Greg Ford - Would You Like to Get Well?
If you turn in your Bibles with me to John 5, I'm gonna start reading in verse 1. John 5:1 says, "Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. Inside the city, near the sheep gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people. Blind, lame, or paralyzed. Lay on the porches. One of the men lying there have been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been ill for a long time he asked him, 'Would you like to get well'? 'I can't, sir' the sick man said, 'For I have no one to put me into the pool. I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me'. Jesus told him, 'Stand up, pick up your mat and walk'! Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking"!
And I wanna start with the fact that the reality is whether it was a superstition or whether it was real, there were tons of people who were sick and lame and hurt and had a major need who had congregated around this pool and had some semblance of hope. Like, something, maybe this is my solution. And imagine what that does, not just to those people, but what it even does culturally and to society and how you might feel if you lived around that. How would that affect you? What would you do? Would you go there? Would you hang around there? Would you avoid that place?
And that's a tough question because, you know, sometimes when you, in those type of scenarios, people tend to avoid places like that. Because if I go there, number one, I'm overwhelmed, it's just, hmm, here's a lot of need, you know. It's like bodies just strewn about like a war zone and so much need. And then the other is, sometimes you get asked for stuff. People start begging you for things and asking you for things, and you wanna avoid it. And of course, we noticed that Jesus, one of the things probably most often talked about with Jesus is how often Jesus went to hurting people. He would go to hurting people and he would heal them, and he would hang out with them, and he would minister to them.
I think there's a lot of people who see, when they see brokenness, and hurt, and pain, and they see a pool of Bethesda, with blind, lame, hurting people who need help, I think there's a lot of people that care a lot, they care a lot. The problem isn't that they don't care, the problem is that they're not quite sure how to help. And when you're not quite sure how to help, sometimes you avoid the problem all together. When I first accepted Jesus, really accepted Jesus in my heart as my Lord and Savior, had a transformation or renewing of the mind and new in Christ, I was a sophomore in college.
And one of the indicators to me that actually, I was different, I had been changed, was, I started caring. I started caring for stuff I didn't care about, I started caring for people I didn't care about. You know, and I am full of faith. I was thinking, God can shrink the timeline. So, if you had a rough marriage, I would give you a scripture and pray, "God, heal that marriage right now". And I believe God was gonna expedite the miracle. And then, if somebody was sick, oh boy, I prayed down fire from heaven. You had an aunt with cancer, oh boy, don't bring that cancer around me. I'll pray it out. I'd start praying hard, I mean, I'mma put you on, I'mma pray till something happens, you know.
I had a wrist band, "Push, pray until something happens". P-U-S, pray until something, that was me. Pray until something happens. And I would believe, that you know what, God's gonna use me to pick up your mat and walk, and have an immediate miracle. And here's what I'm gonna say, I believe theologically, I believe God can do what he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants, with whomever he wants anytime he wants. So, I believe God does heal, and I believe God uses people to heal.
If you reads in Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, it talks about the gifts of healing, right, gifts of the spirit. So you have not only gifts of doing things well, natural talents, but sometimes will give a gift to people to be able to do certain things at certain times. But it's also clear in 1 Corinthians that God alone decides who gets what, get where and how. And it's not necessarily, you know, for me, I was never given that gift to pray for, you know, to touch a tumor and it dry up, or to go to somebody who was crippled and say, "Stand up and walk". I tried it, I prayed it, I have more faith than you can, I mean, all the faith in the world, and yet, it didn't happen.
So God didn't intend to use me in that way. And so, here's what happened to me, I started finding, it wasn't that I had less of a heart for Bethesda, the pool of Bethesda and the folk who were hurting, I had a big heart for that, I was confused by my lack of ability to help. So, I started avoiding pools of Bethesda, 'cause I wasn't sure what I could do when I was tired of swinging and missing. It's interesting, because when Jesus says to this man, and we're gonna dig into his question, "Do you wanna be well"?
And we're gonna dig into the man's response. But I wanna just take a first crack at it. He says to him, "Do you wanna be well"? And the man says to a yes or no question, he says, "I can't sir, I can't". Of course we would say, "I can't should never in a person's vocabulary". And I feel you, I think you should be resilient, I think you should be tenacious, we'll get into that in a second. But every single person throughout your life will come against something you can't, you can't. I can't get autism out of my sons. You can't make her stay. You can't make him stay. You can't make yourself walk when you're a paraplegic.
