Getting Off The Ground | Is That In The Bible?: The Chosen | John 5:1–15 | Pastor Levi Lusko

So you don't clap your hand. But if you were like speak falling off. So is that in the Bible? Week 2 teaching. Take one. Have you ever felt stuck like you're never going to get through what you're facing or back to happiness, back on track? If so, take heart and get ready to rise up.

Hello to all those of you at Fresh Life, those of you at our partner churches through the open network, and to everybody watching online. We have come to the set of The Chosen to ask, is that in the Bible? Now, I'm a massive fan of the show, and I love how Dallas and Amanda Jenkins have articulated again and again that they want people to use the show as a springboard into their discovery and study of scripture.

They don't want anybody to take the show and treat it as though it were the Bible, as though it were chosen 3:16. But they have said that they long for people to be discipled, for people to grow in their faith, to study, and to figure out what informs what, and to know the difference between art and the Bible.

And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to take these clips, take these scenes, and then go to the scriptures themselves, wrestle with them, and let God change us through his word. Today, we're going to watch a clip from season 2, episode 4, entitled The Perfect Opportunity.

Shalom me. Yes. Shalom. I have a question for you. For me? I don't have many answers, but I'm listening. Do you want to be healed? Who are you? We'll get to that later. But my question remains, will you take me to the water? Look, I'm having a really bad day.

You've been having a bad day for a long time. So sir, I have no one to help me into the water when it's stared up. And when I do get close, the others step down in front of me. And so look at me. Look at me. That's not what I asked.

I'm not asking you about who's helping you or who's not helping or who's getting in your way. I'm asking about you. ((music playing)) I've tried for a long time. I know. And you don't want false hope again. I understand. But this pool has nothing for you. It means nothing and you know it.

But you're still here. Why? I don't know. You don't need this poor. You only need me. So, do you want to be healed? So, let's go. Get up. Pick up your mat. and walk. ((music playing)) [laughter] ((music playing)) [laughter] ((music playing)) who I'm free to walk like he said. Don't forget your bed. ((music playing)) Why does this matter?

Because you're not coming back here. That life is over. Everything changes. Now, the message today from this powerful scene is called getting off the ground. And in Jesus' name, you can do just that. no matter what's holding your heart down. Now, we're asking the question, is that in the Bible?

And with what we just saw, the answer, of course, is yes. It's in John chapter 5. So, if you have a copy of the scriptures, please turn there with me. And by the way, I love the little Easter egg that we saw John the Apostle pick up his pen and begin to write this down.

And of course, he is the one who recorded it. And so, you'll see that Matthew will pick up his pen sometimes, and that's their way of saying, "Hey, Matthew wrote this." or uh John will grab his pen. And that's just a fun little thing if you pay attention to the show uh creators are are really intentional about making sure those little nods are are accurate and I love that.

Well, John chapter 5, let's read the text that this scene is from. After this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheepgate a pool which is called in Hebrew Bethesda which means house of mercy by the way having five porches.

In these lay a great multitude of sick people blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. Verse four, for an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had.

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. That's a significant number in the Bible because it's how long the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness, by the way. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"

The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am going, another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed, and walk." And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

And that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him, who is cured, "It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry your bed." He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, take up your bed and walk." Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, "Take up your bed and walk?"

But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn a multitude being in that place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you." The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Now, as we move from screen to scripture with this powerful scene in our minds, we're reminded of the three containers that we established. We're trying to take the content from the scene and put it into biblical information, church tradition or history, and imagination. Now, this episode and this text is a complicated one when we're doing that because even when it comes to what we just read, believe it or not, there are details that are not in every manuscript copy that we have of the Bible.

The detail about the legend of the moving of the waters and the people needing to be the first ones in there is not in every manuscript copy of scripture. Now, you might be going, "Oh, no. H how do we trust the Bible?" Believe it or not, this should actually give you greater confidence in the historicity of the New Testament, not less.

But let's back up for a moment. The majority of the New Testament, which is 27 books, was finished by about 70 years after Christ's resurrection, still within a lifetime of people who were there for the actual events. And there are more than 5,000 manuscript copies that are 99% identical one to another. not diverging on one issue of significance when it comes to doctrine.

