amen.