Good morning. So, not a cozy group today. Looking
around and I'm going, either you guys have chosen
not to take Memorial Day weekend and go camping
or doing something fun, or you're smart. Because
everybody else is gone doing that. And I just
got to tell you a story I heard. So the Turner
GC, I think there's like seven or eight guys.
Is that right? He's doing the math back there.
They're all bear hunting. And this is a place
they've gone every year. Well, the word is that
it was so cold, they all had to snuggle into
one tent, and they didn't sleep all night, and
it's snowing like crazy. So just for the record,
we're in a better place right now. Anyway, so
I hope to get one. That would be awesome, or
two or three, whatever. But right now, all of
them they've seen are a long ways away. So, hey,
before we get into... unpacking God's Word together,
I want to start with a question. And I like it
because we're a little cozier this morning, but
still you're going to have to speak out. But
we need to do this every so often. So, you know,
our verse for the church where we get our name
radiant is Psalm 34, verse 5. It says, Those
who look to the Lord are radiant. Their faces
shall never be ashamed. And it's this idea that
we as a people, no matter where we're at, no
matter what walk in life we're at, That we purposefully
fix our eyes on Jesus. And the Bible says that
changes us. It changes us. And I know that for
certain. When I'm not in God's word or I'm just
kind of doing my own thing over here, there's
a whole lot of change that happens in my life.
I'm not being made more and more like him. But
when I'm... I'm running to him. My eyes are fixed
on him. I'm in his word. There's change that
happens. And so I think it's really important
as we look together at Jesus that if God is doing
that transformative work in your life, as your
eyes are on him, that we declare it. We have
several Sundays ago that we do a thing called
Thank You, Jesus. But this one, I just want to
ask us this morning, As you're fixing your eyes
on Jesus, what change is happening in you? What
are you seeing that transformation taking place?
What's changed for you? It may be simple. It
may be a perspective. But it may be massive too.
It may be in your marriage. It may be in a lot
of things. So I don't want to fill your mouth.
Does anybody have anything like that this morning?
That you would say, you know what? I know as
I fix my eyes on Jesus. Change is happening,
and I can see it. Anybody? Yeah. What's that?
Okay, so the way you react today is different
than what it used to be before. So different.
Very good. What else? Yeah, way back there. Real
loud. Yes. Hope is bubbling out as a result of
it. Good. Yeah. Anybody else? Yeah. Craig. Right
on. And I know the rest of this story, too, is
the reason you're here is because those kids
said, Dad, come to church. Praise God. Yeah.
Right on. What else? Yeah. Yeah. That's a big
one. Yeah. Changes the way you see other people.
And some of that's because we start seeing other
people through the lens of Jesus, don't we? Yeah.
Good. Anybody else? Hmm. More thankful. Good.
Reese. What's that? You're healthier. Yeah. Good.
Anybody else? Anybody else? So that's it. Okay.
Let's pray together. If you don't have the Bible,
the blue Bibles, they're on the back there. Please
grab one, take it. It's yours to take home. They're
on the back tables there. But let's pray together,
and then we'll jump into God's Word. Lord, as
we journey through John together, we continue
to ask you to do a work in our hearts. Help us
see it. and apply it even in a deeper way maybe
than we've have in the past lord we just ask
that that you'll even if it's painful that you'll
do a work in us and so holy spirit we just give
it to you today and we give this morning to you
amen all right so as you know we are walking
verse by verse through john and we're in john
chapter five so you can turn there but Before
we get into that, I want to tell you a story.
