We continue the sermon series, "Wreck the Roof". This week, we look at Jesus' response to the paralytic man that they brought to the house. You can read the sermon notes, or by clicking the link below, you can listen to the message. The choice is yours!
Last Sunday, we began a new series entitled, “Wreck the Roof”. This series is based on the text of Mark 2:1-12. In the first week, we saw the motivation and the lengths that the 4 friends try to get their friend into the presence of Jesus.
It was a great image of what we as Christians should be wiling to do as well. As we continue today, I want us to see the response of Jesus to those who come to Him in faith. Because we need to understand, that no matter who we are in the place today, that God is a rewarder of our faith. It doesn’t mean that we always get what we ask for.
God’s plan is to meet the real need that we have.
Mark 2:1-12 (ESV)
As we learned last week, a paralytic person by definition has no ability to move. They are left motionless or without enough power or personal ability to move. Because of his condition, he would have been:
Shamed by others (what could he bring to anything)
Judged by others (it would be assumed there was sin or family sin)
Would have been suspected of wrong doing (he was being punished)
The truth is, we do the same things at times today. You see not every paralytic that we come into contact with is paralyzed physically. They may be paralyzed in the spiritual life and has left them with the inability to move. They can’t get to the place where Jesus is on their own because nothing is working right for them. They are paralyzed to try something different.
I think it’s interesting to see the response of Jesus in this moment. It is a response that those around him had seen before and probably would see again. Jesus was not bothered by the interruption of the hurting.
When we look in the word, we see how people were healed and their lives changed when they came in contact Jesus. He was a man of compassion and he was a man of power. But Jesus was not just a mere man, he was God incarnate. Meaning that He was God in flesh.
This text this morning, begins to show us that declaration and the power that He had while walking on the earth.
These friends brought a paralytic man to the house to meet Jesus. They had faith that if they could just get to Jesus things would be changed. It’s a common thing with Jesus.
The woman with the issue of blood
Blind Baritmeus
Zaacheaus
These instances in the word show us that Jesus had the power to heal and to save. But in each case, it came down to the faith of the person seeking him. Salvation in itself is a faith act. We ask for forgiveness in the faith and belief that God hears our prayers and responds to them.
Hebrews 11:1, 6 (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Our faith is a hope that is built on the knowledge of who God is. You can look all throughout the word to see the faithfulness of God for our lives. That gives us hope that He will do it again.
We sang the song this morning, “Another One”. The message of the song is that if God did it once, he can do it another time. He is true to His word and the bible teaches us (Hebrews 13:8) that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The God of the bible has not changed. He can still raise the dead, heal the sick, and deliver the afflicted. That is who He is and what He does.
Jesus honors our faith, heals our brokenness and he forgives sin!
Who is this man Jesus? He was declared by John the Baptist to be the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Demons declared him to be holy one.
In our text we see that he comes to town and you couldn’t keep people away from Him. They packed the house just to be near him. So many filled the house that there was no room to even get into the door.
When Jesus is truly in a place:
Crowds will come (v.2)
The Word of God will be preached (v.3)
Radical faith will be ignited (v.5)
Forgiveness will be released (v.5)
Miracles will happen (v.11-12)
When Jesus is in the house, we should expect healing to be the house. We should expect peace to follow Him. We should expect provision to be in the hand. The house becomes a house of miracles.
We know that Jesus is teaching the word of God. In the midst of it all, the roof starts being wrecked. Can you see it today, debris is falling. There is noise. People are now distracted by what is happening above them. Then in the midst of all of this, a stretcher is being lowered in front of Jesus from the ceiling.
Now as people of the church, we would be mortified if this happened today. We would probably try to stop it from happening. But that’s not what happens here. These guys are undeterred at probably what is being yelled at them and what is going on around them. And they get their friend to the ONE who can change everything.
Now what did they want? I believe they wanted Jesus to heal their friend…but Jesus doesn’t start there. He starts with the real need this guy had. Verse 5 tells us that when Jesus saw their faith…faith that had action to it…he declared to the paralytic that “his sins were forgiven.”
I want to stop there for a few minutes. Sin is such a divisive thing these days. We as Christians are maligned for declaring some things to be sin. There are those out there that want to wash over the idea that sin separates us from God. Because of that, we are quickly becoming a world that runs after whatever we want in the moment.
