In some shape or form we are all deceived somehow right now. We may not want to admit it, but it’s true. There is something at this moment that we think to be true that really isn’t. Or there’s something we think is not true, that really is. There is area of our thinking that has been conditioned to think in a way that is wrong. This is often referred to as a mental stronghold. A mental stronghold is basically a deception that’s working.
The Bible is clear that when we come to faith in Christ we begin a journey with God that is ever freeing us from these wrong ways of thinking. Romans 12:2 says that God desires to renew or change our minds so that we can know what His will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will. The Bible also teaches us that “we shall know the truth and the truth will set us free.” What we need is for God to reveal His truth to us, to show us where we have wrong thinking, and to set us free so we can know Him more and experience greater blessing in our walk with Him.
The religion of Jesus day was chocked full of wrong thinking, and our story today shows one of the major deceptions that plagued God’s people. It focused on the Sabbath day and what God’s actual desire was behind His commandment to honor the Sabbath day and to keep it holy.
What is the Sabbath and What’s the Point?
John 5:9b-10 & 16 – Now that day was the Sabbath. 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” … And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week and it was very important to the Jews. In fact, keeping the Sabbath was not just a tradition of theirs or some extra rule they added themselves-which was common for them to do-keeping the Sabbath was a command given to them from God as part of the ten commandments (#3). Therefore it was clearly important to God. Here is the command found in the listing of the ten commandments in Exodus that explains a little more what “keeping” the Sabbath meant:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)
God began leading His people to rest on the seventh day of the week when they were in the wilderness eating manna. He would allow them to pick up two days worth of manna on the sixth day in order that they would not have to pick it up on the seventh day. The sixth day was the only day they could pick up more than a days worth. If they picked up extra on any other day it would go bad by the next morning and have worms in it (Exodus 16:22-30).
If the Jews did not honor God’s command to rest on the Sabbath, then it was a big deal and could bring devastating punishment. Here’s one example that may be a little startling:
While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses. (Numbers 15:32-36)
I don’t know about you, but reading that story makes me cringe. My first impulse is to say, “What kind of God would do that? What’s so bad about picking up sticks?” What we do learn from this incident is the devastating importance God placed upon being obedient to His command to honor the Sabbath and a deeper look might help us come to grips with Who and what God is about.
So what is the real point behind the Sabbath?
1. God wants us to know that we are not our own providers, God is.
I believe the main point behind God’s commandment to keep the Sabbath has do to with trusting God. He wants His people to trust that He is their provider and sustainer. He wants His people to understand that it is not the level of their work that is ultimately responsible to provide for them, but it is God Who provides. They could work themselves silly and come up with nothing. Work only ‘works’ when God is blessing it. It all comes down to God taking care of us, not us taking care of ourselves. God wants us trusting in Him alone:
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalms 20:7)
2. God wants us to obey.
The second main point behind the principle of the Sabbath, is for us simply to honor what God asks of us. We don’t have to understand why or see any rationale behind God’s commands-we simply must obey. One example of this point is found in Jeremiah where God’s anger was based on the people not “listening” to His command:
Thus said the Lord to me: “Go and stand in the People’s Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, and say: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. Thus says the Lord: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction. ” ‘But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.’ “ (Jeremiah 17:19-27)
God’s not all together concerned with picking up sticks, doing work, or buying and selling, but He is quite concerned with our being obedient to His commands. One small act of disobedience can ruin your life, likewise, once simple act of obedience has the power to change the world and bare great fruit.
3. The Sabbath is a gift, not a law.
Behind every commandment is a desire from God to protect and provide for us. The principle of resting on the Sabbath is more a gift to us than just a law. God commanded this for our sakes, not His. God’s command to keep the Sabbath was not to take away from His people, but really to bless them. He promised in Isaiah 58, if we honor the Sabbath as He desires, then we would be blessed incredibly (Isaiah 58:8-12). So there is a motive in God that includes blessing us and rewarding us. It would be easy to simply look at the command and assume that God is trying to be a killjoy and to stifle us-but that is far from the truth. In every commandment God gives is the motive to protect and provide for us (I heard Josh McDowell say that once when teaching about the ten commandments and it has stuck with me).
4. The Sabbath is about God, not us (worship not religion, mercy not sacrifice, giving not taking).
God desired the Sabbath to be devoted to Him. Isaiah 58 shows God’s true heartbeat for the Sabbath, that it was not for religiosity but for true worship. He was scolding His people because they were “seeking their own pleasure” on His holy day. He commanded them to:
“…loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? …If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted…. (Isaiah 58:6-7,10)
These words look like a lot of work. If this is the type of worship and Sabbath that is pleasing to God, then it is not work that God is against. In fact, to follow through on fulfilling Isaiah 58’s mission, is some of the hardest work there could be. Understanding God’s heartbeat on the Sabbath set forth exhaustively in Isaiah 58, it’s much more understandable that Jesus would be in the Pharisee’s face about it::
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”- so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. (Matthew 12:1-13)
As important as it is to obey God’s commands whether we understand or not, it is equally important to try and understand God’s true heartbeat behind those commands. Otherwise we run the risk of missing God’s point all together. The Pharisees thought they were obeying God’s command to honor the Sabbath, but in reality they were breaking the Sabbath. They were placing an undue burden upon God’s people while at the same time they were oblivious to the true meaning being God’s command concerning the Sabbath.
Anonymous Miracle Worker
John 5:11-13 – But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 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.
