Healing Authority

Introduction

Memorial Day — Bible marks many remembrances

Josh 4 - 12 memorial stones

Communion - remembrance of what Jesus did for us on the cross

Memorial Day - set aside as day to remember selfless sacrifice of men and women in our armed forces

Also add men and women in selfless sacrifice on front lines of healthcare

Wk 11 of Come and See — exploring who it is John has called us to see and what this life is that he brings.

Last week: Life-giving faith is a faith for life that finds it’s power in Jesus.

This week: Story that ends with

John 5:18 (ESV)

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him,

He broke man-made religious rules.

He claims to be God.

John wants us to see:

Jesus has the power and authority to break the rule of sin and the rules of religion.

John 5:1–18 (ESV)

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

Invalids — no social services - either needed someone to care for you or hope for a miracle

waiting for ‘angel to stir the waters’ - first-come, first-serve

multitudes — Imagine the scene, the smells, avoided by most people

Charles Spurgeon, “The hospital of waiters”

This is the place where Jesus enters.

“See you, then, the Saviour going down to the pool of Bethesda, determining that, in the spot where sorrow and disease reigned supreme, he would exercise his mercy and overcome evil.”

(Charles Spurgeon)

Thirty-eight years — longer than the lifespan of the average Jewish man.

Next four words are extremely important:

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time,

God is a God who sees.

Omniscience of Jesus leads to his compassion.

he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Weird question - YES!

Whenever Jesus asks an obvious question his reason for asking is rarely the obvious answer.

Jesus is not looking for an answer, he is looking to expose

Not everyone who is waiting for healing is wanting healing.

Some people would rather sit as a victim than walk in victory.

(ILLUST — As foster parents we are told some kids would rather continue to experience aspects of their old life rather than embrace their new life)

Healing brings change:

identity

community

responsibility

(what would you do with your healing?)

If this man is healed he is no longer “the invalid”

If this man is healed he will not be able to take charity he will now be expected to produce.

— ILLUST - counseling those who don’t want to take the next step

7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”

Offering excuses as to why he can’t be healed

Passive aggressively hinting for help in the way HE thinks will bring healing.

Complaining to the Maker of Legs about his broken legs instead of simply looking at Jesus and saying, “Heal me!!”

Like a picture of the gospel, Jesus heals him.

8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Do I really want to be healed? (1-9a)

This question is a question of exposure we need to ask.

Do I really want to be healed?

What if it happens in a way I don’t expect

through suffering instead of around

internal healing instead of external healing

Jesus SEES and KNOWS — he wants us to simply look to him to heal.

Jesus isn’t asking the man if he is ready to be healed and walk — he’s asking if he is ready to walk in healing.

Jesus wants you to live in victory not victimhood.

Two very important implications follow this truth:

Living in victory does not always mean healing.

Living in victimhood does not always require suffering.

Romans 8:35–37 (ESV)

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

[in the context of]

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

What about the multitudes? How did they feel? One guy gets healed? Why not heal everyone?

They were used to being left out. They had obviously missed the water before.

Rather than hoping for the capricious waters to offer a sliver of hope, they met a MAN who sees, who knows, and who has the power of God to do something about it.

We have everything we need for spiritual healing NOW

Physical healing is the exception to the rule, for now.

immediate healing now is only a whisper of eternal healing later.

Immediate healing is not THE thing — it is only the whisper of the THING.

Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”

Read again - WHO HAD BEEN HEALED (from 38 yrs of suffering!) - it is not lawful to take up your bed

Man is carrying the thing that carried him for 38 years - Irony - had he been carried on the bed he would have been ok, but cannot carry the bed he was carried on

Not a law from God

11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ”

If Jesus heals you - obey him!

12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

Am I more concerned about what people are saying or how God is working? (9b-15)

For invalid — had he been more concerned with what the religious leaders would say — leaders not speaking truth from the Word of God but extra laws, he would have never experienced healing.

For Jewish leaders — They missed a miracle because of man-made rules.

Don’t miss out on the work of God because of the words of man.

what if the man had thought about it being a Sabbath and decided NOT to get up, pick up his mat and walk?

(“Mind coming back tomorrow, Jesus? I know YOU say to walk but THEY say wait”)

It is more important to do the work of the King than it is to talk about church things.

Jewish leaders told each other they were following God’s heart (if they truly followed God’s heart they would know this wasn’t it.)

Spent hours upon hours figuring out the RIGHT way to do synagogue - to be Jewish - to follow God.

Jewish debate takes place in a Beit Midrash (study hall)

Still to this day Jews argue about the ways to follow God and miss the miracle of Jesus

Christians no better.

Today is different!

Gone are the days of Christian castles, culture, and consumerism.

For too long too many Christian churches have argued about man-made things and missed opportunities for the miracles of God.

Greatest miracle - the gospel - death to life.

Have we really been arguing about music and styles and buildings and color and preferences and preaching and places and each other? All the while there are multitudes pf broken and dying staring at still waters of false hope hoping that SOMEONE will walk in and offer a miracle of God.

Am I more concerned about what people are saying or how God is working?

Maybe YOU are the one waiting for the miracle — It’s here — it’s Jesus! Jesus is the one who can heal!

Jesus doesn’t care how broken you are!

Jesus doesn’t care how long you’ve been broken

Jesus doesn’t care about any man-made rules that say you need to stop this, start that, look like this, talk like that.

He sees you, knows you, and wants to HEAL you! By faith trust that only Jesus can heal the root problem of your sin.

He wants you to walk in victory — no longer a victim — in His power, with His Spirit, becoming more and more like Him with each step.

16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Jesus is joining his Father’s work.

Their work is one and the same.

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Am I willing to accept Jesus as the authority in my life? (16-18)

2 places — accept his authority or you are his enemy

Jewish leaders wanted to stop Jesus’ authority — Why? Jesus threatened the way they ran things.

He was messing with the way they’ve always done it.

Blocking Jesus from having authority in an area of my life ultimately flows from the same motivation as the Jewish leaders — self-preserving pride.

You either accept Jesus’ authority in your life or you resist the Authority of all life.

Conclusion - Next Step

What is your next step?

first step in healing. No excuses.

Look for ways to join God’s work

[Henry Blackaby — Find God at work and join him there]

Open your life to the authority of Jesus and His healing power.

*PRAY*