Missing the Point

Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian who is best known for his commentary on Romans, published in 1919.

In his comments on Romans 2…

Barth thinks about people who live in a wilderness alongside a canal. The canal was there to bring them water and life, and it was with great effort and cost that the project was built for their place in time.

Great sacrifices were made, and many died as the canal was cut through mountain and desert. But the great irony is that the canal has become dry, and while its walls still convey evidence of the coursing of water, there is nothing there that can give life to anyone.

Nevertheless, the people continue to service it, to defend it, to name their children after its architects and engineers; but it is only an historic thing.

A canal meant to convey something—water and life—now has become static, an end instead of a means. Something for the museum.

People tell stories about it instead of drink from it. The older ones treasure the stories most; the younger ones have to be initiated deliberately; but each generation seems to lose a fraction of the true vision of the canal as time goes on.

And no one has a memory of what water in the canal really looks like. (NIVAC)

In our scripture today, we find a similar danger. A great danger for the Church is that we can become so invested in maintaining and preserving our religon - our religious practices, our church, our understanding of what it means to be a Christian - that we lose sight of Christ and no longer experience the life only he can give us.

This is the central problem of our text in John 5.

John 5 begins with Jesus going to Jerusalem, through the Sheep Gate to the pool of Bethesda, walking up to one particular paralyzed man and healing him… on the Sabbath.

The man had been lying beside the pool for years, so obviously he had his mat, his bed, with him. Jesus told the man to pick up his bed and go, for he was healed.

(pause)

Carrying burdens on the Sabbath was a huge no-no, of course! That was work!

When the religious leaders learned that Jesus had healed the man and told him to carry his bed on the Sabbath, they were irate! But Jesus’ response made them even more upset.

John 5:17 ESV

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

The religious leaders recognized that Jesus was calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. In John 5:19-30 Jesus discussed the authority he possessed as God the Son.

Now, in our text - John 5:31-47, Jesus answered the obvious challenge the religious leaders would bring.

(pause)

How dare Jesus claim to be the Son of God?

(pause)

In response, Jesus gave five witnesses to the fact that he was the Messiah.

First, Jesus pointed to John the Baptist. The Baptist, of course, was a controversial figure. John the Baptist had some fairly harsh things to say to the religious leaders who came to hear him preach out of curiosity, but refused to take his message to heart.

But overall, the Jewish people gladly heard the Baptist’s message. The people flocked to him as he told them to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. Many were baptized in water - something Jews did not normally do - to indicate their confession and repentance of sin.

And then, when the time was right, as Jesus approached the Baptist, John declared:

John 1:29 (ESV)

… “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

(pause)

The Jews had gladly received John the Baptist’s message that the Messiah was coming and that they must repent of sin. Yet these religious leaders refused to accept John’s testimony of Jesus as their Messiah!

The Baptist’s entire purpose was focused on preparing the way of the Messiah, but they missed it!

(pause)

Secondly, Jesus pointed to the signs and miracles he performed as witness that he was the Messiah.

John 5:36 ESV

But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

John does not feature many of Jesus’ signs and miracles. He tends to tell such stories only to make certain points. But as we read all four Gospels, we see that Jesus healed thousands of people.

Jesus healed people of various diseases. He healed lepers. He caused the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak. He stopped massive storms with a few calm words. He walked on water. He cast out demons. Even more, Jesus raised people from the dead.

Surely, such signs should prove that Jesus came from God, shouldn’t they?

(pause)

But somehow the religious leaders missed it. Later on, they would even blasphemously charge Jesus with casting out demons by the power of Satan!

(pause)

The third witness Jesus provided to the truth of him being the Messiah was God the Father.

John 5:37–38 ESV

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

In these verses Jesus does not explain exactly how the Father testified to him as his Son. One commentary asks:

But when and how did or does the Father give this witness? The possibilities include: (1) at Jesus’ baptism (Matt. 3:17), (2) at the transfiguration (Matt. 17:5), (3) at the Triumphal Entry (John 12:28), (4) in Jesus’ works (3:2), (5) in people’s minds or hearts (6:45).

Most likely Jesus was referring to the inner work of God in which He impresses on people’s consciences that Jesus is the Truth (6:45; 1 John 5:9–12).

Jesus’ opponents are ignorant of God. They have no vision of God and no communication with Him."

https://ref.ly/o/bkc/7421578?length=596

If the religious leaders would have had a heart and mind open to hearing from God, they would have heard the Father confirming to them that this was his Son, the Messiah they had waited for so long.

Instead, they were so caught up in their religious practices that they missed it!

(pause)

A fourth witness that Jesus was the Messiah was the Scriptures.