All of the manuscripts agree that this man was healed by Jesus. It's only the unique background details about why he was at this particular pool and the superstitious belief about an angel which actually had overtones to it that are pagan in origin of the Greek Allepius sanctuaries. And if you watch the greater episode, you'll see the disciples talking about that, how that particular pool actually involved these cult beliefs in it.

Now, those details are not in every single copy of the manuscripts that were used to put together our Bible. It could be that those details were added to clarify for people who wouldn't have understood why the man was at that particular pool if they were unfamiliar with that legend.

Though in the moment that was widely known to people all around Jerusalem in the greater area, later manuscripts might have added that information as an explanatory detail to give people a greater understanding of this man's backstory. And that same thing happens in John chapter 8 with Jesus writing in the sand for the woman who was caught in the act of adultery.

That is not in many manuscripts. The last 12 verses of Mark chapter 16 are not in some of the oldest and best manuscripts. Now, some of these things might be instances where historical tradition and storytelling about true facts just got handed down and eventually got added into the biblical information.

But you see in the footnotes of the scripture that exact thing. Hey, by the way, these details are not in some of the earliest and best transcripts. It's a way of the the Bible setting off metal detectors to warn us not to build a full major doctrine off of something that might not actually be in the Bible.

And to me, it inspires greater confidence, not doubt, because nothing's hidden. This is right there in the Bible for you. And you won't see any such detail about Jesus on the cross or about his resurrection from the dead or his statement to Nicodemus in John 3 about how the son of man must be lifted up.

Those are things that are in every single manuscript. Like I said, 99% the same on the massively important things as far as whether there was actually an angel showing up, stirring up the waters to mess with crippled and blind and lame people. Well, the details in the footnote say, "Hey, that might not be in the Bible.

So, let's not build any major uh doctrine off of is there an angel at the pool. But what we can confidently say is that Jesus showed up on this day. And for a man who was being held down for the same exact amount of years as the children of Israel was being held down in the wilderness and not entering into the promised land like God wanted them to. definitely has a lot to tell us because Jesus called this man to stand and he's calling us to leave the wilderness and to enter in to all that he has for us.

And to me that's so powerful even just understanding how we have our Bible in our hands and the reliability of it etc. Now in the scene that we watch there is in fact creative liberty uh we don't know the backstory of the man that he was injured falling out of a tree.

Well, that's that's just creative storytelling and backstory. We don't know that the man had a name. Jesse is what they give him. That's not something that comes from the Bible or from church history. We don't know that he's related to Z Simon the Zealot. Uh, and we also don't know that on the way in to heal him, Jesus passed by people being crucified, which is my personal favorite moment from this episode, though that is something that surely would have happened over and over again throughout Jesus's ministry.

He would have seen crucified people all throughout his life as it happened in and around Judea constantly. And what a haunting image to think of Jesus passing by and looking up, seeing someone die, a death that he knew was on the horizon for him. This is portrayed in the scene so powerfully.

But the healing itself and the actual details of Jesus calling the man to stand, well, that is pure gospel as we just read. And the text has much to teach us to help us get off the ground from whatever way figuratively we are being pinned down. Because the believer's entire life is all about going from low to high.

Think about it. Colossians 3 says, "Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth." Romans 7, you see Paul struggling to do what he wants to do, but not being able to stop doing the things that he doesn't want to do. And then he says, "Who can help me?"

Jesus Christ can help me. He lifts his eyes from the earth and finds the help that he needs. And of course, Jesus wants us to leave earth and go to heaven when we die. and he's the only one who can make that possible. So for whatever way you're being held down, I want to give you five points, one for each of the five porches in the pool of Bethesda that can help you to go from low to high like God wants us to.

We must number one, identify false assumptions. We begin by identifying false assumptions. This man assumed the only way he could be better would be to get into the water. He said, "For me to be healed, I have to get into the pool." He was believing this superstitious myth.

And in all of our lives, there are assumptions. We think if I had blank, then I would be blank. If I had this job, I'd be happy. If I had the right relationship, things would be good. I might not be pleasant now, but if this would happen, everything would be fine.

