Sermons & Studies

John 5:17-20 (NIV) 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. 19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by him- self; 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. I. Prayer Almighty God, we come into your glorious presence again today to express our thanks for being in your temple once again. You have protected us and watched over our lives. As we enter into another preaching moment, please anoint your servant to speak for you and prepare the hearts of your people to hear from your word. May your Holy Spirit convince and convict this morning and prompt us to respond to this message with our lives. For we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. II. Introduction A. We live in a world that is driven by accomplishment especially in the 20 th century. Look at all of the things that really hit their stride during the last 100 years: 1. Airplanes went from propeller to turbine engines and we've gone from domestic flights to being able to fly half way around the world in the same plane. 2. The horse and buggie gave way to the automobile as the standard mode of transportation. 3. The radio went from being the primary form of communication and entertainment to a secondary form in the advent of television. The TV went from a large clunky B&W that had hot tubes in it to the flat Hi-Definition TVs available today. 4. Humankind went from looking a the moon through a telescope to putting men on the moon and sending satellites that have gone outside of our known solar system. B. Yes a lot has been accomplished over the last 100 years but in the wake of all of this achievement, relationships have suffered a great deal. 1. Gone are the days (for the most part) where you grew up, went to school, gained your adult employment, retired and died in the same community. 2. No longer are we a people who live in sparsely populated areas where you know your neighbors. We now have sprawling urban centers. There were farms on Manhattan island in 1900. 3. The general store in the middle of town no longer is around where the owner/clerk knew your parents and momma could send you to the store to pick up some items and have them put on your tab. Replaced by the Wal-Marts and large malls of our day. 4. We've traded fellowship with one another for restaurant experiences or amusement parks or large multiplex movie theaters. C. It would seem that we've traded technological achievement for personal relationships. But God has never gotten away from personal relationships. God created Adam and Eve for fellowship and ever since that time has desired a close relationship with human kind. D. And yet we sometimes replace "doing" things for God with being close to God. 1. There are some who would rather volunteer for an activity within the body rather than greet one another during the Aloha time. E. Note the title of this message isn't "Doing Great Things For God" but "Doing Great Things With God." We can do more when what we do is driven by our relationship to God rather than a duty to God. F. How can we do great things with God? Jesus gives us some keys in this passage before us today. III. God Is Working A. Jesus has just healed a man who had been lying by the pool for some 38 years. The scribes and the Pharisees had complained that Jesus healed on the Sabbath.Jesus lets these folks on a little secret-God is always working. B. As finite human creatures, we can only work while we are awake. When we lay our heads on the pillow at night, all activity comes to a halt while we rest. C. But as the psalmist said in Psalms 121:3 (NIV), ". . . he who watches over you will not slumber;" So God is always doing something. D. And just what is God doing? God is continuing to complete the work that God started with Abraham in Genesis 12:3b (NIV), ". . . all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." E. God is not wishy washy in the plans that have been laid out for human kind. God is still at work in the world. 1. God is still creating - Just look at the rainbows that pop up in the sky or the beautiful sunsets that fade on the North Shore or the new land being created on the Big Island with the volcano. 2. God is still healing - There are people who have been touched by the Lord in a miraculous way and have been healed from all kinds of illnesses. 3. God is still using ordinary people to do extraordinary things - Look at that group that thwarted the plans of that hijacked plane in Pittsburgh. Ordinary passengers who did an extraordinary thing. 4. God is still performing miracles even when it doesn't seem like it. Remember Jesus' words to the disciples in John 9:3 when asked why the man was born blind, "this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." How many times do we see people seemingly defeated by handicap do wonderful works for the Lord: a. Joni Erickson-Tada - paints with her mouth even though she is paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident. b. Louis Braille - invents the system that gives the blind the ability to read. He accidentally put out his eye as a youth and then lost the sight in his other good eye. One day someone put a pine cone in his hand and the idea for the system of raised dots opened up a new world to the blind. 5. God is still saving souls - Just look at you and me. F. God's priority is to accomplish God's plan, not our plan. We get frustrated at times when it seems that God doesn't answer our prayers but maybe we should check and see if our prayers are in line with what God is doing and wants to do. G. God has not wound up this world like a toy and is just letting it run until it winds down. God continues to be a part of our daily existence. That's why Jesus says in v. 17 that God ". . . is at his work to this very day" H. If we are going to do great things with God, we need to understand that God is still working. God is not waiting for us but is working. Secondly . . . IV. We Cannot Work Apart From God A. Jesus goes on to mention to the religious leaders that He can do nothing by himself. It wasn't that Jesus didn't have power but He freely yielded himself to God because He understood that he could do more being in the center of God's will than being anywhere else. 1. Jesus was in such close relationship with God that it never dawned on Him to do anything but the will of God. 2. Just look at the words of Jesus: a. Luke 4:18 (NIV), "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." b. John 4:34 (NIV), " 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." c. John 6:38 (NIV), " 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." d. See also John 6:57; 7:16-17, 28; 8:29, 42; 9:4 B. God never overrides our freedom of choice. We can choose to operate apart from God but the results can be devastating: 1. When the famine effected Abram in Genesis 12, he made a choice to go down into Egypt. From that little side trip came the handmaiden Hagar who was the mother of Ishmael, the founder of the Arab nation. The massive conflict we have in the middle east today arose out of an ill guided trip into a place God hadn't lead Abram. 