Hey friend, welcome back here to the Seminary
Inn. We are continuing our look at the portion
of the Gospel account according to John called
the Book of Signs. There's these seven moments
that John lays out as John's proof of Jesus'
divinity. And we're looking at those miracles.
We're also looking at the conversation that Jesus
had with the spectators, either before or after.
Those events take place tonight. We're going
to be looking at the healing of the paralyzed
man at Bethsaida, and I'll see you on the other
side. And so beginning tonight, we're in week
three of our series that we've been calling the
storms of life. Our discussion this evening is
called start walking. And what we're doing with
these little segments is we're looking at the
sum of the seven miracles that are recorded in
the gospel account according to John. And what
we're examining is the way in which Jesus encountered
and helped people in need. And what we find is
that when regular people encounter Christ, they
encounter a miracle. Now, in this series, we've
been talking about not only talking about the
miracle, but talking about the conversations
that Jesus had with people in need. There are
conversations of Jesus recorded in other gospels,
not saying that, but we're looking specifically
at those that precede the miracles that we've
been talking about these few weeks. And in each
case we've talked about, Jesus could have just
performed the miracle. But he always talked about
it so that maybe we, when we read those words,
could learn how to manage and deal with difficulties
as he did. So we'll pick up our reading this
evening in John chapter 5, beginning with verse
1. After Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one
of the Jewish holy days, inside the city near
the Sheep Gate was the pool of Bethsaida with
five covered porches. Crowds of sick people,
blind, lame, or paralyzed, lay on the porches.
One of the men lying there had been sick or paralyzed
for 38 years. I think it's very, very difficult
for us to even imagine not being able to get
around normally for 38 years. This man's mobility
was severely limited. before the Americans with
Disabilities Act. No mechanized wheelchairs,
no ramps, no accessible bathrooms. The loss of
health and of, well, just personal freedom that
he must have suffered would have been humongous.
But, you know, in some ways, though, maybe not
necessarily physically, but in other ways, maybe
we're not that different, you and I, from this
man. You see, loss touches every one of our lives
at one point or another. So this man's story
and the way that Jesus interacted with him should
be important to us. So what we're going to talk
about tonight is what do we do when we're facing
severe loss? And let us let Christ's words encourage
us this evening. Let's examine some actions that
we can take to keep loss from paralyzing us.
The first thing I think we can do to think about
is this. Number one, we need to evaluate our
level of hope. We've already learned in this
series that Jesus loved to stimulate conversation
with a question. And his question to the suffering
man. We find in the very next verse, verse 6,
John 5, when Jesus saw him and knew he had been
ill for a long time, he asked him, would you
like to get well? Now, when we first read that,
we would think as adults, what a silly question.
You've already asked me to think about what it
might be like to be a paralyzed person for 38
years. And then you ask me, do I just read right
by, do I want to be made well? Of course he wants
to be made well, doesn't he? And when you think
about it this way, what Jesus is essentially
saying to this man is, do you still have hope?
Do you think that you can be healed? Is there
any hope left? One of the main lessons that we
can take away from this particular realization
is that often our greatest obstacle in overcoming
loss in life is our loss of hope. Jesus was asking
this man if he had any hope left. He was asking
him to evaluate his inner circumstances, not
just his outward loss. The loss of his health
and the loss of his ability to get around was
indeed terrible, but it was something that God
could work with, could help if he had not lost
hope. See, I think one of the keys to realization,
to figuring out how to do this is, I think one
of the ways that we access the power of a victorious
Christian life does not lie in our outward experiences,
but with an inward spiritual grace, a grace that
is expressed in our faith and in our hope. We
know we can't make it through life with just
stuff. We have to have hope. When we allow ourselves
to lose hope, we allow ourselves to become paralyzed
by loss. But the good news is, with God, no situation
is beyond hope. It may be a tragic loss that
would seem overwhelming, both physically and
spiritually, but by trusting God, it's never,
ever hopeless. So the first thing that we need
to do when we find ourselves facing a loss is
evaluate the level of hope in our spirit. So
if having hope is important, if it's the key
to combating paralysis, How can we bolster our
hope? Well, let me point to a few suggestions.
The first one is this. Seek God through his word.
