Do you want to get well?
Question from Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsNo one likes to admit they have dysfunctional areas in their lives. We often what to quit bad habits but cannot. We talk about how we want our lives to change, but all to often aren’t willing to take the HARD steps in making it happen. In this message we see Jesus ask someone who has been in a tough situation their entire life, “Do you want to be made well?”
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April 24th 2022
Series: Questions from Jesus
Sermon Title: Do you want to get well?
Topic: Major questions Jesus asks us and how knowing the answer can transform our lives.
Key Passages: Luke 24: 36-39, John 20: 24-28
Sermon Blurb: No one likes to admit they have dysfunctional areas in their lives. We often what to quit bad habits but cannot. We talk about how we want our lives to change, but all to often aren’t willing to take the HARD steps in making it happen. In this message we see Jesus ask someone who has been in a tough situation their entire life, “Do you want to be made well?”
Sermon:
Family Moment
Hello Family Church!
Today we are wrapping up our sermon series we have been calling, “Questions from Jesus.”
This whole month we have not been looking for answers……we have instead been looking for good questions….
And as we have seen….. often great questions can lead us to the answers we need!
Every week we have asked the question…we see something interesting about Jesus….. Does anyone remember what that was?????
Jesus asked lots of questions!!!
OVER and OVER and OVER again.
You can barely read one conversation before you see Jesus throwing a question back at those who were asking Him questions.
Jesus asked so many questions… But why?
Why questions and not just answers?
PAUSE
This month we are going to look at four of the most important questions that Jesus asked.
PAUSE
In our first week, we heard saw Jesus asks the question, “Why are you so afraid?”
If you ever struggle with fear let me encourage you to go listen to that message on our APP or website.
Two weeks ago we heard Jesus ask the question, “Do you believe I can do this?”
I mean if we are honest…..
The reason why we fear is because we do NOT believe God is going to get us through whatever is going on in our lives…..
If you ever struggle trusting God, go listen to last week’s message.
On Easter, we heard Jesus directly address one of those things a LOT of us struggle with at different points.
It is called doubt.
And we simply saw how Jesus approached someone who had doubts….
If you struggle with doubt, let me suggest listening to last week’s message.
PAUSE
Today we wrap up this series with Jesus asking the question, “Do you want to be get well?”
If we are honest….we all have our own issues…
We often talk all the time about wanting to be out of them…
But when the rubber hits to road….
Oftentimes….we stay….
We stay at the job we hate.
We stay in an abusive relationship.
We stay overweight.
Often….when we could change…..we don’t….because change is hard.
PAUSE
Let’s be honest….NO one likes to admit they have dysfunctional areas in their lives.
We often what to quit bad habits but cannot seem to do it.
We talk about how we want our lives to change but all too often aren’t willing to take the HARD steps in making it happen.
In this message we see Jesus ask someone who has been in a tough situation their entire life, “Do you want to be made well?”
PAUSE
I really believe that, for some of you today, God is going to speak to you in such a way that you will be different after being in the presence of God.
Today, we are going to talk Jesus asking a guy who had been sick for 38 years, “Do you want to be well?”
Here is my request for everyone here today.
Listen to this message through the lens of any ongoing long-term problem that you might have.
Because we all have different types of problems or struggles or obstacles in our life.
I’m not talking about short-term problems that are here, and then gone in a few weeks.
I’m talking about those that ongoing problems.
For some of you, you might have some ongoing medical issues. Maybe you’ve had chronic headaches, or some other sort of issue that just won’t seem to go away, maybe depression.
Maybe you overspend, or maybe overeat, or overcommit.
For some of you, it might be an addiction that you just can’t get past.
Maybe you’re smoking something that you shouldn’t be smoking.
Whatever it is, you’re trying to quit, and it’s something that you just haven’t been able to get over.
For some of you, it might be an ongoing challenge in a relationship with someone that you love but your family does not.
Or it’s in a marriage you just can’t seem to get things to where they’re working.
I want you to listen to this message through the lens of whatever ongoing challenge that you’ve had, and we are going to believe that Jesus can change that.
Open your Bibles to John 5
New Person / Bible / App Talk
Now I know I normally give background before I read the scripture but today we are going to change it up!
Today we are diving right into God’s word!
John 5: 1-9 The Healing at the Pool
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.2 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.
Let’s pause for a second….and help paint a picture for you.
Here we have a pool by the Sheep Gate.
Now in ancient times often the names were very literal.
So, at some point, this probably was a gate to keep the sheep in this area.
As many of you know I use to plan subdivisions.
I don’t want to be critical, but I don’t know who the master planner was for this community, who thought, “hey let’s put the pool by the sheep.”
Cause we all know Sheep….oh I can’t finish that sentence… LOL
Come on…have some fun in church!!!!!
I didn’t say anything bad…that was your mind not mine!
PAUSE
Putting sheep by the community pool is just weird.
It’s like ketchup in eggs.
Peanut Butter and Mayo sandwiches…
Or my grandfather’s favorite lunch a cow tongue sandwich and dandelion salad….
For the teens in the room yes he literally ate the dandelions you find in your yard as a salad…and yes he ate the tongue of a cow…..
It was just wrong.
You shouldn’t put the Sheep by a pool; it is just messy.
PAUSE
But soon we will see that this isn’t a regular pool.
This is a unique body of water, and we’re going to see what’s going on here. Verse 3 says,
3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
Let’s pause there…..What are they doing by this pool?
Well, history tells us that they were there because there was a tradition that an angel would actually stir up the water, and whenever the water bubbled up, they believed that whoever got in the water first would be healed miraculously!
Think like our modern urban legends…. Bigfoot, Loch Ness…Pastor Keith having hair….
No one really knows if this was ever real….but people believe it.
People would wait days, weeks or even years hoping to be healed.
Then is they saw the water bubble; it was chaos, a free-for-all, to see who can get in the water first.
Let’s keep reading verse 5,
5 One who was there had been an invalid for how long? What does it say? “thirty-eight years.”
38 years.
A lifetime.
This man was paralyzed and could not move well on his own.
Now we don’t know how long he had been by the pool….but he had probably been dreaming of healing for 38 years.
I cannot imagine how hard his life was…
Just like we I cannot imagine how hard it is to quit smoking or doing drugs.
Just like some of you cannot imagine how hard it is to NOT be a work-a-holic.
Just like some of you cannot imagine how people can be overweight.
It is hard to put ourselves in other people’s shoes….
We ALL have our own struggles….
Let’s keep reading…
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him,
Hang on before we get to Jesus’s question…. Look at this picture of what this may have looked like….
Here is what I want you to think about when you look at this picture in your mind…
Do you see there are other people around the pool?
Scholars would guess there were dozens of people with varying handicaps all around this area.
Jesus would probably have to step over other people to reach this man.
Jesus would have had to pass by other hurting people to reach this man….
PAUSE
Then what does Scripture tell us Jesus ask him?
“Do you want to get well?”
“Do you want to get well?”
Isn’t that obvious Jesus?
Doesn’t that question sound a little insulting?
That’s like asking a broke guy, “Do you want a hundred bucks?”
It’s like asking a homeless person, “Do you want to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet?”
It’s like my wife asking me, “Do you want a big kiss?”
Just making sure you’re all staying with me….
Those are all obvious questions…..
But Jesus still asked this guy, “Do you want to be made well?”
Just pause for a minute…..
Remember we are all thinking about that thing in our life……that big problem or obstacle we have…..
If Jesus asked you, “Do you want to be made well?” Do you REALLY want to get past this in your life…..
Do you know what you would your response would be?
I mean do you really want your life to change or are you ok with whatever it is that is troubling you?
PAUSE
Let’s hear what this man says…..Verse 7,
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.”
The great healer…Jesus….is standing right in front of him and he doesn’t see it.
He answers the question with his problem….
PAUSE
Can’t we be like that at times?
Someone is here to help us and all we can talk about is our problem….we have lost sight of any potential solution..
We get so wrapped up in our “condition” that we lose sight of everything else around us.
When I was a work-a-holic this happened to me….
I was so wrapped up in my work; so wrapped up in being successful….
So wrapped up in getting rich….
I lost sight of my family.
Honestly, my family was a distant priority behind my work….
Some of us get wrapped up in our addictions nothing else matters….except that next high…..or that next drink after work..
Some of us get so wrapped up in our body image….. that we spend hours figuring out what to wear to make us look good….we spend hours hating the food we eat….So some of us give up….and some of us get obsessed!
We can all lose sight of what God can do for us RIGHT NOW!!!!
Because like this man we are so WRAPPED up in what WE think WE need at this moment…..
And it does not matter if God has placed the solution right in front of us…..sometimes we cannot see it!
PAUSE
Right……..we are up to our eyeballs in debt…but we really NEED this new X-box….Or this NEW car!!!
Do our earthly desires override the Godly gifts we have in front of us?
Verse 8,
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”
Write this down:
One little moment in the presence of Jesus can change your life!
Think about this man for a second….
He has no idea who Jesus is…..
He has no idea why this guy is asking him this obvious question….
Then this random guy name Jesus tells him to “Get up and walk”….
So this guy has two options just like we do….just like we talked about last week…..
We have two options……here is the first one….
Two ways to respond to God’s help in your life: 1. We can choose to decline God’s help.
We can say you know what….I have been this way for 38 years there is no way it is going to change so I am going to just keep laying here in my “condition.”
I know what some of you are thinking….Oh, but you don’t understand Pastor….my “condition” is just so bad there is no way…..
Let me tell you a true story and show you how good can come out of anything.
I know a couple that just grew apart over the years…..they stopped doing things together and drifted. Their kids got into middle school….and they more or less lived separate lives.
Long story short the wife ended up getting pregnant by her sister in laws X. It ruined their marriage and they ended getting a divorce…
Majority of the way through the pregnancy the wife decides she wants to be back with her husband…and he was not having it…..
She got so low in her life she ended up binge drinking to try and kill the baby and herself….she decides she is going to hang herself…..
But Jesus had other plans….God sent someone to rescue her before she died….
Talk about being in the darkest hole you can imagine…But Jesus was there asking her….. “Do you want to be well.”
She was like the paralyzed man….she was paralyzed by the bad decision she had made and didn’t know where to turn……
After she recovered from her suicide attempt….. in her lowest point…..she finally could see Jesus….And she said Yes.
She gave her life to Christ…..
And her baby is beautiful and has no issues from what happened…..
Through the grace of God; she got back with her husband….and they for the first time in their life they found themselves in church…..
PAUSE
I don’t know who that is going to minister to today….but hear this…..
No matter how dark the hole you think you are in now….
Jesus can lead you into the light……
Jesus is asking….. “do you want to be well” and you have to choose to say YES and grab his hand!
And that leads us to the second option
Two ways to respond to God’s help in your life: 2. We can choose to accept God’s help.
We say YES to Jesus!!!
No matter how crazy and impossible it seems…
We can CHOOSE to say yes….
Imagine being this guy….you have been unable to walk for 38 years….probably his whole life.
And Jesus tells him to just get up and walk….
Jesus doesn’t just say stand up! He says WALK!
And Jesus doesn’t just say walk, Jesus says bend over and pick up your mat and walk!
And scripture says, “At Once he was cured, he picked up his mat and walked!”
Incredible!
The faith it took for this man to do what Jesus called him to do!
The courage to listen to Jesus and leave behind his old life behind!
PAUSE
Have you been walking in your addiction to shopping, alcohol, drugs, bad movies, partying, working for so long you have forgotten how life could be without it?
Do you really want to be made well?
Do you really want to be whole?
I know……we all have our excuses for why we are what we are….
So did this guy….
He says, “Jesus, I have no one to help me get into the water. When I try to go in there, I can’t walk, and they all run by me, and I’m just left there, completely helpless and hopeless. No one can help me.”
Now, I don’t want to be hard on this guy, because I have no idea how hard his life was.
But let’s be honest….. There might have been a way for him to get close to the water.
He couldn’t walk, but he might have been able to crawl or scoot.
Often, we get like this guy and blame others for our plot in life.
No one will help me out.
I can’t do anything about this.
So, we just sit and do nothing but complain.
Oh, my marriage, it is never going to get any better.
I’ve been to the doctors, and I’ve tried.
I tried in school, but I just don’t get it and never will.
I can’t ever get a good job, because I don’t have a college degree.
I went to counseling once, and it didn’t do any good.
I even tried church, for two weeks straight, and nothing happened.
I’ve tried everything, so I am going to just sit here in my pity party.
PAUSE
Here’s the problem – listen to me. You cannot change until you acknowledge the problem and stop hiding.
You will never, ever change, when you’re tolerating an issue.
You cannot change what you are willing to tolerate.
Write that down.
You cannot change what you are willing to tolerate.
The bottom line is, Jesus asked this guy, “Do you want to be well?”
Why would He ask him that?
Could it be that Jesus knew you can’t just help someone who needs help.
You can only help someone who wants help!
“Do you want to be made well?” Jesus asked this very specific question, “Do you want to be made well?”
Could it be…..he….like many of of us…..have started to accept what is, rather than believing what could be.
We say:
You don’t understand. I’m just an average student. I knew that in the second grade, and I know it today.
You don’t understand. Our family – we’ve just struggled financially for years. My parents did. I did. My kids probably will. That’s just the way it is.
You don’t understand. We’re just all overweight. It’s kind of a genetic deal that impacts us through our lives
You don’t understand. I’ve tried to overcome this addiction, but I just cannot seem to do it. It is just how our family is…
Here is the point…..
Until your desire becomes bigger than your disability, you will not start to find healing.
Your desire must be bigger than the disability.
I believe Jesus is asking you right now, “Do you really want to be well?”
You cannot change what you’re willing to tolerate.
Until your desire becomes bigger than your disability, you will not start to find healing.
So, Jesus asked a question, “Do you want to be well?”
I doesn’t matter if it’s been three months, thirty years, sixty years – a moment in the presence of Christ can transform everything.
That’s going to speak to somebody!!!!
Because there is something that’s holding you down, or holding you back, and you’ve been miserable with it for years.
This guy didn’t ask to be healed….
Jesus just did it!
This guy didn’t do anything to deserve healing…
Jesus just did it!
This guy was not healed the way he dreamed it would happen.
Jesus just did it!
PAUSE
This guy didn’t deserve it.
He didn’t earn it.
He couldn’t even imagine it happening this way.
Jesus did not heal this man because this man was good.
Jesus healed the man because Jesus was good.
Jesus gives us blessings because of His goodness, and because of His grace, and for His glory.
Let me close with this…..
Jesus says to him,
“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
In other words – Jesus essentially said, “I don’t want to hear your excuses. I want to see your faith.
Don’t you tell Me what you can’t do, and what you’re not able to do, and what other people will not do for you.
I want to see you stand up, and see you walk.
Jesus says…..I will do for you what you cannot do, but I want you to do what only you can do.
I’m going to touch you.
I’m going to heal you.
BUT I want to see your faith to do what, for 38 years, you have not been able to do.
I want you to have the courage and the faith to step away from the familiar, because the familiar is often the greatest hindrance to faith.
You’re going to have to have faith to stand up, when you think your legs are not capable of supporting you.
This is going to minister to somebody, because someone’s going to take a step of faith to overcome a problem that you gave up on years ago.
I don’t know what it’ll look like for you.
You may drop your cigarettes in the garbage can as you walk out the door.
You may confess to your small group a challenge where you need help.
You may check yourself into rehab, or call a counselor.
Others of you, you may be starting a journey that leads toward freedom.
You may have thought it was going to come through the water.
You had no idea you were going to walk in a church, and the presence of God was going to meet you today!
Do you want to be well? Do you want to be well?
Do you want to overcome the addiction that has held you hostage?
Do you want to be free of worry, and anxiety, and fear that keeps you up at night?
Do you want to be free of an angry spirit that hurts every relationship you’re ever even around?
Do you want to overcome the inability to trust people, so that you can begin to trust and have intimacy once again?
Do you believe that God is able to do anything, and heal you of any physical sickness?
Do you want to be made well?
Because Jesus is standing up here right now with his hand stretched out to you and he is asking you Do you want to be well?
Church let’s close our eyes……you have been thinking this whole service about that issue, problem or obstacle in your life…..I want you to picture Jesus right now…..
I want you to go lay down your issue as his feet and then get up and walk……
Here is your life application…..
Life Application: Jesus is offering you healing and freedom. Bring your BIGGEST issue to Jesus today and ask Him to help you.
Let’s Pray…..