January 5, 2003
Morning Service
Text: John 5:1:15; Acts 8:1-8
Subject: Overcoming the Victim Mentality
Title: Whom Can I Blame?
I want to begin todays sermon with a story from Max Lucados "The Applause of Heaven".
"I have everything I need for joy!" Robert Reed said.
"Amazing!" I thought.
His hands are twisted and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t feed himself. He can’t brush his teeth, comb his hair, or put on his underwear. His shirts are held together by strips of Velcro. His speech drags like a worn-out audiocassette.
Robert has cerebral palsy.
The disease keeps him from driving a car, riding a bike, and going for a walk. But it didn’t keep him from graduating from high school or attending Abilene Christian University, from which he graduated with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at a St. Louis junior college or from venturing overseas on five missions trips.
And Robert’s disease didn’t keep him from becoming a missionary to Portugal.
He moved to Lisbon, alone, in 1972. There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who would instruct him in the language.
Then he stationed himself daily in a park, where he distributed brochures about Christ. Within six years he led seventy people to the Lord, one of whom became his wife, Rosa.
I heard Robert speak recently. I watched other men carry him in his wheelchair onto the platform. I watched them lay a Bible in his lap. I watched his stiff fingers force open the pages. And I watched people in the audience wipe away tears of admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he did just the opposite. He held his bent hand up in the air and boasted, "I have everything I need for joy."
His shirts are held together by Velcro, but his life is held together by joy.
This is a difficult sermon to preach, but I believe that it is the perfect time to do it as we enter in to a new year and prepare for what God is going to do in our church.
Many of us suffer from the victim mentality. Our society tells us that we don’t have to take responsibility for our actions. We can blame someone else. The onset of Freudian psychology began to permeate our culture with the idea that every wrong action you take can be blamed on things that happened to you in your early childhood. You don’t have to accept any responsibility; you are the victim.
Today I want to look at a couple of passages to see (1) how Jesus responded to the victim mentality, and (2) how the early church responded.
Hopefully we can come away today seeing that we can go from being victims to becoming victorious.
I. The man at the pool. Look at those who congregated at the pool of Bethesda. A great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. Misery loves company. Here we see a multitude of people lying around waiting for the waters to stir. Picture if you would hundreds, even thousands of sick lying around waiting for the moving of the waters. And only the first one would be healed.
What about the rest?
"I’m still sick but it’s not my fault"
"I wanted to get in the water but somebody beat me to it."
"I am not responsible for my circumstances." Verse 5, "Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years." The NIV says he was an invalid for thirty-eight years. The Greek word translateed "infirmity" - astheneia - literally means feebleness, malady, frailty , disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness.
None of these words give and indication that the man was a cripple, paralyzed or had anything that would prevent him from walking. Other than the fact that he had laid there for thirty-eight years. It may be that he had a condition that made it difficult for him to walk so he just quit trying. Muscles became atrophied.
Those who hve been bed ridden for a long period of time find it difficult to just get up and walk. Not that there is any physical problem but the muscles have to be strengthened and trained again. Worse than that, his will had become atrophied.
But it wasn’t his fault you see. Jesus questions a man.
"Do you want to be made well?" Seems like a rhetorical question. Who wouldn’t want to be made well? It was a question to the man’s will rather than the man’s physical condition. Rather than answer Jesus’ question with a yes, he makes excuses. "I can?t be healed. Nobody will put me into the pool. If I try, somebody gets there before me. It’s not my fault." It seems that Jesus is moving toward a healing of the will.
Sometimes people don’t want things to be made right.
They enjoy the victim mentality. As long as I am a victim, it’s not my fault. If I am no longer a victim, then I have to be responsible. If I am responsible then I have to make an effort to do what is right and that requires work. It is easier to lie by the pool and blame others. Now look what happens here.
A side bar: In our discussions about healing we place emphasis on faith. Here a man is about to be healed with no faith at all. There are three areas where faith is active in healing. The faith of the one in need. The faith of one standing in for another. The faith of one given the gift of healing. Jesus says, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." Stop blaming others. Just get up and do it. Take responsibility for yourself. Immediately the man was made well, took up his bed and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.
Was the sick man ready for a life changing experience?
Verses 10 and 11, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed." He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, "Take up your bed and walk".
Even though he had an encounter with the Savior who changes lives and circumstances and attitudes he still wanted to blame others. Even when we trust in Christ as Savior we have a responsibility to act differently.
