Sabbath
Sabbath: Good & Evil, 16 July 2017
Sabbath: Good & Evil
Series— Mark’s Gospel: The Real Jesus
Mark 2:23-3:6
Series Big Idea: The shortest gospel is filled with good news about Jesus!
Big Idea: The Sabbath is a gift…which can be used and abused.
Our text for today focuses on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a gift…which can be used and abused. If we go way back—to the second book of the Bible, Exodus—we’ll find the Sabbath in God’s Top Ten list, the Ten Commandments.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)
The Sabbath is a day of rest. God rested on the seventh day of the week after creation. When we rest, we imitate God.
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” (Mark 2:23-24)
The religious police have caught Jesus! The Pharisees developed a list of 39 things you couldn’t do on the Sabbath. Sure, God set apart the Sabbath, but these religious leaders took God’s law and expanded it with their traditions and interpretations. Instead of resting and reflecting upon God, they turned Saturday into a day to tiptoe around activities, adhere to checklists, and avoiding technical definitions of work.
Actually, no laws were broken anyhow. They were not harvesting grain, only picking some to eat. The law made provision for eating, just not harvesting on the Sabbath. Farmers were supposed to rest, but these fishermen were not working, only grabbing a snack.
If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain. (Deuteronomy 23:24-25)
God gave the law to serve the people. Note Jesus and the disciples did not harvest with a sickle. The Pharisees were just trying to trap Jesus, but the tables are turned.
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” (Mark 2:25-26)
Jesus did not argue about the Sabbath. He challenges the Pharisees, implying they have never even read the Bible! The letter of the law was not to be imposed when it brought hardship to one of God’s servants. By referring to David, Jesus is implying he is doing God’s business in some way these religious leaders are not.
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
Boom! The law was made for man, not the other way around.
Allow me to add this thought: all of God’s laws are for our benefit. That’s because our heavenly Father loves us. He wants what’s best for us. He didn’t just sit around one day and think, “How can I make life miserable for humans? How can I take away all of their fun?” No, like any good parent, He has more wisdom and understanding than His kids and He provides boundaries for our protection and ultimate satisfaction.
As if Jesus has not already offended these religious leaders, he throws in one more declaration.
So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28)
Jesus is the LORD of the Sabbath. Jesus is the LORD of all! The Pharisees were clueless. Standing in front of them was the Messiah, God! Yet all they could think about is their own outrage at this man who is gaining popularity and has a comeback for everything they throw at him.
A.W. Tozer said,
“The God of the Pharisee was not an easy God to live with, so his religion became grim and hard and loveless. It had to be so, for our notion of God must always determine the quality of our religion.
Much Christianity since the days of Christ’s flesh has also been grim and severe. And the cause has been the same – an unworthy or an inadequate view of God.”
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” (Mark 3:1-3)
The critics were outside in the grainfields. Now they’re in the synagogue.
Was this man planted? Probably. They were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus.
Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. (Mark 3:4)
I love it when Jesus silences his critics with a question! The answer is obvious, but the Pharisees aren’t looking for truth, but rather a reason to accuse Jesus. Since they didn’t answer his question, he decided to heal the man.
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. (Mark 3:5)
Jesus got angry! Anger is not sin, though we can sin in our anger. Jesus did not carry a grudge, he just recognized the injustice of the moment and their hard hearts.
The Sabbath was given to Israel as a gift. The religious leaders hijacked it.
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (Mark 3:6)
Don’t miss this: the religious leaders want to kill Jesus. They go out of their way to follow commandment number four about the Sabbath but seem to have no problem with number six…that one about murder! Did they forget? Maybe it was unclear, hard to understand. Here it is:
“You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)
The original Hebrew word, rasah, means “to murder, kill.”
Oh, and let’s not forget this murder would be premeditated! They even plotted with another group, the Herodians!
Have things changed since then? Not really.
So What?
I want to close with two thoughts.
First, religion is ugly in all of its forms. Legalism. Judgment. Self-righteousness. We might not often think of religion leading to murder, but Mark 3:6 clearly shows us that’s where it can go. And we know their plans were eventually carried out. How can God be linked to such violence? Obviously we see in our own day—and throughout history—blood shed in the name of God and religion. What a tragedy! This has led some to declare organized religion is responsible for the wars of the world, as if communism and other atheistic philosophies have been entirely peaceful! But the point remains, religion can be an adventure in missing the point. The Pharisees were clueless about the Sabbath. They were unable to see God…standing right in front of them!
One need not go far to see religion today…in our culture. It seems every week another pastor or author is poked, prodded, critiqued, and banned because of something said in an interview or online. Yes, we need to be discerning and avoid heresy, but good luck finding someone with whom you agree one hundred percent. And a disagreement does not mean all of their contributions are trash.
I get frustrated with intolerant, close-minded, arrogant people in the world who boycott Claro because it was started by a church. Uh, how’s the coffee?! There are Republicans that refuse to associate with Democrats and vice versa. Seriously? We have far more in common than we have differences. If we would stop and listen to one another rather than constantly pointing fingers of condemnation, we would live in a far better world. We need to build bridges, not walls.
But the same can be said in the church. I want to see diversity…not only ethnically but theologically. There are many things over which we could probably start an argument, but rather than debate, let’s dialog. Let’s seek to understand one another. Let’s truly love one another, explore points of difference, and ask questions. I’m not suggesting this is necessarily occurring here at First Alliance Church, but the Internet is loaded with total strangers heaving verbal bombs at one another, figuratively and sometimes even literally calling for boycotts of individuals and their work. There’s a fine line between criticism and discernment, I admit, but so much of what I see and read is pure Pharisaical religion, people on a witch hunt to attack their so-called brothers and sisters in Christ. No wonder the world is walking away from the church. Who wants to join a dysfunctional family?
As one of my professors, David Fitch, wrote, “We need Christians that can unravel the antagonisms that drive Christianity in America, not make them worse.”
David Garland writes regarding Mark chapter four:
(1) The question, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (2: 16) is answered with a truism: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (2: 17).
(2) The question, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” (2: 18), is answered with proverbial sayings about not patching old cloth with new or putting new wine into old wineskins (2: 19, 21– 22).
(3) The question about why the disciples do what is unlawful on the Sabbath (2: 24) is answered with the proclamation, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” and, “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (2: 27– 28).
(4) In the last controversy, Jesus turns the tables on his inquisitors and provokes an engagement.
Do you trust God can do more with six days than you can with seven?
I know, your life is busy. The boss is demanding. The kids are a handful. Deadlines loom. You have to fit in soccer practice, dance lessons, volunteering at Cherry Street Mission, get the car oil changed, grab dinner in a drive-thru…
I know, it must’ve been easier in Old Testament times. They didn’t have Facebook to check or phone calls to return. No, they had to grow and harvest crops…or die of starvation!
I was challenging pastors in East Africa to honor the Sabbath. It’s only the fourth commandment…ahead of murder and adultery! The penalty for breaking it was only death! It’s hard for them. Most of them are volunteers. They have a vocation Monday through Friday…or Saturday and then preach on Sunday. Who has time to rest?
It’s like Stephen Covey says in his classic The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, sharpen the saw. A man is cutting down a tree with a dull saw. His friend says, “Stop cutting and sharpen your saw.” He replies, “I don’t have time. I have to get this tree cut down.” His friend counters, “If you take time to sharpen your saw, you will cut the tree down much faster.”
I know you can’t afford to take a day off…but really you can’t afford NOT to rest. God made the Sabbath for us…to enjoy. Relax. Do only things that fill you. Be unproductive! If you enjoy gardening, garden. If you hate pulling weeds, read a book instead. Often those who do physical labor during the week need to engage in mental activities, and those who exercise their minds for a living may find physical recreation replenishing.
Sabbath doesn’t just happen. Like a vacation, it requires planning and preparation. Experiment. Don’t overthink it, but find ways to intentionally unplug from busyness and work, from things that deplete you. Psalm 46:10 says
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalms 46:10)
I challenge you to set aside one day a week for rest, to fill your tank, to be with God, a Sabbath. Will God be exalted in your life? It begins with trust, trusting that God is sovereign and in control. Trusting that God will honor your Sabbath. What the Pharisees used for evil we are invited to use for good. And God’s glory.
Resource: I found this article by Mark Galli helpful, A Theology of Play.
Credits: some ideas from NT Wright, J. Vernon McGee, Scott Pinzon, Richard Niell Donovan, and David Garland.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series— Mark’s Gospel: The Real Jesus
Mark 2:23-3:6
Series Big Idea: The shortest gospel is filled with good news about Jesus!
Big Idea: The Sabbath is a gift…which can be used and abused.
Our text for today focuses on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a gift…which can be used and abused. If we go way back—to the second book of the Bible, Exodus—we’ll find the Sabbath in God’s Top Ten list, the Ten Commandments.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)
The Sabbath is a day of rest. God rested on the seventh day of the week after creation. When we rest, we imitate God.
