Burdened...
Gospel of Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsThe Church today is struggling... We are experiencing decline like never before. Analysts are calling it "the rise of the Nones"... That is people who identify themselves as having "no religion". Everyday, thousands of people and pastors walk away from the Church -- from ministry... WHY??? A lack of BURDEN! Christians have lost a burden for the Holy Spirit, and a burden for the lost!
Notes
Transcript
What is the biggest issue plaguing the Church today?
What is the biggest issue plaguing the Church today?
Every church is struggling…
Every church is experiencing decline…
Every church is fighting desperately against apathy and complacency…
WHY???
— Lack of burden!
— There’s no burden for the Holy Spirit…
— There’s no burden to see souls saved, no matter the cost!
What there is a burden for is:
“What makes me ‘feel good’… What lifts my heart… praises me… tells me I’m awesome and a great person...”
BUT THAT”S NOT WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO!!!!!
Over and over and over in scripture, Jesus pleads with us to step outside of ourselves… to develop a burden for the lost!!!
They are all around us!
— Mt 16:24
Matthew 16:24 (NIV)
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Luke adds to Mark’s words: “Lk 9:23-24
Luke 9:23–24 (NIV)
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
John 4:35 (NIV)
35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
Matthew 9:37 (NIV)
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Luke 10:2–3 (NIV)
2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
Church… We are the workers!!!
Jesus desires that we would develop a burden for the things of the kingdom! (and by “things of the Kingdom,” I mean “the Lost all around us!”)
But, What does that look like?
Turn to Luke 5:17-26.
All 3 gospels share this story… I think it just might be important!
All three of the gospels follow the same sequential order:
Heals an outcast
2. Forgives si
3. Calls a sinner
Mark: heals leper… forgives the paralytic… calls Levi
Matt.: Heals demoniac, forgives the paralytic, calls Matthew
Luke: Heals Leper… Forgives the paralytic… calls Levi
I think He is trying to tell us something here!!!
Look at the story.
(Read the passage)
This story falls right after the healing of the Leper (we talked about last week).
Look at verse 16.
16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
— Jesus had a habit of withdrawing into a private place to pray after spending time ministering and healing the people…
— He withdrew… spent time in prayer… then He ministered.
“He withdrew into the wilderness to hold communion with His Father, and, as a consequence, to come forth clothed with an abundance of healing and saving power.” — Charles Spurgeon
Now… Did Jesus NEED to be renewed… Did He NEED to be filled with power?
— NO! —
So, Why did He do this?
— For Us! —
Jesus did it for our sakes!
We need to learn that the power of God rests on us in the same proportion that we draw near to God...
“Neglect of prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church.” — Spurgeon
The church today struggles because we have neglect drawing near to God in prayer… We are not burdened for the lost in such a way that we are burdened for the power of the Spirit!
A praying church is a powerful church!
But… That’s not all that we need to see today…
Look at the story:
18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.
19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Do you see what’s happening here?
Jesus is in town. He’s preaching… He’s healing… and…
These men have a friend in need… So they make a plan to take him to Jesus… to get him the help he needs…
They get there and they can’t get in! There’s to many people, and they won’t move and let them through....
Now… They could have give up…
They could have quit....
They could have decided that it was pointless to try… BUT…
This man was important to them!
So they dug through the roof!!!
think about that…
This was no easy task, and it wasn’t their house…
they had to dig through tile — packed dirt — straw/thatch — roof ribs…
Jesus sees that… He sees their faith… Their dedication to this man… and…
He forgives his sin!
Wait! What?!?!
Why did Jesus forgive his sins, instead of simply healing him like he had done with the Leper?
because people needed to know that He could heal the body AND the soul.
I think that - at least in some way - this man’s paralysis was connected with his sin.
“His mind was as oppressed as his [body]” — Spurgeon
His friends were concerned with his physical body, but Jesus knew that he was suffering more in his soul!
We can get that assumption from the text… He was willing to suffer being hauled around on his bed… suffering the embarrassment of facing the crowd as they tried to get through… and then the painful, not to mention scary, task of tearing up someone else’s roof, just so he could risk being dropped from the roof as his friends lowered him through…
All so he could reach Jesus.
