“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”

Wait a minute, there is my loophole! ”Those who listen to my message…”

What if I have never heard the message of Jesus? What if I come from a country that forbids the Bible and outlaws the teaching of Christianity, officially, if not in practice? What if my parents are atheists and teach me from a very early age that God and Jesus are fairy tales?

What if…

OK, so let’s say you are an adult and you have never heard of Jesus and have no way of finding out about him in any way. This is extremely unlikely in this age of information, but let’s say you don’t know anything about him. Then the Bible does address this.

If a person cannot reasonably trust in Jesus because there is no way to know about him, then according to the Bible, there is a way. 

Romans 2

When outsiders who have never heard of God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman.

But, instead of considering those who don’t know Jesus let’s consider those of us who do know him. Jesus is amazing! His special love for us changes everything!

If we trust in Jesus as our Lord and respond to him as our Savior, then we will live forever from that point on with him! We have been born into the new creation when we Jesus takes us into God’s family. Through Jesus we are dead to the old creation and the old ways, and now we are living in the new creation. Already. Our physical bodies don’t last forever but we do. We will never die out. And when Jesus raises us from the dead, when he comes again at the end of time, on that day we will continue to live out our lives, only at that time we will be given a new body that lasts forever. 

ME

What was your view of heaven when you were a child? How has this changed?

In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.

When we see the word “judges” or “judgment,” the root of these words has to do with decisions. When you are judged or judging, it is about deciding what will be your outcome. “Consequences” would be an equivalent word today. To receive judgment is to receive consequences for your action. and out of this same root word, krisis,  comes the English word, “crisis.”

The crisis everyone faces is that Jesus and our relationship with him become the measure of our honoring or dishonoring God.  We honor God’s ways by honoring the ways of Jesus. The consequences of not following Jesus and his way leads to spiritual death. Separation from God.

We also dishonor Jesus by denying what he has done for us. It looks like this. If it is true that he died for my sins and made it possible for me to live eternally with God, but I don’t acknowledge this, I don’t thank him, I ignore him, it would be like not acknowledging someone who risked his own life to enter a burning building to get me out. I purposefully ignore the hero who saved me.

There are consequences for not honoring Jesus. If you don’t want Jesus in your life, you don’t want God, and he will honor that request. Separation from God forever is the end result. This is hell, and hell is the best God can do with someone who doesn’t want him.

But, aren’t there exceptions?

It is not my place to do God’s thinking for him and come up with exceptions of my own that are going to deny there is a hell. Some theory that attempts to show how non-Christians are saved.

Here are two common examples of Christians trying to find a loophole for non-Christians:

“Jesus works for me, but I’m sure there are other ways.”

“In the end, a God of love will save everyone.”

To the first example, you may be sure there are other ways, but I don’t trust you. Jesus said, “I am the way.” I trust Jesus more than I trust you. 

The second example  doesn’t describe a God of love. Think about it. God allows people to reject him now, and he doesn’t force himself on anyone. People who don’t want God in their life are left alone.  But when that person dies, they are the same person. In the afterlife, if God then forces them to live with him forever, this is not love. This is kidnapping. To force your affections on someone else is assault. Abuse. 

Now, God will do whatever he will do, and he will be exactly right in what he is doing. But, I have no biblical basis to follow or teach any other way but Jesus. And, even trying to use logic, those views, “I’m sure there are other ways,” and “Everyone will be saved,” don’t make sense.

ME

We don’t worship a predator, we worship a kind and gracious protector. What does this mean to you?

In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.

This gives us insight into what Jesus is saying.  The essence of who God is, is seen in the behavior of Jesus. What’s God like? Look at Jesus. In fact, Jesus claims God is showing him everything. And notice this is Jesus as a human being. His followers can see what he is doing. Jesus is saying there are things he will be able to do on his father’s behalf, like raising people from the dead!   

Jesus already has given us a hint of this earlier from John 2.

All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.

Jesus is connecting God giving new life, to his own work of following God and he, Jesus, giving new life.

ME

If God comes to us as Jesus, why would we not want to learn everything possible from him?  What can you do this week to learn more?