What is sin?
1 John 3:4 (ESV) Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
Lawlessness in it’s definition is casting off all boundaries and teaching. Lawlessness is anarchy, every man for themselves. It’s to believe you have the right to dictate what is right or wrong.
Our transgressions separate us from the God of life and his holiness. This transgression brings with it pain. It brings with it corruption.
We hear statements like if there is a God, why does He allow bad things to happen to us, around us, in our world. Why would a loving God allow anyone to go to hell, if he really loved us. Why do children get sick? Why do good people have bad things happen to them?
I would offer to you today that all of these are set up by sin. Not necessarily our sin in particular, but the fall of man through the sin of Adam. The bible teaches us through the sin of Adam, death entered the world.
We don’t get to define what sin is…God did that. He has written those things in His word as a warning for our lives and as a pathway back to Him. When faith is no present, sin abounds. Faith is more than just mere words. Faith is willing to break off the things that God has commanded and to move toward Him.
So when we see this image of a man being lowered into the house. Jesus is seeing something very different than just a mans body being broken. He is looking at the heart of the man. He is looking at what has motivated him to this point. He is not saying that the sin has caused him to paralyzed, but that there is a paralysis that is being healed that you can see.
Jesus always knows our real situation. In John 4, there is the account of Jesus running into a Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well. We know that Jesus is waiting there because he is tired from traveling when this Samaritan woman approaches Him. Jesus asks the woman to draw him some water…she couldn’t understand how a jewish man would even have a conversation with her. This conversation would lead to her belief in Him and an entire city coming to know him. Why? Because he saw the real need that she had.
She was thirsty physically, but spiritually she was dying. Jesus offered her a living water that could change her course of life. He knew her condition. What she needed.
When the man is lowered to Jesus in the house that day, Jesus knew the real need that he had. He needed a savior. Not just a healer. This man was carrying a weight that was much heavier than a physical condition. His spiritual life was also paralyzed.
Jesus offers him something of high value first…forgiveness. His forgiveness was not about having all the right words or even knowing all that was wrong. It was based on FAITH in the One.
Jesus taught about being with a God that loved you, that forgives you even before you ask, that restores us back to a perfect relationship with Him. He taught the God Story, that’s what the word gospel means…the god story.
That teaching is all about redemption, forgiveness and acceptance.
This man comes to him broken, needy, there is no other option. He not accepted by anyone, they all would have looked down on him. But in that state, Jesus meets him.
Jesus performed a bigger miracle in the forgiveness of sin than he did his physical healing. Part of that is understanding that part of our lives is temporary and the other part is eternal. We will have struggles in this life. We will have times that we have no ability to move. But it’s in that place that we find the love of God meets us when we come to him in faith.
His touch is more than physical…it is spiritual and has the power to renew all that we are.
Jesus has the power to forgive and to heal. It was something that the religious of the day didn’t understand and still don’t. Too many times, we try to fix the symptom and miss the cause. We see a life broken and tattered and feel like if we can get them their need it will fix everything. I would offer to you, it’s the other way around.
When we get people to Jesus, he fixes the real issue of their lives. He get to the heart of what is really holding us back. And his power is proven to us over and over to do this. Healing is in his hands…but he wanted the people in the room to know that there was something greater at hand. The healing just served as proof that the power was his.
Only God can forgive our sins…Jesus was God incarnate. He had the ability to change the life. He proves that by asking not just forgiving sin, but then heals the body to show what power he had.
His physical healing that day was just a demonstration on the outside of what God had done on the inside.
Psalm 103:1-3 (ESV) 1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
David declared that we shouldn’t forget about what he can do if we come to him. He forgives and restores, he redeems and crowns…he satisfies our hearts so that the weight is lifted.
What brought it about this forgiveness and healing…faith. It was making the move towards him.
You may be here today and paralyzed by the sin in your life, and not really knowing what to do next. Just come to Him in your broken state and allow him to do the work. God sees the need you really have and has the ability to fix it. It doesn’t mean that you will be perfect or that life simply works fantastically. We don’t the rest of this guys story. We know that he didn’t leave the same he came.