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” (Mark 2:23-24)
The religious police have caught Jesus! The Pharisees developed a list of 39 things you couldn’t do on the Sabbath. Sure, God set apart the Sabbath, but these religious leaders took God’s law and expanded it with their traditions and interpretations. Instead of resting and reflecting upon God, they turned Saturday into a day to tiptoe around activities, adhere to checklists, and avoiding technical definitions of work.
Actually, no laws were broken anyhow. They were not harvesting grain, only picking some to eat. The law made provision for eating, just not harvesting on the Sabbath. Farmers were supposed to rest, but these fishermen were not working, only grabbing a snack.
If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain. (Deuteronomy 23:24-25)
God gave the law to serve the people. Note Jesus and the disciples did not harvest with a sickle. The Pharisees were just trying to trap Jesus, but the tables are turned.
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” (Mark 2:25-26)
Jesus did not argue about the Sabbath. He challenges the Pharisees, implying they have never even read the Bible! The letter of the law was not to be imposed when it brought hardship to one of God’s servants. By referring to David, Jesus is implying he is doing God’s business in some way these religious leaders are not.
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
Boom! The law was made for man, not the other way around.
Allow me to add this thought: all of God’s laws are for our benefit. That’s because our heavenly Father loves us. He wants what’s best for us. He didn’t just sit around one day and think, “How can I make life miserable for humans? How can I take away all of their fun?” No, like any good parent, He has more wisdom and understanding than His kids and He provides boundaries for our protection and ultimate satisfaction.
As if Jesus has not already offended these religious leaders, he throws in one more declaration.
So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28)
Jesus is the LORD of the Sabbath. Jesus is the LORD of all! The Pharisees were clueless. Standing in front of them was the Messiah, God! Yet all they could think about is their own outrage at this man who is gaining popularity and has a comeback for everything they throw at him.
A.W. Tozer said,
“The God of the Pharisee was not an easy God to live with, so his religion became grim and hard and loveless. It had to be so, for our notion of God must always determine the quality of our religion.
Much Christianity since the days of Christ’s flesh has also been grim and severe. And the cause has been the same – an unworthy or an inadequate view of God.”
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” (Mark 3:1-3)
The critics were outside in the grainfields. Now they’re in the synagogue.
Was this man planted? Probably. They were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus.
Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. (Mark 3:4)
I love it when Jesus silences his critics with a question! The answer is obvious, but the Pharisees aren’t looking for truth, but rather a reason to accuse Jesus. Since they didn’t answer his question, he decided to heal the man.
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. (Mark 3:5)
Jesus got angry! Anger is not sin, though we can sin in our anger. Jesus did not carry a grudge, he just recognized the injustice of the moment and their hard hearts.
The Sabbath was given to Israel as a gift. The religious leaders hijacked it.
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (Mark 3:6)
Don’t miss this: the religious leaders want to kill Jesus. They go out of their way to follow commandment number four about the Sabbath but seem to have no problem with number six…that one about murder! Did they forget? Maybe it was unclear, hard to understand. Here it is:
“You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)
The original Hebrew word, rasah, means “to murder, kill.”
Oh, and let’s not forget this murder would be premeditated! They even plotted with another group, the Herodians!
Have things changed since then? Not really.
So What?
I want to close with two thoughts.
First, religion is ugly in all of its forms. Legalism. Judgment. Self-righteousness. We might not often think of religion leading to murder, but Mark 3:6 clearly shows us that’s where it can go. And we know their plans were eventually carried out. How can God be linked to such violence? Obviously we see in our own day—and throughout history—blood shed in the name of God and religion. What a tragedy! This has led some to declare organized religion is responsible for the wars of the world, as if communism and other atheistic philosophies have been entirely peaceful! But the point remains, religion can be an adventure in missing the point. The Pharisees were clueless about the Sabbath. They were unable to see God…standing right in front of them!
One need not go far to see religion today…in our culture. It seems every week another pastor or author is poked, prodded, critiqued, and banned because of something said in an interview or online. Yes, we need to be discerning and avoid heresy, but good luck finding someone with whom you agree one hundred percent. And a disagreement does not mean all of their contributions are trash.
I get frustrated with intolerant, close-minded, arrogant people in the world who boycott Claro because it was started by a church. Uh, how’s the coffee?! There are Republicans that refuse to associate with Democrats and vice versa. Seriously? We have far more in common than we have differences. If we would stop and listen to one another rather than constantly pointing fingers of condemnation, we would live in a far better world. We need to build bridges, not walls.
But the same can be said in the church. I want to see diversity…not only ethnically but theologically. There are many things over which we could probably start an argument, but rather than debate, let’s dialog. Let’s seek to understand one another. Let’s truly love one another, explore points of difference, and ask questions. I’m not suggesting this is necessarily occurring here at First Alliance Church, but the Internet is loaded with total strangers heaving verbal bombs at one another, figuratively and sometimes even literally calling for boycotts of individuals and their work. There’s a fine line between criticism and discernment, I admit, but so much of what I see and read is pure Pharisaical religion, people on a witch hunt to attack their so-called brothers and sisters in Christ. No wonder the world is walking away from the church. Who wants to join a dysfunctional family?
As one of my professors, David Fitch, wrote, “We need Christians that can unravel the antagonisms that drive Christianity in America, not make them worse.”
David Garland writes regarding Mark chapter four:
(1) The question, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (2: 16) is answered with a truism: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (2: 17).
(2) The question, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” (2: 18), is answered with proverbial sayings about not patching old cloth with new or putting new wine into old wineskins (2: 19, 21– 22).
(3) The question about why the disciples do what is unlawful on the Sabbath (2: 24) is answered with the proclamation, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” and, “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (2: 27– 28).
(4) In the last controversy, Jesus turns the tables on his inquisitors and provokes an engagement.
- - Mark: NIV Application Commentary
Do you trust God can do more with six days than you can with seven?
I know, your life is busy. The boss is demanding. The kids are a handful. Deadlines loom. You have to fit in soccer practice, dance lessons, volunteering at Cherry Street Mission, get the car oil changed, grab dinner in a drive-thru…
I know, it must’ve been easier in Old Testament times. They didn’t have Facebook to check or phone calls to return. No, they had to grow and harvest crops…or die of starvation!
I was challenging pastors in East Africa to honor the Sabbath. It’s only the fourth commandment…ahead of murder and adultery! The penalty for breaking it was only death! It’s hard for them. Most of them are volunteers. They have a vocation Monday through Friday…or Saturday and then preach on Sunday. Who has time to rest?
It’s like Stephen Covey says in his classic The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, sharpen the saw. A man is cutting down a tree with a dull saw. His friend says, “Stop cutting and sharpen your saw.” He replies, “I don’t have time. I have to get this tree cut down.” His friend counters, “If you take time to sharpen your saw, you will cut the tree down much faster.”
I know you can’t afford to take a day off…but really you can’t afford NOT to rest. God made the Sabbath for us…to enjoy. Relax. Do only things that fill you. Be unproductive! If you enjoy gardening, garden. If you hate pulling weeds, read a book instead. Often those who do physical labor during the week need to engage in mental activities, and those who exercise their minds for a living may find physical recreation replenishing.
Sabbath doesn’t just happen. Like a vacation, it requires planning and preparation. Experiment. Don’t overthink it, but find ways to intentionally unplug from busyness and work, from things that deplete you. Psalm 46:10 says
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalms 46:10)
I challenge you to set aside one day a week for rest, to fill your tank, to be with God, a Sabbath. Will God be exalted in your life? It begins with trust, trusting that God is sovereign and in control. Trusting that God will honor your Sabbath. What the Pharisees used for evil we are invited to use for good. And God’s glory.
Resource: I found this article by Mark Galli helpful, A Theology of Play.
Credits: some ideas from NT Wright, J. Vernon McGee, Scott Pinzon, Richard Niell Donovan, and David Garland.
Daily Office & Sabbath, 15 May 2016
Discover The Rhythms of Daily Office and Sabbath
Series: Go Deeper
Daniel 6:10-12; Exodus 20:8-11
The Big Idea: The fifth pathway to emotionally healthy spirituality is to discover the rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath.
Introduction
The essence of this series is our lives are like an iceberg. Some of it is visible to others, but most is buried out of sight from the world, sometimes ourselves, but never from God. The sooner we can get real with ourselves, others and God, the sooner we will experience growth and breakthroughs. We’re all messed up and in need of help…which is where God and His people become so vital. We need God. We need one another.
Author and pastor Pete Scazzero said his book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
“Emotional health and contemplative spirituality, when interwoven together, offer nothing short of a spiritual revolution, transforming the hidden places deep beneath the surface of our lives.”
