Sunday Gathering - John 4 : 43-54 - Myke Walters - Sermon Only

Thank you very much. As Andy said, my name is Micah. For those of you who don't know me,

I am part of the team that leads the youth here in MCF. I live here on the estate. We have done

for the last five years, me and my family. I have four wonderful kids, half of whom are represented

next to me. So when you hear the shouting, that's my responsibility and my fault. You're welcome.

and I forgot my clicker and I have a dog and I've got the compulsory dog picture if it works

which it doesn't hey there we go so and I have a dog so you're if you see me around the estate

you often see me my dog and my kids and you might recognize my front garden as well and

I literally I've met people on the estate like you're the one with the statues in your garden

aren't you? So, as a good youth worker, I have a quiz for you all. Oh, that's really

sad. So, I'm going to not be able to give you the hints. But I've got a quiz for you

all and there are prizes. So, I'm going to get my glamorous assistant to come up and

help. And we're going to think about what we've been talking about. We've been, if you

cast your minds back, glamorous assistant, if you cast your minds back, we have been

going through the book of John. So my first question is, what is John? Anybody for pride?

What is John? John is a person. He's one of the gospels. Well done. So who was John?

There's one of the four gospels in the New Testament. Who was John? Ali. He was one of

Jesus' disciples. Anyone else?

Dylan?

He was the loved disciple.

I literally wrote that down. Yeah, he was the

loved disciple. He was

probably the son

of Zebedee, brother of James.

So who, what?

Anybody know, bonus question,

anybody know when John was written?

When was John written?

John?

17.

17.

so around 70 AD to 100 AD so John was one of the disciples and in his latter years he was

essentially writing his memoirs and John decided to write his memoirs to write his recollection of

who Jesus was a little bit differently to Matthew Mark and Luke so that means that he constructs his

memoir a little bit differently and he does it very intentionally with using numbers and

highlighting specific things that Jesus said and does.

And at the end of his book, he tells us exactly why he is writing.

Oh, I missed the theme.

At the end of our book, he tells us exactly why he is writing his book.

He says, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples,

which are not recorded in this book.

But these, these ones that I have chosen are written so that you may believe

that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in

his name. So he has very, very specifically constructed his book with the purpose that

you will meet the living Saviour and Messiah through reading his book. So that's that part

of our recap. The next part is what books have we already heard? What parts of the story

have we already read through? So I've got your little picture to help you think. How does John

start? Very nice. In the beginning was the word. So it starts with this poem. I can't give chocolates

to you all, but you all did very well to give yourselves a round of applause. Then we go from

the poem in John, we go into the next part of John. John 2, anybody have that kind of memory?

yeah we've got the wedding in cana where um jesus turns water into wine that was ali again which

has already had a child um we then move on i didn't realize when i was reading too i didn't

realize that this was in this part of john yeah we have um so jesus moves from cana which is in

the north and he travels down into the south into jerusalem and in jerusalem he gets really angry

with the people in the temple

and he turns over tables

and there's a really good Red Collective song

that talks about it at the moment as well.

From Jerusalem, he travels back north again.

So he's doing lots of this.

He's traveling back north again.

I don't know who said Mary.

Chocolate, right at the back.

So he goes back to the north to Samaria

where he meets the woman at the well.

And this is really important

because this is what directly precedes the passage we're going to be looking at today.

And the woman at the well, he tells her everything that's happened in her life.

And she goes back to her town and goes, oh my goodness, I found this man.

He's told me everything that I know, everything about my life.

You have to come meet him.

And the passage finishes, because of his, Jesus' words, many more became believers.

And they, the Sumerians or the Sumeritans, said to the woman,

we no longer believe just because of what you have said, woman at the well.

But we believe, we have heard by ourselves,

and we know that this man really is the saviour of the world.

And based on his words, all of the Samaritans become believers.

And Mary Beth is going to read a passage to us now, which follows on.

Where's the microphone, Andy?

This passage follows on from this point,

where just based on what Jesus has said, the people believe.

After the two days, he departed for Galilee.

For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.

So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,

having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast.

For they too had gone to the feast.

So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine,

and at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.

When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee,

he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son,

for he was at the point of death.

So Jesus said to him,

Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.

The official said to him,

Sir, come down before my child dies.

Jesus said to him,

Go, your son will live.

The man believed that the words that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.

So he asked them the hour when he began to get better,

and they said to him, Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him.

The father knew that that was the hour when Jesus had said to him,

Your son will live, and he himself believed, and all his household.

This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

Thank you very much, my glamorous assistant.

Well done.

So I have a very important question for you.

What were you doing on Saturday, the 20th of February at 3.15 in the afternoon?

Anybody?

In 2016, sorry.

Important fact.

2016.

Anybody know?

Rough guess.

I can tell you exactly what I was doing.

