When Good Things Become Corrupt

last week technical difficulty

Last week at ReST (Reading Scripture Together), our Bible reading had us in 2 Kings 18 where Hezekiah reigns in Judah. “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord”. In doing right Hezekiah removed the “high places”, broke pillars, cut down the Asherah, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses made.

2 Kings 18:4 ESV

He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

This is powerful to me. What God used to deliver the people from the poisonous snakes in the wilderness, they had begun to worship. Hezekiah took it and destroyed it. People had begun to worship the healing agent rather than the Healer. Something that was once good and used mightily of God is now perverted and an instrument of evil in turning people away from God.

Have we seen that anywhere else? Have people begun to worship creation rather than the Creator? Where else have we seen it? I’ve heard it put that anytime we take something that is “good”, removing an ‘o’ and making it “god” we are in deep trouble. If we elevate anything over and above the preeminence of Christ, we have made an idol.

I’ve seen marriage become an idol, where a person will stay in an unhealthy, abusive, destructive marriage, because “God hates divorce” (this is bad Bible). I’ve seen children become idols and a permissiveness that destroys a childhood because the parent abdicates their role for their child’s desires. I’ve seen churches eviscerate people over methods and tradition out of fear.

In our text this morning, we see how what God intended to be life-giving and restful was corrupted and systematized to control. It was elevated beyond what was originally intended. This will happen as we get into chapters 5-10 of the Gospel of John. Here we are dealing with Sabbath and what God intends for it to be (then festivals of Passover, Tabernacles, and Hanukkah). That which is good being corrupted becoming a weight to heavy to bear.

Remember that in Christ is life (John 1:4). His life is the light by which we see and understand the things we are navigating today.

If we have our Bibles or on our devices, please turn to John 5 and I will read verses 1 to 18 for context, though we will be looking at verses 9 to 18 this morning. If you are able, would you please stand with me as I read God’s word this morning.

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. You may be seated.

Sabbath

Sabbath was good; The Jewish sabbath, the seventh day of the week, was a regular reminder both of creation (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 20:8–11) and of the Exodus (Deuteronomy 5:15). Along with circumcision and the food laws, it was one of the badges of Jewish identity within the pagan world of late antiquity, and a considerable body of Jewish law and custom grew up around its observance.

It was in fact a counter cultural observance. They would take a day and enjoy God, enjoy each other, and all that God had provided. Completely unlike those around them… they were a nation in which God desired other nations to look at and go, “Wow! What is going on here? There is no other people like Israel.” As a witness and testimony of God’s existence and His desire for relationship with them.

We need that day of rest. It has many implications, but two of them are:

You are not God. It is an act of worship, obedience, and faith to not always be working. To rest and trust is an act of worship and a declaration to God that He sustains us, provides for us, and is the one who is overall.

We remember. Remembrance is such an essential element to the life of the believer. We must be intentional in remembering all that God has done, what He has called us to, how He has called us to live, and who He has called us to. In doing this, taking intentional time out (a day), we honor His word, show allegiance to Him and His Kingdom, and reorient our minds, hearts, and hands to His purpose.

Even as NT believers, we should glean from this idea of Sabbath. We are not saved by it, but it is a practice and discipline that brings life and clarity.

“Week by week, the law-observant Jews kept a strict day without work—defining quite carefully what ‘work’ might include so there would be no doubt. (vs10) There was a commentary on the law as to what the law meant. Then over time there became another commentary on the commentary on what the law meant. Depending on what Jewish religious school you went to, you held these laws very strictly.

Jesus, however, seems systematically to have continued doing things on the sabbath that could be understood—and were understood by some at least of his opponents—as deliberate ‘work’. After all, in the present case he didn’t have to heal the man that day. He’d waited nearly forty years to be healed; another day wouldn’t have hurt him. But Jesus seems deliberately to have chosen to do it that day. And, though what Jesus himself had done was hardly ‘work’—all he’d done was to issue a command—what he’d told the man to do, to carry his mattress, certainly was.

They lost sight of God, the Lord of the Sabbath

A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the Son of God 10.2.1.3.1 Another Jerusalem Sign: The Healing of the Lame Man (5:1–47)

As it turns out, the account of this messianic “sign” by Jesus (identified as such only later in the Johannine narrative in John 6:2) constitutes but the prelude to the actual bone of contention on which the remainder of the chapter focuses: the way in which the fact that the healing took place on the Sabbath gives rise to a heated controversy between the Pharisees and Jesus, which, in turn, occasions Jesus’ claim to be Lord of the Sabbath and thus (as the Pharisees correctly infer) equal to God (5:18). This, in turn, for the first time in John’s gospel, leads to the charge of blasphemy, which in due course turns out to be the Jews’ major charge against Jesus that leads to his crucifixion (see 19:7). Jesus must die because he claimed to be the Son of God; John wrote his gospel to demonstrate from Jesus’ “signs” that Jesus was the Son of God (20:30–31).

Sin No More

So we see John take a break for a quick second to refocus in on Jesus interacting with the man He healed (vs.14). This is beautiful to me. John is telling us that Jesus seeks out this man who has been crippled for 38years, brings healing, freedom, liberation, and new life, but then snaps us back into the religious leaders who are quarreling over their understanding of how the law should be exercised.

We see Jesus seeking out this man twice to bless, heal, encourage, and point this person to that abundant life that He offers. Then we read that the Jews were then seeking Him in order to kill him. Such a stark contrast.

When we see Jesus interacting with this man, we should see nothing but love and an excitement in this scene. Notice they are in the Temple. Place of worship… no longer at the pool where it was thought to be a pagan worship center.

Jesus revels in his healing, “See, you are well!” (vs.14) This, in my opinion, is Jesus reveling in what God has done. Celebrating with the man on his new lease on life, his second chance. Rejoicing with the one who is rejoicing.

