Rules or a Relationship

Introduction

RECAP OF JOHN 4!

Main Point: Jesus did not come with more RULES, or new laws, Jesus came with a RELATIONSHIP and SALVATION.

Body

John’s third sign that he records is IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE SECOND SIGN!

So in John 4 we saw Jesus heal the official’s son and now in John 5 we start off by reading:

John 5:1–3 CSB

1 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.

After this miraculous healing there is a Jewish festival that takes place in Jerusalem.

If you’re following all of the travel it feels like Jesus is going back and forth north and south, east and west and He is!

First, that’s what Jesus did! Think of what Jesus said in Matthew 8:20

Matthew 8:20 CSB

20 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

The SON OF MAN- that is JESUS- was constantly traveling to a new place and then another new place and another new place!

But that isn’t the only thing going on here- in the Jewish calendar there are multiple holidays around the passover- consider the start of Shauvot (which we call pentecost) and how that is 50 days after the passover!

That is the same stretch of the year that we are seeing here- Jesus has been in Jerusalem for the Passover according to John 2:23 and now He is GOING BACK TO JERUSALEM for Shauvot- which remembers the giving of the law to Moses- and that is significant.

Remember that- Jesus is in Jerusalem for a festival remembering GOD GIVING ISRAEL THE LAW. THIS IS SIGNIFICANT! THE TIMING OF THIS MIRACLE HAPPENS AT SHAUVOT- when the OLD TESTAMENT LAW IS ON EVERYONE’S MIND!

So that’s WHEN this happened- now WHERE did this passage happen?

John tells us that Jesus and his disciples- remember, John was an eyewitness to THIS EVENT- went to Jerusalem and specifically went into the Sheep Gate which led them to a pool called Bethesda.

The Sheep Gate is significant. The sheep gate was the gate used to bring sheep into the temple to be sacrificed!

This gate was so important to the religious health of Israel that it was rebuilt by the PRIESTS THEMSELVES in Nehemiah 3:1!

But there’s something more important going on here- for a thousand years this gate was used to bring in animal sacrifices to “cleanse” the Israelites.

AND NOW, THE FINAL LAMB so to speak enters Jerusalem through this SAME GATE!

This Jesus is the lamb language starts in John 1:29 and John 1:36

John 1:29 CSB

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:36 CSB

36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

John really emphasizes that Jesus is THE LAMB!

And now THE LAMB comes into Jerusalem THROUGH THE SHEEP GATE at the FESTIVAL that remembers the GIVING OF THE LAW- the very law that Jesus came to fulfill!

Remember the words of Matthew 5:17

Matthew 5:17 CSB

17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

So in the setting there’s so much significance!

And Jesus goes to a pool inside this gate called Bethesda.

Bethesda comes from Aramaic which was the most commonly spoken language in Israel at this time.

Bethesda is a compound word coming from the words “Bee-et and Chesed” that roughly means “House of Mercy.”

And at Bethesda there are 5 colonnades, or big shades.

Underneath these shades, many disabled people- the blind, those who could not walk, and the paralyzed, would gather.

Your Bible probably has a footnote at the end of verse 3 and it says something like, “waiting for the moving of the water, 4 because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.”

So why isn’t this in John 5? Well, simply put, it isn’t in the oldest manuscripts. It was probably added by a scribe as a commentary of sorts to help his readers understand why people gathered at this pool.

They gathered at Bethesda in hopes of being healed. EVERYONE HERE WAS WAITING FOR GOD TO TAKE MERCY ON THEM!

So let’s see what happens when Jesus- the LAMB OF GOD AND OUR PERFECT HEALER- goes to the pool of Bethesda.

John 5:5-7

John 5:5–7 CSB

5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 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?” 7 “Sir,” the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

John introduces us to a man who is at the pool. This man has been disabled for 38 years- he is unable to walk.

38 years is a long time! That’s more than a decade longer than I’ve been alive!

This man has been laying by the pool for at least a good section of this time!

And as he lays there day after day he waits and waits and waits for God to have MERCY ON HIM!

Now Jesus walks over to him. Jesus asks him a question- Jesus asks- “Do you want to get well?”

Jesus is meeting this man where he is. Look at this man’s response.

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

This man has no one to carry him into the water to let him be healed.

He has a problem!

Last week we saw how a father approached Jesus with a problem and how Jesus in MERCY met the man where he was.

In John 4 the man comes to Jesus, but here Jesus goes to a man who cannot come to him!

Jesus could have easily walked past him. No one would have thought twice about that- no one cared about this man. But that’s not the case for Jesus. Jesus doesn’t just walk past him.

JESUS STOPS AND SEES HIM!

Jesus takes the time to SEEK THIS MAN OUT!

AND THAT SHOULD STIR SOMETHING UP IN US! (WE SHOULD DO THE SAME THING- we should GO TO PEOPLE AND MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE, NOT JUST WAIT FOR THEM TO COME TO US!)

