Stage 2 – Decision to Get Well
John 5:1-7
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 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?" 7"Sir," the invalid replied, "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."
It is interesting that when Jesus finds a man who clearly needs a recovery he asks him a simple question, “Do you want to get well?” The obvious answer should be “Yes!” but his reply tells us all we need to know about his heart. He found it easier to excuse failure then to have enough faith to succeed. That is the reality for many leaders and Christians caught in a long cycle of defeat. There were things he could have done to get into the pool to be healed, like sit on the side poised to “fall in” at the right time. He had been there a long time and no longer had the faith to get well.
Signs You’re Ready to Decide to Get Well
- Willing to Accept Personal Responsibility
- Psalms 51:1-6
- Comfortable with Confession
- Nehemiah 1:5-7
- Deuteronomy 1:22-28
David was at the lowest point of his spiritual life when he wrote Psalm 51. He had been sinful and then heartbroken by the consequences of his sin, but he was on the road to recovery. He begins by accepting personal responsibility for his actions. Regardless of the depth of our despair, we only begin to get well when we accept our part of the problem. Nehemiah was a leader who just arrived to help rescue those in distress but he began by owning his sin, not trying to put the blame on others who had gone before. Moses here recounts a decision that “seemed good” to him at the time but ultimately cost him his chance to enter the Promised Land and cost the lives of all but two of his contemporaries. It is important as leaders that we set an example of humility and sober judgment about our sins and leadership.
Solution – Bold Humility
o Luke 15:17 – Come to Our Senses
o The son finally stopped trying to feel good about the pig-pen and decides to go back to the father. Bold humble action is required.
o Luke 19:8 – Bold Decisive Plan
o Zacchaeus was pronounced saved by Jesus because of his dynamic faith that immediately announced a plan to repent. Are we ready to act?