If you were to go to a leadership seminar. One of those all day events, where you fill in all the blanks on pages filling a professionally done binder. An event where struggling people from all walks of life and professions come hoping that they are just 8 hours away from greatness. If you attend such a seminar, you will hear lots of great sound bites.
Sound bites like, ¡§He who thinks he leads and has no one following is only taking a walk.¡¨ Sound bites like, ¡§People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.¡¨
Sound bites like, ¡§It¡¦s what you learn after you know it all that counts.¡¨ Or, ¡§Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.¡¨ Or, ¡§Short-cuts don¡¦t pay off in the long-run,¡¨ ¡§Don¡¦t be afraid of going slowly, be afraid of standing still,¡¨ and ¡§All teams are groups, but not all groups are teams.¡¨
Good stuff. Often applicable to a given person¡¦s situation. And if you attend very many of these types of events, it won¡¦t be long before you hear a very common one that goes something like this, ¡§If you keep doing, what you¡¦ve always done, you¡¦ll keep getting, what you¡¦ve always gotten.¡¨ Anyone heard that one before? Let that soak in for a moment, ¡§If you keep doing, what you¡¦ve always done, you¡¦ll keep getting, what you¡¦ve always gotten.¡¨
Truth is that is a pretty accurate statement. Applies not only to leadership, but to many areas of life: family, job, friendships, sports, and maybe even your spiritual life. You see, there is a phenomenon often observable in the church whereby a group of people want things to be different. They are tired of the same old-same ol. But there is one problem. They aren¡¦t willing to change anything. They just want everything to remain the same.
And the same can be true when it comes to your desire for healing. Whether you are seeking a miracle in your life of spiritual deliverance, physical healing, or relational restoration. . .the question I have for you today is, what are you willing to do differently in order to see it happen? Many of us are still getting what we¡¦ve always gotten because we keep doing what we¡¦ve always done. So if you really want to see a miracle happen in your life, if you really want to see God move in a powerful and mighty way in your life. . .I have to ask you, what are you willing to do differently in order to see that happen?
Because most people that I know, including myself in many areas of life, are very attached to this thing we refer to as the ¡§Status Quo.¡¨ The world as we know it. The usual circumstances, events, solutions, and methodologies. We enjoy life in the rut. Because we know the rut.
In fact, some of us have spent so much time in the rut that life has passed us by and we haven¡¦t even noticed. Each year Beloit College in Wisconsin puts out the college freshman mindset list for the newest batch of collegians. This will really make you feel old, and stuck in a rut. Listen to some of the things on this year¡¦s list.
„« Most students entering college this fall were born in 1986.
„« To them, Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Cary Grant have always been dead.
„« Photographs have always been processed in an hour or less.
„« The U.S. has always been a Prozac nation.
„« There has always been a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a Comedy Channel.
„« They have always been comfortable with gay characters on television.
„« There have always been night games at Wrigley Field.
„« Computers have always suffered from viruses.
„« Text messaging, cell phones, and instant messaging have always been modes of communication.
„« Politicians have always used rock music for theme songs.
„« Fox and the WB have always been major television networks.
„« Toll-free 800 phone numbers have always spelled out catchy phrases.
„« Bethlehem has never been a place of peace at Christmas.
„« Oprah has always dominated afternoon television. Who was Phil Donahue anyway?
„« Oliver North has always been a talk show host and news commentator.
„« They have suffered through airport security systems since they were in strollers.
„« They have done most of their search for the right college online.
„« And cheap gas to them is under $2.00 a gallon.
Some of those are pretty good reality checks for some of us. Especially those of us who graduated from high school the year that these young bucks were being born. We live life in the status quo. The world as we have always known it, but it probably never really was. One of my preaching professors at Asbury always used to refer to it as the good old days that never were.
So most of us can relate to the story of my man Joe. You¡¦ll find Joe in John 5. Actually, we don¡¦t know his name, so I just picked Joe. Seemed a lot easier than a lot of the names I come across in this book. Joe was in a rut. Joe was living life in the status quo. In fact, Joe was so status quo that instead of John giving us a name for Joe, Joe is simply referred to as ¡§the sick man.¡¨ How¡¦s that for in a rut? People know you as ¡§the sick man.¡¨ And Joe¡¦s problem was the same as many of ours.
Joe had kept doing what he had always done, and was getting what he had always gotten. But that¡¦s not the problem. The problem was, Joe wanted something different. But he couldn¡¦t get out of the status quo.
John 5:1 (read through verse 4). So Jesus is up at this large pool, north of the temple in Jerusalem. This pool is 360 feet long, about a football field, 130 feet wide, and 75 feet deep. And there is this colonnade with five porches overlooking this pool. It¡¦s a monument of wealth and prosperity. An amazing looking site, but its residents are people of sickness and disease.