And we all have at some point, and it's a terrible place to be, and it's a horrible feeling, to get to something that you can't. And when it hits close to home, if it's an I can't with my kids, it's an I can't with somebody I care about, I love, a best friend. Something in myself that I've tried over and over and over and over and I can't. So that's what the man's dealing with, I can't. Second thing though, he immediately went to not only I can't, he goes, "I have no one. I have no one to put me in the pool".
And this last reading of this when I was really meditating on this, I thought about the fact that I at times, because God doesn't tend to use me in the instantaneous dramatic miracles, that sometimes I might avoid the pools of Bethesda, and maybe others feel the same way. Not because I don't care, not because you don't care, but because maybe you undervalue the way God may wanna use you in a different kind of divine healing. The divine healing isn't always, "Pick up your mat and walk".
Sometimes the divine healing, they're dimensional healings. Outside of just whether or not my legs work or whether or not I can see with my eyes, there's actually emotional healing and there's relational healing and things that happen when the man at the pool of Bethesda has someone. And I'm talking to somebody today who you do care but you've been avoiding. And I wanna encourage you today to not undervalue your presence. The fact that God may not give you the ability to tell somebody, "Stand up with your legs," but you can be there, that the person who says, "I have no one," has someone.
The mad at the pool at Bethesda looked around and saw blind people and lame people and paralyzed people that had a loved one and a brother that was willing to try to throw them into the water that bubbled up, whether it was a superstition or not. There was a healing that happened in the presence of a brother and sister, don't under value that. And for some of you, you feel the limitations of what you can do. If you're with somebody going through something, we've all had this feeling, "I just wish I could do more. Ah, it just feel like it's not enough. Ah, I just wish I could do more". Hey, don't let "I wish I could do more," keep you from doing what can do, which is to be there and to be present and be part of the miracle.
Lets go back to this question, Jesus asked him, "Would you like to get well"? He asks him. Well, here's what we know about the man. First of all, we don't know his name, we don't know much about him, so we're gonna have to speculate a little bit. But, we know he was sick and paralyzed for 38 years. That's a long time, 38 years to deal with something. And so, you would think the question, "Do you wanna be well"? After 38 years of not using your legs, you would think that's a no brainer question, but it's really not. Jesus asked the man, "Do you wanna be well" in hopes that the man will dig deep enough to search his soul to actually really wrestle with that question, "Do you wanna be well"?
I think Jesus knew about human nature, and human nature is, that sometimes people have a tendency to develop an odd relationship with their infirmities. It can often happen that the infirmity that you curse and you're tempted to fall into destination addiction. Like, "If I just could get off of this map. If I just didn't have this thing to deal with, it would be so much happier and brighter". That people actually, when you deal with an infirmity long enough, you can actually develop a weird relationship with it, an odd relationship. We see it in the extremes with parents who keep their kids sick, they keep the kid sick. Why? Because there's something about the bond of a caretaker.
There's something about the sympathy and the attention from the outside world that you get from being a part of something like that. We see it actually, if you talk to clinical psychologists who talk to you about things like codependent relationships, this type of scenario happens frequently. You'll have a family, the whole family bonds around one of the family member's dysfunction.
So, let's say you have a father who's an abusive alcoholic, he's an abusive alcoholic, and when he's drunk, he comes in violent. And maybe mom, the mom will provoke dad so that he'll beat on her and leave the kids alone. Or maybe you have a sibling once as they get a little bit older they wanna protect their siblings, and so they'll provoke him to protect the kids. And then once he's swung all he wants to swing, and he's passed out drunk then everybody huddles together and hugs each other and bonds over the pain and the dysfunction.
And the wildest thing happens sometimes, is maybe something happens where that alcoholic father, abusive man, goes and gets help and he get clean and sober, and is no longer abusive. And you wouldn't believe what happens all the time, the family falls apart. They were crystallized in the abuse, and they fall apart in sobriety. Why? Because often, people develop funny relationships with their dysfunction. When Jesus says, "Do you want to be well"? It's a sincere question, it is not a no-brainer. 'Cause although you've been sitting there for 38 years, you know, there's something about 38 years of sitting there that you start to kind of make friends with it. You start to be comforted by it.
There's a few reasons you might kinda like it. First of all, I know this man was alone, but a lot of other people who were there, who had an infirmity, had people around them to help them. And if you're not careful, you might start to think, "You know if I got well, I might be alone. If I got well", you see, these people are 'cause I'm sick, 'cause I have drama. Because there's something that's keeping them here, and if I was well and I could walk on my own two feet, they may not be around me.
