WHAT DO YOU
REALLY WANT?
Matthew
20:29-34
Every year it seems that finding the right gifts for those we love seems to get a little harder—and often more expensive! We ask them what they want for Christmas, but more often than not, many people do not want to appear greedy or presumptuous and offer vague answers that are not that helpful. (On the other hand, there are those who have made their lists, alphabetized and prioritized them and have them ready for distribution!)
A more basic
question was asked by Jesus when He found Himself confronted by two blind men
along the side of the road outside Jericho.
Fully aware of their blindness, Jesus still asked them, “What do you
want me to do for you?”
As we study this
passage this morning, consider with me the implications of what that question
means to you as the Lord Jesus Christ looks right at you and asks that same
question. What do we say each time we
approach Him in prayer and He motivates us to be thoughtful enough to know the
answer to that question.
THESIS:
Jesus Christ wants to respond to our needs but we must be prepared as we
approach Him to acknowledge what they are and what we desire for Him to do.
I. THE
BOLDNESS OF THE BLIND MEN
Matt 20:30
…two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by,
cried out, saying, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
--Although the text does not say, we get the idea that these
men regularly sat by the road, perhaps begging to survive.
--When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they were
possessed by a great boldness and with no apparent concern for how they would
be perceived, they cried out.
A. THEY
UNDERSTOOD THEIR NEED
--No one had to explain to them that they had needs they
were incapable of meeting, issues in their lives that were beyond the scope of
their resources.
--As blind men, their infirmity was obvious and they
understood how their lives had been impacted by their disability.
Too many people today do not understand their needs
and with much bravado walk around deceiving themselves and others about how
self-sufficient they are. But people
all around us are in great need—from hurts
they have suffered in their past which have crippled them emotionally, fears they deal with which paralyze
certain aspects of their lives, anger
and bitterness which have drained their capacity to have any joy in their
lives, spiritual blindness which has
locked them in a sea of darkness without any hope.
The blind men understood their
need. What about you?
B. THEY
ACKNOWLEDGED THEIR CONDITION
--By crying out to Jesus for mercy, they publicly admitted
their condition and humbly yielded to His will and the goodness of His heart.
--Here was no qualified appeal, no attempt to try to save
face and ask for a little help in a situation that would soon be under their
own control.
--No, theirs was a fervent plea that acknowledged that apart
from what Christ could do, they had no recourse, no alternate plan of action,
no back up plan of their own to put in place.
--Their boldness and transparency generated a strong
response from the multitude around Jesus as they “sternly told them to be
quiet,” or translated more strongly, they “rebuked, scolded, gave them a
serious warning” to be back off!
Matt 20:31
And the multitude sternly told them to be quiet…
C. THEY
INTENSIFIED THEIR PLEAS
--Whether their sense of desperation pushed them forward, or
their sense of focus shut out the opposing voices, instead of backing off, the
blind men cried out with more vigor than before.
Matt 20:31
…but they cried out all they more…
--Can we not learn a lesson in persistence and passion in
the way we approach Jesus from these blind men?
II. THE
ANTAGONISM OF THE CROWD
--What we see in the blind men is understandable in those
who recognize the depth of their need and who desperately want to be made
whole.
Matt 20:31
And the multitude sternly told them to be quiet…
--What is puzzling at first is the antagonism of the crowd
toward these two men who obviously needed what only Jesus could provide.
A. THEY
DESPISED THEIR WEAKNESS
--Something in the fallen human heart not only lacks
sympathy for those who suffer from severe infirmities and whose lives are made
not only different but difficult by their handicap—we often see that people are
uncomfortable, ill at ease, and in some ways threatened by people whose plight
leaves us not knowing how to respond.
--And so we avoid them, keep them away from us, try to find
ways to push away the feelings of inadequacy we have when we are around them.
Christians have as hard a time as anyone else when
it comes to dealing with people not like themselves. And I don’t mean just those with physical disabilities. We tend to shy away from those who have been
broken by bad choices…even from those who have been broken by the bad choices
of others. Not knowing what to say or
how to treat them, we just stay away and in subtle ways push them away by
making it clear to them that they should keep their problems to themselves and
not make us uncomfortable by forcing us to recognize their pain.
While we do not despise them, we despise their
weakness for intruding into our sense of well-being and forcing us to have to
respond to their condition.
B. THEY
RESENTED THEIR INTRUSION
--Therefore, when these blind men halted the parade by their
insistent appeals to Jesus, the multitude resented their intrusion and were
upset that their agenda had been inconveniently delayed to deal with an
impossible situation.
--Somehow they assumed that their claims on Jesus were more
important than those of the blind men, their desires for His attention greater
than the desires of these two by the side of the road.
Christians walking along in the crowd of those who
follow Jesus sometimes lose sight of the needs of others. We become so concerned with what we want
from Jesus that we become resentful of the needs of others. We want Jesus to pay attention to us, not
them and we want the design of the journey to follow the course we have
prescribed and not be interrupted by any disruption that would divert us from
what we want.
