Intro: It was the first day of basketball practice at Wingate High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Coach handed a ball to each player.
“Boys,” he said, “I want you to practice shooting from the spots you might expect to be in during the game.”
One of the boys (who was pretty much there as a substitute for the star players - in fact he was substitute #12) immediately sat down on the bench and began shoot the ball toward the basket from there.
APPLY: You might say that boy didn’t expect to get to play much. And I suppose he was just trying to get a laugh out of his teammates. But, there are some people who sit the bench, because that’s where they’ve gotten used to being. They never strive to much more than that - because they don’t believe in themselves enough to put in the extra effort and practice to change their status. And because of that: they’re always going to sit the bench.
It’s as if we’ve made Christianity into a spectator sport. We just sit back in church and listen to the music, and the sermons and never really get involved in the game. We need some Christians today to get off the sidelines and get on the front lines. There is a special position that God has for all those who are in Christ, but we will never discover it as long as we watch safely from the sideline. We need to put action to our faith and get involved in the spiritual battle that is taking place all around us.
Transition: In this text we are about to read we find four friends who place themselves on the front lines and work in unity to get their lame friend to Jesus.
Crowded conditions
Mark 2:2
2So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
NO ROOM LEFT: This past Thursday night I was leaving White House at about 11PM and I notice a parking lot packed full of cars much like the church parking lot was during the revival. So I slowed down to see what the attraction was, and to no surprise it was a nightclub. Now that used to upset me because I would see how people would pack out a nightclub on weeknights all the while we Christians would leave the church empty. But not this time. I was so encouraged last week at the crowded conditions we had here every night. The fact that we didn’t have some big time evangelist or special musical attraction as a drawing card and we still had people coming from all around is a testimony to true revival. The great thing about this revival is that it didn’t stop with the last meeting because the evangelist went home. The only way this revival will end is if we get complacent and stop praying and hungering for the Lord.
EVEN OUTSIDE THE DOOR: Usually outside the door would be the court or yard. It was so packed that even the court outside the door was full of people stretching their necks to try and hear Jesus.
PREACHED THE WORD: Jesus could have went around the room encouraging or healing people, or telling them of their future but of all the things He could’ve done He chose to PREACH THE WORD. Today people are advising preachers that if they want to have large crowds, love offerings, and churches they must not preach on hell, sin, and self-sacrifice. Jesus preached more about hell than He did about heaven. He also preached that it’s better to pluck out your eye, or cut off your hand than to indulge into sin.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,
(Mark 9:43;47)
And anytime Jesus talked about discipleship he preached of self-sacrifice.
Mark 2:3-4 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.
CARRIED BY FOUR OF THEM…. They worked in unity. If they would’ve all picked up their friend and went in separate directions they would’ve gotten nowhere. Many churches and Christians are stagnate today because of disunity among believers. Jesus prayed for us that we would be united in our mission for God.
That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: John 17:20-23
SINCE THEY COULD NOT GET HIM TO JESUS…. Which is better, to have a church full of people, or a church full of God? There are many mega churches today that are filled with thousands of people that are going through the motions just getting lost in the crowds. Naturally we would prefer to have a church full of both people and God. As a church body we must be focused on lifting up Jesus not only to the lost world but to the body of Christ.
32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." . John 12:32
BECAUSE OF THE CROWED – They were too self-absorbed to move over and let the men carrying their friend through to Jesus. All they were focused on was what they could get out of it for themselves. Sometimes we do similar things in the church today. Many churches today won’t let people through their legalistic views of religion to see Jesus. They are too busy laying out a list of does and don’t for people to abide by all the while neglecting the gospel.
Their urgency: THEY MADE AN OPENING IN THE ROOF. When I read this it makes me wonder why they didn’t just wait until Jesus finished preaching and the crowd went home to approach Jesus. Maybe this isn’t their first attempt to get their friend to Jesus. It’s possible that they had tried before and chose to wait, but the crowds didn’t fade.
To get their friend on the roof couldn’t have been an easy task, and to lower through an opening must have been even more difficult. We can by their actions see that they were going to stop at nothing to get their friend to Jesus. Let’s look at a few things that didn’t stop these persistent friends.
· Physical strain – carrying their friend the whole way to where Jesus was. Lifting him to the rooftop. Devising a way and lowering him through the roof.
· Emotional strain – Selfish crowed not willing to let them through. Disrupting the preaching of Jesus.
