The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree

Today’s sermon is called “The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree.” Let’s pray.

Father, we come into Your presence and thank You for Your grace, Your love, and Your patience with us, because we fail You so often. Sometimes we spend days, weeks, even years in the mud, feeling stuck, unmotivated, despondent, or hopeless. But You are never disappointed in us in those places. You are consistently there with everything we need. As we look into Your Word today, comfort us and remind us that there is nothing we have to do to earn Your love, and yet Your love transforms us so completely that we can walk forward with hope and victory. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Some families just have it in their DNA. My favorite family in sports is the Mannings. They’re hilarious. Their dad, Archie Manning, played quarterback in the NFL. Then Peyton won Super Bowls with the Colts and the Broncos, and Eli won two with the Giants. If you watch Archie and squint a little, you can see the way he played quarterback in the way his sons play. We say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Today in John 5, Jesus tells the religious leaders something that sets them on fire with rage. He basically says, “If you want to know what My Father is like, watch Me. Whatever He does, I do. The way He works, I work. The way He gives life, I give life.” The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. And here’s the shocking part: that didn’t make them worship Him. It made them want to kill Him. Because if Jesus looks exactly like His Father, then God looks nothing like their rules. And that was something they could not accept.

John 5:16: “For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.” What things? Remember, He healed the man who had been lame for thirty-eight years at the pool of Bethesda. The man said, “I have no one to put me into the pool,” and Jesus said, “It doesn’t matter. Rise.” And He healed him on the Sabbath. Now the religious leaders hear about it, and they want to kill Him.

So here’s your legalism warning. If you’re legalistic, you get so obsessed with your rules that it turns into hatred for anyone who breaks them. Legalism always produces disdain for people who fail. Here’s the grace side: grace produces love and patience when someone doesn’t measure up to God’s true standard. It doesn’t ignore the failure. It addresses it and forgives it, and then it supplies a new source of life to live by. Legalism wants to kill; grace wants to give life. That’s the difference between law and grace, between religion and Jesus.

Verse 17: “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.'” Remember what they were furious about: work on the Sabbath. And Jesus says, “My Father is working.” The sense is, “My Father is always working, He has never stopped, and so am I.” That word “work” triggers their whole performance-based religion, and it’s the first word out of His mouth. “Yeah, I worked. What of it?”

Jesus can trigger anyone. Stick around long enough and Jesus will trigger you too. He’ll go after any part of your heart that needs to be confronted, because He loves you and won’t leave you in whatever condition you’re in or whatever lie you believe. It will make you uncomfortable, and you’ll have to decide: am I right, or is Jesus right? You can ignore Him for a while and keep doing your thing. But eventually you’ll be broken by His love and persistence. He won’t forsake you. He keeps coming back: “I love you. That isn’t what’s best for you. Move forward with Me.”

If the Father never stops working, then according to the Pharisees, God is always breaking the Sabbath. Which means they must misunderstand the Sabbath. But they couldn’t accept that, because that rule was the biggest source of their pride. Their whole religious structure was built on it: “We are the only people on the planet who keep God’s Sabbath. That’s why God will protect us, overthrow Rome, and do what we ask.” When Jesus says, “That’s not God. You don’t even know God. He’s My Father, and you don’t know Me either,” it’s like knocking over a house of cards. So how will they respond? With humility and brokenness, “God, help me know You”? Or with pride? Obviously, pride.

God is working, and we are supposed to rest in Him. We can get so stressed about the mission, about building God’s kingdom, that we forget He doesn’t need us to do anything. He can do more in one second than we could accomplish in a billion years of effort, programs, planning, and sacrifice. So why do we do those things? We supply nothing, but our Father wants to involve us deeply in His work, because we’re His children, He loves us, and He invites us into His mission.

