John 5:1-18 - Caleb Richardson

Good morning. So, not a cozy group today. Looking

around and I'm going, either you guys have chosen

not to take Memorial Day weekend and go camping

or doing something fun, or you're smart. Because

everybody else is gone doing that. And I just

got to tell you a story I heard. So the Turner

GC, I think there's like seven or eight guys.

Is that right? He's doing the math back there.

They're all bear hunting. And this is a place

they've gone every year. Well, the word is that

it was so cold, they all had to snuggle into

one tent, and they didn't sleep all night, and

it's snowing like crazy. So just for the record,

we're in a better place right now. Anyway, so

I hope to get one. That would be awesome, or

two or three, whatever. But right now, all of

them they've seen are a long ways away. So, hey,

before we get into... unpacking God's Word together,

I want to start with a question. And I like it

because we're a little cozier this morning, but

still you're going to have to speak out. But

we need to do this every so often. So, you know,

our verse for the church where we get our name

radiant is Psalm 34, verse 5. It says, Those

Psalms 34:5

who look to the Lord are radiant. Their faces

shall never be ashamed. And it's this idea that

we as a people, no matter where we're at, no

matter what walk in life we're at, That we purposefully

fix our eyes on Jesus. And the Bible says that

changes us. It changes us. And I know that for

certain. When I'm not in God's word or I'm just

kind of doing my own thing over here, there's

a whole lot of change that happens in my life.

I'm not being made more and more like him. But

when I'm... I'm running to him. My eyes are fixed

on him. I'm in his word. There's change that

happens. And so I think it's really important

as we look together at Jesus that if God is doing

that transformative work in your life, as your

eyes are on him, that we declare it. We have

several Sundays ago that we do a thing called

Thank You, Jesus. But this one, I just want to

ask us this morning, As you're fixing your eyes

on Jesus, what change is happening in you? What

are you seeing that transformation taking place?

What's changed for you? It may be simple. It

may be a perspective. But it may be massive too.

It may be in your marriage. It may be in a lot

of things. So I don't want to fill your mouth.

Does anybody have anything like that this morning?

That you would say, you know what? I know as

I fix my eyes on Jesus. Change is happening,

and I can see it. Anybody? Yeah. What's that?

Okay, so the way you react today is different

than what it used to be before. So different.

Very good. What else? Yeah, way back there. Real

loud. Yes. Hope is bubbling out as a result of

it. Good. Yeah. Anybody else? Yeah. Craig. Right

on. And I know the rest of this story, too, is

the reason you're here is because those kids

said, Dad, come to church. Praise God. Yeah.

Right on. What else? Yeah. Yeah. That's a big

one. Yeah. Changes the way you see other people.

And some of that's because we start seeing other

people through the lens of Jesus, don't we? Yeah.

Good. Anybody else? Hmm. More thankful. Good.

Reese. What's that? You're healthier. Yeah. Good.

Anybody else? Anybody else? So that's it. Okay.

Let's pray together. If you don't have the Bible,

the blue Bibles, they're on the back there. Please

grab one, take it. It's yours to take home. They're

on the back tables there. But let's pray together,

and then we'll jump into God's Word. Lord, as

we journey through John together, we continue

to ask you to do a work in our hearts. Help us

see it. and apply it even in a deeper way maybe

than we've have in the past lord we just ask

that that you'll even if it's painful that you'll

do a work in us and so holy spirit we just give

it to you today and we give this morning to you

amen all right so as you know we are walking

verse by verse through john and we're in john

chapter five so you can turn there but Before

we get into that, I want to tell you a story.

