The Grand Reveal - July 5th, 2026

And uh I've been here my entire life. So just wanted to just share that uh it's an honor and a privilege for me to share the word with you today. So good morning, veganites. That's not an official title of our name, but we it's just an easy thing to say. And for those of you visiting us today, I hope that you come and uh just continue to just see how great this congregation and this ministry is. So it is wonderful to worship with you today. Just as Howard spoke a month ago and Stephen did last week, I am honored to take the baton and step up to the pulpit. Pastor Peter is away, and so I'll admit as uh just being in his steps, doing his sermon or doing a sermon in his stead is kind of nerve-wracking.

It's been a while since I last delivered a sermon, but it truly is a privilege to bring the word of God to you this morning. So we'll see how this goes. If you are unhappy with anything that I say or dissatisfied, please give all your complaints to Pastor Peter. He'll be here next week, okay. Uh, but in all seriousness, I am deeply humbled and grateful to be able to share what the Lord has been teaching me through the study of his word. The passage of scripture we are looking at today came directly out of my small group's New Testament reading plan in the Gospel of John. In a total coincidence to Stephen preaching from John chapter 4 last week, my passage comes from John chapter 5. But I suppose in God's providence this was no accident.

So to catch us up on the geography and movement of Jesus' ministry, Stephen showed us last week in chapter 4 how Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at Jacob's wood in Sakar. After that, Jesus traveled up to Galilee, where in the city of Cana, he miraculously healed a royal official's dying son who was back in Capanon. Following his time in Galilee, Jesus heads back south to the region of Judea, where now in chapter 5, he arrives in the city of Jerusalem for an unnamed Jewish feast. On the Sabbath, Jesus heads to the pool of Bethesda, where our story begins today. While my sermon will focus on verses 16 to 20, I will also read verses 5 through 15 in order to add more context to the passage.

So if you are able, please stand for the reading of God's word. And a man was there who had been sick for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sick a long time, he said to him, Do you wish to get well? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool where the water when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your mat and walk. And immediately the man became well and picked up his mat and began to walk. Now it was a Sabbath on that day. So the Jews saying to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat. But he answered them, He who made me well was the one who said to me, Pick up your mat and walk.

They asked him, Who is the man who said this to you? Pick up your mat and walk. But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus has slipped away while there was a cloud a crowd in that place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, Behold, you have become well. Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you. The man went away and disclosed to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. And for this reason, the Jews were persecuting Jesus because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But he answered them, My Father is working until now, and I myself am working. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but was also calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.

Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying to them, Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing from himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, these things, these things the Son also does in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself is doing, and the Father will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. This is the reading of God's word. Please be seated. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. I ask that the words from my mouth come from the full inspiration and guidance of your spirit. May this time be glorifying for your kingdom's sake. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Our recent churchwide Bible studies have been an enlightening experience filled with deep learning, fruitful discussion, and a desire to interpret the word accurately. As a congregation, we have been challenged to look at scripture through an intentional framework, carefully breaking down verses through observation, interpretation, and application. OIA. This, as you know, is what Pastor Peter calls Oya. In applying the first step while doing my New Testament reading of this passage, my initial observations were thoughts about the Jewish people's relationship with Yahweh. I started asking questions like was it wrong for the Jewish people to think of God as a father? And why is it that I can confidently confidently call God my father, but they don't.

To completely to be completely transparent with you, when I was first sitting down to read this text, my mind was occupied with thoughts of my own children. I have three beautiful kids with my amazing wife Tiff. For those of you who are parents, you know that when your children are going through a tough time, you go through a tough time too. And Tiff and I were having one of those seasons with our kids. So naturally, my personal perspective was heavily skewed toward the emotional, relational dynamics between God the Father and Jesus the Son. However, as I continued to study through this passage, it became clear there was more to what Jesus said than what I initially thought. And that is why reading, studying, and meditating on the scripture is so important.

Because the more you do those things, the more the work of the Holy Spirit clarifies and shapes your understanding of the word. So while there is a portion of my sermon that will discuss how Christ being the Son to God the Father affected our relationship with God, there are a couple more things in this passage about Jesus as the Son of God I would like to draw, I would like to share with you as well. So this sermon is my interpretation and my attempt at my attempt at interpretation. Here is the main theme I gathered from John chapter 5, verses 16 through 20. Jesus' response to the religious leaders wasn't just a sentimental statement about being a child of God.