So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing.

Up until modern times in our society, many sons would follow in the footsteps of their father’s livelihood. When a son would do this he might be called an “apprentice.”  But, mainly, in our culture, the passing down of occupation from father to son is a thing of the past. But, both sons and daughters do follow this same tradition in another way. From both fathers and mothers to a significant degree, we do what we see our fathers and mothers doing. Family traits, whatever the language, we see this in our own lives.

ME

What family traits have you carried forward? Remember these can be helpful or unhelpful!

This was why the Judaeans began to persecute Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath. This was Jesus’ response to them. ‘My father’, he said, ‘is going on working, and so am I!’ So for this reason the Judaeans were all the more eager to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath, but spoke of God as his own father, making himself equal to God.

‘My father,’ Israel’s God, is in the process of launching the new creation. This is taking over the old creation, including healing a sin sick world. It is time for the new creation.

You can’t expect this to be a popular point of view by the law-observant Judaeans. Jesus is meeting his sharpest resistance. As these miracles build up, their opposition will become fiercer. 

People are realizing the cost of following where Jesus is pointing. These Judaean Jews become violently opposed to Jesus, especially the Jerusalem crowd, which eventually turns into plots to kill him. 

So, if Jesus is bringing in healing and new creation, why is it being held up?

Jesus is meeting great resistance by the religious leaders. They suffer from the sin of having to be right. The sin of not seeing God at work how he wants to work, not how they want him to work. The Judaeans opposing Jesus are simply not ready for the new creation. In the first chapter of John we have already heard this warning.

“He came to his own, and his own didn’t accept him.”

They were not ready for the new creation, and they were not ready for the living Word to come to them with new words to say. They are stuck on what they know. This will reach its climax on the cross.

We continue to see this today. 

With the resurrection, the new creation comes for the whole world. Jesus brings in God’s Kingdom and invites everyone to come in. People still react angrily to it. 

We saw an example of this recently. Maybe you didn’t hear about it because the main stream media didn’t  widely report on it. It is real news. Big news. Russell Vought was being vetted by the Senate to become deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. Sounds pretty boring, right?

Well, during the hearing, Senator Bernie Sanders expressed his opposition to this candidate, because, are you ready for it, because he is a Christian. What makes Vought unfit for office is he believes that it is only through Jesus that a person is saved. In other words, Senator Sanders is infuriated by basic Christian teaching. 

Here is what Sanders said about Jesus being the only way.

“It is indefensible, it is hateful, it is Islamophobic, and it is an insult to over a billion Muslims throughout the world.”

In other words, is Bernie Sanders saying the vast majority of all members of Congress, the vast majority of all people in political office throughout the United States, all of whom are Christians, are hateful, Islamophobic, and an insult to over a billion Muslims throughout the world?

Bernie Sanders has no idea what he is talking about. 

All religions have exclusive claims. Certainly Islam does. And even if a religion or a philosophy says there are no exclusive claims, that in and of itself, is an exclusive claim. 

No, you don’t get to vote on Jesus. God is inviting all people to come to him and be part of his family. This invitation comes through Jesus. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” 

Yes, God will do whatever God wants to do. I am sure God will do exactly what’s right. But, I can’t teach any other way, but Jesus. I don’t know any other way but Jesus.  And I trust in Jesus as the way more than I trust a politician trying to get his way.

Yes, people still get angry about the claim that Jesus rose from the dead and rules now. Jesus is God. He is not just God for me. He is God of everyone. And everyone faces the question. Do you receive what Jesus did for you and do you trust in him to rule in your life? 

ME

Be a light for Jesus this week and know he is there with you.

The man went off and told the Judaeans that it was Jesus who had healed him. 

The healed man is a dufus. Instead of enjoying his chance to worship God at the Temple, instead of beginning his whole new life, he is more interested in ratting out Jesus. I don’t know what he expects to gain from doing back to the Judaean’s. Maybe he thinks they are still going to prosecute him for carrying the mattress. 

But, consider this. Are there times when we receive a great blessing from God and we rejoice, and then we forget about giving him glory. We don’t change our lives. This is a mystery.