When I was about 10 years old, I can clearly

remember that everything inside of me, this moment,

when everything inside of me, and I can remember

the place I was standing, I can remember it right

down to very vividly. So here's what was going

on. So inside of me, I didn't want to submit

to what my parents were telling me to do. I knew

that was coming. I don't exactly know what it

was, but I had an agenda and it was being blocked

and I was just angry. But I very vividly remember

the reaction I had and so if you can kind of

picture, it happened inside my kitchen living

room and I went outside and I was just inside

because my... agenda was being blocked right

and so as i went outside i walked out the door

and i kind of going out and i turned around with

everything angry inside of me just to respond

like in the way that i felt like i could express

myself i turned around and went like that and

in that moment guess who was looking at me in

the window him Didn't go well the rest of that

day. My little dark heart was exposed. He probably

remembers the sin I was committing, but I sure

remember the response afterwards too. See, down

through human history of mankind, mankind has

rebelled over and over against authority. That

is part of our story, right? It's part of your

story. It is definitely part of my story. That

inside of me, there's this desire to push against

authority. Starting with Adam and Eve. Right

back in Genesis 3. The pattern demonstrated is

that people didn't want to answer to the one,

no one, including God. Original sin, that's what

it started. God had a plan, said, this is what

I want you to do, this is what I don't want you

to do, and they said, I know better. I don't

want to submit to that. See, this is the pattern

of the whole Testament, isn't it? Over and over

and over. I know, Craig, you're reading right

through it, right? It's the pattern. You see,

it's just like, really, more of this? They just

rebel against God. and it doesn't go well, so

then they cry out to God, and then God says,

okay, I'll rescue you, and then they rebel against

God, and it's just this constant cycle, and if

you wonder why all those really rough, hard stories

in the Old Testament are there, it's, I think,

part of it is just to remind us that we can't

do this on our own, and so there's this pattern

of rebellion, and it's in my heart, and I know

it's in your heart. We struggle with it. And

only the miracle of the supernatural work of

God in our hearts allows us to turn from our

rebellious ways and to submit to Jesus as Lord

and Master over our life. That's still our struggle

today. It's what you and I live in, and it is

only possible to have victory in that through

the supernatural work of God. And so, the Gospel

of John, It's calling us to believe in Jesus.

We've talked about that. The difference between

believing that Jesus existed and actually believing

in Jesus is a different thing, right? It's letting

go. It's saying, God, I believe in you, Jesus.

But it's not just that we believe in Jesus. We

believe in him as our Savior and our Lord. Baptism,

which we'll be doing at Eklutna here at our camp

out. If you've never been baptized, this is kind

of a plug also for you to listen and say, I need

to step forward in faith in this. But baptism

is this picture of our submission to Jesus as

Savior and Lord. In fact, we ask the question

when you're baptized. We say, to who is Jesus

to you? And your response, if this is real, is

Jesus is my Savior and my Lord. What John does

is he is going to expand what this Jesus is.

Now, he's calling us in the book of John to continue

to come to, do you really believe in Jesus? Is

Jesus big to you? Not that he exists, but that

is he your Lord? Is he your Savior? So we like

the idea of Jesus being our Savior, don't we?

That's great. I mean, he did all of it for me,

and it's free. He rescued me. We love that part.

And it's important to love it. But we struggle

with the Lord part the most. We really struggle

with allowing Jesus, letting Jesus be Lord of

our life. So there's a shift in John that happens

in chapter 5. There's this opposition to Jesus

as Lord. That's the shift. Up to this point,

he's wonderful. And now you see this shift that

happens in opposition to him being who he says

he is, and he says he is Lord. And so there's

this tension. And Jesus is establishing his authority

in our lives. And if he does that, as we do that,

people don't like it. Now, here's the truth is,

is that people love to call Jesus, oh, he's a

good teacher. You know what? When Jesus called

himself, he said, I'm God. He establishes authority,

and whether we like it or not, this is the tension

point that we all struggle with. We love him

as Savior because he's helping us, but do we

really love him and treat him as Lord? So let's

look at verse 1. As we look at these verses today,

Jesus is in charge. This is part of what's going

on. Jesus is saying, I'm basically in charge.

And the sign or the miracle reveals the authority

and the deity of Jesus. Remember, all the signs

and miracles you see in the Gospels are all pointing

to his authority to give through the glory of

God and showing us who he is. And so these signs

and miracles show us the... authority and the

deity of Jesus. Okay, so look at verse 1. After

this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus

went up to Jerusalem. By the way, you're going

to see this all the time, because Jerusalem is

elevated way up here, and everywhere you went,

you had to go up to Jerusalem, so that's why

it says it that way. By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem,

there is a pool called the Seda in Aramaic, which

is It has five colonnades. Within it, they lay

a large number of disabled, blind, lame, and

paralyzed. Okay. I think the reason why John

lays this out is he wants us to get a visual

image of what's going on here. Picture this.

Can you picture this scene? It's a sad picture

of brokenness. You have these pools and they're

colonnades and they're just basically a big open

area. And there are just sick and blind and hurting

people laying all over. Kind of a rough place.

