Works on the Sabbath

Works on the Sabbath, John 5

What is it that we see when God works amongst us? Do we see and wonder at the miraculous or do we look to see whether or not what happened fits within our program -- our liturgy -- our worship plan - our gospel show? Does our religious program even consider the miraculous or the supernatural?

There was a man who was paralyzed. He was where he was supposed to be for potential healing of his disability. He was relying on the supernatural. And he did everything he could do and was supposed to do in that supernatural environment to receive healing, but he did not get healed. Why? When the waters were "troubled" by angelic visitation, he was never quite the first person into the water. He had excuses.

Have you ever been to the healing meetings, done the all night prayer thing, cried your heart out to God, pleaded and did everything you could -- maybe even tithed -- and still did not get your request for healing? Why not? You have fasted. You have witnessed. You have even gone on mission trips. Others, far less "deserving," seem to get their prayers answered, but not you. You have done everything you could making unbelievable commitments to God and you still suffer. Why?

Did the man by the pool deserve healing? 38 years he had suffered. In 38 years he had not figured out a way to be the first in the pool for healing. When Jesus asked him, he did not say that he wanted to be healed, but rather that there was no one around to help him into the pool. In 38 years he had not figured out a way to get around that problem. Did he really want healing? Jesus ignored the situation and simply gave a simple instruction -- and the man obeyed.

OBSERVATIONS

-- The man did not ask Jesus for healing.

-- The man did not know who Jesus was.

-- The man was a sinner.

Also

-- The man was not healed by the stirring of the pool; a supernatural event which was part of the "liturgy" or religion of the day.

-- The man ignored the religious prohibition of carrying his mat on the Sabbath because the man who healed him told him to carry his mat.

What was it Jesus said? "Get up. Pick up your mat and walk."

Jesus knew it was the Sabbath and Jesus knew that man’s religious rules considered "carrying a mat" to be work and an Israelite cannot work on the Sabbath. He also knew that the concept was not the intent written in the Ten.

Jesus did not indicate that the supernatural event of the stirring of the pool was wrong, evil, of the devil, or some other pejorative. Fact: APPARENTLY PEOPLE WERE HEALED AT THE POOL.

ASIDE

In Assuit, Egypt, there is an interesting phenomenon that has been photographed: a light between the church’s towers. There is no identifiable source for the light. It seems to be supernatural. And people in the streets around the church are healed. From our elitist, American, Evangelical, Pentecostal viewpoint, this is difficult to swallow.

-- It is not a Pentecostal church - prominent denomination or even independent -- it is Coptic. Most Pentecostals who believe in divine healing have no clue what a "Coptic" is.

-- It is not a prominent healing evangelist’s gospel show with healing lines.

-- It is not a medical thing because miracles stopped with the Apostles after the New Testament was written.

-- It does not seem to be Satan doing some fraudulent healing thing which is what some think anything other than a doctor and a pill must be.

Wrong country - Egypt.

Wrong dominant religion - Muslim.

Wrong Christianity - Coptic.

Wrong church; wrong pastor; they don’t even use King James Version! How can there be healing?

But healing occurs.

And then, sometimes, healing does not occur. The supernatural light is still there.

MIRACLES OR MAN’S RULES?

There is great conflict here. Supposedly, we who are Pentecostal, believe in miracles such as divine healing. But in reality, we don’t practice what we preach. We have any number of excuses, but probably the most common is that someone prayed once and even fasted for healing for a loved one and they still died. "It never works for me." I tend to think that because of the high failure rate of loved grand-parents, parents, and children dying, most "believing" Christians do not think divine healing works anymore. And we have even made a liturgy about it combining lack of faith and sin as the reason people are not healed. "If we only had enough faith, then..." OR, with condemnation, "You must get the sin out of your life -- and that lack of faith."

John 5 tends to refute that. The man did not ask Jesus for healing and did not even know who he was so there was no faith in what Jesus was offering. And after Jesus healed him, Jesus told him to stop sinning or something worse might happen. Right there is an argument relating sickness to sin, however, the man was healed so a person can obviously be healed in their sin. They need to stop sinning or else something worse will come. Remember, he was paralyzed. What illness might be worse? Maybe Jesus was referring to eternal damnation?

As Pentecostals, we should be walking daily in the supernatural. However, in practice. most of us have turned off the supernatural until religious events happen such as a time of prayer at church. We are willing to work spiritually at church, but the minute we leave the door of the church, it is time to turn that stuff off. Jesus, however, indicated something rather different from our practice.

