A CALL FOR PASSIONATE PEOPLE Mark 2:1-5
INTRO:
Truth or Fiction?
There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: “I wish you would explain to me something.” “Well, what is it? I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher.” “What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all.”
Macready’s answer was this: “This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction.”
G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, p. 36
Aren’t you amazed at passionate people?
Those who will put their life on the line for a cause?
I believe that everyone is passionate about something. The question is, what are you passionate about?
Jesus had his passion: THE REDEMPTION OF MAN Matt 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he is the one who will save his people from their sins."
This story gives us a description of Five passionate people.
I. THEIR MISSION
A. They had one thing on their mind: get this sick man to Jesus.
B. These men knew that Jesus could help, so that was there mission, to get their friend to Jesus.
• Wouldn’t settle for a note from Jesus that he would pray for him.
• Wouldn’t settle for Jesus sending one of His disciples to minister to him.
C. What is our passion today? What is the one thing that we must do?
In the long run men hit only what they aim at. - Henry David Thoreau
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.
Lost Ticket
Former Senator Dwight W. Morrow searched in vain to find his railroad ticket as he was on a train leaving New York City. “I must find that ticket,” he muttered. The conductor, who stood waiting beside him, said, “Don’t worry about it, Mr. Morrow. We know you had a ticket. Just mail it to the railroad when you find it.”
“That’s not what’s troubling me,” replied Morrow, “I need to find it to know where I’m going.”
Our Daily Bread, September 11, 1992
I am glad for v. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.
My mission: Preach the Word.
D. Do you have a mission statement?
Mission statements are big right now. Noticed the one at the hospital where Matt was staying. As I read that statement, it gave me confidence that if they stayed true to the statement, Matt was in good hands.
II. THEIR METHOD
A. These men were willing to do some unusual things.
B. Capernaum: Homes were close, like modern day condos. Many of them were small; only one room. Roofs were flat with trap doors in them. Since 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. v. 4
C. These were men who were willing to take a risk!
• What if this were your house: Which house is mentioned in the first chapter of this Gospel? In the first chapter we are told that after He had been to the synagogue that morning, He entered into the house of Simon and Andrew. This leads us to believe that when these fellows start taking off the roof, they are taking the roof off Simon Peter’s house! It’s hard to imagine Peter being docile and standing aside to let them do it. Not Simon Peter! I have a notion that he even threatened them with the police. It was his house. J. Vernon McGee3
• What if the paralytic said, “What a minute, maybe this is not a good idea.”
• What if it were too much weight for the roof?
• What if Jesus were not happy about them destroying some ones property?
D. Passion of the heart gives us the courage to do so amazing things.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 Paul could not relate this story without showing his compassion. People would ask, “why did you live like this?” Paul’s answer; “Love made me do it.”
E. Fear is the main obstacle to the risk that passionate people take.
We love the question, “What if?”
Illus: On April 15, 1912, the Titantic plunged 12,000 feet to the Atlantic floor. Although 20 lifeboats and rafts were launched, too few were only partly filled, and most of the passengers ended up struggling in the icy waters while those in the boasts waited a safe distance away. Although most of the boats were only half full, only one boat returned to see if they could find survivors. Why? Each feared a crush of unknown swimmers would cling to the boat, eventually capsizing them! While people all around us drown, are we tempted to stay dry and have no one rock the boat?
1 John 4:8 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,
Shouldn’t we be more afraid of what will happen if we don’t get them to Jesus?
III. THEIR MEASURE
A. We have a tendency to ask, “What difference will it make?”
We place a lot of importance on size in our society.
That should not be our measure.
B. If Jesus only helps this one person, that is enough for us.
Illus: An old man, walking on the beach at dawn, noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the youth, he asked what he was doing. The answer was the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun. “But the beach goes on for miles, and there are millions of starfish,” encountered the man. “How can you make a difference?” “It makes a difference to this one,” he answered.
C. The work will look vast and impossible at times. How can I make a difference.
D. Look closely at v. 5 When Jesus saw their faith,
How was this accomplished? Their faith that got the sick man to Jesus.
E. God wants to honor our faith: our passion in Him.
CONCLUSION:
D. L. Moody
When Dwight L. Moody was in London during one of his famous evangelistic tours, several British clergymen visited him. They wanted to know how and why this poorly educated American was so effective in winning throngs of people to Christ. Moody took the three men to the window of his hotel room and asked each in turn what he saw. One by one, the men described the people in the park below. Then Moody looked out the window with tears rolling down his cheeks. “What do you see, Mr. Moody?” asked one of the men.
“I see countless thousands of souls that will one day spend eternity in hell if they do not find the Savior.”
Obviously, D. L. Moody saw people differently than the average observer does. And because he saw eternal souls where others saw only people strolling in a park, Moody approached life with a different agenda.
Today in the Word, February 1, 1997, p. 6
Moody approached life as a person with passion!
There is a song: Lord lay some soul upon my heart,
And love that soul through me
And may I ever do my part
To win that soul for thee.
Put a name in the place of soul, and let God fill you with the passion to reach that person for Him.
