Do I Want to Get Well? - a podcast by Lewis Marsh

The Gospel of John 1-7

Pt. 6: Do I Want to Get Well? John 5:2-9

By Louie Marsh, 5-23-2021

 

Intro: 4 Lame excuses slides

 

Charles J. O’Byrne, the top aide to New York governor David Paterson, neglected to file tax returns for five years. “Neglected” is really the wrong word, says his lawyer: O’Byrne couldn’t pay his taxes.
The lame excuse: He suffers from a medical condition called late-filing syndrome, which is caused by depression. And even though this depression did not stop him from being a highly functional professional or enjoying an active social life, it did seem to affect his ability to pay taxes—five years in a row.

 

Marco Fella of England admitted attacking his girlfriend with a dog toy and, another time, biting her finger. But it wasn’t his fault.
The lame excuse: “My client’s temper snapped because he felt his partner was not making enough effort in the relationship,” said his lawyer.

The lamer excuse: She wore baggy pants instead of the sexy thong he preferred.

The lamerer excuse: Biting and assault with a pet toy aside, Fella is not really violent—he just hadn’t had his fill of Mars bars. See, Fella is a sugar addict and has a ten-Mars-bars-a-day habit.

 

New York congressman Vito Fossella was pulled over in Alexandria, Virginia, by a cop and blew a 0.17 on the Breathalyzer—more than twice the legal limit. After the hangover, Fossella knew he’d better start thinking fast.
The lame excuse: His high blood alcohol level was a result of the alcohol-based hand sanitizer he’d used.

 

Lame Excuses actually used to get out of going to work:

 

Lame excuse: “A bear is in my yard and I’m afraid to come outside.”

Lame excuse: “I ate a toothpick in my food at a restaurant.”

Lame excuse: “I broke my arm while wrestling a female bodybuilder.”

Lame excuse: “My dog swallowed my car keys and I’m waiting for them to come out.”

Lame excuse: “I don’t have enough money for gas.”

Lame excuse: “I had to reschedule a new manicure because some of my artificial nails fell off.”

Lame excuse: “I left my clothes at the laundry mat.”

 

1) Do I REALLY WANT to get well?

 

5  One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6  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?" John 5:5-6 (NIV)

 

This may be the most profound question in the entire Bible. If it’s not then it’s certainly one of the most important and profound.

 

It seems like such a silly question to ask. Surely a man who had been disabled for that many years would love to be healed.

 

But the truth is, that many of us grow so accustomed to being sick or needy and the attention that it brings them that I’m not really sure that they want things to be any different.

 

Christ’s question to all of us this morning is “Do you want to get well?”

 

Some of us here today face serious physical illness. But many of us are not physically ill but have allowed other things to ruin our lives. Whether that’s alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sexual sin, pornography, greed, people pleasing, fear, etc. We all have to answer this question – Do I really want to get well, or have I become comfortable in my dysfunction and sin?

 

I have to move beyond just wanting the pain and discomfort to end. What Jesus wants to know is do I want to be well? Do I want to start down the road to becoming like Christ, the real road to recovery.

 

Is THAT what I want? Or do I just want a little relief from my pain?

 

2) SOME SIGNS I’M NOT SERIOUS ABOUT GETTING WELL.

 

• I practice BLAME SHIFTING

 

7  The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” John 5:7 (ESV)

 

12  The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13  Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12-13 (ESV)

 

• I make EXCUSES.

 

 

But Moses pleaded with the LORD, "O Lord, I'm just not a good speaker. I never have been, and I'm not now, even after you have spoken to me. I'm clumsy with words." Exodus 4:10 (NLT)

 

 

6  Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” Jeremiah 1:6 (ESV)

 

 

21  Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Matthew 8:21 (ESV)

 

• I use the GOD DODGE.

 

12  And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13  And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” Judges 6:12-13 (ESV)

 

• I play the VICTIIM  (FEEL SORRY FOR MYSELF.)

 

2  And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3  Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:2-3 (ESV)

 

3) GOD’S OPINION OF MY EXCUSES.

 

• He is able even when I’M NOT!

 

7  But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 1:7-8 (ESV)

 

• I must always put Christ FIRST.

 

22  And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:22 (ESV)

 

• This isn’t ROCKET SCIENCE!

 

11  “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12  It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13  Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14  But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. Deuteronomy 30:11-14 (ESV)

 

4) HOW TO KNOW I REALLY WANT TO GET WELL.

 

• I admit I’m OUT OF CONTROL!

 

18  And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19  I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. Romans 7:18-19 (NLT)

 

• I’m willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get well

 

25  A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26  She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27  She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28  For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 29  Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition. Mark 5:25-29 (NLT)

 

Remember  Naaman in the Old Testament, the commander of the Syrian army. He had leprosy and he is told of a prophet named Elisha who could heal him. When we think of this story we always remember how Elisha told him to go dip himself in the Jordan seven times and he would be made well and that Naaman was angry because he expected some hocus pocus kind of ritual. He expected something different than to be told to go dip himself in a river. He was not a happy camper. But his companion talked him into obeying and of course he was healed. But the positive thing about Naaman was that he went through great lengths to be healed

 

It’s all about desire. And Jesus wanted to know if this man really desired to have a different life. Jesus wanted to know if the despair of his situation had so overtaken him that he no longer had any aspiration for things to be different.

 

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