There’s mission work going on all over the world. We support work in Nepal, Guatemala, India, and Pakistan. There’s mission work in our state, in our neighborhood, in our families. It’s all part of God’s kingdom reaching lostness. That’s the real measure of a church: how much does it impact lostness? You can’t measure a church by how big it is, how much money it has, or how many dogs show up. You measure it by how much darkness is defeated, in your private world, your family, your community, and the world. God is working in all those places, and He invites us to participate.

And Jesus says, “I am also working.” Jesus is the link between God working and us resting in Him while working for Him. He takes God’s resources, which we call grace, and delivers them into us, so that it’s God’s grace empowering everything we do. God doesn’t hand you one job, like, “Your job is to go to Africa.” Some people do have specific callings, but those are laid on top of something much deeper. Our one calling is intimacy with our Father, a relationship of humble dependence. He works, we wait and rest, and the life of Jesus in us causes everything we do to be done by His Spirit, with His heart, His energy, His life, and His love. If you’re a believer, that’s your calling: connect with your Father through Jesus and live your life with Him living it through you.

Verse 18: “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” Their pride makes them hate God’s plan, God’s messenger, and God’s will. Their hearts are so full of pride that they can’t see God’s work or even who God is.

And now we get to the deep issue. Jesus claims the same power, authority, and heart as God the Father, which means He is God. Say it for the people in the back: Jesus is God. It’s very clear in Scripture. They couldn’t accept it, because they couldn’t imagine God going first to some guy lying by a pool instead of to them, the leaders, the real Sabbath keepers. “God would reveal Himself to us first. You can’t be God, because You went to that mess of a man first.” They tried their best to keep the law, and they looked down on everyone who wasn’t as holy as they were.

Today some skeptics say, “Jesus never claimed to be God.” Maybe you’ve seen that while scrolling. It’s completely false. Jesus made Himself equal with God over and over, to the point that the religious leaders said, “We’re going to kill You for claiming to be God.” They knew exactly what He was saying.

Verse 19: “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.'” The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Jesus isn’t saying He lacks divine power or is inferior to the Father. He’s describing perfect unity. They have different roles, Father and Son, but neither is greater or more powerful. They are equal members of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. The Son does nothing independently or in opposition to the Father. They share one divine life, one purpose, one work, and each has a role in it. The Father sends, and the Son accomplishes. That isn’t weakness. It’s unity.

How does Jesus see what the Father is doing? His eyes are on Him. And that teaches you how to follow God too. Keep your eyes on your Father. Jesus came to bring you into that same relationship. The Son looks to the Father, and the Father loves the Son. Jesus’ part is humble dependence: “I want My Father’s will to be done.” The Father’s part is faithfulness. He will always be faithful to His Son.

This isn’t master and slave. Master and slave are bound by contract, and the slave works for wages. Father and son are bound by love, honor, and relationship. Completely opposite. And “the Father loves the Son” is a continual, habitual love that never stops. Then Jesus looks you in the eye and says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you.” The same love, the same shared life, is yours too. That’s such a beautiful part of the gospel.

You know those insurance commercials where Dr. Rick tries to keep new homeowners from turning into their parents? I’m on the younger edge of that, just starting to wear the New Balance sneakers, so I find both sides hilarious. Narrating your own actions. Clapping when the plane lands. Making small talk at the gas pump. My wife hates when I start random conversations with strangers, so I guess I’m becoming that guy. My favorite is the throw pillows: Dr. Rick keeps taking them off the couch so people can sit, and they keep putting them back. That’s the silly version. Jesus is the good version. He’s like His Father in all the best ways.

In the next verses Jesus claims two things that only He and the Father have, which make Him uniquely God. He isn’t merely a messenger announcing God’s decisions. He is the divine Son who gives spiritual life, and He has the authority to judge all humanity.

Verse 21: “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” This is a couple of years before the cross, and Jesus is already talking about resurrection. Think about it. Death is the one rule no one in this world can break. Every human being who has ever been born has died or will die, with only a couple of exceptions in Scripture, like Enoch and Elijah. No matter how hard you try or what medicine you take, you will die. But God can raise the dead. It’s like God showing off: “How do you like them apples?”

