1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, and thank you for listening to your 2 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: Daily Bible Verse, the podcast that examines the Bible each 3 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: day to learn more about God and his will for us. 4 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Shaka Hines, and after this short word 5 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: from our sponsor, will dive into today's verse in John five, 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: verse sixteen. Today's Bible verse is John five sixteen. So 7 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the 8 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: Jewish leaders began to persecute him. Now, I gotta tell you, 9 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: I'm a rule follower. I do really well with black 10 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: and white. You know, do this, don't do that. I'm 11 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: not good it shades of gray. And I also began 12 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: my Christian journey in a very legalistic church and with 13 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: many religious rules to follow. I was in my element. 14 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: We were good at taking biblical commands and putting layers 15 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,320 Speaker 1: around them so we didn't accidentally cross the line in 16 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,759 Speaker 1: the sin now. One such biblical instruction was confessing your 17 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: sin now. First, John one nine teaches that God will 18 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,040 Speaker 1: forgive us when we confess, and James five sixteen even 19 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: teachers that confessing your sins to each other is a 20 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: good thing. But both my natural tendencies and my religious tradition. 21 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: It took the biblical truth and made it a legalistic command. 22 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 1: It was something like this, you must confess every sin 23 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: to someone else for God to forgive you. Suddenly, guilt 24 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 1: and shame dogged me if I wasn't open with someone 25 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: about every wrong I could think of. And as you 26 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: might imagine, this kind instant stress did not lead me 27 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: to the peace Christ desired for me to have. In 28 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: John five, we find Jesus again at odds with the 29 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,359 Speaker 1: Jewish leaders because he healed a man described as being 30 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: an invalid for thirty eight years and even commanded him 31 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: to pick up his mat and walk all on the Sabbath. Now, 32 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: the Sabbath or Shabbat was a day set apart by 33 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: God and the Ten Commandments, to be celebrated every seventh day. 34 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: Exodus twenty, verse eleven. Moses taught that it was a 35 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: day that belonged to the Lord because God and Self 36 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: worked for six days during creation and rested on the seventh. 37 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 1: Exodus thirty five two states, for six days works to 38 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, 39 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does 40 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: any work on it is to be put to death. 41 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: Moses further clarifies and Deuteronomy five that the Sabbath was 42 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: to be a day of rest, extending to servants and 43 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: even the animals, to remind the Israelites that they had 44 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: once been slaves in Egypt but had been rescued by 45 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: the Lord. Now, by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, 46 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: the Pharisees and religious leaders had a vast tradition of 47 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: oral laws regarding the Sabbath. They were later codified in 48 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 1: the Mishnah and expanded in the Talmud. These rules prohibited 49 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: thirty nine specific types of work, and carrying a burden 50 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: from one domain to another was strictly prohibited. Although the Torah, 51 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: the biblical law, didn't prohibit acts of mercy on the Sabbath, 52 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:46,839 Speaker 1: the oral law only allowed for intervention and situations where 53 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: a person's life was in imminent danger or there was 54 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: a reasonable risk of a situation becoming life threatening. Now, 55 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: from the narrative in John five, it is clear that 56 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: this man the man, he'd been in this condition for 57 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: many years, so there's no indication he was at risk 58 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: of imminent death when Jesus found him. But Jesus healed 59 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: him anyway, and I believe to make it clear that 60 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 1: he was challenging the religious leader's misconceptions about the Sabbath. 61 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,359 Speaker 1: Jesus also commands the man to pick up his mat 62 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: and walk, a clear violation of their rules, and the 63 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: scripture says because of Jesus's actions on the Sabbath, the 64 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:36,720 Speaker 1: Jewish leaders began to persecute him. Jesus could have performed 65 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: this miracle on any of the acceptable days, but he 66 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: chose the Sabbath. Now, with my own struggle with legalism, 67 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: it's easy for me to understand why the Jews created 68 00:04:47,400 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: so many layers of protection to surround the law. After all, 69 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: their ancestor's disobedience had led to captivity, the destruction of 70 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:01,479 Speaker 1: Solomon's temple, and the dismantling of their nation. Also, the 71 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:06,040 Speaker 1: Torah clearly states that punishment for the desecration of the 72 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: Sabbath is death. Their laws and traditions listen. They weren't 73 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: created and applied flippantly. They were developed with a sincere 74 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: desire to remain right with God. But Jesus often challenged, challenged, 75 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: and rightly defined religious traditions that had become stumbling blocks 76 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: keeping people from recognizing him as the way to have 77 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: a relationship with God. These Jewish leaders were so busy 78 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: enforcing their own regulations that they were unable to recognize 79 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:45,799 Speaker 1: the presence of God in Jesus the Miracle Worker. Instead 80 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: of celebrating with their Jewish brother, whom God loved and 81 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 1: relieved of his suffering, they persecuted Jesus. Fearful rule following 82 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: took them from a people of God whose hearts might 83 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:03,160 Speaker 1: recognize in Jesus Christ the New Testament fulfillment of Old 84 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: Testament prophecy took them to a legalistic people busy micromanaging behavior, 85 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: and Jesus loved them too much not to challenge them 86 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,920 Speaker 1: on their interpretation of the Sabbath. Like with me and 87 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: my unsustainable rules about confession, Jesus desired to bring God's 88 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: Shaloam to his people, his peace, his wholeness, life to 89 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: the full. Sometimes, with the best of intentions, we pick 90 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: up burdens God never asked us to carry, and those 91 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: burdens can make us legalistic rule followers. They can harm 92 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: our faith, and they can keep us from seeking and 93 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: listening to Jesus's wisdom about our own beliefs, our own behaviors, 94 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: and traditions. What religious misconceptions have become a burden in 95 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: your life. Maybe you've bought into the need to perform 96 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: better to earn God's love, or maybe that God won't 97 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: tolerate doubts that makes you a bad Christian, or that 98 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:14,239 Speaker 1: hardship means that God is angry and punishing you. These 99 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: religious leaders saw Jesus's miracles and persecuted him because they 100 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: were so entrenched in their legalism. When Jesus challenges you, you 101 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: can react in anger as these leaders did. But my 102 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: prayer is that you will submit to the Holy Spirit's 103 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: direction as you study the Word of God, and allow 104 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: Jesus to lift that burden off your shoulders and teach 105 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: you the truth according to him, because Jesus came that 106 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: you might have life and have it to the full. 107 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: Let's pray. Father. Sometimes we read our Bibles, we go 108 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: to church, we might even listen to others, and we 109 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: still get it wrong. We get you wrong. Will you 110 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: please give us the humility always to be willing to 111 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: humble ourselves at the feet of Jesus, and with the 112 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: guidance of Holy Spirit, to continually seek Jesus's heart. We 113 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: need your wisdom Father, because we don't want to merely 114 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: become rule followers and miss out on seeing Jesus at 115 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: work in our lives, in our churches, and in the world. Jesus, 116 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: we so desire your shalum, your life to the full. 117 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: We love you, and we ask these things in Jesus's name. Amen.