JESUS: THE CULTURAL REVOLUTIONIST PART I

John (5:16–29)

A. The tirade against Jesus (5:16–18): The godless Pharisees condemn Jesus on two counts.

1. He heals on the Sabbath (5:16)

2. He makes himself equal with God (5:17–18)

Healing on the Sabbath

Free from the Bondage of Cultural/Religious expectations

Culture & Religion Defined

1cul•ture \ˈkəl-chər\ noun

[Middle English, cultivated land, cultivation, from Anglo-French, from Latin cultura, from cultus, past participle] 15th century

1: cultivation, tillage

2: the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education

3: expert care and training 〈beauty culture〉

4 a: enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training

b: acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills

5 a: the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations

b: the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group also: the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time 〈popular culture〉 〈southern culture〉

c: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization 〈a corporate culture focused on the bottom line〉

d: the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic 〈studying the effect of computers on print culture〉 〈changing the culture of materialism will take time—Peggy O’Mara〉

6: the act or process of cultivating living material (as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media also: a product of such cultivation[1]

[1] Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

re•li•gion \ri-ˈli-jən\ noun

[Middle English religioun, from Anglo-French religiun, Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, perhaps from religare to restrain, tie back—more at rely] 13th century

1 a: the state of a religious 〈a nun in her 20th year of religion〉

b (1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural

(2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

3 archaic: scrupulous conformity: conscientiousness

4: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith—re•li•gion•less adjective[1]

[1] Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

cult \ˈkəlt\ noun

often attributive [French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate—more at wheel] 1617

1: formal religious veneration: worship

2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual also: its body of adherents

3: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious also: its body of adherents

4: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator 〈health cults〉

5 a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book) especially: such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad

b: the object of such devotion

c: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion—cul•tic \ˈkəl-tik\ adjective—cult•ish \-tish\ adjective—cult•ish•ly \-lē\ adverb—cult•ish•ness \-nəs\ noun—cult•ism \ˈkəl-ˌti-zəm\ noun—cult•ist \ˈkəl-tist\ noun—cult•like \-ˌlīk\ adjective[1]

[1] Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

1fam•i•ly \ˈfam-lē, ˈfa-mə-\ noun

plural -lies [Middle English familie, from Latin familia household (including servants as well as kin of the householder), from famulus servant] 15th century

1: a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head: household

2 a: a group of persons of common ancestry: clan

b: a people or group of peoples regarded as deriving from a common stock: race

3 a: a group of people united by certain convictions or a common affiliation: fellowship

b: the staff of a high official (as the President)

4: a group of things related by common characteristics: as

a: a closely related series of elements or chemical compounds

b: a group of soils with similar chemical and physical properties (as texture, pH, and mineral content) that comprise a category ranking above the series and below the subgroup in soil classification

c: a group of related languages descended from a single ancestral language

5 a: the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children also: any of various social units differing from but regarded as equivalent to the traditional family 〈a single-parent family〉

b: spouse and children 〈want to spend more time with my family〉

6 a: a group of related plants or animals forming a category ranking above a genus and below an order and usually comprising several to many genera

b in livestock breeding

(1): the descendants or line of a particular individual especially of some outstanding female

(2): an identifiable strain within a breed

7: a set of curves or surfaces whose equations differ only in parameters

8: a unit of a crime syndicate (as the Mafia) operating within a geographical area—fam•i•ly•hood \-ˌhu̇d\ noun[1]

[1] Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Sociologist, Cultural Anthropologist, and Organizational Psychologist (Research and Study Group dynamics)

Social Workers, Marriage and Family Counselors/Therapist , Family Psychologist who diagnose treat pathological symptoms in the smaller family unit and the larger systems as well.

Pharisees as a Group (Always spoken of in the plural form) had become a social system, family system, Cult, Cultic followers, calling themselves the Children of Abraham and had totally missed that their allegiance was to God, and call to be children of God

Allegiance to any other systems will produce Pride, Self-Exultation, and a growing Hunger for Power

Religious Systems

Educational Systems

Sororities & Fraternities

Political Systems

In these systems are people of Power who are getting their source of identity from your allegiance (worship) to them

Unhealthy co-dependence

Interdependence vs co-dependence

Allegiance to God produces a source of health spiritual dependence on the creator which is manifested by humility

The willingness and the fortitude to resist unbiblical cultural norms no matter the setting.

It will make you look rebellious

It will make you look arrogant & prideful

It will often cause you to be alone

It will be a source of suffering

God will eventually justify himself in your works.

Christians should not allow themselves to be defined or influenced by unbiblical, unhealthy, and harmful cultural practices which take their focus off living for Christ and truly serving and worshiping our ONE true God and father.

The outline was partially derived from the The Outline Bible[1] Willmington, H. L. (1999). The Outline Bible (Jn 5:14–22). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.