Religion that raises the roof

When Religion Raises the Roof (Mark 2:1-12)

Some passages can lose their vitality through years of familiarity. These four men carrying their friend to Jesus echo in our earliest memories of Sunday School stories. Yet we need to take another, closer look. These four men are carrying more truth than we might think.

Just as the paralyzed man got up and walked, let the truth walk in your life. Jesus always acts with an urgent priority to make us spiritually whole.

When Religion Raises the Roof, an Urgency Defines the Moment

When Christ is present and available, the moment is urgent. Jesus came and went from Capernaum, and now He was back again.

Christ will always receive you, but He is not always equally available in power and presence. When desperate need is present, the moment is urgent. Desperate need clarifies and simplifies; get the need to Jesus any way possible.

Urgency reveals character by response. The owner of the house found urgency for Jesus costs. The onlookers found urgency excites. The critics found urgency irritates. Christ found urgency interrupts. But urgent faith found the answer.

When Religion Raises the Roof, Priority Dominates the Moment

For Jesus, spiritualities always take precedence over materialities. Spiritual wholeness even takes precedence over physical wholeness. Everyone else saw a man who needed physical freedom—Jesus saw a man who needed spiritual freedom.

There is a relationship between sin and sickness: (1) My sin may lead to my sickness; (2) Your sin may lead to my sickness; (3) Being a part of a sinful race always leads to sickness and death (Rom. 6:23). Jesus desires first to heal from sin. He does heal sickness, sometimes immediately, but always ultimately.

When Religion Raises the Roof, a Clarity Reveals the Moment

Jesus always makes visible the invisible. To say, "Your sins are forgiven," is invisible. To say, "Take up your mat and walk" is visible.

Jesus did the visible, physical thing to reveal the invisible, spiritual thing.

When forgiveness comes, you see the wholeness—Christ always reveals in the way we get up and walk.