That is the day that me and my husband got married.

And at that point, 3.16 in the afternoon, I was on my way down the aisle.

And I'd just seen a friend of mine.

I was very excited.

This man comes back from the, comes back.

Jesus has done all of this traveling.

He starts in Galilee.

He moves all the way down to Jerusalem, then he moves all the way back up to Samaria,

which is about 50 miles.

It's several days traveling.

He goes up through Samaria, comes back up to Cana, back to where he is.

And he meets this man, and this man knows that at this specific time,

one o'clock in the afternoon, an event happens that changes his life.

And what I want us to do today is to go through the passage a little bit over time,

because I found this passage quite challenging.

I'd like us to go through and get an understanding

of why is it that John has chosen to put it

into his sequence of signs

that are bringing us closer into a relationship with Jesus.

So we start with him coming back to Galilee

and he tells us no prophet is welcomed in his own town.

So why is he going back when he knows he's not going to be welcomed?

Why is he going back?

and the word for isn't always translated as for but it um it means because because jesus had said

that he wasn't welcomed he is intending to go back to the people who don't welcome him but it then

says he was welcome so what's going on no prophet is honored but he is welcome but they had seen

what he'd done in jerusalem so we're starting to think the people are coming they're not going to

give him honor but the only reason that they want him to go back is because of the things that they

see him doing. Whereas in direct contrast to how the Samaritans welcomed him just because

of what he said. He didn't do any signs with the woman. He just spoke to them and they

welcomed him. So we begin this passage with a direct contrast to what had happened before.

I wonder, for those of you here this morning, what has brought you here this morning? Have

you come because you want to see the signs and wonders? Have you come because somebody

has told you? Have you come because you want to experience more of who Jesus is? Like what

is bringing you here this morning out of the beautiful sunshine? The next, we next hear

that somebody has traveled again. So there's lots of movement in this passage. They've

traveled from Capernaum, which is about between 15 and 20 miles away from Cana. So again,

and full days walking and traveling.

And he's come, this official has come

because his son is ill.

He has come when he is completely broken.

I can't imagine what he must have been going through

when he leaves his house

knowing that his son will probably die.

Like that's a long day of walking

when you know that that's happening.

And maybe he heard about the signs.

Maybe he heard about the wine.

Maybe he heard about what was happening in Jerusalem.

but he knew that Jesus was his only hope.

Maybe all he knew was that Jesus was doing something

and that was his last option.

But he comes for this day's walk

and maybe that's something that you've heard as well.

Maybe you've heard that Jesus is the only option

but you don't really know that much about him.

You've just heard these mutterings or these whisperings

of things that he's done.

But Jesus' response at this point confused me so much

because when I hear about Jesus

when I think of Jesus, I think about this man who welcomes us openly and lovingly. He comes in

and he says, I have been waiting for you, so I want to welcome you. But instead of saying that

to this man who is coming and saying, my son is about to die, he says, unless you see the sons

and wonders, you will not believe. I'm like, that doesn't make sense. That's not the question I'm

asking. I'm asking you to heal my son. I'm not asking you about anything else. And it's important

that at this point we recognize that in the original language they had a word for you that

was plural so anybody who speaks other languages or speaks with a um like understands u.s dialect

will understand that y'all is quite a common phrase in most other languages and at this point

we need to insert y'all into it so unless y'all see the wonders and signs y'all will not believe

because he's speaking not only to the official

who's come from Capernaum to meet him,

he's also speaking to the people in Cana who already know him,

the people who he's grown up around,

the people who have said,

I know your dad and I know your brother,

and mate, who are you to say you are what you say you are?

Who are you to be changing how you're moving?

And he's speaking to them who have come and said,

I just want to see the stuff that everybody else is ranting about,

but I'm not really that bothered about knowing who you are.

And he's saying, unless y'all see the signs and wonders,

unless y'all see me move, you're not going to believe.

And he's challenging them because that's not why he came.

But previously, when he's talking to Nicodemus in John 3, he says,

For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son

so that he can have eternal life.

I've not come to be the sign maker.

I've come because we need a relationship

that restores us back into the relationship

we had at the very beginning

where we are one with God.

And that is why he's come.

He's come back on a restoration mission.

He's not just come back to do all of these

signs and wonders.

And it's a little bit like we are described,

the church body, the body of Christ

is described as the bride of Christ.

We have described in the terms of a covenant commitment,

like the ones that we make when we're getting married,

a perfect marriage that is based on trusting and loving

and daily laying down of our lives for the other person.

That is what Jesus does.

He commits to us and he says, I'm not going anywhere.

I love you and I will stay with you.

And I invite you to come into that relationship as well

and to be part of that relationship with me

where every day we are loving and trusting and communing

and walking together through life.

