What We Need Most

Call to Worship

To all who are weary and in need of rest

To all who are mourning and longing for comfort

To all who fail and desire strength

To all who sin and need a Savior

We, Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church, open wide our arms

With a welcome from Jesus Christ.

He is the ally to the guilty and failing

He is the comfort to those who are mourning

He is the joy of our hearts

And He is the friend of sinners

So Come, worship Him with us.

Scripture Reading & Reader

Mark 2:1–3:35 (NIV)

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Chip Shimer is the Scripture Reader.

Post-Scripture Prayer

Pray.

Introduction to Sermon

Good morning, my name is Brandon Morrow and I serve as one of the Pastors here at Moraga Valley! So glad to be with you all, — go ahead and open your Bible to the Book of Mark and today we’re in Chapters 2 and 3 of what we’ve entitled The King’s Speech. Jesus has come, bearing a message, a message of hope and healing for the world — a message that stands in opposition to many of the other messages in the world. This message is a message, not of instant gratification, self satisfaction, or how to dramatically improve your life, level up your marriage, and become the best version of yourself.

Jesus comes to give us a message, not tailored to our wants, but rather, specific to our deepest need.

Jesus has come proclaiming a message of God’s forgiveness — which is what the world is in deepest need of.

I want us to look at the beginning of Mark, Chapter 2, so we can see how Jesus Gives What We Need.

Let’s look at verses 1-5

Mark 2:1–5 NIV

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus has come back into town, likely the town that he was staying in, and would you have it, a massive crowd assembles.

And when the crowd assembles, Jesus is found to be, in verse 2, “preaching the word to them.”

This is a phrase that Christians use loosely, but Jesus is not using loose words to attract people.

I picture this like an inauguration speech, or in Canada, Prime Ministers are known to do “town halls,” little meetings in communities to address the questions and concerns of constituents — Jesus has come to bring a Word to the people who the rule and reign of God, about what life will be like under the purview of a new King — addressing the deep seeded concerns and questions that people have about the Kingdom of God — these words that they’re receiving are important, but they can’t be said, can’t be proclaimed without impact — Jesus has the continued opportunity in Mark to add to the credibility of His message — they have to believe in the One delivering the Word!

Remember, last week, we talked about how they ooed and ahh’d about Jesus’ authority — He has credibility about the message He brings — Mark 1:27

Mark 1:27 NIV

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.”

Not only does he speak with great authority, he acts with great authority — He is worth being trusted, if what He says is true, if what we’ve seen is real for what the Kingdom of God to be like, — then the indicated response in Mark is that crowds have gathered, because their needs — their real needs, can be met. — then it’s 100% real and Jesus is worth trusting.

One man learns of his real need in verse 4 and 5.

Some friends show up to get this man to Jesus — but remember, everybody was showing up, and they can’t carry their buddy through the door

So they climb up on the roof, and start cutting a hole into the room --

Could you imagine if on a Sunday morning, we were so packed that people crawled on the roof, pulled out their sawsall and plaster started dropping from roof and like a Vegas entertainer, people started to drop in on ropes to get a front row seat --

it would be madness!

There’s something that these friends believe that this King and His Kingdom could dramatically change the life of their friend.

They believe His message can be true.

So what do they do?

They rip the roof off to get their friend to Jesus.

Mark 2:5 (NIV) says…

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

I said this a couple of weeks ago, but the Kingdom, and the gospel being effective, often works between two extremes:

Inspiration

Desperation

People are inspired when they see lives changed

People are desperate for having their lives changed

Mark 2:5 is a mixture of both — inspired that Jesus can change lives — certainly a part of the reason why they were gathering, and desperate for their friend to have their life changed by Jesus

Jesus honors the commitment of these friends who believe that Jesus is the only one to fix their friend.

They rip the roof off to get somebody else to Jesus.

This is the daring testament of the church — we believe — whether it be out of a wealth of inspiration or the poverty of our desperation — that Jesus is the only one to save those whom we care the most about.

Jesus honors the faith of these friends and pronounces the definitive word of healing over this paralyzed man — here’s what he says in verse 5

Mark 2:5 (NIV)

“Son, your sins are forgiven.”

He hasn’t healed the man, yet — he hasn’t addressed the illness causing the paralyzation — but he has addressed a deeper sickness: the sickness of unforgiveness — which frankly is choking the world to death.

Jesus, takes a man who is suffocating under the weight of unforgiveness, and breathes a word of life — “you’re forgiven”

Humanity carries with it the traits of those who have gone before us.

You could say it’s genetic, you could say it’s heritable — it’s learned --

Every person carries the first trait of their first parent: Adam.

Do you ever have those moments where something you say, something you did, made you stop and go, “oh no! I sound just like my mom or dad?”

That’s what Jesus is addressing — He’s addressing the trait within this man, that comes from outside of him — that’s been passed down from generation to generation to generation

It goes back to the unforgiveness of Adam — who chose the Kingdom of Rebellion in the garden because Adam believed he could be LIKE God — and the sin of unforgiveness committed by Adam was that Adam can’t be like God — because there’s only One — Adam desperately needed the forgiveness of God when Adam broke the relationship, thinking he knew better than God the Father.

