We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church.
This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other
use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church.
Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org.
Today's scripture reading is from the Gospel of John, chapter 4, verses 46 to 54, as printed
in the liturgy.
A reading from the Gospel according to John.
Once more he visited Cana and Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine.
And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.
When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged
him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
Unless you people see signs and wonders, Jesus told him, you will never believe.
The royal official said, Sir, come down before my child dies.
Go, Jesus replied.
Your son will live.
The man took Jesus at his word and departed.
While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living.
When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, yesterday, at
one in the afternoon, the fever left him.
Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, your son
will live.
So he and his whole household believed.
This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
This is the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Good morning, Christ Church.
We are continuing in the gospel of John today.
And I have to say that this passage is a hard passage to preach.
Because if you're new with us, about 10 weeks ago, we lost Isaac Lee, a beloved son of Christ
Church.
His first child we baptized in our church.
A pillar in our youth group.
We learned that he was sick.
And some of you came.
We gathered together to pray right up there.
And we begged God to heal him.
And he went to be with the Lord.
And we've been grieving with his family, with his parents and his siblings.
And it's been tough for me to read the story this week about this healing of the sickness
of the son that Jesus pulled back from the brink of death when our experience so recently
in our church was just so different.
So Brian and Sam know this.
I hope Jack and Juliet know it.
I hope all of you know it.
That that's the tension in my heart.
The grief that I bring very close to my heart as I read and preach this text today.
And I hope to circle back to that tension and that grief at the end of the sermon.
But I want to ask, you know, why did John give us this story in his gospel anyway?
The Gospel of John is a book about faith.
And we assume that the Apostle John had been asked many, many times, you know, what is the
Christian faith?
What is the path to faith?
And out of his vast catalog of files that he had on Jesus, John gathered together the
stories that are in this little booklet that he wrote to answer many of the questions that
we have about faith.
John gathers together stories from people who were there at the Jordan River when Jesus
underwent baptism and began to call his first disciples.
He went and gathered the stories of the people who were at that wedding in Cana where Jesus
turned the water into wine.
And he talked to the people and interviewed the folks who were there in Jerusalem at the
temple when Jesus cleared it out.
And he said, you know, I am now the meeting place between God and his people.
He went and interviewed Nicodemus and his family and his students.
And he asked them more.
What did Jesus mean when he said he was the one to bring the new birth from above by the Holy
Spirit?
He went and talked to that woman in Samaria and her whole village that came to discover
Jesus as the living water and the Savior of the world.
That's why he's put all these stories in this little booklet for us.
And he actually tells us this at the end of the book.
If you want to turn to John 20, John chapter 20, verse 30, he tells us the point of writing
this book.
He says, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are
not recorded in this book.
But these signs are written 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 this is a book about belief.
It's a book about faith and the eternal life that comes through faith in Jesus.
And of all the stories that John had on file, why did he choose this one about the healing
of the official son?
Well, you'll notice that that word belief occurs three times here.
In verse 48, Jesus talks about how you will never believe.
Verse 50, it says the man took Jesus at his word.
Or in the Greek, it says he believed Jesus' word.
And then in verse 53, it says, so he and his whole household believed.
The story was written down for us and our questions as a signpost pointing us to what real faith,
deep faith, life-saving, life-giving faith is all about.
And so what I want to talk about a little bit this morning is how Jesus challenges our faith,
gives us his word, and heals our bodies.
That's what I think this story is about.
That Jesus challenges our faith, gives us his word, and heals our bodies.
Let's think for a minute about how Jesus challenges our faith.
This is an urgent moment.
This young man is sick.
He's close to death.
The doctors say it's hopeless.
And agony, powerlessness, and desperation has settled in upon his family and his friends.
And yet there is this glimmer of hope because it's reported that Jesus is back from the Passover at Jerusalem.
And everybody's talking about his power.
And so hearing this news, the boy's father takes courage.
He takes action because there's not a moment to lose.
Life-giving faith starts with reason.
It starts with our minds.
It starts with thinking and our rationality.
Why did this guy go to Jesus?
Because he had heard the reports about Jesus.
We didn't print this verse, but it says in verse 45,
When Jesus arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him.
They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover festival,
for they also had been there.
And once more, he, Jesus, visited Cana in Galilee,
where he had turned the water into wine.
So Jesus is doing wonderful works, mighty deeds, public miracles,
and the word is beginning to spread.
Perhaps even people that this man knew and trusted,
they're saying, we've seen Jesus with our own eyes.
And this man would not have gone to Jesus
unless he had heard and weighed the evidence of those reports.
So I want to say today that faith moves beyond reason,
but faith always starts with reason.