John 5:39 ESV

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,

Just a note: some translations of this verse render Jesus’ words as a command, as if he were telling the religious leaders to search the Scriptures, but the meaning of his words seems to be an acknowledgement that they did search the scriptures.

(pause)

These religious leaders poured over God’s Word. And remember, of course, their scriptures were only what we refer to as the Old Testament.

They studied the scriptures. They parsed the Laws of God to excruciating detail. But they missed how the Scriptures spoke of Jesus as their Messiah!

They missed it!

A fifth witness that Jesus pointed to is similar to the fourth. Indeed, you might could call these one and the same. But in John 5:45-46 Jesus appealed to Moses as a witness.

John 5:45–46 ESV

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.

Moses wrote the first five books, the Pentateuch, of the Old Testament. In that day, those five books were referred to as “the Law”. The rest of the Old Testament scriptures were called “the Prophets.”

So, in a sense, Jesus may have simply been pointing again to “the Scriptures” as his witness.

But it also seems that Jesus was pointing to things Moses said or did as a more specific witness to him as the Messiah. There are various types (illustrations that point to Christ) that were part of Moses’ ministry.

These types include the Passover, the manna, the rock, the offerings, and the high priesthood.

Consider also what Moses told the people in Deuteronomy 18:15-19

Deuteronomy 18:15–19 (ESV)

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

In Acts 3 Peter referred to this scripture from Deuteronomy 18 as a prophecy regarding Jesus as the Messiah.

(pause)

In our text from John’s Gospel, Jesus did not point to any specific passage regarding Moses. So, it would seem that Jesus assumed the Old Testament clearly pointed to him. Since the religious leaders had rejected Moses’ revelation, they rejected him also.

(PAUSE)

Think about this!

These religious leaders were steeped in their religious practices and ceremonies. They studied the Scriptures dutifully. They memorized the Scripture.

They did their best to live exactly by the Law. Indeed, they developed many more rules and laws in an attempt to put a hedge about God’s Law, so they might not disobey it.

They religiously observed the ceremonial practices. They made sure they remained “clean.” They went to great lengths to offer God “pure” sacrifices.

They installed moneychangers who would convert the filthy pagan money into Temple currency. They provided merchants to sell Torah-approved lambs, oxen, and doves for sacrifices.

(pause)

But in all the religious things they were doing, they did not recognize God - the Son of God - in their very midst!

Like the people in Karl Barth’s story of the dry canal, they labored all their lives to maintain the structure. They revered this great canal that was supposed to provide water. But the canal had dried up years before. There was no life, only an empty, meaningless work to keep up the appearances.

(pause)

It might be tempting for us to condemn the Jewish religious leaders for their lack of insight, their legalism, and their lifeless religious works… and to call it a day.

But if we are truly honest with ourselves and perceptive, we should recognize that we today face the same danger they did.

It is possible for us to get so involved in our religious practices and expressions of our faith that we also lose the essence of what it is all about.

As someone has written:

The possibility always exists that my life, my church, my tradition, my denomination, even my Bible will become relics of religious curiosity instead of living instruments of God.

Men and women will be ordained, earn Ph.D.s, and launch magazines, publishing houses, colleges, and seminaries with solid evangelical commitments, and it will all be for nothing.

… There are specialists who can cite Scripture and verse, who can measure orthodoxy with exacting precision, who can identify the religious speck in someone’s eye from a great distance, but in whom love for God does not exist (5:42).

On a national level I have seen evangelicals unsheathe their religious swords over arcane doctrinal matters (“But this is a slippery slope!” “But this is where liberalism begins!” “This is an agenda that must be exorcised!”).

On a local level I have seen older church members viciously lash out because “the contemporary service” isn’t to their liking or they perceive that their power and influence are diminishing.

All of it … is empty religion, religion that seeks its own glory. In the end, it is religion that would condemn and crucify Jesus as a religious duty."

https://ref.ly/o/nivac64jn/577878?length=2490

All of this leads us to the big question our text raises:

Big Question: Is your faith based on religion or a relationship with Jesus?

Do you see the danger? Do you see the problem for which we must be vigilant?

It is the danger that when we study the Scriptures we do our best to parse any and every little meaning, but we miss the main point of what God wants us to hear.

OR, even worse… we think that we are more spiritual because we understand all those little intricancies of the text. Life change comes from knowing Jesus more deeply, not from Bible trivia.

(pause)

It is the danger of studying Scripture, going to church, worshiping, giving offerings, and doing a hundred other spiritual things…, but failing to see and know Jesus and to be changed by his grace as a result.

(pause)

It is the danger that our religious practices may delude us into thinking that we are hearing from God and experiencing Jesus… when we are merely practicing religion.