This is broken down into three points. Here is my sermon outline as follows.

One, through his work on the Sabbath, verses 16 and 17. Two, through his proclamation of equality with God, in verses 18. And three, through his relationship with the Father, verse 19 and 20.

My daughter Hazel is my oldest child, and she is a stickler for what is right. When someone does something that she deems unfair or flat out wrong, she gets deeply upset. At times her level of anger doesn't seem to match the scale of the offense. But to her young mind, it feels like the worst thing in the world at that time. It doesn't necessarily mean to be directed at her. But if it, if a friend or a group of friends is wronged, her desire for justice is triggered. Most recently, right after her elementary school, right before her elementary school graduation, all the fifth graders joined together for one final game of dodgeball. As they were dodging and ducking, and the game was uh the game was repeatedly disrupted by a group of boys.

Go figure. They kept stalling play by kicking and throwing the ball away, thinking it was absolutely hilarious. My initial thought was, yeah, that sounds totally annoying, but boys that age or that age are just like that. They do foolish things because they think it's funny, completely unbothered by the fact it comes at the expense of everyone else's enjoyment. So those type of kids will only learn if a teacher intervenes. Well, that didn't happen. Hazel was so frustrated by the injustice of those boys ruining the give ruining the game without facing any consequences that she came home and broke down. As she explained what happened through a burst of tears, she dramatically declared, I can't stand them.

I can't bear to go to school tomorrow. And she ran up to her room, and at that moment I had two thoughts that crossed my mind. As a father to a blossoming young girl, I thought, good, maybe she won't like boys for a while. And two, wow, she really cares about people doing the right thing. Bless her little heart. And she did go to school. This same intense protective anger mirrors how the Jewish leaders reacted to Jesus. They were furious with him because he performed a miracle on the Sabbath. In their eyes, his healing of the lame man was a double offense. Not only was the miracle itself considered an act of work that violated the law, but by telling the healed man to carry his met, Jesus has caused that man to break the law as well.

To understand their fury, we have to understand how sacred the Sabbath was to the Jewish people. This day of complete rest was designed to honor the order of creation. God worked for six days to form the universe. And in this, and then he rested on the seventh day. We see that in Genesis 2.2. This idea of a holy day of rest was so important to God, it was the fourth commandment he gave Moses in Exodus chapter 20, verse 8. God continued to remind them to keep the Sabbath day holy throughout Exodus. In one example, God explicitly warns that anyone who violates this holy day must face the ultimate penalty. Exodus 31, 15 says, six days' work may be done, but on the seventh day there was a Sabbath of complete rest holy to Yahweh.

Whoever does my work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. Desiring to honor their covenant and understandably, no one wants to die in a technicality, the Israelites began creating human clarifications to define exactly what constituted work. In an effort to protect God's commandments, they went way above and beyond what was actually required. Over the centuries, this beautiful gift of Sabbath rest was transformed into a tedious, exhausting, and legalistic burden. This brings us back to the layman and his met. Under the oral traditions of the religious leaders, carrying an item from one domain to another was strictly classified as work. In Hebrew, this is known as chutzah. Can you guys say chutza?

Chutza is the act of transporting an object from one domain to another. Their logic dictated that carrying an item creates physical strain. Therefore, the body is working, not resting. By this legalistic mindset, healing a person, even miraculously, was viewed as an improper medical practice. Unless a life was an immediate danger, medical care was strictly forbidden until the Sabbath ended. This is a root cause of the hostility and persecution directed toward Jesus in verse 16. However, Jesus completely shatters their legalistic framework with his response. My father is working until now, and I myself am working. In this story, Jesus revealed two profound reasons why he works on the Sabbath.

The first reason, Jesus works on the Sabbath because God never stops working on the Sabbath. The religious leaders misunderstood the meaning of God's rest. When Genesis 2.2 says God rested, it means he finished the initial work of creation, the work of his hands. But Isaiah chapter 40, verse 20, makes it clear that our all-powerful God never becomes weary or tired. And as Colossians 1:16 through 17 shows us shows us and we said this morning, he is the one who continues continuously sustains, governs, and holds the universe together. For in him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers of authorities, all things have been created through him and for him.

