More than Just Words
Eyewitness • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsGod does not ask us to take anything by faith. That’s hope. Walking by faith is behaving like Jesus can be trusted when you are being blitzed by your emotions and imaginations. Behaving like Jesus who He says He is even when it confronts your expectations of Him.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
MORE THAN JUST WORDS
THE 2ND SIGN
Rabbi Michael Vowell
Scripture: ; ; ;
THE 2ND SIGN
Idea: God does not ask us to take anything by faith. That’s hope. Walking by faith is behaving like Jesus can be trusted when you are being blitzed by your emotions and imaginations. Behaving like Jesus who He says He is even when it confronts your expectations of Him.
Setting: A Heartbreaking Occasion
Rabbi Michael Vowell
There are a couple of different types of attitudes that I have seen people have regarding faith.
Skeptic
Scripture: ; ; ;
Idea: God does not ask us to take anything by faith. That’s hope. Walking by faith is behaving like Jesus can be trusted, in spite of your changing moods. Holding on even when it confronts your expectations.
Setting: A Heartbreaking Occasion
Inferiority Complex
INTRODUCTION
There are a couple of different types of attitudes that I have seen people have regarding faith.
1. First person, the Skeptic: The type of person who needs faiths really needs a crutch.
2. Second person, the Inferiority Complex: I can never be the type of person that has strong faith.
Both groups are essentially making the same mistake, they think faith resides in a certain type of person. The skeptic thinks it is for those who need a crutch and the other thinks it is only for the gifted person. They assume that, and they assume wrong. They assume incorrectly. They assume improperly
John’s Gospel, I want you to remember, is written to a wide audience made up of Jewish Rabbis like Nicodemus, the fabulously powerful, the outsider, the insider, the Greek and the Roman. John is not writing His Gospel to be a “get you saved” sermon. He is not an ancient Billy Graham. He is writing to an audience under pressure, in crisis, doubting like Thomas:
(TLV) - Yeshua said to Him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed? Blessed are the ones who have not seen and yet have believed!”
Yeshua said to Him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed? Blessed are the ones who have not seen and yet have believed!”
(TLV) - But these things have been written so that you may believe that Yeshua is Mashiach Ben-Elohim, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
But these things have been written so that you may believe that Yeshua is Mashiach Ben-Elohim, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
These are not inept people nor are they especially gifted people. They are people, people, like you and me. The problem they are facing is not the lack of cogent argument or rational proofs. They have already used their reason and they believe. These are people facing uncertain times, crises, sickness, death, persecution, imprisonment.
When you face uncertain times, the greatest challenge to believing is not your reason it is your mood.
Example: My reason is perfectly convinced by good evidence that anesthetics do not smother me and that properly trained dentists do not start operating on my root canal until I am fully numb. But that does not alter the fact that when they have me in that chair and he turns on that drill, shines that light down in my mouth, a mere childish panic begins inside me. I start thinking I am going to scream, and I am afraid he will start drilling my tooth before I am properly, totally, fully numb. In other words, I lose my faith in anesthetics. It is not reason that is taking away my faith: on the contrary, my faith is based on reason. It is my imagination and emotions.
Before: Reason versus Faith.
Before I become a believer, their was a battle between faith and reason. When I trusted Jesus as my Messiah I had good reason for doing so based on good evidence
Before: Reason versus Faith.
After: Faith versus Emotion and Imagination.
But ever since then I have seen the battle lines drawn up between faith on one side and emotion and imagination on the other side.
This is true in every area of life:
· You knew that girl was a player but after talking over a couple of drinks she seemed nice enough. Your reasoning did not change, your mood did.
· You knew that house was too much but…
· You knew that eating Chips-a-hoy every night of corona quarantine was bad but your mood changed around it.
Anyone who has been a follower of Jesus for more than 30 seconds, I can tell you what will happen after your reason decides to have faith in Jesus. There will come a moment when there is bad news, or you will be in trouble, or living among a lot of other people who do not believe it, and all at once your emotions will rise up and carry out a sort of blitz on your believing.
Or else there will come a moment when you want a woman whose not your wife, or a man not your husband, or wants to tell a lie, or feels very pleased with himself, or sees a chance of making a little money in some way that is not perfectly fair: some moment, in fact, at which it would be very convenient if your faith were not true, reasonable. And once again your wishes and desires will carry out a blitz against your faith. I am not talking of moments at which any real new reasons against your faith turn up. Those have to be faced and that is a different matter.
I am talking about moments when a mere mood blitzes your believing.
