09-14-2008
“WWYD”
“WHAT WOULD YOU DO?”
ONE NIGHT A DRUNKARD SAT AT A TABLE IN A BAR, DRINKING WITH HIS BUDDIES. SOON HIS WIFE CAME IN AND SET A COVERED DISH IN FRONT OF HIM, SAYING, “JACK, YOU SEEM TOO BUSY TO COME HOME FOR SUPPER, SO I BROUGHT YOUR SUPPER TO YOU.” AS SHE LEFT THE BAR THE MAN’S BUDDIES ROARED WITH LAUGHTER. JACK THEN INVITED THEM TO HAVE SUPPER WITH HIM. HE REMOVED THE COVER AND FOUND THE DISH TO BE EMPTY, BUT IN IT WAS A NOTE WHICH SAID, “JACK, I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR SUPPER. THIS IS WHAT THE KIDS AND I HAVE AT HOME.”
YOU SEE SATANS DISHES ARE ALWAYS EMPTY. BUT CHRIST FILLS THE CHRISTIANS DISH WITH THINGS FOR TIME AND ETERNITY. TODAY WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT AN ACCOUNT OF JESUS AND A MAN THAT HE BLESSED. TURN WITH ME TO JOHN 5:1-9 (READ IT)
LET’S PRAY
I’VE ENTITLED OUR TIME TOGETHER TODAY: WWYD or WHAT WOLD YOU DO?
Sir Isaac Newton’s “First Law of Motion” states “Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it!” I think we all recognize within ourselves the need for change. Yet we also recognized that the change we need is often hard to achieve.
THIS MORNING I WANT US TO LOOK AT 4 THINGS FROM THIS ACCOUNT.
1. THE CONDITION OF THE MAN
HERE WE FIND A MAN THAT WAS HELPLESS AND HOPELESS. HELPLESS IN THE FACT THAT SOMEONE HAD TO BE BRINGING HIM THERE EVERY MORNING AND TAKING HIM HOME EVERY NIGHT. HE WOULD LAY THERE ALL DAY LONG IN A HELPLESS CONDITION. NOW ISN’T THAT THE PICTURE OF A LOST SINNER! HELPLESS, NOT ABLE TO DO ANYTHING TO SAVE HIMSELF. ISN’T THAT THE CONDITION OF US ALL? WITHOUT CHRIST WE CAN DO NOTHING. BUT WITH CHRIST PAUL WRITES (PHIL 4:13) WE CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENS ME. YOU SEE ALL OUR TALENT, ALL OUR WISDOM, ALL OUR PERSONALITY IS NOTHING UNLESS CHRIST IS IN IT AND AT THE CENTER OF IT.
THIS MAN WAS HOPELESS. I AM SURE HE WAS FRUSTRATED MANY TIMES AS HE TRIED ON HIS OWN TO GET TO THE WATER WHEN IT STIRED. I AM SURE HE CAME TO THE POOL WITH GREAT HOPES OF GETTING WELL. BUT SUDDENLY THE DAYS TURNED TO WEEKS, WEEKS TO MONTHS AND MONTHS TO YEARS. NOTHING SAPS YOUR HOPE OR DESIRE TO LIVE MORE THAN HOPELESSNESS. THE MAN WITHOUT CHRIST HAS NO HOPE. THERE IS NO FUTURE FOR HIM, OTHER THAN A COLD GRAVE AND A HOT HELL. THANK GOD THE CHRISTIAN HAS HOPE. HOPE THAT CHRIST WILL CARE FOR HIM/HER, HOPE THAT GOD WILL BRING COMFORT IN THE MIDST OF SORROW AND PAIN. HOPE THAT GOD WILL COME AGAIN FOR HIS CHILDREN. AMEN!!!!
SO WE HAVE LOOKED AT THE MAN BRIEFLY. NOW UPON THE SCENE COMES JESUS. It is worthy of note that He, as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, would enter the city through the Sheep Gate, the entrance to the city through which the sheep for temple sacrifices were brought.