We’ve been looking at emotional health and for the conclusion of this series we will be looking at contemplative spirituality, tools and practices that help us to know God and His Word and become more like Jesus.
A Disclaimer
I hope it goes without saying, but let me emphatically state our authority at First Alliance is God and the Bible. I pray that I will never preach or even say anything contradictory to the Bible…and if I do, I urge you to tell me. I do not have the final word, and certainly Pete Scazzero or Billy Graham or John Stumbo or any other pastor or writer has the final word. I don’t agree with everything Scazzero has written and I especially don’t agree with every author Scazzero quotes. If you read Emotionally Healthy Spirituality or any other book, be careful. Read with discernment. Ask me, an elder, or your group leader questions if something seems off. Some of you have, and I greatly appreciate it. We’re not always going to completely agree about everything in the Bible, but we need to sharpen one another…and I never want to speak anything but truth.
Connecting With God
All of life is about relationships. Just as there are many ways I can build a relationship with my wife—date nights, texts, phone calls, conversations at the dinner table at home, vacations, etc.—there are many ways we can build our relationship with God.
How do you connect with God? Many people engage in religious activities to learn about or appease God. The essence of Christianity, however, is a relationship with God. All relationships require time, effort, and dedication. Today we will be discussing two powerful tools to help you grow in your relationship with God. These are not two things to add to your to-do list. They are not a measure of your spirituality. If used, however, they will radically enhance your relationship with God and yourself.
We begin in the book of Daniel. Allow me to set the scene. King Belshazzar, the king of the Babylonians, was slain and Darius became the new king. Daniel was one of his top assistants. In fact, we are told
Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. (Daniel 6:3)
This made his colleagues envious.
At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” (Daniel 6:4-5)
They go to the king and ask him to make a law making it illegal to pray to any god or man except the king during the next thirty days.
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” (Daniel 6:10-12)
If you don’t know the rest of the story, check out Daniel 6.
Rhythms
Our culture knows nothing about rhythms. We live life 24/7, an expression that was unknown a decade ago. We use words like chaos, scattered, distracted, stressed, and overwhelmed to describe our existence. We are always on the way to something or somewhere. We strive for bigger, better, and faster.
How do I have a calm, centered life that is oriented around Jesus?
You were created to know and love God and be known by and loved by Him.
We need to slow down to connect with God. How?
You cannot jump off a moving treadmill. You must slow it down first.
The Daily Office and Sabbath bring rhythm to our lives daily and weekly.
The Daily Office or Fixed-Hour Prayer: daily rhythm
The Daily Office is simply about making space throughout the day for God. Office (opus) means “work of God” in Latin. Our work is to seek and be with God.
Daniel is essentially at the University of Babylon. His name is changed and the leaders attempt to take God out of him. Our culture is much like Babylon, trying to make us think and act like the world rather than God.
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)
Daniel prays three times each day on his knees. Do you?
One of my favorite questions to ask of a biblical text is whether it is descriptive or prescriptive. Does it describe what someone did or does it prescribe for us today a behavior to imitate.
I don’t think God commands us to go to an upstairs room, open our windows toward Jerusalem, and get on our knees three times a day to pray…but it’s not a bad idea!
How do you meet with God each day? Reading the One Story Bible plan? Prayer at a certain time of day? A devotional?
David wrote
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psalms 27:4)
That is David’s work. An office is about being with God, not trying to get things from God. Paul wrote to the church in Thessaloniki:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
I think that is a prescription. I believe it’s a timeless mandate for all followers of Jesus. But how can we pray continually? How can we be aware of and conscious of God throughout the day? One way is to stop and pause throughout the day to be aware of His presence.
Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. (Psalms 119:164)
It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, (Psalm 92:1-2)
Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. (Psalms 55:17)
The Psalms are a prayer book. The Daily Office is frequently associated with Catholics or highly liturgical denominations, but all followers of Jesus can benefit from books of prayer that incorporate Scripture and reflection. The issue is not what you do, but getting connected with God through Scripture and silence where you can be still in the presence of God. The idea of the Daily Office is to stop several times throughout the day to pause and remember God. It is a discipline to order your day to remind you what is important in life: God.
Meals provide such a rhythm for many of us, praying three times a day at morning, noon, and evening. Bedtime is another common time to talk with God.
The Daily Office may involve prayer, reading scripture, journaling, taking a walk, or whatever helps you connect with God throughout the day. There’s no magic formula, but intentionality is crucial. What’s most important in your life? Show me your calendar and prove it!
If your only time with God is an hour on Sunday, you can’t possibly have a deep relationship with God. You will develop spiritual anorexia. Just as I can’t expect to have a great marriage by talking with my wife for an hour on Friday night, I can’t expect to truly know God by only “going to church.” It’s a great practice, but more is needed. Spend time with God daily…the Daily Office.
Sabbath: weekly rhythm
Knowing and following God is radical. It is counter-cultural. It is revolutionary. Few things are more radical than Sabbath, a 24-hour break each week during which we rest. The word “Sabbath” appears 116 times in the NIV translation of the Bible. The seventh day is the first holy thing mentioned in the Bible. Sabbath is found in the Ten Commandments. Without the fourth and longest commandment, you cannot do the other nine.
God’s Top Ten: Exodus 20:1-17
1. You shall have no other gods before me
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord our God. On it you shall not do any work…For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11)
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false witness.
10. You shall not covet.
God commands rhythm in our lives of work and rest. Do you know what the penalty was for breaking the Sabbath?
Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. (Exodus 31:14)
Notice the Sabbath is listed in God’s Top Ten ahead of murder, adultery, and stealing.
I know, it’s the Old Testament. We don’t follow the Old Testament law, right? It seems to me Jesus not only followed God’s instructions, He made them more challenging. He called lust adultery (Matthew 5:28) and unholy anger equivalent to murder (Matthew 5:21-22).
Jesus said,
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
Sabbath is about rest. We need it. We were created to need it. Science merely confirms the wisdom of the Bible.
[A study from Stanford] found that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working any more. That’s right, people who work as much as 70 hours (or more) per week actually get the same amount done as people who work 55 hours. (http://lifehacker.com/if-you-work-more-than-50-hours-a-week-youre-probably-n-1771165123)
Sabbath is also about trust. Do you trust God can do more with six days than you can with seven?
My Story
I’ve had good and not-so-good seasons of Sabbath. Presently, I try to devote Saturdays as my unproductive day. Just saying that word “unproductive” sounds so wrong, but I believe that’s the intention of Sabbath. It’s like a weekly “snow day!” It’s a day to play, to relax, to delight, to reflect, to do things that replenish, to be grateful to God, to enjoy family and friends. We taste heaven on the Sabbath.
Needless to say, you must prepare for the Sabbath. You can’t just do it. It’s not a punishment but a gift. There is no place for legalism, it is to be a delight.
Conclusion
We live in Babylon. Our culture is diametrically opposed to God. We are bombarded by subtle and not-so-subtle messages that seduce us away from the things of God.
If you are serious about following Jesus, you will need to do radical, counter-cultural things with your time, talents, and treasures. An hour on Sunday is not enough to maintain a relationship with God. A quick prayer at dinner or bedtime is not sufficient either. None of us—myself included—are able to spend all of our waking hours in prayer and Bible study, but we can periodically incorporate Scripture and silence into our daily lives and pause for one day a week to do nothing.
There are no shortcuts to relationships. Ever!
We were created to know God. The Daily Office and weekly Sabbath are biblical, powerful, and revolutionary ways to breathe deeply, be with God, and become like Jesus.
All healthy relationships require time, intentionality, and variety. Experiment. There are biblical patterns for daily time with God that include prayer and time studying the Bible. There is a biblical pattern for a weekly Sabbath, a day of rest and refreshment. The goal is not following a formula but rather following Jesus…day by day, week by week, year by year…until He returns.
Questions for Discussion
What does this text tell us about God?
What does this text tell us about ourselves?
How did Daniel’s prayers affect his work? His life?
Are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to truly know God?
Why is silence so difficult for us?
Why is Sabbath so difficult for us? What prevents you from practicing Sabbath?
What difference would a weekly Sabbath make in your life?
What small step(s) can you take this week to know God?
A Sample Daily Office For Groups
For Further Reading
Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today by Scot McKnight
Credits and Stuff
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.
Series outline and ideas from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero (Thomas Nelson, 2006).
Some study questions from Lyman Coleman (The Serendipity Bible and The Serendipity Student Bible). Used with permission from the author.
Other study questions from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Workbook by Peter Scazzero (Center for Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, 2007).
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Series: Go Deeper
Daniel 6:10-12; Exodus 20:8-11
The Big Idea: The fifth pathway to emotionally healthy spirituality is to discover the rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath.
