John 4:46 - 5:1-18

Points for this Teaching:

Humbling ourselves in times of tragedy and adversity

Inevitable opportunities for closeness with Christ

The contrast between godly leadership, and ungodly leadership

A father at rock bottom

Who hear has ever been diving before? Me and rae recently went out with Drayden and his girlfriend Maddie, and in conversation about what we were scared of most, someone said it was the depth of the ocean. Drayden brought up how he was a certified diver, and he talked about this underwater cliff where it goes from a certain depth, to dropping off into a cold and dark nothingness, and how even drayden who loves diving- was terrified seeing that. There’s something about the thought of rock bottom in a dark and cold place that is unnatural and disturbing to us.

In today’s teaching, we’re going to hear about some people that were at rock bottom. They were living out their worst nightmare, incapable of getting out of it themselves.

You may never have been diving in deep water, but i’ll bet theres a lot of us in this room that have seen others at rock bottom, or been there themselves. And we’re going to talk about a God who meets you in that place of rock bottom, and does not leave you, and how in reality- those rock bottom moments are inevitable opportunities (x2) for us to draw near to Jesus.

INTRO PRAYER

Verses 46-47

The distance from Capernaum to cana of Galilee was about 20 miles, so probably a day’s journey walking on foot.

A Nobleman, is literally a royal officer of the king- Herod Antipas was referred to by most if not all of the people as the king, so this royal officer in service to Herod. This Herod, is the son of Herod the great- the same guy who tried to kill Jesus as a Child. I think it’s amazing that even though this man served a man who was evil and would later on be a part of death of Christ, the Lord did not hold back showing care and love towards this nobleman.

How often do we hold back our love or charity or prayer, because of who someone is associated with? Or just in general? A coworker is nasty to you or says something out of line, and then later you hear they were in a car accident. My first inclination is to say “yea they’re reaping what they sowed”.

This father, this husband comes to Jesus- out of options. And instead of throwing it in his face because of who he serves, Jesus does something different. He engages with him, and doesn’t shoo him away.

He was at rock bottom. It takes a lot for father to get to a place of desperation and panic, and I can tell you right now, as a father to a little girl- if she was sick and at the point of death, i would be unwell. When Rae was in labor, we were like 32 hours in at this point- and through rae’s contractions i remember seeing one of the nurse’s face watching the monitor and them rushing out to get more nurses. When your nurses is scared during labor/childbirth, it’s time to worry. She came back in with the charge nurse and they all watched the monitor, and they had the same look on their face- just wide eyed. The charge nurse whipped her hospital phone and left the room. I looked at the monitor and saw that grace’s hearbeat had went from the normal 150’s to 78 every contraction.

I got a real good look at that cliff into cold darkness that i was talking about in the beginning. I felt it. It’s easy to think you know what it’ll feel like when you come across those moments, but then to actually experience it- is very very different.

and i had to choose in that very moment, am i going to run and fall onto Jesus? Or am i going to lose all hope?

Verses 48-54

This seems like a harsh response from Jesus to this man on the surface doesnt it? Like- “you’re just an unbeliever unless you see some awesome sight.” But Jesus is probably being followed by many in Galilee, who really were just there for the signs and wonders. And so He seeks to go deeper with this man.

Matthew 7:21–23 ““(ESV)Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Performing or witnessing miracles does not mean that you’re saved. It also isn’t a promise that someone is from God because they’re working signs and wonders- we knows this from what Thessalonians 2: says- 2 Thessalonians 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,”

Beware of those that rely or focus solely on miracles and signs- and the Lord warns of the same, to not place so much value and importance on these things, as they often can be fake and of the enemy.

But looking back at the text, after hearing the words of Jesus, this man begs Him all the more. Not for the sign and wonder, but for his child’s sake.

Notice in verse 50, Jesus didn’t change His mind or go back on what He said. The nobleman didn’t see Jesus heal his son, Jesus merely spoke to him, and the nobleman believe the Word of God. Maybe we don’t see the daily supernatural working of God in our lives, maybe we don’t even see it often- but it is imperative to your relationship with the Lord that you believe His Word. I’m not discounting how hard it is to trust the Lord when He’s testing you. It doesn’t get easier in this life, but He still is there with you, no less than He was in the past.

This man believed His Words. So much so that he walked back home, he didn’t run.

