Friendship, Faith, and Forgiveness
First B Jackson
2014-09-21

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Now don't get too anchored into fellowship, really. This is just how you doing? Good to see you today. You're all excited to be here. This isn't, hey.

Who's bringing the coffee and donuts? Let's have fellowship moment. Okay. We're gonna start singing the next hymn, five thirty four, if you wanna follow along in your hymnal. Learning to lean on Jesus.

If you're about ready, I know you'll stop chatting when we start singing. One more deal, Judy. One more. You know, learning to lean. In Matthew, we're told that God says, hey, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden.

And we do. We come to him.

Then it's a process of learning to lean and trust on his lordship in your life. So this song, listen to the words as we sing it. Learning to lean on Jesus.

Nice job, Judy. Here we go. I'm learning to lean, I'm learning to lean on Jesus, finding more power than I ever dreamed I'm learning to lean on Jesus. Sing it again now. Learning to lean, learning to lean, I'm learning to lean on Jesus, finding more power than I'd ever dream I'm learning to lean

One more time.

Learning to lean. I'm learning to lean on Jesus. Finding more power than I'd ever dreamed I'm learning to lean on

Okay. I hope you're, starting to sing these songs, thinking about how this applies to you and not just how you're sounding to your neighbor. We're all making a joyful noise. Right? Alright.

Change my heart, oh God. We're in the process of learning to lean on Jesus. That means something's gotta change and usually it's our heart that's in the process of changing.

Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever true change my heart oh God may I be like you you are the I am the clay this is what I pray change my heart oh God make it ever change my heart oh God may I be like you you are the I am the clay this is what I change my oh God may I be like you

Very nice. Thank you all. You may be seated. We are going to ask our offering team, frontline team to come forward. We're going to work on collecting the offering and let your heart kind of settle in this openness to change mindset as we ask a blessing on our offering this morning.

Please pray with me. Gracious God, what a blessing it is to come together and unite our hearts with other people who are learning to lean and trust in you and God we don't know and so we look to you for your lordship and leadership of our life and what an awesome thing it is that we can trust you and that we can put our faith in you and father you will help that grow within us. God, as we give back to you this morning a portion of that which you have so generously blessed us with. May you use this giving today to to honor your kingdom, to spread the word of who you are, and father God, use us as your hands and feet and we just ask that you would accept this offering this morning from a cheerful giving attitude and we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Good morning. This is my sister, Marva, who's visiting us for a week. She's from Spring Lake, Michigan, and I decided to put her to work and said, we're gonna sing. The song we're gonna sing is Precious Lord Take My Hand, a very old song. And I looked up about this person who wrote it, his name is Thomas A.

Dorsey. And I'd like to give you a little bit of information about this man and what led him to write this song. It was written by a black gospel musician in 1932. Thomas Dorsey, a preacher's kid, grew up in Georgia, starting out as a writer of jazz and blues songs, drifting away from God. But by miraculous brushes with death, he felt God pulling him back to himself.

During a revival meeting, he received news of his wife and newly born son's death. After several weeks of shock and grief, he created the lines of precious Lord. Mister Dorsey said, my business is to try to bring people to Christ instead of leaving them where they are. I write for all of God's people. All people are my people.

What I share with people is love. I try to lift their spirits, and I let them know that God still loves them. He's still saving, and he can still give that power. Isaiah forty one thirteen, for I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear. I will help you.

Listen to the words of a man still in grief when he wrote these words but choosing to cling to Jesus.

Morning. The scripture reading today is from Mark chapter two verses one through 12 and it reads, when Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon, the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room even outside the door. While he was preaching God's word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd so they dug a hole through the roof above his head.

Then they lowered the man on his mat right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, my child, your sins are forgiven. But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, what is he saying? This is blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins.

Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking. So, he asked him, why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven or stand up, pick up your mat, and walk. So, I will prove to you that the son of man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. Then, Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.

And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God exclaiming, we've never seen anything like this before.

Thanks. Todd for reading the scripture for us this morning and I'm really thankful for just for you guys. The for Nancy and Marva singing that song for Scott and Jake and Judy and all of the things that we've sang this morning really they they speak the message. It's pretty amazing how God does that. We're gonna take a break from the our study in first Corinthians at pastor Raison.

By the way, if if you don't know me, my name is is Carl. I'm one of the pastors here and much of what I'm doing which much of what I do is is leading worship in the nine and another worship gathering on Monday nights but it's it's really a joy for me to be here. So, thank you for allowing me to to be here. Anyway, I want to take a little break from first Corinthians. Well, raise away and and Mark, the gospel of Mark has been on my on my my heart and my mind and we're looking at the the healing of the paralytic.

