Going All-Out for Our One

Going All-Out for Our One

“Going All-Out for our One”

(Luke 5:17-26)

Series: WhosYour1

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

  • Take God’s Word and open to Luke, chapter 5.

While you’re finding that, we have been in the midst of this wonderful campaign, “Who’s Your One?”  And 263 of us have brought forth the name of one person—one person for whom we are praying daily and seeking opportunities to bring our one to faith in Jesus Christ.  That’s what “Who’s Your One” is all about.  Each one reaching one.  One person, for whom we are praying and seeking opportunity to share Christ.  If you missed the last two weeks, you can get on board today.  Just say, “God, give me one person—one person for whom I can pray daily and seek Gospel-sharing opportunities.”  

Have you found Luke 5?  I love this passage we’re going to study.  We’ll be reading in verses 17-26 in a moment, the healing of the paralytic; the paralyzed man.  Before we read it, quick word about the context: In the preceding chapters, Luke writes about the power of Jesus Christ, His power over Satan and then His power over sickness, and now His power over sin.  Listen for that as I read the passage.

  • Please stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God.

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. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  

18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  

19 And when they could not find how they might bring 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. 

 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  

22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  

23 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?  

24 “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.”  

25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  

26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

  • Pray.

There is one main point in this story: Jesus Christ has the authority to forgive sins.  That is Luke’s main emphasis in this historical event that really happened in a town called Capernaum 2,000 years ago.  

But that truth may not really grab us at first.  We read about these four guys bringing a friend to Jesus and Jesus says to the paralyzed man, “Your sins are forgiven you” and maybe we think: “Well, that’s nice of Jesus to be so forgiving.”  But Luke wants us to see why this claim of Jesus was regarded scandalous by the religious leaders.  

We talked about this Wednesday in the theology group that meets here in the sanctuary.   I said something like imagine Jim up front here gets angry with me and he hits me in the face.  And, incidentally that happened to Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church Atlanta; many years ago during a contentious church business meeting, a deacon hit Pastor Stanley in the face!  But Jim hits me and I say, “Jim, it’s okay, I forgive you.”  You might say, “Well, Brother Todd, good for you, very nice of you to forgive Jim.”

But then Imagine Jim walks over and hits you in the face (By the way, Jim’s an angry man!).  So Jim hits you in the face and while you’re still reeling from pain—suddenly I step in and I look over at Jim and I say, “Jim, I forgive you for what you just did!”  You’d be like, “What?!”  Who are you to forgive Jim’s sin against me?!  Who are you to insinuate yourself into this matter as though you had authority to forgive all sin?! 

And that’s precisely what’s going on in this passage.  We must feel the outrage of the religious leaders here.  They have a point: No Jewish carpenter from Nazareth has any business going around telling people their sins are forgiven—unless, of course, He is more than a Jewish carpenter.

Let’s read it a little more closely.  All in favor of reading it a little more closely?  Let’s go.  Verse 17:

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. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  

This is the first time we read about the Pharisees in the Gospel of Luke.  They were the most influential among the “big three” groups of Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day—the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes.  The Pharisees were very legalistic and Jesus is challenging their authority and power, and challenging their teaching.  So the Pharisees huddle together in opposition to Jesus.  If they’d had Facebook the Pharisees would’ve created a “Group Page” and you could be part of the “Let’s Get Jesus” Group. So they’re going after Jesus, trying to catch Him in some kind of trap so they can get their power back.  Verses 18-19:

18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  

19 And when they could not find how they might bring 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.  

I don’t know who these guys are but I’d love to have them as members of our church!  Such initiative!  Such innovation!  Mark tells us in his Gospel that there were four of these guys.  They had walked to the paralytic’s house and they put him on this bed and carried him on the bed to Jesus.  I don’t know how far they walked, but when they finally get to the house where Jesus is, there’s a crowd around the door and they can’t get in so one of them says, “Hey, let’s take him down through the roof.”  And these guys got on the roof and then they removed a tile from the roof and lowered the guy down to Jesus—while Jesus is teaching!  Talk about a sermon interruption!  Pieces of tile falling to the ground, a cloud of dust forming in the air, people looking up to the ceiling, these four guys’ mugs looking down through the hole at them.     

You can’t help but note the lengths to which these men go in bringing a needy soul to Jesus.  If most of us worked only half as hard as these guys did in bringing people to Jesus we would have baptisms every Sunday.  Such evangelistic and missional zeal!  May God help us to be as enthusiastic about getting our “ones” to Jesus.  