When I was about 10 years old, I can clearly
remember that everything inside of me, this moment,
when everything inside of me, and I can remember
the place I was standing, I can remember it right
down to very vividly. So here's what was going
on. So inside of me, I didn't want to submit
to what my parents were telling me to do. I knew
that was coming. I don't exactly know what it
was, but I had an agenda and it was being blocked
and I was just angry. But I very vividly remember
the reaction I had and so if you can kind of
picture, it happened inside my kitchen living
room and I went outside and I was just inside
because my... agenda was being blocked right
and so as i went outside i walked out the door
and i kind of going out and i turned around with
everything angry inside of me just to respond
like in the way that i felt like i could express
myself i turned around and went like that and
in that moment guess who was looking at me in
the window him Didn't go well the rest of that
day. My little dark heart was exposed. He probably
remembers the sin I was committing, but I sure
remember the response afterwards too. See, down
through human history of mankind, mankind has
rebelled over and over against authority. That
is part of our story, right? It's part of your
story. It is definitely part of my story. That
inside of me, there's this desire to push against
authority. Starting with Adam and Eve. Right
back in Genesis 3. The pattern demonstrated is
that people didn't want to answer to the one,
no one, including God. Original sin, that's what
it started. God had a plan, said, this is what
I want you to do, this is what I don't want you
to do, and they said, I know better. I don't
want to submit to that. See, this is the pattern
of the whole Testament, isn't it? Over and over
and over. I know, Craig, you're reading right
through it, right? It's the pattern. You see,
it's just like, really, more of this? They just
rebel against God. and it doesn't go well, so
then they cry out to God, and then God says,
okay, I'll rescue you, and then they rebel against
God, and it's just this constant cycle, and if
you wonder why all those really rough, hard stories
in the Old Testament are there, it's, I think,
part of it is just to remind us that we can't
do this on our own, and so there's this pattern
of rebellion, and it's in my heart, and I know
it's in your heart. We struggle with it. And
only the miracle of the supernatural work of
God in our hearts allows us to turn from our
rebellious ways and to submit to Jesus as Lord
and Master over our life. That's still our struggle
today. It's what you and I live in, and it is
only possible to have victory in that through
the supernatural work of God. And so, the Gospel
of John, It's calling us to believe in Jesus.
We've talked about that. The difference between
believing that Jesus existed and actually believing
in Jesus is a different thing, right? It's letting
go. It's saying, God, I believe in you, Jesus.
But it's not just that we believe in Jesus. We
believe in him as our Savior and our Lord. Baptism,
which we'll be doing at Eklutna here at our camp
out. If you've never been baptized, this is kind
of a plug also for you to listen and say, I need
to step forward in faith in this. But baptism
is this picture of our submission to Jesus as
Savior and Lord. In fact, we ask the question
when you're baptized. We say, to who is Jesus
to you? And your response, if this is real, is
Jesus is my Savior and my Lord. What John does
is he is going to expand what this Jesus is.
Now, he's calling us in the book of John to continue
to come to, do you really believe in Jesus? Is
Jesus big to you? Not that he exists, but that
is he your Lord? Is he your Savior? So we like
the idea of Jesus being our Savior, don't we?
That's great. I mean, he did all of it for me,
and it's free. He rescued me. We love that part.
And it's important to love it. But we struggle
with the Lord part the most. We really struggle
with allowing Jesus, letting Jesus be Lord of
our life. So there's a shift in John that happens
in chapter 5. There's this opposition to Jesus
as Lord. That's the shift. Up to this point,
he's wonderful. And now you see this shift that
happens in opposition to him being who he says
he is, and he says he is Lord. And so there's
this tension. And Jesus is establishing his authority
in our lives. And if he does that, as we do that,
people don't like it. Now, here's the truth is,
is that people love to call Jesus, oh, he's a
good teacher. You know what? When Jesus called
himself, he said, I'm God. He establishes authority,
and whether we like it or not, this is the tension
point that we all struggle with. We love him
as Savior because he's helping us, but do we
really love him and treat him as Lord? So let's
look at verse 1. As we look at these verses today,
Jesus is in charge. This is part of what's going
on. Jesus is saying, I'm basically in charge.
And the sign or the miracle reveals the authority
and the deity of Jesus. Remember, all the signs
and miracles you see in the Gospels are all pointing
to his authority to give through the glory of
God and showing us who he is. And so these signs
and miracles show us the... authority and the
deity of Jesus. Okay, so look at verse 1. After
this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. By the way, you're going
to see this all the time, because Jerusalem is
elevated way up here, and everywhere you went,
you had to go up to Jerusalem, so that's why
it says it that way. By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem,
there is a pool called the Seda in Aramaic, which
is It has five colonnades. Within it, they lay
a large number of disabled, blind, lame, and
paralyzed. Okay. I think the reason why John
lays this out is he wants us to get a visual
image of what's going on here. Picture this.
Can you picture this scene? It's a sad picture
of brokenness. You have these pools and they're
colonnades and they're just basically a big open
area. And there are just sick and blind and hurting
people laying all over. Kind of a rough place.
