Willing to make adjustments

BIBLE READING: JOHN 5:1-9

CAPTAIN ALISTAIR VENTER

 

INTRODUCTION:

Life is made up of having to make adjustments. As an Officer in The Salvation Army, I and my family have had to get used to that! In the 12 years that we have been married , we have lived in 5 different homes, having to minister to five different congregations, and there are major adjustments that one has to make in order to be able to accept change. When our first daughter arrived on the scene, man, did we have to make adjustments? We were used to there being just two of us in the home – we had nobody else to think about or consider. Suddenly this package was dropped in our laps who needed to be fed, clothed, who woke us up at all hours of the night, who took away a great deal of our time together, and who kind of changed our whole lifestyle. That was a major adjustment. There were still more adjustments to be made when the other two children were born. I notice that Lauren and Terri are having to make a new adjustment in their lives. Lauren started pre-school after having been with Mommy and Daddy all the time for five and a half years. Terri has moved from Grade 3 to Grade 4 where for the first time she has to get used to 3 teachers instead of one, she has to write exams which she never had to do. The adjustments are all necessary.

What happens if we are not willing to make adjustments in life? We will either never be able to move on with life, or we will end up being the most unhappy people around.

In the Bible, every time that God spoke, people had to make adjustments to their lives. When God called Abram to leave his country and go to a place that God would show him, he had to make some major adjustments. When God called Moses at the burning bush, Moses had to make some major adjustments. As God was working with Joseph through a long process of changes until he was second to Pharoah, Joseph had to make some major adjustments. When Jesus called the fishermen to leave their nets and follow him, they had to make adjustments. When Jesus called Zacheus to come down from the tree and have tea with him, Zacchaeus had to make some major adjustments.

I read the other day that if we want to know the will of God for our lives, we must ask the following question: "What is God’s will?" Once we know what His will is, we need to adjust our lives, our lifestyle, to fit in with His will.

This evening I want us to look at the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda. I want us to look at it in three ways:

JESUS’ INVITATION:

THE MAN’S ADJUSTMENT

THE MAN’S OBEDIENCE

Firstly, let us look at;

  1. JESUS’ INVITATION:
  2. Let me just set the scene a bit. Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem with the purpose of attending a feast of the Jews. But, while he was there, it almost seems like he was looking and seeking for someone who needed help. That is what Jesus’ mission was! "He came to seek and save those who are lost". Somehow or other we find Jesus going to the pool of Bethesda. It was at this place that probably the worst of the worst types of people could be found – really poor specimens of the human race. We can almost describe them as the really helpless of society. Yet, that is where we find Jesus. They were blind, lame and paralysed. It seems that Jesus’ eye focused on one person in particular.

    He was a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, he was at a place where he thought that there might be a cure, but up until that point, nothing had happened. I guess that he had almost reached the point of total despair – a kind of couldn’t care less attitude. What future was there for him….?

    God’s plan, through Jesus, was to heal this man. Jesus came along with an invitation to this man to work with him in order for God’s plan to happen. And Jesus said to him: "Do you want to get well?"

    Let us look at:

  3. THE MAN’S ADJUSTMENT:
  4. My initial observation is that this man was not too sure whether he really wanted to get well. He almost seemed to offer some excuses, doesn’t he? "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". He was kind of saying: "Look, you know – I’ve been here a number of years already – I know what goes on here – it’s a kind of helpless situation. Thanks – but no thanks!"

    Jesus was offering him a chance to get well – but he was offering excuses to Jesus. Is he alone in that? Jesus comes alongside you and me on many occasions when we are in difficulty, having problems, and he says to us: "Do you want me to help you?" and sometimes we have all the excuses to God. "Let me just try and work them out myself." Or "I’ve been battling for so long now, and nothing has changed – why bother now?" Or "I’ve got so used to being like this, living this kind of a lifestyle – thanks but no thanks!" When Jesus offers us a chance to be well, to be helped, we have got to co-operate with him. That co-operation involves WORKING WITH HIM.

