TKO - Antagonistic Teaching of Jesus from the book of John

John 5 begins what is known as the beginning of the greatest moments of hostility in the life of Jesus. Today’s text takes us to the Pool at Bethsaida, inside one of 8 gates known as the Sheep Gate (Herod’s Gate). It is a Sabbath day – possibly a regular Sabbath, Passover, Feast of Tabernacles or Hanukkah (Dedication) - 1 Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches -- John 5:1-3 (NLT)

The confrontation begins because Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath. This man, for 38-years waited by the pool for a chance to be healed and was always denied the chance because of his ailment. Many of Jesus miracles were meant to confront human regulations that had gone against the flow of God’s design. This particular miracle points at breaking the regulations of the Sabbath, specifically the 4th Commandment. 

The Religious Leaders made the Sabbath day a day of regulation, which was never the intention. All Jewish Sabbaths were to be “God-targeted.” It was meant to be a reunion. Sometimes a reunion of joy, sometimes irritation. The Sabbaths are days of reverence and devotion because God deserves it. Be careful that you don’t regulate your Sabbaths to become “ME” centered.  The Sabbaths were meant to center on a completely different subject -- rediscovering grace.

Grace is defined as "an undeserved blessing bestowed on man by God." The Sabbath in Jesus day had become consumed with legalistic demands instead of promoting a new life of joy. What Jesus wanted his listeners to understand was that the Sabbaths were made to target a grace transformation, a blessing bestowed on us by God undeservedly, and in turn that grace transmitted into the lives of others.

The Sabbath had turned into a day of performance and expectation. What Jesus wanted us to understand through this miracle was that the Sabbath was "for" man not "about" man. There was nothing we could bring nor any performance we could offer that God needed. What He desired from us was quite simple - 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise - Psalm 51:16-17 (NIV).

No gift you can give will suffice God's expectation, except the gift honor with a heart laid bare before the Creator with awe, reverence and love. 

Randy

TKO - Antagonistic Teaching of Jesus in the book of John

90% of John’s gospel is unique in comparison to the other three gospels. All 4-gospels, however, target the controversial or antagonistic teachings of Jesus. Teaching that angered the Religious Leaders of His day. John 2, is just such a place. This is probably the middle or later third of Jesus ministry. In John 2, Jesus is preparing for the Passover, a Jewish Sabbath Day -- 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
John 2:13-16 (NIV) 

I know there have been numerous explanations for why Jesus would carry on like he did.  I've read several myself, all of which have a reasonable explanation.  The one that really seems to hit home for me, however, targets the issue of complacency.  


Thomas Edison stated - "We shall have no better conditions in the future if we are satisfied with all those which we have at present."  I think Jesus was angry because He saw complacency creep into temple worship.  On one of the holiest days of the Jewish Sabbath celebrations, He witnessed how complacency had infected temple worship, both in the leaders and in the worshipers.  Don't misunderstand, however, complacency begins from the top-down.  Jesus was sending a message to the Religious Leaders of the day by pointing a finger at their lack of leadership and the complacency of their hearts by letting His Father's house become a place that was "man-centered" instead of "God-centered."  


The same can be true and seen in the church today when we see God more in our buildings than our hearts; more in our personal needs than our spiritual giftedness and how that gift centers on engaging our neighbor and not our personal desires.  


I remember a pastor I worked under telling his congregation once, "for those of you that are believers, God bless you, because we are going to spend eternity together in heaven.  In the mean time, please allow me to spend time with those that are lost instead of visiting you in your homes."  


Tough statement to make to your church family, I know, but it attacked the heart of what could have led to complacency within the church he served.  Don't get me wrong, we need to care for one another, but complacency will always center on self if we are not careful in reminding ourselves of our mission and target, and how we get there.


Randy

The Final Act - Act 6: Glorification

Here is how Jan Winebrenner defines Glory...

 

"Glory is a cheap commodity these days.  Or what passes for glory...  It's obvious, we're pretty confused about wht real glory is.  But we do have one thing right: Real glory only happens when we're in proximity to another person, in relationship.  But we've gotten the "someone" all wrong.  It isn't the audience on the other side of the television camera... Glory captures you.  God, through Christ, enters our world and captivates us with the sweet allure of His indescribable magnificence."  

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth -John 1:14 (NIV).

"We experience the glory of Christ by being in His presence..."  Winebrenner goes on to connect the "glory" of Christ to our personal afflictions.  She states that, "glory will be inextricably bound to suffering."  

Thomas Merton concurred when he wrote, "Afflictions work for good, as they are means of loosening our hearts from the world.  When you dig away the earth from the root of a tree, it is to loosen the tree from the earth; so God digs away our earthly comforts to loosen our hearts from the earth."

To summarize in my own words, in order to experience the true essence of God's glory in my life, there will be suffering and affliction, but it is suffering with a just cause.  It is loosening the soil of this world to prepare me for another, one that reveals the wholeness of God's glory.  The glory of this world is momentary.  The glory of my eternity is timeless.  "Come Lord Jesus, Come!!"

The Final Act: Act 5 - Redemption

The word redemption is one of those "50 cent" words you don't randomly throw around for the simple reason people might think you are an unapproachable intellectual, or in other words "to big for your own britches."  Let me see if I can summarize redemption in an easily understood way.  To be redeemed means to be forgiven, the core of Christianity.  The two words are interchangeable.  