Introduction
The essence of this series is our lives are like an iceberg. Some of it is visible to others, but most is buried out of sight from the world, sometimes ourselves, but never from God. The sooner we can get real with ourselves, others and God, the sooner we will experience growth and breakthroughs. We’re all messed up and in need of help…which is where God and His people become so vital. We need God. We need one another.
Author and pastor Pete Scazzero said his book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
“Emotional health and contemplative spirituality, when interwoven together, offer nothing short of a spiritual revolution, transforming the hidden places deep beneath the surface of our lives.”
We’ve been looking at emotional health and for the conclusion of this series we will be looking at contemplative spirituality, tools and practices that help us to know God and His Word and become more like Jesus.
A Disclaimer
I hope it goes without saying, but let me emphatically state our authority at First Alliance is God and the Bible. I pray that I will never preach or even say anything contradictory to the Bible…and if I do, I urge you to tell me. I do not have the final word, and certainly Pete Scazzero or Billy Graham or John Stumbo or any other pastor or writer has the final word. I don’t agree with everything Scazzero has written and I especially don’t agree with every author Scazzero quotes. If you read Emotionally Healthy Spirituality or any other book, be careful. Read with discernment. Ask me, an elder, or your group leader questions if something seems off. Some of you have, and I greatly appreciate it. We’re not always going to completely agree about everything in the Bible, but we need to sharpen one another…and I never want to speak anything but truth.
Connecting With God
All of life is about relationships. Just as there are many ways I can build a relationship with my wife—date nights, texts, phone calls, conversations at the dinner table at home, vacations, etc.—there are many ways we can build our relationship with God.
How do you connect with God? Many people engage in religious activities to learn about or appease God. The essence of Christianity, however, is a relationship with God. All relationships require time, effort, and dedication. Today we will be discussing two powerful tools to help you grow in your relationship with God. These are not two things to add to your to-do list. They are not a measure of your spirituality. If used, however, they will radically enhance your relationship with God and yourself.
We begin in the book of Daniel. Allow me to set the scene. King Belshazzar, the king of the Babylonians, was slain and Darius became the new king. Daniel was one of his top assistants. In fact, we are told
Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. (Daniel 6:3)
This made his colleagues envious.
At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.” (Daniel 6:4-5)
They go to the king and ask him to make a law making it illegal to pray to any god or man except the king during the next thirty days.
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” (Daniel 6:10-12)
If you don’t know the rest of the story, check out Daniel 6.
Rhythms
Our culture knows nothing about rhythms. We live life 24/7, an expression that was unknown a decade ago. We use words like chaos, scattered, distracted, stressed, and overwhelmed to describe our existence. We are always on the way to something or somewhere. We strive for bigger, better, and faster.
How do I have a calm, centered life that is oriented around Jesus?
You were created to know and love God and be known by and loved by Him.
We need to slow down to connect with God. How?
You cannot jump off a moving treadmill. You must slow it down first.
The Daily Office and Sabbath bring rhythm to our lives daily and weekly.
The Daily Office or Fixed-Hour Prayer: daily rhythm
The Daily Office is simply about making space throughout the day for God. Office (opus) means “work of God” in Latin. Our work is to seek and be with God.
Daniel is essentially at the University of Babylon. His name is changed and the leaders attempt to take God out of him. Our culture is much like Babylon, trying to make us think and act like the world rather than God.
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)
Daniel prays three times each day on his knees. Do you?
One of my favorite questions to ask of a biblical text is whether it is descriptive or prescriptive. Does it describe what someone did or does it prescribe for us today a behavior to imitate.
I don’t think God commands us to go to an upstairs room, open our windows toward Jerusalem, and get on our knees three times a day to pray…but it’s not a bad idea!
How do you meet with God each day? Reading the One Story Bible plan? Prayer at a certain time of day? A devotional?
David wrote
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psalms 27:4)
That is David’s work. An office is about being with God, not trying to get things from God. Paul wrote to the church in Thessaloniki:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
I think that is a prescription. I believe it’s a timeless mandate for all followers of Jesus. But how can we pray continually? How can we be aware of and conscious of God throughout the day? One way is to stop and pause throughout the day to be aware of His presence.
Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. (Psalms 119:164)
It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, (Psalm 92:1-2)
Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. (Psalms 55:17)
The Psalms are a prayer book. The Daily Office is frequently associated with Catholics or highly liturgical denominations, but all followers of Jesus can benefit from books of prayer that incorporate Scripture and reflection. The issue is not what you do, but getting connected with God through Scripture and silence where you can be still in the presence of God. The idea of the Daily Office is to stop several times throughout the day to pause and remember God. It is a discipline to order your day to remind you what is important in life: God.
Meals provide such a rhythm for many of us, praying three times a day at morning, noon, and evening. Bedtime is another common time to talk with God.
The Daily Office may involve prayer, reading scripture, journaling, taking a walk, or whatever helps you connect with God throughout the day. There’s no magic formula, but intentionality is crucial. What’s most important in your life? Show me your calendar and prove it!
If your only time with God is an hour on Sunday, you can’t possibly have a deep relationship with God. You will develop spiritual anorexia. Just as I can’t expect to have a great marriage by talking with my wife for an hour on Friday night, I can’t expect to truly know God by only “going to church.” It’s a great practice, but more is needed. Spend time with God daily…the Daily Office.
Sabbath: weekly rhythm
Knowing and following God is radical. It is counter-cultural. It is revolutionary. Few things are more radical than Sabbath, a 24-hour break each week during which we rest. The word “Sabbath” appears 116 times in the NIV translation of the Bible. The seventh day is the first holy thing mentioned in the Bible. Sabbath is found in the Ten Commandments. Without the fourth and longest commandment, you cannot do the other nine.
God’s Top Ten: Exodus 20:1-17
1. You shall have no other gods before me
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord our God. On it you shall not do any work…For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11)
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false witness.
10. You shall not covet.
God commands rhythm in our lives of work and rest. Do you know what the penalty was for breaking the Sabbath?
Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. (Exodus 31:14)
Notice the Sabbath is listed in God’s Top Ten ahead of murder, adultery, and stealing.
I know, it’s the Old Testament. We don’t follow the Old Testament law, right? It seems to me Jesus not only followed God’s instructions, He made them more challenging. He called lust adultery (Matthew 5:28) and unholy anger equivalent to murder (Matthew 5:21-22).
Jesus said,
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
Sabbath is about rest. We need it. We were created to need it. Science merely confirms the wisdom of the Bible.
[A study from Stanford] found that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working any more. That’s right, people who work as much as 70 hours (or more) per week actually get the same amount done as people who work 55 hours. (http://lifehacker.com/if-you-work-more-than-50-hours-a-week-youre-probably-n-1771165123)
Sabbath is also about trust. Do you trust God can do more with six days than you can with seven?
My Story
I’ve had good and not-so-good seasons of Sabbath. Presently, I try to devote Saturdays as my unproductive day. Just saying that word “unproductive” sounds so wrong, but I believe that’s the intention of Sabbath. It’s like a weekly “snow day!” It’s a day to play, to relax, to delight, to reflect, to do things that replenish, to be grateful to God, to enjoy family and friends. We taste heaven on the Sabbath.
Needless to say, you must prepare for the Sabbath. You can’t just do it. It’s not a punishment but a gift. There is no place for legalism, it is to be a delight.
Conclusion
We live in Babylon. Our culture is diametrically opposed to God. We are bombarded by subtle and not-so-subtle messages that seduce us away from the things of God.
If you are serious about following Jesus, you will need to do radical, counter-cultural things with your time, talents, and treasures. An hour on Sunday is not enough to maintain a relationship with God. A quick prayer at dinner or bedtime is not sufficient either. None of us—myself included—are able to spend all of our waking hours in prayer and Bible study, but we can periodically incorporate Scripture and silence into our daily lives and pause for one day a week to do nothing.
There are no shortcuts to relationships. Ever!
We were created to know God. The Daily Office and weekly Sabbath are biblical, powerful, and revolutionary ways to breathe deeply, be with God, and become like Jesus.
All healthy relationships require time, intentionality, and variety. Experiment. There are biblical patterns for daily time with God that include prayer and time studying the Bible. There is a biblical pattern for a weekly Sabbath, a day of rest and refreshment. The goal is not following a formula but rather following Jesus…day by day, week by week, year by year…until He returns.
Questions for Discussion
What does this text tell us about God?
What does this text tell us about ourselves?
How did Daniel’s prayers affect his work? His life?
Are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to truly know God?
Why is silence so difficult for us?
Why is Sabbath so difficult for us? What prevents you from practicing Sabbath?
What difference would a weekly Sabbath make in your life?
What small step(s) can you take this week to know God?
