AUGUST 16 - Jesus One on One: The Paralyzed Man

On Sunday, August 16 we looked at Jesus' encounter with the invalid man in John 5:2-9.

To go a little deeper, here are some thoughts by various writers across the years on this character - the paralyzed man.

RAY STEDMAN. There is a critical clue many miss when they are looking for help from God. There is always something God tells them to believe, and do, and act on. This is a word of action. Jesus does not say, "Try to build up faith in your mind. Try to fasten your thoughts on this or that." He tells them to do something: "Rise! Stand up!" Obviously it was Jesus' will that this man should do what he told him to do, and the moment the man's will agreed with the Lord's will the power was there. He knew he could stand, and he did. Then what? The Lord did not merely say, "Rise," he said, "take up your pallet." Why did he say that? I like the way G. Campbell Morgan has put it, "In order to make no provision for a relapse." The man might have said to himself, "I'm healed, but I had better leave my bed here; I may need it tomorrow." If he had said that he would have been back in it the next day. But he did not. Jesus said, "Take up your bed. Get rid of it; don't leave it there." In those words he is saying something very important to people who need to be healed: do not make any provision to go back on what you have done. Many people fail right here. Go home and pour out the alcohol! Go home and get rid of the drugs! Burn your bridges behind you. Say no to the friends who have been luring you on into evil. You will probably find that some of them will come back with you. Burn your bridges. Cut off any possibility of going back. Let somebody know the new stand you have taken so that he will help hold you to it. Burn your bridges, is what Jesus is saying. That is so important. Many a person has really been touched by God, delivered from some inner attitude, a bitter spirit or whatever, but then he has allowed the past to come back in again and he finds himself back where he was. Our Lord knows what he is talking about -- "take up your bed."

CHRYSOSTOM (4th/5th centuries). The perseverance of the paralytic was astonishing. Each year he hoped to be freed from his disease. He lay there waiting, never given up. He had been waiting 38 years without obtaining what he desired, and he still did not withdraw.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA (4th/5th centuries). Christ does not wait for entreaties from the sick but anticipates their request with his own loving kindness. See how he runs to the one who is lying down and how compassionate he is to one who was sick with no one to comfort him.

WILLIAM BARCLAY. Jesus began by asking the man if he wanted to be cured. It was not so foolish a question as it may sound. It might well have been that hope had died and left behind a passive and dull despair. In his heart of hearts the man might be well content to remain an invalid for, if he was cured, he would have to shoulder all the burden of making a living. But this man's response was immediate. He wanted to be healed, though he did not see how he ever could be since he had no one to help him. The first essential towards receiving the power of Jesus is to have intense desire for it.

MIKE SLAUGHTER. Just like other areas in my life that experienced rapid and radical change, I want the whole thing to be finished in one fell swoop. But, the question that Jesus asked, do you want to get well, seems to indicate that there is a deeper issue behind his state of paralysis. In many areas in our life that are so visible to us, the presenting issue is not the real issue that is creating the pain and paralysis. Here’s the problem, God knows it: many of us want to be fixed, but we don’t really want to be cured. We want to get out of debt, but we want to have all of the nice, fun new toys at the same time. We want to have a fulfilling marriage, but we don’t want to do the hard day-to-day practice it takes to get there. We want to lose the addiction and still get a buzz. We’re going to learn in the next two weeks that there’s a relationship between our paralysis and sin. These unholy habits become a source of comfort and meaning in our life. We learn to live with these unholy habits; as a matter of fact, we create these little comfort zones around ourselves with these unholy habits.

AUGUST 9 - Sermon in Song

The message on August 9 was a "sermon in song" - using the words of the Apostle's Creed as a "teaching outline" and using a number of songs and hymns to illustrate these truths. The Scripture reading for the day was Colossians 3:15-17:

Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Here are the songs that were used, along with the points of the creed to which they correspond:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
“His Eye Is On the Sparrow”
“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty”
“How Great Thou Art”
“God’s Coloring Book”
“Children of the Heavenly Father”

NOTE: Click HERE for the audio of the rendition of "God's Coloring Book" by The Wright Kids!

And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord.
“Jesus, What a Beautiful Name”

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
“Fairest Lord Jesus”

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
“Ah, Holy Jesus”
“At the Cross”

The third day he rose from the dead.
“He Is Lord”
“Because He Lives”

He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
“Rejoice, The Lord Is King”

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
“Come, Holy Spirit”

The holy catholic church,
“The Church in the Wildwood”
“Blest Be the Tie”

The communion of saints,
“Come, Let Us Join Our Friends Above”
“Sweet By and By”

The forgiveness of sins,
“Amazing Grace”
“Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling”

The resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
“I’ll Fly Away”

AUGUST 2 - Jesus One on One: The Woman at the Well

On Sunday, August 2 we looked at Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well in John 4:1-42.

To go a little deeper, here are some thoughts by various writers across the years on this character - the woman at the well.

JOHN WESLEY. The rabbis reckoned it scandalous for a man of distinction to [talk with a woman]. They marvelled likewise at his talking with a woman of that nation [Samaria], which was so peculiarly hateful to them.

MAXIMUS OF TURIN (4th/5th century). As soon as the Lord points her sins out she acknowledges them, confesses Christ and announces the Savior. Abandoning her pitcher she brings back not water but grace back to the city. She seems, indeed, to return without a burden, but she returns full of holiness. She returns full, I say, because she who had come as a sinner goes back as a proclaimer, and she who had left her pitcher behind brought back the fullness of Christ, without the slightest loss to her city. For even if she did not bring water to the townspeople, still she brought in the source of salvation.

AUGUSTINE (born 354 AD). This living water is the Holy Spirit. Without doubt the Spirit is the gift of God, of which the Lord [speaks] here.

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA (4th/5th century). Jesus calls the quickening gift of the Spirit "living water" because mere human nature is parched to its very roots, now rendered dry and barren of all virtue....Now human nature runs back to its pristine beauty, and drinking in that which is life-giving, it is made beautiful with a variety of good things and, budding into a virtuous life it sends out healthy shoots of love toward God.

WILLIAM BARCLAY. Jesus was weary with the journey, and he sat by the side of the well exhausted. It is very significant that John (who stresses the sheer deity of Jesus Christ more than any other of the gospel writers) also stresses his humanity to the full. John does not show us a figure freed from the tiredness and the struggle of our humanity. He shows us one for whom life was an effort as it is for us; he shows us one who also was tired and had to go on.

WILLIAM BARCLAY. At the heart of all this there is the fundamental truth that in the human heart there is a thirst for something that only Jesus Christ can satisfy.

WILLIAM BARCLAY. The Samaritan woman was staggered by Christ's ability to see into her inmost being. She was amazed at his intimate knowledge of the human heart, and of her heart in particular....Her first instinct was to share her discovery. Having found this amazing person, she was compelled to share her find with others....First to find, then to tell, are the two great steps of the Christian life.

RAY STEDMAN. The story of Jesus and the woman at the well of Samaria helps us deal with many modern issues. Here Jesus crosses the barrier of race prejudice and interacts with a race hated and rejected by the Jews. That helps us greatly in our own bigoted, prejudicial society. Our Lord encounters a moral outcast and displays for our instruction the proper approach to take with such a person.