HOW TO AVOID SEEING GOD MOVE IN YOUR LIFE:
1. CONSIDER IT TOO LATE.
- John 5:5.
- Life has a way of beating us down. Especially when we are continually pummeled over many years.
- This invalid had been there for nearly four decades. It’s hard not the lose your hope by that point.
- Many of us give up home for a move from God because we’ve been stuck with the situation we are in for so long. It is what it is, we begrudgingly tell ourselves. We lose our vision and expectation that things could ever be different.
- A couple examples:
a. The child who is into drugs.
- Yes, you maintained hope for a long time. It was nearly a decade that you stuck with it. But finally you gave up hope. They’re never going to change.
b. You have a parent who is unsaved.
- Yes, you maintained hope for a long time. You prayed for the longest time for them to believe in Jesus. You still mention it in passing but without any actual expectation that it will come about. They’re never going to change.
- To go back to the sermon title, it would be easy in this situation to give up on any hope of God moving in your life.
2. CONSIDER YOURSELF TOO FAR GONE.
- John 5:6a.
- As Jesus approaches the pool, He finds out about the invalid’s sad situation. I think it’s safe to presume that the invalid was the worst situation there, at least in terms of the length of his waiting.
- So this man was likely the worst situation there.
- You may have noticed that v. 4 is absent from the NIV. It’s an explanatory verse, but it is not the best ancient manuscripts, so the NIV (and most other modern translations). You can understand, though, why an ancient scribe would have inserted it. If you don’t know the background story about the angel stirring the waters, it’s more challenging to know what is going on here when the invalid comments in v. 7. So even though v. 4 was probably not in the original manuscript, it seems to give us accurate information about the situation.
- We believe that God can move in manageable ways. We believe prayer can answer problems that aren’t ridiculously big. We think some progress can be made.
- Here, though, we have a situation that’s the worst situation there. It’s not a minor illness – no, this man is an invalid likely with some significant paralysis. And this is not a new illness – no, this man has been here for nearly four decades.
- It would be easy to consider the situation too far gone. This one is just too hard. It’s too big of a challenge.
- A couple examples:
a. You are really sick.
- God can heal the minor stuff, but it’s harder to believe for the big stuff.
b. Your job situation is just a disaster.
- You are unemployed and the whole situation is giant mess without any clear path to move forward.
- To go back to the sermon title, it would be easy in this situation to give up on any hope of God moving in your life.
3. FOCUS ON YOUR PROBLEM AND NOT JESUS' OFFER.
- John 5:6b-7.
- The end of v. 6 has a question that at first seems absolutely ridiculous. “Do you want to get well?” Well, of course! Doesn’t everyone? Well, I’m not sure the answer is quite so simple.
- What would be the obvious answer? Yes! But is that the answer that the invalid gives? No, it’s not.
- Instead he begins to explain why he hasn’t been able to get into the water. Now, I don’t begrudge him for his frustration, but it leads him to miss what is being laid before him. Focusing on the problem causes him to lose sight of Jesus’ offer.
- Do we do the same thing? All the time! We get so focused on our circumstances and the hurdles we need to clear that we lose sight of what Jesus offers to do.
- We spend a lot more time worrying and obsessing about our problem than we do dwelling on the promise that Jesus has made that addresses it.
- I wonder when it comes to seeing God move powerfully how many answers we don’t get because we never even ask in the first place because we are so focused on our problem. I think it’s an absurdly high amount.
- A couple examples:
a. A financial problem.
- Do we look to Matthew 6:33 and pray confident that God is going to provide for us? Or do we obsess on the bad numbers?
b. Which path to choose?
- Do we claim James 1:5 and pray confident that God will guide us? Or do we obsess on the uncertain choices?
- To go back to the sermon title, it would be easy in this situation to give up on any hope of God moving in your life.
4. DON'T SEE PAST YOUR TRADITIONS.
- John 5:9-12.
- Later in this sermon series we will go into greater depth about the Sabbath tradition and the Pharisees’ obsession with it, but let’s simply note here the obvious fact: they could not see and celebrate the miracle from God because their tradition got in the way. Specifically, their rules about what was and what was not permissible to do on the Sabbath day without working. Verse 10 notes that carrying the mat was deemed impermissible. So they look at an invalid carrying his mat and their response is not, “Wow! Praise God!” but “Who said you could carry that mat?”
- We can at times get stuck in our traditions as well. We have certain ways that we think God is going to move or what we’ve seen Him move before and we can’t see past that.
- A couple examples:
a. One church is seeing a powerful move of the Spirit but they don’t do things our way so we dismiss it.
- That’s not the way our church does it so how could God be moving there?
b. A Christian friend witnesses in a way that’s uncomfortable for us so we dismiss it.
- Perhaps a friend has an aggressive style of evangelism that we would not want to participate in, so our first inclination is to criticize how he does things rather than rejoice in the results he gets.
- To go back to the sermon title, it would be easy in this situation to give up on any hope of God moving in your life.
5. WANT THE ANSWER BUT NOT THE ANSWERER.
- John 5:14.
- Finally, there are times when all we want out of Jesus is the answer to our problem. We don’t want to change our lives. We don’t want to modify our behavior. We don’t want to walk with Jesus. We don’t want to get baptized. We just want Him to get us out of the situation we’re stuck in.
- This passage concludes with Jesus finding the healed invalid to give him a final word. The word is not, “Wasn’t the miracle great?!” but rather a word of challenge. You’ve been healed but now you need to stop sinning.
- It makes me think of times when we want the answer but not the Answerer. Who is the Answerer? Jesus, of course.
- Many want God to bring about a miracle to get them out of the quicksand, but they don’t want to actual know and love God.
- They don’t want Him, but just what He will do.
- A couple examples:
a. Someone has a scary test result and they don’t want it to be anything serious.
- They pray for an answer, but once the following week’s test comes back clean they don’t give God another thought.
b. A marriage is falling apart and they want it restored.
- They pray for an answer, but once things calm down they don’t give God another thought.
- To go back to the sermon title, it would be easy in this situation to give up on any hope of God moving in your life.