When we design ministry plans as a church and try to
reach out to those by the side of the road, we nearly always encounter
opposition. It is almost as if we
resent the intrusion of any plans that turn attention away from the way we want
things to go…even when the interruptions are actually not viewed that way from
Christ’s perspective. Part of His
calling is to seek and save and serve those by the way and we need to be
prepared for frequent stops along the way if we expect to follow Jesus!
C. THEY
OBSTRUCTED THEIR WAY
--Here in this situation, the multitude not only allowed
themselves to harbor these feelings in their hearts, but they acted on them and
did what they could to actually prevent the blind men from coming to Jesus!
--How cold our hearts become when we allow our agenda to
prevail over the calling of Christ and the needy condition of others!
III. THE
COMPASSION OF CHRIST
--The striking contrast here is between the attitudes and
actions of the crowd and the compassionate response of Jesus Christ.
Matt 20:32
And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do
for you?”
A. HE TOOK
TIME TO LISTEN
--One of the amazing observations about Jesus is that He was
never in a hurry to get somewhere because He knew that much of His ministry
would be to those He met along the way.
--Jesus demonstrated the practical nature of His love by
stopping to listen, paying attention to those who cried out for His attention.
--The same is true today as He sits on His throne ready to
hear and respond to all who cry out to Him, to any who call on His name.
B. HE
INVITED THEM TO BE SPECIFIC
--Here is a fascinating twist to the story: everyone is aware that the two men are
blind, as Jesus also must have been, but He asks them what they actually want
Him to do for them.
--He knew their need, but they themselves needed to know
what they were asking for Him to do.
How much would our praying be changed if we had in
mind exactly what we wanted to ask Jesus when it comes to the time when we
present our requests to Him? For many
people, the concept of answered prayer is merely theoretical because they
seldom ask for Jesus to do anything specifically for them.
In prayer, as we call upon the
Lord, are we aware of our needs, aware of our weaknesses, aware of what remains
to be done in our lives to make us whole and fulfilled? If we pray generically, we admit that we
really have nothing in mind that we think only
Jesus can do (presuming to think that we have everything under control and
aren’t really desperate enough to have no other recourse but to rely on Him).
How would your praying be different
if you Jesus were speaking these words directly to you as you begin your time
with Him in prayer: “David, what do you want me to do for
you? What is on your heart that you
know is beyond you and only I can handle?”
C. HE
REACHED OUT WITH COMPASSION
Matt 20:34 And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and
immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.
--When they answered, Jesus reached out to them with
compassion and healed them, restored their sight.
--Their admission of their need, their faith in His power,
their persistence in their appeal—all of these things “move Jesus with
compassion” and led Him to take action to answer their request.
--Do we not ask for what we want Him to do because we are
afraid He will disappoint us and have no compassion on us?
D. HE HEALED
THEM WITH POWER
--He healed these men with the power of God and miraculously
changed their lives immediately.
--Because they were bold enough to ask, brave enough not to
back down, believing enough to cry out to Jesus as Lord—He healed them!
Jesus can still do that—He does it every day in the lives of
His people!
--But we must be willing to come to Him and acknowledge what
we really want and measure what we want by what will bring the most glory to
His name!
IV. THE
RESPONSE TO THE LIGHT
--These blind men cried out to Jesus and would not be denied
an audience with the Lord.
--As a result of their encounter with Christ, the darkness
of the blindness was changed to the radiant light of restored sight—and the
first face they saw was that of Jesus!
Matt 20:34
…and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.
A. THEY
REALIZED THEIR REQUEST
--What they had longed for was now theirs as they realized
their life-long dream as Jesus answered their request.
B. THEY
REGAINED THEIR SIGHT
--Their sight was restored, physically they could now see.
C. THEY
RECOGNIZED THEIR LORD
--But more than that, their spiritual blindness was healed
as well and they could now see that Jesus Christ was really the Lord.
--For all that Jesus has done in your life, for all the
times He has responded to your appeals, do you recognize that He is Lord of
every area of your life?
D. THEY
REORDERED THEIR LIVES
--When Jesus changed their lives by giving them sight, they
changed their direction in life—they reordered their days—and set out
immediately to follow Him.
--You see, having our prayers answered is not the end we
should be after—it is the goal of our reordered priorities to rise up and
follow Him.
--Just finding relief from our most pressing needs does not
matter as much as learning that we can come to Jesus with every need—and in
every moment of our days reorder our lives so that we follow Jesus Christ!
So, as you stand before the Lord Jesus
this morning and He asks you, “What do you want Me to do for You?” do you have
a clear idea of what your answer will be?
If not, either
you are not aware of how great your needs really are…or you are not ready to
admit how absolutely dependent upon Jesus you need to be!
If you were to
choose which ones you are more like in this account, would it be those in the
multitude whose personal agendas get in the way of people trying to get to
Jesus, or like those two blind men who knew how much they needed Jesus and
determined to let nothing stand in their way?
May God give us
the faith and the persistence and the boldness of these two blind men as we
dare to come to Jesus with all our needs!
Providence Baptist Church
© David Horner 2003
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