Becoming Whole Sermon Week 11

Intro/Welcome

Lost Keys Intro

We frantically search around for what we already contain

We are in a series called Becoming Whole — Biblical Transformation

If we are in Christ we have everything we need to live a transformed life.

We began a story last week, we are going to finish it today.

Bibles/Name

We’ll be in John 5:9-18

Go there in your bibles

My Name is Justin

Good to be with you, where ever we find you

150 days of prayer

Pray

empower us.

TEXT

Last Week

Jesus heals this man, radically transforms his whole life

Commands him to walk in a new way

This man is immediately met with criticism

John 5:9-13 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.’ 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.

These religious leaders don’t care that he has just experienced a miracle

radical life transformation

All they care about is: “is it being done the right way” “our way”

This man is just obeying Jesus.

who by the way is the Lord of the Sabbath.

This man has just been radically changed and they criticize him

Just think how crushing that is

Don’t we do that sometimes?

Maybe that was some of your experiences.

You met Jesus and began following and were met with doubt and criticism

And it sucked the joy out of it.

Pers: When I became a believer was dating a Jewish girl.

This isn’t just the religious people, but the irreligious.

For both it’s about following our rules

either you must conform to this or that

or you must not confirm to this or that

either way it’s a system of rules

which is not the gospel.

Living a transformed life is not about rules and regulations it’s about a relationship with Jesus

Example) The SSA Christian. Rejected by both the Church and the LGBT community.

Col 2:20-23 “don’t submit to rules and regs”

Transformation does not follow the ‘obedience model.’ In other words we don’t obey to become transformed, we are transformed so we can obey.

But for this man, as for us, Jesus will always come and find us.

Jesus Finds Us

John 5:14 CSB 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.”

this is good news

Jesus is faithful to find us wherever we are.

This man had gone to the temple to worship God,

a good response to being healed.

And this is where Jesus meets him.

Jesus will never abandon us, we will always find us.

He is always with us.

This is what makes a transformed life possible.

John 5:17 CSB 17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.”

This is where we ultimately find our hope.

Jesus is still seeking us, Jesus is still working.

But listen to what he says.

Jesus Reminds Us

Jesus first find us, then reminds us.

John 5:14 CSB 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.”

“Behold, you are well”

Behold, consider it seriously, how sudden, how strange, how cheap, how easy, the cure was: admire it; behold, and wonder: Remember it; let the impressions of it abide, and never be lost, Isa. 38:9.

Week 1 we saw that ‘we are transformed by beholding the person and the work of Jesus’ (2 Cor 3:18)

You are well

You are whole, you are new, you are transformed.

He’s says look at you,

look what I have done.

I have made you whole

and I am God (John 5:18)

behold the person and the work of Christ

2 cor 3:18 Week 1

I have done this.

Know who I am.

Remember what I have done.

Part of living a transformed life is remembering what Jesus has done

But Finds us, then reminds us and finally, Jesus also guides us, look at what he says next.

Jesus Guides us

John 5:14 CSB 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.”

“Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you”

Why does he say this?

Being transformed means living a transformed life.

When we give our whole self to Jesus it means our lives will look differently

This is the testimony all throughout the New Testament.

A transformed life results in transformed living.

Jesus is not suggesting that this man will never sin again.

Paul himself talks about his ongoing struggle with sin in Romans 7

John taught us in 1 John that if we say we have no sin, we are self deceived.

Jesus is saying to no longer make a practice of sin.

It’s what Paul says in Romans 6 that since we have been given a new heart, we have been transformed, we are no longer under the dominion, the power, the rule of sin

We’ve been delivered from the power of sin, now the presence of sin.

rather we are under grace and because of that we have a power that we never had before (Romans 6:15

we can say yes to Jesus and no to sin.

“do not present your members as instruments of sin (Rom 6:12-14)

Jesus tells him this b/c he is entering new territory

He has a new found freedom

freedom to do things he never has before

which means freedom to sin in ways he never could before.

This is another NT Principle

We have been set free to live free

Gal 5:1 CSB 1 For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Gal 5:12 CSB 13 For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.

What is the something worse? — Hell

Being transformed means living a transformed life

He is also not suggesting that we can lose our salvation.

John 6:39 CSB

39 This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day.

The question is how do we do this?

How do we live a transformed life?

How we live a transformed life

We’ve said that “In Christ, you have everything you need.”

So how do we ‘unlock this?’

REST (Don’t say)

The First thing we need to do, may the most important in our day and age

It the most counterintuitive, most counter-cultural, other-wordly thing

It is against our self help culture

It is against our feeble religious efforts

It is counter to every human beings inclination to pride

We need to REST

To Stop moving, Stop Thinking, Stop distracting, Stop filling your head with constant information

We need to Rest

Rest is being with God without an Agenda

just spending time with him.

The irony is not lost on me that this passage occurs on the Sabbath.

The Jewish People took the sabbath to an extreme level, it became about following the rules.

