George Mueller once said, “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.”
The Apostle John has brought us full circle. The narrative began in the first verse of chapter two in Cana of Galilee. Then Jesus journeys to Jerusalem, Samaria and now we are back once again in Cana of Galilee. The first sign of the glory of Jesus was performed in Cana of Galilee, transforming water into wine at the wedding feast. Now, in Cana of Galilee a second sign is to be performed.
In the performing of this miracle healing, the Lord Jesus puts His finger on the weakness of the faith that is often times professed.
Before we examine the text, a little background is needed. In verse 46, the word for official in the Greek is "basilikos" a nobleman, the king’s man. Evidently he was an official in Herod’s court. He was a man of great influence and power, a man of great wealth. He was used to getting his way. He had everything he could possibly want... except one thing. His son was seriously ill, life was slowly draining from this young son death was imminent. The “basilikos” was in profound misery, so He comes to Jesus.
I. Jesus Grieves Over an Imperfect Faith (V48)
The Lord’s reply is rather startling (v48). On the surface its seems to be a detached statement, unsympathetic, cold. But,His words are mercifully surgical. "Unless you." is in the plural tense. (V48) Jesus was not just talking to or about the nobleman, but also about the Galileans whose tendency the nobleman represented. They were following Jesus as if He were a religious side show, "Hurry, Hurry - don’t miss the latest miracle!" Jesus knew that the major issue was not a sick son, the major issue was a weal faith in the nobleman’s life
The nobleman asked Jesus twice to “come down."(V47, 49)Come down and work your magic for my son. His focus was on the miracles, Now, its always that way with sensationalism. The focus is seldom on Christ who alone is sufficient! Jesus’ words to him were not a rebuke, but the beginning of a miracle of grace in his life.
II. Jesus Tests and Strengthens a Growing Faith (V49-52)
The royal official did not deny Jesus’ charge. He doesn't refute the claims of Christ or defend or even debate. He didn't pull rank. What he does do is display an amazing persistence. Jesus was his last hope and he knew it.
Jesus responds with a partial granting and a partial denial. (V50) Jesus granted the healing. He refused to go down to Capernaum with him. He gave the man no sign.
The only thing He gave the man was His word!
The nobleman responds with belief and a trusting faith. (V50b) He believed!
18 miles lay between him and his sick boy. he had no way of verifying if the word of Jesus were true. He simply took the word of Jesus!In his mind he saw his boy healed!
This is extremely counter-cultural! The world says: "Seeing is Believing," does it not? Faith on the other hand says, "Believing is Seeing!" The nobleman believed so he saw. That’s faith!
We need to understand how prevalent this is in the Scriptures. In John 8:56 Jesus said,"Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day." In Hebrews 11:13,27, tell us that by faith they saw.
What caused them to see? Hebrews 11:1 reveals the answer, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
Dr. Ravi Zacharias helps shed some light on why so many of us fail to see the truth here. Ravi contrasts convictions with opinions. According to Dr. Zacharias, an opinion is, "a view that we hold in vary degrees of intensity, based almost entirely on personal preference." A conviction on the other hand, is "something we hold so powerfully that to change it requires doing business with our conscience."
Far to many of us live for Christ based upon opinion. We dine at a spiritual buffet, so to speak. We like to pick and choose from the items on our spiritual serving table. "Lets see… Heaven: oh yes.. give me some of that...Angels, two choices huh?
Cute little pudgy cherubs..Fiery sword death angels.. hmmm...I’ll take some of the lil cherubs thanks.. Free grace, really.. as much as you want? Load me up! Whats this...Judgment seat of Christ.. nah.. I’ll skip that...always gives me indigestion." We exist on opinions about faith, about church, and about other people. Most all of them are based upon personal preference.
The nobleman came to Jesus with an opinion..."You turned water into wine I hear...Heal my son?" But I believe he left with conviction! Let me show you why I say this. He is on his way back home. On the way he runs into servants who are coming to tell him his son has recovered. He asks about the time in verse 52. They tell him, the seventh hour (1 PM) yesterday! The man could have easily made the return trip before the end of the day but it is clear by their use of the word yesterday that he doesn't meet them until, the day after his sons healing. He lingered an entire day! He was so confident in the reliability of Jesus' word to him! What faith! This nobleman discovered that God has used his experience of adversity in order to bring him to see that only one thing matters.
III. Jesus Rewards a Tested Faith (V53)
Not only was his son healed, his household came to Christ. In this text the nobleman is un-named. But in Luke 8:3, the Bible speaks of the wife of Chuza. Most believe this is the very man whose son was healed. Right there in Herod's court was a man transformed by the power of the Gospel. This nobleman had to be struck over the head so God could get his attention.
Some of us today may be experiencing emotions similar to those of the nobleman. In your life there is a sense of closing darkness... a feeling of futility in life. If this is you...you may well be on the verge of great blessing. If you will turn to God, abandon your opinions, examine your convictions and take God at His word and believe so you can see, like the nobleman you will find a life of growing faith.