Our faith should affect those around us. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Mark 2:5
THEIR FAITH - Notice whose faith the Scripture is referring to. Not just the faith of the lame man, but also the faith of his friends who brought him. Now I’m not saying that his friend’s faith was credited to him. But if they didn’t have any faith they certainly would’ve given up and not been so persistent.
None of us can come to Christ on our own strength.
44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:44
Just as the lame man needed the help of his healthy friends to carry him to Jesus we must have the prayers and support of Christians around us, and the seed of faith that God has planted within us to be saved. What if we weren’t provided with Bibles, churches, and the gospel? We are privileged to have the freedom we enjoy to worship Christ as we please.
YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN – Everyone expected Jesus to address the man’s obvious physical problem.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Sam 16:7
But their was something more pressing and important to Jesus than the man’s physical problem, it was his spiritual problem. The same problem all of have, a sin problem.
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom 3:23
Too often we are seeking God’s help with the outward worldly problems when we need to be seeking His help with the inner spiritual problems that hinder our relationship with Him.
Illustration: Recently one of the testimonies at a Missions conference was so powerful it seemed to take the breath away from the people attending. It was the story of a blind woman by the name of Pani. She was listening to the Jesus film in her village as those with their sight were watching. Pani was greatly moved when, she heard on the film, Jesus restored the sight of the blind man. When Pani heard these words she cried out, “I want to receive my sight too.” At the conclusion of the film a miracle took place. Pani could see! Jesus restored her sight! As the mission conference attendees heard this wonderful story they began to show emotion for such a miracle. They were stopped of their emotional exuberance by the missionary as he gave them a reminder. The restoration of Pani’s sight was not the greatest miracle that evening.
A greater miracle took place than the restoration of her sight. Pani received forgiveness of her sins that night by trusting Jesus as her Savior! She heard Jesus speak the sweetest words of all, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Recognizing true doctrine without recognizing the Truth. 6Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7"Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Mark 2:6-7
The teachers of the law knew that only God could forgive sin. Jesus purposefully made this statement in their presence to make a point of His deity.
Proof of Christ deity. 8Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, `Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Mark 2:8-11
JESUS KNEW IN HIS SPIRIT THAT THIS WAS WHAT THEY WERE THINKING. You’ve heard the old saying you are what you eat, well the Bible says you are what you think. That if you just think about adultery in your heart as far as God is concerned you’ve already committed the act.
28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt 5:28
Our thoughts are as important to God as our actions. If you think God doesn’t know your thoughts then how does He understand you when you pray silently?
WHICH IS EASIER TO SAY – I suppose both are easy enough to say, but no one can know if his sins where forgiven because that’s personal between him and God. But everyone would know he was healed if he got up and walked.
BUT THAT YOU MAY KNOW – Jesus gives His reason for healing the lame man as proof of His authority over not only sickness but also sin. Through this miraculous healing Jesus shows beyond a reasonable doubt that He is God in the flesh. I know Jesus is who He says He is because of the miracle He has performed in my heart.
AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE SINS – You might could go to a doctor and find help physically or to a psychiatrist and get some mental help. Friends and family can comfort you in times of bereavement. But no one can even begin to forgive your sins. That department belongs only to Jesus and no one else.
12He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" Mark 2:12
We get over God’s miracles too easy. No sooner had God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt by parting the Red Sea that they were crying and moaning about wanting to go back because they missed the food of Egypt. Over and over God provided them with their necessities; water out of a rock when they ran out, and with manna from heaven everyday. But after God had done so much among them when they got up to the Jordan River to cross over into the promise land they wouldn’t because of their lack of faith.
Today we’re no different, God delivers us whether it is spiritually or physically, or financially and as soon as the water calms and we think everything is safe we forget all about what God has done for us. At the moment of God’s deliverance we’re so thankful and full of God, but we turn around and run back into the world and our spiritual fire fades down.
Conclustion: As I look back on this past week and consider our revival I can honestly say, “I have never seen anything like this!” What a blessing and privilege it was to share with our sister churches what God is doing here at Sand Flat Baptist Church. We must not let it end now, so let’s continue to pray, to seek God, to hunger for His Word and to lift up the name of Jesus.
Now I’m going to ask you a question this morning that we all need to consider.
DO YOU WANT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE ON THE FRONT LINE?
Life on the front line isn’t easy. It’s dangerous at times, you see first hand the casualties of war, but you also get to feel the rewards of victory. The choice is yours no one will force you to the front line, it’s a place that we all must volunteer for by our own free will. It’s the place of greatest sacrifice and reward.