But the Sabbath is not about rules and regulations its about a relationship with Jesus

It’s about resting with him.

Resting in the finished work of the Cross

“It is Finished”

What are you striving for?

Who are you striving for?

What does Resting look like?

Many of us don’t know

It’s not just a day off

It is resting with God and others.

It is enjoying God

It is enjoying others.

It’s taking a break, taking a nap, taking a slow morning

Being with your family.

Worshipping God through Rest

It is trusting that God will keep the universe running without you.

Book: John Mark Comer’s “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”

Only book I’ve ever listened to two times through back to back.

Of course I did it at 1.5x speed

This book was deeply impactful

It is the antidote to our culture of hurry

I strongly encourage you all to get it and read it this December

ONLINE: Give three away so you can comment “I want a Book” and will randomly select people

IN PERSON: Giving away 5 books, come say Hi after and I’ll give you one.

He unpacks rest in this book as:

Silence, Solitude, Sabbath, Simplicity and Slowing down.

Let me just comment briefly on them.

Silence & Solitude

This is just sitting with God

Getting free from distraction

Being able to hear yourself think

Being able to hear from God

We are in the age of distraction.

One thing I did was turn off all my notifications on my phone except a few

I can’t tell you how freeing this is.

Watch the Social Dilemma on Netflix

See what is happening to us

Our attention is the commodity that is for sale

Silence and Solitude allow us to focus our attention on the things of God

which is what we most desperately need.

Sabbath

This is taking a 24 period each week to just enjoy God and each other.

It’s being together

doing good to others

Sharing a fine meal, having a game night

Worshipping the Lord together

Being thankful to Him

Written into the created order

Simplicity

Living a simple life

Maybe we don’t need the latest and greatest

Maybe we don’t need that hobby

It’s not just the things

it then becomes taking care of the things

“the things you own end up owning you”

Where can we simplify?

We already have the best life has to offer in God and the church.

Slowing Down

This flows from the others.

Man, just take a breath

slow down, take a break, go for a walk

clear your head

Example from book:

Drive the speed limit somewhere

Come to a full stop at a stop sign

Why are we in such a hurry?

this is what it means to rest

and it is a wonderful invitation to our hurried lives.

When we rest it allows us to Reflect

Reflection

When we slow down long enough we can reflect

We need to Reflect

This is what Jesus said to the man. “Behold, see you are well”

Self-Reflection

This is doing some self reflection

The Lost Art of Journaling:

I’ve read a lot of biographies. Currently reading Truman.

What sticks out to me: Diaries

We need to reflect on our lives

realize our struggles, our needs.

Reflecting on God’s Love

We need to reflect on God’s Love

God’s love is the most transformative power in all creation.

Meditating On God’s love

God Loves You.

Never forget this

He proved it for you.

This is living a transformed life, a life according to Jesus

This is “go and sin no more”

Only God’s love has the power to overcome sin.

When we rest and reflect it opens the door to receiving from God.

slowing down long enough to hear what he is saying

where he is leading us.

Receiving Grace

We need to receive from god

Grace as an active agent

Paul says it this way:

1 Cor 15:10 CSB 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

This is part of the mystery of God’s Work in us

But it is what is available to us to take hold of

to be empowered by

Rom 5:2 CSB 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

We just need to receive it.

Heb 4:16 CSB 16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

Let us approach God — that’s resting with him

we may receive mercy — forgiveness

and find grace (a new power to live by)

εὑρίσκω — find, discover, obtain

But we are so franticly looking for our lost keys that we fail to see that they are already in our pocket.

finding grace is realizing what God has already given you.

The keys are in your pocket

Satan keeps us searching everywhere but where real life is found.

the keys are already in your pocket

The keys to real life, true life.

We need to take them out and use them as God has intended

A Spirit Filled Life

Grace as a power in your life is also know as the Holy Spirit.

It is resurrection power.

Paul says the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us (Romans 8:11)

We really do have a new power at work with in us.

It is what it means to live a spirit filled, a spirit empowered life.

It’s where it began and it is where it continues.

It is ‘walking by the spirit’

Gal 5:16 CSB 16 I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Gal 5:25 CSB 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

this is the source of power for the Christian life

We are to be a spirit filled, grace empowered community.

Most of the time we need to slow down, stand still and then realize the keys are in your pocket

The keys to the spiritual life are already yours in Christ.

2 Peter 1:3-12 3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness....9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins...12 Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder

Application

The question will we do it?

Will we stop frantically looking around for the key to life and realize that it’s already in our pocket if we are in Christ?

In Christ — you can be in Christ today — Call to Respond

the destination is Christlikeness

the keys are the gospel

the vehicles is the spirit

the fuel is Grace

Jesus is the driver

The Keys are in your pocket

will you go and get in the car and let God take you where he wants to

From now on, whenever you take your keys in your hand, remember

In Christ we already have what we need to live a transformed life.

He is with you, rest, reflect and receive from him.

Stand with me and let’s Pray