Jesus is the LORD and the Sabbath

Mission and Vision

Today’s Instructions

Today is going to be a little different. But if you trust that we are leading you where God is leading us… then we will all get there together amen?

We can be so used to the rote of things that we miss the why we do certain things… like worship or listen to the word

The reason we praise at the beginning is as an overflow of the week of worshipping the lord.

we show up to explode in worship and then to be filled by a teaching.

we then have an opportunity to respond to the word of God and to go out into the world changed to live out the message that God put on our hearts.

But today we are going to shake things up just so that we can feel the difference and see what God does with a new perspective

Jesus is the Lord and the Sabbath

We are continuing our Lenten sermon series on the 7 signs of Jesus in the book of John

Someone say 7 signs

Now a sign is not the thing itself… but points to the thing

Today we are looking at a passage from and we are going to see what Jesus is pointing to with this sign

READ/PRAY

Here’s the truth of this passage… you could preach forever on this topic. But what I want to look at is just a couple things

Jesus is the LORD

We see that Jesus has the authority to speak to someone through their illness.. beyond disability .... in spite of infirmity… and bring healing

This man had been infirmed we are told was paralyzed for 38 years

He had been infirmed longer than a lot of people of that day even lived

Jesus, as a sign pointing to the fact that he has authority… that he has the right to be in charge

He spoke to the man and told him to get up

One thing that is awesome is the question Jesus asks before he heals the man..

DO YOU WANT TO BE HEALED?

Some people depended on the charity of others or the pity of others in order to make a living.

Meaning they didn’t want healing because they wouldn’t be able to get by without others feeling bad for them

Some people had been disabled so long that the disability had become their identity and they had been overcome by their situation and therefore given in to who they now were

Meaning that they had identified not with who they were in regards to God but who they were in light of their infirmity

Their brokenness had become who they were and therefore they saw any change … any healing as not necessary because it would change who they were… that’s for someone in here today

Either way, Jesus saw that the man desired healing. He healed the man.

Immediately… at once… just then… pronto

The man got up healed completely whole.

jesus didn’t have to do any dance or touch him or do anything … he simply spoke and the sign showed all who understood that he was LORD!

If that wasn’t enough… He doubles down on his lordship in vs 17

Jesus, by saying that God is his Father, was making himself equal to God… if you don’t believe that you can read on into vs 18 where the scriptures tells us that

In fact… there are a lot of people in the world who are willing to accept Jesus as a good teacher, as a wise man, as an example of love and compassion… but they will argue that he is not God and they will also argue that he didn’t ever say he was God

The main reason the Jews wanted to kill him was because he was blaspheming … he was saying that he was God

Jesus performed the miracle and then he gave them the explanation as to what the sign was pointing to

He tells them straight up that he is God. That he is the LORD

He has the authority because he is God and God the father bestowed all authority unto him

Jesus is letting us know that he has the right to be LORD

That means he is the boss

He calls the shots

He gets to say what stays and what goes in your life. He is the one who has the keys of all eternity in his hands.... not only that he’s the one who designed everything about you so he knows exactly what you need and what you don’t need

he is the Lord. Jesus is not just someone that we get to hang-out with when we want his advice…he is the lover of your soul. He is the one who your soul desires… he is the only one who knows all the right things to say and do because he created you

Jesus is the Sabbath

Not only is Jesus Lord but he is the sabbath

Augustine said that our souls are restless until they find their rest in Christ

There are 2 reasons why the authorites were upset about Jesus performing miracles on the sabbath

1 - They feared the law of man more than the law of God

2 - they didn’t understand that in Christ is the fulfillment of the sabbath

1 -

The rule to not pick up your mat was not law given by God

God told them to do no work but never defined what things were defined as work… therefore the religious leaders took it upon themselves to start imposing on the people what constituted work and what didn’t

The people of the time cared more about these imposed regulations on others than they did about the actual word of God

When they saw Jesus exercising his freedom in God… they were upset

Just some information for your everyday life… when you truly understand your freedom in Christ. and you start to live into the freedom. When you are following so closely to Christ that you expereience true freedom from other peoples opinions, from thier man-made rules, from their imposed boundaries… when you are living free from fear and walking in the freedom that the love of Christ brings.... you are going to have some people hate you

People who have embraced their slavery will hate your freedom

People who enslave others and perpetuate bondage will hate the freedom that you are experiencing in Christ

2

this is where I’m going to close

Jesus is not only the lord of the sabbath but he is the Lord and the Sabbathe

WE only find our rest in Jesus.

In Christ are we rejuvenated, do we experience the most of what life is, we have life and it to the fullest,

In Christ and him alone to we experience a life of sabbath… a life of rest.. of peace of the shalom… that is the rest and wellness and wholeness of the Lord

Have you been seeking the healing and the peace and not realizing that what you really need is the LORD and the Sabbath

You don’t need the sign… you need Jesus and more of him