What do you want Jesus to Do for You? - Sabbatical Update

*Intro

This morning I wanted to give you an overview of my sabbatical time. I intended to tell you about fishing and wood working. I even had pictures to share.

I was going to talk about how long it took to feel rested and how I have found a new rhythm of rest.

I wanted to tell you about the books that I read and the insights I got from them.

I was going to talk about the various churches we visited and how each time God used the pastors there to speak a truth that I needed to hear.

My sister unexpectedly scheduled a last minute trip and convinced my dad to come up as well. We played cards, ate German chocolate, laughed, cried and laughed some more. I had stories

I had written over a thousand words that intended to tell you all of that and God told me to start over.

*Tired - Thank you for the time

When I began to entertain the idea of a sabbatical, I was tired, exhausted and on the verge of burnout. I don’t think I fully realized how on the edge of burnout I was. Looking back, I was headed over a burnout cliff that would have been disastrous.

Fortunately, I pastor a loving church who was willing to support me taking this time. I cannot thank you all enough for allowing this time to happen. I cannot emphasize enough how great an impact this time has had on my life and the life of my family.

*Spiritual surgery

I’ve used an analogy of a surgery to describe this time. For any of you that have had a surgery, usually there is diagnosis and the doctor explains the surgical procedure and how it will help.

For me, there was a diagnosis of needing rest and refreshing and a spiritual surgery was in order in the form of a sabbatical.

Some surgeries are meant to remove things - you have a growth that should not be there, let’s remove it.

Other times a surgery intends to repair something that is broken - you tore this tendon and we’ll go in and repair it.

Still other surgeries implant something that helps with an ailment such as a pace maker.

I believe I needed all of those spiritual surgeries. Some things needed removing, some needed repair, and God needed to implant a few things.

When a doctor schedules surgery, they set aside a certain amount of time for what that is appropriate for the procedure. That is what we did with this sabbatical time. We set aside 2 weeks of vacation followed by 7 weeks of sabbatical. There was a plan for each of the weeks and by all accounts, that schedule was sound and the anticipation was that the spiritual surgery would go according to schedule.

Unfortunately, the doctor doesn’t always know ahead of time all of the complications that might be encountered. The doc opens you up and discovers more than what the scans and tests showed, so the first surgery only takes care of a few items and the doc is forced to close up before completing the work.

Then there has to be a follow up surgery to take care of the ailments that were not fully known, diagnosed and planned for.

That is where we ended up on this sabbatical. A great deal of surgery happened by the time I returned home from Virginia after week 3 of the sabbatical, but I came home stitched up with only part of the surgery done.

I then spent the next few weeks nursing my spiritual incisions with my wife while my sister and dad visited with my family. When they left with just 2 weeks left in the sabbatical, I went back under the spiritual knife with my wife.

It became very clear to us that we were going to need some more time to be able to return to our regular responsibilities.

As soon as this became evident, I asked to meet with the elders and they were supportive of extending the sabbatical another month unpaid.

*Complications

Early on in the sabbatical, early in the spiritual surgery the complications were these:

I had some personal issues exposed,

We identified hurt in my marriage that needs healing

We identified hurt in my family that needs healing.

I can not in good conscience be a leader here at Crossroads until I have dealt with those issues and the hurt.

So, that is what we’re doing. With the support of the elders, Renee and I are taking this extra month to strengthen our marriage and our family with help. Please pray for us as we go through this part of our journey. We both believe that the best is yet to come in our marriage and in our family.

At this point, I am scheduled to be back the first week in August, but we’ll be evaluating this and finalizing the timing in the next week or 2.

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

I would like to spend the second half of my time this morning encouraging you from God’s Word. Turn with me to Mark 10 starting in verse 46. We are going to explore this question that Jesus poses - “What do you want me to do for you?”

This passage is one of 3 different accounts where Jesus asks someone what they want. Let’s read this account...