Most of the things that we believe,
we take on the authority of other people.
We believe the authority of reports from historians and scientists
and sociologists and psychologists and journalists,
and maybe even our uncle posting on Facebook.
But that's, you know, we have to sift through all these things.
We have to sift through these reports
with our reason to see if they're reliable,
to see if they're believable.
Maybe our uncle posting on Facebook
isn't somebody worth listening to after all.
But that's why we go through the Gospels on a regular basis,
because we want you to be able to hear directly
from these eyewitnesses and weigh the reports
and decide for yourself whether or not they're trustworthy.
And that's what this guy does.
He takes the first baby step of faith
based on those reports, and he goes to Jesus.
But Jesus, of course, wants more than that.
And so we hear him say in verse 48,
unless you people see signs and wonders,
you will never believe.
Now, I'm 100% confident
that none of us would like Jesus and the apostles
as much as we think we would like them, right?
Because of stuff like this.
They're constantly saying things that are off-putting,
that disturb us and make us uncomfortable
and maybe even offend us.
No writer of fiction that's aware of Jesus' compassion
would come up with this sharp rejoinder
that seems harsh and maybe even cruel,
because here's this desperate man in agony,
and he's begging, please come and heal my dear son
who's dying.
Why does Jesus respond to his first baby step of faith
like this?
Well, first of all, Jesus says you, plural, not singular,
which kind of softens the blow.
He says you all, y'all, you people are all the same
unless you see, you'll never really believe.
And Jesus is not here against the need
for proper and substantial evidence
to be presented to our rational mind.
He's not saying you just need to be persuaded
without any facts, because we're told in verse 54
that this was the second sign Jesus performed
after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Jesus knows that we need signs,
and that's why he gives us signs.
So what is Jesus challenging here?
I think he's challenging superficiality.
I think he's challenging shallow, surface-level faith.
Think to Jesus teaching on the parable of the sower,
and he talks about how those seeds are scattered
in that second type of soil,
and what happens is they sprout up quickly,
and it seems like faith,
but there are actually no roots.
There's no depth.
It's not gone to the inmost heart.
It's shallow.
And so Jesus says when the heat comes,
when the trouble comes,
that shallow faith becomes scorched and withered
and falls away because it has no roots,
and therefore it can bear no fruit.
And Jesus there in his teaching
is helping us distinguish
between superficial faith and deep faith,
between temporary faith and lasting faith.
And I think what he's saying to this guy in verse 48 is,
have you come to me because you think
that I'm just a conduit of power
that responds to foxhole prayers?
Do you think I'm a Messiah
who just performs on-demand miracles?
Have you come to use my supernatural power
to get what you want and what will benefit you?
Or do you want me?
Do you want a relationship with me
whether I heal your son or not?
See, Jesus is saying,
I want a belief.
I want a faith that's not about the signs
and not about what I can do for you.
I want a belief and a faith
that moves toward what all the signs are pointing to,
namely, me.
This is challenging, isn't it?
Jesus is saying,
I don't just want to physically heal your son,
I want to spiritually heal you.
And it's a massive challenge.
It's a massive test.
He's drawing this guy out.
He's seeing what's in his heart.
And what comes out of his heart next
is absolutely amazing.
Verse 49,
the royal official said,
Sir,
sir,
come down before my child dies.
Sir,
he's respectful.
He's humble.
Come down, please.
He's dogged and persistent.
He prayed once
and Jesus put him off.
And so he doesn't stop praying.
He keeps praying persistently,
coming back.
That's his second step of faith.
And I wonder if you're ready today
wherever you're coming from
to take that first baby step of faith,
to just look directly at the evidence for yourself,
to weigh these reports about Jesus.
If you've never done that,
we're so glad that you're here.
And we would invite you to come
on Wednesday nights to Christianity Explored.
We're looking at the Gospel of Mark.
It's a gospel.
You can read it in about 45 minutes
over a cup of coffee.
And we're reading it,
asking questions,
watching videos,
engaging discussions about it.
If you can't join us on Wednesday nights,
we encourage you to join in
to our daily Bible reading plan
in the Gospel of John
and just see for yourself
whether this eyewitness testimony
about Jesus is reliable,
trustworthy,
and believable.
But if you've taken that first baby step of faith,
then are you ready to take
that second baby step of faith,
to move beyond superficial interest in Jesus
and going to Jesus
only for the benefits that he gives you?
Maybe some of you have said,
you know, I tried to pray once
and it didn't work,
so I stopped.
Or I went to Jesus
and I didn't really like what he said back,
so I quit going.
Are you willing to wrestle with Jesus like this man?