But why? Why did Jesus do it THIS way? I’ve often asked myelf this question, especially recently. This quote from scottish pastor born almost 200 years ago-

“It was worthy of His care to heal the boy; it was far more needful that He should train and lead the father to faith.” Pastor Alexander Mclaren

Pastor Eric in main service has been talking a lot about suffering and loss, and this past sunday he spoke on God’s economy. God’s desire to grow us to know Him deeper, especially through tragedy and hardship. And just like this nobleman at rock bottom, the Lord is here with you- desiring to lead you into a deeper knowledge of Him. But it’s an opportunity, He won’t force you. But He’s there waiting.

The result of this man believing the word of Jesus without any external demonstration? His household believes. It’s easy to think that the son’s healing was the most important part of this story- but actually it’s that because of a father’s humility in his desperation, because he agreed that he could do nothing else except beg for mercy, trusting the word of the Lord- His family believed.

The leadership of a father and a husband is so important. It should mirror this man’s actions. Sacrifice in leaving his family in search of Jesus, risking not being able to hold his son while he passes away, humility in begging the Lord to help, tenderness in expressing love and devotion to his family, and most importantly- faith in what the Lord has said. Men- It wasn’t easy for him, his son was at the point death. It’s not going to be easy for you. But remember the result of the leadership and the faith in the word of God this man had, and the impact on his family- his whole household believed on the Lord. So lets take ourselves off the pedestal, and put the testimony of the Lord in its rightful place.

CHAPTER 5

Read Verses 1-5

This man had been unable to walk for thirty eight years. We don’t see this man telling Jesus how many years he was paralyzed, so either Jesus told His disciples, or this man did. Whatever the case- we know that John’s witness is true, because he recorded correctly that the pool of bethesda had 5 porches- and when the pool of bethesda was found and excavated, it was confirmed to have had 5 porches. We also can trust his witness and account of these things, because he references that there was a feast of the Jews (many scholars believe it was passover), and that the expectation of the sick people was that at passover season or a few other feast seasons, people would specifically gather at this pool- expecting the pool waters to be disturbed for them to jump in and be healed.

This man had been unable to help himself for 38 years. Talk about rock bottom, the end of himself. It’s a really hard place to be when we really realize just how ineffiicent and helpless we really are. Most of the time we think we’re capable and can do most things ourselves, but people that are paralyzed don’t live in deception like most of us do. They know they cannot rely themselves, and personally i think they’re better off for it more than we are.

Read Verses 6-9

Knowing how long this man has been in this place, Jesus still asks him if he wants to be made well.

Jesus doesn’t ask him if he wants to walk again, He asks the question in a way that i think points to something far deeper than just physical healing. Jesus in Matthew 11:1-5 tells john the baptist that the proof of His messiahship was that the lame would walk, and the prophet Isaiah had predicted this long before in Isaiah 35:6 “then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;”

Instead of telling this man it’s his sin that has kept in him in this place, or he doesn’t have enough faith, or he hasn’t kept the law well enough, Jesus heals him.

The false gospel of this world puts the burden on us to do better, try harder, have more faith, be more spiritual, and then God will bless you. The gospel of this Christ, is that while we are enemies of God, full of doubt and sin, Jesus descends to us, dies for us, rises again, and promises the Holy Spirit- the Helper and Comforter for us- and then invites us to rise, and walk.

This man had so little faith, he didn’t know Jesus was as we’ll later on read. He had no friends or family to help him, he was completely alone. The man’s answer to Jesus’ question wasn’t yes, and it was i’ve tried as hard as i could, and i cant do it. Maybe that’s where you’re at today. You have so little faith, you’ve tried as hard as you could, and you just cant do it. Nobody’s helping you, and you feel so alone. Jesus didn’t tell him to have more faith and try again next time, Jesus interceded right there and told him what to do- and it was on this man to choose if he would walk or not. I personally believe that it was because Jesus approached this man and spoke with him, that it give this man a glimmer of hope. There was something very different about Jesus, His tone, His expression of love. The Lord behaves towards us very differently than other people, and this man noticed it.

He was made well, and THEN he took up his bed and walked. Jesus intervened in this man’s life when he was at the bottom, hopeless, nothing left.

I strongly believe, that there’s those of you tonight who Jesus is intervening in your life right now, saying I see you. I know your pain. I know you’re weary. I know you’re lonely, but I see you- and I am with you.

It’s not about how much faith you have, it’s about responding to Him when He calls out to you. You don’t need to have it all figured out, just get up and respond to Him.

Read Verses 10-16

Now enter the pharisees and scribes. They see this man, walking for the first time- and their response is offense at the breaking of tradition. John throughout his gospel uses the term “the Jews” in the sense of thew Jewish leaders, not all of the Jews in jerusalem.

