POOL WATCHERS
John 5:1-15
S: Wholeness
Th: Jesus as He is
Pr: JESUS GIVES WHOLENESS.
?: How?
KW: Steps
TS: We will find in our study of John 5:1-15 three steps we follow that demonstrate how Jesus gives wholeness.
The ____ step that we follow is…
I. DESIRE (1-7)
II. DETERMINATION (8-11)
III. DEDICATION (12-15)
RMBC 10 March 02 AM
INTRODUCTION:
You know, one of the most difficult situations you face as a child is to be picked last.
Because of my size as a child, this often happened to me.
For when I was little, I was really little.
There would be two captains and all the best and popular kids would be picked,
Then there were the runts.
That was when the teacher would say, “Now children, we can’t start until someone picks Paul.”
This even happens when you get older…
I remember my Freshman year at college, we were playing floor hockey, and I was picked last.
That hadn’t happened to me in a while, so I was a bit disappointed.
In fact, it made me so mad, I scored five times.
The next class, I was picked first!
Do you like to be chosen?
Sure, you do.
When you are picked, it’s special.
In today’s narrative, we discover a person that for 38 years had been never picked, until Jesus came along.
TRANSITION:
Today, we are returning to our study of the gospel of John that we began in December 2000
Off and on, we will be returning to this gospel throughout the year.
It is our goal to do chapters 5-7.
As a reminder, we need to remember that…
1. Context: John 1-4 establishes Jesus as the Messiah.
John purposely tells us of specific events that point to Jesus as the promised Messiah.
John the Baptist announces Jesus as the Lamb of God.
Jesus does his first miracle of turning water into wine.
Then He has a discussion on spiritual birth with Nicodemus.
Following that, Jesus breaks down all kinds of walls by speaking to a Samaritan woman and revealing that He already knows her quite well.
By sharing these events, John is demonstrating to us how different Jesus is from everyone else.
But now the mood changes…
2. In John 5, conflict with the leadership begins to grow.
Beginning with this chapter, we begin to trace a growing rejection of Jesus’ actions and His claims.
As we continue into the following chapters, we will eventually see that it becomes a malicious hostility.
As Jesus’ ministry grows, there is a constant clarification that goes on to those around Him.
Since what He is doing is so different and out of the ordinary, questions are naturally being asked about who He is and what He is about.
This is an important discovery for us as well.
For…
3. It is important to understand Jesus as He is.
As Jesus comes and deals with this invalid, our understanding of Jesus increases.
So…
4. We will find in our study of John 5:1-15 three steps to follow that will help us understand Jesus as He is.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first step to follow is DESIRE (1-7).
ILL Notebook: Advance (Snoopy)
In the Peanuts comic strip, we find Snoopy thinking to himself:
"Yesterday I was a dog. Today I’m a dog. Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog.
We come across a man whose condition is hopeless.
There is no hope for advancement.
It will never get better.
Let’s hear the text…
[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. [4] [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.”
You notice that verse 4 is missing from the text.
The reason is is that it is not in the oldest manuscripts that we have of the New Testament.
It seems to be an addition that was scribbled on the side of a manuscript, but later was moved from the side and into the text itself, which the King James Version included, but most recent translations do not.
But what is included in verse 4 is helpful information to us because it describes a legend of the time of Jesus.
There was a local belief that the waters of Bethesda had healing powers, that every so often, an angel would stir the waters.
When this happened, the first one into the water was healed.
This is the background to this text which is helpful to understand the conversation that is between Jesus and this invalid.
One thing that I want you to note here (that connects with our introduction) is that…
1. In the midst of many who are sick, Jesus chooses and challenges one.
There are many people at this gate called Bethesda.
But Jesus takes time to focus on one.
He is one that has been an invalid for 38 years.
He has lost the use of the muscles in his legs, apparently experiencing some kind of paralysis.
It sounds like something like multiple sclerosis.
So…
2. Jesus evaluates the man’s condition.
Jesus asks, “Do you want to get well?”
He needs to know the desire of this man, because sometimes people rather stay sick.
For whatever reason, they enjoy the sympathy and the avoidance of unpleasant responsibilities.
This man does seem to genuinely want to be better, but his life has been full of frustration.
So…
3. The man shares his disappointment.
He can’t get into the water.
Every time the water bubbles up, no one helps him to the pool.
So who gets in first and is healed?
It’s the one with minor ailments like ingrown toenails and psoriasis.
He just lays at the side of the pool disappointed over and over.
It all seemed so hopeless.
The interesting thing here is that Jesus’ agenda is much different than this man’s.
For Jesus has no intention of getting that man into that pool.
Instead, He wants to get him away from the pool forever.
This leads us to…
II. The second step to follow is DETERMINATION (8-9).
[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.
Do you notice what Jesus does here?
1. Jesus commands the impossible.
He says, “Get up!”
Now, I don’t know about you, but if I had been unable to use my legs for 38 years, I would have some doubts about my abilities to accomplish such a task.
Get up?
“I can’t!”
“I have been unable to walk for 38 years.”
But Jesus says in effect, “You can, because I say so.”
But the command to get up is not the only command, for…
2. Jesus removes the possibility of relapse.
He says, “Get up and take up your bed!”
You know why Jesus says that?
He says it because they are not coming back.
He is not leaving his bed at that pool because He is not coming back to the pool.
It was time to move on.
For…
3. Jesus expects continued success.
“Get up and take up your bed and walk!”
His time of being carried is over.
He is to keep going.
It is time to walk.
And I like how John describes this.
He was cured.
He got up, picked up his mat, and he walked.
Jesus didn’t make a big production out of it.
In fact, it seems to happen very quietly and privately.
Yet, there is no doubt, it has happened.