2 Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new." The man was not grateful for the healing nor did he change his attitude. Verses 14-15, Jesus went looking for him. He was still concerned about his spiritual condition.
"See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well."
Ezekiel 18:1-4, "The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, ’What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?’ As I live, says the Lord God, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the souls who sins shall die". We must take responsibility for our own actions, circumstances, and failures.
Now let’s turn over to Acts 8:1-8 and see a different kind of response to adversity.
A reason to point fingers. Saul was behind the death of a saint and the persecution of the church. 9:1 says, he was breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. This was a group of people on the run. They had been driven from their houses, and were scattered everywhere. If any group of people ever had a reason to blame others, it was the early church.
"How can we be of any use? We don’t even have a church to call home anymore."
"If God really loves us how could he allow this to happen"
"The apostles didn’t tell us this was going to happen."
"How can I be expected to share the gospel with people I don’t even know?"
But this is how they responded.
"Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word."
The church accepted their circumstances without blaming others. They knew that Jesus said to GO and share the gospel. So they went out all over. From Judea, to Samaria to the ends of the earth being witnesses for Christ. They accepted their circumstances without question. They did what the word of God said they should do. What was the result?
There was great joy in that city!!!!!
Victor Franko was a Jewish psychiatrist who was locked up in a German concentration camp in WW2. His whole family, save one sister, died in that camp. He came out of his prison experience with this amazing attitude. There was one thing they could not take from him; his freedom to choose his attitude. He says that he was not really the prisoner there, but the Nazis were, because he had the freedom to choose how he felt.
How do we respond to adversity? Do we blame others or do we stand on the promises of God and move on, taking charge of the situation?
I can’t get excited about church because I was hurt there before.
I could never teach Sunday School because I don’t know enough.
I can’t get out of my financial problems because I don’t make enough money.
I can’t shake this habit because it is something that I inherited from my parents.
I can’t get fired up in my spiritual life because the preacher is just too boring.
I can’t get healed because that doesn’t seem to be God?s will.
I can’t stop feeling sorry for myself because everybody else is against me.
As you are thinking these thoughts Jesus is speaking through the words of Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Do we all go through hard times?
Have we all had financial struggles?
Have we fallen away from the spiritual fervor we once had?
Do we doubt our abilities?
Have we all held on to things we need to get rid of?
Have we forgotten where our strength lies?
Going through these struggles does not create a problem with God. It is when self- pity rises above everything else and becomes an active lifestyle that sin creeps in. That is what God is displeased with.
How do we deal with these things then?
First of all, find a friend to talk to. Not someone who will just say what you want to hear, but will tell you what you need to hear.
Second, trust in the Word of God. He is still the healer, provider, your peace. He still breaks down strongholds in our lives. He is still the grace giver for every situation we may come against.
Today Jesus is asking you, "Do you want to be healed?"
Is it time to take responsibility for our own actions?
Is it time to stop blaming others?
Is it time to stop being a victim and start being victorious?
Is it time to pick up our bed and walk?
I want to close with another Max Lucado story.
She has every reason to be bitter.
Though talented, she went unrecognized for years. Prestigious opera circles closed her ranks when she tried to enter. American critics ignored her compelling voice. She was repeatedly rejected for parts for which she easily qualified. It was only after she went to Europe and won the hearts of tough-to-please audiences that stateside opinion leaders acknowledged her talent.
Not only has her professional life been a battle, her personal life has been marked by challenge. She is the mother of two handicapped children, one of whom is severely retarded. Years ago, in order to escape the pace of New York City, she purchased a home on Martha?s Vineyard. It burned to the ground two days before she was to move in.
Professional rejection. Personal setbacks. Perfect soil for seeds of bitterness. A receptive field for the roots of resentment. But in this case, anger found no home.
Her friends don’t call her bitter. They call her "Bubbles."
Beverly Sills. Internationally acclaimed opera singer. Retired director of the New York City Opera.
Her phrases are sugared with laughter. Her face is softened with serenity. Upon interviewing her, Mike Wallace stated that, "she is on of the most impressive - if not the most impressive - ladies I’ve ever interviewed."
How can a person handle such professional rejection and person trauma and still be known as Bubbles? "I choose to be cheerful," she says. "Years ago I knew I had little or no choice about success, circumstances or even happiness; but I knew I could choose to be cheerful."
Church. As believers in Jesus Christ we have an even better choice to make.
We can choose to believe His Word. He has promised us salvation. He has promised us healing. He has promised that He will supply all our needs.
Do you want to be healed? Pick up your bed and walk. The joy of the Lord is your strength.
