“Strange things”
10/2/11
I have in my lifetime seen some pretty strange things. There was one time that I was fishing on the Elk. I cast my line to the bank and while I was reeling in and when I lifted my pole to pull my bait in and cast out my line again, a bass followed the minnow out of the water and jumped into the boat. I never had to set the hook, the fish just jumped into the boat. I have never seen anything like that before, and never seen anything like it sense. A fish jumping in and flopping around in the bottom of the boat, now that is strange. The fish must have known that I am a catch and release.
In the Bible there are all kinds of stories about strange things. We all know about the plagues that God used to free the children of Israel; the rod turning into a serpent, the river turning into blood, the frogs, lice, flies. The diseased livestock; the boils: the Hail storm; the locusts, the darkness, and the straw that broke the camels back was the death of the firstborn.
We read in the book of Kings about a floating ax head. Daniel served up as dinner in the lion’s den, and the lions loosing their appetite. The three Hebrew Children cast into the fiery furnace and not sensing a hair on their head. The Bible is full of strange things. Today we will look at one of them.
Luke 5:26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today!”
As Christians we should always be seeing strange things. Not strange as in weird as in strange, but things that we have no explanation for other than it must be God at work. That is what I want to see and you should too. You should want to see God working in your life, in your family, and in your church. Let me give you the ingredients to do so. First and most important you need…
The Person
We read about this person in Luke 5:17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.
These religious gurus came from all over…for what? To have some big revelation? Some big revival? No they came to see who this man was who was doing these strange things. Jesus! That is the first thing anyone needs…Jesus!
Acts 4:12 Nor is there no other name under heaven giving among men by which we must be saved.
If you want to have some strange things happen for the good, then you need to have a relationship with Jesus. When you have a personal relationship with Him, you will experience change. I’ve seen the drunk who after accepting Jesus, never to take a drink again. You become a new husband, a new dad. You become a new wife and mom. If you truly enter into a personal relationship with Christ, you will change.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation; old things have passed away: behold all things have become new.
If you want your life to change for the good, you must not only have a personal relationship with Jesus and you must have the right one afterwards. When you do that then you will have the next point.
The Power
Luke 5:17 And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Now I don’t know if you have ever thought about this. But when Jesus was here on this earth, He was a man and within Himself, He had no more power than anyone else. Our text states the power was there, but not His power; the Lords.
Now the Trinity of God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit is hard for most to understand, but we need to remember that while here on earth, He had no power. He was always praying to His Father where His power came from.
And you need to realize that you within yourself have no power either. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me. Who strengthens me? Christ. That is where our power comes from.
Think of it like this. Say you have a mustang. It’s got the big engine in it with some aftermarket add on to really sup it up. You can have it all shinny and clean, full take of gas. But if you done had a battery in that car, you have nothing but a pretty car and a full tank of gas. You need power to make the car run.
So once you receive the person, then you receive the power. Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
One you have a personal relationship with Christ, you are not saved to sit…you are saved to serve which lead me to my next ingredient.
The Passion
Now you have the person who provide the power, then you need to do something with that power. You need to have a passion to do a personal work. You should be the light that leads other from the darkness. You could be the only sermon that someone hears and sees. The sad truth is that statistics tells us that less than 10% of all Christians ever lead anyone to the Lord. That means that 90% of Christians never use the power given to them. The car is just sitting in the garage. Let’s look at the personal work we see in our text.
Luke 5:18-19 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to being in and lay before Him. And when they could not found how they might being him in because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
Now you have to get this picture. We find Jesus sitting teaching in a house. The Bible does not say whose house He was at but I believe maybe it was one of the religious leaders at the time. So everybody was there. They were hoping to see some show. They had heard of all the miracles He had performs. They had heard about His knowledge and wisdom. He had packed the house, standing room only. So then we find some men…it doesn’t say how many, the pictures I have seen show four, but no matter how many these men did a personal work.
These men knew someone who Jesus could help, someone who needed Jesus. And so they have the passion to do a personal work. They had to work through some difficult situations to do this work. And when you work for God you will have to go through some difficult times as well.
First they had to fight the crowd. When they got there it was a packed house. Standing room only did not even apply. You couldn’t even get inside the house. Not only did they have to fight the crowd.
They also had to fight the circumstances. Now some would have simple said after attempting to bring the man to Jesus, “Well we tried”, and went back, but not these men. These men fought through these circumstances and came up with a plan. What is we go up on the roof and make an opening and lower the man down. Now being an old roofer in my day, I know how hot it is on a roof. And I have carried a few bundles of shingles on to a roof, but I know a man would weigh much more than that. So it was hot, he was heavy and then they would have the chore of making the hole in the roof to lower him down.
By doing so they had to go through the criticism.
Now what would you do if you were in your house and all of the sudden you see a bunch of guys putting a hole in your roof? Can you say Smith and Weston? Can you imagine the criticism these guys must have faced? But because of their passion and their personal work, this man was healed.
If you are a Christian, you need to have a passion to reach the lost. There is a song that I love to hear entitled, “People need the Lord”, and how true that is and we need to do our part to help them find Him. And when they do they may receive my next point…
The Pardon
Luke 5:20-24 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
Notice it says… “When Jesus saw their effort?”… “When Jesus saw their persistence?”… No it was when Jesus saw their faith. It takes faith to receive the pardon for your sins. Ephesians 2: For by grace you have been saved through FAITH, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God.
No matter what you are going through, no matter your past, no matter your circumstances, Jesus can make it better. All you have to do is come to the person, Jesus Christ. Then you have the power to overcome anything! 1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
So once you receive the person, you receive the power to do so, then you should have the passion to do the personal work to bring others to Christ so that they can receive the pardon as you did.
Then finally make sure that you give God my last point…
The Praise
Luke 5:25-26 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, GLORIFING God! And they all were amazed, and they glorified God and will filled with fear, saying , “We have seen strange things today!”
Have you ever done something good for someone and then they never even said thanks? Wonder how many times God does. When God does something good…give Him praise. That’s so easy but often so neglected.
But not only should you give praise in the good but also in the bad. I think of Job, whom God Himself gave praises too, lost his property, children, and eventually his health. What was his response? Job 1:21 And he said: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; BLESSED be the name of the Lord.”
Through all that, he gave God praise.
You see, we cannot see in the future. But God can. And sometimes He allows us to be broke down, so that HE can build up. God deserves our praise!