It's a place of brokenness, but it's also a picture

of those wanting to be healed. But why are they

there? Why are they there at these pools? See,

I think it is because they believe that there's

some kind of hope. of healing in these pools,

and so they're there. But notice in your Bibles,

there's a verse that's missing. Which one is

it? Because verse four, it's not there. So the

reason it's not there is that most New Testament

scholars believe that this verse four is not

original, and it was added later in the margins

of the manuscript to by a scribe trying to copy

or explain what was going on as he was copying

the text so verse four if you look down in those

bibles we send out there it's actually right

down at the bottom and at the page but this is

what it says and i think it's important to look

at it because it helps give us a little context

it says waiting for for the moving of the water

because an angel would go down into the pool

from time to time stir up the water then the

then the first one to get who got in after this

water stirred up was recovered from whatever

ailment they had. Okay. Even though this most

likely is not the original text, it does show

us what may have been going on or what they may

have believed was going on. So they believed

that if something would happen, the water would

get all stirred up, and if you could get in first,

chances are you would get healed. Okay? So look

at what verse 5 says. One man who... One man

was there who had been disabled for 38 years.

When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he

had already been there a long time, he said to

him, do you want to get well? Here's the scene.

Jesus sees a man. Now, he sees a lot of people,

right? And he doesn't go in and go, whoosh, you're

all healed. Could have. But he sees this one

man who is struggling, and he's hopeless. He's

been disabled longer than Jesus has been alive.

Think about that. And Jesus looks at the man

who is surrounded by all these other struggling

people, and he asks a very curious question.

And I want you just to think about why. Do you

want to get well? What kind of question is that?

Ugh. Right? Do you want to get well? Why would

Jesus ask this kind of question? Maybe what Jesus

was asking could go something like this. If you've

lived your whole life for 38 years this way,

you have learned how to survive and how to have

your needs met. If I heal you, Your life will

radically change. See, the old will be gone and

a new reality will come. Are you ready for that?

Are you ready for that? In response to Jesus'

question, I don't know the exact reason, but

Jesus asks this very odd question. Like, of course

he wants to be healed, right? You would think.

That's why he's there. Here's the man's response.

Sir? See, guys, look at verse 7. Sir, means he

doesn't know who Jesus is at this point. He just,

there's a man, come on, do you want to be healed?

Sir, the disabled man answered, I have no one

to put me into the pool when the water's stirred

up, but while I'm coming, someone gets down,

goes down ahead of me. That's my excuse. Evidently,

the man was hoping Jesus would help him get into

the water at the appropriate time. Like, I could

use your help, Jesus. But Jesus had other plans,

which he usually does. Look at verse 8. Get up.

Huh? Get up, Jesus told him. Pick up your mat

and walk, or bed. Instantly, the man got well,

picked up his mat, And started walking. 38 years.

Boom. Just like that. Think about the authority

of Jesus just for a minute. Think about the authority

of Jesus in this moment and in the man's life.

Two things. Jesus came to him. He didn't even

ask to be healed. In fact, He didn't even know

who Jesus was. But Jesus came to him, and he

says, you. There's a lot of sick people around,

but he just chose him. See, Jesus has the authority

to break into your life and to heal you if he

wants to. He has the authority to do that. Has

Jesus stepped into your life? When you were not

even looking for him. Is that true, Craig? That's

what's happened, right? I love that about your

story, that recently God has broke into your

life. Did you go pursuing him or did he come

after you? This is what Jesus does. Maybe he's

just brought somebody else into your life to

point you to this Jesus. I think the second thing

is that Jesus has authority to heal, to bring

wholeness. He can do it. We should be praying

for healing. We should be praying for physical

healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing,

whatever that is. We should be asking God for

that because he can and does have authority in

those areas. That's why we go to him and say,

help us. Let's keep going. There's a lot of the

story still to go. Second part of verse 9 starts

this way. Now, that day was the Sabbath. So Jesus

said to the man who had been healed, so the Jews

said to the man who had been healed, this is

the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking

up your mat. This is the shift in the story right

here. Can you believe this? These Jews come to

him, and we know they're the religious leaders.

They come to him, and they don't celebrate what

Jesus has done. You've been sick for 38 years.