Two things stand out to me about this. First, the man didn’t know who healed him. If you had been healed by someone, wouldn’t you go out of your way to find out who the person was. How could the man have let Jesus take off without learning more about him? He must have been so wrapped up in being able to stand and walk, that he totally lost site of Jesus. You can’t really blame the guy for being excited about being healed and being oblivious to Jesus’ leaving.
Later on in verse 14 when Jesus found him in the Temple, Jesus would try to get the man focused properly. There’s nothing wrong with reveling in your miracle, but God’s blessings are for the sake of pointing us to Him, not focusing on the blessing. It’s okay to enjoy the blessing, but don’t lose site of Who it came from and why.
The second thing that stands out to me is the fact that Jesus left. Based on the wording, it appears He left because of the crowd. After the man was healed, it apparently drew some attention, something Jesus tried to avoid. This is something quite different from the norm. Think of the TV preachers who claim to have gifts of healing, they enjoy having the big crowds and making a spectacle of themselves. Jesus was not like this. When He healed someone He didn’t try to turn it for His own benefit. He didn’t take up a love offering or have people join His ministry as monthly financial donors planting financial seeds so they could get a miracle too.
These days it seems, to be considered successful in ministry you must draw a big crowd. Although Jesus drew a crowd, He did not intentionally try to draw a crowd. In fact, He tried to avoid doing so. As a church, we should set out to do God’s work being fully obedient to Him, only doing what we see Him doing. We should not set out to draw a large crowd, and do things with this intent. If God is with us, and we are about His business, He will draw whom He wills.
Don’t Forget Where You Came From and What God has Done for You
John 5:14 – 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 found him. It wasn’t the other way around. Nobody ever finds Jesus. Jesus finds them. There may be some irony that He found him in the Temple. The man had most likely never been in the Temple before. As a cripple, he would be considered unclean and not allowed in. Now he was allowed in because he was healed.
It is possible that one thing Jesus was communicating here was for the man not to forget where he came from. Don’t forget what life was like before God showed up and healed you. Don’t forget who you were and what God has made you to be now. Before you couldn’t be in this Temple (my Presence), but now you are able because God has made a way. If you go back to the old life after tasting of this, the judgment will be far worse.
There are things that are far worse than being lame and lying by a pool for thirty-eight years. Sin will destroy your life and rob you of everything dear to you. Especially if you choose sin after tasting of the gift of God. Sin eats away at everything of value and it brings devastation in every possible way. The effects of sin last ages and impact many: Listen to God’s warning to Moses:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)
When we choose to sin we are inviting bad things upon our lives and to all those close to us. After having learned of the love and grace of God and then choosing sin, the results can be incredibly worse.
Jesus Made Me Do It
John 5:15 – The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
The man relied on the “Jesus made me do it” defense. This is not a bad defense. People won’t always understand or believe you, but if you’re acting in faith on God’s word to you, then that is the best possible place to be. Sometimes God asks us to do things that seem crazy or irrational. If we told other people what He’s asking of us, they’d think we were crazy. Or if others do know they may look on us with contempt or judgment. Sometimes what God is asking us to do seems wrong compared to what we know or what we’ve been taught. At these times, we must seek God and study His word to know if we’re hearing from God. Once you’ve tested it and believe it is God speaking to you, then you must obey.
The man could have immediately interrupted Jesus and said, “I can’t carry my mat, it’s unlawful.” Just like we can say, “I can’t tithe, I won’t have money to buy food.” Sometimes the command of God goes against what our brains tell us.
God is Working, Are You?
John 5:17 – But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
The Sabbath rest was modeled after God’s work schedule (Exodus 20:8-11). God worked six days in creation and rested the seventh day. He demanded that His people, the Jews, followed the same schedule. It is quite significant then, given the Sabbath is modeled after God’s work schedule, that Jesus would make this statement about His Father working. Now I believe that part of God’s desire for us through the Sabbath principle is to have rest, and we should not deny ourselves some true rest. The other part of the Sabbath principle is to devote ourselves to working where God is working. There is a work that is lawful on the Sabbath, and Jesus modeled it and demonstrated it by doing only what He saw His Father doing:
…the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)
It is easy for church goers to get in the rut of allowing church to be about them. Thinking it’s all for their growth and benefit. It is intended to be a blessing to us and to grow us, but it is not about us and our agenda. We must constantly remind ourselves that God is calling us to worship that is about His business. That’s why in our church we speak about Isaiah 58 all the time, and we will from now on because it has impacted my thinking so much and is behind our entire mission as a church. True worship is to be devoted to the heartbeat of God found in Isaiah 58.
Being a part of God’s church, being a true worshiper of God, is to invest yourself doing the works of God. It is not to sit back and be fed or taken care of as if you are the focus. God is the focus, and we are to get involved doing the works that we see Him doing.
In conclusion, Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Jesus didn’t break the Sabbath, He modeled it’s true meaning. I believe we should still honor a Sabbath principle in our lives today. We need to rest from our weekly labor and trust that even in rest God is the one who makes our lives fruitful, not our work. We need to devote our worship to being obedient to God’s command through Isaiah 58. In all things, we need to be obedient to what the Holy Spirit is leading us to do. We’re not responsible to follow legalistic rules set by church leaders. We are, however, responsible to be obedient to God’s leadership in our lives and things we know God is telling us. As long as we’re being disobedient, we are offending God and walking dangerously.
Filed under: Jesus, Obediance, Religion, Strongholds | Tagged: From Sunday's Message