Then an exhortation, “Sin no more, that nothing worse happen to you.”

Many responsible Bible teachers and commentators are quick to point out, that ailments, pain, disease, sickness, none of these indicate there is sin that needs to be rooted out. (John 9:2)

There is sin that leads to pain, hurt, and suffering and even being maimed.

illus: U-turn for Christ testimonials and those who turned back after graduating the program.

There is a sin that leads to pain.

There is a sin leading to death (spiritual and physical)… there are those that reject Jesus, which is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, but this is not what we are talking about

Hear me though, ailments/tragedy/disease/sickness and sin not always linked in the life of an individual.

So it’s one of two things:

Jesus is warning him, don’t do what you did to get into this place in the beginning that nothing worse happen… OR

Jesus is encouraging him not to go back to the idea of wishing on pools or false beliefs to bring about peace, life, hope, and those things that we long for… but it is found in Jesus alone… found in God alone.

The encouragement is that Jesus loves us. The encouragement is that even in our sickness, brokenness, and misaligned hope, Jesus is pursuing us. He’s pursuing those in your office, in your apartment, in your neighborhood, the ones that are confused, hurting, angry, worn down, disillusioned. Jesus is pursuing them. Jesus is preparing you to invite them into a community where He asks them, “Do you want to be healed?”. Rather than bringing them into the pool (as this man had no one to usher him into the pool when it was stirred), we have the opportunity to bring them to Jesus.

I’m going to say it again… and will for a long time. Church you love people well. You allow space for people to be them. You meet people where they are. You allow space for God to work in them and draw them to Himself, all the while being the hands, feet, and heart of God loving, caring, providing, and encouraging those around you in the pursuit of God. People are longing and needing a community of people that won’t assume they are the sum of their worst choices, but that like us, are in process of being changed and being made right as we continually pursue Christ. We are not what has happened to us, we are not the choices that we have made (good and bad), but we are deeply loved and pursued by the Creator God of the Universe who desires to change and mold us into the image of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Be confident as you invite people into that relationship.

Sanctified Work

His father was at work, and it was important for Him to be as well. What could he have meant?

The heart of it seems to be Jesus’ belief that Israel’s God was then and there in the process of launching the new creation. And somehow this new creation was superseding the old one. Its timescale was taking precedence. God was healing the sorry, sick old world, and though there might come a time for rest (when Jesus’ own work was finished, maybe: see 19:28–30), at the moment it was time for the work of new creation to go forward. Especially, from John’s point of view, if the ‘signs’ correspond in some way to the ‘days’ of the new creation …

We can hardly expect such a viewpoint to be popular among the law-observant Judaeans. Here we meet the sharpest opposition so far. As the ‘signs’ build up, so the reaction to them becomes fiercer; people begin to realize just what it will cost to follow where these signs are pointing.”

Wright, T. (2004). John for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-10 (pp. 59–60).

Jesus threatened the status quo. We’ve mentioned before that a system, by design, is intended to keep itself alive. If it is threatened it lashes out. But here’s the thing… no one was saved by the law… the law is good, but can not produce salvation because we are not able to hold to the law.

Hebrews 10:1–4 ESV

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

But it is Christ who has taken away the sins of all of those who believe and are allegiant to Him. Once and for all.

To which the Pastor of the book of Hebrews would write,

Hebrews 12:1–4 ESV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

It was the joy that was set before Him… that is you, that is me, that He endured the cross… despising the shame. The shame of the cross didn’t define Him (cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree… (Deut 21:23). Your shame doesn’t define you… what has happened to us does not define us, what we have done doesn’t define us, what has happened in our presence doesn’t define us… in Christ (being bought, renewed, sanctified), He defines us… we are who He says we are.

This was His work… ushering in, inaugurating the Kingdom of Heaven.

The other day, a young man I’ve been in relationship with for the last four years, threatened to bring a gun to a local school and shoot someone. When I found out, I was wrecked. I actually wasn’t prepared for how hard that hit me. It took me close to a week to where I felt like I had some bearing. When I saw him next I was angry. I was upset at the choices he had made. I called him to repentance. Here’s what I mean. That kid that threatened to bring a gun, that wasn’t who he is. That isn’t the kid I’ve spent the last four years getting to know. I called him to quit lying about who he was pretending to be in threatening to bring a gun and called out in him who I know who he is.

This is the same for us in Christ. If we believe and are allegiant to Jesus Christ, that He is our Lord and King… we have a new nature, we are a new creation… there is a sanctification, a change, that has happened. So when we sin we are actually being hypocrites. So the calling to attention of sin is not a calling out of someone, it is a calling to come back (a return) to who we are in Christ.

Maybe you identify with the man by the pool.

Maybe you identify with the pharisees.

Maybe you don’t know where you fit but you believe that God loves you, that your way of life/choices, have led you down paths that you are tired of going, you need a new path...

Come to Jesus. Just as you are. Make Him Lord of your life, we pledge allegiance to the flag of the U.S. at different events (schools, games, sporting events, etc.)… pledge your allegiance to Jesus first and foremost and watch the healing and the change come.

Church you are the instrument of God in this community to extend the love of God, the grace of God, the unconditional mercy of God, and the proclaimers of hope to a people who NEED, LONGING FOR, DESPERATELY searching for meaning, hope, identity… which can only be resolved and met in Christ.

Would you stand with me? If you need prayer there are those that are here to pray with you. Please do not leave this morning if you are need of someone to pray for you or with you.

Let’s take a moment of silence before we pray… let what we have read sink in. Take a moment and ask God quietly, “What do you want to set me free from?”… “Where do I need to be healed?”

confess that to Him now… ask for forgiveness… know that you are forgiven, that He loves you and is well pleased with you.