01.26.2014

01.26.2014 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Welcome this morning! We have a couple of announcements…
April 5 - Congregational Meeting
Last Friday weekend of March – Men’s conference in Columbus
Lord, thank You for the opportunity to be together to gather and worship You. You walk with us on this journey of the Christian life. We know that God is there and we don’t travel alone. You have a purpose you are trying to fulfill in our lives – in our behavior and how we conduct ourselves. Help us to hear Your word – speak into our hearts – may these things encourage and build us in our faith.
There are two healing stories today – primarily from a practical point – these are more than just healing stories – they focus on the authority of Jesus and His word – and we see that Jesus’ words are the words of God and His actions are the actions of God. Jesus is demonstrating that He is the Messiah – and that is the primary point behind the miracle. From the practical application side of things – Faith engages and transforms our needs and desperate circumstances.
John 4: 46b And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” 49 The royal official *said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off.
51 As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. 52 So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and his whole household. 54 This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
What we have – a royal official from Capernaum – that is official – being a royal official means that he was working for Herod Antipas (not antipasto…) – He was working for the son of the guy who tried to kill all the infants after Jesus was born. So this servant is working for Rome. Herod Antipas is the one who beheaded John the Baptist. Not a nice guy. And this guy is a royal official, working for the government – working for the false king – but he realizes he needs the real king’s help.
Desperate need causes people to do things they would not normally do.
Word has spread about Jesus and His miracles. This is the second sign that John is writing about.
48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”
Jesus responds as He often does… -not what we would expect.
This royal official comes in humility and need – there was a reality of emotions – my son is dying – would you do something!
It seems like Jesus’ response is a bit rude for the circumstance. Why rebuke a person in need asking for help?
I think his response is as much for the crowd as it is for the official. John is showing that Jesus is the Messiah even though people are rejecting Him. They see a miracle and yet don’t yet believe. Jesus is saying – to everyone – you won’t believe – this is the problem! You shouldn’t even need these miracles, but I’ll give them to you anyway!
The way that Jesus addresses people – He understands that faith must always be tested to mature. Faith does not mature unless it is tested. And we see this with this man – People come with an immature faith and Jesus tests it and it either matures or falls away. This concept is true throughout the scriptures.
This starts with Abraham. God tests him for decades! We think – a nice LITTLE test of faith and then God does it all! But 70 years of it, that is a lot!
He is testing – and if our faith is never tested, our faith will be like the one who built on sand, and when the waters come in, it is washed away. Tested faith is like building on the rock. We want our faith to grow! So you want your faith to be tested! You want negative answers to your prayers! No, no, no, that doesn’t make sense! If God answered all my prayers, then I would have great faith! But that is not how it goes.
5 Things about faith
Faith is borne out of need and desperation. We see this in these stories – a child dying – a person paralyzed, a blind person, a lame person – people coming desperately to Jesus – and they need to get this problem resolved. It is the stimulus of faith. We know that when we are put in a desperate circumstance, we really cry out to God. When things are going well, we tend to ignore Him – not purposely – but when things come into our life that we can’t handle, we go to God.
Testing creates greater need and makes us more desperate.
Sir! Come down before my child dies!
It makes the man more impassioned.
Romans 4- Abraham – the man of faith – and in Romans 4 – I’ll read it to you.
18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your [t]descendants be.” 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
As his circumstances became almost ridiculous – almost 100 years old – and that’s not cat lives or anything like that! Nearly 100 years old and his faith grew strong. Usually we can see it from the other side – but when we are in it, the last thing we are thinking about is growing.
The other interesting thing – his desire has a real source…
Come down, my child dies!
Any of us – in this situation – because of deep love, for what it is we are believing - will cry out and turn to God wholly and fully.
Sometimes it doesn’t mean a lot to us. You can’t have faith to win the lottery – there is no way you can do that, because it doesn’t really matter – it is irrelevant. But something that really matters – you can begin to have faith for.
Faith takes risks.
This guy is living in a skeptical environment. He is willing to risk his job and maybe even his life by going to Jesus.
Faith hits a threshold when we realize there are no other options – no other solution to the problem. As long as there are other options – some other way of meeting the desperate need – we tend to not go to God. We have to come to a point where we have used up all our resources. Emotional/physical, etc.
Like the woman who had a hemorrhage and had exercised all the other options – and out of desperation, grabbed onto Jesus’ clothes – and she was healed.
It would be nice if we just went to Jesus first! But it is not who we are!