So, it's actually the fact that I'm staying sick that keeps people around me. Sometimes people's identity is linked to this. If I'm not the guy for, I mean think about, John doesn't even name the guy. He just calls him, you know, the man who was sick, the paralytic man. Sometimes not only that's how the world sees you, but that's how you see you.
"And if I'm not the paralytic guy with the dramatic story, but I can actually walk on my own two feet, who am i? By the way, this paralysis gives me a pretty good reason to stay exactly where I am. I don't have to go out there and do anything. And I kinda have a familiar conversation arc with the other invalid people around me. We go, 'you know, it must be nice to be out there on two feet. Yeah, these guys, they have no idea what it's like to be us'". And so, so many of these things, you just have to go explore. Jesus said, "Hey do you really wanna get well? Do you really wanna get well"?
And I wanna encourage you to receive that question for yourself and to do some digging. Because again, with all due respect, and I don't say this today, I'm not trying to make fun or make light, but to this man to sit there and go, "Yeah, you know I have nobody and I can't". Okay, "I can't". Well, yeah, you're right, you can't make your legs work. But if you think that the pool of Bethesda is the solution, is the miracle you need, if that's what you think, you're telling me, you can't get in that water? What have you tried? Have you tried making a deal with a blind guy? "Hey man, I see you blind right"? "Yeah". "Hey I have eyes and you have legs, lets make a deal". Have you tried that?
"You throw me in, I'll throw you in, alright. If you pick me up and carry me over, I'll tell you where to go. And once the water bubbles, you throw me in. I promise you dude, I will not bail on you. Once I walk outta here I will stay and next time I'm throwing you in and we're gonna get out together". Now, you go, "Well Greg, that may not even be worth doing, 'cause maybe it wasn't even an angel stirring the water, maybe it was just a natural spring". Yeah, I know but you at least get to cross this one off the list, "I have no one".
Now you have someone. You know Jesus said, "Do you wanna be well"? And you said, "I can't, I have no one". So, we'll get to your legs later. You can deal with the loneliness. You can deal with this by actually, "What have you tried? What have you done"? And I think at a certain point in your life it's very easy to go, "Hey, if I could just get this. If I just had that, things would be so better". How bad do you wanna be well? I think there's certain things that sort of indicate like, "Of course if I could press a button and have it, yeah, I probably would". No, what links? If you're not well and you need help, and you need to get healthy, what are you willing to do to get it? I see people sometimes, they want help if it comes in a very specific package.
"Now, I'll take it if it comes like this, you know". A lot of people reach out from time to time to the church, I'm always grateful they do, because our church is here to help, we're a safe place. That Paul says about the body of Christ, "Take joy in covering each other's weaknesses. Take joy in honoring each other". He talks about the body, and sometimes parts of the body need to be protected and covered up and helped. And so, this is that place, when we need to be able to help. You need to ask yourself how bad you actually wanna get healthy and wanna get help. A lot of people, they would come and say, "Hey, you know, we'd like counseling".
Well, our church is not a counseling center, we have a place where we can help people to a certain degree. But if you had been on the map for 38 years, there may be some professional help that you need beyond what we can provide as a church. And so, we might say, "Hey, we'll have some conversations, or we'll have some connect group leaders. We have some marriage coaches that are able to help in this way. But if you got a 38-year issue, you can't use your leg, that may be more than what we can do. So, here's what we have. We've networked with counselors that can help you. These are people who went to school a long time, they got a lot of experience, they're professionals at doing this, and they can help you out".
And people go, "Oh, no, I don't wanna do that 'cause it's not free. It cost money". Oh, so you only want help if it's free? "Yeah. Yeah, I can't afford that". The winning attitude is, "I will do whatever it takes to get help". So, when you come in a very specific package, "Well, I'll only meet with this person and I'll only do it for free". What are you talking about? You don't wanna get help. You don't want it. If you're still picky, you ain't ready. Come on, put the shoe on the other foot. If I come to you, I'm like, "I'm starving". And you're like, "Oh, cool, I got a protein bar". I'm like, "I want stake and eggs. Scrambled, thank you very much".
Bro, you ain't that hungry, you ain't that hung, do you wanna be well? I started thinking about this, 'casue my heart goes out, my heart truly goes out to somebody who has not use of their legs for 38 years, and just sat there, and is alone. And I start thinking about this, I start thinking about my life experience, my personal experience and like, what I've seen. And I think when people get to a place like this, we'll call this, "A low place". I can't and I have nobody. Some of you here, you feel like you've lost everything. "I've lost everything. I've lost people I care about. I've lost the respect of my peers. I've lost my own respect".