Are you willing to invest
in having a relationship with Jesus
even when he doesn't engage on your terms
or say the things you want him to say
or play by your rules?
That's the second step of life-giving faith.
You guys with me so far?
Jesus is challenging.
And Jesus challenges our faith.
But more than that,
Jesus not only challenges our faith,
he gives us his word.
He gives us his word.
How does Jesus respond
to this man's second prayer request?
Well, he tells him in verse 50,
go, your son will live.
Now we know more than this man knows,
but this is actually a higher challenge
than the first challenge that Jesus gave.
Because this man says,
please Jesus,
come with me
because you need to be physically present
to bring healing.
And if you're not there,
then there's no hope.
And Jesus makes this astounding,
astonishing claim.
He says, you know,
I don't need to go with you
because I'm so powerful
that I don't even need to be there.
I can just heal with a word.
And I give you my word.
I give you my word of honor.
I promise that I'll do it.
Who else can claim
that kind of ability
and authority
to give life?
Who can heal disease
and save from death
at a distance
and with only a word?
I would say only God.
Only God can do that.
Only the God who says,
let there be light
and there was light.
Only the God who has
light-making power
in his word.
And that's what Jesus is claiming here.
He's claiming creator-like,
life-giving power.
You don't need my physical presence
to experience my power.
I can heal my sick,
sinful,
broken,
dying creatures
that I created
from anywhere
with a word.
Now you gotta remember
that John is writing
his gospel
to people
who can't see Jesus.
Jesus is resurrected
and he's ascended
into heaven
and people around John
are saying,
how can we put our faith
in Jesus?
How can we put our trust
in a Jesus
that we cannot see?
And this story
is here to tell us
that we don't need
to have the physical presence
of Jesus
to become a believer.
what we need
is the word
of Christ.
And we have
many of the words
of Christ
in our Bibles.
Right?
The question is,
do we read them?
Do we even know them?
And then,
if we know them,
will we believe them?
And will we trust
these promises
and will we obey
these commands?
That's what faith
is about.
Jesus challenges
and he tests
this man a second time
and basically
he's saying to himself,
okay,
if Jesus can't do
what he just said
he can do,
if he does not have
the power
that no one else
has ever claimed
to have,
then my son
has no hope.
So am I going to trust
my present
and my future?
Am I going to trust
my son's life
to this incredible
claim of Jesus
that he's the life giver?
Remember,
imagine,
imagine the scene
where he to arrive home
and his wife
and his servants
are like,
where's the healer?
You had one job.
Where's the healer?
I mean,
if he goes home
with only a word
of promise,
how foolish
is he going to look
in the eyes
of everybody
in his household
and in his village?
And how many of us
are super excited
to look like a fool
in the eyes of others?
But friends,
that's what faith is about.
Faith means
taking the risk
of looking foolish.
And that's the risk
he takes.
In verse 50,
it says,
the man took Jesus
at his word
and departed.
The man believed
Jesus' word
and he went home.
That's the third
baby step
of faith.
Faith is taking Jesus
at his word
and then living your life
according to it.
He acts.
He moves.
Jesus speaks
and he begins
to walk
home.
Faith is going
each morning
to Jesus' teachings,
to his words,
to his promises,
to his commands
and saying
to ourselves,
these are going
to be the very words
by which I live
my life.
And when you
do that,
you know
that like this man,
you're moving
from rationalistic belief
that Jesus exists
to a personal
trust in Jesus.
You're moving
from intellectual
assent
that Jesus
has power
to actually
entrusting
the details
of your life
to him.
Right?
You're moving
from knowing
about Jesus
to staking
your life
on Jesus.
Does that make sense?
You're moving
from saying,
okay,
that chair
will probably
hold me up
if I took the risk
to sit down
in it
to actually
going over
and putting
the full weight
of your life
on that chair
and maybe
it won't
hold you up.
Maybe you'll
fall down.
Maybe you'll
look like a fool
or maybe
you won't.
That's what
faith is all
about.
There are many,
many nominal
Christians,
right?
And nominal
Christians believe
some of the stuff
that they like
in Christianity,
kind of conveniently
they pick out
the things that
sort of fit
with what they
already believed,
but they're not
actually trusting
their life
to Jesus.
Tons and tons
of people
believe in Jesus,
but what do they
trust?
They trust their
money.
They trust
themselves.
They trust a whole
host of things
other than Jesus
and Jesus is saying,
I want you to
trust your whole
life to my
claims and
to my words
and to my
promises.
And when this
man puts
Christ's word
to the test
and he found
the result
that Jesus
is the one
who gives
life,
it pushed
him all
the way
to that
fourth
baby step
of faith
and he
became a
convinced
and convicted
believer
with his
whole household
it says.
