Do You Want To Get Well?
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
HEY – isn’t that just like the religious…
Failing to rejoice in God moving because things were not done the way they think things ought to be done.
I MEAN – a guy who has been an invalid for 38 years is now walking, that’s good news, right?
But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' " 12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. – John 5:1-13
IT – was a located just north of the Temple area in Jerusalem. It was a large pool surrounded by 5 colonnades or porches. It was built many years earlier to be a monument of wealth and prosperity… but it’s residents now, are people of sickness and disease. IT was called the pool of ‘Bethesda’ a word that means ‘house of mercy.
AND – mercy is what the multitudes who were gathered that day were longing for…
LISTEN – to how one author describes the scene;
PICTURE - a battleground filled with wounded bodies, and you see Bethesda.
IMAGINE – a nursing home overcrowded and understaffed, and you see the pool.
CALL – to mind the orphans in Bangladesh or the abandoned in New Delhi, and you will see what people saw when they passed Bethesda.
AND – as they passed, what did they hear? (An endless wave of groans). WHAT – did they witness? (A field of faceless need). WHAT – did they do? (Most walked past, ignoring the people).
BUT – not Jesus. He is in Jerusalem for a feast. He is alone. He’s not there to teach the disciples or to draw a crowd. The people need him so he’s there.
CAN – you picture it?
Jesus walking among the suffering?
WHAT – is He thinking?
WHEN - an infected hand touches his ankle what does he do? WHEN – a blind child stumbles in Jesus’ path, does he reach down to catch the child?
WHEN – wrinkled hand extends for alms, how does Jesus respond? …
HOW – does God feel when people hurt?
NOW – it’s worth telling the story if all we do is watch him walk. IT’S – worth it just to know that he came. He didn’t have to you know.
SURELY – there were more sanitary crowds in Jerusalem.
SURELY – there were more enjoyable activities.
AFTER ALL – it’s the Passover feast. It’s an exciting time in the holy city. People have come from miles around to meet God in the temple.
LITTLE – do they know that God is with the sick.
LITTLE – do they know that God is walking slowly carefully between the beggars and the blind.
LITTLE – do they know that the strong young carpenter who surveys the ragged landscape of pain is God
YES – the picture in John 5 when we take the time to really slow down and look at it is an incredible, powerful and troubling scene. ROW – after row of wounded sick and hurting people.
QUESTION – are things really that different today?
Unfortunately not… Our world is full of pain, hurt, trouble and sorrow.
WE – are surrounded on every side by row after row of wounded, sick and hurting people…. It’s everywhere, even in this room.
I MEAN - when you look around at the people who attend church with you on Sunday, what do you see?
DO - you see ‘row after row’ of impressive people, dressed in nice clothes who have it all together?
OR - do you see some…
• hurting people in need of comfort
• troubled people in need of peace
• sick people who need healing
• lonely people in need of belonging
• captive people in need of freedom
• prodigal people in need of forgiveness
• desperate people in need of hope
Marshall Hayden wrote an article a few years ago entitled, "Would Every Non-Hurter Please Stand Up?"
He pointed out that people come to church wearing their best clothes & their best smiles. Everybody looks happy, so we assume everything is okay.
BUT HE - suggests that we need to look beyond the facade & realize that the pews are full of hurting people.
He wrote,
• Over here is a family with an income of $550 a week and an outgo of $1,000.
• Over there is a family with two children who, according to their dad, are "failures." "You’re stupid. You never do anything right," he is constantly telling them.
• The lady over there just found a tumor that tested positive. The Smith’s little girl has a hole in her heart.
• Sam & Louise just had a nasty fight. Each is thinking of divorce.
• Last Monday Jim learned that he was being laid off.
• Sarah has tried her best to cover the bruises her drunken husband inflicted when he came home Friday night.
• That teen over there feels like he is on the rack, pulled in both directions. Parents & church pull one way, peers & glands pull the other.
"Then there are those of us with lesser hurts, but they don’t seem so small to us: an unresponsive spouse, a boring job, a poor grade, a friend or parent who left us or is unresponsive ...on & on the stories go. The lonely, the dying, the discouraged, the exhausted, the fearful, the are all here."
Would every non-hurter, please stand up.