Romans chapter 15 and 4 says the scriptures were
written to teach and encourage us. How? By giving
us hope. Knowledge is power, right? If a business
wants to turn itself around, one of the things
it often does is they obtain up -to -date, reliable
information that they can work with. And in life,
that's what's available in God's Word. That's
in God's Word and turning our lives around. As
we turn the pages of the Bible, we can see all
kinds of promises and encouragements, examples
of people overcoming overwhelming odds. and explanations
of human nature and world conditions. And when
we neglect the word of God, we miss out on one
of life's greatest tools for hope. The next thing
that we can do to bolster our hope, and this
is a hard one sometimes, but be encouraged, we
must do the right thing even when it's hard to
do. Paul's letter to the Romans in chapter...
5 and 4 of Romans says endurance builds character,
which gives us hope. And in today's confused
world of blurred lines between right and wrong
and the proliferation of shades of gray where
things used to be more plainly black and white,
the definition of character has also become very
muddied. In a world of everybody does it. Or
it's only cheating if you get caught. What does
character even mean anymore? Well, I believe
that character can be defined very simply, very
succinctly, for we followers of Jesus, we are
commanded to govern ourselves in this world with
love. Character is doing the right thing, even
if we think we could get away. with doing the
wrong thing. Doing the right thing is what character
is all about, and character builds hope. And
what builds character? Well, ironically, going
through tough times. Suffering loss builds character.
Being tested builds character. If you recall,
we said in week one of this series, storms often
can strengthen us. But when we live our lives
without character, it proves that we don't have
hope. Think about this. Because if we don't have
hope, we don't believe that we can or even need
to do the right thing and make it through life
successfully. We think we have to bend the rules
and cut corners on right living. But when you
have hope, you know you don't have to do the
wrong things in order to succeed. And the more
you do the right things, the more you begin to
see the blessings of God in your life. And as
a result, the more hope you have. One other way
that we can build our hope, number three, is
this. Be glad about God's plans for you. The
Apostle Paul says very simply in Romans 12 and
12, rejoice in hope. In the New Living Translation,
that verse reads, be glad for all God is planning
for you. In the Contemporary English Version,
that scripture says, let your hope make you glad.
As followers of Christ, no matter our outward
circumstance, if we follow these suggestions,
we can say, I know my future as a child of God,
and it is a bright and promising future. And
yes, there will be detours and losses, but the
destination is sure, because I know that God
has great plans for my life. When you face a
loss that might paralyze you, Remember to evaluate
your hope. A second action step that we can take
to keep from paralyzing loss is eliminate our
excuses. When Jesus inquired if this man wanted
to be healed, you might have thought his answer
would have been an immediate and enthusiastic,
yes, please, I want to be healed. But instead,
he replies with an excuse. Verse 7 says, I can't,
sir, the sick man said, for I have no one. His
excuse was he was friendless. For some reason,
perhaps it was a sinful reason, this man was
somewhat reluctant to be healed. He was paralyzed,
both spiritually as well as physically. Because
verse 14, a little bit further down says, but
afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and
told him, now you're well, so stop sinning or
something even worse might happen to you. See,
Christ isn't just interested in our health and
happiness. He is interested in our following
his example. And you know what? Sin may have
been this man's biggest hindrance from getting
well. Although I'm not, we can't say that for
sure. I'm just saying perhaps. I don't know.
But what I do know is that sometimes the reason
that we don't find hope and the hope that we
need is because we don't want to give up sinful
thought patterns or actions or sinful habits.
We don't want to be made well. Because we want
to hang on to some pet sin. So we come up with
an excuse instead of telling the truth about
the matter. Far too few people come out and are
honest with God, themselves and others, saying,
well, I would like to quit having an unhappy
life, but I don't want to give up this sinful
attitude or habit. Even though it's causing me
to be miserable, most wouldn't say it, but we
live it. I love sin too much to give it up. With
Jesus there, this man didn't need an excuse because
he did have someone. And so do we. In Matthew
11 and 28, Jesus says, if you are tired from
carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I'll give
you rest. Christ proved this scripture in the
life of this man. We have someone. Jesus is on
our side. And he wants us to come to him and
rely upon him. He wants to be our best friend
so that we won't have an excuse. If we're going
to keep from being paralyzed by the losses of
our lives, we're going to have to give up our
excuses. The third action I think that we have
to take, number three, is exercise our faith.
This is the most important part. This is why
we have entitled this evening's talk together,
Start Walking. The power of faith is not in just
the thinking. It's in the doing. Faith in action
is faith. So verse 8, we're in John 5. Verse
8 of our story says, these are the words of Jesus,
get up, take your bedroll, start walking. Okay.