It¡¦s called Bethesda. It could be called Triangle Park, St. Joseph¡¦s Hospital, or even Cheepside Bar and Grill. It could be the homeless huddled on a bench in Phoenix Park. It could be Stonewall Wesleyan Church. It could be any collection of hurting people. And that shouldn¡¦t be hard to imagine, because that has always been part of the status quo. It¡¦s just a routine, in the rut fact of life that. . .
A. THE WORLD IS FULL OF PEOPLE WHO NEED A HEALING
It was true at the pool at Bethesda; it is true anywhere you go today. Now, truth be told, archeology and historical studies have taught us that underneath this pool was an underwater spring that would cause the pool to bubble occasionally. And the people surrounding this pool believed the bubbles were caused by the dipping of angels¡¦ wings. They also believed that the first person to touch the water after the angel did would be healed.
Did healing actually occur? I don¡¦t know. I don¡¦t think anyone does, because if you take a close look at this passage, you will see that it is never tells us the story of someone who was actually first in, and got healed. But we do know crowds of invalids came to give it a try.
Picture a battleground strewn with wounded bodies, and you see Bethesda. Imagine a nursing home overcrowded and understaffed, and you can see the site surrounding this pool. Call to mind the images of the orphans or the abandoned following the Tsunami, and you will see what people saw when they passed Bethesda. And imagine as they passed, what they must have heard. An endless wave of groans. A field of faceless need. And like most people stuck in the status quo, people would just walk on 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. But the people at this pool need him, so he¡¦s there.
It says in Isaiah 63:9, ¡§When they suffered, he suffered also.¡¨ On this day Jesus must have suffered much. On this day Jesus must have sighed often as he walked along the poolside of Bethesda.
Verse 5 (read). The status quo. Thirty eight years. That is more than my entire lifetime. I can¡¦t even truly imagine that much time at this point. And perhaps we¡¦d rather find ourselves in the courage of David or the devotion of Mary. But before you or I can be like them, we must admit we are like Joe. Stuck in the status quo. And knowing how the status quo works, knowing how it gets in our minds and in our spirits, I can only imagine that Joe is like the rest of us, and he knows that deep down inside, the status quo means that. . .
B. MANY HAVE BECOME COMFORTABLE WITH THEIR NEED
Almost four decades. Seemingly no hope. The rut that now is my life. I might as well get used to it. I might as well accept my plight. I might as well get comfortable with this need I have that will never be cared for. That was Joe¡¦s life. And so it is for many of us.
Verse 6 (read). This is where it all gets a little too easy. Does he want to be made well? Of course he does. Who wouldn¡¦t want to be made well after 38 years of suffering? Why does Jesus even have to ask?
Because Jesus knows us. And Jesus knows, that some people won¡¦t answer that question with the obvious. They would rather stick with the status quo. But there is actually a positive turn in the rut of life at this point. While it is normal to accept that there are all kinds of people in need of a healing, and while it is clear that many of them have become comfortable with their need, and all but given up on any hope for a healing. . .it is at this point that Jesus intersects our lives, and the rut takes a turn in the positive direction. Because. . .
C. WE ARE ALL OFFERED THE CHANCE TO GET WELL
No matter what you are struggling with in your life. Demonic oppression, physical maladies, broken relationships, Jesus looks you in the eye today through the person of the Holy Spirit, and is asking you, ¡§Do you want to be made well?¡¨
But the rut of the status quo is a hard one to steer out of. Verse 7 (read). Is Joe complaining? Is he feeling sorry for himself? Or, as many of us would justify, is he just stating the facts? Who knows. But this is what I do know. . .that isn¡¦t what Jesus asked him.
Jesus didn¡¦t say, ¡§Dude, if you want to be healed, you have to get in the water. You have to be the first one in. When the water is stirred, you have to get in the pool. How come you haven¡¦t done that?¡¨ That was the question Joe answered, but it isn¡¦t the question that Jesus asked. You see, part of our status quo is that. . .
D. OUR THINKING LIMITS OUR OPTIONS FOR HEALING
¡§I¡¦ve been sitting here for decades. There is no hope for me. I¡¦m sick, I¡¦m paralyzed, and in all my years of experience, I have learned that the only way I am ever going to get better is to get in that pool first when the water is stirred. You see Jesus, you don¡¦t get it. The question isn¡¦t do I want to be made well, the question is, how am I going to get in the water?¡¨
Let¡¦s fast forward to 2005. The question isn¡¦t do I want to be made well? The question is, how can I get well when I can¡¦t afford the thousands of dollars and hours of counseling that my therapist is telling me I need?