CS Lewis - The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of man, and his compulsion is our liberation.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The Ministering Heart's Approach to Life! - John 4:27-42
Have you ever noticed how hard it is to keep the important things, important. Keeping things in their proper priority, is a life long struggle.
The Samaritan woman was transformed by her encounter with Jesus (V28) Her life had been radically changed and transformed by Jesus. She indulged a bit of pardonable exaggeration, given the fact that it was impossible in such a short time for the Lord to recite everything she had ever done. But,she felt like He knew her inside and out. Her life was instantaneously changed, and renewed.
Meanwhile, the disciples return from town with food and supplies. (V27) They had not gotten beyond the social and cultural issues of the day. The timing here is uncanny, about the time this encounter is wrapping up the disciples came back. They were surprised that He was talking to this woman. To the disciples talking with this woman was a grave breach of convention. They were not unjustified in their thinking.
Listen to this Rabbinical ruling - "He that talks much with womankind brings evil upon himself and neglects the study of the Law and at least will inherit Gehenna."
So, the scene is set. The disciples were uneasy, judgmental, out of sorts.
The Samaritan woman on the other hand was happy and exuberant. Out of this scene comes some amazing instruction, namely,what it means to have a ministering heart!
I. A Transcending Priority (V31-34)
The disciples encourage Him to eat, but Jesus seems distracted. Their actions were in response to what they had come to know earlier. In John 4:6 we learn that Jesus was wearied, hungry, tired, and thirsty. That’s how the left Him, but now He declines their offer. So, they reason,someone bought Him some food while we were gone
Jesus makes an amazing statement. (v32) "I have food to eat that you do not know about." The “I” and the “you” are emphatic,“I” have something that “you” do not have. He was attempting to draw them to what he wanted to say and teach. When their curiosity was aroused, He goes on, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work."(v34) In this statement,Jesus put the highest emphasis on God’s will and work. "This is my food," He states. • Above all else Jesus lived to do God’s will. The word in(V34, "accomplish", is the Greek word "teleioso." This word means,"to bring to an end." The same word was used later by Jesus in John 17:4 - when he prays the high intercessory prayer - "I have done(tele-osas)what you asked."
Then, on the cross, "tetelestai - It is finished - its the same word, This was His food!
God desires for this to be the transcending priority of our life! Doing God’s will energized Jesus, but this also works in the life of the believer. Being used of God brings strength. For example take the life of the great Scottish preacher - John Knox. As an old man he was very feeble, so much so that he had to lean on the pulpit to balance himself. As he began to preach his voice would be very weak, his words slow and calculated. But, before long his voice would become strong. One observer described his voice as having the power of a trumpet call. The message completely filled the man. Knox experienced super-natural sustenance, the food that Jesus also possessed.
Doing God’s will must be our transcending priority.
II. A Sense of Urgency (V35-38)
There were 4 months between sowing and harvest. This works agriculturally, but it is not so with a heavenly harvest. Dr. H.V. Morton, sat one day at that very well in Sychar. Listen to his reflections, "As I sat by Jacob’s well a crowd of Arabs came along the road from the direction in which Jesus was looking, and I saw their white garments shining in the sun. Surely Jesus was speaking not of the earthly but the heavenly harvest, and as he spoke I think it is likely that he pointed along the road where the Samaritans in their white robes were assembling to hear his words."
To the disciples, Jesus was making a point. They thought there was time, plenty of time. They focused on an earthly kingdom and the eventual over-throw of Rome, even though they had been told that His Kingdom was not of this world. h
So, they lived in the future tense and fixed their attention on things that will happen later. But Jesus wanted them to look...right now...see them coming! If they were going to follow Him, they had to know the secret of His heart - a sense of immediacy, even urgency about the harvest.
Whats amazing about this story is that they were going to reap a harvest that they had nothing to do with. (V36-38) So then, who did the sowing? The Samaritan woman! Imagine that..she could not give theological explanations...She didn’t know the four spiritual laws..She probably quoted no scripture, but they saw the transformation of her life! And as a result, they wanted to know about the Power that had so changed her. (V39-42) What even more amazing is the depth of their understanding. The Samaritans were the first to call Christ, “The Savior of the World”
John Hutton a famous Welsh preacher was preaching, when suddenly a man jumped up and lead the church in the Doxology. Hutton was unable to continue. Hutton later spoke with the man. "I have only been a Christian a few months and I cannot sit still while the Word is being preached. You see, I was a bad lot sir! I drank, pawned the furniture,and I knocked my wife about. Hutton asked the man how he was faring with his fellow workers in the mine. The man replied, "Well,just today working down in the mine they asked me, 'You don’t seriously credit that old yarn about Jesus turning water into wine do you?' I told them, 'I know nothing about the water and the wine, but I know this, in my house Christ has turned beer into furniture and that is a good enough miracle for me.'"