You feel like you're in a really low place. Being in this place usually has one of two effects. One, it can cause tremendous amount of humility, it brings you to your knees and it humbles you. But I've also seen it do the opposite, I've seen people in a very low place become extremely prideful, extremely prideful. And I started praying about that and thinking about that. I'm like, "Lord, what do I do with that"? And this is what I feel like the Lord showed me, I feel like God showed me this. I think a lot of people when they're in this position, they use pride to try to protect the final vestiges of their dignity, which is a totally reasonable thing to wanna have, it is totally right and reasonable and valid for you to want to hang on to your dignity.
And when you have been on a mat for 38 years, and you've had to beg and the best plan you can come up with is to try to barter with another invalid or somebody else or whatever it might be. And you feel like you've lost your dignity, sometimes you put up a wall of pride. And it's that wall of pride that actually is the thing you've gotta deal with, with do you really wanna get well? Because in order to get well, you might have to risk your dignity. You might have to risk bringing out from behind the wall of pride, whatever you've been trying to conceal. It might take that, and it might take somebody having a joke about you at your expense. It might be losing a friend. It might be risking humiliation. It might be something that would make you look bad.
But the pride that you put up to try to protect your dignity is not working. 'Cause you think about this, the name said, "I can't 'cause I have no one". And maybe there was nobody that would barter with him. But what happened when that pool of Bethesda started bubbling for whatever reason? Dignity. "I ain't doing that. I'm embarrassed". And you might have to risk your dignity.
I'mma give you two things, if I'm talking to you, I'mma give you two things. The first is this, I can't think of anything more respectable than somebody who's wise enough to know they need help, humble enough to ask for it, and courageous enough to follow through with whatever it takes to get there. That's gotta be the most respectable thing I can think of. So, if somebody's gotta joke, if somebody's gotta joke, they see you do it, I see somebody doing this, it's about the most respectable thing I can think of. Somebody that will ask for help, wise enough to know you need help, humble enough to ask for it, and courageous enough to follow through.
But here's one that I'mma give you that's even better than that. The way you restore and maintain your dignity, is knowing where your dignity comes from. Psalm 3:3, David says, "You o Lord are a shield for me. You're my glory and the lifter of my head. You're the one who holds my head high". So, yeah man, they can clown you, yeah, they can lose respect for you, yeah, they can try to take your dignity, but they can't take your dignity 'cause they didn't give you your dignity. You're made in the image of God. You o Lord are a shield around me, you are the one who holds my head high, you hold my head high. I don't have to squirm, you hold my head high, that's where my dignity comes from.
In fact, you see, in the way Jesus does a miracle for this man, he restores his dignity. You see it here and you see it in Mark 2, what does Jesus say? "Sir, pick up your mat. Stand up, pick up your mat and walk". Remember in Mark 2, the man who's lowered through the roof and through the ceiling by his friends and Jesus forgives his sin. And then he says to him, "Stand up, pick up your mat and go home". Well, he coulda said, "Leave your mat there, and leave the past in the past, and leave it right there. Just leave that thing and just", no, he said, "Pick up your mat". Why? "Because not only am I gonna give your legs power, I'm gonna not only your legs work, I'm gonna make you powerful, you can do work".
Today I wanna tell you, some of you may be powering up pride, and you're doing it for a good reason, you're doing it to protect your dignity. I don't blame you. It breaks my heart, people I don't even know, when I see somebody lose their dignity, it upsets me deeply. Something really sad about that. I don't wanna take you dignity, nobody in here wants to take your dignity. You deserve that, that belongs to you. But it's been endowed to you by God, you better know where it comes from. 'Case somebody's gonna have something to say, somebody's gonna have jokes. Have your fun. You o Lord, are a shield to me, you're the glory and the lifter of my head. You're the one who holds my head high.
And you know what? I really wanna be well. And if I gotta crawl, or I gotta barter or I gotta make a deal, I'm gonna dig as deep as I need to get. I'll do what I've gotta do, I'll sell my 2022 and get me a 2014 if that's what I gotta do. I'll take the bus if I've got, I'm gonna do what it takes, I'm gonna get, do you want to be well? God is here, not to take your dignity, to give it back to you, to give it back to you. And to heal every part of you. Don't get caught thinking that the problem you think is the problem is the full problem. Let the Lord show you what a whole full healing looks like. Some of it happens in an instant and some of it happens with a slow oil overtime. Let's let God do what he wants to do.