So are you
ready today
to take that
third baby
step of faith
where you
don't just
say that
you believe
in Jesus
but you
actually listen
to his
words every
day,
that you
make it a
priority.
First thing
in the morning
to chew
and to
digest
his
words
and then
to ask
God
help me
believe
these
words
in such
a way
that I
change my
life
according
to them
no matter
how foolish
that might
make me
seem in the
eyes
of others.
Jesus will
kind of say
this again
at the end
of the gospel
when he's
talking to
doubting Thomas
in John 20
and he
says
Thomas
blessed
are those
who have
not seen
and yet
who have
believed
on the
basis of
my word
on the
basis of
the testimony
and the
word about
me
blessed
are those
who have
not seen
and yet
have
believed.
Jesus
challenges
our faith
he gives
us his
word
and lastly
he heals
our bodies
Jesus heals
our bodies
here he is
in Cana
and he says
to this
father
go home
to Capernaum
there's nothing
to fear
your son
lives
the time
is about
one o'clock
in the
afternoon
in the
blazing
heat
in the
middle
of the
day
it's
so hot
back
at this
man's
home
that his
wife
we're
sure
is working
furiously
to
help bring
down
the raging
fever
that's
about
to
take
the
life
of
her
son
the
sun
is
scorching
their
little
house
is
boiling
there's
no
air
conditioning
there's
no
bathtub
there's
no
running
water
mom
keeps
going
back
and
forth
to get
more
water
to bring
his
temperature
down
and she
goes
out
one
more
time
and she
comes
back
and
amazingly
he's
completely
and
instantly
healthy
98.6
degrees
and she
is
amazed
and so
she sends
her servants
to her
husband
with the
glorious
news
that her
son
is
perfectly
well
and the
man
begins
to cross
examine
the
servants
saying
well
when
did he
recover
and they're
like
well
we think
it was
about
one
o'clock
in the
afternoon
yesterday
in the
heat
of the
day
and the
man
thinks
that's
when
Jesus
gave
me
his
word
of
promise
verse
53
then
the
father
realized
that
this
was
the
exact
time
at
which
Jesus
had
said
to
him
your
son
will
live
and
so
he
and
his
whole
household
believed
he
now
has
taken
that
fourth
baby
step
to
a
conviction
he's
convinced
that
Jesus
gives
life
and so
he
has
to
share
that
conviction
with
all
who
are
near
and dear
with
him
in his
household
and in
his
village
who
also
come
to
believe
the
thing
that's
been on
my
heart
all
week
as
I've
been
thinking
about
this
healing
is
that
there
were
many
in
Israel
with
sick
bodies
that
Jesus
did
not
heal
I
think
of
Jairus'
daughter
Jairus
was the
synagogue
ruler
he was
the father
of a
12 year
old
daughter
who
was
also
dying
he
comes
and he
desperately
begs
Jesus
to come
and to
heal
and if
you know
the story
Jesus
delays
and because
Jesus
delays
this
daughter
like
many
others
died
but
Jesus
says
to this
man
to
Jairus
he
says
do
not
be
afraid
just
believe
now
anyone
who
says
that
is
either
spectacularly
misguided
or
is
supremely
confident
in his
own
power
and
authority
don't
be
afraid
just
believe
and
Jesus
will
show
this
particular
grief
stricken
family
his
power
over
death
when
he
says
to
her
little
girl
rise
up
and
he
takes
her
the hand
of her
corpse
and
he
wakes
her
up
like
she's
been
in
a
nap
the
same
thing
happens
with
Jesus
good
buddy
Lazarus
he gets
this
urgent
message
Lord
the
one
you
love
so
much
is
sick
and
what
does
Jesus
do
he
delays
he
delays
again
and
his
friend
dies
and
these
bewildered
sisters
say
to
Jesus
Lord
if
only
you'd
been
here
our
brother
would
not
have
died
and
when
Jesus
sees
their
tears
he
begins
to
weep
too
why
because
I
think
he's
looking
around
at
all
the
people
he's
not
going
to
heal
all
the
people
whose
bodies
he's
not
going
to
raise
up
I
think
he's
looking
down
the
corridors
of
time
through
the
centuries
to
all
of
our
tombs
all
of
our
funerals
all
the
bodies
of
his
beloved
people
he's
looking
he
cannot
hold
back
his
own
tears
because
he's
looking
at
all
of
his
loved
ones
who
are
going
to
lose
their
loved
ones
but
Jesus
in
that
moment
he
gives
this
particular
grief
stricken
family
a
sign
that
he
has
the
power
over
death
and
so
Lazarus
come
out
you
see
Jesus
when
this
father
came
to
Jesus
did
not
come
on
the
father's