The question isn¡¦t do I want to be made well? The question is, how can I get well without having to face the reality of demonic attack and Satanic bondage in my life?
The question isn¡¦t do I want to be made well. The question is, how can I get well without taking these pills which counter act the side effects of these pills which counter act the side effects of these pills which I take for the real problem?
Hear me today. I¡¦m not telling everyone under the sound of my voice to go home and throw your meds away. However, I know that the further along we get in this thing called modern civilization, the more pills were are taking to counter act the side effects of other pills, and the more convinced we become that within these little caplets reside our only hope for healing.
So you keep telling God, ¡§The question isn¡¦t do I want to be made well.¡¨ And maybe you are right. Maybe that isn¡¦t the question. Maybe the question is are you willing to step outside the status quo and believe that the God you have worshiped today is able to deliver you with His mighty hand from the oppression, and illness, and emotional baggage that has bound you for months upon years upon decades? Or do you insist on doing the same thing you have always done, wondering why you are getting the same results you have always gotten. Or worse yet, the results are not even as good as the ones you used to get.
The stronghold of the mind. The battlefield of the mind. Whatever you want to call it. We so allow our thinking to limit our options for healing. And like Joe, we don¡¦t even hear the question. But God is asking you again today, ¡§Do you want to be made well?¡¨
Look what happens next. Verse 8 (read). Here¡¦s another positive turn in the rut of the status quo. It has always been this way, and it will always be. It was the case for Joe, and it will be the case for you. . .
E. GOD¡¦S SOLUTION IS FOUND IN HIS POWER
He doesn¡¦t need some stinking mystical body of water, where the last one in is not only a rotten egg, but a paralytic for life. What kind of God would work like that? God¡¦s solution is found in His power. And that is where we should start looking for solutions to the challenges we face in life.
One Saturday, as was the custom at the Erickson house in Peoria, IL, Ken Erickson’s wife cleaned out leftovers from the refrigerator. She gave the one remaining portion of tortellini to their 6-year-old son, Jeremy. Their 8-year-old son, Matthew, also wanted some, so bickering ensued.
After several unsuccessful attempts to mediate the dispute, Ken decided on a theological approach. Hoping to convince Jeremy to share his portion with Matthew, he said, "Jeremy, what would Jesus do in this situation?" Jeremy immediately responded, "Oh, Dad, He would just make more!"
I like Jeremy¡¦s thinking. Got a problem, God¡¦s power is the solution. And you have to hand it to old Joe. He didn¡¦t argue. He didn¡¦t say, ¡§What about the pool?¡¨ Look what Joe did. Verse 9 (read).
I wish we could all do that. I wish we could just take Jesus at His word. I wish that we could learn that when God says something, it happens. What is this peculiar paralysis that confines us? What is this stubborn unwillingness to be healed? When Jesus tells us to stand, let¡¦s stand. When he says we¡¦re forgiven, let¡¦s unload the guilt. When he says we¡¦re valuable, let¡¦s believe him. When he says we¡¦re eternal, let¡¦s bury our fear. When he says we¡¦re provided for, let¡¦s stop worrying. When he says, ¡§Stand up,¡¨ let¡¦s do it.
You see, He makes it easy, but He makes it personal, and keeps us free, so. . .
F. HIS HEALING REQUIRES OUR RESPONSE
He sees your plight. He desires better for you. He¡¦ll give the command. But you still have to be willing to stand up and walk.
There is a story told of a private who ran after and caught the runaway horse of Napoleon. When he brought the animal back to the emperor, Napoleon thanked him by saying, ¡§Thank you, Captain.¡¨
With one word the private was promoted. And when the emperor said it, the private believed it. He went to the quartermaster, selected a new uniform, and put it on. He went to the officers¡¦ quarters and selected a bunk. He went to the officers¡¦ mess and had a meal.
Because the emperor said it, he believed it.
Nine verses, only two little sentences said by the emperor. Do you believe them? ¡§Do you want to be made well?¡¨ ¡§Rise, take up your bed and walk.¡¨
So how is your life in the status quo? Not much has changed in all these years. The elements are still the same. We still live in a world full of people needing a healing. Many of whom, and some of us who have become comfortable with our need. But we are all offered a chance to get well. Will your thinking limit the options of what God wants to do in your life? Will your thinking limit the options of how He wants to do it? Or will you turn to His power, and respond today?
You don¡¦t have to keep doing what you¡¦ve always done, and keep getting what you¡¦ve always gotten. Today can be the day you start living outside the rut.
Let¡¦s pray.