So join me in seeing what Jesus does for this man.

John 5:8-9

John 5:8–9 CSB

8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath,

Jesus tells the man to get up and walk!

Think about that! This is a man who has not walked for 38 years! Beyond what caused him to not be able to walk, he has 38 years of muscle atrophy!

My Freshman year of college I broke my left foot and ankle.

They put my leg into a hard cast. And I remember the day that they took it off so well. I was super excited, they cut it open, peeled it off, and then told me to go walk to the exam room.

I was super sure of myself- i remember thinking, “Hey, how hard can this be.”

I took my first step and my entire left leg gave out!

I had lose a ton of muscle over those 6-8 weeks!

I remember looking at my left calf compared to my right calf in the exam room and it looked like it was half the size! It was wild!

Recovery took months! I tried to play basketball about 12 weeks after I had the cast removed and it led to me having to go back into a walking boot!

It took honestly like a full year before it felt normal again!

No doctor can just make it go away! It takes PT and HARD WORK TO REBUILD THAT MUSCLE!

But Jesus is no ordinary man! Jesus tells the man to pick up his mat and walk and the man DOES JUST THAT!

He doesn’t go stumbling away, he doesn’t need a cane, he GETS UP AND WALKS!

THIS IS A MIRACLE!

THIS RIGHT HERE IS JESUS’S THIRD SIGN!

But did you catch the last part of verse 9- this doesn’t just happen at any time, this happens ON THE SABBATH!

That is going to be VERY IMPORTANT COME VERSE 10 and 11!

John 5:9-11

John 5:9–11 CSB

9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.” 11 He replied, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’

Jesus heals the man on the sabbath and people start to FREAK OUT!

Let’s talk about why- see, the sabbath goes all the way back to Genesis 1-2 when God rested on the SEVENTH DAY OF CREATION!

But it doesn’t stop there- in Exodus 20 and in Leviticus 23, two parts of the law that would have been remembered at SHAUVOT- God commands the Israelites to keep the sabbath.

See, keeping the sabbath was part of being different.

The sabbath was a constant reminder to a culture of farmers, shepherds and other agriculturists that GOD WAS IN CONTROL AND WOULD PROVIDE!

All the neighboring countries had to work 7 days a week, but the Israelites only worked 6 days a week and GOD PROVIDED THE 7th day of rest! It was a chance for the Israelites to focus on the MOST IMPORTANT THING- GOD!

But over time this had changed- it had transformed from focusing on God to focusing on rules.

There were rules on what was work and what wasn’t, on how far you could walk and on everything you could or couldn’t do on the sabbath!

We could say it like this- the sabbath was no longer about God!

And in John 5, here come some Jewish leaders (John only uses this specific form of the word Jew to talk about Pharisees and scribes in His Gospel)

They come to the man and they tell him that he is a lawbreaker for picking up his mat.

Listen- BECAUSE HE OBEYED JESUS THEY ARE ACCUSING HIM OF BREAKING THE SABBATH!

Let me give you a quick tip- if you can either follow a man-made cultural rule, or obey JESUS, OBEY JESUS!

See, the pharisees are so caught up on their own rules and wanting to protect the sabbath that they have essentially REDESIGNED THE LAW TO FIT AROUND THEM AND TO MAKE THEM LOOK BETTER rather than seeking to FOLLOW GOD THROUGH IT!

John 5:12-13

John 5:12–13 CSB

12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

The pharisees ask the man who healed him, BECAUSE THEY WANT ANSWERS! After all, someone is a law breaker because THEY HEALED THIS MAN- that’s work- on the sabbath!

But look at what happens- the man doesn’t know because Jesus has slipped away.

Every miracle has an audience- some have a HUGE audience, but some have small audiences.

In this case, there are 2 different audiences. Only a few people saw Jesus talk to this man and perform the miracle. BUT, EVERY SINGLE DAY MANY PEOPLE WOULD SEE THAT THIS MAN HAD BEEN MIRACULOUSLY HEALED!

The larger audience is HUGE!

So even though Jesus doesn’t stay in the immediate area for long, many people see the end result of this miracle. But Jesus isn’t done interacting with this man, so look at verses 14-16 with me.

John 5:14-16

John 5:14–16 CSB

14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

So after the Pharisees leave this man, Jesus found him in the temple.

Jesus goes to him and talks to him.

And when Jesus talks to this man He gives him a challenge- DO NOT SIN ANYMORE!

Jesus is calling him to RIGHTEOUSNESS AND OBEDIENCE!

Cornerstone- let me challenge us with this SAME THING!

GO AND SIN NO MORE!

When Jesus saves us He changes us! (And understand, Jesus has saved this man). Jesus makes us NEW and SETS US FREE FROM SIN!

Will we still sin and fall short? ABSOLUTELY! But we are set free from running after sin!

Instead of seeking out sin, we are to FIGHT AGAINST SIN!

