John 5:19-23 (NRSVCE)
“19 Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20 The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 21 Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. 22 The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”
Human beings were made by GOD in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). HE created us to declare His glory and to honor Him. The LORD said, “ Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.” (Isaiah 43:7 NLT) GOD created us to do His Work in us and we are expected to acknowledge that when we do good things, it is GOD who planned this works that we are going to do to honor Him. Ephesians 2:10 says, “ For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.” We do not know that GOD beforehand, planned the good things we will do so that He is always at work in us.
Jesus Christ have done this to show us how we should THINK and LIVE our lives to honor and give glory back to GOD who created us. In today verses, Jesus Christ told the Jews (who were persecuting Him when He cured a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years in Bethzatha during Sabbath), “ Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” In this passage, Jesus not only recognized the Father’s doing through Him, but ALL He was doing were Father’s works, nothing evil is in Him. And the purpose of Jesus is so profound that He canceled the sick man’s thought, that if he can make his way to the pool, he would be healed. The man thought that his healing depend on what he could do (v.7). Jesus redirected the man to the truth by healing him.
Unlike Jesus, we as human, after being tempted, can do evil things, of course, the evil spirit’s work in us. And we deny those works not our works, because they are evil. Most of the times we blame it to others who provoked or tempted us to do that foolishness, that wickedness we have done. But if we accomplished something good, we take it as ours. It is us who are good.
In Matthew 19:16 (KJV) , A young rich man came to Jesus and said unto him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And Jesus replied (v.17), “ Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” Jesus Christ did not take the goodness as His own. Apparently, the rich young man do the otherwise and tried to show off the goodness he had done. In verse 20, he said to Him, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? “ Jesus knew, that the young man is taking credit the goodness he had done to himself and not giving glory to GOD, the source of all goodness. The result of his conceitedness is in verse 23 which stated that 'the rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven'.
In John 15:4-5 Jesus summoned us to let Him live in us so we can do real good things. The Scripture says, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” There’s nothing good that will be credited to us if we own this goodness to ourselves.
All our goodness will be in vain if we give glory to ourselves, it will be considered as big self-deception. Matthew 7:21-23 laid down this concern. It says, “ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”
James 1:17-21 also says, “ Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.”
So if someone thank us for our good deeds, we should say, “ Thanks be to GOD, for all goodness comes from Him. I’m only a vessel of His goodness to you and it is not me, but it is the LORD who did this favor to you in me.” So whatever you do, remember that you are allowing GOD to do His work in you and through you. Hence, in everything, whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, do it for the glory of GOD. AMEN
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