A Sample Daily Office For Groups
- 1. Pause for two minutes of silence (Psalm 46:10)
- 2. Read aloud Psalm 90:4, 12, 17
- 3. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
- 4. Read aloud Psalm 33:20-22
- 5. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
- 6. Read aloud Matthew 6:9-14
- 7. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
- 8. Read aloud Isaiah 30:15 and Psalm 86:11, 13a
- 9. Pause for two minutes of silence
For Further Reading
Praying with the Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today by Scot McKnight
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.
Series outline and ideas from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero (Thomas Nelson, 2006).
Some study questions from Lyman Coleman (The Serendipity Bible and The Serendipity Student Bible). Used with permission from the author.
Other study questions from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Workbook by Peter Scazzero (Center for Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, 2007).
Vision, John 9, 17 February 2013
Big Idea: God wants us to see.
Introduction
There are several themes in this lengthy account. Religious leaders show their lack of vision while a blind man is able to see. The Sabbath, suffering, religion, and the influence of Jesus are all presented.
Scripture
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (1-2)
Some Hindus believe disabilities are punishment for sins committed in a previous life.
The book of Job is clear about this. Though God does discipline those that He loves, often our pain and trials are not the result of sin.
When our child was first hospitalized six years ago, there were those that subtly and not-so-subtly implied that her pain was the result of our sin. We were being punished for secret sins. My wife and I searched our hearts and came to the conclusion that if there was secret sin in our lives, it was so secret that we were unaware of it. We acknowledged that we were far from perfect, but there was nothing unusual in our actions that caused our child to be in excruciating pain.
So why do bad things happen to good people? We don’t have time to fully unpack that question, but let me briefly suggest two things. First, none of us are truly good. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Second, sin is the reason. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, all of creation has been a mess.
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (3-5)
Don’t misunderstand this text.
God is not cruel, inflicting pain on people to glorify Himself.
At the same time, God is not fair. Bad things do happen to good people. But God is good and He can be trusted.
Daddy knows best…really!
“So that the work of God” likely refers not to what precedes it but rather to what follows. See how different it looks...
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus. “But so that the work of God might be displayed in his life, as long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (3-5)
God did not make the man blind to show His glory.
Rather, God sent Jesus to do works of healing to show His glory.
I want to pause here for a moment because many of you are experiencing pain and suffering. You might not be blind, but you or a loved one are in the midst of a disability, a shattered dream, or an overwhelming trial.
I’m with you!
I’ve tried to take the letter “Y” out of the alphabet because I find myself asking it all the time. Why God? Sometimes we discover why, sometimes we don’t, but God can be trusted.
Today I prayed for vision to see what God is doing. I don’t understand, but I know He is at work in and through me, my family, and the storm we are experiencing. I want Him to just change the situation. Sometimes He does. Sometimes He doesn’t. Daddy knows best.
Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. (6-7)
This would not be my preferred method of healing! Spit was thought to be a curse. Jesus was essentially cursing the blindness. The man is healed. This is great news, right? The man was blind, now he sees. Praise God! End of story.
Not so fast!
His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
“How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. (8-10)
The people are demanding to know what happened.
He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
“Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said. (11-12)
The man didn’t know, but the entire Gospel of John is written so that we can find Jesus.
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” (13-15)
Whenever the Pharisees are involved, you know it’s going to get ugly!
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided.
Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.” (16-17)
This poor guy has been miraculously healed and all they can do is subject him to an interrogation.
The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” (18-19)
Talk about a lack of faith! They don’t believe that the man was ever blind.
“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” (20-24)
This is a huge deal! Getting kicked out of the synagogue was not like being asked to leave a local church. It was like getting kicked out of the city. Even today, the synagogue is not merely the place of worship, but the social center of the Jewish community.
The Pharisees hated Jesus—as we have seen in previous weeks. They are jealous of Him and the crowds He is attracting from His miracles and teaching. The healed man’s parents are afraid.
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (25-35)
We were all steeped in sin at birth, but the self-righteous Pharisees continued to believe that this man and his parents were responsible for his blindness.
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. (36-41)
The story ends the opposite of its beginning. The blind man can see and the accusers claim to see clearly when, in fact, they cannot.
The religious leaders that are supposedly righteous are filled with pride and envy while the supposed sinner is seen worshiping Jesus.
Which bring us to my favorite question about any text...so what?
Jesus healed a blind man and they both attracted self-righteous critics. So what?
Here are a few things to consider:
1. Suffering is part of our world. It is to be expected, yet it seems to surprise us.
It all goes back to the Garden. Sin entered the world—not just Adam and Eve—when they ate of the fruit.
2. We are addicted to comfort and safety.
2/3 of the world suffers daily...constantly.
This season of Lent and the very nature of fasting can help us empathize with others that have no food or those that are blind.
3. Following Jesus often makes life more difficult, not less. Jesus said clearly to His followers
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Jesus never promised us safety and comfort, but He did promise His presence. He said, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)
It is a lie to think that it’s just about you and Jesus. We were created for community. I need you and you need me. That’s a message for another time, but suffice it to say that we are to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those how mourn.
5. God may be seem distant or even absent in the midst of suffering, but He is always at work healing our inner lives (see Ephesians 3).
It is through suffering that I have felt the closest to God. Nobody knows pain like Jesus. Nobody. The apex of human history was Jesus hanging on the cross. He recognized how we had messed up this beautiful world and He came to reverse the curse. He conquered sin and death. It’s hard to experience peace when you are comfortable.
6. The more we can let go of the idols in our lives and cling to Jesus, the more joy we will experience.
Some of us look to our health, our bank account, our careers, or even our family members to bring us joy, but Jesus said to follow Him means we need to hate our family and even our own lives in comparison to our love for Him (Luke 14:26).
We need to live with our hands open—to give and receive.
Song: Blessed Be Your Name
7. The best is yet to come. Really.
We live in the space between the first and second comings of Jesus. We have been given the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is powerful and active. God still heals the blind. There are documented cases all over the world. God still causes the lame to walk. I’m praying that for a special girl right now. Sometimes God says yes to our prayer requests, sometimes no, and sometimes wait. Why? I don’t know. I don’t have easy answers. I can recommend a pile of books. I can tell you to study the book of Job. I can quote you verse after verse of Paul telling us to rejoice, endure, and embrace suffering. I have plenty of questions myself, but I know God is in control, God is good, and God is faithful. This world is not the end. The best is yet to come.
In the Lord of the Rings film The Two Towers, there is a famous quote from Sam in which he says,
“I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.”
They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. What are you holding on to? Who are you holding on to?
Open our eyes, LORD, to see You at work in and through our lives...for Your glory.
You can listen to the podcast here.
Introduction
There are several themes in this lengthy account. Religious leaders show their lack of vision while a blind man is able to see. The Sabbath, suffering, religion, and the influence of Jesus are all presented.
Scripture
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (1-2)
Some Hindus believe disabilities are punishment for sins committed in a previous life.
The book of Job is clear about this. Though God does discipline those that He loves, often our pain and trials are not the result of sin.
When our child was first hospitalized six years ago, there were those that subtly and not-so-subtly implied that her pain was the result of our sin. We were being punished for secret sins. My wife and I searched our hearts and came to the conclusion that if there was secret sin in our lives, it was so secret that we were unaware of it. We acknowledged that we were far from perfect, but there was nothing unusual in our actions that caused our child to be in excruciating pain.
So why do bad things happen to good people? We don’t have time to fully unpack that question, but let me briefly suggest two things. First, none of us are truly good. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Second, sin is the reason. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, all of creation has been a mess.
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (3-5)
Don’t misunderstand this text.
God is not cruel, inflicting pain on people to glorify Himself.
At the same time, God is not fair. Bad things do happen to good people. But God is good and He can be trusted.
Daddy knows best…really!
“So that the work of God” likely refers not to what precedes it but rather to what follows. See how different it looks...
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus. “But so that the work of God might be displayed in his life, as long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (3-5)
God did not make the man blind to show His glory.
Rather, God sent Jesus to do works of healing to show His glory.
I want to pause here for a moment because many of you are experiencing pain and suffering. You might not be blind, but you or a loved one are in the midst of a disability, a shattered dream, or an overwhelming trial.
I’m with you!
I’ve tried to take the letter “Y” out of the alphabet because I find myself asking it all the time. Why God? Sometimes we discover why, sometimes we don’t, but God can be trusted.
Today I prayed for vision to see what God is doing. I don’t understand, but I know He is at work in and through me, my family, and the storm we are experiencing. I want Him to just change the situation. Sometimes He does. Sometimes He doesn’t. Daddy knows best.
Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. (6-7)
This would not be my preferred method of healing! Spit was thought to be a curse. Jesus was essentially cursing the blindness. The man is healed. This is great news, right? The man was blind, now he sees. Praise God! End of story.
Not so fast!
His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
“How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. (8-10)
The people are demanding to know what happened.
He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
“Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said. (11-12)
The man didn’t know, but the entire Gospel of John is written so that we can find Jesus.