I also sometimes feel like I can hear people
saying, all right, Jim, sometimes when I'm paralyzed
by fear or loss, it's just not that simple. What
does this mean? How do we do this? How do we
just move on? How do we put this faith in action?
Okay, this is the part we need to pay attention
to tonight. Here we go. First, get up. To do
this would require faith on this man's part.
Why? Why would he have the faith to do this?
Because there was clearly something different
about Jesus. And he's worthy of our trust. Later,
the Jewish leaders at the temple would send guards
to try to arrest Jesus, but they came back empty
-handed. John chapter 7, 45 and 46 in the narrative
tells us this part of the story. When the temple
police returned to the chief priests and Pharisees,
they asked, why didn't you bring Jesus here?
They answered, no one has ever spoken like that
man. The sick man beside the pool of Bethsaida
could say the same thing. He knew there was something
different about Jesus. And for me, it's great.
That's why I told you this is one of my favorite
stories. It's great to study the evidence for
faith in Christ. But one evidence that is the
most personal is the fact that God's voice can
be heard by each and every one of us as individuals
in our hearts. God speaks directly with us. He
draws ourselves to him. Jesus inspired faith
in this man's heart just as he does ours. So
get up. Have faith and hope in Jesus. He's different
than anything you have ever experienced. Okay,
we get up. What do we do next? Take your bedroll.
This actually teaches us. To make no provision
for relapse. Burn the bridges behind us. Remember
once again what Jesus said in verse 14. Don't
return to a sinning life. Sometimes, sometimes
it takes a loss to teach us what really matters.
Who we are and why the way that we live. What
is most important to us in our lives? So the
point of all of this is, start walking. This,
of course, start walking, was the part of the
authentication of the miracle. There's also spiritual
truth in it as well. Don't just stand around
doing nothing after God has set you free. This
is the part of the conversation here with Jesus
that is as much for us as it was the man. Remember,
the miracles that we encounter in this series,
of course, affect the people that we read about
most, right? Okay, they're the ones experienced
the miracle. But it's the conversations where
we find power for ourselves today. And this story
is no different. Let's think here. I'm coming
to a close. Let's think about this miracle. Why?
What was the point of Jesus providing this supernatural
act? Was it for this man? Of course it was. Jesus
had compassion for this man. But if this miracle
was just for this man alone and nobody else,
If Jesus was just speaking to this man alone,
he could have easily just have said, now, sit
back down, relax. Pretty neat trick, huh? But
he didn't say that. Because the miracle wasn't
just for that man. The miracle, this is one of
the signs of John. All these things we're talking
about in this series are signs of John. What
does that mean? It means these are things that
are specifically thought of as things Jesus did
or said that proved he was the son of God. It's
John's evidence in a court of trial, so to speak.
You see, when Jesus told this man to start walking,
he wasn't just telling the man to get lost, to
go home, to take a shower. He was telling the
man to go and show the world. Show the world
all around him the power of God. And he and we
can't do that unless we start walking. When we
evaluate our hope and realize that we are with
God, it's never hopeless. When we have faith
and hope to seek God to do the right thing, to
act in faith that God is ever faithful to us.
When those things happen, we will find ourselves
weathering the storms of life. And as we come
through the storms, and as the clouds break and
the crises subside, we'll know that it was God
that carried us through that loss and that pain.
And that's what we'll hear Jesus say to us. Now,
start walking and share the good news. So for
those of us that might be paralyzed right now,
have hope. and know that you are not nor are
you ever alone. For those that have made their
way through a storm in your life, start walking.
Amen? Amen. Thank you, guys. You know, I'll tell
you, there is a lot to be said. That question,
do you want to be made well? We always... We
just assume that our answer will be a resounding
yes, we do. And yet we cling to those things
that keep us from being well. And we can listen
to podcasts like this. We can go to church. We
can go to a Bible study. We can believe this.
We can know this to be true up and down. And
it is a daily struggle. It's why these reminders
of these situations are so important. That we
can remember that this whole Christianity thing
is not a one and done situation. It's something
that we have to deal with every single day of
our lives. There are things that come into our
lives every single day that want to make us sick,
that want to paralyze us. To keep us from being
who we want to be. So it's a daily question that
we must confront ourselves with. Do we want to
be made well? Anyway, that's something to think
about. Until next week, friend, be well.