It's also recorded in Matthew nine and Luke five, but Mark's account of this gospel really stands out to me because of the detail that he uses, but also because it's just so action packed. He was kind of a short and to the point gospel writer here and here were some of the highlights, okay, that we just went over that. So Jesus is teaching in a crowded house. You can see a house in Jesus day looks something like this that around the the side would usually be a stair going up to the roof and there'd be like a flat roof and a lot would happen up on that flat roof. Spend a lot of time there but so when we're talking about these people going through the roof, it wasn't like an A frame was really steep or something like that.

It was probably something more like that with mud tiles and straw and things like that. But he's teaching that there's no room outside of the door, even outside of the door and then these four men show up and they're carrying this man on a paralyzed mat, but they're unable to get to Jesus. How are we gonna get there? Say and so they go up around, they say, well, let's we're doing this, we're going around, we're gonna go up the stairs, we're gonna get on the roof and they began tearing the roof apart. Now, I don't know who owned this house but I I wonder that, you know, I'm like, well, who who paid the repair?

What what's going on? But that's what happened and they got up there and they begin removing these tiles and and Jesus looked up and it says that he was pleased with their faith. He was pleased with their faith and they lower their friend in front of Jesus. And what Jesus does that day is to offer them forgiveness and healing. Two things.

And then the man jumps up and grabbed his mat and he walked out the door while these Pharisees and the teachers of the law are scowling. It's pretty climatic, isn't it? I mean, there is not a dull moment in that story. It would have been pretty fun to witness. My wife and I love a full house.

We do, we love having company, lots of people over here, lots of conversations all happening at one time. It's fun for us. But this story right here trumps any little clever get together that we had and nobody's tried to break into the roof of our house. And I pray they won't because it's a church parsonage and it doesn't belong to me. But my point is is that when we read these events that happen in scripture, that we ought to look at it more more than just a historical account and then Jesus did this and then Jesus did this and and we could kind of remove ourselves but I'm encouraging us to get in there and go, what would it have been like to be there that day?

Imagine what it been like to be the onlooker there. You're packed shoulder to shoulder in the house and you see Jesus and he's teaching and you just, you know, something's different about Jesus or you're the homeowner and someone just wrecked your house or you're the friends who dug the hole in the roof or you're the paralytic and you see Jesus face to face, eye to eye and he's doing this. It's it's it's very personal and I think that it should be and that's the way you should look at scripture is it's gotta be personal. Let's get in there. Put ourselves there.

What's it like? And I believe there are life lessons all over scripture and that are relevant and they're and they're pertinent and they're meaningful. And you know what? God's God's word does what it does. It teaches us.

It corrects us. It admonishes us. It trains us up in righteousness. That's what the word of God does. And that's what we're counting on here.

And as I read this parable here, there were a few life lessons that the Lord put on my heart and I believe that they are relevant. I believe that they're meaningful for us today and I wanna share them with you and right out of the gate, here they are. I believe there's a lesson in friendship in the story. I believe there's a lesson in faith and I believe that there's a lesson in forgiveness. In friendship and faith and forgiveness.

Now, that's not an exhaustive list but those were three that God put on my heart and my mind this week and I want to start with this one. A lesson in friendship. Let's look at verse four again. They, meaning the four men, they couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd. It was too big.

And so they dug a hole through the roof above his head and then they lowered the man on the mat right in front of Jesus. Now unfortunately, and I wish we did, I wish we had the backstory of the relationship. They are the four men in the paralytic. We're not sure if they grew up together. I'm not sure if they were lifelong friends.

Could be. I don't know if they were brothers. I don't know if they were neighbors. I don't know where they were from. I didn't know how long it took to get there.

But you know what scripture is clear about? It tells us what they did to get their friend to Jesus. It tells us what they did. And we can say with confidence, hey, these guys did absolutely everything that they could to get their friend to Jesus. The crowd didn't stop them.

Oh, it's too big. We better go home. That didn't happen. Discouragement. How are we going to get to Jesus?

Everyone is around him. That didn't stop them. Obstacles. Hey, we have a man on a mat here. Everybody's got to take a side.

How are we supposed to get even near him? That didn't stop them. They did everything that they can to get their friend to Jesus in spite of the obstacles that day and they didn't give up and they didn't say we're going home. And you know what? I think that's a mark of a good friend.

That's what I saw in there is is friendship and a mark of a good friend. As a good friend says, hey, you know what? I may not have the answer here but I know who does. Let's take him to Jesus. A good friend says, even with all these obstacles in front of us, I'm not giving up on you, my friend.

And I'm gonna do what it takes. I'm gonna count the cost and I'm gonna share this burden with you. Look at what Proverbs seventeen seventeen says about a a good friend. I like this. I think this is important for us.

A friend is always loyal and a brother is born in a time of to help in a time of need. But isn't that true about friendship? Isn't that true? I think we should ask ourselves when we read these things is, what kind of friend am I? What kind of friend am I?