At our last elder team meeting… we went over the many prayer needs within our own body…
YES JUST LIKE – the people gathered at the pool of Bethesda in John 5… A lot of us in this very room have (problems and issues) – (hurts and habits) – (fears and concerns) – (obstacles and challenges) that at times seem to crippled and paralyze us…
AND – many times we become convinced that as long as we have them we are not really going anywhere in life…
QUESTION [Tim, Laurie]… – what problem, what issue, what hurt, what struggle, what concern, what fear - do you have in your life at this moment that if it would go away… You feel like your life would be so much better…?
Lord, if you would just… (and go ahead and fill in the blank in your notes or at least in your mind, Lord if you would just…)
• Fix my marriage
• Do something with my finances
• Get my children to listen to me
• Help me overcome that hurt, habit or hang up
• If you would just remove all of this stress that has been piling up
NOW – if you would….
TAKE - a moment to ask God to speak to you about that problem this morning.
AND – also take a moment to pray for the person to your right and left (and if you don’t know their names introduce yourself)…
THEN - pray that they will hear God speak to them about their problems and that you will hear Him speak to you…
REMEMBER – great things happen when God’s people pray!
Prayer
NOW – it is clear from our text, that though there were many people laying around the pool called Bethseda with problems… Jesus focuses his attention on just this one guy…
Btw He is focusing His attention on all of us right now.
He is omni-present.
OKAY…
The first point in your notes – is ‘the man.’
The Man
NOW – we don’t even know the guys name.
IN FACT – we don’t know very much about him at all.
WE simply know that he had been a cripple (John says) for 38 years (now, that is a long time to deal with something).
WHICH – I believe indicates that this man has not always been a cripple… because if he had been born that way John probably would have said of him what he said of the guy who met Jesus in John 9,
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. (John 9:1)
YOU SEE – like us the man in John 5 wasn’t born with His problem… it just kind of came on Him as He lived His life.
NOW HOW – this guy lost the use of his legs we don’t know. MAYBE - it was because of some sickness or due to an accident (we don’t know)…
BUT – one thing we do know is that for 38 years he had been an invalid, for 38 years he had been paralyzed, unable to stand, walk, to run… unable to take care of himself…
WHAT - we know is that for 38 years this man’s hope like his legs has slowly withered away until there was only a faint glimmer left.
IMAGINE – what it would be like to live this way (especially 2000 years ago).
CRIPPLED – paralyzed, unable to move, hope quickly fading away…
AND YOU KNOW, MAYBE – you don’t have to imagine… maybe you have been there… OR – are there now.
Crippled, paralyzed by something.
AND – as he sat under one of the colonnades that day, looking down at those legs…
IN - his mind's eye he could see back to the time when they still worked, when they were able to get him to where he wanted to go (when this ‘problem’ that was now crippling him was not even a part of his life… I mean, it wasn’t even on his radar.
BUT THEN - his thoughts returned to the present.
It was spring, the time of year of the great Passover feast.
The time when the Jews flooded the city celebrating their deliverance from the bitter bondage of Egyptian slavery.
SO - perhaps, this guy thought to himself, "If only God would deliver me from this bondage, if only God would set me free from my slavery, from these useless legs. If only this day would be different than the last 13,870 days!”
BOTTOMLINE - this man had a problem and it crippled him, literally. AND - if you were to ask him how his life was going, he would probably say
"RU kidding me… not good, look at my legs I can't walk I can't do anything"…
AND THEN - if you were to ask him what would it take to get his life going again he would probably say, "if I could only walk again, my life would be so much better…"
UNDERSTAND – this guy was crippled by his problem and not just physically. TO BE - cured, to walked again, dominated his every thought. NOTICE – that John records him saying, "while I am trying to get to the pool someone else beats me to it".
NOW - the verb "trying", is in the present tense and it indicates continuous action.
SO YOU SEE – the day he met Jesus was not the first time that he had been to the pool.
He had been there before perhaps everyday for 38 years.
AND - since he had no friends to help him get into the pool, more than likely he had no friends to help him get to the pool area.
SO - how did he get there?
POSSIBLY - by dragging himself, by pulling with his arms by digging his calloused and bleeding knuckles up and down the rough and rocky streets of Jerusalem.
LISTEN – there is no doubt about it….
THIS MAN - was driven by his desire to get rid of his problem… It's - what drove him to the pool.
QUESTION – what drives you this morning (and I am not talking about your car)…. What problem drives you? What issue? What thing? What concern, circumstance, challenge, habit, hurt or hang up? What mat have you been carrying?
What is that you are so ready to put down…?