So the Bible says that Jesus looks up and sees their faith.  He sees their faith, the faith of all of these men, the four guys and the guy on the bed and what does He say?  Verse 20:

20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  

Now I want you to notice something here.  Look up here for a moment. Why did the four men bring the paralytic to Jesus?  They brought him, of course, so he would be healed of (what?) his paralysis.  He had a physical need.  Question: Does Jesus address the man’s physical need?  No, not just yet.  He addresses the man’s (what?) spiritual need.  He says, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  Why?  Because our greatest need is not physical, but spiritual.  As we pray daily for our “ones” and seek opportunities to share the gospel with our “ones,” jot this down, let’s remember: 

I. Our One’s Greatest Need

Our greatest need is forgiveness of sin.  That is our greatest need.  It’s everyone’s greatest need.  More than anything else we need, we need to be forgiven of our sins.  This is my greatest need, your greatest need, the greatest need of our “ones,” your family, your friends, your co-workers, your leaders, your neighbors. Our greatest need is not housing, clothing, or even food or water.  Our greatest need is forgiveness of sin.

Maybe you’ve heard this.  Someone wrote:

“If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.”

Of course Jesus will go on to address the paralytic’s physical need, but not before addressing first his far greater need for forgiveness of sins.

What a tragedy if we pray only for people’s physical need without giving thought to their spiritual need.  What good is it to pray for a person’s physical healing without asking about their spiritual condition, of their need of salvation?  Admittedly, our first reaction when we hear someone is sick or in the hospital is to what?  It is to pray for their physical well being, for their healing.  But is that person saved?  Is that person’s soul healed?  They will get physically sick again.  They will!  We all will.  We are physically dying on the outside because of a sin nature on the inside.  Next time we ask for prayer for someone sick let’s be sure to find out about their far greater need.  Are they saved?  Have they been forgiven?   

So that’s the first thing we write down: Our one’s greatest need.  Secondly we note:

II.  Our One’s Only Hope

We sang earlier: 

Christ alone, Cornerstone

Weak made strong in the Savior’s love

Christ alone is our “one’s” only hope.

See, these physical healings of Jesus are a means to a far greater end.  These physical healings are like road signs pointing to a greater destination.  It would be tragic to get all excited about a sign and miss the thing to which it was pointing.  Does that make sense?  Like a sign pointing that reads “Disneyworld” and just stop and hang out at the sign without going on to the far greater place to which it is pointing. When Jesus performed miracles the miracles were signs—not just things in and of themselves—they were pointers, pointing to the only hope for our greatest need.  The healings point to the Savior—the only Savior—who alone meets our one’s greatest need, the need for forgiveness.  

And this particular healing brings out the unique character and nature of Jesus Christ, Son of God.  You get it immediately after Jesus says to the paralytic, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  Now verse 21:

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  

Now the Pharisees have a point here.  We will concede this point of the “Let’s Get Jesus” Group.  The point is: only God can forgive sins.  Isn’t that right?  I mean, as defined earlier: in an offense against another person or against God, who can forgive sins but God alone?  So they have a point here.  God says in Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake.”  Only God can forgive sins.  

So Jesus comes along and says to this paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven you.”  And the Pharisees accuse Jesus of blasphemy.  Blasphemy is irreverence to God, a sin punishable by death.  Now don’t miss this: when Jesus said to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven you,” Jesus placed Himself on equal footing with God the Father.  Why?  Because He is on equal footing as God the Son. 

We find out now that these Pharisees are reasoning these things in their hearts, they are murmuring these things on the inside and Jesus knows their hearts.  Look at what He says in verse 22:

22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  

Jesus knows what they’re thinking!  This verse illustrates to some degree what John was talking about in John 2:25 when he wrote that Jesus “knew what was in man.”  Or, as the psalmist wrote of God in Psalm 139:4, “There is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.”  Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?”  In other words, “Why are you thinking I am guilty of blasphemy?  Don’t you know that I am about my Father’s business here?  Don’t you know that I have the authority and power to forgive sins?”  So Jesus asks this question in verse 23:

23 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?  

Well, on the one hand, it’s easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven.”  No one can see a person’s sins being forgiven on the inside of a person.  It would be practically impossible to verify that it had happened.  So a person could just say that, but it’s also easy to say to a paralytic, “Rise up and walk.”  That’s also easy to say, but in this case it could be verified immediately because the paralytic is in a position to verify it.  If the paralytic is physically healed he will get up and walk.  And the mastery of what Jesus is doing here is that he is teaching that He has the authority and power to heal both the man’s physical sickness and his spiritual sickness.  So Jesus makes this statement in verse 24:

24 “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.”  

In essence, Jesus says, “I am going to show you that I have authority to heal this man on the inside by doing a work that you will see on the outside.”  Jesus says, “You cannot verify what I am doing on the inside so, ‘that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’—inside work—He said to the man who was paralyzed, ‘Arise, take up your bed.”—outside work.  So Jesus heals the man on the outside to show that He has healed the man on the inside.  Verse 25:

25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he he’d been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  

26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

What an understatement!  “We have seen strange things today.”  The Greek word translated “strange things” is paradoxa, from which we get our English “paradox,” an unexplained phenomenon.  