John 5:17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."

But I thought God rested on the Sabbath. And that is why nobody should do anything but go to church on Sunday -- remember the Ten?

THE FATHER IS ALWAYS AT HIS WORK

What is the work of the Father? What does HE do? Creation is done. He made the universe and set it into motion. With the exception of a few interruptions once in a while called miracles, seasons come and go as they always did, the sun comes up as it always will, gravity works, and plants grow. What does God do? Is it possible that His only job since creation is love?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world...

And tied with this is the Son and only the Son and what the Son does.

John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, 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. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21 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. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out-those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

There is a time coming, tomorrow, when the word "life" will have no meaning because everyone -- maybe everything will be alive. The issue of health or sickness will be ancient memories if remembered at all. When Jesus healed the paralyzed man without his permission, Jesus simply took him to a portion of the time coming when "paralyzed" doesn’t mean anything. Why? God showed his love. But it is still only a temporary example. Healing now is not resurrection or eternal life. It is an example of a time coming when the love of God has through His Son restored eternal life.

When we see the miraculous, how do we respond? When the Jews saw what Jesus did, how did they respond? Is the church any different today even though we claim we are Christian and therefore should be Christlike? Has Christianity, even Pentecostal Christianity, simply become religion? As Jesus was doing the work of the Father on the Sabbath -- horrors, not on the Sabbath -- should we not also be doing the work of Christ?

THE CHURCH IS SELDOM AT WORK.

Now that is an unfair statement. Look at all the good the church is doing around the world. We have food for the poor, clothing collections, orphanages, and lots of services with lots of offerings. We contribute to this, that, and a few other things including Tele-evangelists who are taking the word to the entire world -- so they say. We have buildings and programs and ministries and lots of good things, but where is the miraculous?

-- Have you prayed for healing of someone in a wheelchair and seen the Christian eyes rolling?

-- Have you believed for the faith to raise funds for part of the project and the Christian banking accountants for the rest?

-- Have you had your report of the miraculous censored by the Religious News reporter for the paper?

-- Have you had the subject changed while talking about the supernatural you have seen?

-- Have you been interrupted, maybe by the music minister, while prophesying in church?

-- Has your faith in God been destroyed by the church?

-- Has church leadership stopped the miraculous because it is not for today, or at least for them?

-- Have you told someone to pick up their mat and walk in spite of your religion?

John 5:36 "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

41 "I do not accept praise from men, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?

This is our work as the body of Christ. It is weightier than that of the compromised natural church. The religion that relies exclusively on the programs, wisdom, methodologies -- and restrictions -- devised by man in the name of the church forbids work on the Sabbath. That church forbids the Father doing His work. And the Father’s work is love. Jesus showed his compassion with signs and wonders.

JESUS TAUGHT US HOW TO DO IT

And He gave us the tools.

The work of the church is not the gospel show on Sunday. When the church gets together, it is not for the purpose of satisfying the Sabbath. The church gets together to be equipped to do the work of the ministry. What is that work? It is not listening to well done sermons and emotionally charged worship productions. Rather, it is taking the hope of tomorrow to the misery of today.

The pattern in Acts becomes clear:

1. Do a miracle

2. Explain the miracle to the people

3. People accept Jesus as Savior

4. People get filled with the same power so they go and do miracles

Where are they when this happens? Where people are. And the people are not the saints meeting with projected choruses next to stained glass windows with evangelical drums beating. And it is a sure thing you don’t minister the work of God watching religious television. That is at best uplifting entertainment -- not ministry.

Faith comes about by hearing the word of God.

Romans 10:17-18 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

From whom do you hear? Your own thoughts while you diligently read scripture? Maybe, but I suspect the hearing is from others in the church while we are equipping each other. I suspect the hearing that is profitable is when the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher is equipping the church as they were gifted by God to do.

Ephesians 4:11-13 It was he who gave some to be apostles , some to be prophets , some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

On our bulletin every week is Hebrews 3:13.

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Why do we encourage and teach? So that we can go to work and tell people to pick up their mat in spite of the Sabbath and other religious restrictions. So that we can take them from TODAY which may be filled with misery and show them a glimpse of tomorrow.

This was the message to the disciples and it works for us as Christians -- even on the Sabbath.

Matthew 10:7-8 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead , cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Mark 16:17-18 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."