Are We Willing To Shout?
NLF 7/29/2001 Joshua 6:8-20 Luke 17:11-19 Text Luke 18:35-43
Shouting is a natural thing we do to either get someone’s attention or to express our approval and excitement. We shout when we want somebody to take action, such as when they need to make a change. Watch Out! Look Out! We shout when our team scores. Yes! We shout when we hear at a wedding “I now present to you Mr and Mrs Jones.” No one tells us to do this, it just comes from within. Sometimes we want to shout so bad, it is just too hard to keep it in, like at a graduation when our child’s name is called to go across the stage to pick up his or her diploma, and the people have asked us to hold all applause to the end.
One of the most important victories ever won in the bilbe involved people shouting. Joshua was leading the people of God to attack the mighty city of Jericho. Jericho had massive stone walls all the way around the city which no army had been able to get over. God told Joshua, “look tell the priest, the army and the people to march around the city for seven days. The priests are to play the trumpets as you march, but no one is to say anything.” For six days they marched around the city once in silence.
On the seventh day they got up early in the morning and marched around the city 7 times. On the seventh march, Joshua gave the signal for the people to shout. As they shouted, the massive walls of the city fell down into the ground as though whatever was holding them up simply went deeper into the earth.
The massive walls that the people were afraid of were brought down by the people’s obedience to go up to Jericho and to shout when God said to shout. God placed some supernatural power in the shout. One thing about shouting, is that there are all kinds of rules in our culture which says when it is okay to shout and when it is not. We can get to the point of thinking, that we are more dignified when we do not shout. Of course we make exceptions at football and basketball games.
The Psalms are filled with the commands for us to shout to the Lord. Somewhere we picked up the idea that getting to excited about God was not quite cool or the thing to do. We give God a very low profile thinking we are more spiritual in our approach. Contrast the way we sing for the Lord with the way we sing for ourselves or for the world. People who recognize a true need for the Lord in their lives will always be willing to shout to the Lord.
In our New Testament reading of the 10 people who had the awful disease of leprosy, they did not mind shouting at all to get Jesus’ attention. They, yelled and they screamed, “Jesus,Master, have pity on us.” Now had they been dignified and waited for Jesus to get closer so they could speak quietly to Him, they never would have received their healing. They did not mind others knowing they wanted a touch from the Master’s hands.
You may be here with a problem today that you cannot handle on your own. Today may be the day in which you simply need to let go and shout to the Lord until you get God’s attention. Let’s go back into the first century and meet a man who had suffered a bitter defeat in the game of life. When he was born, he was as normal and healthy as any other kid of his time. But something happened. We’re not quite sure if it was an illness or an accident, but before he was able to learn a trade to take care of himself it happened.
He did not know that day was going to be different from all the other days he had had in life but it was. For the first time in his life, he could no longer see. He was blind in both eyes. The only images he could see, were those stored in his memory. This was not fair by any stretch of the imagination. Yet unexpected setbacks are going to find their way into all of our lives. Just an ordinary day turns into a major disaster.
He did not have many options available to him at the time in terms of employment. There were no family members or friends who had the means to take care of him. As a result he was relegated to the life of a beggar. He would go out and sit by the roadside with his little cup or basket, hoping for a donation from those passing by. It was not a life he had chosen, but simply one that dropped into his lap. When setbacks come, let’s look around us and see, what do we have left to keep moving forward in life. God has given all of us something to keep our heads above water in the midst of our trials.
This man did not fall into a pity party. He enjoyed talking with others. He lived near the city of Jericho. Jericho was actually two cities with the Old Jericho of biblical times and the New Jericho which the Romans had built. They were about a mile apart. One day somebody told him about Jesus of Nazerath. He was especially interested once they told him that Jesus had said, “"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, Luke 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." (Luke 4:18-19)
He particularly liked that part about recovery of sight for the blind. He had lost his sight. Could Jesus possibly restore it? If only he could get to Jesus. But Jesus was always on the move, and nobody would commit himself to carrying a blind man in search of Jesus, especially one without any money and no way to support himself. Would you have been willing to be his personal escort at your expense? Yet this man continued to hear report after report of the power of Jesus Christ to heal all kinds of sicknesses and diseases as well as to change people’s lives. The more he heard, the more he believed in Jesus.
