Preamble

If a non-Christian friend or colleague, someone unfamiliar with the Bible, asked you to recommend which book of the Bible they should read first, what would your response be? Which book would you suggest?

The book of John. And I know that because Aldo told me that once.

But WHY? I mean any of the gospels would be a good starting point! But what is it about the gospel of John that makes it such a good recommendation?

You would right in referring to John 20:31, a verse that both Lawrence and Stuart referred to in their sermons, “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”

The purpose of John’s gospel is very clear, so that we might BELIEVE, in whom, JESUS THE SON OF GOD and the MESSIAH and in doing so have LIFE

If we count the number of times the word BELIEVE appears in the New Testament, we will very quickly see that the book of John uses the word more than any other book of the New Testament.

In total it is used some 208 times, the book of John uses it 98 times… the next closest book is the book of Acts that uses it 35 times.

The gospel of John is very carefully, and purposely inspired and written, so that we KNOW Him and BELIEVE in him.

It should come then as no surprise that this gospel is often referred to as the “believing” gospel.

He could have elected to use the word FAITH, a word that is nearly identical, but the word BELIEVE is an action word, and in this Gospel the book is written as a call to action.

It is a book that readers cannot simply read without feeling compelled to respond.

In marketing and sales we talk about a CTA or a Call To Action. A Call to Action is text that is designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage a sale… a Call To Action could be something as simple as clicking on a link or watching a video. These actions are then trackable and we can see if our messaging has hit the right spot. In most cases emails and messages are ignored, the holy grail, so to speak, is a message that gets someone to respond… we throw a hook in the waters and then we have got them….

The reason that the Gospel of John is such a good book for first time readers to read, is that it is the ULTIMATE CALL TO ACTION. This is also the reason that we have decided to study this book on a Sunday morning. Because every single passage we read, every single time we speak from this pulpit there is an undeniable call to action that cannot be ignored… both for you and I.

Last time Stuart shared from John Chapter 4, and it my privilege, over the next 2 weeks, to share from John Chapter 5.

What were you doing in 1986?

  • I was 11 years old and in Grade 7 (at my most annoying)

There were a number of important events that took place this year. (jog your memory)

  • 73 seconds into launch, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart, killing all 7 crew aboard
  • This wasn’t the only disaster that year, on the 26th of April the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded causing the worst nuclear disaster in human history… so far
  • We also had a visit from a terrestrial body in the form of Halley Comet
  • “Top Gun” was released to theatres
  • A can of coke cost 25 cents, both here and in America
  • Argentina won the world cup
  • Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web
  • And the US congress passed a comprehensive Anit-Apartheid bill which saw international companies withdrawing from South Africa, exerting considerable economic and political pressure on the Nationalist government

So why 1986? Why single out that year?

It was 38 years ago, and a lot has happened since then!

But that is exactly how long the man in today’s scripture had suffered

Reading

Let's read the passage of scripture together

JOHN 5:1-18

The Needs of One Man

So what do we know so far:

  • John has a clear purpose in writing the book.
  • The design or construction of the book is no accident.
  • The book begins in Chapter 1 with an introductory poem and a short story
    1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
  • This is then followed by a block of stories about Jesus performing a series of 7 miraculous signs from Chapters 2-11.
    1. Why just these 7?
      1. Well, John 20:30, tells us that Jesus performed many signs and wonders but that these were chosen to reveal who he was and his purpose
      2. It was a progressive revelation (step-by-step more of Jesus is revealed)
      3. However, as more of Jesus is revealed so too is more and more controversy generated.
      4. It culminates with Jesus's greatest sign, the raising of Lazarus in Chapter 11 and the greatest controversy
  • Then Chapters 5-10 John has a collection of stories that take place during 4 Jewish sacred days or feasts
    1. Jesus uses the imagery of these feasts to make claims about himself
  • Here in Chapter 5 Jesus is found in Jerusalem at the pool of Bethesda, which was believed to have been a pool of healing
  • While we are not told why Jesus went to Jerusalem nor why he went alone, we know he heads straight to the pool
  • There he finds a multitude of disabled people all sitting around waiting for something to happen
  • Brief note on this passage: You may or may not have noticed that verse 4 has been omitted or it certainly was in my version, yours may have included it.
    1. The reason is that the earliest manuscripts do not include the verse.
    2. It is assumed that this verse was inserted later by scribes in order to explain the belief about what happened at the pool and why the sick gathered around the pool for healing
  • Whatever the case the first thing we notice is that Jesus singles out one man
  • I mean he could have chosen to heal each person, one by one… but he doesn’t… and in doing so we see the character and nature of Jesus, of one who is deeply aware and concerned about the needs of individuals.
  • QUESTION: 
    1. Is there something in your life that you have spent a long time suffering with?
    2. Is there something in your life that is a millstone around your neck, so much so that it leaves you incapacitated?
    3. What was it?
    4. Do you feel like you are alone in this struggle?
  • Jesus knows and cares!
  • You may feel like one of the herd… lost in the crowd… This morning Jesus singles you out… are you an elderly person, you have a faithful life, and you have run a good race… but in your senior years your body fails you… Jesus knows!
  • Have you been struggling with the burden of unconfessed sin… which leaves you paralysed in fear and regret… Jesus knows!
  • Like a shepherd he knows and calls each of us by name.