As a pastor over the years, I have seen a strange phenomena that connects to this. People begin to be faithful in their worship, prayer life, and other ways, really seeking God’s help in their life.  And then, sure enough, they receive unusual favor from God, whether it is a great healing, getting a good job after a long unemployment, being reconciled with an estranged family member and then- boom! They fall back into a pattern of not giving God glory. Just, taking him for granted.

Don’t let this be you. Don’t ever take God for granted. How we live our live’s of faith when things are going well is a strong sign of how much we love God in the first place.

ME

This week, find a new way to focus on God’s blessing.

But the man who’d been healed didn’t know who it was. Jesus had gone away, and the place was crowded. After this Jesus found the man in the Temple. ‘Look!’ he said. ‘You’re better again! Don’t sin any more, or something worse might happen to you!’

Here are some helpful Bible verses. When God shows up in powerful ways, it may just go unnoticed. The healed man doesn’t know who Jesus is and he doesn’t even try to follow him. He doesn’t try to thank him. And Jesus doesn’t wait around until he does. Why is this helpful? 

We follow Jesus and do things we think he would do if he were us, as a way of life. Not to get people to notice us. Not to have someone thank us. After all, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are able to be used for works of power, and the same Holy Spirit also makes sure you realize it is him not you. 

What happens next?

The man who is healed has the chance to go to the Temple for the first time in 38 years. If you are disabled you can’t go in the Temple, but there he is! I guess he dropped his mattress off somewhere! Jesus sees him and gives a biblical lesson in paradox. The Bible is filled with paradox. One thing is true and so is another thing that is extremely different. Jesus is God and Jesus is a man, for instance. Our works are a sign of our faith, and we are not saved by our works. The paradox we see here is about healing.

Here, Jesus connects the man’s disability with sin.

At other times, Jesus says disease and disability has nothing to do with personal sin. John 9.

As Jesus passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned…”

Here we see the paradox. Jesus is implying the disabled man was in his crippling condition because of his own sin. But, later, Jesus says the condition of the man born blind has nothing to do with anyone’s sin. 

It seems some sicknesses may be related to some sins but you can’t and shouldn’t deduce the one from the other. Even when we say it is a lifestyle choice with unhealthy habits, there are plenty of  people who have those same habits who are doing fine. 

ME

Have you ever thought of any challenges, any setbacks, in your own life as having a connection to not following God’s ways?

‘Well,’ he replied, ‘the man who cured me told me to pick up my mattress and walk!’ ‘Oh, really?’ they said. ‘And who is this man, who told you to pick it up and walk?’ 

“The man who cured me…” This is a big deal in ancient Jewish teaching. 

You see, according to Isaiah 36:6, when the Messiah comes, 

“Then the lame man shall leap as a deer…” 

I guess these guys ought to be mildly interested. They are witnessing a miracle only the Messiah is capable of performing, according to their prophecy.  

Instead, they are more interested in their power. It is being able to show how they are right and this man is wrong. They don’t see this having to do with the power of God, they see it as about their own power, the power of their interpretation of God’s word.

Sabbath is good for us. It is the way God shows us the importance of rest and abiding with him and with the people we are closest with. God is in charge of 100% of our lives, and, on purpose, he wants us to delve deeply into why 14%, a sabbath day, is a gift from him. And also a commandment. God says, “I rest, so you rest.”

This is radically different compared to other ancient cultures. The sabbath is for everyone, servants and all, and the sabbath is even for their animals. No other religion had this rest in mind. 

But, the Judaean’s aren’t looking at this as a gift. They are trying to use this commandment as a threat. 

‘Oh, really?’ they said. ‘And who is this man, who told you to pick it up and walk?’ 

Don’t they know where the healing comes from? It looks to us that these guys are thick as bricks. I mean, if you are waiting for a Messiah since the time of Moses, about 1200 years, and then a guy comes along and tells a paralyzed guy to get up and walk…Well, who could it be, but…

ME

Do you celebrate a sabbath? A day of rest and refreshment? A day to go deeper with the Lord?