Then came that day that did not seem particularly special. It would be another day of sitting and begging along the hot dusty road and hoping for the best as people went back and forth between the Old and New Jericho. We are told in the book of Mark that this man’s name was Bartimaeus. That day when Bartimaues was sitting on the road, he had a friend who was also blind. Bartimaeus was more vocal and outspoken than his friend, so that whereas the book of Matthew tells us the two of them were together, Luke only mentions Bartimaeus.
They could hear the sound of a crowd approaching off in the distance, and so they prepared to get their cups and baskets ready to beg for something. Somehow they knew that this was not the usual time of day for a crowd to be approaching. People were not getting off of work returning home, nor was there any special feast or holiday, yet the crowd was getting closer and louder all the time.
Bartimaeus starting asking the question “hey, what’s going on here. What’s happening? What’s the meaning of this crowd? Somebody, tell me what’s going on? Somebody told him, “Jesus of Nazereth is passing by.” Bartimaeus, probably had to catch his breath. Could it be the Jesus he had heard so much about? Could it be Jesus, the Christ? Could it be that God in His great mercy had sent Jesus to intervene in his life? Was this going to be His day.
Now Bartimaeus could have pondered these questions over and over again as he sat there by the roadside. He could have evaluated all of the evidence he had heard about Jesus, and even tried to enter into debate with the other blind man over whether or not Jesus could possibly heal them. He could have done this, and Jesus would have passed right on by him. Now the crowd was keeping up a noise, but Bartimaeus and the other man, knew they had to get Jesus’ attention.
He started shouting at the top of his lungs, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” Now Bartimaeus did not refer to Jesus as Jesus of Nazareth. The people who referred to Jesus in that manner were usually not proclaiming him to be God. The demons would refer to him as Jesus of Nazareth. But the title “Son of David” indicates the belief that Jesus is truly the One sent by God to be the Savior of the world. So Bartimaeus is not only shouting, He is lining up on the side of those against the religious leaders of the day, who claimed Jesus was a mere man.
Some of the people did not like what Bartimaeus was shouting so they told him to be quiet. Some did not like the fact that he was shouting at all so they too told him to be quiet. Those people were just content with getting a look at Jesus as He passed by or with being able to say, “oh yes I walked with Jesus to Jerusalem”. But Bartimaeus recognized He had a real need for Jesus beyond what Jesus might happen to look like or being able to brag about being near him. He saw in Jesus, his real hope for life and his only hope for the restoration of His sight. It did not matter to him that others thought he was being undignified or that his theology was not quite what they thought it should be. He had a need, and he believed Jesus could fill it. How many others had Jesus passed on that Jericho road that were still blind all because they wanted to be dignified.
The Scriptures tell us that Bartimaeus shouted all the more “Son of David have mercy on me.” He got louder and louder. There is something about needing help, that gives us a willingness to press our case. One of the great tragedies is that we allow others to determine who loudly we will shout to get the Lord’s attention. They really may not even have our best interests at heart. With all the noise that was around from the crowd, Jesus heard this voice calling out to Him. Bartimaeus’ persistence enabled Jesus to hear his plea. He didn’t shout one or two time and let it go at that. I believe he would have kept shouting until he was sure the whole crowd including Jesus had passed on by him.
Then Jesus stopped. I can imagine when he stopped, the voices of those around him began to go to a whisper, and all you could here was this bold declaration of Bartimaeus shouting loudly “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” It is interesting to note that those who could see Jesus, were present without putting any faith or confidence in Him at all, whereas Bartimaeus who could not see him, had complete faith in Jesus’ ability to make a difference in his life. When the crowd grew quiet, Bartimaeus may have thought, everybody had passed on by him. He could not see that Jesus had stopped and was looking in his direction.
