Sent By Him, Speaking His Words

In John 5:19, Jesus explicitly said He did nothing of Himself. He only does what the Father initiates. In John 5:30, He confirmed:

“I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me.”

Jesus only judged as the Father revealed it to Him, because the Father is His head.

If we go to John 14:10 we find it really summed up there. Jesus is speaking to His disciples. John 14:10:

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority...”

But “I do not speak on my own authority“ is not an accurate translation. It should have been translated as “I do not speak of myself”: “The words I speak to you I do not speak of myself, but the Father dwelling in me does His work.”

So, who ’s the source? The Father. The words that Jesus speaks or spoke the Father gave Him. The works He did, it was the Father dwelling in Him that did the work. And that’s the meaning of headship. Perfect headship. That’s the pattern that Jesus set.

Let me just challenge you with something which is a little beside it but nevertheless very relevant. If we look in John 20:21, after the resurrection when Jesus appeared for the first time to His disciples in a group, John 20:21, He said to them:

“Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

Put that together with what we ’ve been saying. Jesus said: “the words that I speak to you, the Father gave them to me”. So, if Jesus sent us as the Father sent Him, we should say: “The words I speak to you, Jesus gave them to me”. Jesus said: “It’s the Father dwelling in me that does the works”. So we ought to be able to say it’s Jesus dwelling in me that does the works. Jesus said: “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father”. We should be able to say: “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen Jesus”. That again is headship. Once your eyes have opened to this truth, it’s really central to the success of the Christian life.