We're assuming, we're basing our life off of what might be a false assumption. Or it could be I am this way because this happened to me. And essentially what we're doing is we're coming into agreement with things that are simply not true. The man assumed the pool was his cure, but Jesus knew the pool was his problem.

Because as long as his eyes were on the water and waiting for bubbles and other people around him, he wasn't going to have his eyes on Jesus and he would never be walking like he was meant to. And Jesus, of course, is the living water. He's the cure.

He's the bubbling up that the man needed. And he of course is the cure for you. How do we get off the ground? Number two, asking hard questions. Asking hard questions. And that's why Jesus asks the man what seems like an insensitive question. He says, "Do you want to be made well?"

How crazy is it that he asks that? Not speaking to the man's ability. Can you get off the ground? But his desire, do you even want to? Do you want to get off the ground? Now, we of course do not know if in real life the man was as despondent as depicted in the show, but Jesus did ask the question, "Do you want to?" inferring perhaps the man didn't or had given up hope of ever getting off the ground or just simply was looking at the wrong wrong object to get him there.

But this is clear and true. Not everyone who's down wants to get up. It's possible to develop an addiction to your affliction or to be focused so long on what can't help you that you just get stuck there and forget about even the hope of a better life.

You accept your lot and soon get comfortable there because it justifies your behavior. Disappointment that is lived with long enough can make the heart sick, discouraged, and despondent. And Jesus can't take you somewhere new if you are content where you're at. Here's a big thought. You can't be well against your will.

Jesus always knocks. Jesus always invites you. And one of the things the enemy tries to get us to say is, "Yes, I will change. Yes, I will get up, but I'll do it tomorrow." You'll tell yourself, "I'll do that right. I'll do that when I'm older. I'll do it after college.

I'll do it after we get married. I'll do it after I have kids. I'll do Oh, you know what? I'm it's a little busy right now. I can't serve God today. I can't do this. I'll clean my life up, but I'm going to do it after I retire.

I'm going to do it when I'm old. Then I'm going to even serve at the church. And then he said, "When I'm a little bit older," and then you know, here's the problem. Sadly, tomorrow never comes. The devil will have you pushing off change into the next season and contenting yourself with it.

But the right time to do the right thing is right now. The third step in getting off the ground is doing scary things. Doing scary things. And the scary thing for you might just be not making excuses anymore, which is what the man needed to do. The scariness of of getting past his excuses.

Jesus said, "Do you want to be made well?" The man didn't even answer. He said, "I've got nobody. No one helps me. No one helps me. No one People get ahead of me. Someone else took my miracle. A blind man, he got in my way last week." But you will always stay stuck if you're focused on passing the buck and not taking responsibility, not taking ownership.

This man was saying, "I'm the way I am because of other people who have done wrong to me or not been helpful to me. I would be well, but they and as long as we're there in that victim mentality, talking about how the system isn't fair, we're not going to step into what God has for us."

The second scary thing that you might need to do is actually just getting up and doing what God's called you to do when he calls you to do it. But here's what I want to encourage you with. Whatever God calls you to do, he always gives you the strength to do.

But you have to be willing to take that step and then watch his power flow through you. Like when Simon got out of the boat, Simon Peter got out of the boat when Jesus said, "Come, come get out of the boat." and he was willing to take that scary step and get out of the boat.

Then he found God met him where he was at. So it is with you and so it is with me. Ephesians 4:7 says, "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift." So take him at his word. Step out in faith.

Do the scary thing. The fourth step in getting off the ground, listening to the right voices. The text tells us that it was the Sabbath day when this miracle occurred, which of course was intentional on the part of Jesus, who seemed to constantly choose to do miracles on the Sabbath day as a way of provoking a fight with the Jewish leaders.

Sort of challenging, I dare you to stop me. He would regularly and routinely because he knew that the Sabbath was made for man. The Sabbath was a time to heal. The Sabbath was a time to do good and to not do evil. And we're standing in Caiaphas's office, the set from the chosen, where this high priest lived and ruled and plotted his uh revenge against Jesus and eventually where he would formulate the plan to take him out.