2000 years ago an invalid on a mat meet Jesus…
THE – next point in your notes is;
The Question…
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
(Now the Greek word translated for well means;
healthy, sound, unbroken, undamaged, whole)…
HEY - have you ever been asked a question where the answer is real obvious…?
NOW – as I was growing up my parents would occasionally ask me some questions like that.
• Steven do you want a spanking? (gee dad I thought you’d never ask)
• Steven do you want me to take your car keys? (yes please take them)
• Steven do you want to go to bed without any dinner? (yes I do and could I sleep on the floor too?)
You know those, ‘here’s your sign’ kind of questions…
Bill Enguall
You’re in a mall parking lot with a coat hanger in the window of your car, “did you lock your keys in the car?”
“Nope, just washed it and I am hanging it to dry.”
Here’s your sign…
Your packing up your house, the yard is full of boxes and there’s a Uhaul truck in the driveway. You’re neighbor comes up and says, “Hey, you moving?”
“Nope. We just pack our stuff up once or twice a week to see how many boxes it will take.”
Here’s your sign…
You’re out fishing and you come back with 3 coolers of fish… And a guy on the dock yells out to you, “Hey, you catch all those fish?” Nope. “Talked them into giving up.” Here’s your sign…
You have a flat tire. Your off on the side of the road changing it, someone pulls over and asks you, “Tire go flat?” “Nope. I was driving around and those other 3 just swelled right up on me.” Here’s your sign…
You’re staying late at work… and a co-worker looks at you and says, ‘are you still here?” “Nope. I left 10 minutes ago.” Here’s your sign…
YEAH – the first time I read this account of the invalid I felt that the invalid may have wanted to give Jesus a sign.
I MEAN…
IMAGINE – a doctor making his rounds through the Intensive care Unit and asking each of the patients there, ‘So, Mrs. Johnson do You Want To Get Well?’
AGAIN – for a long time this is exactly how I felt about the question Jesus asked this guy at the pool of Bethesda… ‘Do you want to get well?” WHAT – a silly and dare I say, stupid question, to ask a guy laying on a mat who has been crippled for 38 years…
“No, of course I don’t want to get well…
I enjoy being a cripple and having to beg just to eat.
I love hanging out here with so many other sick and hopeless people…
AND – I especially enjoy dragging myself here everyday and then leaving later that night disappointed..”
YEAH – the answer to the question, does seem kind of obvious doesn’t it? ‘Of course I want to get well…that’s ‘why’ I am here. That’s ‘why’ I’ve been here the past 38 years…”
BUT – is it really that obvious…
YOU KNOW – I’m no longer so sure.
BECAUSE YOU SEE – getting well would require this man to begin living a different kind of life.
• Was he ready to do that?
• Or had he become a little too comfortable with his mat, and too familiar with his problem?
• With the way things were and how they caused or enabled him to leave.
• And had he become dependent on the excuses his problem gave him for living and behaving the way he did?
PICTURE - if you would Jesus walking among the group of people who have gathered in this room today (1/22/17)…
PICTURE - Him walking up that aisle and down this aisle…
AND – as the great physician makes his rounds today…
WHAT - do you think the chances are that He is going to come across a few people who like the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda have been dragging in and out of this room week after week with some problems…
QUESTION – what problem, issue, hurt, concern… did you drag in here this morning…? NOW (if you would)…
IMAGINE – Jesus looking you straight in the eyes and saying to you the same 6 words that He said 2,000 years ago,
“Do you want to get well?”
YES – I know it sounds obvious but do you want to get well?
Do you really want…
• To be healed of those past hurts?
• To be set free from that secret sin?
• To overcome that addiction?
• Your marriage to be restored?
• To put down the bitterness and become a better person
• To be reconciled to your kids?
• To get a handle on your tongue and anger?
• God to be the center of your finances?
• To overcome that negative and destructive attitude?
• Do you really want to be less fearful and more trusting
NO – the question is not as obvious as it first appears…
BECAUSE WE – like this man in John 5… after awhile get used to, and comfortable with - simply lying around on our mat with our problems, issues, concerns, habits, hurts and hang ups.
AND – with the excuses we feel they give us for behaving and living as we do.
AND – the truth is that the longer we lie there the more we begin to wonder IF the effort and changes it will take to ‘really’ pick up our mat and walk will even be worth it in the long run.
TODAY (1/22/17))
The alpha and omega, the Sovereign king of the universe is looking at us and saying…
“Yeah I know you want me to take care of your problem…
BUT – do you want to get well?
