Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ /Scripture: John 5:8-15 (NIV) \\ \\ /

/8 //Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” 11 But he replied, “*The man who made me well said to me*, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

14 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*.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

/

/*[1]*/

What does a person learn in 38 years lying helpless at poolside?

There would certainly be plenty of time to think.

Sometimes too much.

In all likelihood there would be a perspective on life that would serve an invalid well if they could survive.

That would be no small feat.

Today we speak of “quality of life”.

I think of my father in his last few years and wonder about that.

My 93 year old grandmother just was admitted to a home in Milbridge, Me.

If she is to live much longer she will have to adjust her way of thinking from a lifetime of relative independence to total dependence.

When people fail to make those adjustments then the will to live fades and death approaches as an invited guest.

This story – we looked at it a few weeks ago, is positive in that it goes in the opposite direction.

A man is now healed and set free.

Life begins to look better – if he spent the rest of his days as a penniless beggar he would die a happy man.

One would think so at least.

Too many forget their deliverances and their reprieves all to easily and quickly.

So you’ve had a heart attack and survived.

The doctor tells you that if you are going to live – and you are indeed fortunate – then you’ll need to adjust the way that you eat.

You have all the resolution in the world in your corner at that moment when you know that you will make it and your heart is flooded with thanksgiving.

You go on that diet and you lose a few pounds.

You are feeling healthier than you have in years with this new lease on life.

As time passes however, the will to eat returns famished in the middle of the church potluck.

It all starts with a sliver of cheesecake, a taste of homemade pie.

You saw it there, lurking on the buffet table.

You couldn’t keep your eyes off it all through the meal.

You stole a furtive glance over your shoulder just to make sure it was really there.

And there it was, crying out to you as you tried to pass by the second time.

You’re not sure why you came through the line again the second time.

You had already decided that you’d forsake your dessert.

But the flaky crust was blued with the berries barely concealed beneath the surface.

Someone had thoughtfully cut it into pieces to make it easier for you to grab and growl.

The “cut lines” are marked with the deep purple filling oozing sweetly upward.

You are salivating even now thinking about it.

You remember your last taste of homemade blueberry pie.

It’s been months now but it seems more like a lifetime.

Just one piece won’t hurt.

You’ve been a good boy or girl and you deserve to reward yourself.

Not only with the pie but a scoop of the genuine chilled, whipped cream that sits beside it calling as a false prophet with a voice that you hear in the pit of your empty, bored silly stomach.

The battle is over and you reach for it.

The problem is perhaps not this time but what is lost today with some struggle will in all likelihood be lost again with less struggle and less the next time and before you know it the will to eat has supplanted the will to live.

And so what should have been a turning point in your life was nothing more than a stay of execution and you’re living on death row and loving it.

How many times do we do the same thing?

We turn away from things in our lives that we need to turn away from.

The things that take a toll.

Some times small little withdrawals that seem insignificant until the statement comes and we become aware of the cumulative effect of or carelessness and failure to monitor the price that we pay on Life’s Hwy.

101.

God blesses us or mercifully heals us or He employs medical technology as a cooperative agent of healing in tandem with the natural ability that he gives every body to heal itself to a degree.

Until we start thinking that we are gods ourselves.

Our scratches heal and we go back to the things that scratch us.

And because we have survived we think that we are nearly immortal.

Bad things happen to others but not to us and we are once more on the slippery slope of destruction.

You see you can take the boy out of the pool hall without taking the pool hall out of the boy.

In this last Sunday AM of 2003, what do you see over your shoulder?

Were you generally happy with your experience in the last 12 months or so?

Next week we will be talking about the spiritual adventure.

God’s strategy and direction to make next year a different and a better experience.

But before we go ahead, let’s take a few minutes to turn around.

Take a look at where you’ve been.

Ask yourself if God is bringing you to a turning point ion your own life.

Are you ready to make a break with the past and ask Him to create something new for you and for your loved one sin the months ahead.

Please don’t misinterpret.

I’m not sowing idle fancies in your mind.

I’m not offering you a lottery ticket.

Really I’m challenging you to stop looking for easy ways to get rich or beautiful or successful or famous.

I’m asking you to turn your back on you and look fully toward Him – to look full in His wonderful face.

Coram Deo – it means, “We live in the face of God!”

 

I have a wonderful brother in the faith – a number of them actually.

Some of them spend more time with me than others.

The ones who invest regularly in my life aside from my family, meet me in the morning at 5:30am.

Other have become a part of a group called the “Wild Bunch”.

These men have made a commitment before God to pursue Him shoulder to shoulder with other men through vital relationships and genuine accountability.

There will be a “Wild Bunch 2” beginning in March.

It’s open to anyone who is willing to make the commitment to attend.

If you want more info, see me later or talk to one of the men currently involved.

Anyway, one of these guys is a soldier.

One of the terms that he uses regularly is the term, “Good To Go”.

It suggests the idea that before a person embarks on a mission they need to check their equipment, their personal inventory.

Everything on that list should be vital to the success of the mission.

You can’t afford to “leave home without it”.

I believe that the pool man and his interaction with Christ gives us some insight into healthy living beyond the pool.

I don’t preach to waste my time, your time or words.

When I preach, I do so believing that God wants to anoint His word to make a difference in all of our lives.

Are you “good to go” today?

Ready to turn the page and step forward.

God never takes us backward.

There are both good and bad things that must be laid aside in favor of continued growth in Christ.

Let’s look at the checklist.

q       Am I ready to cease having my life defined, by the company that I keep?

 

/3 //Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.//b//

//*[2]*/

 

I’m not preaching a sermon today to tell you that you need to ditch your friends for the welfare of your Christian life.

You can have as many cruddy buddies as you wish.

But what I am telling you is that you have a responsibility to them to become the presence of Christ in their midst.

I don’t care who you are or how long you have been a Christian, this is your calling.

It would be desirable that the “badness” of you buddies would be called in question by your goodness, that their reputation would be improved by yours.

This is what it means to be a Christian.

It is not always measured by what you say to them but always determined by the way that you live among them.

The problem is not your friends – they do not impact you negatively so much as you hide your light from them because you fear that they will no longer want your company.