Jesus has a way of getting to the heart of the matter. I’m reading John 5 where Jesus continues to engage those who were seeking to kill Him because He was a Sabbath breaker . . . the latest evidence being the man whom Jesus healed after being an invalid for 38 years . . . Jesus told him to take up his mat and walk . . . he did . . . but it was Saturday . . . and rather then invoking awe among the religious elite it invoked their anger . . . brother! Anyway, not only are they choked because Jesus is healing people on the Sabbath but they are also starting to get that Jesus is “making Himself equal with God” by “calling God His own Father” (John 5:18). And so they challenge Him . . . and so Jesus responds.

In this last portion of John 5 (vv. 30-47), Jesus offers up the testimony of multiple witnesses. He acknowledges that “If I alone bear witness about Myself, My testimony is not true” (v.31). Just as in the Old Testament a charge against someone had to be established by two or three witnesses, so Jesus is prepared to offer up a line of witnesses who also bear testimony to Jesus being the Son of God.

First, there was John the Baptist (v.33-35) . . . and then, there were also the works that Jesus was doing which testified that He was not just your everyday, average Joe, rabbi from Nazareth (v.36). Beyond that, Jesus declares that the Father Himself has borne witness about His Son. But, says Jesus, these “men of the clothe” had never heard God’s voice . . . they’d never encountered Him in any form . . . and what’s more, they did not have His word abiding in them (v.37). And so he diagnosis the real problem . . . it wasn’t a matter of the body of testimony . . . it was a matter of glory . . .

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life. . . . How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?   (John 5:39, 40, 44 ESV)

It brings to mind the old western movie cliche, “Pardner, this town ain’t big enough for the two of us.” The human soul isn’t big enough to seek the glory that comes from men and also receive the glory that has been offered from the God of all men. Had these religious leaders been seeking the glory of God . . . had they been sincerely searching the Scriptures for life giving understanding . . . then, they would have recognized Messiah. Instead, they had used the Scriptures to build their own kingdoms . . . they leveraged the Book to increase their own fame . . . they distorted the Word to promote their own piety. And Jesus asks, How can you believe when you’re more interested in the applause of men rather then the unimaginable honor of being a child of God . . . even if that means being a servant of all?

So it seems that, at least in part, faith is tied to glory. The ability to believe is severely compromised when our priority is to be a somebody. The degree to which the Scriptures can infiltrate our minds, hearts, and souls is the degree to which we have released the need for the praise of men and seek God’s favor only . . . a favor which is by grace through faith . . . a favor found only in His blessed Son.

It’s a matter of glory . . . whether we seek it from one another or from Him who is above all others.

It’s a matter of glory . . . ours or His.

. . . this town ain’t big enough for both . . . amen?