I think that is how it was for the Samaritan woman.
A transcending priority and a sense of urgency are the characteristics of the ministering heart!
The Samaritan woman was transformed by her encounter with Jesus (V28) Her life had been radically changed and transformed by Jesus. She indulged a bit of pardonable exaggeration, given the fact that it was impossible in such a short time for the Lord to recite everything she had ever done. But,she felt like He knew her inside and out. Her life was instantaneously changed, and renewed.
Meanwhile, the disciples return from town with food and supplies. (V27) They had not gotten beyond the social and cultural issues of the day. The timing here is uncanny, about the time this encounter is wrapping up the disciples came back. They were surprised that He was talking to this woman. To the disciples talking with this woman was a grave breach of convention. They were not unjustified in their thinking.
Listen to this Rabbinical ruling - "He that talks much with womankind brings evil upon himself and neglects the study of the Law and at least will inherit Gehenna."
So, the scene is set. The disciples were uneasy, judgmental, out of sorts.
The Samaritan woman on the other hand was happy and exuberant. Out of this scene comes some amazing instruction, namely,what it means to have a ministering heart!
I. A Transcending Priority (V31-34)
The disciples encourage Him to eat, but Jesus seems distracted. Their actions were in response to what they had come to know earlier. In John 4:6 we learn that Jesus was wearied, hungry, tired, and thirsty. That’s how the left Him, but now He declines their offer. So, they reason,someone bought Him some food while we were gone
Jesus makes an amazing statement. (v32) "I have food to eat that you do not know about." The “I” and the “you” are emphatic,“I” have something that “you” do not have. He was attempting to draw them to what he wanted to say and teach. When their curiosity was aroused, He goes on, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work."(v34) In this statement,Jesus put the highest emphasis on God’s will and work. "This is my food," He states. • Above all else Jesus lived to do God’s will. The word in(V34, "accomplish", is the Greek word "teleioso." This word means,"to bring to an end." The same word was used later by Jesus in John 17:4 - when he prays the high intercessory prayer - "I have done(tele-osas)what you asked."
Then, on the cross, "tetelestai - It is finished - its the same word, This was His food!
God desires for this to be the transcending priority of our life! Doing God’s will energized Jesus, but this also works in the life of the believer. Being used of God brings strength. For example take the life of the great Scottish preacher - John Knox. As an old man he was very feeble, so much so that he had to lean on the pulpit to balance himself. As he began to preach his voice would be very weak, his words slow and calculated. But, before long his voice would become strong. One observer described his voice as having the power of a trumpet call. The message completely filled the man. Knox experienced super-natural sustenance, the food that Jesus also possessed.
Doing God’s will must be our transcending priority.
II. A Sense of Urgency (V35-38)
There were 4 months between sowing and harvest. This works agriculturally, but it is not so with a heavenly harvest. Dr. H.V. Morton, sat one day at that very well in Sychar. Listen to his reflections, "As I sat by Jacob’s well a crowd of Arabs came along the road from the direction in which Jesus was looking, and I saw their white garments shining in the sun. Surely Jesus was speaking not of the earthly but the heavenly harvest, and as he spoke I think it is likely that he pointed along the road where the Samaritans in their white robes were assembling to hear his words."
To the disciples, Jesus was making a point. They thought there was time, plenty of time. They focused on an earthly kingdom and the eventual over-throw of Rome, even though they had been told that His Kingdom was not of this world. h
So, they lived in the future tense and fixed their attention on things that will happen later. But Jesus wanted them to look...right now...see them coming! If they were going to follow Him, they had to know the secret of His heart - a sense of immediacy, even urgency about the harvest.
Whats amazing about this story is that they were going to reap a harvest that they had nothing to do with. (V36-38) So then, who did the sowing? The Samaritan woman! Imagine that..she could not give theological explanations...She didn’t know the four spiritual laws..She probably quoted no scripture, but they saw the transformation of her life! And as a result, they wanted to know about the Power that had so changed her. (V39-42) What even more amazing is the depth of their understanding. The Samaritans were the first to call Christ, “The Savior of the World”
John Hutton a famous Welsh preacher was preaching, when suddenly a man jumped up and lead the church in the Doxology. Hutton was unable to continue. Hutton later spoke with the man. "I have only been a Christian a few months and I cannot sit still while the Word is being preached. You see, I was a bad lot sir! I drank, pawned the furniture,and I knocked my wife about. Hutton asked the man how he was faring with his fellow workers in the mine. The man replied, "Well,just today working down in the mine they asked me, 'You don’t seriously credit that old yarn about Jesus turning water into wine do you?' I told them, 'I know nothing about the water and the wine, but I know this, in my house Christ has turned beer into furniture and that is a good enough miracle for me.'"
I think that is how it was for the Samaritan woman.
A transcending priority and a sense of urgency are the characteristics of the ministering heart!
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