AND WHEN HE COMES INTO THE CITY THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE ALL AROUND. THE TEXT SAYS HE COMES TO THE POOL OF BETHESDA, A GATHERING PLACE FOR MANY WHO WERE SICK AND FOUND TO BE WITH AILMENT, SO MANY PEOPLE THAT THIS POOL HAS FIVE DECKS. can you imagine how many people there were LYING around waiting to get into the pool when it was stired?
our text talks about one of those folks, listen to what vs 5 says: A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Vs 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, "Do you wish to get well?
2. WE MUST DECIDE IF WE WANT TO BE CHANGED?
WE SEE HERE THAT JESUS SAW THE MAN AND KNEW HE HAD BEEN THERE A LONG TIME. YOU SEE HE KNOWS ALL ABOUT YOU AND ME AS WELL. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT WE READ, “THOU GOD SEEST ME.” HE SEES US IN THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE DAY AND THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT. HE SEES US WHEN WE SIN AS WE ARE REMINDED THAT OUR SINS SHALL FIND US OUT (NUM. 32:23) BUT HERE IS THE COMFORTING THOUGHT: WHEN WE ARE IN TROUBLE OR SORROW HE SEES US ALSO. YOU MAY THINK THAT YOU DON’T COUNT WITH GOD THAT YOU ARE SIMPLY ONE SMALL PERSON AMONG MILLIONS ON EARTH BUT YOU ARE SOMEONE IN HIS SIGHT. HE IS AWARE OF YOU MORE SO THAN IF A SPARROW FALLS TO THE EARTH.
NOW VS 6 SEEMS TO ASK A FOOLISH QUESTION BUT REMEMBER GOD DOES NOT ASK QUESTIONS FOR NO REASON AT ALL. HE ASKS THE MAN DO YOU WANT TO BE MADE WELL? He was asking a very serious question because it is entirely possible that he does not “really” want to be changed.
In the past thirty-eight years this man has been a beggar who lived by the pity of OTHERS; if he is healed he would lose all of this. This man by being healed would be venturing out into the unknown, he would lose all his present securities, AND HE will have to be responsible for himself. He will have to find work; he will be entering a whole new world. To be healed meant to enter in a completely new life, one with wonderful possibilities, but also with certain amount of risk. The fact is that some people will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid unwelcome changes in their lives. “Dave Reavor, a disabled Vietnam veteran, tells of a young man in the 1960’s who did not want to be drafted. So he had all of his teeth pulled to make himself unfit for military duty. But when he took his physical, he was declared unfit because of his flat feet.” Don’t WE SEE THAT IN OUR WORLD TODAY? PEOPLE WHO LIVES ARE SICK AND THEY ARE PARALYZED IN MIND AND HEART? THEY BECOME CONTENT TO STAY THE WAY THEY ARE NOT REALIZING THAT GOD HAS COME TO SET THEM FREE! THERE ARE MANY WHO SIMPLY DO NOT WANT TO CHANGE. THE SAME IS TRUE OF SOME WHO ATTEND THE CHURCH. They are respectful and seemingly excited about what they are hearing. They are not saved, but they listen to the Gospel. But there comes a time, when they realize they do not really want to be changed and SO they leave.
Even after we are saved, we continue to be confronted by issues in our lives that need to be changed, like bitterness, unresolved conflicts and things that lie hidden within us for years. The question is, “Do we really want to change?” So the question that Jesus asked the paralyzed man, that seemed unnecessary even ridiculous, was relevant for him and for us!
