Pastor Glenn Newton
New Hope Church of the Nazarene
Text: John 5:16-30
JN 5:16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
JN 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.
JN 5:24 "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.
JN 5:28 "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.
As be begin this morning, we find Jesus in a all too common position….he’s being scolded by the Religious leaders again….this time for having the audacity, the nerve to heal a poor crippled man on the Sabbath. Jesus, what were you thinking? The Sabbath was only to learn to love your neighbors….not to actually carry it out…right? Jesus was breaking all their rules, and the religious leaders were going crazy…literally.
I want to challenge you to something kind of radical this morning. I want to challenge the New Hope Family to try something for the year 2011 that will more than likely get you in trouble with some of the religious do gooders running around these parts. Can I tell you what the challenge is?
I want to challenge you to Live Your Life Jesus Style this coming year….12 months, everyday, every decision, every crisis, every victory, every fight, every trip to the doctor, every report card, every holiday….every moment. Live Jesus Style…
If you take this challenge, you won’t make everyone happy… so you will need to get over that right now. But, if you take the challenge, Your life will never be the same again….
What do you mean live Jesus Style? You all ask the best questions…..let’s talk about what it means.
Let’s look at verse 16-17 together…
1. 24/7 always on call, always on in tune with the Father.
We need to go back to what the Religious do gooders were going after Jesus for….He dared to heal a cripple on the Sabbath. The Do Gooders started quoting Exodus 20:8-11 right out of their rulebook where is specifically says to "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.”
So the problem here was that Jesus surely must have exerted himself to heal this man, so He would have broke the commandment, or so they thought. There is a problem for the Pharisee’s, they have become so caught up in their law…they have missed the point. They so loved their rules, that they have disobeyed the rule giver. Have you ever got the cart before the horse?
It’s easy to do. When our Christian life feels more like a contract that you have to uphold than a personal, intimate, love relationship…then something is wrong.
If you are more worried about keeping up your end of the deal in your walk with the Lord than you are loving Him and Listening too Him, then something is wrong. The Christian life should not be a job.
When you have a job, you have certain things that you must do, things that you must accomplish, or you will be fired…am I right? I have to show up on time. I need to meet all my deadlines, meet my production goals, get so many sales…whatever it is for you.
If your Christian experience is a list of things you need to do in order to feel good…. I guess I have to go to Sunday School, got to go to worship…..are you kidding me…Sunday night too? I guess I better read my Bible….I wonder where it is? Tithe…that preacher probably gets paid too much anyway, I wonder why I have to give tithe? If your constantly wondering if your keeping up with your spiritual contract….this message is for you, and friends it’s good news.
The Pharisee’s were doing everything contract style, OT style if you will. Jesus was introducing a whole new way of living…this morning we are calling it Living Jesus Style, but, what it means is the contract is gone…it’s not about a cold, calculated list of things to do…it’s so much simpler than that.
Jesus Style is about Relationship. Living Jesus Style means that you will learn to understand how much Jesus Loves You, personally. He loves you so much that He died for you…just for you. When you accept Him, there is no contract to sign, you don’t become an employee of God. When You accept Jesus Christ as Lord, you are adopted into the family, it’s not a contract, it’s a relationship that you have been given. This relationship is sealed with blood, it’s strong, it’s binding, it’s got power to overcome anything in your life, it gives you eternal life.
This relationship is not like any other kind of relationship that you have had. When you accept Jesus Christ into your life, He pours His Spirit into your heart….you are given the very spirit of Christ, living in you, guiding you, helping you, convicting you, encouraging you and so much more. Unlike other relationships….Christ is always with you, 24/7.
Jesus demonstrated how this new relationship should work. Jesus told us that His Father was always at work, and because the Father was always at work, so was He. They were one in spirit, unified. And that is exactly what we can have with Christ…Oneness.
Friends, if you don’t have this Oneness, this connectedness with Jesus Christ….then unfortunately your missing the very heart of Christianity. Good News…You can say good bye to the contract way of living, and you can embrace the love relationship that God is calling you to, today.
How do you live life Jesus Style? 1st, it’s 24/7 relationship with the Father….
2. Simon Says….Obedience. v. 19 JN 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.
Almost every Friday at school we take 20 minutes first thing in the morning and do some type of physical activity with the kids. Our PE teacher won a grant and along with winning some cool things for her PE class she had to agree to incorporate this exercise time with the students…so thus our Friday morning exercise.
We have done all kind of crazy things, but a couple of weeks ago we did Simon Says…. You saw how it was played earlier….our goal was to get the kids to mess up and then they would have to leave the room and go to the next room, we were able to get them all, none of them made it all the way without messing up.
Simon Says is a real simple game. If you will obey the instructions and only do what Simon says to do, you win. Living the Christian life Jesus Style can be boiled down to a simple word….Obedience. Jesus demonstrated obedience for us….even when it meant dying on the cross. Jesus lived his earthly life demonstrating for us that it can be done, even in the toughest of circumstances.
Obedience is a funny word.
When I was a teenager, obedience was not a word that I really wanted to hear, because I had rebellion in my heart.
As a parent, obedience is a word that I wished my kids would grasp and understand for their own good.
As a non believer, Obedience to God seemed like a fairy tale, not sure it could ever happen.
As a Christian, in a love relationship with Jesus….Obedience is my hearts desire, it’s what I want more than anything else in the whole world. I want to be obedient to God, to His Word, to His Call on my life, everything. Now, obviously I fail in my obedience from time to time and have to ask for forgiveness…and God’s grace is awesome and He pours it out….and our relationship gets stronger.
But as I thought about the word Obedience this week, I tried to look at it from different perspectives….how we feel about being obedient boils down to our heart condition, our attitude. If I’m in rebellion towards God then I don’t want to hear about being obedient…because I want my own way, on my own terms, in my own time.
But, If I’m broken before God, realizing my need for him, I want to be obedient because I have come to realize that only Good comes from following Christ, Only Good comes from saying Yes to God. Disobedience brought me heartache and pain in everyway, but Obedience has brought me joy, peace, love.
In verse 24 it’s not Simon talking, it’s someone more important, Jesus says, JN 5:24 "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.
It’s an awesome thing to think about, crossing over from death to life. As I was writing this sentence I realized that it was 23 years of this week, that Nola and I, newlyweds…. We knelt at our couch on the third floor of our first apartment, and we cried out to God, and we were tired of living the contract kind of Christianity, we both wanted what our parents had, we wanted a love relationship with our Heavenly Father….that night we crossed over from death to life…. What a ride it’s been. Obedience brings awesome blessings into your life, some that you would never dream of….
I challenge you to move into a Jesus Style king of living….it’s in tune with the Father, it’s all about Relationship. I believe there are some here this morning that are at a crossroads….today can be your day to cross over from death to life…accept the invitation this morning, come and pray like so many in here this morning have…take the challenge and find more than you have ever dreamed of…