Why are you holding your mat? It just doesn't

make any sense. But that's what they do. I mean,

he's been this way for 38 years. They obviously

know who this cat is. But instead of rejoicing

and celebrating what Jesus... what Jesus had

done, they complain about his bed mat. Man, I

could go down some bunny trails on this one right

here, but I'm not. We'll stay focused. Because

we could talk a lot about legalism and what it

does in this moment, right? I believe Jesus chose

to heal this man on this specific day to make

a point to the religious leaders. He could have

picked any other day. He could have said, just

get up. But no, he said, get up, pick up your

bed. Stinky old bed. Why? He's making a point.

So he wants them to see their lack, them, meaning

the Jewish leaders, he wants them to see the

lack of submission to God and his authority.

They were more concerned about their rules, about

their desires, than it was God's ways and his

rules. Jesus was throwing down a challenge flag

in a sense of whose authority mattered most in

their life. Is it their own authority or is it

God's authority? Jesus is saying, I am the authority.

I am Lord. This should be the question that you

and I are asking. Whose authority matters most?

Is it my authority or is it God's authority?

Is it his ways or is it my way? So they confront

the man, these Jewish leaders. They confront

the man instead of celebrating with him and this

is his response. Look at verse 11. He replied,

the man who made me well told me pick up the

man and walk. Who is this man who told you? Pick

up your mat and walk. They asked, but the man

who has been healed did not know who he was because

Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was

there. So he goes, I don't know, but it worked.

Like, why are you calling me out on this one?

I think if he has authority, at this point, he'd

be like, why are you asking me this question?

Can't you see I can move? Like, something changed.

But they were concerned about his obedience to

the rule. So the man doesn't even know who healed

him, and the religious leaders who are upset

that he healed him, the man on the Sabbath. So

let's just talk for a second about the Sabbath.

What's going on here? See, the Sabbath comes

from the second, starts in the second chapter

of Genesis, where... which is where God created.

He worked six days, but on the seventh day, he

rested. God entered into this Sabbath rest and

is still in that rest. Even while he is upholding

the earth by his power, he works and he remains

in his Sabbath rest. So it's a picture of God

resting after working. And later, God gave the

law to his people. To have a day of Sabbath rest

to reflect on his rest, on what we have in him.

And so Sabbath was a time of celebration each

week. You have worked hard for six days, but

on the seventh day, you were free to focus on

God, to rest, to celebrate his presence, to celebrate

his power. It was a time of joy. With Jesus,

God's presence and power were on display in the

Sabbath. With Jesus, God's presence and his power

were on display seven days a week. And so he

comes in, and so I think Jesus deliberately picks

the Sabbath to say, look, are you resting in

me? Am I the focus point? Because I am. I'm the

one that actually made the Sabbath for you. Jesus

chose to heal this man on this specific day to

make a point, to point something out to these

religious leaders. It's kind of like a major

flex by Jesus. Like, hey, I wanted them to see

that their lack of submission to God and His

authority is the same thing. When they don't

submit to me, they're not submitting to God.

And so there's this major flex that I'm the one

that's the authority. And Jesus has every right

to do that, and so he's doing that with these

guys. Look at verse 14. And after this, Jesus

found him in the temple and said to him, again,

I'll get to this in a second, see, you are well.

You're not sinning anymore, so that something

worse might happen to you. And guys, there's

a lot of people that take this verse and kind

of run with it down some bunny trails, but we're

going to try to stay, I think, to the main point.

There are a few things that really stand out

here in this verse. First is that Jesus finds

the man in the temple. Now you go through a transformation.

You don't know what God has done. I think what

this happens, this man goes, man, something supernatural

happened. I can't explain this. God, what's going

on here? So where does he go? He goes to the

temple. And that's where Jesus shows up to him.

He seems to know that there's something miraculous

and I gotta go there. And that's where Jesus

finds him. The second thing is that, again, Jesus

pursues him. He finds him. And he quietly does

it. He says, look, you're different now, aren't

you? It's like I've changed you. The old is gone.

The new has come. You see what's happened? And

the third is that Jesus calls him to a new way

of living. Don't live like you used to. Don't

go back to sinning. I've given you, we know this

now, that when we are in Christ, we are given

a whole new identity to live in. Don't go back

to that. He is now in Christ. The old is gone.

