Working With God

Working with God

by

Gary MacDonald

Introduction:

Challenged by recent unexpected, but compelling, evidence that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, the theorists of cosmology are reacting as creative scientists should. They are stretching their minds in search of explanations. The immediate goal of their quest is an understanding of what appears to be an unknown form of energy associated with the vacuum of space. Cosmologists are calling it the "missing energy" of the universe.

What is this missing energy? The Camp theme for this year is ’Star Wars’ so I guess you might call this enery, the "force." Actually, in the previous century, scientists believed that this energy existed and they called it the "ether." I think and believe that this missing energy, that is present, even in the vacuum of outer space is nothing other than God, who is present in all places of the universe, which was created by his hand.

If God is present in all things, what is he doing? What is he up to? More importantly, how do I experience him in my life? How do I perceive him?

Read Text~ John 5:16-19

Remember what happened in the first part of ch. 5. Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed. He did that on the Sabbath and it angered the Jews. In case we didn’t understand why the Jewish leaders were after Jesus, John spells it out for us in v. 16. In our passage, Jesus is talking to these Jews who were "persecuting him" as John says. In this passage Jesus explains his relationship to the Father and his own divinity, which angers the Jews even more.

I Experience God by Realizing that God is Continually Working (vv.’s 16-18)

Exposition

Jesus was explaining to the Jews, that the law of not working on the Sabbath had not been broken, because it was a work of God. In v 17, Jesus explains that God is continually working and doing things everyday, even on the Sabbath. When Jesus said, "my Father," it meant much more than what it means to us today. He was claiming kinship with God. He was literally saying that he was a Son of God. Jesus was declaring his divinity. My father is continually working. He is even working today. And, as his Son, I am working also.

Christ’s reasonable explanation did not pacify the Jewish authorities. Observe what John wrote about them in v 18. From this day forward, the Jews tried harder to kill Jesus, because he had broken the Sabbath and because he claimed to be the Son of God.

Application

Jesus said his father was always at work. What did he mean? What is God busy doing?

Illustration:

Most of you live at home with your parents, be thankful. When I lived at home, with my parents, I didn’t realize how good I had it. I had no comprehension of anything they did for me. The fridge was always full. Sometimes it would get nearly empty, but then, overnight, it would always magically refill. We always had water, electricity, and a telephone, I never thought about what they might cost. I always had a place to stay.

When I moved out, things were radically different. I had to pay rent. I had to buy food. I had to pay the electric, the petrol for my car, the water, even the gas. It was tough. The place where I lived was not very nice either. I lived with three other guys and all of our girlfriend’s refused to use the bathroom in our house. It had no air-conditioning and the heating barely warmed the place in the winter. I often found myself thinking back wistfully about the years I lived at home.

Whilst we are living at home, let me tell you, for most of us, we have no comprehension of what our parents are doing for us in our lives. It is the same with God. We maybe have no comprehension of what God is doing in our lives. When I moved out of my parents house, I was shocked, nobody did anything for me anymore, I had to do it all by myself, sometimes I even had to wash and think for myself as well!!!

I had it hard. but let me tell you this, what would happen if God stopped doing things for us? We would not only be utterly shocked, but we would not be here at all if he stopped. Think about it. It is because of God that we breathe, that we have life. It is because of God that the universe exists. It is because of his constant work, that it continues to exist and that we continue to exist.

What would it be like if God stopped working for just one day? God cares for and holds together all that he has created-the rising and the setting of the sun, the rivers, the rain, the seasons----God never stops working.