Signs
Pt. 5
I. Introduction
There are too many normal Christians here! We live our lives; go through our lives, and all we see is normal days and normal results. I have no problem with normal, average, blah days until that is all we have. Jesus declared that our normal lives would be interrupted by signs! Signs would follow along behind us inserting themselves into our normal walk and causing us to see the supernatural bust the natural wide open! We live in a signless society. If it can’t be explained we don’t want to experience it. But I came to lay claim to our heritage from Jesus who said this would be a part of our lives! So it is time to quit focusing so much on our gift in here that we can’t be used out there! It is time to become unfrozen from our touch and turn and touch someone else. We must once again believe and spread the news that God not only can, but wants to touch us and change us.
So today, we go another step on our ride along with Jesus on His signs trip! Today we join Him on the road to Jericho. It is one of His best known signs. This sign has been preached about for ages. Hopefully today you will get something new out of this. I know I have!
Text: Mark 10:46-52
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
II. Signs
a. We need noisy needs!
Notice the crowd tries to quiet him down. We would rather rebuke needs than deal with needs.
You need to know right now that someone (even church folks who are supposed to specialize in compassion, care, and needs) will try to silence your cry for help. You need to know something will try to silence you too! If we are not careful we will fall into the enemy’s trap and let something distract us from deliverance and healing.
We let shame quiet us down. We let fear. We let disbelief and what others will think stifle signs. We don’t want to stick out! I am telling you that we have allowed our pride to keep us from signs. We don’t want anyone to know we are in need of a touch. Our silence has caused us to stay sick. we talked about silencing the enemy, but I think more times than not, it isn’t the loudness of the enemy it is the quietness of the one in need that creates lack of signs! We suffer in silence.
Our marriage is in shambles we don’t want anyone to know. Our finances are out of control. We don’t want anyone to know. Our kids are driving us crazy and we suffer in silence. We need noisy needs this morning. How can you get help if no one knows you need it?
I will caution you and say that too many of us have been crying out to the wrong thing or people. Those people will ignore you or try to quiet you down. When you cry out to the one . . . Jesus . . . He will expose you, but for your own good.
You have heard the greasy wheel gets the grease. Perhaps we see no signs in our churches because we have all hidden our needs. No one will come to an altar and expose their need. No one will raise a hand and say I have a need.
We are suffering in silence and silence is killing us! We need noisy needs again that refuse to be silenced or shooshed until Jesus hears them. His noisy need stopped Jesus in His tracks. When is last time we stopped him? Where is the deep cry of anguish? Where is the deep cry of pain? We don’t stop Him because we don’t reveal the depth of our desperation! We play church. We play it safe and guard ourselves and in so doing we stay needy! Stand Him Still! I am asking you to gear up for next Sunday. Come prepared to cry out in anguish not just for your needs, but for the needs of others. I am asking you actually feel the pain, expose the pain, and express the pain. We must cry out for mercy!
b. Throw the cloak.
There is a powerful truth here that goes unnoticed. Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus and when Jesus stops and calls for him this blind man throws the cloak. You need to know that this was no ordinary cloak. This was in fact his badge of identification. It was his seal of approval. It was the mark of legitimacy. Just like today there were charlatans, scam artist and professional beggars in Jesus’ day. So the religious leaders of the day would hand out cloaks to those who were actually in need. This cloak signified that you could give to this person without fear of being taken advantage of because they truly were in need. When Jesus stopped, before He ever asked the man a question or made an attempt to touch Him, Bartimaeus made preparation for healing. Jesus responds to this blind man by saying, "You faith has made you whole." What faith? The faith to throw the cloak! Bartimaeus was saying, “I won’t need this anymore. I won’t need to beg. I will not need handouts. I won’t need your sympathy anymore. I won’t be marked or identified by this issue any longer.”
I think it is time for some of us to make preparation for healing. I think it is time for some us to actually begin to act like and believe like God can come through. I think we need to throw the cloak. I say that because I am afraid that too many of us get a touch and go back to our cloak. We get set free from porn and go back to an unmonitored computer. We get set free from financial destruction and sign up for new credit cards. We get healed and go back to doing things that destroy our bodies. Our marriage gets a touch and we go back to selfishness or slackness. We are comfortable in our cloak, but our cloak brings with it sickness and bondage. It is time to make some changes. Once you get a touch you can’t go back and pick up the cloak again! Some of you just need to throw some things away! If you don’t you will go back to them and find that your sign is short-lived! You can’t abandon the principles of God and expect to maintain the blessings of God. Why? You can’t abandon the principles of God and expect to maintain the blessings of God. Throw the cloak . . . sell out to staying whole, healed, delivered and set free!
3. Answer the question . . . CORRECTLY!
What do you want me to do? That is an open ended question! No limits on it. No boundaries. No qualifiers. What do you want me to do? He could have said anything. Car, riches, fame, revenge. But his response went to the base need of his life. If you will heal my eyes the rest will take care of itself. I wonder if we don’t see signs because we fail to get to the baseline need. We are so wrapped up in things that don’t matter that we don’t get to the core of what it is we need. If you look back in this chapter Jesus asked the disciples the same exact question in vs. 35-36 that He asks this blind man. What do you want me to do for you? The same exact word for word question. Their response was about position, prestige, name recognition . . . we want the right hand seat. Jesus wasn’t moved. Jesus didn’t recognize or acknowledge any faith in their answer. He didn’t answer their request. If He was moved at all it was to anger or aggravation.
If Jesus was to ask you today what He could do for you what would your answer be? Would you answer it correctly? What is your base need? Is it really healing or is it a change of lifestyle that would bring healing? Is it really money or knowledge on how to properly use and steward the money you already have? Is it a new spouse or is it really a new love for and desire for the spouse you already have? Is your base need really a new car or the discipline necessary to actually pay off the one you already have? A new job?? Or the spiritual insight to discern that the job you have is an assignment from God Himself and if He answered your prayer He would be undoing what He already did? A bigger platform? Or is it the discipline to handle the stage you already have with grace and humility? What is your base need?
I wonder if we aren’t seeing signs because we are asking for Band-Aids rather than cures. We deal with symptoms rather than getting to the root issue! I wonder ... is it possible that we are experiencing no change in our life because when we contact Him weekend after weekend we are asking for something that won’t really resolve our problem?
It is time to answer the question correctly!