DO YOU – really want to be: sound, unbroken, undamaged, and whole…?
The Answer…
"I can't, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get there, someone else always gets in ahead of me." - John 5:7 (NLT)
CIRCLE - "I can't…” “I have no one to help me…”
(should have been a yes or no answer)
QUESTION… IS THAT - where you are this morning with your problems, ‘I can’t!’
I MEAN – when you look at…
your marriage; your job; your finances; your addiction; your hurt, your pain, your stress - is that your answer too?
“I can’t. I have no one to help me…”
“I want to get well. I want to be whole. I want to be sound, healthy, unbroken and undamaged… BUT I CAN’T….
THEREFORE - it will always be this way. I will always be this way. It will never get any better. I am stuck. I am doomed. “I have no one to help me…”
IF – that is where you are this morning… ‘Ican’t!’
YOU – need to hear the offer that Jesus gives to this guy who for 38 years has laid on his mat at the pool of Bethesda.
UNDERSTAND – (and this is huge) because of Jesus,
The… “I can’t, I have no one to help me” – no longer applies.
JESUS – (the one we serve, worship and follow) is not the God of can’t… HE IS – the God of can!
HE IS – the God who can do immeasurably move than we could ever (think, dream, imagine, ask or hope for)
2000 years ago a guy on a mat met Jesus
NOW – let’s take a look at the:
The Offer…
Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
YOU KNOW – I wish we would do that. I wish that you and I would just take Jesus at His word. I wish we would BELIEVE that when the King of kings and Lord of lords says something that it really is going to happen.
B/S - why are we so stubborn…?
WHY – are we so unwilling to be made well?
I MEAN – when Jesus tells us to stand… why don’t we stand…
• When he says we’re forgiven – why do we still hold on to the guilt?
• When he says that He loves us and that we’re valuable & matter to Him – why do we continue to doubt our worth, feel unloved and constantly go looking for both in all of the wrong places?
• When the one who clothes the flowers in the fields and feeds the birds in the air promises to provide for us/take care of us – why do we still worry so much about everyday life?
• When he offers us a peace beyond understanding – why do we choose instead internal conflict and turmoil?
• When he says that in all things we are MORE than conquerors - why do we continue to let hurts, habits and hang ups defeat us.
• When he says that in Him we are a new creation – why do we insist that in some ways we and others will never change.
• When he tells us that when we forgive that we are the ones who are set free… why do we stay locked behind the prison bars of bitterness.
• When Jesus says “put me first… and all things will be given” WHY – do we continue to hold back from him our talents, time and treasure…
B/S – when Jesus says, Get up, take up your mat and walk… I say let’s do it…
Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
2000 years ago a guy on a mat met Jesus
The Point
OKAY – now it is time (if you so desire) to wrap this thing up and take it home…
UNDERSTAND…
God brought you here today… to make you well - to make you healthy, sound, unbroken, undamaged and whole – to help to wellness become a reality in your life.
Note – it may not happen overnight…
AND LISTEN
FOR – that wellness to be reality…. 4 things need to happen first…
Acknowledge & identify your mat
The problem in your life, that is keeping you from walking in newness of life…
• It may be your marriage
• It may be your tongue or temper
• It may be your finances
• It may be a hurt, hang up or a habit (an addiction)
• It may be fear or worry, doubt or insecurity
AGAIN the first thing you need to do is acknowledge and identify the mat that is crippling your life, walk and faith…
Make the decision that you ‘really do’ want to get well
That you really are ready to move on…
That you really are (no matter what it takes) ready to live your life with out this mat…
Do what Jesus tells you…
UNDERSTAND – if the guy at the pool had to do more then simply lie on his mat IN ORDER to accept Jesus’ offer of wellness…
IF - he had to "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
THEN – there is something we must do in order to accept Jesus offer of wellness.
NOW – for you picking up your mat might mean….
• Going over to your spouse some time today and taking ownership of your part of the mess your marriage is in without reminding them of the part they own
• Going to marriage counseling
• Trusting God and taking Him at his word and honoring with the first fruits of your wealth each week when the plate is passed (Pr 3:9)
• Talking to a trusted brother or sister about the struggle your are having or about the hurt, habit, attitude or hang up you want to overcome.