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” (13-15)
Whenever the Pharisees are involved, you know it’s going to get ugly!
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided.
Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.” (16-17)
This poor guy has been miraculously healed and all they can do is subject him to an interrogation.
The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” (18-19)
Talk about a lack of faith! They don’t believe that the man was ever blind.
“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” (20-24)
This is a huge deal! Getting kicked out of the synagogue was not like being asked to leave a local church. It was like getting kicked out of the city. Even today, the synagogue is not merely the place of worship, but the social center of the Jewish community.
The Pharisees hated Jesus—as we have seen in previous weeks. They are jealous of Him and the crowds He is attracting from His miracles and teaching. The healed man’s parents are afraid.
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (25-35)
We were all steeped in sin at birth, but the self-righteous Pharisees continued to believe that this man and his parents were responsible for his blindness.
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. (36-41)
The story ends the opposite of its beginning. The blind man can see and the accusers claim to see clearly when, in fact, they cannot.
The religious leaders that are supposedly righteous are filled with pride and envy while the supposed sinner is seen worshiping Jesus.
Which bring us to my favorite question about any text...so what?
Jesus healed a blind man and they both attracted self-righteous critics. So what?
Here are a few things to consider:
1. Suffering is part of our world. It is to be expected, yet it seems to surprise us.
It all goes back to the Garden. Sin entered the world—not just Adam and Eve—when they ate of the fruit.
2. We are addicted to comfort and safety.
2/3 of the world suffers daily...constantly.
This season of Lent and the very nature of fasting can help us empathize with others that have no food or those that are blind.
3. Following Jesus often makes life more difficult, not less. Jesus said clearly to His followers
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Jesus never promised us safety and comfort, but He did promise His presence. He said, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)
- We need one another.
It is a lie to think that it’s just about you and Jesus. We were created for community. I need you and you need me. That’s a message for another time, but suffice it to say that we are to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those how mourn.
5. God may be seem distant or even absent in the midst of suffering, but He is always at work healing our inner lives (see Ephesians 3).
It is through suffering that I have felt the closest to God. Nobody knows pain like Jesus. Nobody. The apex of human history was Jesus hanging on the cross. He recognized how we had messed up this beautiful world and He came to reverse the curse. He conquered sin and death. It’s hard to experience peace when you are comfortable.
6. The more we can let go of the idols in our lives and cling to Jesus, the more joy we will experience.
Some of us look to our health, our bank account, our careers, or even our family members to bring us joy, but Jesus said to follow Him means we need to hate our family and even our own lives in comparison to our love for Him (Luke 14:26).
We need to live with our hands open—to give and receive.
Song: Blessed Be Your Name
7. The best is yet to come. Really.
We live in the space between the first and second comings of Jesus. We have been given the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is powerful and active. God still heals the blind. There are documented cases all over the world. God still causes the lame to walk. I’m praying that for a special girl right now. Sometimes God says yes to our prayer requests, sometimes no, and sometimes wait. Why? I don’t know. I don’t have easy answers. I can recommend a pile of books. I can tell you to study the book of Job. I can quote you verse after verse of Paul telling us to rejoice, endure, and embrace suffering. I have plenty of questions myself, but I know God is in control, God is good, and God is faithful. This world is not the end. The best is yet to come.
In the Lord of the Rings film The Two Towers, there is a famous quote from Sam in which he says,
“I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.”
They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. What are you holding on to? Who are you holding on to?
Open our eyes, LORD, to see You at work in and through our lives...for Your glory.
You can listen to the podcast here.
Do You Want To Get Well? John 5:1-47, 8 July 2012
Big Idea: Do you want to get well?
John 5:1-47
What do you want? Really.
Yesterday I was listening to a podcast in which the hosts reflected upon what they’d do if they won the lottery.
If you found a lamp with a genie inside, what would be your three wishes?
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (John 5:1-9a)
Do you find anything unusual about this passage?
Jesus’ asks this paralyzed man if he wants to get well. Why?
Sometimes we don’t know what we want.
Sometimes we don’t really want what we think we want.
Sometimes we don’t want what we really need.
Most of us have heard stories about people who refuse to leave an abusive relationship.
Maybe you know someone struggling with an addiction but they won’t seek help. They don’t really want to change.
Change. That’s a loaded word!
Why is change so hard?
We fear the unknown.
The status quo is often comfortable.
Carl Sandburg once said, “There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.”
Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to get well?”
Jesus asks the best questions. They not only lead to an answer, they usually change the entire story.
How many loaves do you have?
Who touched Me?
Whose face is on this coin?
Will you give Me something to drink?
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Notice the man’s response. All he can see are the obstacles. He lacks vision.
These pools were believed to have had magical powers when they were stirred by an angel, but only the first person in the pool could be healed. This man could not walk, much less be the first one in the pool.
The man waited thirty-eight years to be healed in the pool. He never asked to be healed, but Jesus shows up, blows his mind, and heals his body...without the pool!
That sounds like Jesus...the friend of sinners, the compassionate One.
Look at the man’s response to Jesus’ question again. He does not say yes. He explains why he has not been healed.
Change is hard. If he is healed, he has to work rather than beg. He has to pay taxes. He has to buy a pair of shoes! Everything he has known for nearly 40 years is radically altered.
Jesus simply tells him to get up. That’s it! No prayer, no mud, no magic wand, no altar call, no plea for money. Get up!
There’s more to this story, though. One simple verse changes everything...
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, (John 5:9b)
Uh oh! The rest of the chapter shows how religion got in the way of the relationship God wants to establish with us.
The rulers completely missed the point.
We’ve talked about the importance of the Sabbath. It is in God’s top ten list...the Ten Commandments. It was created for us to rest and know God.
Jesus heals...on the Sabbath. Ooohhh!
Jesus tells him to carry his mat...and it is the Sabbath. Ooohhh!
Jesus runs into the man again, though.Jesus tells the man to stop sinning, but rather than following Jesus, he blows the whistle on Him.
Was his sickness the result of sin? We don’t know, but it is possible that there was a correlation.
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:16-18)
Here Jesus is on trial.
They are prosecuting Jesus.
They are persecuting Jesus.
Jesus was not merely unpopular. It says that they tried to kill Him! Why?
1. He was breaking the Sabbath
2. He was accused of blasphemy by calling Himself God (which is why He had the authority to break the Sabbath)
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. (John 5:19-23)
That cleared it up, right?
The rest of the chapter continues with red-letter words of Jesus to the religious leaders that ultimately call for Jesus’ execution.
These are very important statements in which Jesus declares that He is God. He is LORD of all, including the Sabbath. The seeds that lead to the crucifixion are clearly sown here in the fifth chapter of John.
But I want to go back to the beginning...I want to end where we began...
What do you want?
Do you want to be healed?
Do you want a spouse?
Do you want a job?
Do you want peace?
Do you want to impact the lives of others?
Do you want God to do great things through—and in—you?
Don’t let your dreams fade!
Perhaps a more important question before going there is...
Do you want to be well? Maybe you think you are well. We’re all messed up. Each person in this room is sick. We are sick with sin. In fact, if you think you are well, you are more messed up than the rest of us because you are living in denial...and undoubtedly judging the rest of us...but we talked about that two weeks ago with the Samaritan woman.
It all begins with surrender. Perhaps you are thinking about what you have to do to be healed, but the Living Water has come to us.
There were various people at the pool:
Lame: in pain
Paralyzed: numb
Blind: no vision
This sounds like many in the Church. We lack vision, we are hurt and in bondage from our past, or feel detached.
Jesus doesn’t want us to merely survive like the sick man. He wants us to experience all of the life that He came to bring. That is not to say that there won’t be trials and persecution, but He has a vision for you...for me...for us...that He and only He can accomplish if we allow Him to do so.
Nothing is impossible with God...especially if you are pursuing His vision for your life.
It probably won’t happen as you expect it. The paralyzed man thought the pool was the only way to health, but Jesus surprised him.
It probably won’t happen when you expect it. He was paralyzed for thirty-eight years! Don’t give up. His timing is perfect, but usually slow in our estimation.
Can you let go of your own fear of change and allow God to make all things new? A new life, a new way of living, that is the Good News of God in Christ.
Get up and walk, in Jesus’ Name. Get your eyes up and look to Him. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and get them off of yourself!!!
You can listen to the podcast here.
John 5:1-47
What do you want? Really.
Yesterday I was listening to a podcast in which the hosts reflected upon what they’d do if they won the lottery.
If you found a lamp with a genie inside, what would be your three wishes?
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (John 5:1-9a)
Do you find anything unusual about this passage?
Jesus’ asks this paralyzed man if he wants to get well. Why?
Sometimes we don’t know what we want.
Sometimes we don’t really want what we think we want.
Sometimes we don’t want what we really need.
Most of us have heard stories about people who refuse to leave an abusive relationship.