“They were all amazed,” the crowd was all amazed—not the Pharisees, they were not amazed, at all.  You would think this would make a believer out of them, but they just grow colder and colder as the following verses and chapters demonstrate. 

But there was joy and wonder among everyone else about how Jesus had met this man’s spiritual and physical need.  Imagine as soon as this paralytic gets up what everyone is thinking.  There’s a gasp in the room as he just gets up.  The man was paralyzed, but now the crowd is paralyzed!  The guys on the roof looking down through the hole are like, “We won’t have to carry him home!”  And everyone in the house just marvels, watching this paralytic who had been brought to the house on a bed that carried him, now walking out of the place carrying the bed himself.

 

He’s a changed man.  He departs “glorifying God.”  If married, he comes home to his wife as a changed husband.  If he has kids, he comes home to his children as a changed father.  

If you’re saved, I hope you never get over the wonder of having your spiritual need met in Christ.  Do you hear what Jesus is saying to this paralytic?  He says, “Man your sins are forgiven you.”  Your sins are forgiven you.  Not, “Your sins may be forgiven or, might be forgiven, but are forgiven.”  Nor does Jesus say merely, “Your sins have been forgiven,” as though forgiveness extended only to the man’s past transgressions.  No, Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven you,” which emphasizes the continual and abiding state of forgiveness.  The Christian’s sins are forgiven in Christ, completely forgiven—all past, present, and future sins—all forgiven.  

Can you say your sins have been forgiven?  Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?  If not, turn today to the One who is your only hope to meet your greatest need.  Turn to Jesus Christ.  Receive Him as Lord and be saved.  You need to talk to someone today about Jesus or you need prayer, right after the service I invite you to go to the Response Room, right outside these doors, you’ll find a helpful volunteer who will meet with you and pray with you.  Look for the signs: Response Room.

And if you are saved, let’s go all-out for “ones” this week.  Let’s go with the same kind of missionary zeal that drove these four men who carried their “one” to Jesus—going all-out for their one.  Let’s do the same!  And let’s pray for our ones right now.

  • “Dear God, we bring to You our ones even now.  We ask that You would soften their hearts so that they would be willing to be brought to You that they may hear You say, “Your sins are forgiven you.”  Help us remember that their spiritual need is far greater than their physical need.  We ask that you would give us the same courage and compassion that the four men in this story had in bringing their one to Christ.  Help us do the same for Your glory, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Before we sing our Hymn of Response I want to share something with you.  Long before Summer, and around the first week of June, God began moving in my heart and I began thinking and praying about the future.  Through a number of events, He began to reveal to me the wisdom of beginning a transition—stepping aside from pastoring and preparing for a ministry of teaching and writing. 

I’ve been seeking the counsel of others—over half a dozen godly men I know in this church and others outside the church.  Talked to my entire family before talking to anyone else.  Then I met individually with four of our deacons.  And then we all met together and have been meeting together over the past two and a half months.  These men are our Chairman of Deacons, John Kloke, Wayne Jenkins, Scott Davis, and Erick Dalton.  God put these leaders on my heart and I’ve been meeting with them since early June and they have been so helpful.

I have offered to continue pastoring as needed through the remainder of the year and help with a transition.  I’ve got nothing lined up.  There’s no offer from anyone and I’m not looking to pastor another church.  And there is certainly nothing wrong here.  I want to be clear: God is calling me to a teaching & writing ministry and pouring into younger pastors.  So I have not been looking for anything and I will not be looking until I step aside from pastoring here—again offering to continue through the year as needed.

I get excited when I think about our church’s future!  I regard my stepping aside as a catalyst to spur a new season of life and growth and involvement of our members.  I have led to the best of my ability and it’s time for a new pastor, a younger pastor, with fresh vision and a greater skill-set to take our church to new heights.  Brother Todd’s 54 years old now and I’d like to give at least the next 10 years to teaching, writing, and pouring into younger pastors.

We’ve got a great staff, great deacon body, and great volunteer leaders in this church.  We’ll do just fine working through all the transitions in the coming months, I am absolutely certain of that!

John is going to come and share a few words and then pray for us.  Come on up, John.

[John shared & prayed]

Let’s stand and sing our Hymn of Response: “I have decided to follow Jesus.”  Let’s sing:

I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus,

No turning back, No turning back

O come go with me, and we will follow

O come go with me, and we will follow

O come go with me, and we will follow

No turning back, Not turning back

Amen!  Remember: no worship service tonight.  It’s the third Sunday evening and we’ve freed-up that time to make disciples.  Why not reach out to your “one” this evening.

Love you church!  God bless you and we’ll see you Wednesday, Lord willing.

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