Am I loyal? And do I help in a time of need? A Christian named Henry Nouwen said this about friendship, the friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief or bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not healing, and not curing. This is a friend who cares. Ain't that true?

You know, sometimes it's not necessarily what we say. A lot of times it's not what we say, it's just being there. I feel like this one is deeply personal for us because we are, by nature, very relational people. We love our friends. We care about our friends.

And when they are hurting, we're hurting. Right? Some of you may be there right now, you have a friend, they're hurting. And you know what? It's hurting you too.

It's hard. But you know what? Trials, the problems, the difficulties, they're inevitable and we know that, that they are gonna come. But at the same time, here's what they do, they give us an opportunity to bring them before the Lord. They're God sized problems and and they need God sized solutions and we don't always have the answer but we take them to the one who does.

We get up under that burden with them and we help carry them to Jesus. Look what what scripture says about burdens. What are we to do? We're there to share each other's burdens, to get up under that burden and help carry the load. It's saying, you know what?

Your burden is now my burden and I'm going to wear it too and we're going to walk through this together and we're going to bring it before the Lord. I think that's good and I think that's what they show us here in this parable. It's a lesson in friendship and that we might not have all the answers. But you know what we're called to do is we're called to get up under that burden with our friends while bringing them to the one who does have the answers, who does know what's best. It is a lesson in friendship.

So that was one observation I made. Here's another. I think it shows us a lesson in faith. A lesson in faith. Look at verse five again.

Seeing their faith. Seeing it. Looking up, seeing that they just drilled a hole, they they tore the roof apart. He's saying, woah, that's faith right there. He said to the to the man, my child, your sins are forgiven.

So, clearly, Jesus was pleased by the faith of those friends. He didn't rebuke them. Think about this. He didn't rebuke them for ruining. Hey, why'd you ruin that roof?

Or hey, why are you interrupting me here? I was right in the middle of preaching. He was happy about it. He was glad. He welcomed the man.

Ah, here's here's the faith right here. He didn't scold them. He was pleased by their faith. And you know what, throughout ministry, Jesus' ministry in his life, Jesus commended others for their faith as well. Was just kind of searching through the gospels this weekend and looking at how many times Jesus was pleased with people's faith.

To the Roman officer, to the Roman officer, he had a servant and his servant got sick and he brought him to Jesus and says, I know, I know that you have the answer, I know that you can heal them. And Jesus said, I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel. To the sinful woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears and his humble repentance, Jesus didn't say, hey, get away from me. He invited her and he welcomed her and he said, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

Or to the blind beggar, do you remember this one in Mark 10? Who cried out, son of David, have mercy on me. He was out of options. He said, Lord, have mercy on me. I know you can do something about this.

And Jesus healed him. And he said, go, your faith has healed you. It seems that God is pleased with a humble and sincere sincere faith and and another thing is, it seems that God does some of his best work when we say, I've done all that I can do and now I'm trusting you to do what only you can do. It seems like God does his best work when we come to the end of ourselves and we say, I've done all that I can do and now I'm asking you God to move in power and do what only you can do. Faith is pleasing to God.

Look at Hebrews eleven six, it reminds us, it's impossible to please God without faith. That must be pretty important if it's impossible to please God without faith. Look at the definition here in Hebrews eleven:one, that faith is the confidence of what we hope for will actually happen, gives us assurance about the things that we cannot see. Confidence, hope, assurance, that's faith. And the four men who brought their friend to Jesus, you better believe that this is what they had.

Confidence, Hope. Faith. And God worked with it. And I want to say that because I really saw this in this text that these are the things that God's works with in our life. He works with our confidence in him.

He works with hope in him. He works with assurance about things we cannot see. God loves these things, these qualities. Things that are much harder to work with are pride and anger and bitterness and envy and slander and all those things. Those are much harder things to work with but these right here, this is the key.

These are the things that we should strive for and want. I believe it's a lesson for us in faith. Do we have the confidence? Do we have hope? Do we have the assurance that God's gonna do what is right?

Do we trust our family in his care? And do we entrust our friends in his care? And do we entrust our our current circumstances, good or bad? Do we entrust those things in his care? The story that we we just read here, the friends of the paralytic, they did.

They did entrust their friend to Jesus. And because they did, they got to see God work in a big big way. Would you think of it this way, if they didn't, they wouldn't. You know what I'm saying? If they didn't bring their friend to Jesus, if they didn't have confidence, if they didn't have hope, they wouldn't have got to see God work in a big big way.

And I think that's the same and and that's true for us today if that we don't turn these things over to God and we don't give him these things, that we just don't get to see him work like he would. Our faith is important. And you know what? When we lack it, I think we ought to pray like Mark. Like the father in Mark nine and and and this is and I this is me too.