At the end of John 4 –
Sir, Come down! It is an exhortation – My son is dying – come down!
Jesus gives him a command: Go home! Your son lives.
The man believes his word.
When did it happen? Just as Jesus gave the word and the man believed Jesus’ word – the child was healed. It just shows the authority of Jesus’ word.
The man believes in Jesus – and his whole household.
The man had a desperate need – had heard stories – figures, might as well give it a shot! And now he believes in Him and who He is. He had faith in a healer – and now he has faith in a savior!
The ultimate faith – is faith in God – true faith is demonstrated in how our relationship with God is growing – understanding who He is. These signs are given that people might believe.
John 5: 1 After these things 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, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [[c]waiting for the moving of the waters; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
There is the sheep gate – just outside the temple complex. Why did they call it sheep gate? Because it looked like a sheep? Noooo. It smelled like a sheep? Probably…
Sheep would come in by the sheep gate before being slaughtered.
This pool is for the sheep to be ceremonially cleansed before being sacrificed.
It was a ceremony – dipping the sheep in the water. They would be ceremonially clean.
All the people are hanging out there.
We have a different attitude about the disadvantaged people. They felt that these were unclean people. Jesus goes to them. He goes to this unclean place filled with unclean people to do the next miracle – it was a place the religious leaders would never go.
I typically use the NAS – it is what I grew up with. Chapter 5, 4 is not there in NIV.
v. 4 is in a bracket with a footnote in the NAS. If there is a footnote – go to the bottom of the page – and it will say – this verse is not found in most ancient manuscripts.
Most don’t have vs. 4 – NAS and KJV are about the only two.
This was not in the original manuscript. People wouldn’t understand – no one there to stir up the water – so someone wrote it later in the margin.
Here is the point – this whole thing may be a superstition – it may have happened once or twice…
5 A man was there who had been [d]ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He *said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”
Is that not an obvious question? But is it? What Jesus is doing? Testing the man. Faith requires a genuine desire and we must be able to recognize our need and express our desires and hope. Instead of faith, we have wishing. Jesus is testing – is this man wishing or trying to have faith? “I wish things would be better” – and we don’t do the very hard work of faith. Faith is a very very hard thing to do. Because faith will put us through testing and difficulty. The work of God, Jesus says – is to believe. Have faith!
It is hard to express what we want – I think, first because of disappointment. We have asked for things that were not granted so we have stopped asking. Have you become so disappointed that you have stopped believing that it is possible?
The second thing – we think we are undeserving of God working on our behalf – we think, he wouldn’t do that for me. I haven’t been good enough for that.
He is also asking – have you resigned yourself to your current position? That is what we do – we accept that is how things are – whatever the struggle – and we don’t believe that things can be transformed. We think change is not possible.
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus *said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.” 9 Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.
Faith – next thing we see – it requires us to set aside all those other things we could trust in.
He is hoping for someone to put him in the water. But that, to Jesus, is irrelevant. All you need is for Jesus to say – Get up and walk.
Our faith is built upon strategies and tactics that worked in the past. Someone probably got healed when the water was stirred – and that is what we are trusting in – not Jesus. Sometimes we trust in people. Sometimes we trust in Christian superstitions! Whether this was true or not, we don’t know for sure.
John 10:10 – I believe this superstition.
I came that you might have life and have it abundantly.
We think – if I come to Jesus, I will experience the American Dream.
That is not what this verse means.
We also do this with Romans 8:28…
“I lost my job – that means God will give me a higher paying job” – and that is a Christian superstition – we could talk about them and talk about them. The verses are true – but we tend to look at the physical and not the eternal. We miss what God is really trying to accomplish.
Pick up your mat and walk. This mat was his comfort. All he did was lie on this mat.
The miracle – has a whole lot more to do than just being able to walk. Jesus is transforming the person’s life completely. He is doing much more than just relieving discomfort. At this point – he is able to have an entirely new way of life. And the goal of faith is spiritual transformation – and that is what his is talking about.
It is okay to pray for healing and financial need – and sometimes God provides for that – but faith allows for us to be changed people – it ALWAYS does that! It may take time to see it – but THAT is always guaranteed. Transformation of our souls, our character, and our being.
Lord, we thank You – teach us to be people of faith. Help us to believe in You and to begin asking. There are needs we face – some are desperate – I ask that each in a situation like that – health, finances, relationship – that they would have the courage - like the one man said – come down, or my son dies…. – Please God, I have no other hope – no other solution – only You. In Your name we pray.
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