Bartimaeus may have begun to feel that his one chance had passed him by, when somebody grabbed his hand and said, “Come follow me, Jesus has ordered me to bring you to him.” Now I want you to notice how we can never limit God in the way God wants to do a miracle for us. Do you remember the 10 men with leprosy? When they asked for a healing, Jesus simply spoke the word at a distance and they were healed. Now Bartimaeus could have said, “No, I’m not going. Tell Him to just speak the word like he did with the men healed of leprosy.” Miracles begin with acts of obedience to the word of God for the Christian. Bartimaeus responded to Jesus’ request to come forward. His shouting got him into the presence of Jesus.
When Bartimaeus came near to Jesus, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” That’s the question Jesus is asking each of us today. “What do you want me to do for you?” Many of us are not even sure what we want Jesus to do for us. Some of us want nothing more than to get a ticket to heaven and be left alone. But others want to be made more into His likeness. If Jesus gave us what we wanted today, would it make us a more faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. If not, then what it is our true motive for wanting it.
Bartimaeus could have requested a number of things. He could have asked Jesus to tell the people to contribute more money to His basket each day. He could have asked for a lot of money to make life easier for Him. Instead he asked for something to empower him to be able to make a difference in his own in life. He said, “Lord I want to see.” In the Greek text the verb indicates a literal translation would be, “Lord I want to see again.”
Bartimaeus was confident that Jesus could give him His sight and empower him with new life. Jesus said to him, “ receive your sight; your faith has healed you. Immediately Bartimaeus received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God.
Bartimaeus change in his physical condition, led to even a greater change in his spiritual condition. He immediately followed Jesus Christ and started to shout once again in praise. This led the people to shout in praise to the Lord as well.
What do we take from Bartimaes. First, we will shout to the Lord when we recognize how great of a need we have for him in our lives. All of us have needs whether we recognize them of not. There are some needs that only Christ can fill. Second, in asking God for miracles, we must be willing to be persistent in our shouting out to Him. The Scriptures tell us to ask and to keep on asking, to seek and to keep on seeking, to knock and to keep on knocking. It is often if our persistence that God meets us at our point of need.
Third, our faith must be in Christ’s power to make a change in our lives. God is free to respond to our faith in whatever matter He chooses. We do not know how many years Bartimaeus was without his sight before being healed by Jesus. The timing and method is left up to God. It may be an instant healing or it may be a lifetime process of healing. Either way, our call is to be obedient to the word of God. Fourth, when God does something for us, it should cause us to respond to follow Him in ways we previously were unable to follow Him. We are to shout His praises in such a way that others will be willing to offer praise to God.
It was just another ordinary day that came into the life of Bartimaeus that brought about the presence of Jesus Christ into his life. The same can be true of us this day, if like him, we are willing to begin to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
Jesus said to him, “ receive your sight; your faith has healed you. Immediately Bartimaeus received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God.
1. Physical Healing Led To Spiritual Commitment
2. Kept Shouting & Led Others To Do Likewise
L. Lessons From Bartimaeus
1. We Shout When We Recognize A Need
2. Some Needs Only Christ Can Fill
3. Keep On Asking, Seeking, Knocking
4. Persistence Has A Place In The Life Of
Christians
5. Miracles Begin With Obedience
6. Faith In Christ To Change Lives
7. God Chooses The Time & Method
8. Unknown Number Of Years Of Blindness
9. Healings Both Instant & Over A Lifetime
10. Faith Responds With Obedience Always
11. Miracles Are To Change Us
12. An Ordinary Day May Not Be So Ordinary
13. Are We Willing To Shout---Son Of David
Have Mercy On Me!
Join Us For The Church Picnic Today!
Do Remember To Watch The Glenville TV Broadcast As Well This Week. The Messages Are Designed For Both Glenville & New Life Fellowship.
