Stop Sinning

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

STOP SINNING

John 5:8-15

8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."  9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" 12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."  15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

NIV

Having looked at the fact that Jesus heals, we should also consider the rest of this particular narrative. We find this healed man in the temple. John says that it was sometime later. We cannot be certain if it was later that day, or some other day later on, but the point is this man who had laid by the pool, lame, for thirty-eight plus years took the occasion to go to the temple now that he could walk. Surely, as a Jew, he had missed this opportunity to go to the temple, which is the center of everything for the Jews. This is where God’s presence resided. This man must have felt his need to go to the temple to give thanks to God for his healing and to be among the people, to walk and talk with his fellow Jews, like a normal man. We also see Jesus at the temple and he found this man and makes this incredible statement. “See, you are well again, Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” What was Jesus saying? This man had been lame for so many years. What kind of sin would he had been involved in that caused him to be lame? That is what Jesus is implying, that some sin caused this man to be lame. Jesus says that he is well again, which sort of implies that he was once well, as a youth perhaps, and his sin was so grievous it resulted in his being lame. But then does that mean there are degrees of sin, some that would cause an infirmity? Then we would have to say that anyone who has some sort of infirmity committed some grievous sin. Perhaps we should say that all sin will cause some kind of physical problem. Maybe it would be better to conclude that sin will definitely cause an infirmity in our spirit. But this man’s sin caused his physical condition and Jesus told him to stop sinning or he would experience something worse. Was Jesus saying that if he continued to sin he would be lame again but this time maybe his arms would be lame as well as his legs? Most likely Jesus was making the point that if he continued to sin as he had been, he would find himself in hell at some time in the future. But wait, does that mean the man was still sinning all the while he was lame? If that is the case, then sin has to be more then an act of the body, whatever that would be. Sin is the condition of the heart and its relationship with God. It is our heart that makes us rebel against God. We use the term heart to mean our soul, our mind, our inner self.  We rebel against God and thus cause ourselves harm in one way or another. It may well be that sin will evidentially lead to some physical disability. We know that overindulgence in smoking for years may well bring lung cancer upon a person. We know that overindulgence in alcohol may well bring liver disease or some other infirmity upon a person.  We know and overindulgence in certain foods can cause all sorts of issues, obesity, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, etc. There may be many other habits that Christians consider sinful which may cause physical problems. However, it is the sins of the heart that will cause sickness within. Once we lived in that city of sin, the city of darkness and death. Our fate in that condition was the judgment of God. We had condemned ourselves to hell. But we saw the light of Christ and we crossed over to the city of light and life, through faith in Jesus, and we found the grace of God, his mercy was bestowed upon us and we were given eternal life. Why in the world would we want to go back to that lifestyle we lived in that city of darkness and death? This is what Jesus is talking about. Having been healed, having received the grace of God, why would we want to go on sinning as we once did? Now does that mean we sin no more? How can we do that? How can we never ever commit any sin ever again? To say we never sin, would almost be blasphemous. That would be saying we are as perfect as Jesus, or that we are God, perfect in every way. No, Jesus was making the point that once we are healed, we need to remain healed. No going back to the way we once lived. No returning to the old self, we have been born again, a new creature in Christ and who in their right mind would want to give up this new birth to go back to the old life that led to death. We need to see that we should move forward with God. Those sins of the heart, anger, hatred, envy, jealousy, pride, and such will kill us, destroy us within. Those are things we should have left behind in that city of darkness and death, not just our sinful behaviors. Stop sinning.