And he represented the institution that was using the Sabbath against people so against the heart of God who created the Sabbath to be a source of rest and worship and rejuvenation. Uh but the religious leaders had turned it into more work to actually have a day off than actually just working all the time and had corrupted and polluted.

And so Jesus was seeking with these instigations to provoke that. But the moment the man was healed, he had these competing voices rising up saying his healing wasn't legitimate. His healing wasn't real. His healing wasn't right. Blurring the issue. Hello. Talk about burying the lead. A guy's been lying on the ground for almost 40 years is now walking, but they're angry because of the day that it took place on.

And we're going to have to choose walking with Jesus what voices we will listen to and what voices we will block out. It's also important to note that he was told pick up your mat and leave this place. You're not coming back here. That Matt saved his space and kept him there in the midst of a surrounding of people just like him.

And he needed new friends to walk into a new future. The problem is we can end up with a victim community that fosters the victim mentality can soon lead to a victim identity and if we're not careful will secure us a victim destiny. So this man needed to block out the voices of the people who were saying his healing wasn't real and not continue to do life with people that represented the place he was leaving and instead move forward into the new where he would listen to the voice of the one who saved him and find people to do life with to sit with who were on a similar trajectory headed towards Christ.

My friend, Pastor Craig Rochelle likes to say, "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." And you see the same thing, the power of the disciples always being sent out two by two. The the reality of the encouragement of the right friends. Had he stayed there at the pool, it would have been easy to be sucked back down to an old way of life.

And the same is true for you. The last and perhaps most important step comes after the miracle. Number five, making different choices. That's the fifth step in getting off the ground. And that's why Jesus in verse 14 found the man and said, "Hey, you've been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."

I don't know what is worse than 38 years lying on the ground, but it must be pretty bad. Now, we have to be clear here. Not all disease, not all consequences, not all bad things we face in this life are caused by our own personal sin. But sometimes it is.

Sometimes our choices do bring about intense consequences. As the Bible says, "What a man sws the same he shall reap." The truth is, the sobering truth is what you do with your liberty can lead you back to captivity. Evidently, this man was being warned to not make a certain level of choices because if he did, he would end up at an even worse spot.

With his freedom, he could get back to incarceration on the ground. Jesus was warning this man about a relapse. What does that say for me and for you? It tells us that a new start must be followed by a new plan. You not only need a new crew, friends, you need new habits.

You need to make better choices. Cuz it doesn't matter how good the seed God plants in our hearts is. If it doesn't get roots, if it doesn't get weeded and watered. If the birds aren't shued away from pecking up the seeds, it will be short-lived. if there's no followthrough.

Proverbs 26:11 warns about a person who does the same foolish thing over and over again and compares that person to like a dog who throws up and then returns to it. And Jesus has set you and I free so we can stay free. You have to take care of your miracles.

Now I want to close with this and it's a beautiful thought. What you are cured from, you get to carry. This man was cured from the mat, the bed that he had been lying on for almost four decades. And when he was set free, he was told to carry that and to walk with it.

Think about it. He had a story to steward right there in his hand. Hey, what's that mat? Oh, this mat. I was on it for 38 years and Jesus set me free. holding it in his hand. It was a reminder of where he was when Jesus met him and a souvenir of the powerful work God had done in his life to strengthen him moving forward.

I think it's the same reason Jesus had the disciples put the leftover from the feeding of the 5000 into the baskets that they would carry on with them into their journey. It was a reminder, a testimony of what he had done in one season and it should encourage them in the next season, which in that story was the storm on the sea.

Think about it. When it the storm came and they were freaking out, they had baskets of fish at their feet to remind them here's how good God is in your lack. It should be a reminder to you and to I as we recount all the things God has done, what he is able to do moving forward.

It sort of reminds me of David's bear tooth necklace that he kind of had figuratively when he went against Goliath. He could remind himself, here's how good God was when the bear came and I know he's going to be good here today. It's called a testimony. And Jesus is wanting us to remind ourselves of our testimonies because we overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our lives to the end.

I want to end this teaching with a very important question. What excuse are you holding on to that Jesus is calling you to drop? Because remember, he doesn't have the cure. He is the cure. That old life on the ground is over. As we heard in the episode, everything changes now.

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