  • Jesus then asks him, what on the surface seems like a preposterous question, “Do you want to get well?”
  • Who would want to get well!
    1. Surely that is a given
    2. If you were to ask Elizabeth, last year while she was doubled over in pain and illness… Do you want to be healed… What do you think her answer was?
    3. The situation of the man was different, he wasn’t sick in the same way Elizabeth was sick, rather he was inflicted with a debilitating condition that had rendered him an invalid over for a long period of time, and he had become used to the condition.
    4. There is a fascinating 19th century science experiment. As the story goes, researchers found that when they put a frog in a pan of boiling water, the frog just quickly jumped out. On the other hand, when they put a frog in cold water and put the water to boil over time, the frog just boiled to death.
  • Well sometimes it is easier to hold onto our brokenness and our dysfunctionality than taking up the opportunity for healing
  • Now I want to be very careful what I say here, because I do not want to appear uncaring in any way, but I wonder, when I see beggars asking for money at the traffic lights or those that knock on my door from time to time, whether they do it because they cannot provide for themselves or whether a life of begging is easier… again I am not trying to be uncaring, because we live in a country with a high unemployment rate and it would be easy for me to criticise
  • But the point I am trying to make is that receiving a cure has implications
  • One’s whole life needs to be reprioritised and restructured to fit that of someone who is now whole
  • You see what Jesus is asking the invalid here is “Are you ready to be healed?”
  • Because once you are healed you are going to have to start living the life of a whole person, no longer relying on other people
  • No longer living a life of disability
  • A little later in v14, when Jesus sees the man at the temple, we also see Jesus challenge his spiritual paralysis and asks if he is willing to rebuild his life around Christ, if he wants spiritual healing
  • You have been healed physically, but are you ready to be healed spiritually

  • What a Call to Action!
  • Q: DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL?
  • Are you ready for healing this morning?

The Response of One Man

  • What is the man’s response?
  • He begins to throw up a series of excuses and in so doing reveals his heart
  • I mean in 38 years, this man had not come up with a plan? Really?
  • He hadn’t organised a position close to the edge of the pool? He hadn’t organised a relative to sit with him so that he could be first to the waters once they were stirred?
  • I mean the competition wasn’t great… the lame, the paralysed… those that couldn’t walk… the most able bodied were the blind… and they needed to find the pool first… I mean you have a head start dude… they couldn’t see the waters being stirred-up!
  • The first excuse he makes is that there is no one to help him!
    1. This is an excuse we make ourselves when trying to explain our lack of action
    2. If I ask Olivia or Riley why they haven’t packed the dishwasher… or tidied their rooms… who they blame… mom… “But mom said I must…”
    3. Shift the blame onto someone else or reason for their inaction as a result of someone else's inaction
    4. Or it is an excuse of circumstance
    5. “I was waiting for Olivia to brush her teeth before I can shower”… yes, but it doesn’t take 20min to brush her teeth, she was out of the bathroom 15min ago.
  • The second is the excuse of trying
  • Which is a good disguise for giving the smallest amount of effort
    1. If we interrogate the try… we find that the try was not a try at all
    2. I often see this playing out in the work environment
      1. When I ask a colleague to do something and then check in later and the response is that I tried… I then ask a series of questions… I dig deeper into the response…
      2. Well did you try this or that… the answer is all too often no
  • You see I think that for 38 years this man did not want to be healed, he was content to wallow in invalidness
  • BUT NOW! NOW HE WAS READY! (Jesus knew)
    1. NOW he is ready for healing

  • Are you ready for healing this morning? Or are you throwing up excuses

  • In v8 Jesus cuts through the excuses and the thin veal and instructs him to “GET UP!” to pick up his mat and walk!
    1. Immediately the man was cured
  • Jesus’s power of illness and nature is revealed once again

