41 Preaching teaching/ Mark 2:1-12: Characters?

Mark 2:1-12

Which Character are you?

Sermon Title: “Which Character are you?”

Text: Mark 2:1-12

Subject: Evangelism

ETS- Jesus demonstrates who he is (forgives sins) when FRIENDS bring a paralyzed man to him.

EOS- Jesus Power to forgive sins forces us to identify and seek to become the right character

OSS- Share your story with someone this week.

FCF-Because we of our struggle to live with an eternal perspective we need to intentionally bring others to Jesus.

Discipleship Practice-Evangelism

B. Formal Elements

Introduction

1. Video Introduction

Heather was having a complicated pregnancy with Aiden he was having heart complications. So we were in a hospital room for a week. Not great times. So someone told me about a TV show called 24. Picture Heather and I in a hospital bed with this little dell computer watching this TV show.

The first episode I watched-I was hooked on Jack Bauer. It is called 24 because the TV show goes through one full day where a terrorist attack is going to take out the USA and Jack Bauer had to save the world. Jack Bauer would literally do anything and everything to save the world.

Has there every been a character you have loved or connected with?

But when we think about 24, we have to realize there were so many other characters. And these characters were all connected to Jack and they acted in a certain way because of Jack.

Jack’s wife-Terri

His daughter-Kim

Tony Almeida-They started out on the wrong foot and then became lifelong friends.

Nina Meyers-A friend but she was really a spy. Kind of like Judas.

President David Palmer-

Jack Bauer is the main character in this show.

IN the Bible the Triune God is the main character and he is reveled clearest in his son Jesus.

If Jack Bauer is a force to reckon with think about the living God of the universe. Int

Today we are all a part of God’s story. And unlike a great movie or TV show we are all in God’s story and we have a part to play. Jesus is the main Character in today’s story.

Jesus is going to make a great claim today. He is going to claim that he has the power to forgive sins.

Now we have heard for a long time that Jesus forgives sins, so we have become numb to the fact of what he is really claiming. He is claiming the power to forgive sins… Only God can do this…

Mark 2:7 (NASB95)

“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Why was this such a big deal?

The Old Testament penalty for blaspheming God’s name—reproaching rather than honoring it—was death (Lev 24:10–23). According to subsequent Jewish teaching, blasphemy involved pronouncing the divine name or inviting people to follow other gods.[5]

Draw out how they killed this man-This was serious.

C.S Lewis said this…

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. [6]

[6] Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.

We are all a part of God’s greater story.

So just like there are characters in 24, today I want us to ask what character are we in this story?

Today we are going to look at three types of characters and I want you to ask in this grand story which one are?

But also more importantly what character do you want to be?

Which Character are you?

1. Church members who get it: Willing to do whatever it takes to bring others to Jesus (1-5).

Explanation:

Summarize Mark so far:

John the Baptist shows up and says the Messiah is here and Jesus announces his kingdom message that we have to repent and believe.

Mark 1:17-Come follow me Jesus said and I will make you fishers of men

Mark 1:38-He *said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

Jesus’s message is so great that he wanted his love to be offered to everyone.

Jesus has healed the sick he has driven out demons and now people want to be right by him.

Mark 2:1–4 (NASB95)

When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.

And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.

And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.

Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.

Can you picture being a jammed packed church and the roof opened up and your like wow. I guarantee if that kind of stuff was happening in more churches we would have less people falling asleep.

Was anyone falling asleep last week. There was an anticipation.

It was so packed because the crowds were expecting God to show up.And these friends were expecting God to come through. If they could just get their friend to him all would be okay.

How many times do we not expect God to show up at Church, in our quiet times in our daily lives. They were expecting him to do great things.

Expect great things from God, attempt great things from God-William Carey.

While Palestinian homes would have been accessible to someone wanting to get on the roof, it was by no means a daily occurrence. The houses were low, usually with an outside stairway to reach the roof. The roofs were tiled and covered with thatch. The four men had to drag the cot up the stairs, tear up the tiles, and dig through the thatch. The hole would have to be large enough to get the cot through. Add to this the annoyance of the people below.[2]

[2] Cooper, R. L. (2000). Mark (Vol. 2, p. 32). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

These men could have given up and been like we tried but instead they were like we are going to do whatever it takes to get him to Jesus.

When is the last time you were willing to do whatever, it took to get your friend to Jesus?

From the beginning this churches heartbeat has been to get people to Jesus.

What is keeping you from having a passion to bring others to Jesus?

That is how bad these friends wanted to get their friend to Jesus. They did not stop when the line was long at the front door, they were willing to think outside the box, it would have been easy to say we gave it a shot, but they would not be stopped.

Illustration

Robert Clark-Isn’t that the heartbeat of this Church. We are willing to let a church plant come here and merge with them so that we can reach more people for Jesus. SO they can hear about the undeniable love of God.

Guys when is the last time you wanted those around you to come to know Jesus?

Surgeon quote-

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and un-prayed for.” Charles Spurgeon

So we have these characters who are willing to do anything to get people to Jesus.

Mark 2:5 (NASB95)

And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Some teachers would have been so upset: How dare you interrupt my teacher!!!

Jesus welcomed it because he came to see lives healed and changed for his glory.

Their faith became his faith.

Do you have relationships with people who don’t believe like you?

argumentation:

One of the reasons we don’t see any lost come to Jesus is because believers don’t have any real relationships with people outside the church.