Lacking faith at times. Not trusting God in all areas but this this verse right here in Mark, this always is this stood out to me. When this father and he wanted Jesus to to help him with his son and he just kind of blurts out, I do believe but would you help me overcome my unbelief? And I believe that's a prayer that we need to say too. Is God, yeah, I lack faith sometimes.

It's weak but would you help me in my unbelief? Would you increase our faith? Faith's important and pleases God. Here's the last point that I want to share with you this morning and it is a lesson in forgiveness. A lesson in forgiveness.

Verse 10, Jesus said, so I'll prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. And he turned to the paralyzed man, he said, stand up and pick up your mat and go home. Right here, I believe, is just the crux of this passage. It is the heart of what's going on and it's the purpose for which Christ came and Christ came to meet our deepest need and that is our need for forgiveness. It is our need for forgiveness.

By first offering the man forgiveness, Jesus shows that our most important need is to be healed and made whole on the inside, to have peace with God and to be redeemed, to be made right with God. That is first on God's priority list for us and I think we need to know that because we often think in terms of the physical. If things are wrong, oh, fix it, fix it, fix it, fix it, but Jesus is going, you know what? What's most important here is what's going on in the inside. So, this paralytic, obviously with this physical where he couldn't even move, Jesus said, what's most important in your life right now is forgiveness.

And he looked him in the eyes and he said, my child, your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. And I can only imagine the weight that was lifted from his heart at that moment. When Jesus gave him a new identity of not guilty, of set free, of pardon, of eternally secure. That's the identity that that he got.

He knew that identity in his heart. We know when God comes into our life and we have that peace, that burden that's lifted. Oh, how wonderful is that? And that's what he experienced right there in that moment. But how would the crowd know, right?

All these people standing around, how would they know his sins are forgiven? How would the teachers of the law and the naysayers there know Jesus claimed to be God and forgive sins was true? How would they know? Right here. Stand up.

Pick up your mat and go home. And you know what he did? He stood up And he picked up his mat. And he went home. It was a good day for that guy.

It was a really good day, right? Would you agree? Wow. There he's healed on the inside and then God goes a step further and says, physically too. Here you are.

You're healed. And you know what? It is a good day for us when we come to Christ in faith. Knowing that he has the power to declare us not guilty from sin. And freeing us.

That's a good day for us. That's a good day. And whether or not we are freed from physical illness or sickness or disease on this side of heaven, one thing is for sure. Through faith in Christ, our soul has been set free. Ain't that true?

Through faith in Christ, our soul has been set free and we will have a new body. We can look forward to that. Amen? Really? We can look forward to that and so when things are broken here on Earth and physically, things are not going well.

But Christ has gotten a hold of our heart and he's freed us and he's redeemed us. Can we be thankful for that? Absolutely, we can. Absolutely, we can. Warren Wirsby says that forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performs.

I agree with that. And meets the greatest need. I agree with that. It cost the greatest price. Oh, absolutely.

It cost Christ his life. He suffered and died for us And it brings the greatest blessing and most lasting results. Eternity in heaven. It's a wonderful thing and I think this passage sow us that. Forgiveness is our deepest need and and Jesus extend that forgiveness to the paralytic day and we're offered the same and we too can hear the Lord say to us, my child, your sins are forgiven.

How great it is that we can be children of God, adopted into God's forever family. That is a gift right there. That's a gift. To be new in Christ, have eternal security. It is a great lesson in forgiveness that this this message here shows us.

It is ours, full and free by the grace of God through faith in Christ. So those are the three. The three life lessons from the healing of the paralytic that I observed from Mark chapter two, a lesson in friendship, in friendship that doing everything that we can do to bring our friends to Christ and sharing those burdens with them along the way. Does that describe us? We see a lesson in faith.

Doing everything that we can do but trusting God to do the things that we cannot. A lesson in faith. That's a faith that pleases God and then a lesson in forgiveness. Jesus meets our deepest need and our deepest need is that of forgiveness and he showed us that. He showed us that, that our the first thing that he went after was what's going on inside of us.

He wanted to redeem us and set us free and he does. That's first on his list and he offers it full and free. And again, it's always an encouragement. It's always an invitation to us to step out to receive that because he's offering it full and free. So So, I'd like to invite up Scott and Jake and this week, I thought about a closing song and the the song that that I really was thinking about was leaning on the everlasting arms.

Is is that's what God is calling us to do and you know what? The songs this morning have been sharing that to lean on him, to to allow God to do what only he can do and so would you stand up and we're gonna.

Alright, here we go. You ready, Judy? Alright, what a fellowship. What a fellowship, How sweet to walk. Grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms.

Leaning, leaning, safe and secure Alright, one more verse. What about the dread? Leaning leaning on the everlasting arms.

Amen? Amen. Can I encourage you to lean on the everlasting arms of Jesus? Amen. Go in peace.