Jesus loves giving life, and it’s never earned. In one sense He’s referring to His own coming resurrection. He knows He will die and trust His Father to raise Him to new physical life three days later. And then He turns to you and says, “I want to give you that same resurrection life, so you can experience new life today.” You don’t have to die and rise physically to begin experiencing it. You can experience His resurrection life spiritually, today.

His death forgives us and makes us holy. We understand that; it’s the easy part. But His resurrection brings a joyful, connected experience between us and God. The death means so much, but the life is something we can easily miss. I know many Christians who spent years understanding only what Jesus’ death did for them. That’s great. It’s great that my sin is forgiven and I’ve been washed clean and made holy. But then, “Why am I still a jerk? Why am I still struggling with every sin?” Because I’m not living the resurrection life. How does that happen? Jesus says, “I’ve given it to you. I share My resurrection life with you.” Every one of us has the exact same grace, the same gift: a joyful, connected life with your Father.

“What if I mess up, or I’m living in a sin I know I shouldn’t? Do I ruin it?” No. God won’t abandon you. You won’t be able to rejoice in it as much, because you know you’re not walking in who God made you to be. But He isn’t upset with you. He’s simply saying, “Come back to Me.” Jesus shares His life with you the same way He shares life with His Father.

So how do we experience resurrection life every day? 2 Corinthians 1:8: “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.”

Paul never tells us what happened in Asia, and I think that’s on purpose. He doesn’t want you focusing on his experience. He wants you to apply this to the terrible things in your life. Have you ever been burdened beyond measure? If someone asked how heavy it was, you’d say, “There’s no tape measure for this.” Above strength means no matter how hard Paul tried, he couldn’t fix it. No muscles, no trick, no escape. And he despaired even of life. Have you ever thought, “It would be easier to just die”? Many of us have been there. Whatever happened to Paul, it was so bad he wished he could die.

Verse 9: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.” People ask, “If there’s a God, why do bad things happen?” Here Paul tells us one big reason. Why do painful things happen, things so bad we want to die? “That we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.” It’s that clear.

Through our hardships we learn that our Father loves us, won’t abandon us, and will deal with the pain and the problem in His perfect time. That answer is resurrection life. You can have the joy, peace, and comfort of resurrection now, while you wait for the physical deliverance or healing, which may not come in this lifetime. That doesn’t make His love any less powerful for you. We all have the same access Jesus had to a loving relationship with the Father. The Father says, “I love you. I’m here for you. I’ll never leave you or forsake you. I’ve washed you clean, and I share My life with you.” All of that belongs to every one of us.

Verse 22: “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son.” This is the second thing unique to Jesus: He will judge every human being. Jesus decides who gets life, and He says that anyone who calls on Him will receive it. All who put their trust in Him will be forgiven and saved. “I am so loving that I will forgive anyone who calls on Me. And I need you to know that I will always do what’s right. I will always do the just thing.”

What about children who get cancer and die? What about suffering and evil in the world? What about when God feels hidden? Is hell real, and how can a loving God send people there? Those are real questions. And Jesus says, “Here is the one answer under all of them: I am the Judge, I love you, and I will always do what is right.” He doesn’t answer every question in this life. That book would be too long, and knowing “why” doesn’t really heal your heart anyway. He gives you the thing that does: “I love you, and in the end you will see that I did what was right. I promise.”

Verse 23: “That all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” Because Jesus always does what’s right, He deserves all the glory. The Son receives the same honor as the Father, which would be blasphemy if He were merely a created being. Jesus is fully divine, and to reject Jesus is to reject the God who sent Him.

What does it mean that Jesus will judge everyone? You can divide the world into two groups: believers and unbelievers. Let’s start with believers. Paul talks about the judgment seat of Christ, the bema (2 Corinthians 5:10). In the ancient games, the bema was where winners received their reward. It used to be a crown; now it’s a medal. Believers will be evaluated by the life we lived, for reward.

