Church as NOT Normal
This season of the year in Georgia shares its love by covering the land and any objects outside with a yellow blanket. That dusting is also inhaled by all, accelerating allergies and in my instance, another case of sinusitis. I've only been sick for four days. It is hard for me to imagine having a sickness or being impaired every day for thirty-eight years.
Jesus encounters such a man in Jerusalem and asks him what seems to be an insensitive question. But, the answer would require faith in the current words of Jesus and not circumstantial evidence, excuses, or tradition.
"Some time later Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie - the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, 'Do you want to get well?' '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.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.' At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked." - John 5:1-8 (NIV)
Jesus wasn't challenging this man's faith because the man didn't know who Jesus was until this point. He was creating an opportunity for this man and others to see the power of His word building faith as a result; even if it goes against traditional Godly methods. The waters being stirred by an angel was a good thing; a God thing. It was a method people were aware of and could depend upon. Until Jesus walked in, it was the only method that brought hope to the sick awaiting the stirring. Does Jesus not hold the authority to do things differently?
The move (stirring) of God in His Church has become somewhat predictable based on our relation to the awareness of that move. When the stirring in our church gatherings happens in the manner we are accustomed to experiencing, we make the effort to get in the pool. Otherwise, we question the desire and heart of God to heal, change, instruct, and deliver based upon our knowledge or experiences. Do you want to get well? Do you want real growth in His Church? Do you want spiritual breakthrough? Your answer is not in the method, it's in His Word... "Get up!"
The way Jesus taught and His display of love was anything but normal to the ones that taught the law of God and felt they had inside access to the methods of God. When Jesus established His Church with the apostles, it was anything but normal. When we come to a place that we wait for one angel, one stirring in one moment, our faith is in His method and not His Word. We place a limit on a limitless God. I love that this man didn't hesitate and debate the words of Jesus. He responded at once to His Word. By this man doing so, a stirring of faith happened in others and a new move of God became active based on Jesus' word and not a normal method.
I don't want to be part of a church with those that worship for notoriety, but rather with those that worship only to make Jesus known with sincerity and honor. I don't want be part of a church where people pray for others to gain or fill a position, but instead one that prays for others, being a position of strength and faith. I want to see people share in life as connection out of genuine "things in common" instead of a few moments of obligation. I want to experience the real move of God and not the move of our paradigm; where prayer is intentional communication with God for bringing Heaven to earth instead of a formality in an order of service or moment. I want to be part of Church as NOT normal.
I want to "Get up!" I long for His Church. Want to join me? Better yet, join Jesus?
Jesus encounters such a man in Jerusalem and asks him what seems to be an insensitive question. But, the answer would require faith in the current words of Jesus and not circumstantial evidence, excuses, or tradition.
"Some time later Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie - the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, 'Do you want to get well?' '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.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.' At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked." - John 5:1-8 (NIV)
Jesus wasn't challenging this man's faith because the man didn't know who Jesus was until this point. He was creating an opportunity for this man and others to see the power of His word building faith as a result; even if it goes against traditional Godly methods. The waters being stirred by an angel was a good thing; a God thing. It was a method people were aware of and could depend upon. Until Jesus walked in, it was the only method that brought hope to the sick awaiting the stirring. Does Jesus not hold the authority to do things differently?
The move (stirring) of God in His Church has become somewhat predictable based on our relation to the awareness of that move. When the stirring in our church gatherings happens in the manner we are accustomed to experiencing, we make the effort to get in the pool. Otherwise, we question the desire and heart of God to heal, change, instruct, and deliver based upon our knowledge or experiences. Do you want to get well? Do you want real growth in His Church? Do you want spiritual breakthrough? Your answer is not in the method, it's in His Word... "Get up!"
The way Jesus taught and His display of love was anything but normal to the ones that taught the law of God and felt they had inside access to the methods of God. When Jesus established His Church with the apostles, it was anything but normal. When we come to a place that we wait for one angel, one stirring in one moment, our faith is in His method and not His Word. We place a limit on a limitless God. I love that this man didn't hesitate and debate the words of Jesus. He responded at once to His Word. By this man doing so, a stirring of faith happened in others and a new move of God became active based on Jesus' word and not a normal method.
I don't want to be part of a church with those that worship for notoriety, but rather with those that worship only to make Jesus known with sincerity and honor. I don't want be part of a church where people pray for others to gain or fill a position, but instead one that prays for others, being a position of strength and faith. I want to see people share in life as connection out of genuine "things in common" instead of a few moments of obligation. I want to experience the real move of God and not the move of our paradigm; where prayer is intentional communication with God for bringing Heaven to earth instead of a formality in an order of service or moment. I want to be part of Church as NOT normal.
I want to "Get up!" I long for His Church. Want to join me? Better yet, join Jesus?
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