Change

Change John 5:1-9 Change. Some accept it; some reject it. Some are open to it; some are closed to it. Some value it, some devalue it. Some say there's too much; some say there's too little. Some like it, some hate it. Some say it's good; some say it's bad. Some look for it; some ignore it. Some leave to change; others arrive for change. Some are slow to change; others are fast. Some say change is easy; others say change is hard. Change can be allowed or forbidden. It can bring people together or tear them apart. Change can be attacked or defended. It can bring laughter or crying. People can be careful of change, others careless. Change can be cheap or expensive. Change can be smooth, or it can be rough. Change can close doors, or it can open doors. Change can be distant or near. It can cause division or unity. Change can be made or destroyed. It can be the entry or the exit. Change can come fast or slow. It can give, or it can take. Change can make one hopeful or hopeless. Change can be sweet, or it can be bitter. You can be for or against change. Change is all around us. Whether by design or decision, change happens. Change can be small, like what you eat for dinner or where you go shopping. Change can be great, like switching careers, going back to school, or making big decisions. Circumstances change. Careers change. Surroundings change. People change. You change. How do you handle change? Change doesn't have to be bad. Change can make you more thankful, more humble. Change can make you plan more carefully. It can make you think more deeply. Change can make you pray more earnestly. Everything changes, but the Almighty. God and His Word never change (Hebrews 13:8; Isaiah 40:8). God knows the end from the beginning (Revelation 22:13), and He can be trusted because God knows all the change. God desires for you to change. Jesus died upon that cross and was raised to life so you could change from "being dead in sin to being alive in Christ" (Romans 6:11). When you confessed your sin and placed saving faith in Christ, you changed. You even go from having an earthly home to a heavenly inheritance. And as "you work out your salvation" (Philippians 2:12) as a disciple of Christ Jesus, you mature and grow in your faith, which changes you to become more like Jesus. But you have to be open to change. You have to be willing. You have to trust God to guide the change. The church has only one mission, to "go and make disciples of Jesus Christ" (Matthew 28:19-20), but the church has many different ministries to make that one mission happen. Change creates ministry opportunities. Change makes different ministries bear different fruit. Not all ministries are the same because not all needs are the same. Change must be embraced so you can do all the good you can with the gifts God has given you. A good example of change and of seeing a need comes from Bubble Wrap, which celebrated its golden anniversary in January of 2010. Now, we all know the main function of Bubble Wrap is to provide a safe cushion for packaging. But did you know that Bubble Wrap was originally invented as wallpaper? In the late 1950s, a New York City designer was looking for a new type of textured wall covering, but the idea never took off. Instead, the inventors envisioned a different application for the bubbly wallpaper and created an industry that today makes over $4 billion every year! The vision of these inventors made the difference between success and failure for Bubble Wrap. The same goes for the church. Each church being used by God has a unique gift to be shared with others. There are endless possibilities for those who are willing to be flexible and stretch their imagination. When you view everything through an eternal perspective, your vision, your purpose, your influence, your ministry, will change. Instead of finding fleeting success of the temporary, your goals and ambitions change to the eternal treasures stored up in heaven. God wants you to come to Him, so He came first to you in the person of Jesus Christ. And we are to change. Didn't Paul say in Colossians 3:10 to "put on the new self, which is being renewed [changed] in knowledge after the image of its creator." Didn't God say in Isaiah 43:19, "See, I am doing a new thing!" Didn't Jesus say in Revelation 21:5, "Behold, I am making all things new." In other words, change! That's the basic question Jesus is asking the paralyzed man in today's Scripture. 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?" Within that question are questions. Do you want a different life? Do you want a different story? Do you want a different purpose? Do you want to... change? One day at church, a little boy was overheard praying, "Lord, if You can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time like I am." Pride pushes change away. Pride makes humanity the standard instead of acknowledging God as the standard. But folks, it's not just about the pride of celebrating what God has condemned. Some people have been stuck in their negative circumstances for so long that they give up hope that things can ever change. They don't think change can happen. Or they don't desire to change. That is why Jesus asked, "Do you want to get well?" because folks, you'd be surprised at some people's answers. Some people enjoy the negative and don't desire the positive. Pride isn't always associated with ignorant, sinful happiness, but can also be the desire to remain cripple. Crippling yourself from faith in Christ. Crippling yourself from life abundant. Crippling yourself from serving others, and in turn, crippling others because of your selfishness. If you stay where you are, where you're comfortable and safe, you're stuck. If you want to know only what you already know, you're dying. When nothing new can get in, that's death. Or as John Wesley said, "Without love, all learning is but splendid ignorance." The new can be scary and confusing. A feeling like, "Man! We just started figuring this all out, and now we don't." The invalid in today's Scripture already knew what he thought he needed, but nothing new ever happened. He was never able to get in that pool and laid cripple by the poolside for 38 years, but hey, at least he spent every day at the pool. He spent every day relying upon others instead of working himself. He spent every day in full view of everyone, yet only seeing himself. Churches can lay in this crippling position, surrounded by everyone yet only seeing themselves and their needs. Brothers and sisters, that's the position I was also in before coming to Christ. I was prideful. Arrogant. Only seeing myself. Hoping the grass would be greener on the other side, only to find out the grass was greener because of manure. Which only made me more bitter, more resentful. Folks, the night before I was appointed to serve this church, before I even knew I would soon be a pastor, I had two dreams of serving RSUMC. And for most of my time here, I wondered, "Why