John’s Gospel is written to people whose belief is being blitzed. And here is what he wants for them, that
By believing in Jesus it would shut down the blitzing of emotion and imagination.
John is the last man standing. He survived the death of his boyhood friend Peter. His friend who was a former persecutor, Paul. He survived the destruction of Jerusalem. He survived the persecutions of thousands of followers of Jesus. He survived exile on Patmos as an elderly man.
Here he is at the end of his life writing to people who faith is being blitzed by their emotions and imaginations. I am not saying these people are somehow childish, or immature. They were being targeted for executions, chased, hunted, facing exile, joblessness, homelessness, and sickness.
I think John knew about Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s Gospel. But he felt like part of the story was missing. He says to himself you know what, “I want people to know what I know, to hear what I’ve heard, so see what I’ve seen, so by believing they can shut down this blitzing.”
He does not want us to have faith in faith. I don’t think that is ever taught in the Scriptures and the so called “faith healers” that teach to have faith in faith are wrong. I mean wrong like saying 2 + 2 = 5 kind of wrong. They got the answer wrong and I promise you their cure is much worse than your sickness.
John did not have faith in faith. He had faith in what they had seen and heard.
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life—the life was revealed and …What we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you.
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life— the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. What we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so you may have fellowship with us. Indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Yeshua the Messiah.
John wants something to happen to you and to happen to me, to happen to all of us that happened to him based on his interaction with Jesus. That is why we keep going back to this statement that John makes at the end of his Gospel:
Yeshua performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these things have been written so that you may believe that Yeshua is Mashiach Ben-Elohim, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
Yeshua performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.
Yeshua performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.
But these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
John knows something that some of you in this room know: when you live this way there is something holding your life that is so strong it can take the strongest of blitzes. So John lays out these Seven Signs. Seven signs so that by believing you can handle the blitzing of your emotions and imagination.
Today we are looking at the 2nd sign. If you have a Bible hold it up and say it with me like you mean it.
Ha-foke-bah
Ha-foke-bah
De-cola-bah
Ha-foke-bah
Ha-foke-bah
Mashiach-bah
Turn it, and turn it,
for everything you need is in it.
Reflect on it,
grow old and gray with it.
Do not turn from it.
The Messiah is in it.
We are going to be in . I want us to pick up where left off this last week. After the wedding, Jesus goes to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.
Now when He was in Jerusalem for the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, seeing the signs He was doing.
Now when He was in Jerusalem for the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, seeing the signs He was doing.
Backstory: Overturning the tables, Nicodemus, Samaritan woman then it says
But when He came into the Galilee, they welcomed Him. For they had seen all He had done at the feast in Jerusalem, since they also had gone up to celebrate.
But when He came into the Galilee, they welcomed Him. For they had seen all He had done at the feast in Jerusalem, since they also had gone up to celebrate.
There is this constant theme in John: Seeing is Believing.
So He went again to Cana of the Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. Now there was a nobleman whose son was sick in Capernaum.
So He went again to Cana of the Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. Now there was a nobleman whose son was sick in Capernaum.
The first sign was a joyful occasion, this is a heartbreaking occasion. Maybe this is not a big deal to you but to me it is a big deal because Jesus wades into both.
Three Important Details:
· Nobleman - probably a Saducee and Fate dictates everything.
· Capernaum (26 miles/eight hours)
· At the start of the story is a person defined by his career.
Notice in v. 46 it says a nobleman with a sick son, not a father with a sick son. If you were to ask this person “Who are you?” He would say, “I am a Nobleman, Sadducee.” And oh yeah also a father. Though his job may be his first love, he is watching his son die in front of him, and when someone you love is suffering in front of you, you will do anything for that person.
When he heard that Yeshua had come from Judea to the Galilee, he went to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son; for he was about to die.
When he heard that Yeshua had come from Judea to the Galilee, he went to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son; for he was about to die.
Why would someone of his stature go to Jesus?
Think about all the hurdles he had to emotionally, socially, and spiritually jump over to make this move. He was a Sadducee they did not believe in miracles. If his son was dying then it was just fate and he would die.
I have a theory about the why, it is not serious, the wife theory. Just joking.
First Dilemma: Do I leave my dying son’s bedside based on rumors about a Rabbi from Nazareth who might be able to perform a miracle?
C.S. Lewis once said, “…the first step towards humility was to realize that one is proud.”
When he heard that Yeshua had come from Judea to the Galilee, he went to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son; for he was about to die.