• Getting out of the boat and doing the thing you know that God is asking you to do
• Forgiving the person who wronged you and letting go
• Picking up your bible so can begin meeting Jesus for yourself
YOU KNOW – I think most of us already know what we need to do… WE – just have not been willing to do it
BUT – if we don’t know… we can be sure that God will tell us if we ask Him…
Realize That Jesus has a bigger fish to fry them simply removing your problem
GUYS – this is so huge!!!! YOU SEE – this guys story did not end with his healing at the pool.
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." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
John says, "later Jesus found him at the temple".
NOW - the word for find is in the present tense and indicates that Jesus was looking and searching for the man.
UNDERSTAND - Jesus was NOT simply cruising through the temple and just happened to run into the guy.
INSTEAD – He was looking for Him, Jesus had a much higher purpose for this man than the MERE healing of his legs...
Check out what said when he found the guy…
See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
NOW FAR too many people get themselves hung up on this verse, trying to figure out if this man's illness was due to some previous sin, that he was now continuing in...And in getting caught up in this theological debate, that no one will ever know the answer to, they miss the beauty, power and the true impact of this verse.
UNDERSTAND - what Jesus is saying to the guy is this,
"LISTEN - I KNOW THAT YOU FELT YOUR PHYSICAL PROBLEM WAS IMPORTANT, AND LOOK YOU ARE WELL…
The problem, the issue, the concern, the habit, the hang up is gone…
AND - YOU ARE FEELING PRETTY GOOD ABOUT IT. AND I’M OKAY WITH THAT…
BUT – MY FRIEND THERE IS SOMETHING MORE ESSENTIAL THAN HAVING YOUR LEGS HEALED AND RESTORED,
THERE IS SOMETHING MORE VALUABLE AND PRECIOUS THAN THE PHYSICAL…
AND - THAT IS THE SPIRITUAL... I CAME TO RESTORE YOUR SOUL… I CAME TO MAKE YOUR SOUL WELL.
MGCC – listen up because we all soo need to get this.
Our problem - is not ‘really’ the problem
And removing it – is not the answer to your wellness and wholeness
Your problem - is not ‘really’ the problem. And removing it – is not the answer to ‘true’ wellness and wholeness. True wellness and wholeness goes so much deeper.
You see, the question is do you ‘really’ want to get well?
Or do you just want Jesus to remove a problem from your life?
Do you want to be able to sing,
“It is well with my legs or with my soul?”
NOW – the awesome thing about Jesus is that many times HE takes care of a problem in our life, SO THAT – He can show us what we really need…
AND – what we really need is – a radical, personal, on fire relationship with Him.
LISTEN – the King of Glory wants to do so much more than rescue you from your problems…
HE – wants to be with you, to restore your soul
SO – I guess what I’m trying to say is, that it’s not what we think…
IF – our life is not running like it should… The problem ultimately
• Is not our job
• Is not that our business is doing bad
• Is not our marriage or the health problems we our suffering
• Is not our finances or our kids
• Is not our hurts, habits our hang ups…
AND YES – Jesus can take care of those…
AND BECAUSE – He loves us so much and is full of compassion, He often does
BUT JESUS – wants to do so much than take away your problems. does HE – wants to take you to HIMSELF…
WHICH (btw) – will always take you to: wellness and wholeness… and make you – healthy, sound… unbroken and undamaged...
I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. Phil 4:11-13 (Msg)
OKAY…
Let’s wrap this up with 3 concluding statements or thoughts…
1. Jesus not only can deal with our problems but that He can take us to true wellness…
2. We must move from seeking mere surface wellness (the removal of the problem) to seeking wellness for our souls.
3. We as the church we must make true wellness and soul wellness our ultimate goal – which is found only in following Him.
Okay, I want to close by telling you about a baptism I was able to witness in Lexington Kentucky around 15 years ago. It is a baptism I have never forgotten.
The man being baptized was in a wheelchair, he had MS. He looked to be in his late 30s early 40s. Before he was baptized into Christ, he shared this story.
He said that he was so pumped about being baptized that he woke up at 4 AM in the morning.
And when he woke up he had a thought. He said it was more like a dream. A dream of someone coming up to him and standing over him as he sat in the wheelchair and asking him this question; “Bob if you have one wish and will be giving to you what would it be?”
Now He said it was obvious that the person quickly assumed that he would say that his greatest wish would be to get up out of that wheelchair and walk.
But Bob told the one who asked him the question I've already have the answer to my greatest wish and desire ‘Jesus Christ’ and today I'm being baptized into his name – for the forgiveness of my sins.
Talk about being made well.