God's providential work of sustaining life never ceases, and the rules of the and the rules of the Sabbath were never meant to restrict the creator himself. The second reason Jesus works on the Sabbath is because he understands the heart of the Father. Look at the scene at the pool of Bethesda. A multiple of sick people gathered there hoping to be a miracle, hoping for a miracle for them to be healed. Among them was this poor man who had been suffering for 38 years. He was so close to watch others get healed, but he was too slow to get into the water himself. Why did no one help him? Because in that legalistic culture, carrying a man to help him get healed would mean breaking the Sabbath law.

The religious leaders cared more about policing their rules and relieving 38 years of misery. But Jesus ignored their rules, where others passed by this man to keep their legalistic laws.

By claiming the authority to work, just as his father works.

So the second point, Jesus' son revealed he is Lord through his proclamation of equality with God. Verse 18.

I am a Star Wars fan. I don't really consider myself a super fan, but I've seen all the old stuff, and I may get a point to watch any new movie or TV show that comes out. Well, when I have time.

No, I am your father. My young brain couldn't begin to compute what I just heard. What? How was Luke Darth Vader's son? My reaction was the same as Luke's. No, that's not possible. But sure enough, it gets explained, and the reveal ended up being the truth. To a much lesser degree, this is how I imagined the rabbis in Jerusalem reacted to what Jesus said in verse 17. In a complete shock to their system, look at the at how they reacted to Jesus' words in verse 18. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but was also calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Notice the immediate change here. The Jewish leaders went from being angry and challenging him in verse 16 to actively killing, seeking to kill him in verse 18.

Why? Because to them, Jesus was just a common man, flesh and bones like them, subject to the same rules and laws.

First, in their eyes, Jesus was breaking, or Jesus was a Sabbath lawbreaker. He did this repeatedly throughout the New Testament. He healed on the Sabbath. But second, on a far more offensive thing to their ears, he was calling God his own father. My father. In verse 17, translated in Greek is.

But they do not, but they do all their deeds to notice, be noticed by men, for they broadened their phylacteries and lengthened the tassels of their garments, and they loved the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by men. For generations, they had confined their understanding of God into a legalistic construct, and their hearts had become hardened in self-righteous pride. The Israelites thought they knew exactly who God was. But through his son Jesus, God revealed who he really is. The Jewish leaders had a choice to make. Either Jesus was a blasphemer who rightfully deserved death as a mere man, or he was exactly who he claimed to be, God in the flesh.

There is no middle ground. In believing Jesus' claims, it would have changed everything about how they viewed and worshiped God, how they lived. The Jewish leaders heard this radical claim of equality and immediately wanted to execute from him for blasphemy. But Jesus didn't back down. Instead, he leaned in.

So I began to pray right away for my future wife. Not really knowing whether God had a plan for me to be a father, I always tacked on a request to have children. Specifically, I wanted a son. Well, God gave me a beautiful wife, daughter, and not one, but two sons, all of whom I love so much. God is so good. Growing up, I had a tough relationship with my dad. We loved each other, but we were divided by language and cultural barriers that made connecting as a father and son difficult. Many times, in my short-sighted view, I didn't think he was a good father. I thought if I had my own son, I would do all the things with my child that my dad didn't do with me. In other words, I thought I could do a better job.

Being a last key kid, my parents were always out working. So I stayed home and watched an unhealthy amount of television. Some of the shows I watched were reruns of the Andy Griffith Show, Leave It to Beaver, and The Brady Bunch. I don't know if any of you guys know what those shows are. They're all in black and white and some in color, but they're old. Each of these shows featured a prominent father who spent meaningful quality quality time with his sons, fishing, flying kites, playing sports. It was the ultimate idealistic version of what a father should be. A wholesome man with upstanding values who loved his family, always spoke in the perfect tone, and knew exactly what to say in every situation.

While my dad did have upstanding values and did love his family, he did not speak in the perfect tone and rarely gave me any personal advice. He was a prototypical first-generation immigrant father who only broke his stoic silence to issue gruff commands, make brief comments, or give the occasional disapproving when I misbehaved. And that happened a lot. Lacking the maturity to understand who my father truly was, I only viewed him as a harsh, reverential figure whose main priority was ensuring that I didn't embarrass him. Yet, looking back, I realized that just as I desired an intimate and close relationship with my father, he probably wanted the exact same thing with me. In Jesus' relationship with God, he shows us the precise type of intimate, loving relationship we are always meant to have with God the Father.