  • It is fair to say that although Jesus’s actions has piqued the interest of Jewish leaders, and could be categorised as mildly annoying, it is this miracle, because it was performed on the Sabbath, where the leaders begin to build a case against Jesus and by v18 they are so incensed that they want to kill him
  • You would think the response of the Jewish religious leaders, following a miracle of this nature, would have been wonder and amazement
  • I mean a man who had been an invalid for 38 years was completely healed
  • There was no denying the state of this man, and there was no denying the miraculous healing
  • Their response, however, focused on the fact that the man was carrying his mat, which they saw as a violation of the Sabbath law.
  • The Pharisees were determined not to break any of God’s laws, and so they had, over time, devised an intricate system of oral tradition to keep them from breaking the Mosaic law. They had up a whole bunch of their own laws.
  • And they were far more concerned with a legalistic keeping of the rule of law than with seeing the work of God in their midst.
  • The irony here is that it is the Jewish leader that were the true invalids, the spiritually paralysed

  • Do you think this can be a danger for us today? YES
    • We need to be careful that we do not add our own man-made rules to Scripture. 
    • Legalism breeds self-righteousness, which turns into pride comparison and smug judgement:
      • “God, I thank you that I'm not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11)

The Authority of One Man

  • Was it a coincidence Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath?
    • I think not, rather it was planned in advance and for His purposes, that he would challenge the religious order of the day
  • The Jewish leaders completely ignored the healing and had focused on the issue of the Sabbath violation
  • When they found out that it was Jesus they began to persecute him
  • How does Jesus respond?
  • Jesus’ response is simple yet profound. In verse 17 he says: “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”
    • What does he mean by this?
  • He completely ignores their concerns about the Sabbath and shifts the topic to his relationship with the Father
  • And in so doing reveals his true identify and his relationship with God as Father
  • What Jesus is saying is… “Whether you like it or not, I have the authority to do this because of my relationship to God the Father”
  • He puts his work on the same level as that of God the Father - and this was blasphemy to the ears of the authorities
  • Violating the sabbath was one thing, but making yourself equal with God was something completely different
  • Years of stubborn thinking had hardened their hearts to the voice of God
  • They were not able to hear God’s voice when Jesus was speaking
  • They were unwilling to see Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God
  • They were unwilling to be healed

Conclusion

  • There are some obvious lessons that we can learn from the passage this morning
  • Jesus sees you, he knows you, he seeks you out
  • Jesus cares for the individual
  • He knows your affliction, whether they are based on circumstance or our own willful and sinful actions
    • There is the implication here in v14 when Jesus meets the man once again in the temple courts that his invalidness was a result of his own actions
    • “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”
    • Either way he desires to see you well
    • He knows your infliction, that which leaves you paralysed, HELPLESS & HOPELESS
    • And it is in our HOPELESSNESS that he offers you healing this morning
    • It may not necessarily be the radical healing that this man or Elizabeth has experienced, BUT he offers healing
    • Are you ready to be healed
  • So, WHY does he not offer complete physical healing?
  • Well, Jesus is more concerned with you spiritual condition than he is with your physical one
  • Wait, what! What do you mean by this?
  • We see life as defined by our birth and death, where Jesus sees us within the context of eternity
  • What do you mean by this?
  • Jesus sees our failing bodies, an ultimate consequence of sin, but he sees beyond this, he sees the poison of sin on our spiritual well-being and offers spiritual healing
  • A greater miracle by far!
  • You see Jesus may know you affliction, he may comfort you, but he may choose not to heal you physically, because it would not benefit you spiritually
  • At the end of the day God is sovereign, we need to trust him

  • The final observation that I would like to make is with regards the Jewish leaders persecution of Jesus
  • In v16 we are told that because the healing had occurred on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders started to persecute Jesus
  • HOW? Well it does not give us details, but based on Jesus response, it was most certainly verbal & argumentative
  • As believers we have and will most certainly be persecuted
  • We will be the focus of peoples contempt
    • 2 Timothy 3:1-5 MSG
      • Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.
  • Don’t get caught up in vein arguments with people who have no desire to be healed
  • Witness to them, share Jesus with them, but don’t play their game and get caught up in trying to win an argument
  • RATHER POINT TO JESUS and ultimately to GOD!
  • Jesus response was simple, God is working and I am about his work
  • POINT to Jesus
  • I am going to pick-up my mat and WALK

  • NEXT WEEK, next week we will cover the second part of John 5, we will be looking at the seven powerful evidences of the proof of the Deity of Christ
  • This is one of the central Doctrines of our faith
  • You see if Jesus is not God, then the Bible cannot be trusted!
  • Please read ahead, and see if you can find them.