terms
but
he
did
decide
for
whatever
reason
to
heal
his
son
and
yet
in
these
other
stories
Jesus
did
not
come
immediately
when
Jairus
said
it's
urgent
when
Mary
and
Martha
said
please
Lord
come
it's
urgent
Jesus
did
not
come
he
delayed
and
people
died
many
of you
know
that
this
happened
to
my
mom
my
mom
got
sick
when
I
was
19
years
old
and
that
was
the
first
major
problem
of my
life
and
like
this
man
I
went
to
Jesus
many
of
us
many
people
went
to
Jesus
and
we
begged
Jesus
we
said
please
Lord
come
for
she's
gonna
die
please
heal
her
and
for
whatever
reason
Jesus
chose
not
to
do
things
on
our
terms
he
delayed
and
she
died
at
the
age
of
50
right
I'm
gonna
blink
and
be
50
when
Isaac
got
sick
we
came
together
and
we
said
Lord
Jesus
please
we're
begging
you
please
heal
this
beloved
young
man
and
for
whatever
reason
Jesus
chose
not
to
do
that
and
he
delayed
and
Isaac
died
at
the
age
of
16
and
so
I
want
to
say
that
it's
so
right
for
us
to
ask
the
healer
for
healing
when
we
need
healing
have
any
of
you
ever
known
people
who've
been
healed
by
Jesus
anybody
asked
for
healing
we
got
too
many
Presbyterians
in
here
we
okay
a few
I
see
a few
Pentecostals
and I
pray
okay
hands
are
coming
up
wow
okay
um
yeah
we
need
we
need
more
of
that
but
think
about
it
this
man's
son
who
Jesus
healed
he
eventually
died
and
Jairus
his
daughter
would
die
again
Lazarus
would
die
again
all
of
us
we
might
experience
healing
but
we're
gonna
die
we're
gonna
die
maybe
when
we're
young
Jesus
in
every
case
for
all
of
us
he's
gonna
delay
his
coming
that
could
save
us
from
death
but
we
know
we
know
that
Jesus
has
given
us
his
word
that
he
has
the
power
over
sickness
and
death
that
he
is
the
one
who
gives
healing
and
life
and
we
very
much
are
like
this
father
whom
Jesus
sends
back
on his
anguished
way
to walk
20 miles
back home
on that lonely
road
by himself
with only
Jesus
word
that he
has life
in the face
of death
and that's how we're
called to live
it looks foolish
it looks beyond
the bounds
of possibility
but we know
more than this man
knew
because we have
the final sign
that Jesus gave us
at the end
of this gospel
that we're
going to talk
about
on Easter
Sunday
in John
chapter 20
it says
that very
early
on that
third
morning
after Jesus
own
death
the son
of God
died
but very
early
on that
third
morning
after his
death
Jesus
rose
up
in the
darkness
of night
in the
power
of an
endless
life
so friends
at present
Jesus
sometimes
and often
times
he doesn't
respond
on our
terms
and Jesus
probably
for every
one of us
is going
to delay
his coming
that would
prevent us
from death
but make
no mistake
for those
of us
who believe
all of his
life giving
power is going
to come
to us
in the end
he will
heal
our bodies
he will
raise us
up
to
indestructible
life
he will
make
all things
new
that is what
all these
signs of
healing
all these
signs of
resurrection
are pointing
us to
it's how
John begins
his gospel
in John 1
4 he says
in Jesus
was life
and that
life
was the
light
of all
people
the life
that's in
Jesus
is the
hope
of the
world
I want
to leave
you with
this famous
passage in
the Bible
about God's
people who
live by faith
and this
wonderful
definition of
faith
Hebrews 11
you ready
for it
it says
now faith
is the
assurance
of things
hoped for
and the
conviction
of things
we cannot
see
now faith
is the
assurance
of things
hoped for
and the
conviction
of things
not seen
and after
going through
example
after example
of people
who live
by faith
it says
this
all these
people
were still
living by
faith
when they
died
they did
not receive
the things
promised
they only
saw them
and welcomed
them from a
distance
admitting
that they
were foreigners
strangers
and strangers
on earth
and that's
the question
for us
will we
have this
kind of
assured
and convicted
faith
even in the
face of
certain death
a faith that
sees that
coming day
in the future
when Jesus
will heal
and resurrect
our bodies
to be like
his body
that's what
it means
to be a
Christian
that's what
it means
to be a
church
that's what
it means
to live
by
faith
may it be
so
among us
in the name
of the Father
Son and Holy
Spirit
Amen