How can we bring those to Christ whom we have no contact. We have our Christian shirts, christian music.

A man did a survey on how people come to know Jesus Christ here was their finding:

“…most people experience the faith through relationships, that they encounter the gospel through a community of faith, and that becoming a Christian involves a process that takes time. In his later book Recovering the Past, Finney summarizes their chief finding in four words. For most people, “belonging comes before believing.””[3]

[3] The Celtic Way of Evangelism, Hunter George. Page 44.

How does Jesus respond when you bring someone to Jesus?

Son, your sins are forgiven. In the Greek, the word here is literally “child.” Jesus claimed first a special relationship with the man—a relationship of love and care. The second thing Jesus claimed was the ability to forgive his sins.[4]

John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,”

1. He brings them into his family -zIs this not amazing that we get to be a part of the family of God.

2. He forgives them-The Bible says blessed is he whose sins are forgiven.

What can keep us from doing whatever it takes?

Think about this situation, it was inconvenient to drag a friend all the way there, they probably broke a few tiles, they could have been doing a lot of other things, it was messy.

It is messy:

Howard Hendrichs shares the time he lead a Bible Study and a new believer came, and he said the D word that was good. It is messy when we reach people for Christ. But Jesus did not come to reach the healthy he came to reach you and me.

Application

Penn Jillette from Penn and Teller said this:

“…I’ve always said, you know, that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward…How much do you have to hate someone to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And {eternity}this is more important than that…”[1]

Church are we really willing to do whatever it takes?

When I say this I am talking to myself as much as I am talking to you.

Are we willing to be true friends?

Are we willing to take the ceiling off the building and make a mess to reach the lost.

Are we willing to build relationships with lost people?

These men did the unorthodox and the costly.

Are you the true Friend

Which Character are you?

2. The Church person who does not get it: = hard heart towards God (6-11).

There are a lot of bad sins.

All sins are bad but I think the greatest sin is a hard heart towards God.

The teachers of the Law knew exactly what Jesus was claiming.

We have just seen a group of people who had a heart of Gold towards God they saw a paralyzed man and these friends knew Jesus was the solution.

The religious leaders were waiting for the messiah. In the Old testament Jesus was predicted about. The one to come and the Pharisees did not believe that Jesus was him.

Explanation:

Mark 2:6–7 NASB95

But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Mark 2:8 (NASB95)

Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?

We see some of the divinity of Jesus-He knew what they were thinking.

Mark 2:9 (NASB95)

“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:8–9

They probably thought that a pronouncement of forgiveness was easier than one of healing because healing was visible and immediately verifiable.

It is easy to say your sins are forgiven but only one can actually do this the one who is sinless. They were thinking to themselves anyone can say your sins are forgiven but if he is really the messiah he would be able to heal this man as well.

Mark 2:10 (NASB95)

“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,

What exactly Jesus has authority over- Mark - study

healing-disease-forgiveness-sea-wind

Mark 2:11 (NASB95)

“I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”

application:

How can we have a tender heart towards God?

Spend time with him

Want others to be with Jesus

Illustration-

How is your heart doing towards God?

The longer I have been a Christian the more I have had to fight against a hard heart.

I don’t want to miss this out. Sometimes living on the brink of eternity is uncomfortable. When I first came to Church here we opened up the gym. We saw students put there faith in Jesus Christ all the time. One of the students who made a profession of faith was rough. But remember he came to a Sunday night service. Now our Sunday night services are traditional. This young man comes in here with a wife beater. For those of you who don’t know what a wife beater is, it is a real tiny tank top. He then asks me for deodorant. I was actually going back and forth from Arkansas still so I had some in my car. Now having so many kids we share. But I am not used to sharing my deodorant with someone. So i was just like keep the deodorant.

I have to fight to have a heart that loves people and wants to bring people to God.

The greatest reminder I have to not have this heart is to spend time with God, to remind myself daily how good he is and how much I am loved.

Application-

Can you relate to this character?

Which Character are you?

3. The Person whose trials turn into testimonies for the glory of God (12).

The glory of God was clearly seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. The way he loved, his perfection and much much more. As a result God wants to grow you in such a way if you are a Christian that you will look more and more like him, you will become like him in what you say and do.

Did you know that your life is the only Bible many will ever read. The glory of God was on display in the Life of Jesus Christ. When you saw Jesus you saw God. God has created us in his image and he wants to mold us into Jesus. We are to supposed to reveal his glory to the entire world.

That’s what this man does!

Mark 2:12 (NASB95)

And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

Explanation -

Trial to Testimony Living!

A. Now is the time!

This happened immediately.

Don’t we make excuses on why we can’t go deep with Jesus right now.

What excuses are you making right now: Not to walk with God?

B. Use our struggle as a testimony (grabbed) [authentic with his struggle].

Illustration-Cody had us go the whole day. Guy in Jamaica-Lost a leg and he was in the infirmary-this is a place where you go if you have no one to take care of you and I remember talking to him and he said if this would not have happened I would not be this close to God.

WOWO

What is a struggle that can be turned into a testimony in your life?

C. Lived his faith for the world to see

What struggle have you been through or are you going through?

God can take that struggle and use it for his glory.

The people who saw this man, were like this dude is different.

WE HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS

Application:

Have you ever shared your story?

Talk about testimony!

“Some wish to live within the sound of church and chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell!”― C.T. Studd

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