It's a place of brokenness, but it's also a picture
of those wanting to be healed. But why are they
there? Why are they there at these pools? See,
I think it is because they believe that there's
some kind of hope. of healing in these pools,
and so they're there. But notice in your Bibles,
there's a verse that's missing. Which one is
it? Because verse four, it's not there. So the
reason it's not there is that most New Testament
scholars believe that this verse four is not
original, and it was added later in the margins
of the manuscript to by a scribe trying to copy
or explain what was going on as he was copying
the text so verse four if you look down in those
bibles we send out there it's actually right
down at the bottom and at the page but this is
what it says and i think it's important to look
at it because it helps give us a little context
it says waiting for for the moving of the water
because an angel would go down into the pool
from time to time stir up the water then the
then the first one to get who got in after this
water stirred up was recovered from whatever
ailment they had. Okay. Even though this most
likely is not the original text, it does show
us what may have been going on or what they may
have believed was going on. So they believed
that if something would happen, the water would
get all stirred up, and if you could get in first,
chances are you would get healed. Okay? So look
at what verse 5 says. One man who... One man
was there who had been disabled for 38 years.
When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he
had already been there a long time, he said to
him, do you want to get well? Here's the scene.
Jesus sees a man. Now, he sees a lot of people,
right? And he doesn't go in and go, whoosh, you're
all healed. Could have. But he sees this one
man who is struggling, and he's hopeless. He's
been disabled longer than Jesus has been alive.
Think about that. And Jesus looks at the man
who is surrounded by all these other struggling
people, and he asks a very curious question.
And I want you just to think about why. Do you
want to get well? What kind of question is that?
Ugh. Right? Do you want to get well? Why would
Jesus ask this kind of question? Maybe what Jesus
was asking could go something like this. If you've
lived your whole life for 38 years this way,
you have learned how to survive and how to have
your needs met. If I heal you, Your life will
radically change. See, the old will be gone and
a new reality will come. Are you ready for that?
Are you ready for that? In response to Jesus'
question, I don't know the exact reason, but
Jesus asks this very odd question. Like, of course
he wants to be healed, right? You would think.
That's why he's there. Here's the man's response.
Sir? See, guys, look at verse 7. Sir, means he
doesn't know who Jesus is at this point. He just,
there's a man, come on, do you want to be healed?
Sir, the disabled man answered, I have no one
to put me into the pool when the water's stirred
up, but while I'm coming, someone gets down,
goes down ahead of me. That's my excuse. Evidently,
the man was hoping Jesus would help him get into
the water at the appropriate time. Like, I could
use your help, Jesus. But Jesus had other plans,
which he usually does. Look at verse 8. Get up.
Huh? Get up, Jesus told him. Pick up your mat
and walk, or bed. Instantly, the man got well,
picked up his mat, And started walking. 38 years.
Boom. Just like that. Think about the authority
of Jesus just for a minute. Think about the authority
of Jesus in this moment and in the man's life.
Two things. Jesus came to him. He didn't even
ask to be healed. In fact, He didn't even know
who Jesus was. But Jesus came to him, and he
says, you. There's a lot of sick people around,
but he just chose him. See, Jesus has the authority
to break into your life and to heal you if he
wants to. He has the authority to do that. Has
Jesus stepped into your life? When you were not
even looking for him. Is that true, Craig? That's
what's happened, right? I love that about your
story, that recently God has broke into your
life. Did you go pursuing him or did he come
after you? This is what Jesus does. Maybe he's
just brought somebody else into your life to
point you to this Jesus. I think the second thing
is that Jesus has authority to heal, to bring
wholeness. He can do it. We should be praying
for healing. We should be praying for physical
healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing,
whatever that is. We should be asking God for
that because he can and does have authority in
those areas. That's why we go to him and say,
help us. Let's keep going. There's a lot of the
story still to go. Second part of verse 9 starts
this way. Now, that day was the Sabbath. So Jesus
said to the man who had been healed, so the Jews
said to the man who had been healed, this is
the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking
up your mat. This is the shift in the story right
here. Can you believe this? These Jews come to
him, and we know they're the religious leaders.
They come to him, and they don't celebrate what
Jesus has done. You've been sick for 38 years.