Here is how Catherine Marshall organizes the two ideas - "Forgiveness has two sides that are inseparably joined: the forgiveness each of us needs from God, and the forgiveness we owe to other human beings.  Most of us prefer not to face up to the fact that God's forgiveness and man's are forever linked.  Jesus warned us that if we want the Father's forgiveness, there is only one way to get it: Start the flow of forgiveness between heaven and earth by forgiving our brother from the heart."

The flow of redemption - heaven to human heart - was never meant to have dams installed, slowing or stopping the flow of redemption from our own hearts to those who need to experience reconciliation from us.  Isn't the concept of giving someone the "other cheek" meant for us to ignore our natural impulse to stay angry or to get even?  

Growing up I had a coach that used to have his athletes write on their chest - CH_MP.  After the game was done the athlete had to decide whether to place a "U" or an "A" in the blank.  To truly understand the concept of reconciliation with forgiveness, especially towards an enemy, being a CHAMP means first being a CHUMP.  This is not a recipe for being weak, it is a recipe for knowing that the ingredients of true forgiveness and reconciliation will cost us first because we are the agents of pursuit.  We are the engineers that disassemble the dams and allow the grace of reconciliation to flow into us and through us to our enemies.  

A daunting task?  You bet!  One that cannot be accomplished without first admitting personal weakness and laying it before the Lord in prayer seeking His assistance to accomplish a painting that we cannot visualize on the canvas.  

Randy

The Final Act: Act 4 - Citizenship

In his 2010 memoir, A Journey: My Political Life, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair shares the following story: 
 
A friend of mine whose parents were immigrants, Jews from Europe who came to America in search of safety, told me this story. His parents lived and worked in New York. They were not well off. His father died when he was young. His mother lived on, and in time my friend succeeded and became wealthy. He often used to offer his mother the chance to travel outside America. She never did. When eventually she died, they went back to recover the safety box where she kept her jewelry. They found there another box. There was no key. So they had to drill it open. They wondered what precious jewel must be in it. They lifted the lid. There was wrapping and more wrapping and finally an envelope. Intrigued, they opened it. In the envelope were her U.S. citizenship papers. Nothing more. That was the jewel, more precious to her than any other possession. That was what she treasured most.

I love this story for the same reasons, the preciousness of her citizenship.  This connects so well with what I shared in my message this week on Heavenly Citizenship and how precious that citizenship should be to each of us.  As I was reading from Matthew 7 this morning, I discovered one other element of our citizenship that I know I often forget, the seeking part.  Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find..."  

I thought to myself this morning about the message Sunday and the connect I was making this morning to Matt. 7, to seek out my citizenship and the rewards of heaven.  Maybe that is why this lovely Jewish immigrant never needed to leave the U.S., because she sought out and experienced the rewards of her citizenship.  


Randy

The Final Act: Act 3 - Justification

Much of what Martin Luther did leading up to the Protestant Reformation surrounded the issue of our justification by faith.  The term actually means to be "acquitted" of a crime.  I like this definition - “displays God’s justice in condemning and punishing sin, his mercy in pardoning and accepting sinners, and his wisdom in exercising both attributes harmoniously together through Christ."  Paul addressed this topic with the Roman Christians - For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law -- Romans 3:28 (NIV). 

The Roman Catholic Church of Luther's era, believed that justification was a process not an event.  They believed that justification was a process that continued after death in Purgatory, in which, Christians were assured of entering heaven but only after years of enduring the punishments deserved by sin in this life.  Luther emphatically denied any truth to this and instead saw Paul's words in Romans 3:28 as sufficient for our eternity, simply that we are "justified by faith" alone.  

He illustrates this truth using the analogy of placing a cloak around his young son Hans before he left the house on a cold winter’s day. In the same way God covers us with His righteousness to shield us from the consequences of our sin and final judgement.  We are cloaked in Christ and protected from the punishment we deserved.  Because we are cloaked in Christ at faith through God's grace, we know that there is "now, no more condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus" -- Romans 8:1.  How we view this certainly affects how we worship.  I can't believe we could ever worship without celebration knowing that Christ has covered and protected us from certain punishment.

I've had to do a little soul searching myself, and evaluate my own mindset in personal worship and service.  I think of it this way, if I was on trial and was acquitted of a crime that had a price tag of death, how happy would I be?  

Randy

The Final Act: Act 2 - The Gift of Reconciliation

Webster's Dictionary defines Reconciliation in this way - "the restoration of a friendship after estrangement."  Simple definitions like this I find so useful in helping me understand such profound truth.  I love what Athanasius says about reconciliation - "Incarnation is reconciliation."  Simply put, the Incarnation, the "God with us," is the story behind restoring a friendship after it has been estranged.  The friendship is "God to us."  We often see it as "us to God," which is completely incorrect.  

God is solely the initiator of reconciliation, we are only recipients of His gift of grace. Think of it as someone handing you a gift during this Christmas season that you could never repay. Human nature usually shakes her head no at such an exorbitant gift because we deem it to pricy to repay, and that is exactly the point. The offer of reconciliation in any relationship should be beyond the recipient's ability to repay and it should cost us. Cost us what? It should cost us our pride. Pride is what keeps us from shedding aside the issues that hinder us and allowing love to be the catalyst that pursues the mending of a relationship, either between you and your enemy, or between you and God.

So may I ask, what are you going to shed this Christmas season in order to accept the gift Christ offers you, the gift of reconciliation.

(Don't forget the offer is still on.  There is a special prize for the person that comments on either this weeks or last weeks blog.)

Randy