MISUNDERSTANDING GOD

Introduction

-Let me just start with what might seem like a ridiculous illustration, but I hope it kicks off the topic for today:

~Let’s suppose that you went out shopping or something one day and you ran into a friend who does not go to church here. But for some strange reason your conversation turns to talking about me.

~And your friend says to you: “Yeah, I know that Al Pihringer guy. He’s that real short guy, about 5-foot tall; and he has flaming bright red hair; and he is always verbally abusive to his family in public; and he likes to kick his dog and throw his cats around; and he’s always cursing worse than any sailor I ever know.”

~You would look at them like they’re nuts. You’d tell them, “I don’t know who in the world you’re talking about, but that’s not the Al Pihringer that I know.”

-So, even though that friend of yours claims to know me, they have a very basic misunderstanding about what my character and traits are—thus demonstrating that they really don’t know me as well as they claim.

-I use that illustration because there are a lot of people who claim to know God and to know Jesus, but then when they begin to describe this God, they demonstrate that they have serious misunderstandings about who God is.

-And it’s not just the unchurched or unbelievers—many of us have a skewed view of God and His character and the way He interacts with the world, and it affects the fellowship that we have with Him.

-We are looking at a passage today where Jesus interacts with a sick man and some Jewish leaders, and He finds that they completely misunderstand God’s character and motives and actions, all the while Jesus is revealing the true God to them.

-And we learn for ourselves that when we misunderstand God it will lead to wrong approaches and interactions with God, which then also lead to misunderstandings about the person and work of Christ.

-So my hope today is to discuss some of the misunderstandings we might have about God so that we can correct those misunderstandings and in turn have a closer walk with God thru Christ.

-So, I want to read this passage, but before I do I want to note something real quick:

~The oldest Greek manuscripts that Christians have in their possession do not include the end of v. 3 and all of v. 4 in this passage. Therefore most modern translations do not have them in their translation, or they relegate them to a footnote.

~The KJV and NKJV and some others (that are based on different Greek manuscripts) will have those verses, while the ESV, CSB, NIV, and others will not.

~The difference in the manuscripts in the long run are small and change no theology. That being said, as I read the Scripture today, you will now know why I did not read a v. 4.

John 5:1–17 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. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 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.” 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. 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.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 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. 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.”

-What I want to do today is look at three misunderstandings about God that are demonstrated in this passage, hoping that by addressing them we may clear up some of our own misunderstandings

Misunderstanding#1:

I) God interacts with humans the same as the stories of myth and legends

-I know these points are a little wordy, but give me a few minutes to try and flush them out

-In Jerusalem there was a pool fed by a natural stream near one of the entrances in the temple complex. Archaeologists believe they have actually found this pool, and it is just as Scripture describes it, surrounded by these covered porches.

-A myth or legend surrounded this pool, and it was believed that the water would begin stirring on its own, and the first person to enter the pool when it began to stir would be healed of whatever was ailing them.

-Our missing v. 4 says an angel would stir the waters—but this verse was probably added by a later scribe to fill in the gaps of the myth. In all likelihood there was some natural phenomenon that caused the water to stir (maybe an underwater geyser or something like that)

-But all these sick and ailing people would come to the pool and hang out under these covered porches and then try to beat each other to the pool when it began to stir, thinking that is how God would heal them. And this one man who had been an invalid 38 years was one of them.

-I want you to do some deep thinking today and let’s figure out what holding this particular belief actually says about what they thought of God.

-To believe in this myth, you would have to believe that God is impersonal and has no care for the individual, but has some benevolence toward humanity in general, and so God will throw humanity a bone by allowing some people to be cured, but He turns it into a contest. Whoever gets to the water first wins and is cured.

-So, God doesn’t really care whether you as a person are cured or not—He has no love for you as an individual. But just for His sport and entertainment, He’ll have an angel stir some waters, and if you are in the right place at the right time, then you may win the grand prize of being cured of your ailment.

-And that is where the hope of these people rested—in a God who does things willy nilly and if you are lucky enough (or fast enough) you may win.

-This belief in God is not unlike the faith the Greeks and Romans had in their gods. Their gods were nothing but all-powerful men who had all the human faults of lust and greed and anger and hate, and you’d have to do whatever you can to appease them, and every once in a while, if you did the right things they’d be nice to you----but it was all very random, and you never knew where you really stood. This invalid man believed something similar in the real God.

-But then Jesus comes along and reveals to this man what God is really like—dealing with Him as an individual and offering Him grace.

-The man thought his hope was found in a lake, when in actuality his hope was to be in the Lover of his soul whose Son became human to reveal God to all mankind—demonstrating mercy and grace and compassion.

-Having these false beliefs about God based on myth and legend slanders the character of God and falsifies the Word of God, and gives us a distorted view of our God.

-And so, it makes me wonder what myths and legends about God we believe (even in the church) that are untrue.

~Do you think God is carefully watching your every move so that He can find you doing something wrong and zap you? Did Jesus die on the cross so that God can condemn you like that, or did Jesus come to save you?

~Do you believe that God may have gotten the world started, but doesn’t really have anything to do with it anymore, so God doesn’t really see what’s going on in your life nor does He care? Again, I ask, did Jesus die on the cross to save people in general, or did He die on the cross to save individual people including you?

~Do you believe that God is so uncaring that He looks for every opportunity to leave you or forsake you? Is that what Scripture reveals?

-I could probably spend all day talking about our false beliefs—but if there is a thought or idea you have about God that is not backed by Scripture, you are believing in a myth and a legend, not in the God who exists.