Desperation has away of helping us make that first step. Many of you started your faith journey out of desperation, “To whom it may concern. I don’t know if you are out there but if you are, I need help, need help now.”
Desperation has away of helping us make that first step. Many of you started your faith journey out of desperation, “To whom it may concern. I don’t know if you are out there but if you are, I need help, need help now.”
Then Jesus addresses the crown not just the nobleman in what seems like an indictement.
Then Yeshua said to him, “Unless you all see signs and wonders, you’ll not believe!”
NOTE: “never” changed to “not” (NASB concurs)
Then Yeshua said to him, “Unless you all see signs and wonders, you’ll never believe!”
And this sounds like an indictment, but it's not. He's basically saying what's true. I mean, why should they take Jesus seriously? He's making some outrageous claims, and it only gets worse as time goes by. So why should they take him seriously? And Jesus is stating, "There's no way you're gonna believe me; there's no way you're going to accept me unless I do something that convinces you because seeing is believing. I'm not expecting anyone to simply have faith in faith or faith and a preacher that knows how to razzle dazzle people with their words and their stories."
The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
This is low as this nobleman can go. To call Jesus “master, lord.” He is in front of an audience of countless people. He casts aside all of his social standing. All of his stature and pride. It shows up in his words.
He is pleading now as a father. The word for child there is a Greek word that is an affectionate term. Early it was the word “Son” like that’s my Son. This is different it is more like please help my little boy.
He is confident in this Rabbi and he believes there are only two options. Either Jesus comes and heals or he does not come and my son dies. He has heard the rumors that Jesus has miracle working hands, if he can just get those hands to his boy. He sees only two options but there is a third.
Yeshua tells him, “Go! Your son will live!”
Yeshua tells him, “Go! Your son lives!” The man believed the word that Yeshua said to him and started off.
Literally, go about your business, don’t hurry.
Go home just trusting your word. Trusting your word is true, the stories are true? That’s it?
This is where we live.
This is a lifetime reduced to a day.
2nd Dilemma: Leave Jesus’ healing hands, go home and trust Jesus’ word despite his worst fears and scariest imaginations.
This is where we live.
This is a lifetime reduced to a day.
This is the blitz on faith. He had good rational reasons for coming to Jesus. Sure, he was born out of desperation but it was not irrational. After all, very rational, sane people like Nicodemus were in relationship with Jesus. This man’s faith is being blitzed at this moment.
The man believed the word that Yeshua said to him and started off.
Yeshua tells him, “Go! Your son lives!” The man believed the word that Yeshua said to him and started off.
He behaved as if what Jesus said could be trusted.
He walked home by faith despite the blitz of his deepest fears and scariest imaginations.
While on his way down, his servants met him, saying that his son was living.
While on his way down, his servants met him, saying that his son was living.
So he asked them the hour when the boy began to get better. They said, “The fever left him yesterday at about the seventh hour.”
So he asked them the hour when the boy began to get better. They said, “The fever left him yesterday at about the seventh hour.”
Then the father realized that it was the same hour Yeshua said to him, “Your son will live!” Now he himself believed, along with his whole household.
Then the father realized that it was the same hour Yeshua said to him, “Your son lives!” Now he himself believed, along with his whole household.
· Notice the change to father.
· Notice the constant updates to believing.
Yeshua did this as the second sign, after He had come again from Judea into the Galilee.
Yeshua did this as the second sign, after He had come again from Judea into the Galilee.
Walking by Faith
Presumption
Wishful Thinking
behaving like Jesus can be trusted despite the blitz of my emotions and imaginations.
behaving like Jesus can be trusted despite the blitz of my emotions and imaginations.
Over the last twenty years I have heard the expression, “Walking by Faith.” It means lots of things to lots of people. For some people it means walking by presumption. Let me explain. Kenneth Copeland in Dallas, TX praying to curse that Covid-19 and you will be healed. For others it is wishful thinking. The kind of people who think that wearing a cross, or a star of David will keep the evil away. For me, it is behaving like Jesus can be trusted despite the blitz of my emotions and imaginations.
Over the last twenty years I have heard the expression, “Walking by Faith.” It means lots of things to lots of people. For some people it means walking by presumption. Let me explain. Kenneth Copeland in Dallas, TX praying to curse that Covid-19 and you will be healed. For others it is wishful thinking. The kind of people who think that wearing a cross, or a star of David will keep the evil away. For me, it is behaving like Jesus can be trusted despite the blitz of my emotions and imaginations.
For some of you what I am about to say is going to be the hardest part of my message because walking by faith is no guarantee that you will get rich, stay healthy, or be the most like person on the internet. The Bible does not allow us to presume on God that way.