2. Moses struck the rock in Numbers 20:11-12 in anger and implied that he was the one providing for the Israelites rather than God and it cost him a trip into the promised land. 3. Sampson fooled around with Delilah and ended up with a haircut in the wrong barbershop. Oh, he was granted his strength one last time but it cost him his life. 4. Jonah fled from the will of God when he got on that boat headed for Tarshish a large fish awaited him on that trip. C. We are to be wholly dependent on God for everything. The bible uses terms in reference to us that show our dependence: 1. Vessel - 2 Cor 4:7 (NIV), "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." 2. Servant - Matthew 20:26, 28 (NIV), "whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant . . . 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." 3. Soldier (one under authority) - 2 Timothy 2:3 (NIV), "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus." 4. Ambassador (under authority) - Ephesians 6:20 (NIV), " 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains." D. Romans 12:1 sums up our dependence on God, ". . . offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will." 1. We are to be a living sacrifice. A sacrifice was something offered to God on the altar in the temple. We are to be holy and pleasing. 2. We are to have a transformed mind so we will be fit for service and know the will of God. E. So no matter what gifts and talents we may have, they are never a substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. So Jesus reminds us that we can do nothing apart from God. F. For remember what I mentioned week before last from John 15:5 where Jesus said, " 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." V. Our Job Is To Join With God In Doing God's Work A. While Jesus says that he can't do anything of Himself in v. 19, he goes on to say what it is that He can do. He can do only what he sees His Father doing. B. How do we see what God is doing? God will reveal it to us because he loves and in v. 20 God ". . . shows . . . all he does." 1. As we get close to God we come to know God more and more and thus can do His will. a. James 4: 8,10 (NIV), " 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you . . . 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up." 2. We are shown the way by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. a. 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12 (NIV), " 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. . . . 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." 3. This same Holy Spirit not only reveals God's will and work to us but the gifts that God has blessed us to have. Gifts that are to be used in the work of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) a. Whatever talents you may have, they are to be offered back to God for the Lord's service. b. God can get God's work done without us but we will lose the benefit if God has to work around us. c. So if you have education, offer it back to God. d. If you have acquired skills, offer it back to God. e. If you have a checkbook, offer it back to God. f. If you have material blessings, offer it back to God. C. But Jesus says that not only will God show us God's work but God will blow our minds with what God can accomplish when we join with Him. For v. 20 says, ". . . to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these." D. We sometimes wonder how it is that we can do greater works but look at what God has been able to do over the centuries and is doing right now: 1. The Bible as we know it has come into being. The people during Jesus day didn't have the scriptures that we read and hold in our hands right now. 2. We now have the ability to transmit the gospel all over the planet through the use of satellites, television and the Internet reaching places not accessible before. 3. For those places that don't have those things, we have air transportation which can take people to place not reachable before. Jesus was limited to where he could walk or ride a camel. 4. God has so gifted men and women that we can have all kinds of ailments and be rolled into an operating room and be healed of various kinds of diseases. Don't be so quick to chalk up all the medical knowledge to human ingenuity. 5. God continues take people who have wiped their lives out with drugs and alcohol and transform them through the power of the gospel. 6. God works through the Sunday School teach to build strong character in our children such that they can go off to college or the mainland and not be tainted by the sinful pleasures of this world. E. God is working and if we will adjust our lives to join in with the work God is doing, God will amaze us at what can be accomplished for the kingdom. We may not have much but God can take the little that we do have and explode it into something wonderful. F. Our goal should be like Jesus stated in John 4:34 (NIV), ". . . [to] do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." VI. Conclusion A. God has sent us to do God's work: 1. Matthew 10:16 (NIV), " 16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be a shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." 2. John 20:21 (NIV), " 21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." B. Know that God is working all around us. Even when it seems that everything we see is bad, God is still working because God can work all things together for good. C. Realize that no matter how much we may try, we are totally dependent on God. Every time we try to do things on our own, we end up in a deeper mess that if we just relied on God for everything. D. Our job is to join with God in the work that God is doing and that will require some adjustment in our lives in some way or the other. E. Be careful that you don't get on the work track. Jesus said, " 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father hasplaced his seal of approval." F. If you haven't accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are working for food that will spoil. VII. Prayer A. Gracious Lord, help us to see where you are working in the world today. There are so many distractions with blind us to your wonderful work. May we be filled afresh with your Holy Spirit that we might be closer to you and be empowered to join with you in the work you are doing today. Help us to reorient our lives to Your will so that your kingdom will come. If there is someone among us this morning who has not accepted Jesus as their Savior, may they receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. For it is in His name that we pray, Amen.