Rise and Walk: Discovering True Life through Jesus

Thanks for joining the Heights Church podcast today. We hope that you enjoy the message.

If you're in the Sydney area, be sure to join us at the Heights Church at Galston

Road, Wandsby Heights, Sydney, Australia.

Our reading today is from John 5, and it's from John 5, 1 to 15,

so we're going to read that together.

Sometime later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

Now there There is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic

is called Bethesda, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

Here a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind,

the lame, the paralysed.

One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years.

When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition

for a long time, he asked him, Do you want to get well?

Sir? Sir, the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred.

While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.

Then Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.

At once the man was cured. He picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said

to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath.

The law forbids you to carry your mat. But he replied.

So they asked him.

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into

the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him,

The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Thanks, Mark. I like it. That's great. We'll have to have more kids so we can – no, we're not.

I don't know whether you've heard of the paddle of shame.

Anyone heard that before? If you're in the surfing world, the paddle of shame

is when you go out the back and you're at a point break, so you're a long way

out, and you don't catch a wave, but you paddle in, and everyone on the beach

sits there and goes, really? really.

Well, the other week I was out at Coper Point by myself, which happens a bit

of a Monday because everyone's back at work and the tradesmen have to work on

a Monday and kids have to go back to school on Monday.

So if the surf's kind of average, I'm sitting out there by myself.

The trouble is I was out there quite late and it was about shark time,

which is about dark and it's pretty sharky. It's fair way out.

And I didn't want to do the paddle of shame, even though there was no one on

the beach, I still would have been inside myself. So I'm I'm not doing the paddle of shame.

And I was praying to myself that a wave would come along

because if you catch a wave at Copa Point, you get about three quarters of the

way and you just got to paddle across all these mullet that kind of is in the

corner and it's kind of just, you know, you get your fingers in there and then get there.

And all of a sudden, a wave came. It was a miracle. It was unreal.

We often throw the word miracle around, don't we? If something works out in

our faith, then we might say it's a miracle.

In Australia, we might have different terms for it. For example,

last week, Matthew Gasler rode for Australia in the Kieran Cycling at the Olympics,

and he came third because everybody else crashed in front of him.

And it was mouthed, as you were saying, he said, I just did a Bradbury.

Everyone knows that from the Winter Olympics where everyone crashed over and

the guy won gold because everyone fell over. It was a bit like that.

The underdog, if the underdog wins, we think it's a miracle.

Even if someone's back pain suddenly disappears, it's a miracle.

And that term has become so familiar that we may not even think twice when we use it.

It's kind of like we can walk into a supermarket and buy miracle margarine without giving much thought.

It's a miracle that you actually don't get heart surgery after eating it for so long.

But when John writes about a miracle that Jesus performed, He's talking about

something beyond the casual use of the word that we might use it for.

In our story, Jesus turns water into wine. We looked at that.

John refers to that miracle as a sign.

And there's a series of signs that happened after that.

These signs weren't just impressive acts that were meant to marvel over the act that was done.

They're to point to something that's much deeper.

And the something that's much deeper is revealing who Jesus was.

Now, some signs are easy to figure out, but like this sign here that we've got

up here that Susan and I took at Bali points to something different.

You're not supposed to really believe that you can pee for 50 cents or you can

go there or you can have a shower for $5. That's at Bali, by the way.

It points to something else. It points that these are the toilets.

These are the showers that are beyond there, mainly because you've got a waterfall

that everybody swims in and...

People don't want to get sick. But others we need to look more closely at,

as we do in our passage today.

John 5 has Jesus returning to Jerusalem.

He was returning for a Jewish feast, a feast that happened two times a year.

But instead of heading straight to the temple, he takes a detour to a place

where a large crowd is gathered.

And we're told, we're not exactly sure what a multitude is. is,

but a multitude, I take it, was probably a lot of peoples laying there.

They were gathered by a pool called Bethesda, which was by the sheep gate located

on the north wall of the city of Jerusalem.

Now, Nehemiah 3 records the construction of the sheep gate and the dedication of the sheep gate.

And as the name suggests, it's where sheep were led through.

They were led through that gate into the temple to be slaughtered for the offering, for sacrifices.

And also, although very beautiful, I'm pretty sure the pool next to the Sheep

Gate wasn't really as tourist attraction as it is today.

Archaeologists in 1888 discovered the site, so we can see some pictures up there of it.

So there's the North Wall, there's the pool of Bethsaida.

If you keep on going, that's the actual pool, the relics that were found.

And you can go there and you can see there is a major tourist attraction around that area.

Now, that's obviously a graphic picture that somebody's made up of what it might

have been like at the time.

We're told there were five porches and perhaps provided shade,

but it was kind of a refuge right in the middle of the city.

So it would seem as though Jesus purposely traveled by there to show this sign,

this sign that we see in John.

Now, if you look at your passage closely, it appears that something is missing.

It goes verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 5, and verse 4 is missing.

And it normally is added in most translations to the footnote at the end of it.