Maybe you know someone struggling with an addiction but they won’t seek help. They don’t really want to change.
Change. That’s a loaded word!
Why is change so hard?
We fear the unknown.
The status quo is often comfortable.
Carl Sandburg once said, “There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.”
Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to get well?”
Jesus asks the best questions. They not only lead to an answer, they usually change the entire story.
How many loaves do you have?
Who touched Me?
Whose face is on this coin?
Will you give Me something to drink?
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Notice the man’s response. All he can see are the obstacles. He lacks vision.
These pools were believed to have had magical powers when they were stirred by an angel, but only the first person in the pool could be healed. This man could not walk, much less be the first one in the pool.
The man waited thirty-eight years to be healed in the pool. He never asked to be healed, but Jesus shows up, blows his mind, and heals his body...without the pool!
That sounds like Jesus...the friend of sinners, the compassionate One.
Look at the man’s response to Jesus’ question again. He does not say yes. He explains why he has not been healed.
Change is hard. If he is healed, he has to work rather than beg. He has to pay taxes. He has to buy a pair of shoes! Everything he has known for nearly 40 years is radically altered.
Jesus simply tells him to get up. That’s it! No prayer, no mud, no magic wand, no altar call, no plea for money. Get up!
There’s more to this story, though. One simple verse changes everything...
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, (John 5:9b)
Uh oh! The rest of the chapter shows how religion got in the way of the relationship God wants to establish with us.
The rulers completely missed the point.
We’ve talked about the importance of the Sabbath. It is in God’s top ten list...the Ten Commandments. It was created for us to rest and know God.
Jesus heals...on the Sabbath. Ooohhh!
Jesus tells him to carry his mat...and it is the Sabbath. Ooohhh!
Jesus runs into the man again, though.Jesus tells the man to stop sinning, but rather than following Jesus, he blows the whistle on Him.
Was his sickness the result of sin? We don’t know, but it is possible that there was a correlation.
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:16-18)
Here Jesus is on trial.
They are prosecuting Jesus.
They are persecuting Jesus.
Jesus was not merely unpopular. It says that they tried to kill Him! Why?
1. He was breaking the Sabbath
2. He was accused of blasphemy by calling Himself God (which is why He had the authority to break the Sabbath)
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. (John 5:19-23)
That cleared it up, right?
The rest of the chapter continues with red-letter words of Jesus to the religious leaders that ultimately call for Jesus’ execution.
These are very important statements in which Jesus declares that He is God. He is LORD of all, including the Sabbath. The seeds that lead to the crucifixion are clearly sown here in the fifth chapter of John.
But I want to go back to the beginning...I want to end where we began...
What do you want?
Do you want to be healed?
Do you want a spouse?
Do you want a job?
Do you want peace?
Do you want to impact the lives of others?
Do you want God to do great things through—and in—you?
Don’t let your dreams fade!
Perhaps a more important question before going there is...
Do you want to be well? Maybe you think you are well. We’re all messed up. Each person in this room is sick. We are sick with sin. In fact, if you think you are well, you are more messed up than the rest of us because you are living in denial...and undoubtedly judging the rest of us...but we talked about that two weeks ago with the Samaritan woman.
It all begins with surrender. Perhaps you are thinking about what you have to do to be healed, but the Living Water has come to us.
There were various people at the pool:
Lame: in pain
Paralyzed: numb
Blind: no vision
This sounds like many in the Church. We lack vision, we are hurt and in bondage from our past, or feel detached.
Jesus doesn’t want us to merely survive like the sick man. He wants us to experience all of the life that He came to bring. That is not to say that there won’t be trials and persecution, but He has a vision for you...for me...for us...that He and only He can accomplish if we allow Him to do so.
Nothing is impossible with God...especially if you are pursuing His vision for your life.
It probably won’t happen as you expect it. The paralyzed man thought the pool was the only way to health, but Jesus surprised him.
It probably won’t happen when you expect it. He was paralyzed for thirty-eight years! Don’t give up. His timing is perfect, but usually slow in our estimation.
Can you let go of your own fear of change and allow God to make all things new? A new life, a new way of living, that is the Good News of God in Christ.
Get up and walk, in Jesus’ Name. Get your eyes up and look to Him. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and get them off of yourself!!!
You can listen to the podcast here.
Discover The Rhythms Of The Daily Office And Sabbath, 5 February 2012
05 02 12 Filed in: Sermons | Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
Theme
“Emotional health and contemplative spirituality, when interwoven together, offer nothing short of a spiritual revolution, transforming the hidden places deep beneath the surface of our lives” says author and pastor Pete Scazzero in his book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. This series is based upon the biblical themes of Scazzero’s book in an effort to help us better understand ourselves in order to better love God and others.
The Big Idea
The fifth pathway to emotionally healthy spirituality is to discover the rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath.
Connecting With God
How do you connect with God? Many people engage in religious activities to learn about or appease God. The essence of Christianity, however, is a relationship with God. All relationships require time, effort, and dedication. Today we will be discussing two powerful tools to help you grow in your relationship with God. These are not two things to add to your to-do list. They are not a measure of your spirituality. If used, however, they will radically enhance your relationship with God and yourself.
Daniel 6
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” (Daniel 6:9-11)
Rhythms
Our culture knows nothing about rhythms. We live life 24/7, an expression that was unknown a decade ago. We use words like chaos, scattered, distracted, stressed, and overwhelmed to describe our existence. We are always on the way to something or somewhere. We strive for bigger, better, and faster.
How do I have a calm, centered life that is oriented around God?
You were created to know and love God and be known by and loved by Him.
We need to slow down to connect with God. How?
You cannot jump off a moving treadmill. You must slow it down first.
The Daily Office and Sabbath bring rhythm to our lives daily and weekly.
The Daily Office or Fixed-Hour Prayer: daily rhythm
Daniel is at the University of Babylon, essentially. His name is changed and the leaders attempt to take God out of him. Our culture is much like Babylon, trying to make us think and act like the world rather than God.
Daniel is a busy, respected man in service to the king.
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)
Daniel prays three times each day on his knees. Posture is meaningful. This is not just a quick quiet time or devotional.
Office (opus) means “work of God” in Latin. My work is to seek and be with God.
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
That is David’s work. An office is about being with God, not trying to get things from God. Our first work is to seek God and be with God.
How can you be aware of and conscious of God throughout the day? You must stop and pause throughout the day to be aware of His presence.
Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. (Psalms 119:164)
It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, (Psalm 92:1-2)
Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. (Psalm 55:17)
The Psalms are a prayer book.
The Daily Office is frequently associated with Catholics or highly liturgical denominations. All followers of Jesus can benefit from books of prayer that incorporate Scripture and reflection.
The issue is not what you do, but getting connected with God through Scripture and silence where you can be still in the presence of God.
Kierkegaard said,
The present state of the world and the whole of life is diseased. If I were a doctor and were asked for my advice, I should reply: Create silence. All will be acquired in stillness and made divine in silence.
The only thing that can contain God is silence. The only way to experience it is to do it. It’s simple, but difficult.
Distractions are always present, but with practice they become easier to ignore.
The idea of the Daily Office is to stop several times throughout the day to pause and remember God. It is a discipline to order your day to remind you what is important in life: God. It centers you.
The four classic office periods are
- Morning: 6-9 AM
- Midday: 11 AM-2 PM
- Evening: 5-8 PM
- Bedtime: before you close your eyes!
Start and close your day with God and remember Him throughout the day. The Daily Office is like a mini Sabbath each day.
Most people live off of the spirituality of others because they do not make time for God.
The Daily Office may involve
- reading Scripture
- reading a prayer book
- taking a walk
- journaling
- whatever works for you to connect with God throughout the day
- breaks throughout the day of 5-30 minutes
Sabbath: weekly rhythm
This is a command by God for us to stop for a 24-hour period each week.
The Sabbath is the first holy thing mentioned in the Bible.
Do nothing one day a week.
Without the fourth and longest commandment, you cannot do the other nine.
God’s Top Ten: Exodus 20:1-17
1. You shall have no other gods before me
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord our God. On it you shall not do any work,... For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false witness.
10. You shall not covet.
God commands rhythm in our lives of work and rest.
Sabbath was made for us not us for the Sabbath.
Sabbath is about self-care. Our world says you are what you do. Your life is God alone, not your outputs and performance.
Qualities to Biblical Sabbath
-- Stopping
-- Resting
-- Delighting
-- Contemplating
You must prepare for the Sabbath. You can’t just do it.
The core issue is trusting God.
We taste heaven on the Sabbath.
Sabbath is very radical. It has always been revolutionary!
It’s like a snow day every week!
It’s not a punishment but a gift. There is no place for legalism, it is to be a delight.