If I had stayed in this point, in this picture,

and not moved any further,

then everything that's happened over the last 10 years

wouldn't have happened

because I wouldn't have continued on my journey

where I actually made the promises to Toby

and then we travelled together.

We wouldn't be in Sheffield if I'd stopped at this point.

nothing else would have happened and so the official in the story says come because my

child's about to die and at that point Jesus says go your son will live and I wonder if he was a bit

disappointed he's like I've traveled for 10 days for not 10 days I've traveled for hours I've

traveled over 15 miles I asked you to come and you're not even moving what do you what do I do

now or I wonder if he was like okay I've got my response and now I for the next day of walking

I have to, every step I take, remember that Jesus said, go, my son's going to live,

and I just have to trust, and I just have to obey.

And it says that that's what he did, that he believed the word, and he went on his way.

And I wonder where you are in that walk, whether you have heard Jesus speak,

and now if you've heard Jesus speak, and what you need to do now is simply obey,

and you just simply need to take that first step, and as you take each step,

you need to keep remembering the promise that he has given you that that will keep you moving

i wonder um how many of you have heard of love languages a couple of you so there's um

there's five languages there's acts of service physical touch words of affirmation gifts and

quality time and the idea is that this is the way that we receive love and but different people

receive love in different ways. So if you're somebody who's like a real gifts person and the

person just keeps telling you how wonderful you are, you're like, well, it doesn't matter. You

haven't given me anything. I don't really believe what you're saying. So the whole concept is that

we receive and we give love in different ways and we need to recognize the person in front of us to

love them properly. I heard a while ago, God's love language is obedience. And this man exhibits

that perfectly jesus says go and he obeys he just goes and as he's going he meets it says

he meets his servants on the way and yet the servants come and they come with the fantastic

news your son is healed and he the father asks when was he healed which i think is a fair question

i think i'd want to know the same thing and they say it was and they say it was the seventh hour

which is also translated as one o'clock in the afternoon.

And he recognizes that's exactly the same time

that Jesus had said the word, your son will live.

And so he returned knowing that Jesus has completed,

Jesus has fulfilled his word

at the time when he returns home.

And as he goes, he could have just left it there.

As he goes, he could have said, great, my son is better.

let's carry on with the life that we were living but he doesn't it says the last sentence in this

he believed and all of his household so not only did he receive the healing but he actually

decided to change the way he was living in response to that him and all of his household

his belief came with a matched action and it's i i think this is amazing because there was nothing

the man could have done that deserved the healing that his son received. He went and he asked but it

wasn't because of him being an official that Jesus healed him and it wasn't because he'd walked the

15 miles that Jesus healed him and it wasn't because he asked nicely that Jesus healed him.

Jesus heals him out of grace and out of compassion and grace is freely receiving what we do not

deserve. And he acts often before we do. Jesus doesn't need us to do anything or to earn

anything. He says, I'm going to act and I'm going to heal. And to be honest, you don't

even have to believe in me. The payment of the healing isn't your obedience or isn't

your belief. Just because you don't believe doesn't mean that the healing goes away. But

But as a response to the healing, the sign is simply there to point us to a greater relationship,

to point us to something so much bigger than the sign itself,

because the point of this entire sign isn't the fact that the boy got healed.

The point of the sign is that he's calling us into a relationship with him

where he wants to walk more closely with us.

they lead us the signs lead us into a relationship with Jesus and return us into a right relationship

with God and they're not enough to satisfy the boy got and the boy was healed but he will get

sick again because that is what happens in life at that point he was made better but the whole

point of this sign isn't that we will then be okay the point of the sign is that we then move

into relationship with Jesus who does satisfy and when he's talking to the Samaritan in

earlier on in the chapter, he says, I am the living water. Whoever drinks with me will never

be thirsty again because he is wanting to satisfy our physical needs and our spiritual needs. And

our spiritual needs are satisfied through Christ. And as we go through the book of John, he will

keep pointing that out. He said, John wants us to understand that there is far more to Jesus than

simply the miracles that we see before him. And that he wants us to hold on to the relationship

with Christ he says I've come for you and I want a relationship with you but do you want a

relationship with me and that is the question today like where are you on your journey with

Christ are you at the point where you're still seeing signs but you haven't made that step yet

where you want a relationship with him where where you speak to him every day or maybe you're in the

point where Jesus is asking you to do something and you need to take that step of obedience

Or maybe we simply need to say again,

I wake up this morning and I want to have a relationship with you.

So as we finish, that is my question.

I would really love us to take some time to reflect,

to think about where is it that you are in your journey today

and where is it that Jesus is sitting with you.

So if we could pray.

so thank you Jesus that you came

for us, that you love us

that you see us and that you want

to hold us

in relationship

Jesus I pray that you would show

me what the next step is

and Holy Spirit

I pray that you would give us the strength

and the obedience to follow that

Amen