    What did this man have to do in order for him to be well? He had to adjust his thinking, he had to adjust his lifestyle, he had to adjust his attitude, he had to adjust his position. Jesus said to him: "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk!" What do you think would have been his initial reaction? "O yes, get real Jesus! You know I have not been able to do that for 38 years. Come right!" He could have looked at his present circumstances, and pointed out to Jesus that what Jesus was expecting him to do was actually impossible. There was no way that after 38 years he would be able stand on his two feet. After all, the possibility also existed that this man had been an invalid from birth, and had never ever learned to walk. He could have offered more excuses!

    But you know, he didn’t. Jesus gave him an instruction. "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk." In order for that command of Jesus to be translated into reality, this man had to adjust his thinking, and be obedient to what he was being told to do. He was being told to do something that was humanly impossible. But he scraped himself off the ground, and did what Jesus told him to do – and he was cured.

    I had a good friend in Cape Town who for 50 years of his life had been a slave to alcohol and ended up at the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Centre in Cape Town. He was pretty much a wreck. He had left behind a broken marriage and a family. Life for him held no meaning, no purpose. But while he was at that Centre, he heard Jesus saying to him: "Do you want to get well?" Ivor Spooner said to the Lord: "Look at my life. Nobody has been there to help me. I’ve tried so many times, and it has not worked out. What’s the use?" But Jesus went further. He said to Ivor: "Pick up the ruins of your life, leave that addiction behind, and stand up a new man". Another impossibility! But Ivor stood up healed! Major adjustment became necessary in his life. He had to undergo a complete change of lifestyle, of thinking. He went on to go into full time service for the Army, working at various corps and centres around the country – a brand new man! Sadly he passed away last year from cancer.

    Today, Jesus stands in this church here in Pretoria West, and he says to you and to me: "Do you want to get well? Do you want to get up from this place and walk out here a changed person?" Are we willing to make the adjustments that that change will require?

    Let’s look at the

  5. THE MAN’S OBEDIENCE:

It was only obedience to Jesus’ command or instruction that brought that man healing. He could have chosen to be disobedient, faithless, and he would have remained in that position – unhappy, friendless, in pain, hurting – and he would have had no one else but himself to blame for his condition. You see, obedience takes faith and action. It is all very well to believe that Jesus can do the impossible, but quite another thing to actually be obedient to Him when he gives us guidance and advice.

I am sure that you have heard the old story of the tight rope walker – Blondin, who was crossing the Niagra Falls on a tight rope. The crowds thought he was great and cheered and went mad. Then he took a wheelbarrow and pushed it across the falls on the tight rope, and the crowds cheered and went mad. He then went over to a little boy in the crowd and said to him: "Do you believe that I could push that wheel barrow across the falls again with you inside?" "Of course you could," said the little boy, without any doubt in his voice. Blondin said to him: "OK sonny, jump in!" He wouldn’t do that!

You see, obedience requires faith and action. It is easy to say with our lips "God can do the impossible" – for us to sing "Nothing is too difficult for thee" But we have to step out in faith, and take that action, make the adjustments, before we can experience the reality of God’s plan for our lives.

 

CONCLUSION:

I want you to notice one thing. It is always God who takes the initiative in wanting to have a relationship with us. God is continually at work in the world, in our lives, trying to reach men and women like you and me. The invitation is always: "Do you want to get well, do you want my help, do you want a better life, do you want forgiveness from you sins? Or, as he said on another occasion to a blind man: "What do you want me to do for you?"

It all lies in our response. He is able to do the impossible. Stop offering excuses. Stop sitting in your lame state and get up from where you are, make the adjustments that are necessary, and allow Jesus to do for you what you cannot do for yourself!

A verse of Scripture that became very real to me this week is that which is found in Psalm 50:14,15, and it says acc to the Living Bible: "What I want from you is your true thanks (or sacrifices); I want your promises fulfilled. I want you to trust ME in your times of trouble, so I can rescue you, and you can give me glory."

Making adjustments can really mean a lot sacrifice – but it is worth it in the end!

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