“But what about my bad works?” Your bad works were judged too, on the cross two thousand years ago. All of them were gathered up, laid on Jesus, nailed to the cross with Him, and judged there. Even the ones you haven’t done yet. If you’re in Christ, the judgment for your sins is already finished. But your life still matters. You can live selflessly, building God’s kingdom, or you can waste your life by God’s economy. Does it matter if you’re smart, rich, or talented? Jesus tells story after story to show it doesn’t. What matters is whether you trust God in the moments you’re given, whether you care about people, and whether you’re generous with them, with the same heart Jesus has for them.

That judgment has nothing to do with salvation. We are eternally secure in Jesus. At the bema seat, Jesus isn’t replaying all the bad things you did while everyone watches the highlight reel. That’s been washed away by His blood. But God will say, “Look at this good thing you did. Here’s a reward.” What are the rewards? I don’t know. Don’t ask me; I’m not the one giving them out. But they’re real.

Now the other group: unbelievers. Revelation 20 describes the Great White Throne judgment. Everyone who did not believe in Jesus is judged, their works put on display, and they are cast into the lake of fire. Scripture indicates differences in the degree of judgment based on what was done. How is that decided? Jesus knows, and Jesus does what’s right. Someone has to judge, and that is His role.

And notice why they’re there: their names aren’t written in the Book of Life, because they rejected the free gift of salvation Jesus offered in this life. Everyone, everywhere, is invited to simply receive forgiveness through Jesus, and He knows every heart that says, “Yes, I want that. I receive it.” It’s so sad that most Christians spend most of their lives never telling anyone. We just live on our own mission. But I’m praying for revival, starting right here in this bar, that every one of us would share it with everyone we have the opportunity to speak to. It’s that real.

Back to the Mannings for a second. Peyton and Eli didn’t become great quarterbacks by memorizing the rulebook. They grew up in Archie’s house. They watched him. They were around him, and he rubbed off on them. They looked to their father because they were close to him and loved by him. That’s exactly what Jesus describes: the Son does what He sees the Father do. His eyes were on His Father, not out of pressure, but because everything was built on love. The Father loves the Son.

And here’s the good news of the new covenant: Jesus didn’t come only to show us what His Father looks like. He came to bring us into the family. When I was describing how much the Father loves Jesus, did part of you long for that kind of love from a father? Jesus says, “I know. And I’m here to give it to you. You are loved.”

The religious leaders in this chapter worked so hard to look holy. They kept the rules and guarded the Sabbath, and they ended up looking nothing like God. They even wanted to kill God. Grace works the opposite way. You don’t become like Jesus by working harder. You become like Jesus by receiving His life and keeping your eyes on Him. We are transformed from glory to glory as we behold His glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). We are conformed to the image of the Son, the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29). Jesus is saying, “I’ll make you like Me in all the good ways.”

The same resurrection that raised Jesus, and the same life He shares with His Father, He shares with you. You’re not an employee on a job site trying to earn a paycheck. You’re a son. You’re a daughter. And the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Some of you came in tired, because you’ve been working for God instead of resting in Him. Stop. Your Father is always working. Look to Him. He’s always willing to give you what you’re trying so hard to get. Some of you came in carrying failure and afraid of judgment. Hear this: the One the Father appointed as Judge is the same One who died for you. He’s the only judge you’d ever want, and He gives life to all who call on Him. So don’t run away from Jesus when you sin. Run to Him. And maybe some of you have never come home to your Father. Jesus says, “Look to Me. Come to Me, and you will have life.” So let’s all run to Jesus with every fiber of our being.

Jesus, we worship You and trust You. Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Our hearts are humbled as we see how completely You have received us and chosen us. We are beloved by You, and we stand in awe and receive Your grace. Let our lives be marked by bold proclamation of Your love, so that we can say, “I am like my Father in heaven. I love you as God has loved me.” In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.