The new has come. Let's stay there. Let's go

there. If Jesus has saved you, live like you

belong to Jim. That's the point. If he saved

you, Is he your savior? If he saved you, live

like you belong to him. Don't go back to the

old way of doing it. Which, frankly, I think

we all struggle with every day, don't we? We're

rolling back to the old ways. Look at verse 15.

The man went and reported to the Jews that it

was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore, the

Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing

these things on the Sabbath. And Jesus responded

to them, my father is still working, and I'm

also working also. This is why the Jews began

trying all the more to kill him. Not only was

he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling

God his own father, making himself what? Equal

to God. And so this is a big deal. Here in the

book of John, we see this major shift. And it's

a showdown that's going to begin to take place

between those religious leaders and Jesus over

his authority on who he is. The religious leaders

of Israel are faced with a decision. Will they

submit to the authority of Jesus as Lord? Or

will they rebel against his authority, and choose

to live for themselves and their ways. Will they

follow Jesus as Savior and Lord, or will they

follow their own ways? And that is the question.

That's what we struggle with, isn't it? That's

what I struggle with. It may not be as blatant.

Maybe it's like, today I'll choose to do it my

way. And so it's a daily process. The battle

exists in our life, just like it exists for those

pharisees each day we have to decide if we will

submit to jesus as lord now it doesn't mean you

lose your salvation that's not what it's about

it means that this is the journey you and i on

that we need to constantly remember who he is

and what he's done and then and what it's made

me to be who he's made me to be and the question

is are we living as his children are we living

in this new identity And if so, there's got to

be a place of constant surrender. When we know

we've sinned, do we confess our sin? Do we repent

of that sin? Sin is doing it my way. And God

says, no, do it my way. And so that's what our

lives consist of, regular surrender. One of the

commentaries called Exalting Jesus Commentary

had this to say. I love how they said this. Our

hearts are a battlefield. Two opposing forces

clash violently each day. Our desires for autonomous

self -rule engages in a fierce battle with an

appropriate desire to submit to the lordship

of Jesus Christ. Regardless of who we are or

what situation we are in, we must diligently

fight to obey Christ, putting to death our desires

to be in charge. Putting to death our desires,

be in charge. See, it's a battle we can win only

by the powerful work of Christ within us. It's

possible to put to death those things. But it

requires the work of God in us and saying, God,

I need you. So I want to conclude today by returning

to... What is represented in baptism? We talked

about this earlier already. The two questions,

is Jesus your Savior? Is Jesus your Savior? Because

you're going to declare, if you stand up, if

you haven't been baptized yet, that's what we're

asking you to do. What is it? Who is Jesus to

you? Is he your Savior? Meaning, is what he did

on the cross sufficient for you? Like, he took

your sin? You don't have to do it. He did it

for you. In fact, there's nothing you can do

to earn your favor with God. God has done it

all for you. He's Savior. He's Lord. He's your

Redeemer. Is Jesus your Savior? And then second,

is Jesus Lord? Meaning, all things are surrendered

to His ways, not your own. And that's really

hard for Alaskans. We like Him our way. And I

mean all things. That doesn't mean you get it

right all the time. That means that you start

from this place where you're saying, God, what

is your desires? Your will be done. We don't

like that line very much. At least I don't. Your

will be done. Not Caleb's, but Lord, your will

be done today. And as we daily go to battle with

that question, The posture is, God, your will

be done. That's how we live it. I say, actually,

one of the reasons why I think we continue to

come back to communion, why we need to come back

to communion every week, why we celebrate it

here, is that we remember that Jesus did what

he did for us. He gave up everything. He's our

Savior. But then he's calling us to be saying,

hey, I am also your Lord. And so, My body was

broken for you. My body, I submitted all of my

life for you. My blood was shed for you. Now,

as you come, surrender to me. As we take communion

today, I want you to think about that as we go

through communion. Got all of it for you. And

pray, man, you guys can come up. Lord, all of

us are in different places in our church. We

know that. You know every one of our hearts.

You know every one of us, what we're dealing

with. And for those in the room, maybe, Lord,

that have never surrendered to you as Savior,

I bring today, Lord, that that will happen. And

Lord, for us who are struggling maybe in this

room to continue to surrender to your authority

in our life, Right where we sit today, may our

prayer be, God, I surrender all. All to you,

Jesus, I surrender today.