Look at how Jesus addresses him:
Luke 5:20 (NIV)
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Instead of saying to him, “Rise, take up your mat, your faith has healed you.” Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.”
WHY???
Jesus knew what he needed!
Christ always gives us what we need, NOT what we THINK we need!
“The root of spiritual paralysis generally lies in un-pardoned sin.” — Spurgeon
There are some people, even inside the church, who, even though they may come every week, are spiritually paralyzed.
they have eyes, and they see the gospel… They have ears and they hear it… but they are so paralyzed spiritually that they will tell you — honestly — that they cannot take hold of the promise of God!
They are paralyzed by 2 things:
How could Jesus ever forgive me?!? I don’t deserve it!
How will they — the church — react?
Their paralysis is sin on their conscience, working death in them.
Their awareness of their sin becomes their trap!
They know it… but are powerless to believe…
They need Jesus, and our part to bring them to the Saviour!
(hear this!) That’s where our power ends!
And where our power ends, Christ’s begins!
“Your sins are forgiven!”
This wasn’t a “good wish”… or “Good vibes”… this was a pronouncement!
This poor man’s sins then and there ceased to be, and he was justified in the sight of God!
Did you hear that??!
Spurgeon asks: “If Jesus had the power to forgive sins before He had even offered atonement… how much more does He have the power now that He has poured out His blood?”
What is in your past? Have you struggled with blasphemy? Idolatry? Infidelity? Anger? Hate? Judgment? Ugliness?
What sin is holding you back from the life Christ has called you to?
Christ can forgive with just a word!
Just like he healed this man…
But it doesn’t happen without us!
There are people out there, who have heard the message preached… who have been moved by it… who agree that the gospel is life-changing in its message, but.... They are paralyzed by their past sin…
They need us to lift them up… to carry them into the presence of the Saviour!
But that’s the problem, isn’t it?
We aren’t burdened!
There are not many, even in the bigger churches, who are burdened enough to become what Spurgeon calls “sick-bearers”.
they applaud the idea of reaching the lost… They claim it as their purpose… but they leave the work to someone else…
We need to be a people who are absolutely deeply burdened to see people healed!
I’m talking so burdened that we will do whatever it takes to see that happen!
Look at the men in this story…
They were so burdened for their friend that they unanimously decided to do something!
They must get him to Jesus!
But How?!?!
“If men be called of God’s grace to deep anxiety [a burden] for any particular soul, there is a way by which that soul may be brought to Jesus.” — Spurgeon
These men were so burdened for his healing that they carried him, bed and all…
They tried to get through the door — the normal way…
but they couldn’t get in!
People will get in the way, the question is, will we let them stop us??
They shouted… they pled… they appealed, but nothing worked!
So… they climbed to the roof, carrying this man!
They pried up the tiles… they dug through the dirt… they pulled up the straw… They clawed at the rafters… until they finally had a hole big enough to get their friend through!
Think about that for a minute!
This wasn’t their house… This wasn’t a “clean” task…
These men were prepared to face whatever risk came in order to get their friend to Jesus!
Are We?
If we want to see souls saved, then we must not be squeamish… we must not shy away from risks… we must be willing to do whatever it takes to get them to Jesus!
We must make up our minds that: “Smash or crash, everything that comes between that soul and God is going to pieces!”
Our policy must become: “By whatever means, so we may save some.”
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
Church… ALL that we have is NOTHING compared to someone’s soul!
We need a burden so heavy that nothing will stand in our way!
It should be more difficult to us to let a soul perish because we didn’t WANT to talk to them… then to labor in the most self-denying form to see it delivered!
The true sign of salvation… The true sign of a heart delivered form sin… is obedience!
If you are really saved, you will do what Jesus says!
You will wake up everyday and ask: “Lord, what will you have me do today?”
and then you do it!
Yet… So many of us don’t!
If you tell me, and others, that you are saved… that Christ has forgiven you, and yet you live in rebellion to His commands, How can I believe you?!? Let alone them!!!
When you say your saved, that you are commited to Christ, and then set up your own will against His… What evidence is there?
22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’
So many of us in the Church claim to be sold out for Christ… We claim to be burdened for the lost… We claim to be willing to do whatever it takes to see them saved… But we don’t prove it with our lives!