Mark 10:46–52 NIV

46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

*The blind beggar

***Put verse up while I talk about it***

Mark 10:46 NIV

46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging.

This passage starts by telling us about Bartimaeus. We don’t get much detail about him, other than that he is blind. We don’t know where his family is, we don’t know how he got to where he was, we just read that he is a blind man who was begging on the roadside.

This is a description for many of us. We show up week to week and we only parts of each other’s story. We only reveal that which is safe or obvious. We may not even show our blindness or our need to each other, but it’s there. There is some need we have of healing, whether it is a physical ailment or a spiritual one.

Often we are just content at sitting on the sidelines of the road of life begging. Sitting silently with our sign, not really expecting any more than a few coins that will help us make it through the day.

Then there are those who like Bartimaeus have had enough of this quiet suffering and are desperate for a healing.

*Desperate for a healing

Look what it says...

Mark 10:47–48 NIV

47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Sometimes we just sit silent with our cup and our sign. I wonder how many other beggars Jesus walked by and they just sat there. Their stories are not told, but Bartimaeus’ story is told here. He was desperate enough when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth walking by he began to shout.

Look what the good polite church folk around him started to do to him. They tried to silence him. They told him to be quiet.

But not Bartimaeus. He knew what Jesus could do. He was desperate for a touch. He was desperate for healing. Look what it says: “but he shouted all the more - “Son of David, Have Mercy On Me!”

Don’t let anybody try to silence you when you are desperately calling out to Jesus to meet you. When someone gives you that sideways look of disgust as you raise your voice to call out to Jesus, you shout all the more - “Jesus, Son of David, Have Mercy On Me!”

When someone tries to silence you by putting their finger to their lips and says shhh....you shout all the more - “Jesus, Son of David, Have Mercy On Me!”

They may even flat out tell you to be quiet and sit down…you shout all the more - “Jesus, Son of David, Have Mercy On Me!”

We are all in need of mercy. Will you cry out desperately or are you content sitting silently with your cup and sign?

Look what happens next.

Mark 10:49–50 NIV

49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

I know some of you wish Jesus was in the flesh so you could see Him visually. You might have the courage to call out to Him if you could see him. And if he was across the room and He called to you to come to him, I imagine we would all throw whatever we had aside. We’d jump to our feet and hurry to Jesus.

I don’t we have this sense of urgency because we know Jesus is everywhere all the time. We make this excuse…not big deal, I’ll just do that at home or maybe next time… Some of us are to self conscience to get up and run to the altar for prayer because someone might wonder what is wrong with me. We think that others might talk about us.

Bartimaeus wasted no time to get face to face with Jesus. Here’s the interaction:

*What do you want me to do for you?

Mark 10:51 NIV

51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

I am sure Jesus and everyone that was there knew what Bartimaeus wanted and yet Jesus asked anyway.

I wonder if Bartimaeus practiced what he would say if he had the chance to appeal directly to Jesus. My guess is that he didn’t have to. He was so, so desperate to be able to see that the question was already answered before it was asked.

For Bartimaeus, what he wanted from Jesus was clear, but I am convinced that what we want from Jesus is not clear unless we’ve spent time thinking about it.

What are you desperate for? If you had the chance to look into the eyes of Jesus and He asks you “What do you want me to do for you?” Would your answer come as quickly as we just saw? Would you need more time to think about what you want?

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

I can tell you what I want. I want Jesus to heal me. I want Jesus to heal the hurt in my marriage and my family.

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

Let’s read what happens next.

Mark 10:52 NIV

52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

2 things happen - Jesus answers the Bartimaeus’ desire and then Bartimaeus follows Jesus.

That’s what faith in Jesus can do. I know there are those of you who have come in desperation to Jesus to take care of something for you and it seems like nothing is happening. Don’t stop coming. Don’t stop shouting. Continue to petition Jesus on what you want him to do for you.

***Invitation***

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

If you don’t know Jesus - Story about someone who had been in church for years and just got saved.

If you have a hurt that needs healing.