When Jesus called God his Father, the religious leaders reacted with violent hostility. To understand why we have to recognize how the Jewish people viewed God at the time. It wasn't wrong for them to think of God as a father. The Old Testament does refer to God that way. But the understanding of that relationship was mere was entirely corporate and distant. When Old Testament books like Deuteronomy or Malachi referred to God as Father, they meant it strictly in the sense of God as grand creator, the one who formed them and created the universe. Deuteronomy 32 6. Is he is not he your father who brought you, who has brought you?

Do we not all have one father? Has he not one God created us? Their relationship with him was built out of out of reverence, distance, and fear, not personal love and intimacy.

The difference with Jesus lies in entirely in the unique uncreated relationship he shares with the Father. Jesus didn't claim, Jesus didn't just claim God was a father. He claimed God was his own personal father. As the text unfolds, Jesus explains this dynamic by showing his complete unity with him. John 5 19 to 20. Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying to them, Truly, truly I say to you, the son can do nothing from himself unless it is something he sees the father doing. For whatever the father goes, father does, these things the son also does in the same manner. For the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself is doing. And the father will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.

Look at the words Jesus uses here. He describes a relationship of perfect alignment, transparency, and deep affection. He basically tells the religious leaders, I don't act independently, I only do what I see my father doing. To truly appreciate what Jesus is revealing here, we have to look back at the grand narrative of Scripture. In the beginning, God created humanity out of an overflow of his perfect eternal love, so we could walk with him in unbroken fellowship. But the fall of Adam and Eve changed everything. Sin brought immediately immediate separation, hiding God's face from us. Isaiah 59, 2 tells us, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

How to love God, the Ten Commandments, hundreds of civil laws, a complex system of sacrifices, just to interact safely with the holy God. Because of the barrier of sin, they could only relate to him as a distant sovereign God. They could never truly know him as Abba Father. So the word Abba sounds so close to the Korean word for dad, which is abba. So it gets the treatment. In Hebrew, av means father. The Aramaic link Aramaic language of Jesus' time, which was a sister language to Hebrew, added an A, which meant the word the as, which meant the word the. So combining that A with the root word avant the Father. This changed this changed the structure of the V to sound more like a B.

So av became Abba. The resulting literation led to the spelling of A B B A. Anyone who under anyone who used that word in referring to their father, use it lovingly in the most intimate way a son can call his father, dad. Jesus cried out to his Abba in the most vulnerable time of his life, right before he served his grand purpose of dying on the cross to atone for our sins. Mark 14, 36. And he was saying, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yeah, not what I will, but you will.

Through his perfect relationship with the Father, Jesus initiates a great exchange. Because of Christ's unique sonship, we are given the right to be adopted into the family of God.

For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out, Abba Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children also heirs, heirs of God and follow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him. As the apostle Paul says here, we no longer receive a spirit of slavery leading to fear. Instead, through Jesus, the bridge is built.

Because of Jesus, we can approach the Almighty Creator with the secure intimacy of a child, running to a loving parent, crying out, Abba Father. It's a humbling reality.

So here are three for today. One, in what areas of your life are you treating your faith more like a checklist of legalistic rules to follow rather than an intimate relationship with God? Who are you judging because you care more about rules than showing a compassionate heart? Two.

Thoughts, finances, relationships, etc. Are you trying to control rather than fully submitting it to his authority? And third, what in your current or old wounds from tough experiences, emotional trauma, family history, etc., do you need to surrender in order to embrace your identity as an adopted child of Abba Father. I'd like to conclude with this. Being a father now to my kids is a humbling experience because for everything good that you want your kids to learn from you, they pick up as much or more of what is bad. Even though I vowed not to do the same things my father did to me, I am my father's son. I am as flawed a man as my father was, and in the wisdom that comes with age and time, I realized that it wasn't so much that my dad was a bad father.

It was me just being a bad son. My father loved me more than I understood or even cared to acknowledge. Brothers and sisters. God the Father, from the beginning of time, has always loved us more than we could ever know. Vastly more than we could ever love him back. Because the Lord Jesus came to do the work of the Father, he showed the world who God truly is, and he restored the intimate relationship we were always meant to have with him. Let us pray. Father, I ask that you continue to bless my brothers and sisters here. Not because of what I said, but because of what you wanted them to know.

We thank you for the Son who came and revealed your true nature and the relationship we have with you. Thank you for sending Christ the Lord to take our place, reminding us of your great love for us. May the love and intimacy we as your children have with you grow. In your son's holy name we pray. Amen.