Belonging - Day 19
John 5:9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath,
This text feels like we are just cherry picking a little bit. And we should probably include the following text in today's devotional. However, I am not because I want to discuss something very specific today.
The text begins with the man being healed as he stood up. He stood up, which was amazing, and then he rolled up his mat and walked away.
Amazing, right?
Immediately, someone needed to point out what day this happened on. It was on the Sabbath, so you know there are going to be some issues. It is always amazing to me that everyone is so willing to find something wrong with something that Jesus is doing. People will find something wrong with something that is going so right as a matter of course. Why is it that we can’t let something amazing for someone else just be amazing?
We are critical creatures. I will be the first to admit it. I struggle with someone else getting something great and not feeling jealous, or left out, or even somehow vindicated that I am better because things didn’t work out as well for me as they did for them. It is weird, right?
But I think we like to tear down the works of God when they are not seemingly for us. We get angry that other churches are growing, we feel like there is not enough abundance to go around, we hold ourselves as better than those because it is hard to be like us.
I have had the opportunity to teach often about the great things that are happening at Crosswalk, and I am always blown away by how often I am met with criticism, not joy. I have had people tell me that we are not really Adventist, that we are doing the devils work, that our churches are not real churches, and that our baptisms are not real baptisms. It is fascinating the way that people are not interested in being happy for the things that God is doing through Crosswalk, rather, they want to find a way to be critical.
I know that Crosswalk is not for everyone, but to deny the work that God is doing through our campuses, pastors, volunteers, and members seems to me to just be willfully ignorant and mean. But after having experienced this many times over many years I have come to one conclusion.
People are insecure.
When they feel like God might be working somewhere other than where they are, they will lash out, criticise, hurt, and sling mud if they can. They do this not because they are angry with you for doing well, they are angry with God for working in ways that they did not think of or were not capable of doing. People feel that if God works for you, how can he work for them?
This denies the fact that God is way bigger than we are, and probably has the capacity to work with many different people and ministries at the same time. We need to let God do that.
John 5:10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”
11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.
Well, there is the objection. It was on the Sabbath. Forget about what it says in Luke about an “ox in a ditch”, and how healing would be that ox stuck in a ditch. There actually isn’t an Old Testament declaration that healing is wrong to do on the Sabbath. However, the Pharisees at the time would have seen this act of healing as work, rather than righteousness. So they would have thought it was anathema, and should not happen.
They wanted to get to the bottom of this and so they asked the man, who was now “working” by carrying his mat, which was a quick redirect for them, who had asked him to carry his mat. I love how the man answered, “the man who healed me. . .”
He wasn’t giving up Jesus’ name, nor do we know that he knew Jesus’ name. But he was being vague, intentionally. Why? Probably because he was so grateful for being healed that he did not want to give up the one who had done the healing. They were demanding a name, but he didn’t seem to want to give them one.
What do you do when you are asked to give up someone who is doing something so right, you want to protect them? Maybe you have never been in this situation before, and that is probably great, but how do you support those around you who are doing great things for God?
Because the truth is, when people really start to make strides with God, people not only take notice, but they struggle with jealousy. This is an ugly reality of the world that we live in. Every time I have worked in a situation where God really begins to move and things begin to happen in a big way, the criticism and the evil attacks start to happen. In fact, having been through it a few times now, I count these things as verification that we are making progress for God in the world. If the devil is leaving you alone, you probably aren’t really doing anything of note that is thwarting his work in the world.
Satan often doesn’t need to work too hard, as often we don’t do too much that causes him a problem. When you start to move toward God, then things become a bit more dicey for Satan. This is when he will use every means necessary in order to stop the work of God through you.
Jesus just healed the man, but those who were critical wanted to stop this good thing from happening. This is an age old story from the fall of humanity. Of course, we know that Jesus and his work will not be stopped.
This text feels like we are just cherry picking a little bit. And we should probably include the following text in today's devotional. However, I am not because I want to discuss something very specific today.