So the story goes and according to the footnote is that when the water was stirred

up there in the pool by an angel, it was believed that if you stepped into that

water that it would bring some sort of healing to you.

So as John didn't write it, because most early manuscripts of John does not

have that in it, Rather, someone felt as though they should add it in to provide

some kind of traditional,

background, maybe some clarity behind the passage.

Now, before you think, oh, shock and horror, that somebody would possibly add

in a verse to bring clarity and some kind of traditional understanding, it's not all that weird.

Like if you were proofreading some homework at home or someone's essay like

your child's homework, you might think to yourself, well, I'll just add a little bit in.

It might bring some clarity or some tradition.

Now, you might laugh, but I know that there are many primary and high school

or even university A's and HD's where the proofreader, like mum and dad,

would add their input in or scaffold, for example. That's what they call it nowadays.

So apparently, as the story goes, periodically the water would be stirred.

We don't know what it is, whether it's a spring that's coming up from underneath.

Or maybe an angel did stir up the water. I don't know. We're not told.

But regardless, it was believed that that was why many people were there.

They were waiting as it was held that whoever stepped in first would be healed.

Imagine the scene. You can imagine it. You've got a crowd of sick people,

disabled people, all clinging to the hope that the pool might heal them.

Some had been bought by their friends and family, no doubt, hoping that this

may have been the only chance that they would have, and they left them there.

But the truth is, they all had one thing in common, and that's they were sick.

And in a way, this pool is a picture of humanity. Just as people were by the

pool, were physically sick, we all carry the weight of spiritual sickness.

Their physical conditions in this passage were metaphors for spiritual realities.

And we're told in our passage that there were the blind, there were the lame,

there were the paralyzed, just like humanity are blind.

Blind just as these people were physically blind

who were there many are spiritually blind and unable to see the truth of God

spiritual blindness prevents us from recognizing our need of Jesus and the life

that he offers there were the lame there they're unable to walk representing

those Those who were spiritually lame,

unable to walk with or to God because of sin.

They were near the gate of religion and they were near a pool that brought false

hope to them because they remained crippled and they were unable to reach God

to walk through the temple gate.

They were paralyzed. They were completely dependent on others and unable to help themselves.

And spiritually, we're paralyzed by sin, powerless to bring ourselves to life spiritually.

And while religion may offer different rituals, it cannot cure our spiritual paralysis.

So Jesus understood this. And that's why I believe he went via the pool so he

could give this sign that he brings to life what is dead.

He brings wholeness to people who are not whole.

The Messiah, he came just like was prophesied in the Bible in Isaiah 61.

Matthew speaks about that. He said where Jesus, John's disciples,

sent some people to Jesus and said, are you the Messiah?

Are you the one that we've been waiting for? And Jesus says,

go back and tell them this, that the blind see, the lame walk,

those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,

and the good news is being preached to the poor.

In other words, I'm the Isaiah 61 Messiah that you have been waiting for.

See, these miracles weren't just random acts of kindness.

They were signs pointing to who Jesus really is, the Savior,

the one who gives true life, the one who makes people whole again.

What happens at this pool at Bethesda?

Jesus approaches a man who's been invalid for 38 years.

What was his position in life well he was literally sitting by the gate of religion,

by the pool of promise that did nothing

and held no hope for this lame man it was like an unfortunate casualty of life

where life itself was passing by and for 38 years he sat on his mat by the pool

in hope of healing every day people would stream their sacrifices into the the

temple, but he couldn't get there.

And just as Jesus knew that his sin caused his lameness, which we'll get out

a bit later on, he would have loved to have forgiveness from his sin so he could walk again.

Every day, this lame man would wait for the waters to be served and hope the

pool would provide what only God himself could provide, life and wholeness.

Isn't that like humanity? community like the

world that we live in in the community where we reside

because of our sin like our

sin we're lame we cannot walk with

God and we cannot walk in relationship with

him we need healing people live life but true life often passes them by without

even knowing and people try to make a metaphorical pool in hope and sometimes

in desperation trying to fill their life with everything to give them life and meaning,

except what they most need,

and that is Jesus, and that is lame.

We know down deep that lasting satisfaction will not be found outside of God's

plan for our life, yet we keep buying to it.

We totally buy into it. We make it to the pool only to find out that it comes up short.

We seek healing in life from every source except for the source of true life.

But there's something else that we notice about this group of people at the

end of the verse, at the end of verse 3.

They're not only sick people and they were blind, lame and paralyzed, but they were waiting.

They were waiting for the moment of water. What a picture.

They're all sitting there. And as we learn from that man, as the water was stirred

up, people were trying to get there before the other. and I don't know what it looked like.

You can only imagine in your mind what it would look like. You can only kind

of picture a painting or a short clip of a movie,

what all these blind people and lame people and paralyzed people,

it's like this stampede of whatever trying to get into the water first.

We can only imagine what that would possibly be and it breaks our heart that

this man could not get there. then.

Many of us in our world, if we looked at the short clip or we looked at the

picture, would be cynical enough to say, just give up.

You're never going to get there first. You can't even walk.

