When my first girl Clarissa was born, I was about the proudest daddy you had ever seen. Still am. And I must say she was a daddy’s girl. When she said her first word, it was “dada!” I was proud, and I didn’t spend much time teaching her that either. But with walking, that was another story. I would force her to roll over until she could do it on her own, then when she began to crawl, I would pick up her hands and try to get her to walk. My reasoning…well if she’s going to play for the Kentucky Wildcat basketball team one day she better get started on her jump shot early!
But I worked with her and worked with her and then one day it happened. While we were visiting her Nanny and Papa, she grabbed on to the table and then she took one step, then another and then she literally ran…but not to me, but to her Papa! To her Papa! What did he do?
Now even though she didn’t walk to me, I was still very proud of her because learning to walk is a pivotal moment in her maturation process. Now just as once a child is physically born and that child must grow and eventually learn to walk; the Christian who has been born again spiritually must also learn to walk. Micah 6:8 tells us what God requires of man, and the third requirement is simply to, “Walk humbly with Your Lord.”
Now just the mention of the words walk with the Lord emphasizes to us that the Christian faith is one of a relationship with the Lord. Our religion is not a list of do’s and don’ts but rather it’s about a loving relationship between the Creator and His creation, a Father and His child. And the term walking implies also that this is to be a relationship that is constantly moving. As we continue down the path, we should be walking closer and closer to God and maturing spiritually as a result. You wouldn’t call a two-year-old immature when he plays with his food--that’s what toddlers do! However, by the time that youngster turns 21 or 22, his behavior should have changed as dramatically as his body. He should have made continual progress toward maturity.
And God wants to transform your life. Let him live long enough in a heart, and that heart will begin to change. Portraits of hurt will be replaced by landscapes of grace. Walls of anger will be demolished and shaky foundations restored. God can no more leave a life unchanged than a mother can leave her child’s tear untouched. It’s not enough for him to own you; he wants to change you. He wants you to walk and grow with Him.
As we continue in our series entitled, “I’ve been Born Again! Now What?” I want us to take a look at one of the first steps we make as a Christian and that is the choice to walk with our Lord. Will you walk with the Lord down the path of the straight and narrow or will you chose to walk the broad and wide road?
In our text that we want to look at this morning, I want us to take a look at what it means as a disciple of Jesus Christ, to walk daily with Him by looking at a man who himself couldn’t walk at all until He met Jesus. So let’s look at what it means to walk with the Lord by looking at the healing of the lame man found in John 5 starting with verse one.
“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.” Now in verse 4 of the text, which many bibles have as a footnote instead of a verse tells us that there was a superstition that an angel would come and stir the pool, and if you were the first person in after the angel stirred the pool you would be healed.
Now this man had been lame for thirty-eight years. We’re not told if he had been at the pool this long, just that he had been unable to walk for almost 2 score. So imagine for that long you were unable to walk, and you were dependent upon others for almost everything. Not a pleasant thought. So that is why the next verse is so peculiar. Verse 6 says, 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?"
“Do you want to get well?” Now doesn’t that sound like a silly question? Does a crippled man want to get well? That’s a question that rivals one of my Dad’s all time favorites: "Do you want a spanking?" "Well Dad, I’ll have to think about that one. The answer to the question seems obvious.
But in reality it is a good question. You see if we want to walk with Jesus it requires a choice. And this man had to make a choice. Now it seems like a simple question to us, but think about it this way. For thirty-eight years this man had relied on others to get by, now if he was well…he would have to earn his living for the first time. You know some are like that today, they would rather suffer from a bad back and draw workers comp rather than be well and go to work. This man would have to get a job, and he would no longer have an excuse for what his life was. No impairment to fall back on. The responsibility would be his and his alone.
Now when it comes to our spiritual walk with Christ, Jesus asks us a similar question, “Do you want to get well?” Let’s suppose that you are at the beach on the first day of a week long vacation and you can feel your skin starting to get a bit sunburned, and you know that you need to go in to get better, but instead you decide that you are having so much fun that you just can’t go in. So that very night you look like a red lobster, and you say to your wife, I want this pain to go away, I want to get well. Then she says, “Well, if you want to get better you better not go back out into the sun.” What! And miss all the fun.
Some of you here today are not better spiritually because you don’t want to put forth the effort to get better. You don’t want to chose to repent of a sin because you are enjoying it to much, you don’t want to let go of that grudge you have against that someone even though you know it is hurting you more than it is him. You want to get well but you don’t want to take the steps that would bring forth healing.
Some of you here listening to the sound of my voice and are hurting spiritually. You don’t feel close to God, you don’t feel like praying, you feel empty and you say that you want to be closer to God, you want to be more involved in the lives of others, but again, “Do you want to get well?”
If you want to be well spiritually, if you want to walk closer and closer with Jesus Christ, then it means that you need to throw anything that would hinder your walk with Christ. Jesus said that if your right eye offend thee, cut it out and throw it away.
Is there something or someone preventing your relationship with God? Perhaps it’s a job you have making good money but there is an ethical question involved. Perhaps it’s a habit, or a crowd of people you run around with. You might have heard the old saying, “It’s hard to fly with the eagles when you’re running with the turkeys.” That’s true, so you need to make the choice, who’s it going to be.
It also means that you are going to have to choose to walk the path of God with God instead of doing your own thing. We are a very independent people, and we don’t like for people to tell us where to go or what to do. One night a family was doing a devotional that included the story of the Ten Commandments. The Father asked, "How many commandments did God give to Moses?" to which the five-year-old son, quickly replied, "Too many!"
We don’t like for people to have authority over us, but the Christian life is one of complete submission to the Lordship of Christ. And it’s only when we can say, “Not my will, but Yours be done,” will we find happiness in Jesus.