III. The third step to follow is DEDICATION (10-15).
ILL Notebook: Law (various laws)
Have you ever noticed that laws sometimes stay on the books a little too long?
"In Pennsylvania, the penalty for cursing is a forty-cent fine. However, if God is mentioned in the curse, the fine is sixty-seven cents."
"It is unlawful for goldfish to ride on a Seattle, Washington bus unless they lie still."
"Michigan law requires the taking a census of bees every winter."
"An old Hollywood, California, ordinance forbids driving more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood Boulevard at one time."
"A Minnesota law requires that men’s and women’s underwear not be hung on the same clothesline at the same time."
"In Joliet, Illinois, women are not allowed to try on more than six dresses in one store."
Well, law comes into the picture in our text here…
[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.
1. Opposition begins when law becomes more important than mercy.
Simply, it was against Jewish law for this man to carry his mat on the Sabbath.
This was not something that God had said, but something that had developed through the tradition of the rabbis through the years.
They had just about everything covered.
ILL Notebook: Law (Sabbath regulations)
For example…
On the Sabbath a man may borrow of his fellow jars of wine or jars of oil, provided that he does not say to him, ‘Lend me them’ (Shab. 23:1). This would imply a transaction, and a transaction might involve writing, and writing was forbidden.
Or again…
‘If a man put out the lamp (on the night of the Sabbath) from fear of the Gentiles or of thieves or of an evil spirit, or to suffer one that was sick to sleep, he is not culpable; (but if he did it with a mind) to spare the lamp or to spare the oil or to spare the wick, he is culpable’ (Shab. 2:5).
The attitude to healing on the Sabbath is illustrated by a curious provision that a man may not put vinegar on his teeth to alleviate toothache. But he may take vinegar with his food in the ordinary course of affairs, and the Rabbis philosophically concluded, ‘if he is healed he is healed’ (Shab. l4:4).
You can imagine the consternation of these men when they found out that this former invalid has been ordered to pick up his mat and walk.
It was a direct violation of their law.
“What? Somebody healed you? Who is it?”
“Who told you to disobey the regulations?”
The interesting thing here is that the man has no idea.
He had simply followed the command of Jesus without finding out His name.
The text tells us that Jesus had just slipped away.
Isn’t it fascinating that what should have been a time of celebration becomes a time of skepticism instead?
There has been a healing!
A party should have broken out.
God was at work in their midst.
Instead they are worried about the rules.
Their rules have been broken.
In spite of their questioning, I like what the former invalid does next.
For…
2. When God has worked in your life, it is time to worship.
He goes to the right place.
The Jewish leaders may not be celebrating, but the man knows where to go and what to do.
It is time to praise God.
He was once broken.
Now he is healed.
Well, the man was in the right place, because it is there he meets up with Jesus again.
For Jesus is not done with him yet.
3. Jesus draws attention to the man’s new condition.
He reminds him that he has been made whole.
But it is so much more.
It is more than a physical healing.
He has been put right with God.
So Jesus gives him another command.
“Stop sinning!”
“Don’t mess up.”
“Don’t sin anymore.”
You see, he was forgiven, washed and cleansed.
He was new and whole.
And he could stay that way.
APPLICATION:
You know, when we come to church, it is easy to only see the surface of what is going on.
People are wearing their best clothes and have their best smiles.
Everybody looks happy.
It is easy to assume everything is okay.
But if we are willing to look deeper, we might realize that our pews are filled with hurting and broken people—people that need the wholeness only God can offer.
Among us are families where the income does not match the outgo—they are soon going to be out of money.
There are also families that face stress day after day—it is the survival of the dysfunctional as nobody does anything right and no one is loved.
Another has a sickness and has not told anyone—he or she is bearing the burden alone at the moment.
Another couple had another nasty fight—and each wonders how long the relationship can continue the way it is.
Others are finding the stress of being laid off almost unbearable.
Another person struggles with a personal sin to which they are so attracted that they don’t think they will ever get away from it.
Some of our youth feel like they have been put on the rack, pulled in both directions.
Parents and church pull one way; peers and glands pull the other.
The brokenness is all over the place: a lousy grade, an unresponsive spouse, a boring job…the stories go on and on.
The church is full of the lonely, the dying, the discouraged, the addicted, and the exhausted.
And we discover that no one is immune to the pains of cursed humanity.
But there is an answer.
It is this…
1. JESUS GIVES WHOLENESS.
It is the answer that the man in this story discovered when Jesus chose him.
Jesus wants us to experience wholeness.
And He can give it to us, not because we deserve it, but because in His grace, He desires to give it.
For when Jesus looks at us, He does not see the fragment—He sees the whole.
He does not just give consideration to our body.
No, His concern is so much bigger.
His real concern is our soul.
You see…
2. Jesus only settles for our possibilities and not what we lack.
Jesus did not give up on the man when he said he could not walk.
No, He saw the possibility.
He could walk.
And Jesus sees the same for us as well.
For without Jesus in our lives, we are helpless invalids in a cruel and unfair world.
We are spiritually blind.
We are emotionally lame.
We are morally paralyzed.
But Jesus would have us rise up from our place of failure, inability and despair.
He would have us take up and move away from that place.
He would have us walk in the newness of life.
For us, this means that it is time to get up and walk.
For there is wholeness waiting for us.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Let Jesus give you wholeness…desire the difference that Jesus can make in your life; He comes to choose you and challenge you to be a receiver of His grace.
Let Jesus give you wholeness…be determined to follow his instructions; for when He says to “get up, move out and walk,” we can do it by His strength.
Let Jesus give you wholeness…and dedicate yourself to be used by Him; offer yourself in worship and then watch the difference He makes.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