God? Why of all places did You bring me here?" Well, over the course of my two years here, and baptizing Jason and Emmy last fall, I finally figured it out. God was teaching me a valuable lesson about change. God had changed me the moment I placed faith in Christ, and He is still changing me into the image of His Son, but I was hesitant to fully accept that change. I believed it. I felt it. And oh, do I feel it now. I can tell you without reservation that I know where I'm going when I leave this earth. But the change God made in me was hard for me to believe. How can God take a sinner like me, who hurt so many people, and forgive me? And not only forgive me, but call me to be a pastor? That change only comes from God's Amazing Grace! God placed me here at RSUMC to teach me that I'm changed. That I'm in a right relationship with my Redeemer. That I'm not who I once was. And not just me, but my family as well. Like the cripple man, I was confronted with Jesus' question, "Do you want to get well?" Do you want to change? And my answer was, "Yes! Change me! Change my image into Yours!" I pray that is yours, and this church's prayer as well. I'm married, so I can relate to this, as I'm sure most of you can as well. A husband wasn't sure about his choice of clothes for church, so he asked his wife, "Do you think I should change?" She took advantage of this opportunity and replied, "It depends-are you talking about changing that ugly shirt or making a wholesale change as a human being?" When your being confronted with the question, "Do you want to change?" or as Jesus says, "Do you want to get well?" you have to look within yourself, into your heart, to see if you really want to change. Maybe you're not even looking to change. Maybe a change is trying to be forced upon you. Maybe the change you seek is small. Maybe the change you seek is as large as life. Whatever the change, is it God-honoring? Does it help bring you closer to Jesus? Does it help you to love and serve your neighbor? Is the change for your glory, or for Gods? Because when Jesus asks you, "Do you want to get well?" you have to accept God's way of making you well. This is not a "Ya, but" kind of situation. God, the Great Physician, will make you well, save you from your crippling sin, and equip you for ministry in the mission of the church, but you must be willing to change God's way! Look at today's Scripture with me. After Jesus askes the invalid if he wants to get well, notice how the invalid doesn't give a "yes" or "no" answer, yet Jesus' immediate action is to heal this man. Why did Jesus heal this invalid when the cripple beat around the bush with his answer? It's because Jesus looks inside each person and knew the crippled man's heart. A clue is given in the invalid's answer in verse 7. The cripple says in verse 7, "Sir, 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." Did you catch the heart-revealing clue? The invalid said, "I have no one to help me," and "While I am trying to get in." Notice the use of the first-person "I" that he repeated. "I'm trying." The invalid was doing what so many people attempt to do, and that is to achieve something only God can work out. He was trying to fix himself. He relied on his effort. He desired a change and longed to be healed, but he was trying to do it himself. The invalid lived and was surrounded by tons of people, and all of them never helped the invalid. When something gets personal, selfishness can be revealed, and the "me first" attitude of others kept beating this man into the pool. Salvation, true healing from life's deadliest disease, sin, only comes from a one-on-one experience with Christ. Folks, if you take away one thing from today I pray it's this, never be like the cripple and say, "I have no one to help me." You have help; His Name is Jesus. In the midst of change, you have the one who never changes. The healing the cripple needed was so near yet so far away. Like myself, I drove past this very church for years, yet never even knew it was here. I was so close, yet so far away. I was blind, but now I see. Maybe you've felt like that or are feeling like that now. Sometimes it feels like Jesus is near, yet so far away. Our reluctance to change keeps Jesus near, yet far. Christ is always ready to heal, yet waiting for you to ask Him. It doesn't matter if you're alone or lost among a pool of people; God will minister to your deepest needs. Don't let hardship or a problem cause you to lose hope or keep you from change that glorifies God and loves your neighbor. But when Jesus answers you, have faith, and do what God commands. "Jesus said, 'Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.' At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked." Do the same but in the way God has worked in your life. Carry your mat, or whatever it is, as a testimony to God, and live life in abundance, where the longing in your heart has been healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. So, when you're confronted with change, you can either resist it, tolerate it, or embrace it. If you resist change, you'll be stuck, dying by that poolside. If you tolerate it, nothing will ever get done; no ministry will bear fruit, and people will continually drive by this church never noticing it or it's purpose. Instead of the cripple man, you'll become just one in the crowd, passing the invalid by without noticing or loving your neighbor. So embrace change! Get up and walk so everyone can see the change that has taken place! Understand the need for change. See the value in Godly change. And be involved in the process. Change is not change until it is change. Most people judge others by their actions, and themselves by their intentions. Intention to change is not change. Talking about changing, pledging it, making resolutions concerning it - none of these are change. Rick Warren said, "Change always starts in your mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act." Start thinking about the change you, this church, can make when you value and love your neighbor. No matter where life takes us or what we do, all of us should ask God to "Heal the way we feel" so we can act in love. If you want to grow, make change. In this bag, I have change. It's change from all around the world. It's not fake, but real change. These coins, and you, have all been on a journey - a journey that's not finished yet. These coins tell a story, and all of you have a story that can make a change in someone's life. This change, some are big, some are small. Some coins are dirty; some are clean. Some have had a rougher journey than others, but all tell a story. You may say that this coin has no value unless I can use it. Well, don't use it. Appreciate it, and you'll see the value. Let these coins, this change, be a reminder that you and everyone have value because Jesus asks everyone, "Do you want to get well?" Do you want to change? I pray your answer is "Yes." AMEN and AMEN 2