The text begins with the man being healed as he stood up. He stood up, which was amazing, and then he rolled up his mat and walked away.
Amazing, right?
Immediately, someone needed to point out what day this happened on. It was on the Sabbath, so you know there are going to be some issues. It is always amazing to me that everyone is so willing to find something wrong with something that Jesus is doing. People will find something wrong with something that is going so right as a matter of course. Why is it that we can’t let something amazing for someone else just be amazing?
We are critical creatures. I will be the first to admit it. I struggle with someone else getting something great and not feeling jealous, or left out, or even somehow vindicated that I am better because things didn’t work out as well for me as they did for them. It is weird, right?
But I think we like to tear down the works of God when they are not seemingly for us. We get angry that other churches are growing, we feel like there is not enough abundance to go around, we hold ourselves as better than those because it is hard to be like us.
I have had the opportunity to teach often about the great things that are happening at Crosswalk, and I am always blown away by how often I am met with criticism, not joy. I have had people tell me that we are not really Adventist, that we are doing the devils work, that our churches are not real churches, and that our baptisms are not real baptisms. It is fascinating the way that people are not interested in being happy for the things that God is doing through Crosswalk, rather, they want to find a way to be critical.
I know that Crosswalk is not for everyone, but to deny the work that God is doing through our campuses, pastors, volunteers, and members seems to me to just be willfully ignorant and mean. But after having experienced this many times over many years I have come to one conclusion.
People are insecure.
When they feel like God might be working somewhere other than where they are, they will lash out, criticise, hurt, and sling mud if they can. They do this not because they are angry with you for doing well, they are angry with God for working in ways that they did not think of or were not capable of doing. People feel that if God works for you, how can he work for them?
This denies the fact that God is way bigger than we are, and probably has the capacity to work with many different people and ministries at the same time. We need to let God do that.
John 5:10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”
11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.
Well, there is the objection. It was on the Sabbath. Forget about what it says in Luke about an “ox in a ditch”, and how healing would be that ox stuck in a ditch. There actually isn’t an Old Testament declaration that healing is wrong to do on the Sabbath. However, the Pharisees at the time would have seen this act of healing as work, rather than righteousness. So they would have thought it was anathema, and should not happen.
They wanted to get to the bottom of this and so they asked the man, who was now “working” by carrying his mat, which was a quick redirect for them, who had asked him to carry his mat. I love how the man answered, “the man who healed me. . .”
He wasn’t giving up Jesus’ name, nor do we know that he knew Jesus’ name. But he was being vague, intentionally. Why? Probably because he was so grateful for being healed that he did not want to give up the one who had done the healing. They were demanding a name, but he didn’t seem to want to give them one.
What do you do when you are asked to give up someone who is doing something so right, you want to protect them? Maybe you have never been in this situation before, and that is probably great, but how do you support those around you who are doing great things for God?
Because the truth is, when people really start to make strides with God, people not only take notice, but they struggle with jealousy. This is an ugly reality of the world that we live in. Every time I have worked in a situation where God really begins to move and things begin to happen in a big way, the criticism and the evil attacks start to happen. In fact, having been through it a few times now, I count these things as verification that we are making progress for God in the world. If the devil is leaving you alone, you probably aren’t really doing anything of note that is thwarting his work in the world.
Satan often doesn’t need to work too hard, as often we don’t do too much that causes him a problem. When you start to move toward God, then things become a bit more dicey for Satan. This is when he will use every means necessary in order to stop the work of God through you.
Jesus just healed the man, but those who were critical wanted to stop this good thing from happening. This is an age old story from the fall of humanity. Of course, we know that Jesus and his work will not be stopped.
- Have you ever felt that you were really involved in something that is making a difference in the world for Jesus?
- How did criticism come your way?
- Did you give in to it, or did you keep going?
- What is God calling you to do today for him? How can you take up your mat and walk?
- Have you ever been criticised for something that you were sure was of God?
- How did you respond?
- Why does it seem that the harshest criticism comes from within the church?
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