~You misunderstand God and it is tripping your walk with Him and stunting your growth in Him. Find the truth about God in Scripture, and believe it with all your heart

Misunderstanding #2

II) God is more concerned about the letter of the law than love and compassion

-In the passage, Jesus had healed the man and told him to take up his bedroll and go on his way. After 38 years of not being able to walk properly, if at all, and having no sort of quality of life where he can be a contributing member of society, all of a sudden he is made whole.

-Do you think that is something to celebrate? Do you think that such a situation would cause some praise and thanksgiving being given to God for such a miracle? YOU WOULD THINK SO

-But then come along the Jewish religious leaders. You see, Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath day. The religious leaders see the man carrying his bedroll and jump all over him because of it.

-Why did they do that? There is no commandment that says THOU SHALT NOT CARRY YOUR BEDROLL, so why were they so up in arms.

-Well, the law did say for the Jews that they were to perform no work on the Sabbath day. Of course, that begs the question: WHAT IS CONSIDERED WORK?

~To answer that question Jewish religious leaders wrote in the Mishnah (which are Jewish teachings and writings) that there were 39 different activities that were considered work, and carrying a household item out of your house to another location happens to be one of them.

-You see, what the Jewish religious leaders did is make up hundreds of manmade laws so that they would be able to keep the letter of the law—but in trying to keep with the letter of the law, they totally missed the spirit of the law.

-So, when the man explained what happened, they were all up in arms that somebody would dare heal on the Sabbath (instead of celebrating and praising God), because, guess what: healing people was considered work too and should not be done on the Sabbath.

-As the religious leaders said to Jesus in the gospel of Luke:

"There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." (Lk. 13:14 ESV)

-After which Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy since they would do what they could to save their animals who were in distress, why in the world would they not care for another human being?

-And in Matthew, Jesus told them:

And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. (Matt. 12:7 ESV)

-In no way am I saying that God’s standards or commands can be compromised in any fashion. God does not change and His standards do not change, but you cannot use them as some sort of excuse for not showing love and compassion to other people. You cannot use religious rules to keep from doing that which is right.

-If you are traveling down the road on a Sunday morning and you see an elderly lady with a flat tire on the side of the road looking for help, and you pass her by, justifying yourself by saying:

“Well, I got to go to church because the Bible says not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, so I can’t miss church to help her with her tire problem!”

God help you if you actually think that! You may be following a letter of the law, but you sure aren’t following the spirit of the law.

It’s OK to miss church for an act of love and compassion.

-Or if you start enforcing manmade rules to the detriment of the spiritual growth of others, that is not showing love and compassion.

~I had an elderly gentleman in my former church who had to move to North Carolina after his wife died to go live with his son. There weren’t too many churches just real close, so his son (who wasn’t a believer) dropped him off at the closest church. But this church wouldn’t let him in to be with other Christians unless he had a coat and tie on.----You are telling me that a brother in Christ cannot come to worship and be encouraged by other Christians and grow in the Word because he doesn’t have a coat and tie???....

~But I’ve also had great friends and saints fall into the same trap. One Sunday morning a youth who was lost as a goose came to visit the church, and he was wearing a hat/baseball cap. During the meet & greet time a church member went to him and said very gruffly: YOU DON’T WEAR HATS IN CHURCH. That youth went away swearing he would never come to church again.----You’re telling me a baseball cap is more important than someone’s eternal soul?

-It is a mistake to think that God is more concerned about the letter of the law than love and compassion.

Misunderstanding #3

III) God administers no consequences for sin, nor executes judgment on lawlessness

-Jesus later finds the man that He healed and warns him in v. 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."

-Jesus wouldn’t have said that would there not be real consequences to sin. But what did Jesus mean by what He said?

-First, although obviously not all sicknesses are attributable to sin, there are some sicknesses that are a result from sin either by correlating consequences from the sin, or as a result from the judgment of God.

-An example of the first is that if you are a lifelong alcoholic, you will get cirrhosis of the liver and possibly die from that. Of if you are promiscuous, you will get an STD.

-But some sicknesses are a judgment from God because of sin. In 1 Cor. 11:30, Paul told the church that there was sin in the church, and it had a consequence. He said:

30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. (1 Cor. 11:30 ESV)

--You sinned, and God judges you with sickness. So Jesus may have been warning the man that a greater sickness could befall him if he continues in a life of sin.

-But even more so than this, Jesus is warning against the spiritual consequences of sin. Jesus is calling the man to repentance—turning from sin and turning toward God through the One whom God sent to pay the penalty for sin.

-The Bible is clear that everybody sins, and the Bible is clear that wages of sin is eternal, spiritual death which is worse than any sickness the invalid man had before. Without a turning from sin by repentance and faith to the Savior, there is judgment and condemnation.

-There are a bunch of lying preachers out there selling a bill of goods who say that God would never condemn anyone or judge anyone because of sin. But the Bible says God is perfect and holy and will not let the guilty go unpunished.

-At the same time the Bible says God is merciful and just and put the penalty of sin on Jesus on the cross. So not misunderstand—without a conversion there is nothing but condemnation.

Conclusion

-So this leaves you with a decision today. Maybe you have some misunderstandings about God. There’s some myths and legends you have believed that you need to get straightened out by the Word of God. Come to the altar and ask God to give you a correct view of who He is.

-Maybe you have been caught in a web of legalism and manmade traditions, and you need to come to the altar to ask God to show you the freedom given in Christ to lead you to a holy life.

-Still, maybe you have always thought lightly of your sin and never considered that breaking God’s law even once has consequences, and the only remedy is faith and repentance in Jesus…