Now this choice to follow Christ also involves the getting rid of any excuses we may have. This man was asked, “Do you want to get well,” and look at how he responded. Verse 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." Now that’s a lame excuse (sorry! No pun intended). But when Jesus asks us this question, how many times to we come up with excuses? I’m not close to God because I just didn’t grow up in a Christian home and I don’t have that background. I’m just so tired and God understands. I’m sure He does. Or the temptation was so strong I couldn’t resist. Bologna. When it all boils down, the choice must be made. Do you want to walk close to God or not. There is nothing prohibiting that closeness except for your lack of effort. Do you really want to get well?
Now the second thing in our text here about walking with Christ is that in order to walk with Christ, it requires obedience on our part. I must confess that of the most difficult things I’ve ever tried to do was to push a Wal-mart shopping cart with two little girls hanging off of it doing everything I’m telling them not to do and not doing a thing I’ve told them to do. It’s tough to get anywhere with two girls who won’t listen. Now they listen and obey about 85% of the time so don’t get the impression that they’re bad kids, even though they are preacher kids! But if our walk with God is going to be productive, if we are going to grow closer and closer to Him than we need to do what He tells us to do.
This man in our text made a lame excuse and Jesus said in Verse 8 Jesus tells this man who has been lame for 38 years to do what was thought to be impossible. He says, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!” and in verse 9, guess what he did. He got up, he picked up his mat, and he walked. That’s obedience.
Isn’t it interesting how many times a miracle is linked to obedience. Jesus told the man with the withered hand to stretch forth his hand and when he did it was healed. He told the blind man to go wash in the pool of Silom and when he did he received his sight. He told the disciples to feed the crowd of 5000 with 5 loafs of bread and two fish and when the did, the miracle happened. He told the lepers to go and show themselves to the priest, and when they went they were healed.
Now many of you want God to do something great in your lives, but maybe He’s waiting on you to start acting on your faith and be obedient to what He’s called you to do today. God has called you to forgive those who have hurt you, have you been obedient or are you still holding a grudge? God has called us to love one another and to even love our enemies, then why is it that your life is so filled with hate? You will not find true happiness until like the song we sang earlier said, “Trust and Obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.”
Now one of the commands Jesus gives us as His followers, His disciples is that we are to be pursue holiness. Holy living should be a key mark in your life. Your life should be increasingly purer and purer. God saved you to become more and more like Jesus Christ. And the bible says that if we truly love Christ, then this is what we will do. Listen to I Peter 1:14-16, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." In I John 5:3, we read, “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,”
I love that part about God’s commands not being burdensome. God doesn’t give us a long list of restrictions to harm us, but rather to help us better ourselves. Max Lucado in his book “Just Like Jesus” told a wonderful story about his little daughter Jenna. He writes:
When my daughter Jenna was a toddler, I used to take her to a park not far from our apartment. One day as she was playing in a sandbox, an ice-cream salesman approached us. I purchased her a treat, and when I turned to give it to her, I saw her mouth was full of sand. Where I intended to put a delicacy, she had put dirt.
Did I love her with dirt in her mouth? Absolutely. Was she any less my daughter with dirt in her mouth? Of course not. Was I going to allow her to keep the dirt in her mouth? No way. I loved her right where she was, but I refused to leave her there. I carried her over to the water fountain and washed out her mouth. Why? Because I love her. And then he adds:
“God does the same for us. He holds us over the fountain. “Spit out the dirt, honey,” our Father urges. “I’ve got something better for you.” And so he cleanses us of filth: immorality, dishonesty, prejudice, bitterness, greed. We don’t enjoy the cleansing; sometimes we even opt for the dirt over the ice cream. “I can eat dirt if I want to!” we pout and proclaim. Which is true—we can. But if we do, the loss is ours. God has a better offer. He wants us to be just like Jesus.”
God wants what is best for you, and He wants to walk with you but He asks you to walk obediently with Him. Now that be forewarned that there are those along the path who will oppose you, and you will be tempted to wander. There will be the temptation to give up or give in, or to become apathetic, or the temptation to become prideful. But unlike what Flip Wilson used to say, “the Devil can’t make you do it.” You have the choice to resist temptation.
There is a wonderful verse that is often overlooked, but it speaks volumes. We preach a great deal about God’s ability to forgive our past, but look at what Jude 24 says, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” God can not only forgive your past, but through the ministry of the Holy Spirit which lives within you, you can keep from sinning! Henry Fosdwick used to say that there is something better than the prodigal son returning home, and that is to have kept him home in the first place.
In our text, after this man received this great miracle, look what Jesus told him. In verse 14 we read, “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." Does this imply that maybe this man was lame because of some past sin. But the call was made to stop sinning. And the more you walk with Christ, the less and less we should sin.
When we do sin, we have an advocate in Jesus Christ, but we should not abuse the grace we have received. Jesus has saved us and has called us to a higher standing. Look at 1 John 2:1-6, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”
And that is what discipleship is about, walking as Jesus did. Now let me ask you this question. What if for one day, Jesus became you. Nothing changed about you. You still lived in the same house, same job, same family, same health…the only difference is this, His heart becomes your heart. What would it be like? Do you think people would notice a change? Do you think He would keep the same schedule you would keep? The same commitments, the same priorities? How do you think you would feel? Would you still be stressed out over the things in your life? Would you still hold that grudge against your sibling? What would change?
As a Christian you have within you the heart of Christ, now ask yourself…is that heart showing? As you walk with Jesus…can others tell? So how is your walk with Christ this morning? This morning if you are stumbling through the Christian faith and you are ready to start walking with Christ in obedience I want you to make that choice this morning. As we sing this closing hymn, if you are hurting spiritually I want you to come forward and let me pray with you. Together we will ask for God’s guidance and strength in your life.