Jesus’ passion is that we know him fully. Yes, our religious practices may be important, but life is found in relationship with Christ, not in the practice of religion.

In John 5:39-47 Jesus gave a stinging rebuke of the Jewish religious leader’s spirituality. Yet in this rebuke of their failure due to their rejection of Jesus, we find wonderful promises for all who will accept Jesus as Messiah.

Notice, those who trust Jesus as Messiah experience…

1. The life from God, John 5:39-40.

John 5:39–40 ESV

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.

By accepting and trusting Jesus as the Messiah, our Lord and Savior, we receive eternal life. Religious practices, symbols, and structures have no life in them.

(pause)

Do we truly understand this?

(pause)

Our life is in Christ, not our religious stuff. Wearing a necklace or a wristband with WWJD has no salvific power. But even the great icons of religion - church buildings, camp tabernacles, altars, pews and the list could go on and on… none of this is our source of life.

But in Christ there is eternal - abundant and everlasting - life.

Those who trust Jesus as Messiah also experience…

2. The love of God, John 5:42-43.

John 5:42–43 ESV

But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

Is not this why those whose religion is based on works, on appearances, on symbols and more are so often unloving and unlike Christ?

We only receive the love of Christ by having a personal encounter with him - by trusting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It is only by daily nurturing that relationship with Jesus that we continue to be filled with the love of God.

When we replace our relationship with Jesus with religion, we become focused on the love of Self, the love of the world, the love of something besides Jesus.

This becomes clearer as we notice also that those who trust Jesus as Messiah experience…

3. The glory of God, John 5:44.

John 5:44 ESV

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

This only makes sense, doesn’t it? The person who is all caught up in religious traditions, religious appearances, and more … is more worried about what other people think than what God thinks of them.

They want the glory of men and fail to receive the glory of God.

When we, in contrast, make our focus a closer relationship with Jesus, seeking to know him more fully and to be fully known by him, then we experience the glory of God.

The Holy Spirit comes and abides with us, filling us. And people looking on see the presence of God, His glory, among us.

Those who trust Jesus as Messiah experience…

4. The grace of God, John 5:45-46

John 5:45–46 ESV

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.

The tragedy of those make religious practices their passion and works righteousness their hope of salvation is that those very things become their judge.

We have all sinned and without God’s enabling we are weak and prone to failure. The Law does not excuse us; the Law condemns us for our sin.

But the one who trusts in Jesus receives his grace in abundance!

Big Question: Is your faith based on religion or a relationship with Jesus?

(PAUSE)

While our religious practices might help us focus on Christ, an encounter with Jesus - a relationship with Jesus - is not the result of religious practices but due to our decision to trust Him with our lives.

(pause)

This is why those opponents of Jesus, even though they were the religious leaders of their time and often followed exacting religious practices, … simply missed it.

They rejected Jesus. They would not trust him. So they totally missed out on the Messiah. Their practices became vain expressions of idol worship for they no longer worshiped God, but their expressions of God.

Religion - quite frankly, this word has come to have bad connotations for many. But religion is simply the practices we observe as we love and worship God.

Religion is not bad, necessarily. But religion can never replace our relationship with Jesus.

The question we must ask ourselves is: do our religious practices help us know Jesus more deeply OR have they become, like those of the Jews, a replacement for a relationship with Jesus?

(pause)

Do we worship God because we come to church, sing songs, pray, and listen to a sermon … OR do we worship God because we listen and hear God’s voice through the various elements of the service and then respond with consecration to His Word and His will?

Do we know God more deeply because we spend a few minutes reading the Bible and praying or because we communicate with God through prayer and reading of the Scripture?

Are we growing in our faith because we have learned more facts, Bible trivia, or because we listen to God’s voice speaking to us from His Word?

Is Christianity a matter of church-ey things to us - going to church on Sunday, worshiping in a “church”, dressing a certain way, and all the other stuff that is associated with being a Christian?

Or, is Christianity a matter of a loving relationship with Jesus, a passion to become more like Christ in our character and speech, a hunger to serve and please God with our lives, and an overwhelming concern for the plight of a lost and dying world that is headed to Hell?

(PAUSE)

May God help us to hunger ever more for a deeper relationship with Jesus!

May God help us to see the difference between religion and relationship with Christ.

May God help us to remove any obstacle - even religious ones - that hinders us from loving God and loving others.

May we see a healed man beginning a new life of freedom instead of a mat carried in violation of our rules.

May we see our Savior instead of an agent of chaos.

May we see Jesus and the life, the love, the glory, and the grace we can experience by radically trusting him instead of merely following the rules of religion.