WE ARE TO BE PURSUING SANCTIFICATION AND GOING AND SINNING NO MORE!

Listen- it’s like this- when we walk with Jesus SIN BECOMES LESS ATTRACTIVE! SIN NO LONGER CONTROLS US AND PULLS US AROUND!

One last thing happens- the man has found out who Jesus is and he tells the Jews. Look at their response- these pharisees begin to PERSECUTE HIM BECAUSE JESUS HEALED A MAN!

Think about this- they are angry with Jesus because JESUS HEALED SOMEONE!

See, all that they can focus on is the “rules.”

They just want to follow a set of rules. BUT JESUS CAME TO SAVE AND TO SET PEOPLE FREE!

The Pharisees want something TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE GOSPEL!

They want humanistic perfectionism, but Jesus cam bringing a RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND FORGIVENESS FOR SIN!

Notice that difference! It’s an OPPOSITE THING!

You can either have your rules, or you can have the RELATIONSHIP!

And like John 5 reminds us of, we don’t need to “justify” ourselves, because we CAN’T! Instead, we need to be in a RELATIONSHIP with THE ONE AND ONLY GOD!

Application

Relationally Pursue Jesus

(Jesus came bringing a relationship- PURSUE JESUS IN RELATIONSHIP- GOSPEL! It isn’t about rules)

Brokenness-> sin-> brokenness that we try to fix in our OWN POWER-> failure John 5:39—40> brokeness-> the need for Jesus!

John 5:39–40 CSB

39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. 40 But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

Romans 5:12 CSB

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.

Romans 5:15 CSB

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.

Relationally Pursue Your New Life

GROW IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!

Jesus didn’t just bring a set of rules for us to obey!

Don’t fixate on the idea of somehow needing to be “so good” or “so on top of it” to follow and to know Jesus! Instead, set yourself free from that. Instead of focusing on a rule, focus on that relationship!

And here’s the thing- as you get to know Jesus more, you will find yourself hungering for sin less and less.

Here’s an example- if you’re in a relationship, a friendship, or a couple, and your person says, “Hey, I love you, but I hate when you do _____” you are going to stop doing that!

And it’s the same with Jesus. Jesus HATES SIN! So the more that we walk CLOSELY WITH JESUS, THE LESS WE WILL SIN!

The law shows us our sin, but it doesn’t offer the solution to our sin.

And Jesus as our salvation is the SOLUTION TO OUR ETERNAL NEED and our solution to fighting temptation is to WALK CLOSELY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND TO PURSUE MORE JESUS!

Please hear me Cornerstone Family- you can’t defeat sin on your own- but you can through GOD! So, let me challenge you- PURSUE A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SAVIOR!

PURSUE YOUR NEW LIFE- (These two verses I’m about to read were the first two verses I memorized in my Freshman Bible Study in college and they come to my mind ALL THE TIME! HIDE THESE VERSES IN YOUR HEART TODAY AS A REMINDER OF THE NEW LIFE AND NEW RELATIONSHIP THAT YOU HAVE WITH JESUS!

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

Galatians 2:20 CSB

20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And here’s a way to do it:

Let’s say you really struggle with anger. Like every day you are just angry at the world. And let’s say that you said, “every time I get angry, I’ll do 20 pushups.”

Well, over time you are going to see two things- one, you are getting ripped, and two, you are going to stop getting angry so often!

Here’s how that relates- what if every time we faced temptation- sexual, anger, lying, what if we went to Jesus in prayer? What if we then took a few minutes to get in God’s Word quickly.

Well now, our lives are going to be TRANSFORMED AS WE ARE WALKING CLOSER WITH GOD AND WE ARE DOING SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE SIN WE ARE TEMPTED TO DO!

Relationally Pursue Your People

(If we are to TRULY BE CHRIST FOLLOWERS THEN WE SHOULD MIRROR WHAT JESUS DID! JESUS PURSUED PEOPLE RELATIONALLY! WE SHOULD DO THE SAME!)

PURSUE THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU! Don’t wait for them to bring their problems to you, GO TO THEM! RELATIONALLY PURSUE THEM AS JESUS PURSUES THIS MAN AT THE POOL!

BEFORE THEN, PURSUE THEM BY INVESTING!

Pursue them by INVITING THEM INTO YOUR LIFE! (Be with them! Bring them into how Jesus has changed your life!)

Pursue them by INVOLVING THEM (July July 19 block party! July 20 outdoor service- PURUSE YOUR PEOPLE BY BRINGING THEM TO THAT!)

Pursue them by IGNITING WITH THEM! (Are they saved? GREAT! THEN START DISCIPLING THEM!)

(What is discipleship? It’s walking together with someone to GROW TO BE MORE LIKE JESUS! It isn’t about them being more like you, it’s about helping someone else be more like JESUS! And as you disciple someone, you will find yourself growing!)

Communion

YA on Monday June 30