Sabbath Scriptures
The word “Sabbath” appears 116 times in the NIV translation of the Bible.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. (Exodus 20:8)
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. (Exodus 20:10)
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:11)
“‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. (Exodus 31:14)
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. (Exodus 31:15)
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death. (Exodus 35:2)
“‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD. (Leviticus 23:3)
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. (Deuteronomy 5:12)
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:15)
For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8)
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)
Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. (Luke 23:56)
The Ancient Practice of Silence/Solitude: Guidelines
1. Be Attentive and Open
2. Get Comfortable. Be Relaxed. Still
3. Take Deep Breath.
4. Close or Lower Your Eyes toward the Ground
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. (Psalms 130:5)
Conclusion
We live in Babylon. Our culture is diametrically opposed to God. We are bombarded by subtle and not-so-subtle messages that seduce us away from the things of God.
If you are serious about following Jesus, you will need to do radical, counter-cultural things with your time, talents, and treasures. An hour on Sunday is not enough to maintain a relationship with God. A quick prayer at dinner or bedtime is not sufficient either. None of us—myself included—are able to spend all of our waking hours in prayer and Bible study, but we can periodically incorporate Scripture and silence into our daily lives and pause for one day a week to do nothing.
There are no shortcuts to relationships. Ever!
We were created to know God. The Daily Office and weekly Sabbath are biblical, powerful, and revolutionary ways to breathe deeply, be with God, and become like Jesus. They require sacrifice—Daniel faced a den of lions for his prayers—but the reward is worth it.
A Sample Daily Office For Groups
1. Pause for two minutes of silence (Psalm 46:10)
2. Read aloud Psalm 90:4, 12, 17
3. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
4. Read aloud Psalm 33:20-22
5. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
6. Read aloud Matthew 6:9-14
7. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
8. Read aloud Isaiah 30:15 and Psalm 86:11, 13a
9. Pause for two minutes of silence
For Further Reading
The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle
Praying With The Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today by Scot McKnight
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre De Caussade
Too Deep for Words by Thelma Hall
Sabbath Presence by Kathleen Casey
The Divine Hours
Sacred Space
Pray As You Go (audio daily office)
Northumbria Community:
Morning
Midday
Evening
You can listen to the podcast here.
Note: many ideas derived from Peter Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituailty.
“Emotional health and contemplative spirituality, when interwoven together, offer nothing short of a spiritual revolution, transforming the hidden places deep beneath the surface of our lives” says author and pastor Pete Scazzero in his book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. This series is based upon the biblical themes of Scazzero’s book in an effort to help us better understand ourselves in order to better love God and others.
The Big Idea
The fifth pathway to emotionally healthy spirituality is to discover the rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath.
Connecting With God
How do you connect with God? Many people engage in religious activities to learn about or appease God. The essence of Christianity, however, is a relationship with God. All relationships require time, effort, and dedication. Today we will be discussing two powerful tools to help you grow in your relationship with God. These are not two things to add to your to-do list. They are not a measure of your spirituality. If used, however, they will radically enhance your relationship with God and yourself.
Daniel 6
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” (Daniel 6:9-11)
Rhythms
Our culture knows nothing about rhythms. We live life 24/7, an expression that was unknown a decade ago. We use words like chaos, scattered, distracted, stressed, and overwhelmed to describe our existence. We are always on the way to something or somewhere. We strive for bigger, better, and faster.
How do I have a calm, centered life that is oriented around God?
You were created to know and love God and be known by and loved by Him.
We need to slow down to connect with God. How?
You cannot jump off a moving treadmill. You must slow it down first.
The Daily Office and Sabbath bring rhythm to our lives daily and weekly.
The Daily Office or Fixed-Hour Prayer: daily rhythm
Daniel is at the University of Babylon, essentially. His name is changed and the leaders attempt to take God out of him. Our culture is much like Babylon, trying to make us think and act like the world rather than God.
Daniel is a busy, respected man in service to the king.
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)
Daniel prays three times each day on his knees. Posture is meaningful. This is not just a quick quiet time or devotional.
Office (opus) means “work of God” in Latin. My work is to seek and be with God.
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
That is David’s work. An office is about being with God, not trying to get things from God. Our first work is to seek God and be with God.
How can you be aware of and conscious of God throughout the day? You must stop and pause throughout the day to be aware of His presence.
Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. (Psalms 119:164)
It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, (Psalm 92:1-2)
Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. (Psalm 55:17)
The Psalms are a prayer book.
The Daily Office is frequently associated with Catholics or highly liturgical denominations. All followers of Jesus can benefit from books of prayer that incorporate Scripture and reflection.
The issue is not what you do, but getting connected with God through Scripture and silence where you can be still in the presence of God.
Kierkegaard said,
The present state of the world and the whole of life is diseased. If I were a doctor and were asked for my advice, I should reply: Create silence. All will be acquired in stillness and made divine in silence.
The only thing that can contain God is silence. The only way to experience it is to do it. It’s simple, but difficult.
Distractions are always present, but with practice they become easier to ignore.
The idea of the Daily Office is to stop several times throughout the day to pause and remember God. It is a discipline to order your day to remind you what is important in life: God. It centers you.
The four classic office periods are
- Morning: 6-9 AM
- Midday: 11 AM-2 PM
- Evening: 5-8 PM
- Bedtime: before you close your eyes!
Start and close your day with God and remember Him throughout the day. The Daily Office is like a mini Sabbath each day.
Most people live off of the spirituality of others because they do not make time for God.
The Daily Office may involve
- reading Scripture
- reading a prayer book
- taking a walk
- journaling
- whatever works for you to connect with God throughout the day
- breaks throughout the day of 5-30 minutes
Sabbath: weekly rhythm
This is a command by God for us to stop for a 24-hour period each week.
The Sabbath is the first holy thing mentioned in the Bible.
Do nothing one day a week.
Without the fourth and longest commandment, you cannot do the other nine.
God’s Top Ten: Exodus 20:1-17
1. You shall have no other gods before me
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord our God. On it you shall not do any work,... For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false witness.
10. You shall not covet.
God commands rhythm in our lives of work and rest.
Sabbath was made for us not us for the Sabbath.
Sabbath is about self-care. Our world says you are what you do. Your life is God alone, not your outputs and performance.
Qualities to Biblical Sabbath
-- Stopping
-- Resting
-- Delighting
-- Contemplating
You must prepare for the Sabbath. You can’t just do it.
The core issue is trusting God.
We taste heaven on the Sabbath.
Sabbath is very radical. It has always been revolutionary!
It’s like a snow day every week!
It’s not a punishment but a gift. There is no place for legalism, it is to be a delight.
Sabbath Scriptures
The word “Sabbath” appears 116 times in the NIV translation of the Bible.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. (Exodus 20:8)
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. (Exodus 20:10)
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:11)
“‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. (Exodus 31:14)
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. (Exodus 31:15)
For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death. (Exodus 35:2)
“‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD. (Leviticus 23:3)
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. (Deuteronomy 5:12)
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:15)
For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8)
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)
Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. (Luke 23:56)
The Ancient Practice of Silence/Solitude: Guidelines
1. Be Attentive and Open
2. Get Comfortable. Be Relaxed. Still
3. Take Deep Breath.
4. Close or Lower Your Eyes toward the Ground
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. (Psalms 130:5)
Conclusion
We live in Babylon. Our culture is diametrically opposed to God. We are bombarded by subtle and not-so-subtle messages that seduce us away from the things of God.
If you are serious about following Jesus, you will need to do radical, counter-cultural things with your time, talents, and treasures. An hour on Sunday is not enough to maintain a relationship with God. A quick prayer at dinner or bedtime is not sufficient either. None of us—myself included—are able to spend all of our waking hours in prayer and Bible study, but we can periodically incorporate Scripture and silence into our daily lives and pause for one day a week to do nothing.
There are no shortcuts to relationships. Ever!
We were created to know God. The Daily Office and weekly Sabbath are biblical, powerful, and revolutionary ways to breathe deeply, be with God, and become like Jesus. They require sacrifice—Daniel faced a den of lions for his prayers—but the reward is worth it.
A Sample Daily Office For Groups
1. Pause for two minutes of silence (Psalm 46:10)
2. Read aloud Psalm 90:4, 12, 17
3. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
4. Read aloud Psalm 33:20-22
5. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
6. Read aloud Matthew 6:9-14
7. Pause for 15 seconds of silence
8. Read aloud Isaiah 30:15 and Psalm 86:11, 13a
9. Pause for two minutes of silence
For Further Reading
The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle
Praying With The Church: Following Jesus Daily, Hourly, Today by Scot McKnight
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre De Caussade
Too Deep for Words by Thelma Hall
Sabbath Presence by Kathleen Casey
The Divine Hours
Sacred Space
Pray As You Go (audio daily office)
Northumbria Community:
Morning
Midday
Evening
You can listen to the podcast here.
Note: many ideas derived from Peter Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituailty.