Jesus Heals a Sick Man

October 16th

Middle & High School Chapel

We were in John 5 this morning. This is the account of Jesus healing the sick man by the pool of Bethesda. The pool was surrounded by many sick, lame and crippled people because it was known to have healing powers. The story was that sometimes an angel from the Lord would come down and stir the waters and the first person to get into the pool would be healed. Jesus saw the man and realized that he had been crippled for a long time and asked him, "Do you want to be healed?". The man answers that he didn't have anyone to put him in the water and that someone always beat him to it. Jesus promptly told the man to pick up his mat and walk and he did. Jesus did a miracle in the life of a man who had been sick for 38 years! It's an amazing story...you need to read it!

There are so many things we could learn from this account but some of the things we talked about today are:

1. Jesus expects us to do our part.

I find it interesting that Jesus told the man to pick up his mat and walk. He is Jesus...He could've just touched the man where he was and healed his body instantly. I've always wondered what would have happened if the man had said "Well, I'm just too ______ to pick up my mat and walk." (You can fill in the blank...sick/tired/weak/grumpy.) Would he have been healed? God will always do His part in changing our lives but He expects us to do our part.

My friend and her husband made a deal with their daughter on her 15th birthday that they would match whatever she raised in a year toward purchasing a vehicle. They assumed she would come up with a couple thousand dollars but they were wrong! At the end of the year, their daughter had raised $9000 and they had to match it so she got a REALLY nice car!

All throughout the Bible, God asks His people to do their part. He told Noah to build an ark so that He could save his family. He told Moses to hold out his stick over the Red Sea before He parted the sea. He told Joshua to march his troops around Jericho for 7 days before He delivered the city into his hands. What if Noah didn't feel competent to build the ark or if Moses was too tired to hold out the stick or if Joshua thought it was too ridiculous to march around Jericho? God expects us to do our part and He ALWAYS does His part!

2. Jesus expects us to obey Him fully.

Jesus told the man to do 2 things: pick up his mat and walk. He said this to a man who had been sick for 38 years. The Bible doesn't note that there was any hesitation in the man's obedience. It says that he picked up his mat and walked. I can imagine the celebration!!! Chip & I tell our kids all the time that delayed obedience is disobedience and partial obedience is disobedience. If I tell Chase that he needs to take out the trash and load the dishwasher and he only takes out the trash, he is disobedient. If the man had not obeyed God fully, would God have healed him? Because we are human, we usually only do what we think we need to do to get by. Even though we know what we should do, we have a hard time obeying "fully". Sometimes I wonder if God has so much more He wants to bless us with but our partial obedience thwarts those blessings.

3. Jesus expects our lives to change.

Did the man take Jesus seriously? I would assume so. I've been alive for as long as the man had been sick....38 years. I can imagine how I would feel if I were sick for 38 years and Jesus healed me....grateful, humbled, amazed, excited. After the man did his part and Jesus did His part, where did Jesus find the man? In the temple! In God's house! He had encountered Jesus and His life had changed! After we encounter Jesus, our life should change...it should be different. So different that other people notice. So different that our friends and acquaintances ask questions.

Sometimes I find it so hard to do my part. I know that God wants to bless me but I make excuses in order not to do what God expects me to. He tells us in His word to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). He promises to bless us and we can fully rely on His promises!