We Not Only Must Decide If We Want To Change but …
3. WE MUST DECIDE TO STOP MAKING EXCUSES.
LOOK AT VS 7 IT SAYS: The impotent man answered him, SIR; I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
DO YOU NOT SEE YOURSELF IN THAT RESPONSE AT ALL? I DO! I SEE MYSELF WHEN I don’t ANSWER THE QUESTION BUT RATHER WANT TO TALK ABOUT MY ISSUES. I MISS THE POINT OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN GOD AND ME. RECENTLY I WAS HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH MY SON. HE WAS TELLING ME THAT HE WAS BACK ON ROUTINE OF RUNNING EVERY DAY. I ENCOURAGED HIM AND QUESTIONED FURTHER; WHEN DO YOU RUN? HE SAID 5:30 IN THE MORNING. I SAID DO YOU RUN WITH ANYBODY ELSE? HE SAID NO. I SAID SON PLEASE BE CAREFUL, I AM WORRIED ABOUT THAT, TO WHICH HE SAID “DAD IF GOD IS WITH ME THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR RIGHT? ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU AND MOM TRIED TO TEACH ME ALL THESE YEARS? MY SON WAS RIGHT.
THE SICK MAN DID NOT OFFER A DIRECT ANSWER. THIS MAN HAD BEEN LOOKING TO THE POOL FOR HIS HEALING AND BECOME DISAPPOINTED AND HERE STANDS THE GREAT PHYSICIAN READY TO DO THAT FOR HIM AND HE STILL DOES NOT FULLY SEE HIS ANSWER LIES IN JESUS CHRIST. FOR MANY OF YOU PERHAPS YOU HAVE BEEN LOOKING TO THE WRONG SOURCE. PERHAPS YOU HAVE BEEN RELYING ON YOUR OWN STRENGTH OR YOUR OWN GOOD WORKS WHEN THAT ISSUES RESOLVE IS FOUND IN CHRIST ALONE.
4. WE MUST DECIDE WHETHER WE ARE READY TO ACT.
HE SAID TO THE MAN: “RISE, TAKE UP THY BED, AND WALK.” WHAT POWER IN A STATEMENT. WHAT POWER TO HAVE WITNESSED. HERE A MAN WITH THE SAME PROBLEM FOR 38 YEARS SUDDENLY HAS POWER AND REGENERATION OF MUSCLE AND BONE STRUCTURE COME TO HIS BODY AND HE WALKS! THAT SHOULD GET YOU A LITTLE FIRED UP!!!
JESUS SAYS THE SAME THING TO YOU AND ME. AFTER WE HAVE BEEN SAVED WE ARE NOT TO REMAIN SEATED WE ARE TO RISE UP AND WALK FOR JESUS!!!!! SUPPOSE YOU WERE IN A BURNING BUILDING AND A FIREMAN RUSHES IN AND SAVES YOUR LIFE, BUT SUPPOSE THAT IT COST HIM HIS LIFE. Wouldn’t YOU GO TO HIS FUNERAL, WOULDN’T YOU SEND SOME FLOWERS, WOULDN’T YOU SHOW SOME APPRECIATION IN SOME WAY? SURELY YOU WOULD. WELL JESUS HAS SAVED YOU FROM THE BURNING PITS OF HELL. Shouldn’t YOU ACKNOWLEDGE IT IN SOME WAY?
IN CONCLUSION, LET ME GIVE YOU A LITTLE POP: POINTS TO PONDER
WHEN GOD CALLS YOU TO RISE UP AND WALK. WHAT IS HE CALLING UPON YOU TO DO?
A.) HE CALLS US TO RISE UP AND WALK IN OPEN CONFESSION OF HIM. (ROM. 10:9-10 MT 10:32)
B.) HE CALLS US TO RISE UP AND WALK IN THE WATERS OF BAPTISM (MT 28:19 MK 16:16 ACTS 10:47-48 ROM 6:4)
C.) HE CALLS US TO RISE UP AND WALK IN A LIFE OF COMMUNION W/CHRIST (JOHN 15:4,6,7)
D.) CALLS US TO RISE UP AND WALK AS FAITHFUL STEWARDS (1 COR 4:2 LEV. 27:30)
E.) HE CALLS US TO RISE UP AND WALK IN A LIFE OF SERVICE (MK 9:35 1COR 9:19)
HOW ABOUT YOU? THE MASTER IS CALLING RISE UP AND WALK.
LET’S PRAY