Why are you holding your mat? It just doesn't
make any sense. But that's what they do. I mean,
he's been this way for 38 years. They obviously
know who this cat is. But instead of rejoicing
and celebrating what Jesus... what Jesus had
done, they complain about his bed mat. Man, I
could go down some bunny trails on this one right
here, but I'm not. We'll stay focused. Because
we could talk a lot about legalism and what it
does in this moment, right? I believe Jesus chose
to heal this man on this specific day to make
a point to the religious leaders. He could have
picked any other day. He could have said, just
get up. But no, he said, get up, pick up your
bed. Stinky old bed. Why? He's making a point.
So he wants them to see their lack, them, meaning
the Jewish leaders, he wants them to see the
lack of submission to God and his authority.
They were more concerned about their rules, about
their desires, than it was God's ways and his
rules. Jesus was throwing down a challenge flag
in a sense of whose authority mattered most in
their life. Is it their own authority or is it
God's authority? Jesus is saying, I am the authority.
I am Lord. This should be the question that you
and I are asking. Whose authority matters most?
Is it my authority or is it God's authority?
Is it his ways or is it my way? So they confront
the man, these Jewish leaders. They confront
the man instead of celebrating with him and this
is his response. Look at verse 11. He replied,
the man who made me well told me pick up the
man and walk. Who is this man who told you? Pick
up your mat and walk. They asked, but the man
who has been healed did not know who he was because
Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was
there. So he goes, I don't know, but it worked.
Like, why are you calling me out on this one?
I think if he has authority, at this point, he'd
be like, why are you asking me this question?
Can't you see I can move? Like, something changed.
But they were concerned about his obedience to
the rule. So the man doesn't even know who healed
him, and the religious leaders who are upset
that he healed him, the man on the Sabbath. So
let's just talk for a second about the Sabbath.
What's going on here? See, the Sabbath comes
from the second, starts in the second chapter
of Genesis, where... which is where God created.
He worked six days, but on the seventh day, he
rested. God entered into this Sabbath rest and
is still in that rest. Even while he is upholding
the earth by his power, he works and he remains
in his Sabbath rest. So it's a picture of God
resting after working. And later, God gave the
law to his people. To have a day of Sabbath rest
to reflect on his rest, on what we have in him.
And so Sabbath was a time of celebration each
week. You have worked hard for six days, but
on the seventh day, you were free to focus on
God, to rest, to celebrate his presence, to celebrate
his power. It was a time of joy. With Jesus,
God's presence and power were on display in the
Sabbath. With Jesus, God's presence and his power
were on display seven days a week. And so he
comes in, and so I think Jesus deliberately picks
the Sabbath to say, look, are you resting in
me? Am I the focus point? Because I am. I'm the
one that actually made the Sabbath for you. Jesus
chose to heal this man on this specific day to
make a point, to point something out to these
religious leaders. It's kind of like a major
flex by Jesus. Like, hey, I wanted them to see
that their lack of submission to God and His
authority is the same thing. When they don't
submit to me, they're not submitting to God.
And so there's this major flex that I'm the one
that's the authority. And Jesus has every right
to do that, and so he's doing that with these
guys. Look at verse 14. And after this, Jesus
found him in the temple and said to him, again,
I'll get to this in a second, see, you are well.
You're not sinning anymore, so that something
worse might happen to you. And guys, there's
a lot of people that take this verse and kind
of run with it down some bunny trails, but we're
going to try to stay, I think, to the main point.
There are a few things that really stand out
here in this verse. First is that Jesus finds
the man in the temple. Now you go through a transformation.
You don't know what God has done. I think what
this happens, this man goes, man, something supernatural
happened. I can't explain this. God, what's going
on here? So where does he go? He goes to the
temple. And that's where Jesus shows up to him.
He seems to know that there's something miraculous
and I gotta go there. And that's where Jesus
finds him. The second thing is that, again, Jesus
pursues him. He finds him. And he quietly does
it. He says, look, you're different now, aren't
you? It's like I've changed you. The old is gone.
The new has come. You see what's happened? And
the third is that Jesus calls him to a new way
of living. Don't live like you used to. Don't
go back to sinning. I've given you, we know this
now, that when we are in Christ, we are given
a whole new identity to live in. Don't go back
to that. He is now in Christ. The old is gone.