Every son and daughter has carried with them this trait of unforgiveness, in desperate need of Jesus to look beyond their circumstance, to see their heart, and to hear the words, “You’re not like your Father Adam… I forgive you.”

Several years ago we bought our older boys their first pocket knives, very nice Opinel knives, and we gave them a couple of rules:

You can’t use the knife around others

You have to use the knife while being in one spot

And if you ever cut yourself, you need to let us know as soon as it opens so we can help you

I don’t remember which one it was, I think both of them at this point, but one of them cut themselves fairly badly and didn’t tell us right away

and one of my sons said, “Sorry, Dad… I thought I could take care of it without you.”

Jesus announces forgiveness to a man who thought he knew better, who thought he could do it without the help of His Father.

There’s a problem though — the religious leaders present don’t see Jesus for who He is, God’s Help to those who think they know better but unfortunately dont — they, for whatever reason, just don’t get it.

It’s pretty easy for us to scoff at the people in the Bible who don’t get it. We look at the text and we think, “Come on, guys! Jesus is right in front of you.”

Even after the man is forgiven, physically healed — people still don’t get it. Look at verse 12

Mark 2:12 NIV

He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

It would be a tragedy to be a church amazed at Jesus but not moved in our faith because of His authority.

It’s exactly the inspiration — the amazement of Jesus changing lives — that leads us deeper into desperation — our need to be rescued by Jesus — because He’s the only one who can do it.

Changed lives is the chain reaction for people’s dependence on Jesus.

Paul wrote in Romans 2:4

Romans 2:4 NIV

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

To paraphrase Paul, “are we not moved to action towards Jesus, who is the only one who can give us what we need?”

The religious leaders object to this — they reject the forgiveness we need, twice in a row — and they do it because they don’t think they need it.

First, in Mark 2:7

Mark 2:7 NIV

“Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

and again in Mark 2:16

Mark 2:16 NIV

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

They don’t think they need what only Jesus can give. — The Pharisee’s, the Religious Leaders, the teachers of the law — they think they know better, they don’t need it.

Jesus says, “you’re right, it isn’t just you — it’s everyone.”

Look at verse 17

Mark 2:17 NIV

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

This is a great point of self-reflection… where am I? Am I righteous? Am I a sinner? Better yet… I think there’s only one question to answer: Am I in need of forgiveness?

Suddenly there aren’t two groups of people, there’s just one group: sinners.

Sinners in need of forgiveness

There isn’t anyone healthy or righteous without Jesus… this is what Mark 1 was talking about with John the Baptizer, — remember when the whole countryside and all of Jerusalem were coming to receive forgiveness — it’s not just those people, somewhere else, who don’t look like us, act like us, vote differently from us — we’re all in need of it.

Whether you think you’re good, or you think you’re bad, we still need the forgiveness when we’re prone to believe that we know better.

There is a word of caution here though...

When you know you need forgiveness, when you are convinced that others lives hang in the balance without this forgiveness — it gives the appearance to others that you’ve lost your ever-loving mind.

I mean that seriously… when you’re so moved by Jesus, desperate for others to meet him, people think you’ve lost your mind

Can you image how people responded when they started to cut a hole in the roof to get that guy to Jesus? Probably something like, “Come on, guys! This is ridiculous! You don’t have to do that.”

Except you do! If you believe that it’s something you, and others, absolutely NEED, cannot live without — and believed that it was ONLY Jesus who can do it — you’d do crazy things to make it happen.

Look with me at Mark 3:20-35

Mark 3:20–35 NIV

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.” Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus has entered another house, a crowd gathers again, and the crowd swells so big that Jesus can’t move his elbows to eat — and Jesus’ family shows up to haul Him off, “Jesus isn’t well. We’re sorry!” The teachers of the law show up, “He’s gone absolutely mad! Bonkers! Out of his mind!”

So Jesus calls over his family and the religious leaders and speaks in a parable, and for the sake of time, here’s the gist of the parable: “Don’t get in the way of the forgiveness of God.” Jesus goes, “Don’t call me crazy, getting in the way of God, when I’m giving them exactly what they need: forgiveness.”

Bearing the message of forgiveness to a world that needs it is costly — it’s disruptive — it challenges the status quo — it violates the sensibilities of those closest to us — we can look at Jesus’ own family for that. When we choose the gospel of God’s forgiveness, it may imply that deeply held bonds are challenged: like family ties, --

Jesus doesn’t quite sever the relationship to His family, but He does show his priorities:

Look at verse Mark 3:35

Mark 3:35 NIV

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus and His Kingdom align with those who prioritize the proclamation of God’s forgiveness, who come with a message for everyone who thought they could do it on their own, or thought they knew better — and were in desperate need for help.

Bottom line: we cannot stand in the way of others getting forgiveness that they desperately need.

Even further than that, I would say that we need to do everything within our power to get others to Jesus

Who are you willing to rip off the roof for, to get them to Jesus?