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick NLF 7/29/2001
Joshua 6:8-20 Luke 17:11-19 Text Luke 18:35-43
A. Shouting—Natural—Attention, Approval,
Excitement
1. Take Action—Watch Out! Look Out
2. Teams Score—Yes Weddings—I Now…
3. Hard To Keep In--- Graduation Ceremonies
B. Important Bible Victory At Jericho—Shouting
1. Joshua—Jericho—Massive & Mighty Walls
2. God’s Instructions-March, Trumpets-Silence
3. 6 Days, 7 Days, 7 Times Shout
4. Walls Came Down With God’s Power & Shout
C. Culture—Too Dignified To Shout—Except
1. Psalms Command Us To Shout To The Lord
2. Shouting Not Cool Or Respectable
3. Low Profile-More Spiritual Contrast Singing
4. 10 With Leprosy—Jesus Master Have Pity On Us
5. What If They Had Been More Dignified
D. Problems Today That Need Some Help From…
1. Today May Be The Day For Shouting
2. Travel To First Century-Normal Birth
3. That Day—Accident Or Disease—Never The
Same All Images Were Stored
4. Life Was Not Fair---Major Setbacks Hit Us
5. Ordinary Day—Major Disaster
E. The Man Who Could Not See
1. Few Options, No Family, Poor, Beggar
2. Basket, Cup, Sitting, Hoping—Not In Plans
3. Did What He Had To Do To Keep Moving
4. God Has A Way For Us To Keep On Moving
5. What’s Available And What Do We Use
6. No Pity Party Here—Sitting Near Jericho
7. Old Jericho & New Jericho
F. He Heard About Jesus
“"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, Luke 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." (Luke 4:18-19)
1. He Particularly Liked The Part Of The Blind
2. Which Part Is Needed Today
3. If Only He Could Get To Jesus
4. Hopeless, No Offers To Help, More Reports
5. Just An Ordinary Day On The Road
6. Mark—Bartimaeus, Matthew 2 men,
7. Luke Reports Bartimaeus-The More Vocal
G. Jesus And The Crowd Approaches
1. Why The Crowd—Wrong Time Of Day
2. Bartimaeus Begins To Ask Questions
3. What’s Going On, Whatssup, The Meaning
4. Jesus Of Nazareth Is Coming This Way
5. Bartimaeus—Moment Of Decision
6. Could It Be The Christ, Could It….What If
7. Thinking Out Of Possibility—Not Time
H. Bartimaeus Goes For The Opportunity
1. Shout—Jesus Son Of David, have mercy on me!
2. Jesus Of Nazareth vs Jesus Son Of David
3. Unbelievers & Demons –Title Of Messiah
4. Shouting And Taking Sides
5. Discouragement Sets In—Be Quiet
6. Some Dislike Shouting-Some Dislike Message
7. Content Just Looking At Jesus Or Being Able
To Say I Was With Him
I. Bartimaeus Saw More Than Most Of The Crowd
1. Real Hope For Life, Only Hope For Sight
2. Others Views Of His Method & Theology
3. How Many Blind Left On Jericho Road
4. Shouted All The More “Son Of David”
5. Genuine Need Allows Us To Get Louder
6. Determined To Drown Out The Crowd
J. Jesus Hears The Shout Above All Others
1. Bartimaeus Persistence Pays Off
2. Not One Or Two But Until No Hope
3. Bold Declaration Being Made In Crowd
4. Jesus Stops And The Crowd Gets Quiet
5. Only The Praise Of Bartimaeus Is Heard
6. He May Have Thought, They’ve Passed By
7. Bartimaeus More Faith Than Those Who
Could See
K. Jesus Send For Bartimaues To Come
1. Sovereignty Of God In Healing
2. Come Follow Me To Jesus—A Hand Out
3. Bartimaeus No Limits On –Leprosy Healing
4. Miracles Start With Obedience To The Word
5. What Do You Want For Me To Do To You?
6. Jesus Asks It Of Us All Today
7. What Will It Do For Our Walk With The Lord
8. Bartimaeus—More Money, Better Treatment
9. Empowerment To Make A Difference
10. I Want To Receive My Sight—Again