The new has come. Let's stay there. Let's go
there. If Jesus has saved you, live like you
belong to Jim. That's the point. If he saved
you, Is he your savior? If he saved you, live
like you belong to him. Don't go back to the
old way of doing it. Which, frankly, I think
we all struggle with every day, don't we? We're
rolling back to the old ways. Look at verse 15.
The man went and reported to the Jews that it
was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore, the
Jews began persecuting Jesus because he was doing
these things on the Sabbath. And Jesus responded
to them, my father is still working, and I'm
also working also. This is why the Jews began
trying all the more to kill him. Not only was
he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling
God his own father, making himself what? Equal
to God. And so this is a big deal. Here in the
book of John, we see this major shift. And it's
a showdown that's going to begin to take place
between those religious leaders and Jesus over
his authority on who he is. The religious leaders
of Israel are faced with a decision. Will they
submit to the authority of Jesus as Lord? Or
will they rebel against his authority, and choose
to live for themselves and their ways. Will they
follow Jesus as Savior and Lord, or will they
follow their own ways? And that is the question.
That's what we struggle with, isn't it? That's
what I struggle with. It may not be as blatant.
Maybe it's like, today I'll choose to do it my
way. And so it's a daily process. The battle
exists in our life, just like it exists for those
pharisees each day we have to decide if we will
submit to jesus as lord now it doesn't mean you
lose your salvation that's not what it's about
it means that this is the journey you and i on
that we need to constantly remember who he is
and what he's done and then and what it's made
me to be who he's made me to be and the question
is are we living as his children are we living
in this new identity And if so, there's got to
be a place of constant surrender. When we know
we've sinned, do we confess our sin? Do we repent
of that sin? Sin is doing it my way. And God
says, no, do it my way. And so that's what our
lives consist of, regular surrender. One of the
commentaries called Exalting Jesus Commentary
had this to say. I love how they said this. Our
hearts are a battlefield. Two opposing forces
clash violently each day. Our desires for autonomous
self -rule engages in a fierce battle with an
appropriate desire to submit to the lordship
of Jesus Christ. Regardless of who we are or
what situation we are in, we must diligently
fight to obey Christ, putting to death our desires
to be in charge. Putting to death our desires,
be in charge. See, it's a battle we can win only
by the powerful work of Christ within us. It's
possible to put to death those things. But it
requires the work of God in us and saying, God,
I need you. So I want to conclude today by returning
to... What is represented in baptism? We talked
about this earlier already. The two questions,
is Jesus your Savior? Is Jesus your Savior? Because
you're going to declare, if you stand up, if
you haven't been baptized yet, that's what we're
asking you to do. What is it? Who is Jesus to
you? Is he your Savior? Meaning, is what he did
on the cross sufficient for you? Like, he took
your sin? You don't have to do it. He did it
for you. In fact, there's nothing you can do
to earn your favor with God. God has done it
all for you. He's Savior. He's Lord. He's your
Redeemer. Is Jesus your Savior? And then second,
is Jesus Lord? Meaning, all things are surrendered
to His ways, not your own. And that's really
hard for Alaskans. We like Him our way. And I
mean all things. That doesn't mean you get it
right all the time. That means that you start
from this place where you're saying, God, what
is your desires? Your will be done. We don't
like that line very much. At least I don't. Your
will be done. Not Caleb's, but Lord, your will
be done today. And as we daily go to battle with
that question, The posture is, God, your will
be done. That's how we live it. I say, actually,
one of the reasons why I think we continue to
come back to communion, why we need to come back
to communion every week, why we celebrate it
here, is that we remember that Jesus did what
he did for us. He gave up everything. He's our
Savior. But then he's calling us to be saying,
hey, I am also your Lord. And so, My body was
broken for you. My body, I submitted all of my
life for you. My blood was shed for you. Now,
as you come, surrender to me. As we take communion
today, I want you to think about that as we go
through communion. Got all of it for you. And
pray, man, you guys can come up. Lord, all of
us are in different places in our church. We
know that. You know every one of our hearts.
You know every one of us, what we're dealing
with. And for those in the room, maybe, Lord,
that have never surrendered to you as Savior,
I bring today, Lord, that that will happen. And
Lord, for us who are struggling maybe in this
room to continue to surrender to your authority
in our life, Right where we sit today, may our
prayer be, God, I surrender all. All to you,
Jesus, I surrender today.