Tearing a Hole in the Roof

Matthew 9:1-8

What is a soul worth to you? To this church? To Christ? Imagine this scene. It takes place in Capernaum, a sleepy little fishing town. It was in the time of Jesus and Jesus had made Capernaum His ministry headquarters. Jesus is preaching to the crowd. The people are jammed in. And then there’s a noise. And, while Jesus is speaking, they look up and see the ceiling beginning to open. Suddenly, a bed on ropes is lowered through the hole and rests on the floor at the feet of Jesus. On that bed is a man who has been paralyzed.

I. We Must Bring All People to Jesus:

a. (Mark 2:1-3; 1 Timothy 2:3-4) No, you can’t win everybody to Jesus, but you can bring someone to Jesus Christ. You can reach your one. These men found this one man and they brought him to Jesus. Are you bringing people to Jesus?

b. There were four categories of people there that day: The crippled man (Mark 2:3). The indifferent (Mark 2:4). The judgmental (Mark 2:6-7). The tenderhearted (Mark 2:3). Do you have compassion for the lost?

II. Do What You Can, Where You Are, With What You Have:

a. (Mark 2:4) Here’s something new, something different. Thank God for those pioneers in that day. Don’t be like many who say, “We’d rather die than change.” We must change. We must adapt to an ever-changing culture and society. The message is the same, but methods change.

b. These four men were game changers: they tore up the roof to get their friend to Jesus. Now, we should never, ever do the unusual for the unusual sake, just to do something unusual. If they tore up the roof when they could have come in through the door, Jesus would have rebuked them. But they did what they could, where they were, with what they had to get to Jesus (1 Corinthians 9:19-22).

III. We Must Not Fear:

a. (Luke 12:27-32) The Bible says he was brought by four - four fearless men in cooperation. These were extraordinary men of faith. No obstacle couldn’t be overcome. They believed it could be done. There are plenty of people who say it can’t be done. The Bible says that when they let that man down through the ceiling, Jesus saw their faith. It was obvious. It was in action.

b. Faith without works is dead, being alone. We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. You see, real faith is a faith that you can see. And these four men didn’t care who they offended or who mocked them. They were fearless.

IV. We Must Count the Cost:

a. (Luke 14:26–33) They tore up the roof because people are more important than possessions. Anybody would be willing to win souls if it did not cost something: meals, sleep, a day’s work, money, friends. It cost to serve Jesus. It cost every day. It cost every step of the way. Jesus called it being His disciple.

b. Any Christian who is willing to suffer, willing to lose money, willing to lose friends, willing to be a spectacle can bring people to Jesus Christ, anybody who is willing to count the cost, to pay the price. We are to bring people to Jesus Christ at any cost.