And perhaps many of these people had given up. Maybe there wasn't a stampede anymore.

Maybe people had tried and tried and tried and tried whenever the water had

stirred, but could never get there first. They just gave up trying.

Maybe they just accepted their disease. or whatever was going on in their life.

This too can reflect many people in our

world, people who seek meaning and fulfillment but just cannot find it.

They long for the pool of healing, but they come up short and sometimes they

just give up without hope.

I love this sign of Jesus because it highlights that Jesus knows the condition of this man.

Out of all the multitude that were laying there, he knew him.

Yet he still asks him in his omnipotence, in God's omnipotence,

he still asks him. He knows all things.

He knows everything about this man.

And yet he still asks him, what do you want?

See, God will not override a person's will. If someone doesn't want to be healed,

he's not going to heal them.

Beautiful that Jesus knows. He knows this man and he knows you.

He knows the stress that you're under, the anxieties that you have,

the fears that you might have, the successes that you have.

He knows what you're going through.

He's omnipotent because he is God.

But in the light of his omnipotence, just as he asked this man a question,

he says to you and to me, do you want to be made well.

He asked you and I the same question.

So this man had been laying there waiting for his chance at healing,

but no one was there to help him, or that's what he used as an excuse.

And it was a simple question from Jesus.

Do you want to be made well? In Australia, we might have answered him, what do you think, mate?

But Jesus cuts to the heart of the matter. He wasn't just asking this bloke,

even though he thought he was asking him that.

He wasn't asking him, do you want to be physically healed?

He was asking him, are you ready to change your entire life?

When Jesus told him to get up, pick up your mat and walk, it wasn't just a command to stand.

It was an invitation to new life.

The man was healed instantly. He picked up his mat and walked.

But here's the twist. Instead of praising Jesus like the healed man.

Do you remember the healed man in Acts 3 where Peter and John went to pray with

a man on the way and it's held over his head? You know, the whole song.

Where he walked and leaped and praised God. He went in the temple courts and

he told everybody who Jesus was and everybody was healed. This man didn't even know his name.

In fact, he was trying to save his own butt because for some reason the Jews

thought carrying your mat of a person who'd been laying there for 38 years.

They would have known the bloke, surely.

And he's up walking around with carrying his mat after 38 years.

You would think that the Jews would have thought, my God, Yahweh, who healed him? Nah.

They just thought, nah, you're working.

Who made you well?

In fact, they even didn't get to that point. They said, you're working,

so therefore you're breaking our law. not the actual law, but the ones that

we've made so that we've kept a good handle on you. You're breaking that law.

Lame man says, oh, it wasn't me. I just didn't get up and walk around and carry

my mat like I'm working. It's like that would be a problem.

No, it was Jesus. Oh, it was that bloke over there. Then eventually he goes

and meets Jesus and Jesus says, you don't sin anymore.

In case something worse would happen, the worst would be what?

The guy's lame for 38 years. He can't walk. He's sitting by a pool.

He has no one to help him. What would be worse?

Well, his worst would be that he'd He'd be judged for all eternity and he'll

never have life, never have eternal life.

But it didn't even clue in on him. He goes back and says, by the way, I'm not working.

You can't pay out on me. Jesus is the one.

This story challenges us, doesn't

it? To think about what we do in our own lives, about our own life.

Do we see God as just someone to call upon when we need something?

As a quick fix maybe for our problems or safety net for when things go wrong?

Or do we recognize that God is inviting us into a deep, lasting,

living relationship, the one that goes beyond what he can do for us?

See, Jesus didn't heal this man so he could return to his old life.

He told him to pick up your mat and walk just as a sign as he was leaving his old life behind,

this man was to pick up his mat and live a new life and we're told about how

he was to sin no more now every illness and every sickness is not caused by

sin the bible clearly tells us that But this particular illness,

this particular lameness was caused by sin.

We haven't got a clue what this guy did to become lame.

New life with Jesus is not a temporary fix. It's new life.

It's about finding true life. It's about finding lasting life.

It's a sign that points to Jesus that we can have life in abundance with him.

And in fact, it's a sign that points to Jesus that we can have eternal life with him.

See, Jesus healing the lame man was more than a miracle. call.

It was a sign that points to everything that Jesus offers true life with him.

John 5 25 in our verses, very truly or absolutely mate,

I tell you the time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice

of the son of God and those who hear will live.

The sign points to the eternal life that Jesus has The true life that only he

can give And next week we're going to look at how they viewed him as a prophet

And what should we do when the prophet speaks?

We should listen And when Jesus said, get up, take your mat and live and walk,

That's what he wants for us to do because he calls us to rise,

to take up our mats and walk, to leave behind the life of sin and make no provision for relapse.

Don't just leave your bed there so that you can go back and lay in your bed

again. Pick it up. Walk with Jesus.

Draw strength and wisdom from him. Be supported by those around you so that

you might walk rightly before him him, through his only the strength that he can give.

See, this symbolizes that we should not return to our former life,

that we should walk in newness of life, that we should trust in him and live

in the freedom that he provides.