Behaving like I have a good and loving heavenly father who cares for me. I have a Savior who has forgiven my sins. I have the Spirit inside of me leading, guiding, and bearing fruit in me.
It is a unique brand of faith. It is not wishful thinking, it is not presumption, it is not intellectualism. It’s behaving like Jesus can be trusted. Even if things don’t go my way, if I don’t see the miracle, don’t get the job, don’t survive the storm. Even then I still believe He meant it when he said he loved me and his plans are good towards me.
You are ambassadors of this unique brand of faith. And Jesus never promised things would be great but he could be trusted.
There's a gentleman, you may have heard his name, his name is Dr. Francis Collins. Dr. Collins met one of those people who walk by faith when he was in med school doing rounds at a hospital in North Carolina. You may have heard his name because he served as the Director of the Human Genome Project.
Now I know you all know about the Genome but I'm gonna catch you up real quick on what a genome is, okay, just for, you know... Just, I know you know, but anyway. The genome is an
organism's complete set of DNA. Any organism, every organism has a genome and the genome is the complete set of an organism's DNA including all of their genes. And so Dr. Collins was given the assignment to put together a team to map the entire human genome, 3.1 billion letters inside of every single one of your cells. Check that out. And so this was a remarkable accomplishment because it helps us in terms of predicting what diseases would do, predicting how diseases impact families, family systems. It's remarkable.
Obviously a very, very bright guy. But when he was 27 years old, he's working at a hospital in North Carolina doing rounds as a student. You know where they walk in and ask you the same question day after day after day after day, and then they write stuff down and scribble and they leave. Okay, so this is his internship kind of thing. He's doing rounds. And partly because he was in North Carolina, he kept bumping into Christians, people who were dying, had terminal diseases that could be somewhat treated, but they couldn't be cured. And he keeps talking to these people and they... So many of them are talking about their faith, and they're going to heaven and they're gonna be reunited with loved ones.
And he grew up in a home where both of his parents were pretty much agnostic and this was so unnerving to him. In fact, in his book, he wrote a book called, The Language of God, which I highly recommend. I read it about four years ago, three years ago. The Language of God. He says this in the book. He said... This is his response to all these people. "If faith was a psychological crutch, it must be a very powerful one. If it was nothing more than a veneer of cultural tradition... " Let me translate this for you. In other words, is this is just something people in the south do, if this is just what uneducated people do, if this is what mountain folk do to just get through life, if this was just something that had to do with cultural tradition then... And this is what bothered him.
This is a good question. "Then why, he said, "Why were these people not shaking their fist at God and demanding their friends and family stop all this talk, this nonsense about a loving and benevolent supernatural power. They're dying, and God's not answering their prayer, and yet they still have faith." This was just so unnerving to him. Their worst fears and scariest thoughts were not pushing them away from behaving like Jesus could be trusted.
Then one afternoon he walks into a room.
There was a woman dying of, I think it was congenital heart disease, and there was just no hope, no cure, and she had talked to him before and mentioned her faith and heaven and all that kind of stuff. But on this particular day as they're chatting back and forth, and he's asking her the question, she says to him, she says, "Doctor, I've told you what I believe. Doctor, what do you believe?"
He said, "Faced with my willful blindness and my arrogance, I began a journey." And he decided to see what could be seen and to try to discover what could be discovered. And in the end, he discovered that there was something to the claims of Jesus. He could be trusted and that trust created a life worth living.
Dr. Collins saw faith being lived out in others and it convinced him. Because “seeing is believing.”
Walking by—living by—faith is what causes men like Francis Collins to pause and wonder if there is more.
wonder if there is more.
At the end of his account, John records a conversation between Jesus and the 11 after his resurrection. Knowing the signs had come to an end. Knowing they would be documented for the generations that followed. He said—with us in mind—you in mind:
Yeshua said to Him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed? Blessed are the ones who have not seen and yet have believed!”
Yeshua said to Him, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed? Blessed are the ones who have not seen and yet have believed!”
John would be quick to remind us: I was just a bystander. But I thought it was important to document my experience with the Rabbi from Nazareth.
But these things have been written so that you may believe that Yeshua is Mashiach Ben-Elohim, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
But these things have been written so that you may believe that Yeshua is Mashiach Ben-Elohim, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
Here is my assignment for you, “Who he says I am.”
Another thing Francis Collins says: “It’s not enough to read the notes on the page; at some point, you have to hear the music.”