Imagine that being one of your first if not THE first experience you have with the religious community, after being healed by the Lord.

Instead of rejoicing and joy and dancing and singing, he’s met with disgust.

This man did not break God’s law of the Sabbath, but rather the human interpretation of God’s law- which was intended to bring bondage and a heavy burden on the people, that even the leaders themselves could not carry.

But How do your respond when you see God working in someone else’s life? PAUSE.

Do you rejoice with them? Get excited and praise the Lord together?

Or do you get annoyed at them or easily offended? Do you see the things that you don’t like first? Maybe what they’re wearing isn’t very reverent to you, and so in your heart your write them off. Or maybe the language they use is very wordly to you so boom, written off. Maybe they don’t have all of the grand opinions on theology like you do, so again written off.

I’ll give an example- there was a guy me and rae met years ago in New York, who didn’t have a car, didn’t have a job, had a family about a 20 minute drive from the church- but he had a bike. He couldn’t take his family with him to church, but he went himself on his bike- which was about 45 minutes to the church, and he came in very sweaty and in very casual clothes, and worshipped the Lord and listened to the message. We met him afterwards and he told us all of these things, and it made sense now why i saw some people giving him looks during service. He had disrupted their tradition because God was working in his life.

“The Pharisees and scribes didn’t want to know who healed the crippled man, they wanted to know who told him to carry a bed-mat on the sabbath day.” - David Guzik

We are all prone to be more concerned with keeping our traditions safe and sound, even at sometimes at the cost of disregarding the work of the Holy Spirit right in front of us.

So where in your life is your tradition being upset?

How about this one- is there jealousy in your heart towards the work of God in someone else’s life?

And so because Jesus worked in this man’s life for good, leading him out of rock bottom and into the knowledge of who Jesus was, that because it was done on the wrong day according the the leaders, they sought to kill Him.

We read that this man didn’t know who Jesus was, but he knew it was God that healed him- because later Jesus found him in the temple. Jesus was far more concerned about this man’s spiritual health than just his physical health, which is why he tells this man about the danger of something worse happening to him if he continues to live a life of sin.

As soon as he finds out who Jesus is, most likely out of fear, he goes and tells the pharisees and scribes that it was Jesus Who healed him. PAUSE

Don’t be so afraid of the world’s violence against you, that it leads you to even sin against the Lord. Whether that’s denial of Him with your actions or your language, loyalty to Jesus is always the answer- regardless of what kind of persecution that brings on you.

Read Verses 17-18

Jesus faces persecution and probable death threats, false accusations of all kinds because of what He had done. His answer? “My father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

Now Jesus is adding to their list of reasons they want to kill Him- because now He’s making Himself equal with God by that statement. My Father and I have been working.

What does that word equal mean? The Greek word is ISOS (EESOS), meaning equal or the same as. The webster dictionary defines equal as- the same, , identical, equivalent, equal meaning not different or not differing from one another.

Anyone who says that Jesus never claimed to be God, is very wrong. This is not the only time where Jesus claimed to be God, and the leaders knew this is what He was saying because they sought all the more to kill Him.

Conclusion

So reading about these men that were at their lowest of lows, nowhere left to turn and they knew it- and Jesus entering their lives and offering them something more than just a solution to their suffering, more than just an end date of their depression.

But what do they have in common?

-They both humbled themselves before the Lord, being honest with Him in their time of need and poverty.

-They both experienced the inevitableness of suffering, and that suffering gave them a unique opportunity for real closeness with Jesus

-and then, you now have two groups of people- godly leaders, and ungodly leaders.

The nobleman used his godly leadership to impact his entire household to believe in the Lord. Selflessness, sacrifice, and humility.

The Pharisees used their ungodly leadership to intimidate and discourage a man who just experienced an incredible encounter with the Lord. Selfishness, Pride, and Envy.

Whether you’re a leader at church, at home, at work, at school, amongst your friends- you are a leader, because you are a believer. You’re meant to be a light in the world, a light in a very dark place. And how you lead, matters.

Just like Jesus said, Him and His Father are working.

Maybe you’re a believer and you love Him and put your trust in Him, but it doesn’t feel like He’s working in your life, maybe He feels distant and removed from you.

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Maybe you’re not walking with the Lord right now, and you know it’s time to come back.

Revelation 3:20

“ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

If you’re in one of those groups, we’re going to seek the Lord together in prayer, and as i’m praying- just call out to Him for help and humble yourselves. Agree with Him that you need help. He’s already knocking, you just need to open the door to Him.

Prayer